Tuesday September 4 is Primary Day, which is for many offices in Massachusetts the only Election Day that counts. For all that we complain about stasis on Beacon Hill, there are some notable opportunities to change the personnel and hopefully the culture.
Call these endorsements if you like. I’m usually quite late to making endorsements, because I like to see how races shake out, and I need the time to evaluate as much as anyone else. (Notable exception this year: Tommy Vitolo, our stomv, for State Rep in Brookline, since we’ve all known him for years, and he’s the person with the right expertise and experience at the right time.)
Suffolk DA: Rachael Rollins. Rollins is a former MBTA lawyer. She’s gathered the endorsements of many progressive, pro-justice leaders and organizations, including Senators Sonia Chang-Diaz and Will Brownsberger, prime movers behind the criminal justice reform law; and ProgressiveMass. It’s important that those folks coalesce around one candidate to change the old lock-em-up mentality represented by Greg Henning, who thinks he can sneak through with a divided progressive vote. Henning is the establishment pick of current DA Dan Conley, and manufactured some excuse to no-show a forum held by Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, one of the finest, noblest, and most effective organizations in town. That’s a thumb in the eye to GBIO’s diverse constituency, and you really have to wonder how he can represent the county if he blows them off.
Do look at Bobby Constantino’s amazingly thorough rundown of the issues involved in evaluating a DA candidate. This is how actual justice –fairness, real equality under the law — is accomplished. Rollins consistently comes out ahead of the pack. Here’s hoping she pulls out ahead of the pack.
Middlesex DA: Donna Patalano. It seems like incumbent Marian Ryan has done a better job than some had feared, given some bad press when she took the office. She’s got her supporters in the legislature, but she’s still got a staff turnover problem. I’m not close enough to those things to judge. But looking at Donna Patalano’s qualifications and agenda, this is an easy choice for me. She advocates data accountability for racial disparities, and limiting cash bail, an obvious inequity.
She also added an intriguing road safety plank to her platform, paying more attention to bicycling, walking, and other modes of transportation vis-a-vis law enforcement:
The implicit bias of many members of law enforcement, and people in general, is that people walking and biking who are involved in crashes are the cause of the incident, rather than the victim. This leads to investigations centered on the driver’s experience in a given incident, instead of the biker’s or pedestrian’s perspective.
With that, Ms. Patalano, you have my vote.
MA-3: Barbara L’Italien. It’s a strong field, but I’m looking for someone’s actual legislative background to show me where their concern lies. L’Italien has consistently been a voice for the most vulnerable populations, and has been out front on issues like marriage equality, well before it was easy. She got into politics to better advocate for her autistic son. That orientation is in her bones and in her votes, somewhat like Rep. Jim McGovern, and we need more of that full-throated advocacy for mercy and justice in Congress. I’ve heard that some of her forum performances were not the best; on the other hand, witness her unflappable surprise appearance on a predatory Fox News segment, and I can see someone up for the fight. She’s endorsed by Sen. Jamie Eldridge for many of the same reasons. Honorable mention to Alexandra Chandler, whose experience in the intelligence field is very much on-point these days.
MA-7: Ayanna Pressley. This is a tough one. Mike Capuano has not been working his way out of a job; there’s no particular dissatisfaction with him that precipitated Pressley’s challenge. He has fought effectively to bring home funding to his district — one has to wonder what would have happened to the Green Line extension without his advocacy, for example. He has been a consistent voice for immigrant populations for two decades. If he loses, the district loses his seniority, experience, connections, expertise and clout: In this WBUR debate he mentioned his personal impact on, for instance, local transportation, eg. the Silver Line to Chelsea. That is no small matter, and — let there be no mistake — it is not easily replaced. Go to 18:56:
Pressley was only ever going to win on her own strengths, not some manifest weakness of Capuano. And she has made a strong case for herself as a change-maker. To state the obvious: Representation does indeed matter, and having a black woman, a survivor of sexual assault, as representative is by definition going to change how the district is represented. Pressley’s mantra “those closest to the pain should be closest to the power” again relates to the meek-shall-inherit-the-earth attitude that, say, L’Italien also represents: Start at the bottom, the most vulnerable, the most humble. She has a record in the Boston City Council, and was a true trailblazer for a body that is now nearly half female-of-color — and ridiculously well-qualified, incidentally. They are moving the body forward in imaginative, visionary, progressive ways. I’ve often thought that I look forward to a time when those folks (along with Matt O’Malley, why not) graduate to even higher office. Well, here’s that opportunity; I might wish that she were taking on, say, Steve Lynch — or Charlie Baker. But here we are.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the recently-surfaced video of Capuano discussing Colin Kaepernick’s protests of police violence, and discussion of identity politics. I have to say, it’s substandard and uninformed, particularly as compared to Beto O’Rourke’s more properly historical view that has gone viral recently. I don’t know how this fits into the context of Capuano’s representation of the district; for now, file under “not a good look”.
This is a close call, but if I lived in the district, I’d probably vote Pressley.
I’ll have more for State Rep and Senator races that I’ve been paying some attention to.
doubleman says
Same picks for me.
I also like McAuliffe for DA, but given the dynamics of the race, it’s a very clear “Anyone but Henning” situation and Rollins has more support than McAuliffe and is an important strategic vote.
The video of Capuano is bad, but his explanation of it during the last debate was hardly much better. Saying that the protest was in the wrong form and then trying to wrap yourself in an MLK quote (that he clearly misinterpreted) is some serious out-of-touch white guy stuff.
The $300,000 spend from the Realtors for Capuano is also a very bad look.
Christopher says
This lines up pretty closely with my preferences, though I have no dog in the Suffolk DA race. Middlesex DA I was leaning Patalano for some of the same reasons, thought not strongly. The CD3 race comments are my thoughts exactly, right down to giving Chandler the honorable mention. I’m surprised Chandler is not doing better in polls and fundraising; it seems that most of the progressive diehards I know are supporting her. I’m cheering Pressley from the sidelines since I know her from when she was on John Kerry’s staff and I was an intern for him, but if it weren’t for that personal connection I would probably be in the “what possessed you to challenge a perfectly good progressive Dem?” camp.
You mention legislative endorsements are coming, but what about the three contested statewides?
jconway says
Six sixes for these thoughtful endorsements. I truly do fear that the Suffolk DA race is under the radar, and share that concern. I will vote for Rollins because the ACLU rated her best on their report card, PM endorsed her, and Jonathan Cohn has assured me she has the best grassroots operation out of the crowded field. Henning would be a step in the wrong direction. Like the CD-3 primary, this is a race crying out for ranked choice voting.
For CD-3 I make no endorsement, but echo the positive things said about Chandler and L’Italien. Like the pragmatic endorsement for Rollins, L’Italien is probably our best shot at blocking a flawed frontrunner from advancing. Obviously stomv is not only the man, but our man. Someone who was also very helpful offsite in helping me draft platforms on energy policy for campaigns I worked on and connect me to housing and employment opportunities during two times of transition when they were greatly appreciated.
My own statewide ballot is Gonzalez, Tingle, and Zakim. Gonzalez has good ideas and the kind of experience to implement them. He is also approaching this race as a campaign, not a cause, and has done the fundraising and legwork to be viable against Baker that Masse has not. Tingle is a longtime Cambridge community leader who’s authentic working class populism is an antidote to the fake populism emanating from the right. A guy who could sell Elizabeth Warren’s policies to a room full of Howie Carr listeners. Frankly, he should have run for the top spot this year. Zakim is not Galvin and a strong progressive city councilor.
I am voting for Pressley since she listened to my students last year and helped change the BPD policy on body cameras due to their testimony. She has her ear to the ground in the neighborhoods Boston’s booming economy is leaving behind. Mattapan, Roslindale, Roxbury, and Dorchester have only seen Mike Capuano campaign and open up local district offices because of this primary. This is a welcome development, but the outreach to black constituents was simply not there before.
I supported Mike Capuano in the past, nearly worked in his office, and felt as a resident of Cambridge that he was an excellent Congressman. As a resident of Boston who worked in Roxbury this year, I can say that Ayanna Pressley is a force in those communities that white politicians, including Marty Walsh and Mike Capuano, have grown comfortable ignoring unless there is a primary to win. This race will ensure those communities will never be ignored again, regardless of the outcome.
Make no mistake, I view this primary as a de facto Ranked Choice election. My vote for Pressley in the primary is because she is my first choice, my vote for Capuano in the general election, should he be renominated, will be made with onfidence that he will get the job done, and now, because of her challenge, get it done on behalf of the entire district. This is exactly the kind of primary Massachusetts should see more of to advance our backbench into leadership and make sure our frontbench is worthy of starting for the team.
historian says
Patalano is a strong candidate.
In CD 3 L’Italien has run a negative campaign full of cheap shots and increasingly strained publicity stunts culminating in the call to impeach Clarence Thomas.
Koh and Matias bring energy charisma and enthusiasm with real experience
Chandler is very smart.