Rep. Brian Knuuttila (D-Gardner) is out, having accepted a job as general counsel of the Worcester County Jail.
Aside from having one of the more unusual names on Beacon Hill, it doesn’t appear that Knuuttila has been a terribly remarkable legislator – some quick searches didn’t reveal him as a leader on any important initiatives (perhaps readers can correct me if I’m wrong). He was a member of the party’s more conservative wing, having twice voted in favor of the so-called "compromise" amendment that would have banned gay marriage but created civil unions, and generally being somewhat out of step with the positions recommended by the Democratic party platform. (I’m not saying that’s necessarily a bad thing, it’s just a fact.)
So: let’s hear from some of you out in central Mass. (David? Mariposa?) about who should be filling that seat.
First, who has announced for Pat Jehlen’s former seat?Second, when are we in the Democratic Party going to stop pointing fingers and look inside our own glass house at the Speaker and a few other “winners” that we seem to pretend are exceptional. Every time we “reform” the State House, we get the usual suspects, just with a different color of lawn sign.
You’re one step ahead of me. I didn’t know that Knuuttila had resigned to take the counsel’s job with the Worcester County Sheriff (former Sen. Guy Glodis). I’m not familiar with Gardner politics at a micro level, but it seems to me that unless some activist come out of the woodwork, Knuuttila’s successor will be a right-leaning backbencher, like Knuuttila.
You’re one step ahead of me. I didn’t know that Knuuttila had resigned to take the counsel’s job with the Worcester County Sheriff (former Sen. Guy Glodis). I’m not familiar with Gardner politics at a micro level, but it seems to me that unless some activist comes out of the woodwork, Knuuttila’s successor will be a right-leaning backbencher, like Knuuttila.
Alderman-at-large Denise Provost is widely expected to announce for Jehlen’s seat, if she hasn’t already. She’s a progressive with a long track record in the city and can be considered the favorite.
I suspect the reason no one’s talking about Jehlen’s seat yet is because they haven’t set a date for the elections and the likely candidates are aldermen who don’t want to distract from their re-elections in a few weeks.
Denise Provost all but announced for Jehlen’s seat at Pat Jehlen’s general election victory party.
I’ve been out of town all week, so I’m still trying to catch up with what’s going on. I didn’t realize that Knuuttila was out. This would be a great opportunity for progressive dems in Gardner to put forward a candidate, but to my knowledge, there aren’t any progressive dems in Gardner. Not that I’ve met, anyway. I have been working with a group that has been trying to organize dems in the senate district that includes Gardner, but we have had zero luck in getting even the MDP members elected to represent that area interested, not to mention the Gardner DTC. It’s been pretty frustrating.
as long as it’s a democrat replacing Knutsie who cares if they’re liberal or conservative. We need the Democrats to focus on Democratic issues and stop allowing the special interests (abortion, teacher’s unions) from dominating our sorry party that has lost the corner office now because conservative democrats are saying goodbye and we NEED them to win elections for Democrats. Also, Sean O’Donovan for Representative replacing Jehlen is my prediction; his organization is enhanced by support from Mayor.
Mariposa (?) How about just organizing Democrats; or are you organizing for some other agenda. You know not all Democrats agree gay Marriage needs to be part of our platform; that was Fat Ass Johnson, our pompous arrogant chairman who loses elections for us. Have you ever been at one of these Deomcratic meetings, I have, oh my God, fat ass johnson is just like Thurston Howell and he’s absolutely useless and revolting and looks like he belongs in the Union Club with Brad, Chad & Willard.
his organization is enhanced by support from Mayor.So was Joe Mackey’s, and Mackey had the benefit of being a quality candidate and not acting like a Stephen Murphy-type doofus looking to fall upward and fill out a resume.Look at how well Jehlen did in a Democratic primary with significant negatives. Take away those negatives and you have Denise Provost, who runs city-wide instead of in 1/4 of the district like O’Donovan.
as long as it’s a democrat replacing Knutsie who cares if they’re liberal or conservative.The conservatives certainly cared back when they were in control of the State House and costing Democrats elections. Now that you’re out of power, suddenly it doesn’t matter any more and we all have to work together? Ha ha ha. Tell it to Scott Harshbarger.
Mariposa (?) How about just organizing Democrats; or are you organizing for some other agenda. My agenda?! Yeah, sure I have an agenda. My agenda is to get progressive democrats elected to replace some of the bigoted DINOs that are currently serving. Have a nice day.
Mariposa:What a foolish lemming you are. It should be about electing democrats. If a democrat doesn’t agree with Gay marriage or abortion, they’re DINO’s? You are the reason why dems are fleeing the party. I’m hanging on by a thread because of pukish self-righteous arrogant phil johnson types like yourself. Mariposa has got to go and Fat Ass Johnson certainly has to go, Oh and Mariposa are the Black Ministers who oppose gay marriage & abortion bigots, are those African-Americans bigots, are they? I’m awaiting your specific response, ARE THEY?
John, I’m curious: why aren’t you a Republican? The Mass. GOP, if not the national one, seems more in tune with your views than the Dems. This is a serious question – I’m not trying to be provocative.
Yeah, they are.Democrats historically have worked for social justice and thankfully, that is part of the democratic platform today. If an elected democrat consistently votes against that platform, that makes them a DINO.
David:You make my point by aligning me with the republicans instead of the Democrats because I’m opposed to gay Marriage and abortion. You don’t know my views on anything else but you say I should be a Republican because you know my position on 2. I’m for union workers, universal health care, raising the minimum wage, driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants, do you think the Republicans will have me? We’ll just keep losing elections because of fools like you. Mariposa ARE THE BLACK MINISTERS BIGOTS BECAUSE THEY OPPOSE GAY MARRIAGE? please answer that and stop with your DINO crap because you’re not really a Democrat, you’re a SOCIALIST/COMMUNIST
I’m only a socialist/communist when I’m not busy forcing bigots and DINOS from the democratic party. Bored now…
John: don’t be a prick. I asked you a civil question, and a civil answer was all that was called for. Prior to your last one, every single comment of yours that I had read on this blog was about how bad gay marriage and abortion are, so any reasonable reader (a category in which I include myself) would think that’s all you care about. Glad to know you have views on other issues.Oh, and the communists didn’t much care for gays. Get a grip.