Regarding a post by Migraine about State Senator Jarrett Barrios:
To say Jarrett Barrios is is the most inexperienced candidate for Middlesex County DA, is simply ridiculios. Migraine must be extreemly unfamiliar with his background and the background of some of the most successful District Attorneys ( Like, Scott Harshbarger, William Keating and William Delahunt) to make such a baseless statement.
Contrary to someone like divorce lawyer Michael Festa, Barrios has substantial legislative accomplishments, the most recent being the landmark anti-gang bill Barrios wrote and got passed quickly through both branches of the legislature. Barrios saw a problem that effected not only municipalities in his district like, Everett, Somerville, Chelsea and Cambridge but other cities like Lowell, Malden and the smaller towns that are next to cities with serious gang problems. Barrios brought together members from all walks of life who are effected by gang violence and traveled across the state to get support for his bill from city leaders and law enforcement professionals.
More importantly, in what I have seen and heard from Barrios as a resident of Chelsea, one of the poorest cities in the Commonwaelth, Barrios understands the job of a DA requires someone who can do more that just lock up criminals. Barrios understands that you need to get to the root of crime and violence. That, and his ability to build coalitions is his strongest quality.
The most productive and innovative District Attorneys in recent memory had little or no prosecutorial experience, including former Middlesex County DA and Attorney General Scott Harshbarger who was elected after serving as the Counsel to the State Ethics Commission, Congressman Bill Delahunt who served for over a decade as Norfolk DA, was a State Representative and City Councilor before being elected to the DA’s post. He had no courtroom experience as a prosecutor.
I could go on and mention William Keating who followed Delahunt after serving in the State Senate. Keating introduced some of the most inovative diversion programs in the State, that lead to a decrease in crime in his county.
The role of the DA is muti-faceted. The first Assistant DA is basically the main prosecutor in the office and based on the dealings I have had with Sen. Barrios top notch State House staff, that assists him as Chairman of the Joint Committe on Public Safety and Homeland Security, I am confident that if elected, Barrios will put together a professional and effective team. .
In the race for DA, Sen Barrios is bar far the most qualified candidate.
If Michael Festa does manage to stay in the DA’s race a few months longer, and I don’t know how he can do it condsidering he has only raised about $30,000 which is pretty sad for a guy who has held elected office for 23 years and touts his “vast experience” as a trail lawyer, he will only be a spoiler and draw some progressive votes away from Barrios and help hand the election to Republican Bush appointee Gerry Leone, who has a record prosecuting cases but lacks the other qualities that are necessary to be an effective DA.
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Leone, is a far right wing conservative, whose answer to criminal justice problems is lock the up and throw away the key. Any educated criminologist will tell you that does little to solve the 21st century crime problems that the Commonwealth faces
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If you look at who is supporting Leone, it reads like a who is who of Romney and Bush and Jim Rappaport supporters.
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But, back to Festa, he was a entry level Assistant District Attorney for a short time 20 years ago, He quit the job for pure political reasons. I never hear him talk about the cases he prosecuted because the were all run the mill District Court cases that the low level Asst. DA’s work on.
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I think Jarrett Barrios who graduated with high honnors from Georgetown University Law School, one of the nations top law schools,has a grasp on what goes into prosecuting district court cases.
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Barrios has tried several high profile criminal defense cases including a landmark case defending a Gay man seeking refuge in the US. He has won awards for his Pro Bono work and has worked at 3 of the Boston’s top law firms, including Hill and Barlow and Mintz Levin, as well as working on consumer issues as a staffer at the Federal Trade Commission.
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He accomplishments as a State Rep, Senator and Chairman of the Committee on Public safety and Homeland Security are just to long to list here.
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If Festa is such a great candidate why are not more people supporting him? He doesn’t have a field organization or much of a base of support to build on.
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I think he is running becasue he has had a lack luster career as a State Rep. He was never named a Chairman under Speaker Finneran or DiMasi and he jsut figures He will run County wide, get his name out and hopefully he can get elected to something else someday.
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He is an affable guy, but that is not a quality that is first on my list when electing a District Attorney.
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Wait, so Jarrett Barrios’ law degree from Georgetown qualifies him to be District Attorney? I played college hockey – does that qualify me to coach the Bruins? If so, please let me know because that’s one career move I wouldn’t mind making.
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Listen, I saw Barrios in Lexington a couple months back, and I’ve got to say I was a little worried by what I heard. He refused to talk about anything other than policy and the DA’s role as a policy person. I’m sorry, but at least Festa has actually prosecuted a case in district court – albeit 20 years ago, but it’s more than what Barrios has. If Barrios wants to talk legislation, then please someone tell me why he wants to be District Attorney. I can’t understand why he wants to leave the senate where he’s become a force as an effective legislator. Maybe it’s my idealistic side that refuses to believe he would actually want to become DA solely for the political springboard it has become in recent years.
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And as far as Barrios’ experience defending cases, he told that same audience in Lexington that he’s never prosecuted a case, which – and correct me if I’m wrong on this one – is an important part of being District Attorney. Maybe I’m going out on a limb here, but I would think the voters of Middlesex County valued prosecutorial experience when they hired Tom Reilly and Martha Coakley for the job.
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You talked about Barrios’ “accomplishments as a State Rep.” but some quick research shows me a lackluster performance at best in the House. How many bills of his were passed into law in his time in the house?
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I haven’t decided who I’m backing in this race, but I’m watching closely. End of the day, I don’t know how I feel about electing a DA who’s NEVER prosecuted a case. One thing I do know: Mike Festa has a long and distinguished career representing his district in the house, and he has made criminal justice his area of focus, amassing a strong record on public safety and law enforcement. I think he’s worth considering…
Thanks for joining the blog community and bringing in your lies. The one thing that political blogs need more of is people spouting useless empty rhetoric and expounding lies.
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Lets see if we can take your lies out one by one:
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1. Jarrett Barrios IS the most inexperienced candidate for district attorney. He has NEVER tried a case. If you wish to prove the opposite, feel free to cite the cases and the courts, the dates and times. Until you prove he HAS tried a case, he hasn’t. Comparing him to accomplished lawyers like Scott Harshbarger is a waste of breath and space. Scott Harshbarger was an Assistant Attorney General and spent several years as the general counsel to the State Ethics Commission. Jarrett Barrios is now, and has been, a real estate lawyer. Comparing Barrios to Harshbarger is like comparing Dan Quale to John F. Kennedy.
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2. The idea that the anti-gang bill was written or even conceived by Barrios would be hilarious if it wasn’t so blatantly false. The bill was handed to him by a lobbying group of his friends, who had written the bill and were looking for a sponsor. Making the bill his was a good accomplishment, but lets not pretend that there was a large constituency that was advocating for the gangs that Barrios had to overcome. The bill was a freebie – lets not pretend it was anything other than a cynical ploy on Jarrett’s part to shore up his credentials.
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3. If Barrios is so capable of putting together an effective team, why is he now searching for his third campaign manager in six months? What does it say about his abilities as a leader of people? What does it say about how he will manage over a hundred lawyers, all of whom could, in one second, get jobs that pay 3 or 4 times as much at a private firm? (Little known fact … a starting salary for assistant DA is 35k, and the average starting salary at a Boston Law firm is around 85-90k). Motivating those lawyers and keeping them interested in staying requires more than political rhetoric – it requires their respect … something they’re not apt to give to a person who has NEVER prosecuted a case.
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The role of District Attorney is indeed multifaceted. Unfortunately, for Mr. Barrios, it seems to be little more than a way to get higher office. Jarrett first thought about running for Attorney General, and until his friends brought home to him the ridiculousness of that idea, he sincerely considered himself qualified for that, too. That’s just one of those facts – things the Barrios campaign seems all too interested in avoiding.
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Maybe next time you post something you’ll consider starting with the truth?
Polk, you could have said everything you did without resorting to calling people with whom you disagree “liars”.
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If you’ve got something to say, just say it. Don’t make it personal.
Charley,
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You’re right of course.
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But I don’t call the people liars because I disagree with them. I call them liars because they tell lies. Crediting Barrios as the author of a bill he didn’t write is a lie. Pretending he’s tried cases, and saying he has (when it’s a fact that he hasn’t) … is a lie.
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Still, you’ve got a point. I’ll tone it down.
and I don’t have a dog in this fight, but I’ll just say this: You haven’t demonstrated that Barrios didn’t write the bill. If you have a link to an outside and reliable source of this info, please share it — that would be worth knowing. And even if some lobbyist pals of Barrios did just hand him the bill, I’m not sure there’s much of a distinction between his introduction and sponsorship and his “authorship”.
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But what do I know?
Snaps to you, polk…..great commentary! I could not agree more. State democrats need to stop thinking about their own personal political motives and start to think about the health and strength of this party…
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Barrios is an exmaple of the pathetic game of ambitions that seems to be an increasing epidemic!
wow. as someone new to this blog these postings seem harse. I clearly have to learn more about the DA’s race if it’s eliciting this kind of activity but it seems to me what appeared to be an energetic posting supporting Barrios has turned into quite a fight…and maybe gotten a little too personal. Let’s cut the personal attacks on both ends, huh?
Time to tone it down a bit, HOWEVER, while, in the interest of sanity and balance everywhere, we pursue this policy of peace, let’s ALSO implement a policy of FACTS…
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And, I just think it’s important that we all agree that Barrios is, in fact, not the qualified candidate here. Sorry, I know it seems like I don’t want to let this die, but PLEASE, someone acknowledge this blatant fact-bending.
I hope that Polk does not back down. You need not apologize for pointing out lies. You are performing a public service.
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One of the gay people working for Festa told me at the event the other day that one of the gay papers was even bullied by Barrios into apologizing for printing a letter from Festa supporters that pointed out that he has never tried a case. How this is independent journalism we can only wonder.
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My wife asks whether we would elect someone to be Attorney General who has never been involved in any kind of litigation. As usual, she is right.
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Are we expected to say cheerfully, “Oh dear! I am sorry to be so rude, but I must point out to you that you may have misspoken about your resume and are fraudulently accepting a half a million dollars from your supporters”?
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Senator Barrios can talk about Scott Harshbarger all day long, but he never mentions that Harshbarger had already had an exceptionally distinguished career in the law as an Assistant Attorney General and as counsel to the State Ethis Commission before running for District Attorney.
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It is not rude to illuminate facts – especially when they are facts that just may save the people of Middlesex County from electing a politician as their top law enforcement officer who – like so many Mass. Republicans – is yet again using people to step onto yet another stone on his way to Washington DC – his real goal.
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Now that one of Peter Katoujian’s closest and most influential supporters, Steve Grossman, has endorsed Mike Festa, hopefully this good man will see a major influx of funds.