The State Police Association has announced that it will back Jarrett Barrios in the race for the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, according to a press release from the Barrios campaign. From the release:
The State Police work side-by-side with District Attorneys in investigating and prosecuting crimes. Their endorsement is a major boost for Barrios, who has worked closely with the State Police as chair of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee in the state Senate.
“Barrios has the best vision and leadership in the race,” the State Police Association said after announcing their endorsement.
This looks to my relatively untrained eye as a big boost for Barrios, and perhaps as a blow to Gerry Leone, whose law-and-order campaign surely wants the backing of the law enforcement community.
Please share widely!
I chatted with Mike Festa a bit recently, and FWIW, he told me his priority last year had been field first, and he turned to fundraising later. He suggested that Leone is neglecting field entirely, and may run an all-air-war campaign with his big pile of money. Now that Festa has turned his attention to fundraising, I hope to see him raise enough in the next couple of months to run a serious campaign. He certainly has done a lot of work putting together a field organization, I’ve been seeing that.
David:
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One doesn’t need a trained eye to see that this is a huge badge of honor for Barrios. The Staties take their politics very seriously. The Senator and the Troopers have a long history of working together for the common good. It’s powerful stuff…
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As for Leone: well, he’s working hard, raising money….seems to be a nice guy. I’m not sure he’s going to be able to sustain the fundraising. OCPF data indicates that he has many good faith contributions from valued friends and former colleagues….Festa, working hard, nice guy…I’m not sure that he’s got his priorities in order. In these days of fast track campaigns ya gotta do the field and the fundraising.
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Barrios is a seasoned campaigner; he’s raising money from folks who have maxxed out year after year for him and will continue to do so. He’s got a great field person, a fabulous fund raiser and is everywhere in the district…also, he wears his heart on his sleeve when he talks about wanting what we all want: quality of life for kith and kin…