From today’s Herald:
Former Bay State Republican chief Jim Rappaport blasted the state GOP yesterday as an “incestuous” insiderâs club rife with “incompetence” that is choking off support for the minority party. “The absolute, total incompetence of the state party” has left it “worse off than it was four years ago,” the real estate magnate told the Herald.
The current state party executive director responded with a heartwarming show of party unity:
Mass. GOP executive director Matt Wylie said, “It sounds like a severe case of sour grapes. Jim Rappaport is nursing a lot of hurt feelings from the 2002 campaign.”
Or not.
Both Rappaport and Christy Mihos have raised questions about the fact that Darrell Crate, the current chairman of the state GOP, also happens to be the CFO of Kerry Healey’s husband’s company, Affiliated Managers Group. That company, of course, is the source of the millions of dollars that Kerry Healey is expected to draw upon to finance her campaign for Governor (as well as the recipient of a highly questionable million-dollar tax break that the company was eventually embarrassed into returning). But hey, no conflict of interest there!
Look for Rappaport to come out as a strong backer of Christy Mihos’s campaign, whether he runs as a Republican or an independent. Whether another rich guy backing Mihos will make much difference remains to be seen, but Rappaport does have credibility with some of the party stalwarts. This should be a fun one to watch!
The best thing about Mihos entering the race is that it gives everybody a chance to mention how Jane Swift tried to fire him. Fairly or unfairly, the more people think of Jane Swift, the more they are going to be wary of another in-over-her-head LG promoted to Governor after her boss left for greener pastures. Yes, the differences between Swift and Healey are myriad (Jane Swift actually won a legislative election) but if people happen to make the connection between the unpopular acting governor and the current lieutenant governor, well so be it.
I’d hate for the circular firing squad to be one-sided. 😉
We in the MA Dems have gotten it down to a science. It is good to see others following our lead. 😛
… that the Dems have an excellent chance of winning the Governorship this year, making the state an utter political Siberia for the GOP.
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Good thing for primaries and policy wonkery if that happens… don’t know what we’d do here otherwise.
There will still, alas, be Republicans in the Great and Gneral Court. Probably.