Michael Jonas highlights the hypcrisy of the Massachusetts Democratic Party on the subject of drunk driving in a strong piece yesterday in the Globe.
The Party has been going after Republicans with vigor on this subject — in particular LG candidate Reed Hillman who tried to get a pardon for a supporter with three drunk driving convictions. âClearly, Mr. Tough on Crime can talk the talk, but when it comes down to it the rules simply donât apply to his friends and campaign donors,â Democratic Party spokesperson Cyndi Roy said of Hillman on 24 March. In the same vein, under the headline “GOP Gets ’em Loaded and takes their money,” Ms. Roy noted last week on the Party’s Official Blog that Republican State Committee Member Matthew Sisk was recently arrested for drunk driving on his way home from a Healey fundraiser.
On the subject of Democratic Senate candidate Anthony Galluccio, however, who caused a four-car accident in December while “definitely alcohol impaired” in the words of EMTs who treated him at the scene (“legless” in the less formal phraseology of an eyewitness); who has apparently offered an incredible variety of explanations for the accident — from the possibility that his car was stolen, to the suggestion one of the cars he rear-ended had run a red light (evidently in reverse); who refuses to comment on his whereabouts and activities before the accident; and who was convicted in 1993 for refusing to take a breathalyzer test after causing an accident … “We’re not commenting,” Roy told Jonas.
“Cambridge City Councilor Tim Toomey, who wrote a letter in support of Galluccio’s pardon request in 1993, said, ‘I always try to give somebody the benefit of the doubt to correct yourself and move forward.’ Asked if he now had any misgivings about the letter, Toomey declined further comment,” Jonas added. Galluccio also has support from Senate President Robert Travaglini and US Representative Michael Capuano, according to the Jonas.
This is the kind of ham-handed partisan politics that alienates voters and deflects attention from the basic point: drunk drivers should be punished, not protected. Galluccio faces a probable cause hearing 28 April. It will be interesting to see how the story plays out.
Bersani needs to show up @the hearing on the 28th. That will demonstrate his commitment to the issue and ease the smell of fraud he has taken on recently. MADD needs to be @the hearing as well. The court has to be flooded with drunk driver opponents otherwise the complaint will not issue. Where are you now Ron Bersani? With the passage of Melanie’s Law, there are still people driving drunk and I thought Ron on his white horse was going to stop all of this. On the 28th of April, the word needs to go out, all need to be @Galluch’s hearing. I’m going.
Galluch does not appreciate the depth of the problem he has. He can be beaten by a write-in candidate as this thing swells over the summer. It won’t go away.
As the saying goes, if wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
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By the way, I’ve never heard anyone outside of BMG refer to Galluccio as “Galluch” – but I have heard him referred to as “Gooch”.
âClearly, Mr. Tough on Crime can talk the talk, but when it comes down to it the rules simply donât apply to his friends and campaign donors,â Democratic Party spokesperson Cyndi Roy said of Hillman on 24 March.
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Gooch was the first thing I thought of when I read that. You have to have a better feel for what’s going on around you than to leave yourself open for charges of hypocrisy.