Charley and I spent half an hour this afternoon in a wide-ranging and interesting discussion with Jack E. Robinson, the Republican challenger to Ninth District incumbent US Rep. Steve Lynch.
Here’s the audio. It’s well worth a listen. For example, in the first 30 seconds we get this: “One of the reasons I’m taking on Mr. Lynch is that he’s more conservative than I am, and I’m the Republican in the race.” There’s lots more where that came from.
Charley and I will be posting some written notes from the conversation in due course. Our thanks to Jack for a most enjoyable conversation.
Please share widely!
Listened to the whole interview. Robinson sounded pretty darn reasonable (I gather he’d had some problems with ‘reasonableness’ in the past.), with some good ideas.
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Went to his web site. Actually agreed with quite a few of his positions. Pro Stem Cell Research. In favor of raising the minimum wage. Against putting discrimination into the constitution.
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And I can’t STAND Lynch. The worst kind of Democrat, in my opinion. Way, way too conservative. And Lynch strikes me as arrogant.
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So I’d vote for Robinson… If the House wasn’t so close.
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‘Cause Jack Robinson may be an relatively independent Republican, but he’d still caucus to elect Hastert and those clowns. And the House will be very, very close.
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Looks like I’ll vote for Dunklebarger again … Or if the Lynch-Robinson election polls to be not close (which is, lets be honest, likely), I may vote for Robinson just to show everyone how much many of us dislike our Representative Lynch.
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Can we get an electable Democrat to go against Lynch two years from now? What’s Brian Joyce doing in 2008 … ?
but I wonder: has Robinson said he’d vote for Dennis “child predator enabler” Hastert and company? I mean, there’s no rule that says he’d have to. In fact, he could plausibly caucus with the Dems anyway. Sure, the GOP could shout him down and needle him, but the Dems could bring him in the fold, and he could even run as a Dem two years from now as the incumbant.
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So — who’s he going to caucus with?
As I recall the conversation, Robinson didn’t commit to vote for Hastert (if Haster even stands for reelection as Speaker, which IMHO is looking less likely), but he didn’t commit not to either. But I think the likelihood of his caucusing with the Dems is low to nonexistent. What he wants to do is contribute to the ascendancy of 30 or so moderate Republicans, who would hold considerable sway if the GOP has a majority of only a couple of seats.
Brian Joyce is going to beat Stephen Lynch? Puh-leeeze!! He couldn’t do it 5 years ago, what makes you think he can do it now, when Lynch has the powers of incumbancy.
What makes me think that Joyce would be a serious contender for Lynch?
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In 2001, either Cheryl Jacques or Brian Joyce would have beat Stephen Lynch if one of them had dropped out of the race. The liberal vote was split. As noted by the media of the time:
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http://www.bostonpho…
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That being said, a lot has changed since then. As you noted, Stephen Lynch is now the incumbent — although he hasn’t been getting great press for being an incumbent.
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Also, the district has been redistricted, to Stephen Lynch’s advantage.
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In any case, Stephen Lynch is one of the few Mass representatives who has had both primary and general election challengers this year. With luck, 18 months from now, someone with name recognition will notice that and challenge him in the primary.
Lynch cleaned up in the Democratic Primary against a single progressive candidate. His numbers were on par with Galvin’s beating of Bonifaz and Mike Sullivan’s destroying of Desmond in the Middlesex Clerk’s race.
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While I disagree with Steve Lynch on several issues, he works hard and is progressively pro-worker. Lynch has won a State Rep seat, a State Senate seat and a congressional seat (on 9/11 by the way) by having people underestimate him.
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If progressives are going to waste time with Jack E. Robinson (what planet are you on if you think he Jack E wouldn’t be backing a Republican for Speaker if they retain control) instead of working to help – oh let’s say Paul Hodes in NH2, then a sad state of affairs has come to pass.
I think one of the main points of the interview was to take the pulse — if indeed there is one — of the Republican Party in MA, and its many discontents. Jack is certainly a fellow with opinions on that. Progressives would do well to take note.
There’s no guarantee that I would vote for Hastert for Speaker. In fact, in wake of the Mark Foley scandal, I was one of the first Republicans to call for the resignation of anyone in the House GOP leadership – including Hastert – if it is proved they had advance knowledge and decided to cover-up. See my press release issued on Monday, a day before the resignation calls started to cascade. Also, where has Rep. Lynch been on this? He’s been as quiet on this as he’s been on the Big Dig.
I don’t think Hastert will run for Speaker anyway, so saying you won’t vote for him doesn’t matter. But if the house ends up having 218 Republicans and 217 Democrats, which party are you going to support? Having a Republican majority will cause more problems than having a conservative Democrat.