The big news of the day is that we will have an open seat in Congress here in Massachusetts for the first time since 2001. Assuming Marty Meehan is approved by the UMAss Board of Trustees, there will be a spirited race for his seat, and already there is a lot of discussion going on about the race to replace him…which is why I wanted to talk about my choice, the choice for progressives, and the choice for the GLBT community: Stephen Kerrigan of Lancaster.
Stephen, 35, who I believe is the only openly gay candidate in the race, was elected Selectman in Lancaster at the age of 26. He went on to serve as a senior aide to Senator Kennedy, and later was Chief of Staff to Boston 2004, the group that ran the Presidential Convention in 2004. While I think we all agree that the election did not turn out as we had hoped, the convention was a total success. Despite the numerous safety concerns in the first convention post-9/11, it went on without a hitch, and Stephen deserves an awful lot of credit for that.
Stephen also served as Chief of Staff in the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office, overseeing a huge staff of 400-plus people, and a state budget of roughly $30 million.
It is clear to me that despite the name recognition that goes with being married to a former Senator, the candidate who really has the most experience, and will bring a fresh set of progressive values to the table is Stephen Kerrigan. (I don’t think Stephen has a website up yet, but I’ll be sure to post it here when he does.)
It is not often that we have the opportunity to elect members of the GLBT community to Congress, and even less often do we have candidates with such a wealth of experience. Let’s take advantage of this opprtunity and send Stephen Kerrigan to Washington!
It looks like Bob, Charley and David (BCD) are one of the big winners of Marty leaving Congress–all the newbies signing up to plug their candidates.
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Hope you stay a while!
And since it seems you probably know Stephen, could I suggest having him write a post himself? It’s not like he’s too big to do so at this point, no offense intended.
Mr. Kerrigan’s first BMG post — he promises more.
I second NorthShore324’s support for Stephen Kerrigan for Congress. As a former Chief of Staff to Senator Kennedy, he is certainly well qualified, if not the most qualified, to take Meehan’s seat. With his progressive stances, I have no doubt that Stephen Kerrigan would represent us well in Washington.