Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Donato Draws a Challenger

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Patrick McCabe, an SEIU organizer, military veteran, and graduate of West Point, today filed to run for State Representative in the 35th Middlesex District, which covers most of Medford, MA.  McCabe will challenge incumbent Paul Donato in the Democratic primary next year.  He will make his official announcement later this week.

Medford state rep Paul Donato has drawn the ire of many constituents by seeking to ban equal marriage, a position for which he recently drew fire at Medford High School:

“I just feel that so much pain and suffering could be avoided with the power you have in your hands, you could save a lot of people a lot of suffering,” a student said.  Donato said he would stick to his vote.

Donato is also anti-choice, and opposes funding stem cell research, and is a sponsor of this ridiculous legislation seeking to gag teachers [edit: he was listed as a sponsor but removed his name and says he will vote “no”] – all positions out of step with today’s Massachusetts.  And although he justified his vote for banning marriage by saying we should let the people vote, he voted against putting the health care amendment on the ballot, showing that he doesn’t actually believe that argument and is willing to vote his opinion: against allowing same-sex marriage, and against the health care amendment.

I spoke to Patrick McCabe today, and he’s looking forward to bringing these issues to the voters of Medford.

I’m an organizing director with SEIU.  I work all day encouraging people to stand up for their rights and for the rights of others.  The equality issue is the biggest one that inspired me to run.

Patrick McCabe was born in neighboring Somerville, to a working class family; his grandparents were in Medford.  He worked three jobs growing up, then went to West Point because “I wanted to go somewhere where they teach leadership.”  After graduating, he served seven years in the Army, as a Ranger and then a company commander in the 101st Airborne in Kosovo.  He went on tour with his wife in the USO, entertaining the troops for a couple of years, before returning to Medford.  He now works as Organizing and Communications Director for SEIU local 1984.

McCabe is running  to support health care, higher education, and other things important to working families.  He is pro-choice, pro-equality, and supports funding stem cell research.

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Comments

  2. You can take the strike marks out of your initial announcement now and safely say “Donato….is a sponsor of this ridiculous legislation seeking to gag teachers . 

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    This afternoon I phoned the Senate Clerk’s Office (617-722-1276) twice to make certain I got consistent information regarding S321 An Act Regarding Parental Notification and Consent.  According to both officials to whom I spoke, Paul Donato IS IN FACT officially listed as a cosponsor of the bill, along with 22 other members of the House and Senate. 

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    According to the clerks Donato most likely sent his support of the bill by e-mail to the bill’s primary sponsor Senator Robert Hedlund.  From there Senator Hedlund contacted the Clerk’s Office to register Donato’s name and the names of the bill’s other co-sponsors (see below).

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    I don’t know what the nature of the erroneous information is, but I do believe the clerks.

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    Thank you.

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    Jim

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    Co-sponsors of S321: Bruce Ayers, Fred Barrows, Scott Brown, Thomas Calter, Viriato Manuel deMacedo, Stephen DiNatale, Paul Donato, Joseph Driscoll, Lewis Evangelidis, Christopher Fallon, Paul Frost, William Greene, Robert Hargraves, Bradford Hill, Donald Humason, Jeffrey Perry, Elizabeth Poirier, Karyn Polito, Richard Ross, Bruce Tarr, Richard Tisei, Daniel Webster

  4. One thing that should be noted is the Senate 321 is by request. I believe this means that some one, probably a constituent, requested that this bill be filed.

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    That doesn’t take away any responsibility as Senator Hedlund could have refused the request. The same goes for the co-sponsors.

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    I’ve got to say that it is perhaps a little early to declare a candidacy no?

    • If someone wants to run a grassroots campaign, the earlier the better, because grassroots takes time.  There’s also the possibility of influencing Donato’s behavior through campaigning against him, and in that case, the earlier you start, the more behavior you influence.  (For example, might it change his vote at the ConCon?  I think it unlikely, but possible)

      • Agreed on the grassroots effort, but with an announcement you can hopefully expect to get some press and blog coverage. With that coverage it’s probably best to have somewhere to point them to so that you can give them something to do, a place to contribute money etc…

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        Additionally, Donato was just was re-sworn in 5 months ago, right now no one is paying attention other than activists, and the election is 17 months away.

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    • I ask because I was not able to find documentation of the sponsors of S321 at openmass.org.  It would be great if there was a way to search all bills to which a legislator has attached his or her name.  Is that a possibility?  (That would make your awesome site even more wonderful!)

      • Unfortunately, I can’t find anywhere on the mass.gov site where all of the co-sponsors are listed so as of now they can’t be added.

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        Thanks for the feedback!

  5. progressive carl sciorintino unseated longtime incumbent vinnie ciampa by working a bread and butter campaign. despite being openly gay and staunchly pro-choice, i don’t recall him charging in as the choice/stemcell/gaymarraige banner waver.

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    and medford being medford, i suspect that it’ll be kitchen table issues that make the difference in this one. and mccabe’s army and labor creds could be play to that very well.

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  7. I have been hoping to see a challenger to emerge and my greatest fear was that a Cambridge refugee (i.e liberal yuppie) would run on a pro-gay, pro-choice, pro-stem cell agenda and lose to Donato when blue collar Democrats reject them as outsiders who don’t understand their issues. But luckily this guy comes from a working class background, is a trade union member and leader and a former member of the military two institutions greatly respected in communities like this. If he can get money from those that have it (i.e the socially liberal yuppies) and draw at least half of the traditional Democratic vote that is likely leading Donato’s way then I am sure he can win in the primary.  While some might criticize him starting so early remember that Deval Patrick was the first declared candidate and in nearly two years rose from an asterik in the polls to the Corner Office and I am sure McCabe can do just that.

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    God speed Patrick and please feel free to join us here at Bluemass and get ideas, maybe volunteers, and maybe even some money from fellow progressives.  It looks like I will have a free/boring summer so I for one am ready to help set up an office, website, etc.

  8. Anti-gay wedge politics hasn’t been winning in Massachusetts – don’t know why Donato would commit himself to that strategy, unless he genuinely is prejudiced against gays and lesbians. 

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    It’s great to see a credible challenger emerge, even if it’s too late for this concon. 

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    I don’t live in Donato’s district, but I know people who do who have been trying to influence him.  His support for the school gag bill is a slap in the face to the Medford high school kids who met with him and to all of the Medford gay and lesbian couples who have been reaching out to him to talk about their opposition to the anti-marriage amendment.

    • We’re still over a week away. Maybe this little nudge will help Mr. Donato better understand the political realities of his situation.

  9. A refreshing change for the residents!  I’m looking forward to fighting the good fight.  Thanks Patrick! You can do it!

  10. GREAT NEWS. Donato is a blight on the good name of Massachusetts. Please post a website and someplace we can send checks when you have a chance (or it exists).

  11. Confirmation from a sane source is needed, but MassResistance claims the following in their latest email update.  If true, people in DOnato’s district should call and thank him, and ask him what other issues he might be reconsidering…

    === 1.  Co-Sponsor of Parents Rights Bill (S321) caves in to homosexual pressure – now says he’ll oppose it! Rep. Paul Donato, a longtime ‘pro-family’ rep, now says bill is “too extreme.” Has “no problem” with gay programs in schools, he told us.  ===

    It’s like being in a wacky science-fiction movie.

    Rep. Paul Donato (D-Medford), a long-time reliable pro-family state representative, has shocked parents and citizens by announcing that he is taking a 180-degree turn and will now oppose the Parents Rights Bill (S321). This follows several days of very heavy lobbying by local homosexual activists (most of whom do not actually live in his district), including meetings with Donato. And they’re now bragging about it.

    But back on March 13, 2007, Rep. Donato personally called our office and told us that “fully supports” the Parents Rights Bill, “and will speak positively for it.” A few days later Donato’s office contacted Sen. Hedlund’s office and requested that he be named a co-sponsor.

    But when we spoke with him Tuesday, he claimed that he hadn’t read the bill carefully and that he’s now decided it’s “too extreme.” Then he spent several minutes elaborating on what he says he believes about your public schools.

    He told us that if a school displays poster with two men embracing as a romantic couple, that’s fine with him. We asked him about a high school assembly where a young man told the students that he’s taking hormones to “become” a female and will be having his genitals removed. Donato told us he has no problem with that. He emphasized that schools need to be telling kids – even young children – about same-sex parenting and same-sex “families”.

    He told us that these things are “the realities of life today” and that kids (and parents) need to get used to it. And that in his opinion, parents do not have the right to decide whether or not to “opt-in” their kids into these or similar programs. He was adamant about it. When we brought up the David Parker incident, he didn’t want to talk about it.

    Incredible. We could not believe what we were hearing. It takes a lot to shock us, but this really did it.

    • RED ALERT! RED ALERT! MassResistance has hacked Rep. Donato’s e-mail box, wiretapped his phone line and verified all callers and mailers as homosexuals, and also verified that these callers and mailers were from out of the district. How else could they know that evil out-of-district homosexual activits are behind Rep. Donato’s compassionate change of heart? Could it be that this is most likely an inaccurate assumption?

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      For the record, many of the noisemakers, callers and e-mailers that I know were in fact heterosexual and located in the district!

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      It’s good to see that Mr. Donato is finally listening to his constituents and not the out-of-touch and out-of-state losers bused in to make our lives hell. At least most of them can’t afford to actually live here, which makes them only a temporary (and unsightly) nuisance. Anyway, talk about eating their own! I guess Rep. Donato’s past loyalty to the pro-hatefamily lobby doesn’t count.

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      I’d like to thank Rep. Donato for changing his position and now hope he reconsiders his stance on same-sex marriage.

      • The man answering Donato’s phone said that
        a) Rep Donato is not a sponsor of SB321 because he never signed the necessary form.  Rater, someone called in his name as a sponsor, and
        b) Rep Donato is not stating a position on the bill at the moment, but is looking it over.

        • A few questions for Rep. Donato were posted to the MedfordMass discussion group. Here are Paul’s responses to my questions, which he sent to me via e-mail:

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          1. Will you actually have your name removed from the sponsor list? YES

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          2. Will you continue to support this bill? NO

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          3. How will you vote on the bill if it makes it to the floor? NO

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          He was very specific in the e-mail in order to avoid any confusion. I wonder why the person in the office is not providing as clear an answer as the rep.

    • It could be that Donato never really meant to support this bill.  Or it could be that he didn’t realize how much people opposed it, or thought nobody was watching.  If it’s something like that, he probably wouldn’t say it in so many words, so we may never know… but if it is something like that, perhaps this change might be the first dividend on Patrick McCabe’s challenge.

  12. Not only is Donato removing his name from Bill S321, but KTN received confirmation so far that thanks to phone calls and emails…Senator Bruce Tarr, Senator Richard Tisei and Rep Chris Fallon are also sending in letters to the Senate Clerk and requesting their names be removed.

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    I have some theories as to why their names appeared in the first place, but at least they are removing their names now.  Donato’s office is claiming some sort of umm shall we say “deception” in how his name was placed on the Bill.

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    I made a follow-up phone call to Brian Camenker and Brian said that Donato’s office called and asked that his name be put on the Bill back in March.  Hedlund’s office explained that the procedure is for co-sponsors to call or email Hedlund (as the chief sponsor) and request to add their names.  Hedlund’s office has confirmed that they have records of these requests from all but Richard Tisei.

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    Also, I learned that Sen. Hedlund is a process lege regarding bills.  As long as one of his constitutents provides the required information, Hedlund will be the chief sponsor for “any” bill no matter what the language–that is his policy.  So now we know who “opened the door” for Camenker’s little piece of hateful trash. 

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