All the candidates have deep roots in East Boston, all of them obviously have a lot of affection for it, and I don’t doubt that they’d all work hard for their constituents if elected. (By the way, Hubster has been covering this race like a rug — he’s published interviews with 3 of the 4 candidates, with the 4th soon to come, and he has written other stories on the race as well. Check him out for more info on this race.) However, from the progressive perspective, two of the candidates can be ruled out right away. Carlo Basile has publicly backed Republicans in the two gubernatorial elections — Romney in 2002, Healey in 2006. Basile perhaps tried to back away from his DINO-ish reputation today by backing in-state tuition for children of undocumented immigrants, but then circled back to it by unequivocally opposing same-day voter registration.
Mary Berninger emerged as the conservative in this race. She’s against in-state tuition, in favor of rolling the income tax back to 5.0%, and was the only solidly pro-casino voice on the stage. She also opposes same-day voter registration, and called for requiring a photo ID on election day. To combat the non-existent epidemic of voter fraud, apparently. That’s all fine, if you’re into that kind of thing.
That leaves Jeff Drago and Gloribell Mota. Drago is a proud product of the Menino machine — he worked for four years as Mayor Menino’s East Boston neighborhood liaison, an experience that he mentioned every chance he got in today’s forum, and more recently held another city job working on economic development (according to his bio, “where he has assisted small and local businesses in East Boston in obtaining grants, loans and technical-assistance monies”). He’s also tight with ex-Senator Travaglini (who calls him a “friend,”, and who appears prominently in a photo on Drago’s home page), and with Sen. Petruccelli, who spoke at his campaign kickoff and who appears elsewhere on the site as well. He was the most overtly partisan of all the candidates, mentioning several times this morning how bad federal and state Republican administrations have been for East Boston, and how he has only worked for and supported Democrats (a not-so-subtle dig at Basile, most likely). Drago is only 28 years old, so he appears to have spent his entire career in city government, and is now looking to move up.
Most of Drago’s stands on the issues are standard-issue Democratic, perhaps even leaning a bit left. He favors in-state tuition; he opposes the death penalty (as do all the candidates); and opposes rolling the income tax back because, he says, it means losing needed services. However, borrowing a page from Senator Petruccelli’s playbook, he says we need to do more study and answer more questions on same-day voter registration before we move forward with it. (What more is there to study? Seven states have it; it works fine there and seems to boost voter turnout; and voter fraud — always given as the reason not to do it — is a totally fake issue. Give me a break.)
Mota is a different story. Her background has been in both the public sector (working for Councillor Felix Arroyo) and the non-profit sector– she’s worked with the East Boston Health Center, ABCD, and affordable housing organizations, as well as United for a Fair Economy. She was the Executive Director of the Mary Ellen McCormack Task Force in South Boston, where she worked on job training and placement among other issues. She’s a solid progressive on the issues, including support for same-day voter registration. She strongly believes in involving the community in the decisions that impact it — when Charley and I met with her a few weeks back, she told us over and over again that she wants to boost civic engagement in her community as a way of empowering it. Also, as the daughter of El Salvadoran and Dominican immigrants, she is the only candidate who speaks Spanish in a community that is rapidly changing — according to the Globe, East Boston was relatively recently an overwhelmingly Italian neighborhood but is now about 40% Latino.
Mota is right on all the issues; she’s a passionate advocate for her community; she’s worked hard for organizations that are all about helping people who are in need, and she’s been successful doing it. She has the most interesting and varied background of any of the candidates. She’s got the backing of solid progressive organizations, like Mass. Alliance, Neighbor to Neighbor, and Oiste. And, if Jon Keller is to be believed, we could use more women and people of color in our government. Here’s hoping the people of the 1st Suffolk district vote to send her to Beacon Hill on September 25.
But can Mota win? A Basile victory would be a step backward for the legislature and it seems to me that Drago is in the best position to beat Basile.
about the polling? The only thing I heard was a vague assertion by some “insider” that Basile was way ahead. http://thehubsterblo… And why do you think Drago is in a better position? The Menino connections? That certainly means something, but I'm impressed that Mota has many connections of her own.
Anyway, in the absence of reliable and ample evidence that one candidate or another has a prohibitive advantage, I think the right move is to endorse the candidate we like best.
if enough people vote for her! đŸ˜‰ Anyway, I’m kinda done with choosing candidates based on a vague sense of who other people are likely to vote for. I made that mistake once, and that was one time too many.
The question is can we win. I'm SICK AND TIRED of these same people saying wait your turn. I've seen some good leaders over the years throw thier careers away because they listened to others and not thier supporters. This girl has shown she has the guts and passion to represent us in the house. She was on fire yestreday. I would have voted for her anyway but now i feel compelled to work on the campaign. Public saftey is my main thing. I often have been labeled a hawk and have clashed with liberal leaders but she gets it. Keeping a community safe requires hard and smart moves. Give the kids jobs, but make sure we have the officers in the community to deal with those who committ crimes. Reform CORI to give those who want to change a fair chance but send the mnessgae that thre cops are still there and we as a community WON”T tolerate you coming back to do the same stupid stuff. So, are WE winnable? I sure as hell am.
Just from a practical standpoint, it seems like her candidacy is dependent on getting out the Hispanic vote. However, the big challenge there is the same challenge of working with any immigrant population: you need to register all the available residents to vote. Seeing how the registration date for this primary has already passed, it looks to me like the best grassroots opportunity to affect this race is already gone.
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Don’t get me wrong; I think that grassroots visibility and shoe leather can still go a long way in getting out the Mota vote in East Boston. But it just seems like Drago has a significant institutional advantage and I’m not sure what this endorsement does to change that at this point. Drago’s not a bad candidate and I think he’d serve East Boston well, but Mota just seems like she has more experience with the nuts and bolts of both government and constituent services. To put it another way, I’d think that Mota would react better and more quickly to the challenges that would face her neighborhood.
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And I still can’t believe that Carlo Basile gets to run as a Democrat in this race, considering that he wouldn’t be allowed in a state Democratic Convention at this point.
I agree and the true reason I'm going out and taking a chance on Mota is she seems to have a strong orginization behind her. In order to push things you need to be ready to move people and have people that believe in you. I was torn but can see clear tha6t she deserves my vote.
As a former colleague of his during my City Hall days, I saw how hard Jeff worked for the people of East Boston as a neighborhood liaison. Folks in those positions work long hours, go to lots of community meetings, deal with a range of issues and work on a lot of service requests — in short, great preparation for the job of state representative.
Hopefully, the seat can and will be kept in progressive Democratic hands.
Ok, can everyone out here please grow up and get a grip on reality? Mota has no chance in this election. In fact, it is unlikely that even Jeff has a dog in this fight. Hate it or love it, the underdog is on top: GO CARLO BASILE.
I know Gloribell will do great things as State Representative in Eastie. She has a knowledge of the issues and of what policy changes can truly address the. She has a passion for the work that got her labeled a work-a-holic and a strong orginization that is going to push her to victory. The fact that she has worked as an educator on state taxes, Executive Director in charge of connecting residents with job training, job placemnet and advocacy and her almost nerdy but admirable involvement in her son's education really speak to her dedication and character. I'll be voting for her on the 25th.
So, what street do you live on in East Boston? The reason why I ask centers around the fact that virtually everyone that supports Mota lives outside of EB.
For full disclosures sake I'm an Orleans Street/Jeffries Point fellow.
As a proud resident of East Boston (Everett Street/Jeffries Point), as well as an active Mota volunteer, I will say that Gloribell has received support and encouragement from people outside of the district. Quite frankly I do not see the problem with that. I have been a part of politics in Massachusetts for years, and have yet to see a successful politician who does not have supporters outside of the boundaries of their district. In fact, I would be incredibly skeptical of electing someone, especially to a body like the state legislature, who could not create a message that worked outside of the defined limits of their electoral area.
With all that said, I know for a fact that Gloribell has tremendous support from residents of the community. In fact, many of Gloribell's supporters are probably not registering with the pundits and powers that be, simply because this is the first time they have felt engaged enough to participate in a local race. This marked increase in civic engagement across the district will be a part of the great legacy of Gloribell's campaign, and will hopefully show you the error of your commentary.
Brooks Street/Eagle Hill. And we are BOTH suprised at the amount of support she has recieved. Did you get the mailing? I did.
Underdoggs do not raise triple the money as others from connected Republicans mainly OUTSIDE of East Boston (just like Carlo Basile helped raise 650,000 for Kerry Healey). I saw a car today with a sticker of Basile AND of someone running for ward 6 City Council. East Boston's city council seat is DITRICT 1. It was for someone in the town that the supporter lives in. It's pretty known that Carlo Basile has the most out-of-Eastie support.
I complteley understand you both.
Howardjp: I know Jeff personally. And yes he worked hard as liaison to Eastie but I don't think he has the experiance to be an effective state rep and I told him that. He has a little more growing to do as a person.
Paulas: I know how you and others feel. I'm a personal friend of Jeff NOT the Mayor. We often debated his policies and although I voted for him over Hennigan I take major issue with his neglect of East Boston and willingess to try and control our elected representatives. Thast being said, I was not suprised but was hurt when Carlo Basile opened that office for Healey in Day Square. And although Shanon had her problems he helped Romney in 2002 and then Bush in 04. Did youm know that? YES Bush in 04. It's clear he is running as a Dem only because a Republican could not win in this district. No offense.
Now Mota has by far the most experiance to represent us at the State House. She aslo has the best grip on the issues. After i told a volunteer I was undecided a month ago she called me personally and really impressed me with her stances on issues and sincerety. We should not stick it to ourselves just to stcik it to Mayor. He isn't worth it. Lets elect who is best for us. What do you think?
I think that an important factor in looing atMrs. Mota is te fact that the establishment knows, repsects and as we have seen latley kind of fears her. At the same time she is indepedent of the establishment and seems to be a very value oriented person. I feel like Carlo Basile will be isolated at the State House as a Republican who helped Kerry Healey and Mitt Romney who bashes our state evry chance he gets. Then again some say that will aloow him to be independent asd the establishment is helping Jeff and not Basile. Now Jeff knows how to get things done and won't be isolated at the State House but would be 100% beholden to the establishment and special interests that got him elected. Now Mota, has a great middle. She knows how to work with goverment through her two years at City Hall, she knows the players and they respect her, and at the same time she is a community girl at heart. Thats important. And I know folks arer tired of hearing it from me but she knows how to pay for what we need and not to promise what she can't pay for. She worked as a Tax Fairness Educator on a state level and understands where money comes from, who's paying, who's NOT paying and who should pay thier fair share. To some of us moderate Dems that is big and why we get a little nervous at those who promise to eradictae poverty in two years in office.