Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Enough. Senator Galluccio should step down.

By

The Globe reports the following:

Cambridge police gave state Senator Anthony Galluccio a ride home early the morning of Oct. 4 when a gas station attendant called 911 and said he feared the lawmaker was “too intoxicated to drive,” according to a police report made public today. Thirteen hours later Galluccio was behind the wheel and fleeing the scene of a crash after rear-ending a minivan and hurting a 13-year-old boy.

Good Lord.  So, was Galluccio drunk when he rear-ended the van?  Or was he sober, but so terrified that the police, having driven him home drunk only a few hours earlier, would throw the book at him, that he drove away?

It doesn’t matter.  Leaving the scene of an accident is a serious offense; driving to a restaurant that closes at 1 a.m. and ending up so drunk that your friend has to drive you home at 4:30 a.m. (what happened to those three and a half hours, anyway?) shows, at best, questionable judgment for any 42-year-old, to say nothing of a state Senator.  Add to that Galluccio’s history of drinking and driving, and, well …

I hope Galluccio gets help for what seems to me to be a significant problem with alcohol and driving.  He needs to leave the Senate in order to focus on that — it’s more important to him, and to the public.  He is very fortunate that, so far, he has not seriously injured anyone, though the extent of the harm to the 13-year-old he injured last month appears to be unclear.  He should do something about this before his luck runs out.

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  1. Police said they determined that Galluccio’s car was not at the gas station and he hadn’t been driving the second car, so they decided to drive him home themselves, according to the police report, which was filed on Oct. 29.

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    p>http://www.bostonherald.com/ne…

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    p>While this is in no way a defense of Senator Galluccio leaving the scene of an accident 13 hours later, the Cambridge Police incident report clearly states that 13 hours earlier:

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    p>

    Mr. Galluccio’s motor vehicle was not present at 515 Concord Ave. At no time did he attempt to drive a motor vehicle at this location.

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    p>http://www.scribd.com/doc/2261…

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    p>And it was stated that the Senator’s car was parked at another location, so he clearly had not been driving that car either.

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    p>Whatever poor judgement the Senator had in his personal actions that night, it apparently did not extend to driving under the influence. And I can see how this earlier situation would have spooked him into a much larger lapse in judgement when leaving the scene.

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    p>Good people make mistakes, they even make more than one mistake. It doesn’t lessen the other parts of their lives. Let the voters in his District, not the blogs determine if Anthony Galluccio stays their State Senator and let the legal system take its course.  

    • What exactly do you mean by:

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      p>

      Let the voters in his District, not the blogs determine if Anthony Galluccio stays their State Senator and let the legal system take its course.

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      p>The blogs will not determine anything other than to provide reality based commentary regarding politics. David is entitled to his opinion, so are you, but we all have to question whether we as taxpaying residents of MA should accept Anthony Galluccio continuing to serve as a member of a governing body.

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      p>Waiting until the fall of 2010 might not be an acceptable option for many of his constituents and the other members of the senate who serve with distinction and not under a cloud of poor judgment and legal troubles.  

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      p>And your defense of the senator here is predictable:

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      p>

      Whatever poor judgement the Senator had in his personal actions that night, it apparently did not extend to driving under the influence. And I can see how this earlier situation would have spooked him into a much larger lapse in judgement when leaving the scene.

      <

      p>I am sure your Union endorsed the senator when he ran and I am sure he is one of the members you go to when you all need a dependable labor vote. Fine, I get that. But it would appear that you are not looking at the totality of the situation.  This is not the first time Senator Galluccio has had legal issues regarding drunken driving. The part that I think you are glossing over is the lack of an admission of a problem. He so very clearly has a personal issue that needs to be dealt with and very quickly. The fact that he hasn’t proactively done that leads me to the conclusion that he is flawed and not the best person to be serving the people of the his district.

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      p>I don’t want to sound like an after school special, but if he cannot help himself, then who can he help?

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      p>

    • leaving the scene of an accident as having been “spooked” by an earlier situation or this conclusion: “Whatever poor judgement the Senator had in his personal actions that night, it apparently did not extend to driving under the influence” On the basis of what facts?

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      p>It sounds like a bit of a stretch, a feeble attempt to minimize the issue and provide cover for a problem for which there is a public interest in having justly addressed. Do we not already know enough to know he is a public menace?

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      p>  

    • Whether an inpatient detox is needed or not is a medical call – but Galluccio should not indulge in alcohol, period.  I am biased, I admit, as my own sobriety date is 1978 and for me, personally, alcohol is poison but at least I know my biologically based problem and abstain completely.

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      p>Personally, I am grateful to both AA and friends who never push me to use alcohol because for me, alcohol is toxic.

      <

      p>I am not saying it is for everyone – but until Galluccio can admit he has a problem, he is a problem.

      • Should they lose their jobs?  What if a politician had ALS or cancer?  Should a politician lose their position for either of those diseases?  Certainly they are impaired.

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        p>Yes, it is a serious problem.  A medical problem.  If we got rid of all the alcoholics in the local, state, federal level how many would be left?

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        p>It isn’t too difficult to think of how many politicians were or are (in)famous for their lack of sobriety.

        <

        p>

    • Thanks for your comment — there are so many of us in the Senator’s District that are recovering, fully functioning  addicts of one substance or another who are both appreciative of his voting record and support of health and human service programs, work on behalf of low wage workers, that we want to give him a chance to take care of himself. And we want to do what we can to help and support him.

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      p>The idea of picketing and jamming the court room to make sure he gets the “punishment he deserves” is frankly distasteful to say the very least.

      <

      p>Maybe participants will will be signaling the Judge by throwing up a thumbs up or down like the mobs signaled the Gladiators that it was ok to put the last touches on some slaves in the Roman Coliseum? Yuk.

      • he was not held accountable to the same standard other citizens are, under the law, becuase of his position (and I don’t know the details so I don’t know if that’s the case here but if it is) wouldn’t they be wholly justified?

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        p>He does need help and I hope he gets it. When it comes to lawbreaking he must be held accountable to the same standard as the law dictates and i our prosecutors practice to enforce.  While this episode is far short of rendering torture legal and conducting it, it is potentially symptomatic of government above the law.  

      • that, at this point, the best way “to help and support him” is to make clear to him that even his staunchest backers no longer think he should be serving in the Senate.  That is the only way to convince him to get the help he needs.  If you don’t want to show up at a courthouse picket, fine.  But what is your view on his continued service in the Senate, in light of serious criminal charges against him (as to which there seems to be little doubt of his guilt) and, even more worrisome, the prospect of more people being hurt if his behavior continues as it’s been going?

        • I wish we, you, or anybody else could decide what is the best way to convince the Senator to seek treatment. As anybody who loves an addict can tell you, we can threaten, plead, beg, bully all we want, but it’s the addict that knows when she/he has hit bottom and decides to seek treatment. Sometimes 5 or 6 times before it finally works.

          <

          p>We talking about a clinical disease here that is aided and abetted by an industry that employs thousands of people  and creates all kinds of other wealth and jobs in the advertising,packaging and retail industry and is taxed by local and federal governments every step along the way to our gullets.

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          p>So for what it is worth, if the Senator pleads guilty, takes the penalty, goes into treatment (AKA Patrick Kennedy and other numerous other elected officials)and continues to serve his constituents to their satisfaction (as demonstrated at a primary in September of 2010, I think it’s fine for him to serve the rest of his term and run for re election.

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          p>I don’t really know the folk behind this vigil, I can only assume they are not in the business of offering help and support, but the vituperative tone makes me suspect they are either personal enemies or are setting the stage for other candidates.  

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          p>  

          •  I did. Cost me three grand and minor embarrassment. Do it a second time: more money and a two week stint in rehab. You gotta be really stupid or have a major problem to want to get caught more than twice. Did Galluccio go through the usual process for his first time? Or was he a State Senator” I’m sorry, he’s not just an entitled democrat anymore. He’s a multiple DUI convict! I hope I speak for most democrats as well. HE HAS TO PAY! When he progresses to kill a family member of yours, you probably will change your mind. By then its too late.

            • Sometimes it takes longer……….

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              p>

              As anybody who loves an addict can tell you, we can threaten, plead, beg, bully all we want, but it’s the addict that knows when she/he has hit bottom and decides to seek treatment. Sometimes 5 or 6 times before it finally works.  

              •  I was just stating the procedure. My rehab teacher was a smarmy little dude. He carried a breathalyzer. always wanted to try to smell my breath. We just can’t allow Galluccio to drive the streets as his condition and attitude stand.

          • First off, Judy, I love your book Lobbying on a Shoestring.  I recommend folks to go buy this excellent primer on Beacon Hill law-making.

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            p>Second, I am guessing that you or someone you are close with has struggled with addiction, and for that, my heart goes out to you.  Someone close to me is a therapist for people with addictions and I must say it is one of the most challenging and mountain-moving jobs one could have.

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            p>Third, I’m afraid your priorities might be out of order for this one.  Perhaps you are not familiar with Galluccio’s lousy driving record, but since you have a Galluccio-healing agenda, I’m sure you are familiar with the term enabler. One could argue that the state of Massachusetts (really, the people of Massachusetts) has enabled this man’s dangerous driving practices by essentially giving him a free pass at every opportunity that he committed a serious motor vehicle violation.  This pattern of a community standing silently by while a governor, the courts, and other political friends, bail him out over a span of 22 years (1984 to 2006) is the antithesis of compassion.

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            p>You see Judy, compassion is intervening.  Compassion is sitting someone down, forcing them to stop and take a breath, and getting them to admit that they have a problem.  Compassion is speaking the truth, even if it creates some relational (or, in this case, political) friction.  But what compassion is NOT is sitting on the sidelines and fretting about how best to “threaten, plead, beg, bully” an addict, and being self-conscious and sad that it probably won’t work, or worrying we might come off as “distasteful” in the process.

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            p>So, one could argue that our “court vigil” is even a part of Galluccio’s healing process.  He, and those close to him, need to know that his behavior is out of control, and the community is telling him, boldly and directly, that he has a problem.  

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            p>Of course, this is not our “official” stance.  Our official stance is simple justice.  Galluccio needs to be prosecuted just like you or I would for a similar offense, given a similar driving history.  That’s all.  Justice can be the first step toward his healing process.

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            p>Fourth, why do you run to play Galluccio-apologist, when there’s a whole other party to protect — as a few other commenters deftly pointed out — the public?  How about your compassion for the others in our community that Galluccio has not only put at risk, but has single-handedly injured?  How about the 13-year-old boy who can’t move his arm above his shoulder two months after the accident?  Where is your compassion for him?  Where is your compassion for the next victim, who might even be killed?

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            p>Fifth, this snippet of yours in particular interests me:

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            p>

            I don’t really know the folk behind this vigil, I can only assume they are not in the business of offering help and support, but the vituperative tone makes me suspect they are either personal enemies or are setting the stage for other candidates.  

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            p>Your fixation on tone and your blank speculation about ulterior motives indicates a disassociation with the simple facts on the ground.  The “vituperative tone,” Judy, is simple anger.  If it were your son that was slammed in the back at a reported 20 mph by an enabled irresponsible (probably drunk) driver, you would be so angry, you wouldn’t have the rational capacity to use the word “vituperative.”  Try “pissed” instead.  It might bring you closer to the pain his parents must feel right now.  However, to dissolve your suspicions, I will hereby reveal the dual agenda of the protest:

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            p>1. Public Safety
            2. Equal Treatment Under the Law

            • Period. Ask your friend the substance abuse counselor. Ask a recovering person. Successful interventions are best carried out by friends and family whom the addict trusts as having no other motovation than helping to heal.

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              p>I truly cannot fathom how Friday’s action will advance your stated cause of public safety and equal treatment under the law. Maybe you think all the signs and people will influence the judge?

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              p>The action may help you and others resolve your personal anger by discharging all that negative energy on someone else.

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              p>It’s never worked for me — discharging my anger at somebody else, even someone who has directly harmed me or the people I care about.

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              p>Good example is my efforts to write and promote Lobbying. Thank you very much for the compliment.

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              p>I am constantly really, really, really pissed about various stupid, mean spirited, unjust policies our own government imposes on us all and that bear down on most partiularly on unorganized powerless populations like low income people, people of color and ethnic communities and immigrants to name a few.

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              p>So I work with those communities and teach them how to organize themselves, build their own political power and  change those public policies.

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              p>BTW I’m still pretty angry, but winning a few victories now and then helps a lot.

              <

              p>Go in peace my friend, go in peace.  

              • While I agree with you that as an intervention, the public protest at the courthouse isn’t likely to hasten the Senator’s much-needed journey into treatment, I do think it is an appropriate public response to his situation. My own sister didn’t see the light until she was confronted by the other mothers in her carpool who believed vodka at 7 AM and small children in a car was a bad combination; she’s been sober 21 years. But Galluccio is a public servant, and the public has a right to vent its anger in a loud and visible way. In a stretch when we’ve seen House speakers indicted and bribes taken on videotape, it’s time we make it clear that the Massachusetts public expects its elected officials to behave in accordance with law. I don’t know the senator, I don’t live in his district, but I believe that he is undeserving of the public’s trust as a senator, and the state Senate’s confidence, until he takes responsibility for his actions.

                • whose kids were in danger being in the car with a drunk.

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                  p>A ideal intervention, and since your sister, I assume is not a public person, the intervention did not include pickets with signs chanting outside for the cameras and the news reporters.

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                  p>My point to The Watch, is that she/he should not call this public acccountabily session a healing intervention for the Senator, but a public accountabilty action for the Judge.

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                  p>And finally the Senators constituents have a right to be angry and disappointed in his behavior.

                  <

                  p>If the Senator, on Friday, steps forward and admits his addiction, takes his punishment for the hit and run, goes into treatment and holds up under public scrutiny for the next 8 months, the Senator’s constituents will decide at the polls in September. Anyway, I think the time is right for a candidate to challange him at the polls whatever happens on Friday.  

              • Judy,

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                p>Still no word from you about the public needs.  Still no word about the need for justice.  

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                p>In fact, the protest is not calling on Galluccio to do anything.  It is calling on the Plymouth DA and the Senate President NOT to arrange a sweetheart court deal.

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                p>It is to address the arrogance of pols’ Machiavellian mentality to escape proper punishment, justice, etc.  Galluccio has walked away scott-free for far too long.

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                p>The public wants justice.  They want respect.

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                p>You are fixated on Galluccio’s healing process, but not on fairness and justice, and addressing this ongoing arrogance from Beacon Hill, which really surprises me.

                • In fact, the protest is not calling on Galluccio to do anything.

                  Really?

                  GOOCH: STRIKE THREE. YOU’RE OUT.
                  GOOCH: IF YOU WON’T COMMENT, WE SURE WILL.

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                  p>I’m a big fan of calling for justice.  I’m also a big fan of being tough on drunk drivers because they’re recklessly and needlessly endangered others.

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                  p>But, the tone of this “call to action” seems a bit too vitriolic for my tastes, as if there’s a complex mix of other motivations under the surface.

      • assembling before a Roman judge to demand accountability after a drunken Senator runs over a slave child with his chariot. Though their chances of seeing any justice done would likely be nil, I couldn’t fault them for at least staging a protest.    

    • Here is where we end the usual Beacon Hill arrogance.  
      No one is above the law.  
      Join us to make sure Galluccio gets NO SPECIAL COURT DEAL.

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      p>WHAT: GALLUCCIO COURT VIGIL
      WHEN:  FRIDAY 11/20/2009, 9AM to 12PM
      WHERE: CAMBRIDGE DISTRICT COURT
      4040 Mystic Valley Pkwy
      Medford, MA

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      p>Full Details

  2. At this point a special election to fill the vacancy will be a few months into the new year.  Then we’ll just have to do it all again in the fall.  If Mark Falzone by any chance lives in one of the Saugus precincts represented by Gallucio he would be my choice for a successor.

  3. Senator Galluccio’s luck ran out when he injured Samuel Tager and his family and then left the scene.

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    p>He should step down, NOW.

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    p>Actually, he should be behind bars now.

  4. Thank you Globe, for tearing down the last barrier for the hesitant and intimidated in our community to take ACTION.

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    p>WHAT: GALLUCCIO COURT VIGIL
    WHEN:  FRIDAY 11/20/2009, 9AM to 12PM
    WHERE: CAMBRIDGE DISTRICT COURT
    4040 Mystic Valley Pkwy
    Medford, MA
    Google Map to Cambridge District Court

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    p>Bring a sign.  Here’s some message ideas:
    NO SPECIAL DEAL FOR GALLUCCIO
    WILL GALLUCCIO INJURE YOUR KID NEXT?
    SENATE PREZ: DON’T LET HIM OFF THE HOOK… AGAIN!
    D.A. TIM CRUZ: DON’T DO HIM THE USUAL FAVORS.
    GOOCH: STRIKE THREE. YOU’RE OUT.
    GOOCH: IF YOU WON’T COMMENT, WE SURE WILL.

    <

    p>We need to ENSURE — not HOPE, but ENSURE — that he gets prosecuted to the full extent of the law.  Sitting on our duffs and typing away, we are close to powerless.  Standing on the streets, in the faces of our elected officials, the court clerk, the Plymouth DA, the Cambridge Police — we elicit serious attention from the press, and serious pause from some of our arrogant public “leaders,” who have been conditioned to believe they are above the law.

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    p>Unlike, perhaps, Striker57 and his ilk, we do not kow-tow because we need a future favor.  We have no political agenda.  We have an ethical agenda.  We have a public safety agenda.  We have an agenda that demands respect, and protection of our neighbors and our children.  We help reinvigorate and give voice to a public that has buried its sensibilities of the common good in the morass of cynicism and fear (often cleverly covered by gadfly intellectualism and political gamesmanship).

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    p>Join us!

    <

    p>WHAT: GALLUCCIO COURT VIGIL
    WHEN:  FRIDAY 11/20/2009, 9AM to 12PM
    WHERE: CAMBRIDGE DISTRICT COURT
    4040 Mystic Valley Pkwy
    Medford, MA
    Google Map to Cambridge District Court

    <

    p>Email info@getmyballot.com if you have any questions.

  5. Should decide his fate. He should go to jail. But like “Cinderella” Paul Kujawski, it’ll cost him a few bucks, he’ll get his license back and he’ll be on his merry way. I most sincerely hope not.

      • My nephew, for reasons that are still not clear to me, was stranded about an hour from his home.  At about 1 AM the police questioned him and it was clear that his ride was unlikely to appear.  He was driven home in a series of police cars as he was dropped off at one town line and driven to the next.  I seem to recall that there were 13 cars involved in getting him home.  

        • Police spot somebody by the side of the road — lost teen, or confused senior citizen they give them a ride home.

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          p>A suburban housewife or middle class man a little “happy” as my grandmother used to say, by the side of the road and they make a snap judgment to take the person home instead of filing a drunk and disorderly.

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          p>They do sometimes arrest homeless people in deep winter, and then only to get them out of the cold.    

    • I seem to remember this coming up regarding Marzilli and when I checked the MA constitution then I could not find any expulsion provisions similar to the federal constitution.

      • Strip him of committee assignments.  Give him the leaky office in a broom closet.  Not return his phone calls.

  8. RIP Ted Kennedy.

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    p>I only mention this because political ideology seems to shape some peoples perception of these things.  I doubt you felt Senator Kennedy was unfit for office.  His luck never ran out and his victim died.

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    p>No excuse for Senator Galluccio…don’t know if he’ll step down.  Perhaps you are right and he should resign.  He’ll have a very difficult time if he seeks re-election.  He is not a Kennedy.  He’ll likely pay a price for his crime and rightfully so.

    <

    p>  

    • It’s possible that in the immediate aftermath of Chappaquiddick I might have had a similar reaction as I have toward Galluccio.  However that happened nine years before I was born.  By the time I had heard about Chappaquiddick and was old enough to form political opinions Kennedy had been re-elected multiple times since the incident, usually overwhelmingly.  Therefore, I concluded that the people of Massachusetts had forgiven him and it was a dead horse no longer worth beating.

  9. Bob gets a whole post’s worth of dudgeon out of the typos from the Khazei campaign, then informs us that “David is far to generous in his assessment”.

        • As I said at the time.

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          p>Rest easy, Sabutai, the grammar police aren’t coming after you.

          <

          p>I still think it’s pretty amusing that a candidate for U.S. Senate can’t even spell the word “American.”

          • still think it’s pretty amusing that a candidate for U.S. Senate can’t even spell the word “American.”

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            p>He cannot spell American?  Cannot?  As in unable to?  He’s illiterate?  He’s cognitively impaired?  Kinda childish, dontcha think?

            <

            p>BTW, is this really necessary?  Seems gratuitiously nasty to me as well as patently untrue.  You can say what you like on your blog, but given your concern for propriety and civility, I’d think you’d think twice before posting stuff like this.

            • You are quite right, I am sure he can. As to childish and mean-spirited, not at all. I expect a lot from Mr. Khazei and he disappointed me (or, more likely, someone on his staff did a lousy job). I think he should be held to a high standard given his abilities and the office he is running for. More generally, it speaks to the management of his campaign operation. That’s all.  

  10. Galluccio would resign.  He is an elected official, and we should expect more integrity from our elected officials, no matter what the excuse is for their behavior.  This was not the first time Galluccio has been involved in an alcohol-related incident.  He has a history of such incidents.  He could have, and should have, sought treatment in the past, but apparently he decided not to.  This time he drove into a van with a family inside, injured a child, and then left the scene of the accident.  (Luckily no one died)  Enough is enough.  He needs to be a man and accept responsibility for his actions.  He needs to think about how his behavior affects the public’s view of the position he holds. He needs to resign now and seek treatment.  No more excuses.      

  11. Rather than taking a passive approach to this matter, by requesting that Galluccio step down, why doesn’t someone take an active role and declare his/her candidacy for the seat?

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    p>If all we do is blast him quasi-anonymously on message boards, hold emotion-driven protests and don’t actually work to resolve the underlying problem, why, that makes us no better than — Republicans.  

    • The Middlesex, Suffolk and Essex Senate District is a strange and extremely gerrymandered district.  It snakes from Southwest Cambridge, through Central Square, through the southern portion of East Somerville, and up through Charlestown, Everett, Chelsea, Revere and Saugus.  

      <

      p>This is all to say, there are a number of different constituencies within his district, and there are very few potential candidates that would be appealing in both Chelsea and West Cambridge.  Galluccio was effective as a candidate partially because he was able to connect with voters in the more heavily working class areas of his district, while also having built name recognition in Cambridge during his several terms on the Cambridge City Council and as Mayor of Cambridge.  

      <

      p>He is the most successful City Council candidate Cambridge has seen in recent memory, consistently getting a larger % of #1 votes than any candidate in the last 50 years.  His ability to appeal to the stereotypical Cambridge Liberal as well as the working class Union Democrats of East Somerville, Chelsea, Everett, etc was an enormous strength for him.  

      <

      p>While he is certainly vulnerable in 2010, it is by no means a foregone conclusion that he will not be reelected (assuming he is not sent to jail or banished by the Sen Pres first).  

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