(note: unpaid Harrington volunteer here writing from the heart without any vetting by the campaign)
The recent dust-up sparked by Sen Jamie Eldridge’s comments provides a useful frame of reference for the increasingly heated contest for Brian Joyce’s Senate seat in the Norfolk-Bristol-Plymouth primary. I don’t think you’ll find much to argue with in my asserting that name-brand candidate Walter Timilty represents the most regressive element in the Legislature, and that his ascension to the Senate would represent a step in exactly the wrong direction. His opponent Nora Harrington’s staunch, but always considered, progressive platform and temperament will help ensure that the Senate remains the relatively progressive bulwark it is.
In what was a quiet and under-the-radar race, the press is now paying attention, things are getting heated and the front-runner’s getting testy. Following Adrian Walker’s deft bit of carving in today’s Globe, Walter Timilty’s taken to Facebook to moan about his insurgent (and surging!) opponent Nora Harrington’s alleged tactics: “And now we see the dishonest mudslinging attacks, and it’s clear that Nora Harrington is part of that dark cloud.”
Well. I’ve seen all Nora’s collateral. And I’ve attended every public forum (but one) at which she’s spoken (along with her 24-year old independent opponent–have to give a shout out to gutsy Stoughton hometown boy Jonathan Lott), starting with an early summer appearance at our DTC here in Stoughton and concluding in Canton last weekend. And the only “negative” element in her rhetoric has been direct references to Walter Timility’s voting record while serving 17 desultory years in the state legislature (and she’s actually been mercifully sparing, focusing in her public appearances on her own strengths and platform). His staunch opposition to marriage equality. His militant opposition to women’s reproductive right. His anti-immigrant stances. His grandstanding over the Rt 93 BLM protest, calling for additional ten-year sentences. His votes against an increase to the minimum wage. His pro-death penalty position. It’s all-too-obvious why Nora’s received the endorsements of MassEquality, MassAlliance, Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus, Sierra Club, NARAL, Planned Parenthood, SEIU (1199, 88, 509), Sonia Chang-Diaz, and Linda Dorcena Forry.
And, perhaps, equally obvious why Walter Timilty remains a no-show at any event at which he might be challenged by a whipsmart progressive. Nora’s points ain’t mudslinging. Quite the opposite: this is the public record he should be PROUD to have brought to the forefront. But rather than taking the opportunity to trumpet his votes, he hasn’t shown at a single debate or Town Hall to which he’s been invited, claiming prior commitments, even as he’s been offered a slew of dates for each one (this is truly dispiriting). As Walker points out,
Actually there hasn’t been nearly as much discourse in the campaign as there should be because Timilty has refused to appear in any of the six scheduled debates between them. He contends that all of the debates have been organized by Harrington supporters. The one that he refused to attend Tuesday was organized by a student organization at Canton High. Hard to believe that a bunch of high school kids are in the tank for Harrington, or in on some anti-Timilty conspiracy.
After meeting Nora at our DTC barbecue, I didn’t jump to endorse her. I sent her campaign a list of twenty-plus questions on specific Massachusetts state issues. And, to my astonishment, I heard back right away—with responses to each and every one of them. At which point I fell in love (it didn’t hurt that she had just taken part in the march against the planned local SPECTRA pipelne deployment). I didn’t agree with every single one, but when I expressed my disagreement (e.g., ballot q. #4), I found myself engaged in a respectful conversation with a candidate who didn’t pander, and who stuck to her guns, but who also expressed real interest in my take on the issues, and who assured me that she’s “educable.” That combination of real smarts, principled stances AND a degree of genuine humility makes her more than my choice in this election—it makes her something of a dream candidate, not merely the kind of progressive I so badly want repping my district in the Senate, but someone whom progressives across the state should attend to—overheated as it may sound at this point in her political career, the state Senate might not be the end of the line. Yeah, she’s that good.
Nora’s grassroots campaign has knocked on over 10,000 doors. They continue to make thousands of personal phone calls—-all of them personal (unike Timilty’s robo calls, with their sinister innuendo about Harrington “not being from here”—true enough, I suppose, if 25 years in the area and starting a very successful and employee-sensitive business makes you an alien). A campaign running against a candidate with the political pedigree Timilty claims is never easy. But this one more than has legs. It could very well be—and pardon any hyperbole, I do tend to get overexcited at this point in any campaign—the upset of the season.
If you live in the Norfolk-Plymouth-Bristol district, please consider supporting Nora.
Walter’s uncle, Joe Timility, was a flawed (ain’t we all) but decent politician. I wish that Walter had as much as a half of his heart and less than a tenth of his ambition.