(Ed. note: I asked Pablo, whom I knew supported Garballey, for his pitch. Supporters of Friedman and Stewart are most welcome to contribute and I’ll treat similarly. — C)
What does a guy need to do to earn a promotion?
In the Fourth Middlesex special election, that seems to be the prevailing question. We have Sean Garballey (D-Arlington) asking the voters of Arlington, Billerica, Burlington, Woburn, and two thirds of Lexington to promote him from the Massachusetts House of Representatives to the State Senate.
Can you blame him?
Sean Garballey has spent the past nine years in the House, pushing the envelope as far as a progressive can without finding his desk dispatched to share space with a basement toilet. Yes, Sean aspires to the progressively friendlier confines of the Senate chamber. Yes, Sean has been the House legislative partner to Senator Jaime Eldridge, where they co-sponsor a wide variety of progressive legislation. Senator Eldridge is very appreciative of having a progressive partner in the House, but he is altruistic enough to endorse Sean’s aspirations to become a colleague in the Senate.
As a public education advocate, Sean has always been on the right side of the issues. He was one of the House members who defied the speaker and voted against the most recent charter school legislation. As a former school committee member, he goes beyond mere understanding of PK-12 and higher ed issues. He has been a point person for a wide variety of important education initiatives, he has been the lead sponsor of several bills requested by the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, and he has put forth legislation that has solid support from teachers and school committees alike.
Nine years of fighting for progressive causes? That would normally be enough to have me cheering for Sean, throwing a couple of bucks in his campaign bucket, and telling my (limited circle of) friends to vote for him. I know it sounds like one of those 3:00 a.m. infomercials, but I can’t resist the line:
BUT THAT’S NOT ALL!
I have Sean Garballey on speed dial. I have never known a more responsive legislator. If I call his cell phone, he is usually back on the line in two or three minutes. If I butt-dial his number, he calls. If I am thinking of a state issue, or make a post on social media about a state issue, my cell phone rings. Sean is amazing. When you have a problem, you have no better advocate than Sean. Last November, my wife got into an accident at an intersection where the state failed to adequately replace a traffic signal destroyed in a previous accident. I left work when my wife called about the accident, and my first instinct was to hit Sean’s number on my speed dial. He had the MassDOT area director on the phone before I got to the scene of the accident, and a temporary fix to the intersection was in place the next week. I can’t count the number of folks who have similar stories to tell about Sean’s efforts on their behalf. One friend, who doesn’t live in Sean’s current legislative district, called with a problem, and was amazed that Sean just went to work. Most legislative offices would tell the citizen to call the legislator who served his district.
This passion for constituents is the heart and soul of Sean Garballey’s being, which was recognized by the GateHouse newspaper chain when they endorsed him.
However, this publication’s editorial board believes that Garballey will be the best choice for the 4th Middlesex district. In a district this diverse, his stated desire to replicate the kinds of strong personal connections he built with Arlington residents will be an important asset alongside his policy knowledge and the relationships he has built with other legislators.
Mary Ann Stewart is also a good friend; she would be my second choice in this race. She’s a former Lexington school committee member who needed to resign that seat to become the PTA appointee to the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. As a board member, she has been one of the only voices of reason after Charlie Baker took over the appointment of board members. Mary Ann is another friend of public education, another local official who is passionate about implementing a progressive agenda.
Cindy Friedman is also running for the seat, claiming Senator Donnelly’s mantle as his “Chief of Staff.” Cindy was also Senator Jim Marzilli’s chief legislative aide before he lost his seat in the midst of a scandal that resulted in his incarceration. No doubt she is an excellent aide, no doubt she was by the Senator’s side, but she clearly lacks the legislative record earned by standing on the floor and casting difficult votes. She also changed her voter registration from Cambridge (Second Middlesex district) to Arlington (Fourth Middlesex district) when she pulled papers to run for the senate seat. One of her biggest supporters, Representative Jay Kaufman (Third Middlesex district) is one of her campaign co-chairs.
Is the Fourth Middlesex district so bereft of progressive leadership that we need a state representative from outside the district to lead a campaign to import a senate staffer from outside the district to run for the seat?
Of course not.
Sean Garballey deserves the promotion. Mary Ann Stewart is a solid progressive who has lived in the district for several years. They make great first and second choices in this race.
We’ll be voting for Rep. Sean Garballey – he’s been our rep since we moved to his district in 2009 and has been terrific in every way. He’s been great on the issues, one of the most progressive menbers of the house, if not in the legislature. He was out in front on the transgender rights bill – speaking at events in our community and pulling colleagues along. He’s fought for the MBTA. His 50:50 legislation increased funding and addressed costs for students in state colleges and universities. He has been a consistent and effective voice for those with disabilities, including requiring health insurerance to cover hearing aids for kids. As a member of house Ways and Means, he’s developed a detailed understanding of state finances. He’s been responsive – call-back-within-the-hour responsive – whenever we called him on anything,. And he’s a humble guy who sees his job as serving his constituents, however he can help. He even kind enough several years ago to take a little time to show our nephew from out-of-town the State House. All of the candidates in the race are fine people and would vote in step with the district, but Rep. Sean Garballey is the pick of this fine field.
I voted for Sean Garballey already! I used early voting. Early voting makes it easier for a 69 year old with two hip replacements, a bum knee and a cane, for sure. As a solo attorney who has chosen to use the last years of a long career, accepting court appointments to do civil cases in Care and Protection matters and contested guardianships at the trial and appellate level, I have seen Sean Garballey’s understanding of the importance of access to justice and the critical importance of an independent judiciary and judicial branch up close. Sean truly understands governance and as a result has been and continues to be a supporter of restorative justice as an alternative. I also deeply appreciate Sean’s support for those with chronic illness, and for the special education and disability populations and the leadership he has shown in advocating for those populations and their needs. I have seen his tireless support for public education including public higher education, both of which are too often treated like Oliver Twist asking for seconds in an orphanage by the elite graduates of private higher education. Thank you Sean for running for the 4th Middlesex State Senate Seat – I hope you win the race because I00% want you to represent me as my state senator!
I can confirm that Garballey does indeed call back. Very responsive.
It’s been pointed out that Jay Kaufman’s 15th Middlesex house district is in fact mostly within the 4th Middlesex Senate district. Kaufman does live just outside of the 4th Middlesex Senate district – in Barrett’s 3rd.
Thank-you very much for this clarification. What Pablo wrote in his post about Jay Kaufman did not sound right to me. (Not to mention his unfortunate omission of Cindy Friedman’s 30+ years as a civically very active resident of Arlington before her relatively short residence in Cambridge). Jay was my rep in Arlington before redistricting.
I don’t think the residency thing — Kaufman’s or Friedman’s — is a particularly strong argument of Pablo’s post.
Agreed. Even setting aside their clear community roots and involvement (Jay Kaufman’s Open Houses serve all of us; Cindy has made a number of very substantive contributions to Arlington), I personally don’t care at all about the details of my representatives’ residency..I care about their familiarity with our district and its needs, of course, but most of all what they do for us.
I campaigned and voted for Deval Patrick and Elizabeth Warren. Neither had ever run for office before. So I do not find the “promotion” argument compelling. When I choose which candidate to support I take many other factors into account. And whether or not this advances the candidate’s political ambitions is not even on my radar. Nor am I swayed by the McCarthy-like guilt by association innuendo implied by bringing up Jim Marzilli, or by the attempt to suggest that Cindy Friedman a long time Arlington resident is a carpetbagger moving here from afar in order to satisfy a political ambition–a quality which even if true is apparently not acceptable in a female candidate.
Cindy had to move away from Arlington five years ago because of a family and safety issue. This in no way interfered with her service to the residents of the 4th Middlesex and she continued to be involved in progressive politics in Arlington. She was my mentor and guru in many a campaign. Cindy is not a career politician and had no ambition other than to continue to work with Ken Donnelly because he was the kind of boss who allowed her to partner with him and many issues she felt passionately about. Her move did not interfere with that.
But then he became ill. She supported him and helped his office to function when he was out and represented him when he could not be there and continued to partner with him when he was. She and everyone trusted that he would fully recover. But then tragically he passed away. If we had promotions instead of elections one could make a good case for awarding it to her!
But since this is a democracy another way Cindy could continue to work on and fight for the progressive issues she cares so deeply about would be to run for office. I urged her to do so as did many others including Ken’s family. I admire her courage and willingness to step out of her comfort zone and I am delighted that she is back in Arlington.
I support Cindy because she is thoughtful, intelligent, informed and clear-headed and understands the complexities and interrelatedness of the many issues that confront us in this Commonwealth. I know that she is a fighter who is good at bringing people who have different views together. I think she has more than enough skills to be a great Senator.
Finally, I strongly believe that women, who make up more than half of our population, should have equal representation in government. This is not the case in our state Senate. Women hold only 12 out of 40 seats! Of course I would never pick the woman over a superior male candidate, but fortunately Cindy is clearly the best. Thus, voting for her is a win-win situation.
I got a DM from the Friedman campaign saying they’re neck-deep in GOTV and weren’t sure they’d have time to post here, but I very much welcome and appreciate the testimony here.
Thanks for this excellent response to the post, GrandmaHannah.
How true about Elizabeth Warren and Deval Patrick; and also Sen. Al Franken, after a career in comedy and political satire. I, too, vote to choose the best person for the job, based on many factors but not on whose promotion might be “due”. Though, I also agree with you that an argument could similarly be made that it is Cindy who deserves the “promotion”. The support she’s earned from many who know her — including numerous legislators (e.g. the Senate Majority Leader) who want her to officially become their colleague — indicates how qualified she is for the job. Words like “aide” or “staff”, though not always intended to dismiss, can still seem dismissive when applied to somebody who is playing a key role in the overall success of what is essentially a partnership. (Actually, Franken in “Al Franken, Giant of the Senate” explains how much of the legislative heavy lifting is done by “staff”; in his acknowledgments, he satirically “blames the staff” for any omissions or errors.)
So, Cindy Friedman functioned as co-senator in all but the title. This is no slight whatsoever toward Ken Donnelly, an outstanding senator to our district in every way I can think of. Instead, I think it reflects how things really work in a senate office, as well as Ken’s own personality, not a self-promoter but somebody who is happy to have, and to credit and enable advancement of, a chief of staff who is really a partner. I’m sure that his family is well aware of Cindy’s high level of contribution to Ken Donnelly’s work for us, and of the level of his confidence in her. Hence their unanimous and affirmative endorsement of her to fill his seat.
I am voting for Cindy Friedman for the most affirmative of reasons, too, to support an excellent, highly regarded candidate who has already been performing much of the job; and to keep our overall representation in the statehouse as strong and experienced as possible. I have supported my Rep Sean Garballey in all his elections and have high regard for him. But, I see no compelling reason to disrupt our representation and make it, overall, less experienced, with a new senator stepping in to learn the ways of a smaller, more deliberative and strategic body, while representing a largely new district; and then another special election for a “to-be-determined” newcomer stepping in to try to fill the role of an excellent, experienced representative. Of course, disruption is often the only way when change is needed. Sometimes such transitions are our best or only choices and the outcome, though difficult in the short-term, is positive in the long-term. But, such disruption now, in the particularly perilous times of a Trump administration, would be counterproductive. And, in my opinion, completely unnecessary. We can have them both, Cindy and Sean.
I hate to end this on a negative note but I feel the need to comment because I felt the original post disparaged a great candidate. (I am speaking, however, on behalf of only myself.) Describing this candidate as somebody who “changed her voter registration” from [outside to inside the district] when she pulled papers to run for the senate seat” is, clearly, a partial truth that omits her having lived in Arlington for over 30 years, raised her family here and made some very significant civic contributions. Partial truths can be at least as damaging as lies. If a person making such a statement does not know the full story, then a partial truth can be excused as an innocent oversight. If that person does know more, however, it is concerning.
In response to:
Cindy Friedman told voters at a debate in Billerica that she came to the state house with Ken Donnelly. That is wrong. She was originally hired by Sen. Marzilli, and stayed on in that role when Senator Donnelly was elected. She ran the office for Marzilli, through the transition when the office was vacant, and stayed on with Donnelly.
Residency is not a male of female issue. However, changing voter registration at the same time you pull papers to run for office is a disqualifying factor in my mind. If the opposition deliberately removes an incumbent or potential candidate from a district, a move to overcome the gerrymandering is quite appropriate. In this case, these lines have been in place since the 2012 election, and Cambridge wasn’t in the district in the prior iteration, either.
McCarthy-like? Seriously?
This is shaping up to be one to watch.
There are many reasons why I will be voting for Cindy Friedman in the race for the 4th Middlesex Senate seat. The issue closest to my heart is education. I was a public school teacher for 40 years and a member of the Arlington School Committee for 12. In 2001, I received the “All State Committee Member” award from the Mass. Association of School Committees.
Arlington schools now have a great reputation. Families with young children are moving here. While many people deserve credit for this transformation, Cindy Friedman was one of the first to tackle the issue. In 2001, as co-founder of SPOT (Schools are a Priority in Our Town), she helped put a “spotlight” on the needs of our schools, and organized parents to advocate for additional resources.
Cindy consistently stepped forward when educational programs were in jeopardy. She co-founded the Arlington Schools Foundation (ASF), now the Arlington Education Foundation, and served as its vice- president. During the 2002-2003 economic recession, our school budget had a $3 million deficit and teachers were laid off. In just two months, ASF raised $270,000 to rehire reading specialists. Over the next several years, ASF also funded a high school improvement plan as well as elementary enrichment programs.
To save school programs and to rebuild our seven elementary schools, Cindy participated in half a dozen override/debt exclusions. She offered her home as headquarters and a place where dozens of volunteers came to make phone calls. More recently, as Ken Donnelly’s chief of staff, she helped ensure funding for our new high school and continued her advocacy for increasing state aid for Public Education.
Cindy and I have worked together for over 20 years. Cindy was a leader and activist long before she was Chief of Staff. She is a champion for education, a strategic thinker, and an effective problem- solver. Cindy Friedman has what it takes to be a great senator. Please give her your
I’m sorry. I can’t buy the co-senator argument. Nor can I buy the “Chief of Staff” should be promoted argument.
First, lots of Cindy supporters are in the community criticizing a vote or two cast by Sean Garballey in the house. Cindy, in one debate, criticized Rep. Garballey for casting an identical vote to one cast by Ken Donnelly in the senate. On one level, Sean Garballey’s votes are fair game, but Cindy Friedman has never cast a single vote in the legislature. How do we evaluate a legislative aide? We can’t. The work is not visible in the way a legislator’s votes are very public.
Now, there are 40 members of the Massachusetts Senate. Each senator has a chief legislative aide, has other members of the staff. How many of these folks move up from aide to senator? Not many. A majority of people elected to the senate have held elected office prior to being elected to the senate. How many legislative aides have moved up? Not many. In fact, I did a quick search and can’t find anyone who followed that career path. Aides are indeed the workhorse of a legislative office, but they perform a different job. Think the difference between aircraft mechanic and airline pilot. Different skill set.
Oh, as for increasing state aid for the schools? Funding our high school project? A boatload of us have advocated for increased state aid for the schools, The foundation budget is still $1 – $2 billion below where it needs to be. If Treasurer Goldberg speaks out and says Cindy convinced the MSBA to fund Arlington High, I’ll buy that argument. However, the reality is there have been many folks working at the local level to document the need for a new high school, and anyone who walks through the existing school quickly sees how deserving Arlington is.
Sean Garballey has a track record of filing and supporting progressive legislation. Mary Ann Stewart has a track record of standing up to the privatization forces as a member of the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. They have stood in the line of fire. Both are better qualified.
As a ~14 year resident, I am pleased that most of our leadership in Arlington these days supports my values, even those with whom I disagree on specific issues, such as (case in point) this election. I think we have a great choice of candidates here. Efforts to belittle one individual’s contributions and abilities do not change that. I think that all these candidates should be celebrated for their strengths and their commitment to serve, especially given what is going on in D.C. Though my vote is always ultimately based on my own evaluation, I enjoyed reading the strong, detailed and personal endorsements of Cindy Friedman by the majority of our current Board of Selectmen (Joe Curro, Dan Dunn and Steve Byrne) and School Committee (Kirsi Allison-Ampe, Jennifer Susse, Cindy Starks and Jeff Thielman). Along with 9 holders of those offices in the recent past. They offer a range of reasons and tales of their experiences working with Cindy. Overall, I have confidence in their collective ability to judge Cindy’s capabilities and the value of her service to our town and district, including to our schools; an outstanding “aide” [sic] indeed! And, education is not the only issue, by far, affecting the residents of our district. With his deep expertise in improving heath care systems throughout the world and his service as President Obama’s head of Medicare and Medicaid, Don Berwick’s endorsement of Cindy as state senator speaks volumes to me, given the enormous threat against our healthcare rights happening right now — this week — in D.C. (Cindy ran Don’s gubernatorial primary campaign, so he knows her capabilities very well.). I hope anybody who has not already done so will read the specific comments of local (from Arlington and other district towns) and MA leaders in the links on the “Endorsements” page of the Cindyforsenate website.
Wait. So Don Berwick endorsed the person who previously ran his campaign where he lost, and that reflects well on Cindy? I’m not sure that dog will be able to hunt.
The dog hunted. How about that?
To name some current legislators who once worked as legislative aides. Representatives Barber, Chan, Decker, Gregoire, Kocot, Michlewitz, and Vincent, Senators: Chang-Diaz, Flanagan, Humason, and Rosenberg. There are likely others.
(Not a resident of the 4th Middlesex, and agree with Charley and others that the choice is a tough one among excellent candidates. Just wanted to push back a bit on the above point.)
Colleen Garry was aide to her predecessor, John Cox.
Are you leaving out that any of those people served in the State House between the time that they were aides and state senators?
I was going to say, I’m pretty sure that’s actually a rather common path …
Former legislative aides, yes, but how many senators went directly from being a legislative aide to taking the senate seat? 0, if you don’t count Patrick O’Connor, who was a Weymouth Councilor and an aide to Senator Hedlund when he was elected to the senate.
Senators who were previously in the MA House of Representatives: Barrett, Brownsberger, Brady, Chandler, deMacedo, Eldridge, Fattman, Flanagan, Dorcina Forry, Gobi, Humanson, Jehlen, D’Italien, Lewis, McGee, Pacheco, Rodrigues, Rosenberg, Ross, Rush, Spilks, Tarr, Timilty, Welch. (24)
Senators who were Governor’s Councilors: Creem (1)
Senators who were previously municipal officials: Boncore (Winthrop Housing Authority), DeDominico (Everett City Council), Donoghue (Lowell City Council), O’Connor=Ives (Newburyport City Council), Keenan (Quincy City Council), Lovely (Salem City Council), Moore (Milbury Selectman), and O’Connor (Weymouth Council, but his day job was as an aide to Sen. Hedlund). (8)
Senators from other backgrounds:
• Chang-Diaz, fund-raising coordinator for the Barbara Lee Family Foundation, previously an aide to former state Senator Cheryl Jacques.
• Cyr, Director of Policy and Regulatory Affairs for Environmental Health, MA Department of Health
• Hinds, Executive Director of the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition
• Lesser, Director of Strategic Planning for the President’s Council of Economic Advisers.
• Montigny, President, Fall River Chamber of Commerce
(5)
It strikes me how little ideological daylight there is between the candidates, and how we’re really talking about personal qualities, life experience, and connections in the community. All candidates bring considerable strengths in that regard.
This is a tough one.
And gender! When presented with two qualified progressives, my vote is for the woman to represent me in a chamber with only 12 out of 40 women. To paraphrase something I read recently, what does a woman have to do to get promoted?
I used to live in Arlington, way back when, but no longer do, so this isn’t my fight and I generally try to stay out of other peoples fights.
Having said that, however, I’m compelled to, first, endorse the notion that with so little separating the candidates qualifications it’s necessary to weight the difference towards gender and, second, to condemn those who’ve downrated this comment: Shame is on the both of you.
I didn’t downrate, and she is entitled to her opinion, especially all things being otherwise equal. For me numerical balance is about as low as priorities get and this poster does seem to make the be-all, end-all.
I do know one woman named “Christopher” but my sense is she is not you. Thus, the low priority you place on gender. Of course it would not matter to a man, except a truly feminist man. In any case, Cindy Friedman is now our State Senator. For many good reasons, gender being only one.
Well… It strikes me that the people talking in support of Sean Garballey have spoken about their experiences with him being a very strong and reliable advocate for them for years in elected office, while those who have been arguing for Cindy Friedman have spent a bit of time painting a very vague picture of her as generally being active in the community. There are a few other tactics Friedman backers have obviously taken here (ex. the sexism argument), and acknowledgement that she’s worked on education, but the general motivation appears to be to blurry any distinctions about their records that would be helpful for evaluation.
Going to push back against that. I think bgoodman’s comment above is quite specific: Actions taken, dates, results.
I have no dog in this fight. I do find it pretty sad that the main argument Pablo and Jamie are making for Sean is ‘he could be so much more effective as a progressive in the Senate’. It’s an entirely valid argument, and one John Hecht and Will Brownsberger both made when they knocked on my old door in North Cambridge during their special senate election primary a few years ago.
But come on, is making the House more progressive something we’ve just given up on? I get why Rogers, Garbelly, Decker, Barber, Kaufman, and countless other PC members had to make the term limit vote to stay relevant, but it’s also a classic collective action problem. Had ALL of them stuck together and demanded concrete votes on critical issues they would’ve been as effective moving that chamber to the left as the HFC has been at the national level moving the US House to the far right. That has to happen more. 40 votes working in tandem is enough to move the caucus to the left. The House Freedom Caucus and Democratic Unionists in the UK have a far fewer members per percentage in their majorities.
I also think the argument over residency and qualifications are pretty silly distinctions. I trust that as a local leader Pablo has a stronger relationship with Sean and that matters to him, and that is frankly a good enough reason for him to vote for him over Cindy. She meets the legal requirement so it isn’t a real issue. Plenty of great legislators from Oklahoma native Liz Warren, Texan native Pat Jehlen, are from other districts and even other states. If we are going to argue more stringent requirements should apply, she was born and bred in the community unlike the New York native who seems to be the only hung up on it. If he can be an august Arlington community leader (which he is!), so can she.
I am not pro-Cindy, but anti-anti Cindy.
You make an important point.
Sean pushes the House envelope as far as you can without having a basement toilet for an officemate. My issues are public education, municipal governance, and transportation, all Sean’s strengths.
Sean was willing to go up against the Speaker on the last charter school vote, when other progressives told me it wasn’t worth gaining the ire of the Speaker to cast a dissenting vote. I love the fact that he pushes the envelope as far as he can without having 80 other votes on his side.
It is awful to need to move good progressives up to the senate to gain their full potential, but we need to start electing a progressive majority of house members who will make the legislature a more open, active institution.
As a long-time Representative Town Meeting member, I applaud the wisdom of the Meeting, and the guidance of a Town Moderator who seeks to lead the assembly where it wants to go. I would like to see the Massachusetts House of Representatives (160), a body somewhat smaller than Arlington Town Meeting (252), function as well as out Town Meeting, and the Speaker function more like a Town Moderator and less like Paul Ryan.
Great answer Pablo! Very thoughtful. I agree with you that a term limited monitor would be better than a little dictator-but all the old timers here say Kervakian did a lousy job so what do we know?
@Charley, I *did* write that Friedman’s work on education funding was cited.
What has not been made apparent, however, was how reliable she would be as Garballey has been in not only highly responsive constituent services but also about being engaged in issues outside of education.
TBH, it sounds like Friedman would best fit as a superintendent of Arlington’s public schools system or as an education specialist on staff of some other politician.