What's Missing from this Picture?

Apr 5 - With the State Senate Special Primary Election just a week away, one might expect good Cantabrigians to be pulling together for their favorite sons and daughters in this race to fill the seat vacated by Anthony Galluccio. Certainly former mayors would be pulling for their fellow former mayors, right? Perhaps not. Shown here is the signage in front of the home of City Councillor Kenneth E. Reeves. Dennis Benzan is now back from Belmont and living in Cambridge (even if only formally) and Tim Flaherty is a favorite son. Wasn't there another Cambridge candidate in this race?

It would appear that the mayoral deadlock continues in the minds of some.

Apr 9 - Apparently, Mr. Reeves must have realized that he'd neglected another State Senate candidate with Cambridge roots - Sal DiDomenico. That oversight has now been rectified with another sign. Now wasn't there another Cambridge candidate..... a former mayor..... somebody named Denise, perhaps?

I suppose if you're going to rub someone's nose in it, you may as well really go all out. There may be other jobs out there waiting for Mr. Reeves, but diplomat is not one of them.

This should be a delightful City Council term with payback all around. Let's not forget that Marjorie Decker was also a candidate for this seat for a time but withdrew supposedly because of other Cambridge candidates that greatly diminished her chances.

March 1 - Marjorie Decker has withdrawn from the State Senate race to replace Anthony Galluccio.
Here's what she had to say:

After consulting with my family, friends, and close supporters over this past weekend, I have decided to withdraw from the Special Election for the Mass State Senate to replace Anthony Galluccio.

I chose to run for Senate for many of the same reasons that motivate me to serve on the Cambridge City Council. To me, public service is advocating for good jobs, affordable housing, better access to health care and equal opportunity.

Last year I called on my family, friends and constituents to give me their time, effort and financial support for my re-election to the City Council. They worked hard and sacrificed much to help me win that election. I have never run for office just for the sake of running.

When the Special Election for State Senate was first announced, I considered the prospects for victory extremely promising. Since I announced my candidacy, the number of candidates has increased dramatically – more than doubling – thus my chances of winning have been greatly reduced.

In good conscience, I cannot ask my family, friends and supporters to give more time, effort and financial support if there is no realistic prospect of success.

Consequently, I have decided that at this time I can best serve by focusing all of my energies and efforts toward my role as a Cambridge City Councilor. As the effects of the recession continue to devastate working families, we have many challenges that must be addressed.

I want to thank my family, friends – new and old, and supporters –from Cambridge, Charlestown, Chelsea, Somerville, Revere, Saugus, Somerville, Allston and Brighton for their willingness to consider my candidacy and to offer their support to me.

It's worth noting that, up to a point, it was the fact that there were many candidates in this race that helped make Marjorie's campaign viable - as the only woman in an election that would likely be determined by vote-splitting and personal identity. Denise Simmons' entry into the race changed the equation substantially, and now Simmons' candidacy becomes immediately viable for the same and related reasons. Denise is now the only woman in a six-way race and she will likely be able to use her status as an African-American woman, an openly gay woman now legally married to her partner, and as the most recent Mayor of Cambridge to her advantage. This should translate into campaign donations from within the Senate district and from outside the district from various interest groups just as Jarrett Barrios was able to draw those donations a number of years ago for this same seat. Whether this helps her to succeed throughout this district remains an open question.

One factor worth considering in Marjorie's decision to withdraw (though you'll have to ask her!) is that she would have to share the support of labor unions with several of the other candidates. Another important factor is that this April/May election will have to be done all over again in September/November and you can only spend your campaign donations once. It is likely that, regardless who wins in the special election, many of the same candidates will do it again this fall, and short-term incumbency is not likely to provide that much of an advantage. It's entirely possible that Marjorie will keep her resources intact and try again in September under more favorable conditions. If not, she really does have the potential to be a very good city councillor if, as we teachers like to say, she would only apply herself.

Regarding the Simmons vs. Decker aspect to this, I ran some numbers yesterday using the November 2009 municipal election ballots from the 11 Cambridge precincts in this Senate district. Denise Simmons was ranked somewhere on 48.9% of those ballots compared to Marjorie Decker being named on 21.1% of those ballots. Certainly, Marjorie's status as a write-in candidate was a factor, but it's reasonably clear that Denise Simmons would have the greater degree of Cambridge support in this election. Denise will, of course, have to share that Cambridge support with Tim Flaherty, Dennis Benzan, and Sal DiDomenico, each of whom have some base of support in the Peoples Republic.

Most of the speculation continues to be that Sal DiDomenico has the best chance right now in this election with Tim Flaherty driving hard for the hoop. Much of this is determined by the fact that Everett is expected to generate 30% or more of the votes in this election and Sal is the Everett candidate (with Cambridge roots). However, the likelihood in this race where vote-splitting will determine the outcome as much as anything is that the winner will largely be dictated by who can raise the most money and assemble the strongest get-out-the-vote effort on April 13. -- Robert Winters

Jan 22 - The Plot Thickens.....

The contest to determine who will fill the State Senate seat formerly occupied by Anthony Galluccio is getting interesting. It exhibits all the worst aspects of a plurality election without runoffs and with vote-splitting, strategic voting, and ulterior motives. Here's the latest roster of possible candidates:

We'll likely learn on Monday whether or not Denise Simmons' bid is a real one or just a poker move for leverage in the still unsettled mayoral sweepstakes in Cambridge. Marjorie Decker is seen by many as a long-shot candidate whose hope rests in being the only woman candidate in a field where they may be significant vote-splitting. She'll also have to share the union and real estate money with some of the other candidates, but they all have the advantage of a new calendar year with a blank ledger for campaign finance donation limits. Denise Simmons's chances are between slim and none for this Senate district, but she would likely harm Decker's chances among Cambridge voters. Though Decker has not yet officially filed as a candidate for the seat, she made it clear at a Jan 14 meeting of the Cambridge Democratic City Committee that she was running for the seat and had her campaign manager Jeni Wheeler in tow.

It's worth noting that about 30% of the district is in Everett and only 20% is in Cambridge with the remainder spread across portions of Allston-Brighton, Somerville, Chelsea, Saugus, and Revere. Anthony Galluccio was able to build substantial support in Everett which was pivotal in his winning the seat in the 2007 Special Election to replace former rival Jarrett Barrios. Much of that Galluccio support will likely transfer to Everett City Council member Sal DiDomenico who also has deep roots in Cambridge. Tim Flaherty also ran for this seat in 2007 and should be able to quickly reassemble some of his campaign apparatus for this relatively short election cycle. He also retains some name recognition as a result of his previous run and his family's history in Massachusetts politics. The other Cambridge candidates are basically unknown outside the Peoples Republic.

There's no word yet on any challengers from any other political party, so (as usual) the contest should be decided at a low-turnout party primary on April 13. Then again, maybe Scott Brown has a cousin in Revere who drives a pickup truck.

300 valid nominating signatures due with local city and town officials - March 2, 2010

Primary Election - April 13, 2010

Special Election - May 11, 2010

Calendar for Special State Election (U.S. Senate)
(to fill vacancy caused by the death of Senator Edward M. Kennedy)

10,000 certified signatures required for all candidates.

A Candidate's Guide to Special Elections (PDF, 670k)

also available from:
Elections Division
One Ashburton Place, Room 1705
Boston, MA 02108-1512
Telephone 617-727-2828 or 800-462-8683

For information about campaign contributions and expenses contact:
Federal Election Commission
999 East Street N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20463
800-424-9530

This Calendar was announced on Monday, August 31, 2009 by the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

CCJ Goes National! .... not really

Feb 10, 2008 - It's been entertaining to watch how CNN and Faux News have been giving saturation coverage to this year's presidential race. You would think that with that many talking heads at least a few of them might actually try to quantify their data juggernaut. Perhaps it's the proximity of Super Tuesday and the Super Bowl, but it seems to me that it's all been treated like a sports event and the news stations are obsessed with declaring who the winners are.

Here are a few observations I would make about the whole show:

1 - Apparently, the George Bush era has left Democrats lost in the desert in search of meaning. Now that the Bush era is finally coming to a close, many Democrats are seeking not so much a president but a messiah. Enter Barack Obama. In the lexicon of politics, this is a fabulous example of ultra-sandbagging, i.e. raising expectations to such stratospheric levels that the candidate can never live up to the hype. I think Obama's a decent guy with a decent head on his shoulders, but to paraphrase Lloyd Bentzen, “Senator, I served with the Messiah. I knew the Messiah. The Messiah was a friend of mine, and Senator, you're no Messiah.” Can you image any way that Obama can live up to the expectations of his disciples?

2 - What exactly did Hillary Rodham Clinton ever do to inspire so many right-wingers and left-wingers to hate her so much? The right-wingers seem to never have gotten over Hillary's famous “You know, I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas...” quote. While the right-wingers see Hillary as the ultimate liberal, the lefties have never gotten past husband Bill's “end welfare as we know it” remarks in his first State of the Union speech. Social welfare programs, after all, have been the mother's milk of Democratic politics for 70+ years, so I suppose anyone who advocates welfare reform surely must be a conservative. But wait... wasn't that Bill Clinton's policy? Oh, yeah, it's “The Clintons” who are running for the presidency. Hillary Clinton has to answer not only for anything she's ever said and done but also for Mister Bill's every action. Personally, I don't know a whole lot about feminism, but it's not hard to see the misogyny in most of the Hillary-haters on the right and on the left.

3 - On the Republican side of the circus, John McCain is being subjected to a similar crossfire from left and right. Many conservatives hate him for his positions on campaign finance reform, on his realistic views on immigration, and more. I suspect they also worry that he might, God forbid, want to keep the separation between church and state. Meanwhile, the lefties have become convinced that McCain is the ultimate war hawk, possibly based on his comments about the US keeping some military presence in Iraq for the next 50 years. Let's see now... we still have military bases in Germany even though World War II ended in 1945, and US soldiers can still be found in Korea over 50 years since the end of the Korean War. I believe the McCain-haters from both sides hate him because, like Clinton, he's a centrist - a moderate - and a reasonable moderate is the greatest threat to those who dwell at either end of the political spectrum.

4 - Personally, I don't pay a whole lot of attention to the professed positions of any of the candidates. Once a candidate is elected, the realities of the job generally take precedence over any prior positions. The intelligence and character of the actual person are really the only things that matter. I would like to know that if a crisis came, the next president would be able to exhibit the right mix of sense and fortitude to take the country through it. I'm no fan of the Iraq War and would like to see a reduction of US presence there, but I certainly wouldn't want the next president to build foreign policy entirely out of the need to fulfill a campaign promise. Some things should transcend political posturing. I'm reminded of Reagan's quote “You got to dance with the one that brung you.” This refers to the political practice of doing the bidding of whatever constituency helped get you elected. Bill Clinton routinely broke that rule and infuriated the left wing of the Democratic Party. It's an open question whether Barack Obama would stand up to The Left or if John McCain would stand up to The Right. If Hillary Clinton is anything like her husband Bill, she'll piss off The Left and The Right. That might not be such a bad thing.

5 - I've been looking over the numbers from the Democratic primaries and caucuses. Generally speaking, Clinton's done well in the primaries and Obama's done well in the caucuses. Why the difference? My hypothesis is that caucuses are generally the province of the hardcore - for both parties. That's certainly been my experience with local caucuses in Cambridge. They are about the least representative political sample, but the party power brokers love them because they are easier to manipulate than the electorate. In Massachusetts, those who attend the Democratic Party State Convention have about as much in common with registered Democrats as a fish has with a bicycle. I can only assume that other states have a similar disconnection between party animals and the electorate. Here are some numbers:

Sept 22, 2007 - Final Official Results in the Special Primary Election to succeed Jarrett Barrios in the State Senate. 

Source: Massachusetts Secretary of State's Office

Sept 11, 2007, 9:43pm - According to the Cambridge Chronicle, it appears that Anthony Galluccio has prevailed in the Special Primary Election to succeed Jarrett Barrios in the State Senate. Details as they come in may be found at http://blogs.townonline.com/campolitics/ 

The news story is here: http://www.townonline.com/cambridge/homepage/x1822773381 

Preliminary results as of the day after Election Day, as reported by the Cambridge Chronicle:

The Middlesex, Suffolk, & Essex State Senate Race gets ugly

What started out as a sleepy little filling of a vacancy in the State Senate has, as Primary Election Day (Tues, Sept 11) approaches, begun to show signs of a schoolyard fistfight - a fight primarily waged not only by the candidates but by various surrogates and other interested parties. We've all heard by now about the well-orchestrated campaign to portray Anthony Galluccio in the harshest possible light over his past indiscretions. One need look no further than Blue Mass Group to see how three bloggers will pull out all stops to torpedo a candidate and put all Democratic Party candidates on notice as to whose rings must be kissed. The BMG Three decided to whack Galluccio early, and the only thing left to decide was which candidate to back who could hurt Galluccio the most. They chose Tim Flaherty to be that candidate. Blue Mass Group has often been a good source of current information on political matters, but the BMG environment has grown increasingly hostile of late, and a principal focus has been on explicit and implicit endorsements of candidates by the owners of the weblog.

Not to be outdone by the arbiters of democracy on BMG, one commenter on that blog recently posted comments that attempt to connect Tim Flaherty's candidacy with proponents of casino gambling in Massachusetts. It's true that Flaherty has accepted some large donations from people associated with the gaming industry and his responses to questions on casino gambling have been that it's a done deal and that the only things left to decide are when, where, and how. The fact that Flaherty's father, former House Speaker Charlie Flaherty, is a lobbyist for the gaming industry did not go unnoticed by this blogger. Recent literature from Jeff Ross, by the way, has focused on distinguishing himself from his opponents as being the only one unambiguously opposed to casino gambling.

Perhaps the biggest blockbuster is the posting that appeared on BMG early Sunday morning (Sept 9) that reads like an indictment of Jeff Ross. In this very long post, entitled simply “Questions for Jeff Ross”, writer Larry Lopez laid out a scathing criticism of the financial, professional, and personal life of Ross. I have no idea about the validity of the claims, but it does hang together pretty well and it's hard to ignore. It definitely offers a decidedly different view of "The Progressive Democrat" in this race. [Update: The Larry Lopez posting about Jeff Ross was expunged mid-day Sunday without explanation but has now been restored on Sunday evening. (I had the foresight to save it - just in case). Since all four candidates are lawyers, one could easily see how threats of libel could be a factor in its temporary disappearance. Curiously, any and all allegations about Galluccio remain and have been consistently promoted at BMG.]

My preference would be for candidates to be measured on the merits rather than on any real or alleged personal failings. Wasn't that the original motive of "MoveOn.org" when they got started during the Republican campaign to destroy Bill Clinton? They advocated that we should "Move On" from all the scandalizing tactics. MoveOn now seems to have declared themselves to be the arbiters of all that is right and wrong in America. Under current quasi-journalistic “gotcha” standards, every indiscretion is potentially a political death sentence. Joe McCarthy would be proud.

And then there are the newspapers. Tim Flaherty has invested a good deal of money in surveys and media consultants as part of what I've heard referred to as his “smash and grab” strategy to win this election. He managed to win the Boston Globe endorsement, but there's no knowing who was involved in that process, i.e. who was talking to whom, and many have noted that the endorsement was light on details. The local paper, the Cambridge Chronicle, also gave Flaherty the nod, but the combined institutional memory at that paper is quite short. A well-packaged load of BS can have a lot of impact under those conditions. Sadly, the Chronicle seems to place a lot of weight on Galluccio's storied past and on Flaherty's pretended future. Cambridge's other little North Cambridge paper, The Alewife, gave the nod to Galluccio but strangely used the unrelated (and silly) issue of having a directly elected mayor in their reasoning to move Galluccio out and up the political ladder.

And then there's the Wolf factor. When all four candidates were asked by Scott Harshbarger at a recent forum which of the two previous occupants of the Senate seat, Tom Birmingham or Jarrett Barrios, they might want to emulate, Paul Nowicki stole the show by joking that he was “better-looking than both of them.” Galluccio said something like "I'll be a flaming liberal in Cambridge and Italian as hell in Chelsea" and got some well-deserved laughs for that. However, when it was Flaherty's turn, he said he would want to emulate State Representative Alice Wolf - and bowed to her as he said it. Anyone who's been watching Cambridge politics for a while knows that Galluccio and Wolf were opponents on two occasions for the seat now occupied by Wolf, and that Wolf defeated Galluccio on both occasions. It is also common knowledge that Wolf at least feigned interest in running for this Senate seat not only when Barrios was considering running for District Attorney, but also when Barrios resigned to initiate the current contest. It would seem that Wolf feels compelled to defeat Galluccio even when she's not willing to risk being a candidate. [By the way, a pretty good account (without spin) of the most recent State Senate debate is available here.]

From this writer's perspective, the two candidates who have shined brightly through all of this process have been Paul Nowicki and Anthony Galluccio. There's been barely a hint of BS from either of them, they have very comparable experience as city councillors and as Chairs of their respective city councils, and they both exhibit a wealth of detail in the mechanics of what works and doesn't work in their respective parts of the district. Experience matters a lot more than talking points written by media consultants.

-- Robert Winters     Sept 9, 2007

Thurs, Sept 6, 2007 
7:00pm   Democratic Candidates for State Senate Forum - moderated by Scott Harshbarger  (Lesley University in the Porter Exchange Building, 1815 Mass. Ave., Porter Square)

The Cambridge Democratic City Committee will hold a public forum on September 6, 2007 featuring the four Democratic candidates seeking to replace Jarrett Barrios as the state senator representing the Middlesex, Suffolk, & Essex District (MSE).

Moderated by Scott Harshbarger, former Attorney General of Massachusetts and Democratic nominee for Governor in 1998, the forum will be the last debate before the special Democratic primary election on Tuesday, September 11, 2007.

The four Democratic candidates are: Tim Flaherty, Anthony Galluccio, Paul Nowicki, and Jeff Ross. The senate seat opened in July when Sen. Jarrett Barrios resigned to become President of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation.

The candidates will answer questions submitted by the audience and posed by the moderator, as well as ask and answer questions from each other. From 7 to 7:30 p.m., the audience will be able to meet the candidates. The debate will begin promptly at 7:30pm and end at 9:00pm. The event will be held at Lesley University, in the 2nd floor Amphitheatre of University Hall (formerly Porter Exchange).

The MSE District includes parts of Cambridge (11 of 33 precincts), as well as Charlestown, Chelsea, Everett, and parts of Allston-Brighton, Revere, Saugus and Somerville. The District includes voters who vote at the following Cambridge polling places: DPW Headquarters, City Hall Annex, Vernon Hall, Youville Hospital, Baldwin School, Gund Hall, Graham & Parks School, Friends Center or Lexington Fire House.

The Cambridge Democratic City Committee is the grassroots arm of the Massachusetts Democratic Party in Cambridge. Meetings are open to the public and any Democrat registered to vote in the city is eligible to become a member or associate member.

This event will be held from 7:00pm to 9:00pm at Lesley University, 2nd floor Amphitheatre of University Hall (formerly Porter Exchange), located at 1815 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge and one block from the Porter Square T stop. The event is free and open to the public.

Special Election Calendar

Mar 27 - NEWS RELEASE - Toomey Will Not Seek Senate Seat

Cambridge, MA -State Representative Timothy J. Toomey, Jr. (D - Cambridge/Somerville) has decided not to run for the State Senate seat vacated by former Senate President Robert Travaglini.

“I am incredibly appreciative of the many people that offered their support and backing,” Toomey said. “In the end, however, I realized that what I love most about being in politics is the daily interaction with my friends, neighbors and constituents in Somerville and Cambridge.”

“I have proudly served the people of the 26th Middlesex District for the last 15 years as their State Representative and I've been a Cambridge City Councilor for the past 18 years. The people of Somerville and Cambridge have supported me time and time again, election after election. If I had entered this race, all of my energy and focus would have been on the campaign. I feel that the campaign and demands of representing an expanded district would detract from the attention and care I am used to giving to my constituent base in Cambridge and Somerville, and today I reaffirm my commitment to the families of Somerville and Cambridge.”

“A victory in the special election would have pulled me away from projects and issues in Somerville that I have been involved in for years,” Toomey said. “The Green Line extension and redevelopment of Assembly Square will have a major impact on the future of East Somerville and Union Square and I am determined to continue to make sure that the interests of my constituents are considered. New Americans face tremendous social and economic injustices; I want to remain a leader in the fight for immigrant rights at the local and state level. My constituents need more affordable housing, better access to quality health care and help in keeping their neighborhoods safe. Those are their priorities and those are my priorities.”