We're well under way in the special election in the MA fifth congressional district to replace Representative Marty Meehan, who is stepping down to become chancellor of the University of Lowell. I thought some commentary from a progressive local blogger (I blog at Left in Lowell) who's keenly watching the race might interest some readers.
First, I will give you a general rundown, and then the biased view, as I have endorsed a candidate in this race already, and I really want to share why you should be excited and interested to see this person get to Congress.
Outgoing Rep. Meehan, you may recall, has gotten some virtual print here and elsewhere for his massive campaign coffers, which he did not open for 06 Democratic candidates. He's also famous for: his strong support of the campaign finance bill that bloggers loved to hate for its potential impact on their coverage of campaigns; and his staff's deletion from the Meehan Wikipedia entry of the mention of his broken campaign promise to stick to only four terms. (It appears to be back, which is only to be expected.)
To be fair, though a slick pol and an ambitious man and occasionally very hard-headed, Meehan is an intelligent legislator, strong on the environment and campaign finance (the good as well as the stupid), against the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy, and once he came around on the Iraq war, a staunch anti-war ally. I've interviewed him on my radio show (before the rumors of his leave-taking), and I do actually like the man, even though I'm often criticizing him.
But, he's yesterday's news. After September 4th, there will be a new Democratic nominee to replace him, who will go against the Republican winner (there are two contenders there) and an independent in the general.
The Controversies
The first controversy was the loss of Meehan. Despite the ribbing of local folks as well as national derision for his broken term limit promise, and a generous smattering of voters here who believe Marty's ambitions have always been a little too apparent, we are losing a powerful Rep, chair of the House Armed Services Committee, and someone who cares deeply about the district and has been its greatest advocate. The rumors about the chancellorship are as old as last year, but the serious ones started in February after Meehan was asked by UML to interview for the position of chancellor. In fact, I had my first radio interview with a potential replacement, Dem state Rep Jamie Eldridge, on Feb 23rd, long before we knew the mind of the sitting US Rep, who took the job on March 13th.
The second controversy, and one that will very much affect the outcome of this race, is the date set for the special election and primary, which is dictated by Massachusetts law. Governor Deval Patrick (god I still love saying that!) had his hands tied, once Meehan submitted his resignation letter, which he did May 9th. The primary is set for September 4, the day after Labor Day. It will be a huge headache for the schools (where many polling placing are held) as they are just returning from a long weekend just after the start of school, but worse, it will depress turnout, and also mean extra expense for the 29 cities and towns of the Fifth, which will have to fork up holiday pay for poll workers to come in on the Labor Day holiday to set up for the primary. 29 towns...29 town and city clerks sent a letter begging Patrick and the state legislature to do something, or for Meehan to send his resignation a week later, to no avail.
The Candidates (cue the opinions to creep onstage...)
Originally, there were eight interested Democrats (hey, open seats are hard to come by around here!), but we are now down to five:
Lowell City Councilor Eileen Donoghue
Of all the candidates, Donoghue is the one I knew most before this race started, as I live in Lowell and keep an eye on the city council. She's the sensible one on the council, and though most local politics really aren't about Democrat versus Republican, she's always voted on the Council in the just, fair way I would have. I have warm feelings for her for her strong role in ousting corrupt City Manager John Cox last year, and helping bring in Bernie Lynch, who has really shaken the GOB (Good Ol' Boys) up and produced a much more transparent and professional management of the city.
However, Donoghue has had to explain to loyal Democrats why she served in Romney's transition team (when she was Mayor), why she changed from Dem to unenrolled (independent) briefly, and also why she donated to a Romney-backed Republican in the failed '04 insurgency (Repubs lost seats) against a pro-labor, liberal Democrat in a neighboring town. All these things she's answered with ease, but I have heard from loyal Dem activists that this last was unforgivable.
And I've had a couple things to say about her middle-road approach to issues in this race...all in all, I like Donoghue, and in another field, I might even endorse/work for her, but as it stands, there's a better choice for the progressive reality-based Democratic voter. My coblogger Mimi is a supporter though, and honestly, she'd be my second choice (some part of me wants to see a woman in this seat, and despite my musing that it would do Lowell good to lose the seat for a while, I do have a slight Lowell bias.)
State Rep. Jamie Eldridge
I have personally endorsed Eldridge in this race. What can I say? I probably said it in my endorsement, I recommend you read the full text but here some nibblets:
On every issue that has come up, not only does Jamie line up with my admittedly progressive viewpoints. He also has the best grasp of those issues, and the core underlying problems that need to be solved. He understands what’s happening in Congress right now, what current proposals out there he would support, and what needs fixing. His ideas are bold, in an age when finger-in-the-wind politics is conventional wisdom. He has released detailed proposals on several issues thus far with more to come, also against conventional wisdom, which says that a candidate should remain as vague as possible so as not to invite attacks from opponents.
Beyond that, he is practical. He has been accused by some in the race of not facing reality on many of his proposals, including single payer health care. However, Jamie is someone who will fight passionately for his ideals but know when something is better than nothing. Even though the health care reform here in Mass is seriously flawed, still leaves out many uninsured, doesn’t address cost, and is basically corporate welfare for health insurance companies, it does provide for the least among us who do not have health care, and on that compromise, Jamie voted yes, even as he fought for a more idyllic health care amendment to the state Constitution to embody health care as a constitutional right.
I would rather send a fighter to Congress who will push for the ideal, and know when to compromise, then go to Congress already compromising. We have no chance of success for bold initiatives if we choose not to aim high.
It is my personal hope to see Kossacks send some love his way. I have an ActBlue page all set up for such a hope. If you don't know enough to donate, please visit Jamie's website, where you can hear interviews with him (including mine), and watch some of his statements at the various forums (there have been four).
Jamie is the real live progressive in this race, garnering 64% of the DFA poll vote, and endorsed by the local DFA chapter. He is also endorsed by Progressive Dems of MA, a group who was very active in the Deval Patrick campaign. Eldridge is a true Patrick Democrat, the one who will passionately fight for single payer health care, to boldly stand up to Bush on the Iraq war, end bigotry in the military against gays, stand up for true ethics and campaign finance reform and advocate for public financing of campaigns (he was the only MA Clean Elections candidate elected to state office before the state lege killed the law) who is not afraid to be reality-based. Please, donate what you can via my ActBlue page, because the biggest impediment to this candidate's win right now is money.
State Rep. Barry Finegold
Finegold is another Rep whose area covers Andover (a large somewhat affluent town) and a smidge of Lawrence (a struggling "Gateway City"). He too tends to middle-road it too much for my pleasure, and my coblogger has had some commentary about how his attachment to the Biden three-state solution for Iraq isn't based on the true reality we face there (for instance, the fact WE in the US can't really decide that, Iraqis have to). His plan for health care (a big issue in this race, and the first the candidates differentiated themselves on) consists of the German model, allowing private insurance to exist, but to compete with a single payer system that anyone, employers or individuals, could buy into. Probably a little better than the wait-to-see-what-the-MA-reform-brings approach to health care favored by other candidates except Eldridge.
His grasp of the issues might be a touch behind Donoghue and miles behind Eldridge, but he still seems an intelligent, compassionate guy, and I haven't seen anything to indicate otherwise.
State Rep. Jim Miceli
Mom said if you can't say anything nice...so I'll keep it brief. Miceli is a passionate debater, but he's the pro-life, pro-Iraq-war candidate in this race. He's got an OK rating from the unions in state legislature, so that's good, but on pretty much everything else - from health care to troop withdrawal to gay rights - he and I are on opposite sides of the fence. Better make that the planet. He also doesn't appear to have much energy for the race, though he has made appearaces at two of the four forums at least (he missed the initial bloggers' forum the other four attended, then missed the recent health care forum). I don't often see him at political events I go to, and his website says it all.
Niki Tsongas
I had no preconceptions about Tsongas one way or the other before this race, so I hope that readers believe my good intentions about Tsongas which have turned pretty dour.
Niki Tsongas is the wife of the late and popular Senator, Paul Tsongas, who died just over a decade ago. As such, Tsongas has garnered the insider machine, has the name recognition, and isn't a lightweight as an individual (she is taking hiatus from being Dean of External Affairs at the Middlesex Community College in Lowell to be in this race).
However, I do not believe Tsongas is the best choice for the district for several reasons.
First, she is a neo-liberal. At first, I was hoping it was just on one or two issues, but she is a former board member (still listed on their website) of the Concord Coalition, which occasionally hits the mark on fiscal responsibility but also advocated for the privitization of Social Security. To Tsongas' credit I'm not sure she buys into that view, if I recall she does not. However, when questions on free trade come up, she makes a few requisite noises (at least recently) about environmental and worker protections, but doesn't seem to see the core breakdown. On health care (she sits on the Fallon Community Health Care board, which a nonprofit insurance but this fact has evoked criticism from many) she honestly thinks the market is the way to go. From her first "the market reduces cost" statement at a local Democratic powwow, to her forum answers, she has demonstrated that she will side with the private companies which, to many Americans, are the very problem. She is keen to sit back and see if the MA plan works. Most analyses of the plan as implemented thus far have been pretty negative, and she does nothing to address the concept that a universal health care system done through private companies (and subsidized by government) are nothing short of corporate welfare.
I guess it's no surprise Tsongas is a neoliberal - her husband was, and she is of that era. However, the outmoded policies of neoliberalism have proven disastrous - including allowing corporations to write our free trade policies, because a rising tide lifts all boats, donchaknow.
On Iraq, she will, at best, be tepid. She wants the troops home, but balks at cutting the funding. Just what we need...less backbone in Congress.
She also has major institutional support. Meehan's wife is her campaign chair. Local state senators and reps endorse her - and that's not a positive thing (even the ones I generally like are GOBs - Good Ol' Boys). She's establishment, and if she gets into office, she will join in the establishment - the same Democrats who talked tough on ethics reform but reneged, the ones who backed down on Iraq when Bush said "boo." I have come to the conclusion that I do not want to see Tsongas as my Rep if we can knock her out in the primary.
However, she has the money. The insider money is pouring in. She has talked about a grassroots campaign, hired all the right consultants (including people from the amazing Patrick campaign) and occasionally someone (maybe Niki herself, who knows?) posts at Blue Mass Group, our biggest soapblox blog. But I see no grassroots excitement for Tsongas around me. Activists seem to be gravitating to others, especially Eldridge. And no wonder - Tsongas' positions are the most centrist and the least populist. She wanted to capitalize on the Deval phenom with little understanding that Deval Patrick didn't just talk grassroots, he inspires people, speaks well and specifically on the issues people care about, and earned his army of volunteers which swept the state.
Conclusions
Once again, I am fighting for the underdog (or at least, the lesser known candidate) in a race, Jamie Eldridge. But we won the last one (look at his home page - is it not nifty??) and I think the time is right for bold nontraditional leadership in the fifth district. Eldridge will take the best that Meehan has stood for - environment, campaign finance, gay rights - and push further.
I hope you didn't find my post too sloppy. I believe I have come to these conclusions honestly, after careful observation, reading, and lots and lots of thought. If you want to see further coverage of the race, my blog has a category for all MA-05 (appropriately, "MA-05") and you can see that here. I also recommend two other local blogs (Lowell has a blogosphere!!) RichardHowe.com and JackieDoherty.org. Blue Mass Group is a great blog covering state politics and therefore often diving into this race, and I co-host a podcast weekly called Left Ahead! with Ryan of Ryan's Take and Massmarrier from Marry in Massachusetts. Another most excellent blogger is the inimitable "sco" of .08 Acres and a Donkey, who has interviewed many of the candidates and did the hard work of transcribing them online for readers.
I will also have one of the debate forums, namely the Iraq war debate in Chelmsford from a couple weeks ago, posted in digestible chunks online soon. Others (the health care forum and the AFL-CIO sponsored debate) I will work on getting online as well. And if you want to get current, we MA bloggers have gotten into the habit of using "MA-05" in our titles, and you can find pretty much all of us on the Mass feed of Leftyblogs.com, a really great blog aggregator.
I hope you found this useful (bias and all), and please let me know if you want more juicy details...I can certainly come back and provide them.