Pressing the flesh (Bay Windows article on Massachusetts campaigns)

[Ian David]

ssue Date: 10/4/2007, Posted On: 10/3/2007

Pressing the flesh
Laura Kiritsy
[e-mail]
Cleaning up dirty politics
Whether they’re masterminded by Karl Rove or MassResistance, dirty tricks are nothing new in politics. Openly gay or gay-friendly candidates especially are vulnerable to homophobic whisper campaigns, push polls and mailings. What’s worse is that the politicians and campaigns responsible for the shadowy attacks are rarely held accountable for their smears. But that hasn’t been the case in Brockton, where Mayor James Harrington recently suspended his director of community services, Moises Rodrigues, after reports surfaced that Rodrigues was brandishing the wedding photo of Harrington’s openly gay challenger Jass Stewart to potential voters and making disparaging remarks about Stewart’s sexual orientation. The Brockton Enterprise, which has been all over this story, reports that Harrington has also called Stewart to apologize for his aide’s behavior. Rodrigues, meanwhile, has denied to the Enterprise that he engaged in any gay-baiting campaign tactics. What’s most interesting about all of this though, is how Brocktonians are reacting to the news. Julie Farrington, a 67-year-old local, seemed to best sum up the anger among city voters, telling the Enterprise: “It’s dirty politics. I mean, if you can’t run a fair campaign and run it on the issues, I don’t think it’s fair.” With buzz like that so close to Election Day, it could well be that Rodrigues will soon be off the job permanently.


See also:
Jass Stewart: Sincere, passionate. (Running for Mayor of Brockton, Massachusetts)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=385&topic_id=60192&mesg_id=60192

Homophobic campaign gets Brockton Mayor Harrington's top aide a slap on the wrist...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=158x13203



The gays are giving to Niki
With the Fifth Congressional District special election just around the corner on Oct. 16, there’s one last chance to jump on Niki Tsongas’ big gay bandwagon. A bunch of gay movers and shakers (and a few not-so-gay folks like state Rep. Cory Atkins and Tsongas’s former primary opponent state Rep. Jamie Eldridge) are throwing a final fundraiser for the Lowell Democrat at the Westin Copley Place hotel in Boston Oct. 11. Tsongas has received an outpouring of support from the LGBT community in her bid to succeed Marty Meehan, a tireless champion of repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, including endorsements from the Human Rights Campaign, the Bay State Stonewall Democrats and openly gay Congressman Barney Frank. She’s also been the beneficiary of several LGBT community fundraisers held in the spring and summer months. Now, as she heads into a tightening home stretch with Republican Jim Ogonowski of Dracut, everyone from openly gay New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley to legal titan Mary Bonauto is stuffing some cabbage in the campaign coffer. The gays really like Niki. Let’s hope the anti-gay smear machine doesn’t catch on (see above).

Salem gets openly gay city council candidate
Wringing one last chance for political discourse before his city’s attentions turn for the entire month of October to burning witches and costume parties — at which point door-knocking is more likely to yield Kit Kats and Necco Wafers instead of votes — Salem City Council candidate Mickey Northcutt greeted a crowd of about 30 people who turned up for a fundraiser the local eatery Strega on Sept. 30. “I think it’s a great turnout,” said the openly gay political newcomer, as he surveyed the crowd that amassed on his behalf in a corner of the restaurant. “This is a great mix of people in the ward, friends and family and it’s going to put us in a position for the final push” on Nov. 6.

<snip>

Martha loves Patricia
It’s nice to know that legal briefs aren’t the only reading that Attorney General Martha Coakley enjoys. During a Sept. 27 LGBT fundraiser at the home of Lisa Cukier and Trish Faass in Waban, Coakley came out as an avid reader of Patricia Cornwell’s bestselling crime novels. And Cornwell, who was on hand for the event, came out as a fan of Coakley’s — she even doled out autographed review copies of the next Kay Scarpetta mystery, Book of the Dead to folks willing to pony up for Coakley’s far-off 2010 re-election campaign, even though the book doesn’t hit shelves until later this month. “The first chapter gets you gripped,” Coakley said, offering a capsule review of the new book during remarks to attendees. “And I don’t want to give away any secrets but … it’s as scary and as spooky a beginning to a murder mystery that I have read in a long time.” The state’s first female attorney general went on to say that although she’s often credited as a role model for others, one of her own role models is Cornwell. “Because I want to retire someday and write murder mysteries on Martha’s Vineyard,” Coakley explained. “And so I am secretly very jealous — not so secretly now — I am very jealous of Patricia’s career.”

More:
http://baywindows.com/ME2/Audiences/dirmod.asp?sid=008EC9FBCFF24AD18614290016BE1303&nm=Current+Issue&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&AudID=0813BC739F2044E5A03DCF2DE3FDF7C9&tier=4&id=C762BCFD9B87412DADC2BA8F6A86A0B6