A Scoop on Myself with Whacko Liberals and Barrios Gossip
Over at The Alewife it looks like Editor Neil McCabe has scooped me on myself. He writes on that news blog:
Jesse Kanson-Benanav reports in a group e-mail to members of the Progressive Democrats of Cambridge Yahoo Group that The Somerville News broke the following grist from the rumor mill today in its un-Heralded NewsTalk column:
We heard some interesting items this week about the Anthony Galluccio - Jarrettt Barrios state Senate race. A source inside Congressman Mike Capuano's camp said Capuano is going to support Galluccio. We also heard ultra-liberal (and expected Barrios supporters) state Rep. Carl Sciortino and state Rep. Alice Wolf are staying neutral. In February, Dan Cohen, progressive pollster for Sciortino and Senator Pat Jehlen campaigns, spoke on Galluccio's behalf at a Progressive Democrats of Cambridge meeting (By the way, does Cambridge really need more whacko liberals? Just a thought). Could the progressives be losing interest in Barrios? Could Galluccio actually have a chance to beat his old nemesis? News talk has been told the local progressive posse has become disillusioned with Barrios and wouldn't mind seeing him struggle against Galluccio. Tune in to the state-wide elections in November for the exciting conclusion.
First of all, thanks to Neil for the shout-out. And yes, I did forward thisAs item from The Somerville News political "gossip column" with full intention of discussing it here on my blog. Then life intervened and I was sucked into an hours-long meeting with an important funder at work. It was only in glancing The Alewife this evening that I was even reminded of my previous intention.
As for the quote at hand, I really only forwarded it to the Progressive Democrats of Cambridge YahooGroup because I thought it was funny, being called "whacko liberals." There were some people in the group who raised issue with me passing unsubstantiatedated rumors," but I was really just quoting verbatim from a newspaper!
While the "NewsTalk" section is just gossip, or "the first, rough draft of Somerville history" as Neil McCabe describes it, there is some truth to the meat of the quote at hand. Quite a number of progressives that I know in both Somerville and Cambridge, types who historically have been huge Barrios fans, intially supported Mike Festa and later Gerry Leone after Festa withdrew.Less of an issue for these folks was the fact that Barrios had the least experience prosecuting of the bunch, but moreso with the sharp turn towards "law and order" style politics that Barrios took in the legislature while running for District Attorney (think "anti-gang initiative" and support for the Somerville Gang Ordinance). It seemed to many of them, and honestly to myself as well, that Barriambitiontion got the best of him. With Anthony Galluccio the frontrunner to replace him, it furtbotheredherd me that overactambitioniton was causing us to loose an otherwise solidly progressive seat in state Senate.
That being said, I don't know whether this is the case with Rep. Wolf or Rep. Sciortino and I would be surprised if this were true. But it is clear to me that in Cambridge and Somerville, Barrios' needed base, the Senator walks a fine line among some of the staunchest progressives (or whacko liberals to some). Then again, maybe that doesn't matter. Maybe he needs to appease other voters, because really, who else will the Progressives vote for? Galluccio? I am unlikely to.
One thing I failed to metion in this post, which is quite relevant to the issue at hand, is that not only do I occasionally post to the Progressive Dems of Cambridge list, but I'm actually a board member of the organization (Affirmative Action and Outreach).
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