Grace Ross Too Close to Dan the Bagel Man
I am glad to see that ultimately, Grace Ross was allowed to participate in the Environmental Gubernatorial forum at MIT last night. While I can at least understand the argument for excluding candidates from Presidential debates since it could get unwieldy with over a hundred candidates for President nationwide (if you invite Ralph Nader you have to invite Peter CamejoDavid Cobb, and if you invite CamejoCobb you need to invite Michael Badnarik, etc), in the case of our race for Governor this year there are only six candidates and one of them is too chicken to show up anyway.
While I haven't had a chance to read much about last night's forum, in general I must admit that while I'm proud to support Deval Patrick I'm also glad Grass Ross is in the race. She is a bright person with a strong grasp on issues and I was particularly impressed with her knowledge of statewide housing issues at the Affordable Housing Gubernatorial a few weeks ago. As a first-time candidate she has composure and comfortable presence in front of audiences that the other "outsider" candidate Christy Mihos still lacks.
On the other hand, the biggest risk Ross has going for her it seems to me is her close association with Dan Kontuff, a.k.a. Dan the Bagel Man. According to the Globe political blog:
Daniel Kontuff, 46, one of Ross' supporters, said: "We came here to get Grace to speak. Whatever it takes."
"You do what you can to get democracy," he added.
If you've been around the Boston activist scene at all, you've certainly run across this guy. A 2003 candidate for Boston City Council from Allston-Brighton, Dan the Bagel Man can be found anywhere there is a sign to be waved or a slogan chanted.
Dan the Bagel Man speaks like a sectarian robot, decrying anything mainstream and utterly failing to see the basic humanity in any person in a position of power. Last November Dan the Bagel Man and I was at a victory party for my friend Luc Schuster who was elected as Green Party candidate to the Cambridge School Committee. At one point Henrietta Davis, a liberal Democrat on the Cambridge City Council stopped by to congratulate Schuster, ecstatic that he had won election.
I happened to be next to Dan the Bagel Man when the two hugged, and he asked me who this woman was. When I explained that she was a City Councilor, elected as a Democrat, I felt like I was transported to sectarian Green Party universe where this City Councilor from Cambridgeport was single-handedly responsible for the war in Iraq, racism in the United States, and everything else that the national Democratic Party could at all be blamed for.
What kills me the most about Dan the Bagel man is the he seems to be one of these people that protest just for the sake of protest. Maybe he's at every demonstration to make a statement or maybe he likes the attention, but he's involved in everything, seemingly regardless of the implications of his actions.
Of course, Dan the Bagel Man was one of the anti-Israel demonstrators present a couple weeks ago at an event honoring grassroots organizing in the Boston area which I and some other bloggers wrote about. Basically Dan the Bagel Man and his friends thought that because the Jewish Community Relations Council was one of the many attendees at the event and they are affiliated with a pro-Israel umbrella organization, this whole event was worthy of disruption. Not only did they exercise their constitutional right to picket outside, but the mostly-white group went beyond their right, entering private property the event was being held on and proceeded to shout down African-American community organizer Ron Bell, accusing him of being a racist because of his association with the JCRC.
While I only got to this event after the ruckus happened, I did see Dan the Bagel Man among the protesters when they were back outside and have confirmation from others that he was one of the disrupters. And guess who was in the event. That's right, Grace Ross!
Ironic, isn't it? While the Green Party candidate for Governor is at an event for Grassroots Community Organizers, presumably campaigning because naturally this is a constituency from which she could expect some support, her campaign spokesman is trying to shut the thing down.
Like I said, I appreciate Grace Ross' candidacy and think that she adds an important element to the race. But if she wants to be taken seriously, now or ever, she needs to cut her ties with Dan the Bagel Man. He's a liability to anything he's associated with.
And another thing: Dan the Bagel Man is a convicted LSD dealer.
Contribute to Deval