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April 1, 2004
Jamaica Plain MD planning
run for 11th Suffolk District
Yawu Miller
Francisco Trilla greets a reporter at his Jamaica
Plain office with a firm handshake and a syringe held deftly in
his left hand.
“I have a patient with an asthma attack,” he explains.
“There’s a lot of that in this community.”
Health care is Trilla’s vocation and passion. For the last
20 years, he’s been doctor to thousands of Latino patients
in his Centre Street office. But if his ambitions are realized,
Trilla will swap his JP office for a digs on Beacon Hill.
Angered by what he sees as an erosion of democratic values in
the state Legislature, Trilla is gunning for the 11th Suffolk
District seat currently held by Rep. Liz Malia. Trilla says it
was the Legislature’s handling of the redistricting process
that pushed him to his decision.
“I think the redistricting process was a serious violation
of the Voting Rights Act that has serious implications for our
community,” he said during an interview in his office. “Redistricting
was much more serious and had a far greater impact than most people
realize. It was nothing less than an attempt to take away the
voting rights of people of color. For that to happen in Boston
in 2003 is outrageous.”
Last month a federal court ruled that the district lines drawn
by the House Redistricting Committee violated the rights of black
voters by diluting minority voting power. While Boston has a population
of more than 50 percent people of color, under the House redistricting
plan the number of majority-minority districts in Boston was reduced
from 7 out of 17 to 5 out of 17.
Because the court is asking for re-drawn district lines, the lines
of the 11th Suffolk District are in flux. Under the redistricting
plan the court ruled against, incumbent Liz Malia ceded precincts
in Dorchester and picked up precincts in Roslindale. The district
she represented went from 62 percent people of color to 29 percent.
The court has given House leaders until April 6 to submit a map.
Trilla’s opposition to the policies of House leadership
is not limited to the redistricting vote. He says the redistricting
process underscores a general lack of regard for democratic process
also seen in the body’s refusal to enact the Clean Elections
law voted in by state-wide ballot.
“Clean Elections points to the unfairness of money in politics,”
he said. “Without Clean Elections, we have a system that’s
driven by money, not voters.”
His opposition to the House leadership — read House Speaker
Thomas Finneran — and his support for Clean Elections align
Trilla with the majority of Jamaica Plain voters who voted in
favor of Clean Elections. Jamaica Plain voters also voted for
a non-binding ballot question instructing incumbent Rep. Liz Malia
to vote against Finneran’s bid for re-election to the speakership
in 2002.
“On Clean Elections, she went directly against the wishes
of 80 percent of her constituents,” says Pat Keaney, who’s
been tapped to serve as Trilla’s campaign manager. “That’s
caused a lot of anger.”
Malia stands by her decision to vote for Finneran and against
Clean Elections.
“I consider myself a representative who has worked as much
as possible within the system to represent my district and my
issues to the best of my ability,” she said. “There
are a lot of votes where I take input from my constituents and
try to balance that with what I know is best here.”
Keaney notes that following the Clean Elections vote, Malia was
rewarded with a vice chairmanship, a post that adds to her salary.
“She’s taken the money and taken on a position in
team Finneran,” Keaney said.
Malia said funding the Clean Elections law was not feasible when
the state’s revenues were declining sharply.
“I absolutely could not in good conscience vote to put money
into Clean Elections,” she said. “I would consider
that to be an irresponsible decision to fund that and not fund
some of the programs that are more important to our constituents.”
While Malia went against the Jamaica Plain voters on both counts,
she may still be able to count on some support for her position
in favor of gay marriage. She also enjoys support from women’s
groups. While Trilla has stated a position in favor of gay marriage,
working against him is his lack of incumbency and name recognition.
Outside of the Latino community, which comprises the majority
of his patients, Trilla has been largely absent from the political
process in the last two decades as he’s built up his medical
practice.
Born in Arkansas to Puerto Rican parents, Trilla first came to
Boston in 1972 to attend Harvard College, where he graduated in
1976. There he recalls he was part of the movement to found the
DuBoise Institute.
Trilla graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1980, and after
a stint in New York City, returned to Boston to start his practice.
In addition to his work as a family practitioner, he is also an
instructor at Harvard Medical School.
Twenty-four years working at the ground level of the health care
industry have given Trilla some strong opinions about the state
of the industry in Massachusetts.
“I’ve gotten to see the impact politics has on people’s
health care — issues of access, issues of affordability,”
he says. “I think that disparities have grown in certain
areas, such as asthma. It’s important to look at all of
the people and understand that a right denied to part of the population
is undemocratic.”
Trilla’s belief that health care is a basic human right
may situate his politics to the left of most of the State House,
but may likely sit well with the more progressive voting demographic
in the Jamaica Plain and Dorchester neighborhoods that the 11th
Suffolk District has traditionally represented.
He supports both the importation of prescription medicines from
Canada and opposes what he says is the undue influence drug manufacturers
and the health care industry have on legislative bodies.
“The contributions of pharmaceutical companies and HMOs
to the House leadership are disproportionate and alarming,”
he says.
Trilla, who has formed a campaign committee says he plans to accept
small contributions. Keaney, his campaign manager, headed City
Councilor’s Felix Arroyo’s successful 2003 at-large
race garnering that candidate the second-highest number of votes
in the city-wide race.
Trilla has met with activists in the African American and Latino
community and says he thinks he has the necessary support to run
a successful race.
“I want to run the best possible race and I want to win,”
he said. “People are upset and even embarrassed about our
House leadership at this point. There really is a sense that you
need people to stand up for democracy in state government.”
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