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May 27, 2004

Activists: Dems. block challengers

Jeremy Schwab

When Francisco Trilla asked permission to announce his candidacy for state representative before the Ward 19 Democratic Committee in March, Committee President Howard Leibowitz rebuffed him.

Ward committee members were steamed that the 11th Suffolk District, which includes parts of Ward 19, would be re-drawn under a court ruling that outlawed the previous district map for discriminating against black voters.

“Early in the day before the meeting, the chair of the Democratic [Ward] Committee said with my permission he’d like to take me off the agenda because he felt redistricting was a very controversial subject, and both Rep. Liz Malia and Rep. Jeff Sanchez would be there,” said Trilla.

Some political observers say that Trilla’s experience is not unique — that the Democratic Party discourages challengers in Boston and elsewhere in the state from running.

“I consider the ward committee structure in the city of Boston a total failure,” said political consultant Louis Elisa. “There is clearly a lack of any rigor or outreach.”

Democratic Party activists complain that Ward 12, which encompasses much of Roxbury, failed to advertise its past two caucus meetings. Ward 12 and others have long been run by Mayor Thomas Menino’s political operatives.

“In years past, if the head of a ward committee failed to put up notices of meetings on time, we could go to the state committee and they’d slam them,” said Elisa. “Now the Democratic State Committee is saying we don’t want to ruffle the feathers of the mayor. As we became more homogeneous in our political thinking, there is less and less will to oppose the mayor.”

Democratic State Committee Chairman Phil Johnston could not be reached for comment for this article.

Voting rights activists say that ward committees are not the only groups that protect incumbents.

“Lobbyists, 99 percent of their money goes to incumbents. That’s the largest source of campaign funds,” said George Pillsbury, policy director of the voting-rights group MassVOTE. “For political action groups, 75 percent of their money goes to incumbents.”

Just two Boston-based districts with Democratic incumbents have Democratic challengers this year, according to city elections department records.

Most challengers run either as Republicans or independents, sometimes to avoid being swamped by Democratic Party activists in a primary.

Even with Republican and independent challengers, Massachusetts ranks second-highest in the nation in its proportion of races that go uncontested, according to voting rights activists. The only state ranking higher is Arkansas.

“Any time one party dominates, I think it leads naturally to discouragement within that structure,” said Harry Smith, a community organizer with the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation.

Democrats dominate the state, and whites dominate the Democratic Party structure. White people are the most active members in most ward committees in Boston.

“I think if there were more activity around electoral organizing in community groups in communities of color it would lead to more people running, especially if they have gone through a campaign,” said Smith.

One problem is the dearth of staff of color on legislators’ pay rolls.

“I think people of color have been locked out of a lot of political and legislative jobs and the result is that there’s not a big pool of people of color who have experience working for a legislator,” said Smith.

Despite a recent ruling by federal judges forcing the Legislature to re-draw districts that would be more favorable to candidates of color, there may be no challengers to incumbents in the two districts that saw the most significant increases to their voting population of color.

Those districts are currently represented by Malia and House Speaker Thomas Finneran.

In Malia’s 11th Suffolk District, Trilla recently dropped out of the race after meeting bureaucratic pitfalls and another candidate, David Barkley, on first count barely missed garnering enough signatures to run.

 

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