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March 10, 2005

Jeremy Schwab

Tuesday of next week, voters in the 12th Suffolk County District, which encompasses parts of Mattapan, Milton, Hyde Park and Dorchester, will choose a state representative for the first time since the district was reconfigured to give people of color a better shot at electing a candidate of their choice.

Currently, there are three Haitian-American candidates to choose from, alongside two Irish-Americans. However, if state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson, the highest-ranking black elected official in the state, had her way, there would be only one candidate of color on the ballot come Wednesday.

Wilkerson shot off a letter last week urging voters in the 12th to cast their ballots for Linda Dorcena Forry, and suggesting that the two other Haitian-American candidates should bow out so that the votes of people of color are not split.

“In an ideal situation, two of the three candidates of color would bow out and endorse Linda,” she wrote in the letter, which was sent to the Banner. “I recognize this is a lot to ask given that we do not have a history of engaging in that kind of strategy. Perhaps in the waning days of the campaign, two of them could make history and do what is best for the greater good of the district.”

Her letter outraged Haitian-American 12th District candidates Kirby Robeson and Emmanual Bellegarde.

“Everybody has been talking about free and fair elections and encouraging minorities to get involved in the process and be elected,” said Robeson. “I think it is a disservice to the community to try and inject herself into the process and try to prevent democracy from taking hold.”

Last year, the district’s population of color was increased after federal judges struck down a House map they said discriminated against voters of color by diluting their voting strength. Now, people of color make up roughly two thirds of the district’s population.

The chances for a candidate of color to win increased significantly after former House Speaker Thomas Finneran, who represented the district for 25 years and had a massive campaign war chest, stepped down last fall. Besides Dorcena Forry, Bellegarde and Robeson, Eric Donovan and Stacey Monahan are also running in Wednesday’s special election to fill the open seat.

Wilkerson argued that Dorcena Forry, who has racked up key endorsements from elected officials and unions, is the candidate of color with the best chance of winning. She also warned that if Donovan gets in, the state could re-enact the death penalty. Donovan supports the death penalty.

“In 2002, when the legislature last voted on the death penalty, it lost by only one vote in the House of Representatives,” she wrote. “More than any other issue, the candidate from the 12th Suffolk could be in the position to reinstate or prevent the death penalty from becoming law in Massachusetts.”

Bellegarde said Wilkerson is using “scare tactics,” and pointed out that there has been an election since that vote in 2002, bringing in many new members in the House.

“She is using scare tactics, indicating that if you elect one person all of a sudden they are going to enact the death penalty,” he said. “But we have since elected 11 very progressive legislators.”

Bellegarde, who like Robeson said he would not bow out of the race, said voters, not political insiders, should choose which candidates are most qualified.

“She is sending out a message to folks of color you can only run if we choose you,” he said. “When you vote, you should choose who you think is qualified.”

But Wilkerson said that people of color must unite behind one candidate in future elections, as she said the white community has in the past.

“We know [in white communities] there is a level of political sophistication that allows a process where groups of people decide some order and say it is your turn,” she said during a Banner interview Monday. “But I also know there are things done for people who are patient and wait. I don’t think there is any history of this in communities of color.

“Shame on us, because if in fact political representation is our goal, we darn better think about strategy, unless we think we are going to see ourselves accidentally winning races and increasing our representation.”

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