Black campaign workers have mixed luck with candidates

Jeremy Schwab

A Banner survey of this year’s campaigns for citywide office shows that some hire diverse staff while others mainly or exclusively hire white campaign workers.

Of the two main mayoral contenders, Maura Hennigan has two paid campaign workers, one black and one white, while incumbent Mayor Thomas Menino has eight paid campaign workers, seven of them white.

Meanwhile, of the 15 contenders for city councilor at large who responded some have diverse campaign staff while others do not. Longshot candidate Kevin McCrea, for instance, hired current students and recent graduates of the John D. O’Bryant High School to run his campaign this summer. Meanwhile, Sam Yoon, who hopes to become the first Asian American elected to the body, has a paid staff of two, both of them white, but relies on a “kitchen cabinet” of advisors, all but one of whom are people of color.

Working on a campaign staff is widely seen as an important step in a budding politician’s career because working on a campaign is one of the best ways for would-be politicians or legislative staffers to learn their trade. Furthermore, if the candidate wins, his or her paid staffers are in prime position for a full-time gig in the victorious candidate’s office in City Hall.

“Everyone talks about having diverse candidates running for office, but one of the things we also talk about is diversity of staff because that is the training ground for running for politics someday,” said Juan Martinez, executive director of the voting advocacy group MassVOTE.

Having campaign workers of color can also make a candidate more aware of the needs of voters of color.

“I think it is important to have diversity in a campaign staff because you get a broader view of the issues,” said Sarah-Ann Shaw, who helped create the Community Fellows Program to train community activists and would-be political candidates at Northeastern University. “The issue of housing may be seen one way in Roxbury and another way in West Roxbury.”

White politicians may be paying more attention this year to voters of color than in the past. In 2003, Felix Arroyo came in second in at-large city council voting and last year Andrea Cabral won re-election as Suffolk County Sheriff, with both enjoying strong support from voters of color and white progressives.

This year, Councilor Michael Flaherty, who came in first in the vote-getting for the four at-large seats in 2003, has hired William Dorcena, who is considered an ally of Mayor Thomas Menino in the black community, as one of his two paid campaign staffers. Dorcena is also the brother of Linda Dorcena Forry, the newly elected state representative.

Meanwhile, Matt O’Malley, who placed a distant sixth in the voting in 2003, recently hired Mukiya Baker Gomez, perhaps the most accomplished campaign manager in the black community, as one of his two paid campaign workers. Baker Gomez will be director of field operations.

Other campaign staffs were less diverse. At-large Councilor Stephen Murphy has only one paid campaign worker, a fundraiser, who is white. But he says four of the eight members of his campaign steering committee are people of color.

At-large Councilor Felix Arroyo also has just one paid campaign worker, campaign manager Patrick Keeney. However, his office staff in City Hall is diverse, with two whites, one black and one Latina.

Mayor Menino’s campaign spokeswoman, Beth Leonard, emphasized that despite the Menino campaign’s heavy reliance on white employees the campaign uses a person of color to head its college organizing effort. Leonard also noted that the campaign’s political director, Erika Butler, is black.

The campaigns of perennial black candidates Althea Garrison and Roy Owens do not have any paid full-time staff. Meanwhile, the campaigns of at-large candidates Patricia White, John Connolly, Edward Flynn, Laura Garza, Martin Hogan, Gregory O’Connell and Joseph Ready could not be reached for comment.

Amanda Barros, 18, has learned a lot this summer as campaign manager for Kevin McCrea. Barros, who graduated from the O’Bryant in the spring and plans to major in political science at UMass Amherst, has done phone banking and attended events with the candidate, among other duties.

“I am more aware of what is going on in the city,” she said. “I learned what a city councilor does and what their roles are in the city. I am actually thrilled to open up a paper and read what is going on in the city. Before, I wasn’t interested at all.”

Barros has also found that her bilingual skills have come in handy on the campaign trail.

“I think it’s very important for councilors to have a diverse staff,” she said. “For instance, we run into different people who speak different languages, and I myself speak Cape Verdean Creole so it is very easy for other Cape Verdeans to understand me.”