Keep cyphering Mr. President, in the meantime let's look at some political developments closer to home:
After years of not having any opposition, Congressman Richard Neal is finally facing a credible challenger, as reported in this morning's UMass Collegian:
United States Rep. Richard Neal, a University of Massachusetts journalism lecturer and former Springfield mayor, will face a challenger for his second district house seat for the first time since 1998.
Republican Jay Fleitman, chairman of Northampton’s Board of Health, a Republican ward chairman, and a former school committee member will run against Neal, who has held his seat since 1989.
Fleitman said he is running for a variety of reasons, but primarily because he disagrees with Congress’ recent spending moves.
“They’ve let loose with this almost criminal barrage of spending,” Fleitman said of the federal bailouts, furthering that “this government is accruing debt equal to the entire debt that the U.S. government has accrued in history prior to this.
“The chickens are going to come to roost on this, it’s going to burden the whole economy, the people who are going to be paying for this are you and your children,” continued Fleitman as an emphasis to students....
On whether the Fleitman campaign poses a challenge, Neal’s staff was silent, as his press secretary, William Tranghese, would not comment on the matter.
I wonder if Neal will explain to the students in his journalism class why his press secretary considered it best not to comment to the student paper. Interestingly, the UMass newspaper is located in Amherst, which is in the district and hometown of Congressman John Olver, yet the account in the Collegian of Neal's challenger is much longer and more detailed than the one that appeared in The Republican which is printed in Neal's district and hometown of Springfield. Once again, you have to leave the area in order to find out what's going on in Springfield politics.
No matter what your political persuasion this has to be considered good news. In a healthy democracy every public official should be forced to explain to the public every election cycle what they have done while in office and why they should be re-elected. It has been far too long since Neal has had to face such a reckoning.
However, both the Republican and the Collegian get it wrong when reporting when Neal last faced a challenger. The Republican said 1996 and the Collegian 1998, but actually Neal faced a Democrat primary challenge in the year 2000 from the crackpot activist Joe Fountain. But by any measure, it has been far too long since Neal has been required to defend his record in a seriously challenged election, and therefore nothing but good can come from Dr. Fleitman's candidacy.
In anticipation of a review of the incumbents record, let's take a trip in our time machine back to the days of The Baystate Objectivist and the now out of print Ogulewicz Chronicles, where former three term Springfield City Councilor Mitch Ogulewicz recounts his memories of Neal's first congressional campaign.
Originally printed in The Ogulewicz Chronicles
In February of 1988, Mitch Ogulewicz received an invitation to attend a secret meeting at the Salem Croft Inn in East Brookfield. The invitation came from Mitch’s friend State Representative Ken Lemanski (D-Chicopee). When Mitch arrived at the Inn he found himself at a gathering with Lemanski and various political operatives from throughout the Second Congressional District.
For nearly four decades, the Second District had been represented in Congress by Edward P. Boland (above with Silvio Conte, Charles Ryan and Ted Kennedy). A New Deal Democrat in the mold of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Boland was a popular and powerful congressman who held the number two position on the House Appropriations Committee, one of the most important committees in Congress because all spending bills at some point had to pass through it. That meant not only that Boland was in a uniquely effective position to attach special funding for his district to various bills, but also enabled him to “horse-trade” with other members of congress for legislation he wanted for his district.
Despite his enormous power and prestige, Boland never lost the common touch. There are endless anecdotes of his special kindnesses: an elderly woman looked out the window one snowy morning to find the congressman shoveling her sidewalk. He never came to the door and had she not seen him out her window, she would never have known who shoveled her walk. A poor single mother with several children heard her doorbell ring and found nothing there but a bag of groceries sitting on her front porch. She called in vain to a figure she saw hurrying down the street. It was Congressman Boland. He walked everywhere, and it was as common to see him strolling past your house as it was to see anyone else in the neighborhood. People said he was the last of a dying breed of politicians, those who never allowed themselves to become insulated in Washington and who always stayed in personal contact with their constituents.
Ogulewicz himself had an encounter with Boland that forever made a positive impression on him, even though at the time Mitch was working to remove Boland from office. In 1968 Boland faced the stiffest political challenge of his career when Mayor Charles V. Ryan ran against him in the Democratic primary. Mitch had a close political relationship with Ryan going back almost to his childhood, so on election day Mitch (who was on leave from the service) was standing in front of Armory Street School, campaigning for Ryan in full military uniform. Boland arrived at the polling place and began shaking hands. When he reached Mitch he noticed the Ryan button prominently displayed on his lapel.
Instead of moving on to greet someone else, Boland stopped, shook Mitch’s hand and told him that he was glad to see a young person participating in politics even if he was not a supporter. It was the kind of unnecessary kindness and interest in people that Boland was famous for, and in the cutthroat world of Springfield politics such deference to an opponent was especially unique. It was things like that which made even Boland’s political enemies concede that Eddie Boland was a class act.
Not that Boland was without his critics, some complained that he was too liberal for the district and, in his later years, that he had served too long. By 1988, there was some grumbling in certain quarters that Boland should step aside and let a new generation of Democrats take over. Many had expected Boland to retire in 1986, when his close friend and former roommate Tip O’Neil retired. He probably would have, except that congressional hearings were beginning the following year on the Iran-Contra scandal, in which members of the Reagan Administration were accused of funneling money illegally to rebel groups struggling to overthrow the Marxist government of Nicaragua. Congress had restricted the amount of money that could be spent on this effort in large part due to the fear that the United States was risking becoming involved in another Vietnam type conflict. It was Edward Boland who had written the restricting legislation the Reagan Administration had violated, commonly referred to as “The Boland Amendments,” and Boland wanted another term in order to participate in the hearings.
So 1988 looked to be the year Boland was likely to step down, and political maneuvering of all sorts was going on behind the scenes. Representative Lemanski, State Senator Martin Reilly and Springfield Mayor Richard Neal were regarded as the leading contenders to be Boland’s successor, although by the time Mitch attended the secret meeting in East Brookfield, Reilly had already been eliminated by a banking scandal created by the Springfield Newspapers. Although eventually cleared of all ethics charges, the process took a long time and in the meantime Reilly’s political career was ruined.
Lemanski told those gathered in East Brookfield that he had commissioned a poll to determine his chances of being elected to Congress. The results he received showed that it was a toss-up between himself and Richard Neal, and Lemanski believed that the statistics suggested that he could win. The problem was that it was impossible to openly campaign until Boland made clear his intentions. To run without an official announcement of Boland’s retirement would be perceived as rudely trying to force the Congressman’s hand, something that would alienate the Boland backers Lemanski would need to win.
Lemanski told those gathered at the Inn that he had spoken privately with Boland himself, who told him that he was uncertain of his plans. However, Boland promised him that once he had made up his mind, he would call Lemanski and give him advance warning of his intentions before alerting the media. Thus there was the need for Lemanski to keep things quiet for the time being, but Lemanski wanted those like Ogulewicz, who would be key players in his congressional campaign, to know the situation in advance so that they could act quickly if Boland tipped him off that he was retiring. With all participants sworn to secrecy, the meeting at the Salem Croft Inn dispersed.
And then nothing happened. Weeks passed, and then months passed, without a word from the Congressman on whether or not he would seek re-election. Talk of who would succeed him began to fade, as the deadline approached for candidates to file for the race. With no word from Boland, it became a universal assumption that Boland would seek one more term. After all, it was becoming too late for any successor to raise the money to mount a campaign. Never having heard anything from Boland as promised, Lemanski simply put his own political ambitions on hold until 1990.
Then one morning, just days before the filing deadline, Lemanski's telephone rang. It was Congressman Boland. He told Lemanski that he would announce his retirement to the media at a press conference to be held that afternoon on Hungry Hill.
The entire Second District was shocked, and the political scene was filled with questions. Why had Boland taken so long to make his intentions known? Who could run a credible campaign with such short time remaining? For that matter, who could even get on the ballot with such short time left to gather signatures? The whole thing seemed baffling and completely out of character for Boland to leave everyone in such a lurch.
Then as Mitch Ogulewicz was returning from the Boland press conference that afternoon to attend a meeting at City Hall, he was startled to see cars in the parking lot with bumper stickers that read “Neal for Congress.” Boland’s official announcement had barely been made an hour earlier and yet already there were cars with Neal bumper stickers? How did Neal know enough to print them? In the coming days there would be further revelations, such as the fact that Neal had already quietly gathered a huge campaign chest and was ready to outspend everybody. Again, people asked how could he have known?
The full circumstances behind the retirement of Edward Boland have never been made clear. Some say Boland simply woke up one morning and suddenly decided to step down. Others say that powerful political forces finally forced him off of the political stage against his will. All anyone knows for certain is that when the dust cleared, Richard Neal was the only candidate left standing. Neither Lemanski nor anyone else was in any position to run against him at that late date, and so a fringe candidate from the communist party became Neal’s only opposition.
The year 1989 began a period of unprecedented change in Springfield politics as the result of the departure of Mayor Richard Neal to Washington. When Neal was sworn in by House Speaker Jim Wright, the Speaker noted with astonishment that he couldn’t recall ever seeing a wide open congressional seat go so uncontested as Boland’s had. But then Speaker Wright was unfamiliar with the brutal power of the dominant political machine to crush all opposition in Springfield.
Honor Roll
In a shameful episode last night the Massachusetts Democrats under the leadership of jackass House Speaker Robert DeLeo (above with Deval Patrick) voted to raise the sales tax. Of course that is the tax which hits the poor the hardest and will also hurt our chances of an economic recovery by slamming the business community. Fortunately, time exists to defeat this abomination when it reaches the State Senate. However, we should at least pause to acknowledge the brave state representatives from our Valley who voted against the sales tax increase.
Rep. Donald F. Humason (above)
Rep. Todd R. Smola
Rep. Angelo Puppolo
Rep. Sean F. Curran
Rep. Rosemary Sandlin
Now, who are the Western Mass Senators who will join this honor roll in the next phase of the battle?
Shake It Baby
Here I am this weekend at the UMass Renaissance House posing with my pal Billy.
Today's Video
This is Wolfmother.
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