Tisei's sexuality: news or not?

Published Nov 23 2009, 03:26 PM by Adam Reilly

Interesting, this: the Herald's story on GOP gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker's new running mate, State Sen. Richard Tisei, doesn't mention Tisei's sexuality once.

The Globe, however, takes a different tack. Last week, Frank Phillips cited Tisei's orientation in a piece on Baker's shortlist of possible running mates--albeit in casual terms, as my Phoenix colleague David Bernstein aptly noted. And today's Metro Desk write-up of the Tisei pick gives four (!) grafs to the subject--yet concludes that it probably doesn't matter all that much:

The disclosure about Tisei's sexual orientation is not expected to make much of a ripple in the race for governor.
"It's not significant enough to have an impact, and probably for good reason," said Jeffrey M. Berry, a political scientist at Tufts University. "The state is tolerant, and it is way past that. We've accepted gay married as a part of life here."

It's not that simple, however. Remember: our last Republican governor of Massachusetts suggested--in a noteworthy national speech in 2004--that when it comes to dire threats to the USA, gay marriage is right up there with terrorism. That kind of rhetoric helped boost Mitt Romney's national standing, but it sure didn't help Kerry Healey.

In contrast, Baker has a reputation as a moderate. And the Tisei pick should help him maintain that--even as he stakes out a staunchly conservative position on illegal immigration--which will be a major boon if Baker gets to the general election. (The Tisei pick has interesting implications for the primary as well.)

If Tisei gets ID'd as gay in story after story, it'll start to seem gratuitous. But given the context of today's Herald story, the absence of that particular detail seems like an odd omission.

Cross-posted at Beat the Press.

Filed Under: Boston Herald, Boston Globe, charlie baker, richard tisei, MA politics

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4 Comments

Brian said:

No mentions of RedMassGroup and this discussion about him over there? Interesting.

November 23, 2009 7:24 PM
Adam Reilly said:

Brian, that "interesting" sounds like you've got a point to make. So do it! I confess that RMG is not on my radar screen the way the Globe and Herald are. What's being said there, and what are your thoughts on the issue?

November 23, 2009 8:06 PM
mike said:

What, the Herald isn't noting Tisei's sexual orientation? I'm shocked, shocked! Is this the same paper that celebrated Republican candidate Brown's stand against gay marriage when running against Cheryl Jaques (as Carr would say, "rhymes with fakes")? Pick an adjective: hypocritical, disingenuous, two-faced. Why haven't Howie or Joe Fitzgerald written about this? After all, in their eyes, it's just another exaample of people who practice immoral behavior running for office.

On another note, has no one taken Baker to task for his "no new taxes" pledge? This is the same guy who, as CEO of HPHC, has been responsible for more than doubling premiums over the past 10 years. This is out the Romney playbook: he won't raise taxes, but every other conceivable avenue will be utilized, esp. fees.

November 24, 2009 8:06 AM

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Filed Under: Boston Herald, Boston Globe, charlie baker, richard tisei, MA politics

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Tisei's sexuality: news or not?

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