Talking Politics

As nasty as they wanna be

By ADAM REILLY | January 26, 2006

For the purposes of Bonifaz’s candidacy, it doesn’t matter that Clean Elections ultimately failed. (While the SJC found in Tolman’s favor, the Democratic legislature simply continued refusing to fund the law.) In fact, it could be a good thing. After all, there’s a clear perception, among voters from all ends of the political spectrum, that Beacon Hill insiders have a habit of blithely dismissing the will of the public. If Bonifaz can use his Clean Elections background to sell himself as champion of Massachusetts voters — while simultaneously painting Galvin as a creature of the system — he could make things interesting.

Thus far, however, it’s not clear that Bonifaz has sufficient political acumen to take this step. During the candidates’ night in Pittsfield, he treated his role in the Clean Elections controversy as an afterthought, mentioning it halfway through his speech and rushing on before the crowd could respond. All he wanted, it seemed, was to talk about voting problems. That may be enough to get Democratic die-hards fired up, but the general public is sure to want more. And if Bonifaz doesn’t realize this soon, his campaign could be over before it starts.

___

On the Web:

William Galvin: http://www.sec.state.ma.us/
John Bonifaz: http://johnbonifaz.com/
National Voting Rights Institute: http://nvri.org/
After Downing Street: http://afterdowningstreet.org/

Email the author:

Adam Reilly: areilly@phx.com

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Comments

As nasty as they wanna be

why does Galvin look so puzzled in the photo?

By test on 01/26/2006 at 7:57:34

As nasty as they wanna be

I think the Voting Procedures in this state are horrible. That doesn't surprise me about Lawrence. I live in this area and I told the person running against the mayor that something is up with the voting in that city and told him to do a recount. People that work for the clerk's office should not be allowed to count the votes. I feel it leaves space for criminal activity. I often wondered why people don't get involved in town meetings. Local towns are run like local mafia. If you disagree with the majority and ask questions, you'll soon be harrassed until you stop asking questions about what authority is doing. I am a student at UMass Boston. I've seen so much fraud and corruption in my community, one town over. Why would anybody want to attend town meetings? So they can get harrassed? The fraud and corruption that goes on in this state is appalling and the lack of accountability. Have you ever tried a legitimate complaint against anyone in this state....Round file! it goes round and round and round.

By legal_lady777 on 05/16/2006 at 9:19:18

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He said, He said
In a recent interview with The Phoenix, Glavin said claims that he'd ignored the voting situation in Lawrence last year were patently false: before the election, his office sent a team to Lawrence to train municipal employees and ensure that inactive voters would be allowed to vote when they arrived at the polls on Election Day. Bonifaz's reply to Galvin's rebuttal: "The response has to be, 'Wait a minute, we just sent out notices to nearly half of the electorate, disproportionately affecting Latino voters, suggesting very strongly to them that they might not be able to vote' . . . That's the underlying issue he was silent on."

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