Posted on 02/15/2002 12:50:44 AM PST by kattracks
Like the Spanish inquisition, the state Democratic Party is moving to purge heretics. There's a problem, though: By the time it's done, will there be anyone left?
The party says it is sick of turncoats - people calling themselves Democrats who nevertheless support the candidates of other political parties. Therefore, as reported in the Herald last week, the Dems have decided to crack the whip. They've put in a rule barring individuals from serving as party delegates if in the past they've endorsed non-Democratic candidates or even, in the case of elected officials, if they simply ``publicly opposed the election'' of a Democratic nominee.
This year, with the party's late May convention rapidly approaching, the rule gets its first test.
Too bad, Barney.
That would be Barney Frank, who in the 1978 U.S. Senate race endorsed Republican Ed Brooke over Democratic nominee Paul Tsongas. The same year, Frank also endorsed Republican Frank Hatch over Democrat Ed King for governor.
And Barney's not alone. Just ask Bill Weld.
In 1990, a slew of Democrats made nice to the Republican nominee. Boston Mayor Ray Flynn walked him around J.J. Foley's, showing the crowd that the aristocratic redhead was a just a regular kind of guy. Four years later, Democratic nominee Mark Roosevelt got nothing but cold shoulders from Democrats who figured he hadn't a chance of winning and wanted to stay in Weld's good graces. That September, Weld's campaign released the names of more than 100 Democratic officeholders endorsing his re-election.
Then there's Suffolk County District Attorney Ralph Martin. In 1994, Democrats abandoned their nominee, Gerard Malone, to support the Republican incumbent. Boston Mayor Tom Menino endorsed him, as did dozens of other Democrats, including Thomas Reilly, now the commonwealth's attorney general, and Michael Flaherty, now City Council president.
Four years later, Scott Harshbarger, Democratic nominee for governor, suffered the same fate. A number of Democratic legislators endorsed Republican Paul Cellucci. Others, more clever, simply did everything they could to make sure Cellucci won. House Speaker Tom Finneran, for example, denounced Harshbarger as a member of the ``loony left.''
Clever or not, it shouldn't matter. The standard for being banished, one senior party official says, is ``if a reasonable person could conclude'' the pol supported someone else.
Wow. By the time the purge is over, the number of eligible Democratic delegates may shrink almost to nothing. Cancel the Worcester Centrum! A room at the Holiday Inn should be big enough for this year's convention.
That'll be tough but, as party officials stress, it's the principle that matters. Except, as it turns out, the principle doesn't matter. The new rule is written so it doesn't apply before 1998. Whew! Thank goodness for technicalities. Moreover, party officials so far have trained their ire on just two Boston officials: City Councilor Stephen Murphy and state Rep. Brian Golden. Murphy supposedly endorsed Cellucci; Golden supported George W. Bush.
For Golden, the exclusion won't be a problem: A member of the Army Reserves, he's now in Bosnia on a six-month assignment (which, in a classic, only-in-Massachusetts moment, has prompted criticism from locals thinking it more important Golden that tend to potholes than serve his country).
For Murphy, it's a big deal, since he is running for the party's nomination for treasurer. Murphy is crying foul, and for good reason: It appears the charge is untrue. The Cellucci team denies Murphy supported them. Warren Tolman, the nominee for lieutenant governor in 1998, distinctly remembers Murphy working on the Democratic ticket's behalf.
So, what's really going on? The conspiracy-minded figure the jab at Murphy is just a political trick aimed at clearing the decks for James Segel, another candidate for treasurer. Segel, unlike Murphy, is a buddy of party regulars. (Although, in what is a delicious irony, it turns out Segel was one of those Democrats for Hatch back in 1978.)
Next is Robert Reich, renegade candidate for governor. Party officials are quick to note that in Cambridge, for example, more than 250 of those who showed up at caucuses earlier this month had previously been unenrolled or members of another party. The suspicion is many of them were Ralph Nader supporters in the 2000 presidential contest - grounds for disqualification and a sure way to stop Reich from getting the 15 percent he needs to get on the ballot.
Once again, the party will be kept safe from outsiders.
And that, of course, is the true problem with the Democratic Party's creepy, totalitarian-like rule. It promotes group-think over independence, old ideas over new, insiders vs. outsiders. It's sad. A broad-based political party now looks more like a cliquish club that's running scared.
Tom Keane can be reached at tomkeane@tomkeane.com.
Since when?
The folks who are influential in both parties see more to gain in covering for one another and keeping any true dissident view (regards globalism, immigration, reducing government etc.)than in purifining their ranks.
The ranks of both parties will be continually cleansed of anyone who has bedrock principles, be they of the right or left, in favor of people who believe that EVERYTHING is negociable.
I agree with this statement. But interestingly enough, if I was to replace "Rats" with "Republicans" and "Left" with "Right", I would be flamed into oblivian around here...
Barney Frank is a sodomite and needs to be purged anyway.
Nah-------there are enough RINOs to balance it out.
The "Big Tent" Democrat party....Inside is a three ring circus. One unlike most others in that all the rings are filled with clowns.
-Eric
For sure. . .and it is time to call this Party for what it is; rather than what it is not. . .
. . .many possibilities, but think the name Totalitarirats serves well, the Truth of the Democrats rather than their current oxymoron of the 'Democratic' Party. . .
. . .our best hope is that more recognize the 'wolf' in Grandmother's bed. . .
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