AP: Barrios to Leave Senate

The Associated Press is reporting that state Senator Jarrett Barrios (D-Cambridge) has been offered the presidency of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation. He will confirm whether he plans to accept the job later today, but at this point his departure from the Senate seems likely. Barrios' office had previously denied rumors that he was leaving the Senate.

The article describes the Foundation as such:

Since its creation in 2001, the foundation has issued grants totaling $19 million to 199 organizations. It also was key player in developing the Massachusetts universal health care law enacted last year.

The foundation is governed by its own 17-member board of directors. Although it operates separately from Blue Cross Blue Shield, the corporation contributed an initial endowment of $55 million to the foundation.

Interestingly enough, the chairman of the foundation's board is former Massachusetts Democratic Party Chair Phil Johnston.

Update: The Cambridge Chronicle has the official word from Barrios, saying he'll accept the offer. The Chronicle also notes that Cambridge City Councilors Marjorie Decker and Anthony Galluccio had both planned to run for this seat last year when Barrios was running for Middlesex County DA. After Barrios changed his mind and ran instead for reelection, both of them dropped out, but now they might be interested again in replacing the Senator. One complication, however, would be that a special election would likely be around the same time as the Cambridge City elections. It could be potentially difficult for either of them to run for both offices at the same time.

Update 2: I have the text of the letter Senator Barrios has sent to his supporters in the full post. He writes that he will not step down until July, after the Senate budget season and the Constitutional Convention.

Dear friend,

I have been honored to represent you in the state legislature, and I wanted you to know personally about my decision to leave the Senate for an important, new opportunity to make a difference in the lives of people who need a strong voice.

The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation, one of the largest private health philanthropies in the state, has named me to serve as its president. Through grants and policy initiatives, the Foundation works to broaden health coverage and reduce barriers to health care for uninsured, vulnerable and low-income individuals and families. The Foundation played a leading role in the development of the state's universal health care plan, which has become a model for the nation.

I am humbled by the opportunity to lead this prestigious Foundation as we continue working to make universal health care a reality. The Foundation has been a leader in health care policy, and I am excited to join the team at this important time. The implementation of the Commonwealth's new health care law remains a daunting, but exciting, job of the Foundation. The next challenge will be to answer the question, "After these reforms, who has been left out?" We will need to work hard to increase enrollment in low-income communities, improve the delivery of culturally competent care, and address disturbing trends in health disparities based on race, ethnic background and economic class.

It has been a pleasure to serve on the Foundation board since its inception in 2001, along with the national health care advocacy organization Families U.S.A. and other, local efforts to expand access to quality health care. I believe the challenge of public service is to find the highest, best use of one's abilities to serve the common good. Today, the changed politics and policy landscape of health care -- with so much progress being made and so much work yet to be done -- make this arena an amazing, productive place for me to devote my (admittedly frenetic) energies.

Health care has always been a priority for me. The very first bill I sponsored in the legislature expanded emergency room care by requiring hospitals to provide interpreter services for people who don't speak English. In the Senate, I served as vice chair of the Health Care Committee, focusing on disparities between rich and poor in health access and outcomes, pushing for more affordable prescription drugs and fighting for environmental justice. I'm proud to lead efforts in the Senate on a measure to address health care disparities.

I also chaired the Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee and made this area my other primary focus. With your support, we've made great progress: Creating a state witness protection program, redesigning the state's fire code, serving on an oversight commission to reform the correction system, instituting a ban on assault weapons and passing the first-of-its kind grant program to stop youth violence.

I was drawn to politics ten years ago, in part, because I felt important viewpoints were missing from the debate on Beacon Hill. For those who have known me, the voices I have most passionately sought to represent are the voices of poor and working people of whatever color, nation of origin or creed. For them, state government has a unique ability to make a positive difference in their lives. Public safety, credit and consumer issues, housing, and education are all areas in which those who are less well-off rely on effective and compassionate leadership in state government. Of these issues, none is impacted more by competent state policy than health care. My new role will enable me to focus on ensuring that all individuals and families in Massachusetts have the peace of mind of knowing that they can get high-quality, affordable health care for themselves and their loved ones.

Of course, there are important things left undone. I will not leave until after the Constitutional Convention concludes and the Senate budget process is completed in June. I anticipate a July end date for my term of service, and have so informed Senate President Therese Murray.

A special election will be held to select a new Senator to represent you. In the meantime, my office will remain open and ready to serve you. Please do not hesitate to call with any questions or concerns about state government.

It truly has been a privilege to work for you in the state legislature. I will never forget the opportunity you gave me to serve. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers.

Barrios to Drop Out of DA's Race?

The Boston Herald is reporting that Jarrett Barrios is dropping out of the race to be Middlesex County District Attorney. Barrios will instead run for re-election to his state Senate seat. According to the article, Barrios' spokesman declined comment yesterday, so nothing official has yet been announced.

The article sites Martha Coakley's unofficial endorsement of Barrios' rival for the DA post, Gerry Leone, as a "nearly insurmountable hurdle for Barrios." I have to say, though, that I disagree with the assessment that the Barrios campaign "stumbled" in recent weeks, particularly given how much hay the Senator was able to make over the passage of anti-gang legislation. That said, I've often wondered why Barrios wanted to jump to the DA's office when much of what he wanted to accomplish could be done from his seat at the chair of the Senate's Public Safety and Homeland Security committee.

Leone would now be the only person left in a race that once fielded as many as four official candidates with several others who were considering jumping in. This also marks the second time a candidate has dropped out mere days after I wrote a long post about them.

Under the Golden Dome had the scoop on this last night.

[UPDATE]: The Boston Globe says that Barrios himself has denied this, but other sources say that he's seriously thinking about running for re-election instead.

[UPDATE 2]: It's official. Here's Barrios' email to supporters as captured by a Blue Mass. Group poster.

Barrios: Address Root Causes

State Senator Jarrett Barrios was in Watertown last night talking to our Democratic Town Committee about his candidacy for Middlesex County District Attorney. Also present was Teddy from Sports, Politics and Revenge, who posted his thoughts there.

Barrios' message was that Middlesex County needs a DA who is not only tough on crime, but also tough on its root causes. The theme of the evening was that "justice in the future means less crime" -- and that the job of the DA is not only to put criminals behind bars, but also to create and manage public safety programs aimed at reducing recidivism. Barrios reminded us that 99.8% of those incarcerated will be back on the street eventually and it's important to make sure that they are not just going to wind up in front of a judge again.

Throughout the meeting he touted the Anti-Gang law he sponsored in the Senate and the anti-Identity Theft initiative that is currently pending.

Barrios downplayed the importance of courtroom experience for a district attorney. The DA never appears in court, he said, and leaves that to his assistants. He noted that he has as much courtroom experience -- including criminal defense work -- as Scott Harshbarger did in 1982, and more than now Congressman Bill Delahunt (D-Quincy) had when he was appointed Norfolk County DA in 1975. Some of the most creative ideas, Barrios claimed, often come from those who have never been prosecutors since they are coming from outside the system and can offer a different perspective.

When asked about the biggest problem facing Middlesex county, Barrios pointed to drug addition and substance abuse. He noted that in these cases we need to deal with the underlying problem of addiction, otherwise the offenders are almost certain to repeat. He pointed to the drug court in Framingham and other localities as examples of a way to combine treatment and punishment for these types of offenses.

Barrios wants to frame this as a choice between a single-minded one-dimensional prosecutor and someone with a broader experience in public safety. He bolsters this argument by pointing to all the work he has done in the Senate during his tenure as Chair of the Public Safety and Homeland Security committee, particularly in working and talking with other groups to try to address the causes of crime. The implication (I thought) was that his opponent, former Assistant US Attorney Gerry Leone, is not interested in such collaboration. Frankly, I don't think that this is quite fair to Leone, and ignores his own history of bringing groups together to stop crime, particularly his work in the Community Based Justice program at the DA's office. This, I think, underscores the difference between the two candidates. Barrios is already fairly well known for a state Senator, and as such, he's free to talk about what he'd do as DA. Leone is still introducing himself to the voters, and he has focused more on his resume than what his plans are, leaving his opponent to fill in the blanks. Now, Leone's resume may be enough to win him the election by itself, but my feeling is that if he is not able to get his message out, Barrios will gladly do it for him.

As an aside, I've spent a lot of time recently looking over 1998 election returns and in that year Martha Coakley, who had previously lost a state rep bid but had no other experience in electoral politics, won every town in Middlesex County and lost only in Lowell (by a handful of votes) and Cambridge. She was running at the time against two well-connected Democrats in the primary, then and current Cambridge city councilor Michael A. Sullivan, former mayor and candidate for Middlesex County Clerk of Courts, and Timothy Flaherty, son of former Speaker of the House Charlie Flaherty. I was not in Massachusetts at that time, so I can't speak as to how that campaign unfolded, but it seems to me that those results show that it takes, or at least took, more than political connections to win Middlesex County DA.

Barrios in Watertown Tonight

State Senator and Middlesex County DA candidate Jarrett Barrios will be addressing the Watertown Democratic Town Committee tonight at 8pm at the Watertown Town Hall. I got back home from my short break just in time, and I'll be there. Expect more on that and a whole bunch from the backlog tomorrow.

Also, the Watertown for Deval kickoff meeting will be Monday night at 7pm. Send an email to WatertownForDeval@gmail.com for more details.

Middlesex County DA Forum

I just got back from the Middlesex County DA candidates forum at Suffolk University Law School in Boston. Andy from Mass. Revolution Now was also there, and hopefully he'll share his thoughts as well. The event featured all three candidates for Middlesex County DA, state Senator Jarrett Barrios (D-Cambridge), state Representative Mike Festa (D-Melrose) and former First Assistant US Attorney Gerry Leone.

The format of the event was a question and answer session, where each candidate was asked a different question. I think it would have helped draw a contrast between the candidates if they each had to answer the same questions. That would have made it more like a debate rather than a panel discussion.

First, a couple of impressions. I was impressed by all three candidates, and I think any of them would make a great District Attorney. This was the first time I'd heard Gerry Leone at all, and he certainly stressed his prosecutorial experience. He stressed the role of the DA to speak for those who can no longer do so, and rattled off a list of murder victims whose killers he brought to justice. The implication was that if such a crime ever happened to your family, you'd be glad he was the DA. He also touted his record in increasing diversity during the time he was responsible for hiring at the Attorney General's office and the US Attorney's office.

Leone also said something I didn't expect from him. He was asked about a shortcoming of the current DA's office, and he suggested that if he were DA, he'd have a post 9/11 summit. The problem, he said, was that resources were not being allocated in a smart way since the 2001 attacks, and that there needed to be multi-agency collaboration to improve this. As an example, he pointed out that 2/3 of the FBI agents in Boston are dedicated to anti-terror efforts, and since the total number of agents has stayed the same, there are fewer resources available to investigate other types of crime.

Barrios had to leave early, but he touted his work with the Senate Public Safety and Homeland Security committee. He also stressed that the job cannot be limited to just prosecution, but also needs to address the root causes of crime. That is, it's not just enough to be the DA in the courtroom, but you had to use your influence to reduce the causes of crime. He also spoke out against mandatory minimums for first time nonviolent drug offenders, since if an addict has no opportunity for parole, he has no incentive to enter treatment programs, and is therefore more likely to re-offend.

Festa again mentioned how the DA's job is one that's both professional and political, and he has experience in both worlds. Festa was asked about Criminal Offender Record (CORI) checks, and stressed that law enforcement should have access to those records, but others are not necessarily trained to read them. This can be a problem for non-violent offenders trying to reintegrate into society after they've paid their debt. Festa also was asked about how he would prevent gang violence. He talked briefly about his time in Somerville combatting the Winter Hill gang, and mentioned the importance of community involvement in anti-gang activities. In addition, Festa came out against mandatory minimum sentences, largely for similar reasons as Senator Barrios.

Thanks to the Suffolk Law Dems and the Mass. Democratic future for setting this event up. Hopefully there will be more of these in the coming months. Maybe even some of them in Middlesex County.

Desk Clearing

I just wanted to get a couple of items off of my desk before I post about the convention, otherwise I'd never get around to posting them.

From the Phoenix:
The Boston Phoenix has an interesting article on Democracy for America Boston, and the other progressive groups that have sprung up around the Commonwealth in the past few years. At one point they wonder if this is going to be the new face of machine politics in Boston, but I don't think that can happen. For one thing, there's too much overlap -- at least ideologically -- with good-government organizations (like Common Cause, for example) for progressive groups to ever really consolidate power and dole out patronage. In addition, the whole point of these groups, in my opinion, is to give people who are on the outside a chance to feel like they have some influence. If it gets to the point where they are perceived as "insider" or "special interest" groups, I think they end up losing their appeal.

From the Herald:
Herald reporter Dave Wedge, who by the way was found guilty of committing libel earlier this year, had an article criticizing Deval Patrick on his stance on affirmative action. To show how extreme Patrick was, he quoted Clint Bolick of the Institute for Justice -- a "libertarian" law firm funded by the same right-wing billionaires that bring you the Cato Institute. The problem, though, is that Bolick is an anti-affirmative action zealot. It was like asking PETA for their opinion on my eating a roast beef sandwich for lunch. There's more on the Institute from RightWatch.

The day before, of course, Wedge had an article about Patrick's opposition to the Death Penalty that even the conservative, pro-death penalty Carpundit thought was unfair.

From the blogs:
According to Marry in Massachusetts, Jarrett Barrios of all people has proposed a bill that would both ban gay marriages and civil unions in Massachusetts. Barrios, of course, married his longtime same-sex partner in November. This would seem a gambit on Barrios's part to keep conservatives who are both against gay marriage and civil unions from voting in favor of the civil union amendment at the Constitutional Convention this fall. Last year, if you recall, a number of conservatives voted against the amendment and supporters of equal marriage rights are not counting on their votes this time around. Barrios is gambling that legislators who oppose civil unions will vote for this bill and against the civil union amendment (and as such, in favor of the status quo), but that the more restrictive bill will not pass.