Somerville News endorses Mackey

The noise is unbearable but it won’t faze us. Storybook tortures and endorsement rumors blanket the city. Hurray (for once) for great works by an honest politician and a free press!

Contrary to past perceptions and pages, the Somerville News has endorsed Joseph K. Mackey in the democratic primary to replace Charles E. Shannon.

The sincerity and political expertise of the four candidates – Mackey, State Rep. Patricia D. Jehlen, Governor’ Councilor Michael J. Callahan and State Rep. Paul C. Casey – made the decision a difficult one.

^{Throughout the campaign we observed, with a surprised admiration, the candidates’ devotion to honest public service. We examined each for the slightest trace of fraud or incompetence. We found nothing.}

A case was made for Callahan. He knew the office. When he worked for former 2nd Middlesex state Senator Dennis McKenna, he did not spend his days under the sun selling hot dogs. No, he was underneath the golden dome of the State House, taking calls from constituents and using McKenna’s power to make government work for the people. We decided against endorsing him.

Another case was made for Jehlen. The blue eyed State Rep. has been fighting the good fight since she was first elected to the Somerville school committee in 1976. In her stints on the School Committee and in the State House she has worked tirelessly for her constituents. She has nobly supported increases in the minimum wage and has questioned the current operation of the state prison system. Those issues need more advocates as dedicated and articulate as she. Yet, she did not receive our endorsement.

A case was made for Casey. The enthusiasm and frenzy he moves with is refreshing and he knows the lay of the political land at the State House. But honestly, we were a little frightened by his Howard Dean impersonation at our August 10 candidates’ forum. He did not win our support.

No, our endorsement is enthusiastically on the side of Mackey. There are a number of reasons to like the guy who grew up on Jaques Street in Winter Hill, but we were most impressed with the work he did in the city in the years between 1993 and 2005.

In that time, Joseph K. Mackey held no political office. He ran for no political office. And he had no aspirations of political office.

He simply went to work and raised his children within the context of his community. But in such simple tasks, Mackey quietly improved the city he was born in and earned not only our endorsement and respect.

His devotion to the city’s youth is phenomenal. As his children moved up in the Somerville public schools, so did Mackey’s generosity. He founded Dreams for Youth with former Mayor Eugene C. Brune, Irene Bremis and William Galatis to raise money for children’s programs in Somerville. He also founded the Somerville Scholarship Foundation which raised over $1 million in scholarship money for Somerville High students. He served on the Board of the Massachusetts Association for Mental Health and successfully lobbied the state for an increase in funding for teen suicide prevention programs.

Mackey’s bond with the community is compelling and is reminiscent of the previous occupant of the 2nd Middlesex Senate seat – Charles E. Shannon. The former cop from Lexington, who first won the seat in 1991, represented all of his constituents – regardless of their political views – to the best of his ability. He emptied his inbox and returned all constituent calls by the end of each day. Mackey proved in his time out of politics that he has the same remarkable dedication to helping people that Shannon did during his lifetime.

Mackey has more than just a big heart though; he owns an astute legal mind that knows how to steer scarce public resources to taxpayers in Somerville, Medford, Winchester and Woburn. As a State Representative from West Somerville, Mackey proved this.

In 1989, he generated over $20 million into public environmental programs by sponsoring a bill that called on bottle companies to return unclaimed deposits to the taxpayers. In the first vote, Mackey’s bill was trounced 130-30 on the House floor. Undeterred, he went to the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald and got the story to the public: the bottle companies were keeping money that rightfully belonged to the taxpayers. As the media lit the torch, Mackey’s colleagues at the State House had no choice but to respond to the flames and passed the bill into law. He may have played his own little game but he played it to perfection, and all to the benefit of his constituents.

The district, and Somerville in particular, is in need of a skilled advocate. Somerville is the most densely populated city in New England and can be a potential model for smart-growth housing, transportation and economic development strategies.

Citizens in the 2nd Middlesex district needs a Democratic candidate who can be effective on Beacon Hill but also accessible on Winter Hill. The candidate who can do that is Joseph K. Mackey.