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Last, Local weekend.
Author: TriSec    Date: 10/30/2010 13:13:30

Well, it's the last weekend before the election.

There are many national elections that are taking up the bulk of the news, but we've got two in Massachusetts that might have national implications, too. While the governor's race is close, we're starting to feel better that perhaps Deval Patrick might just eke it out. The Big Dig that you all paid for is still taking casualties; Charlie Baker (R-MA) knew about the financial problems as early as 1998, but decided it would be more prudent to cover it up and work on getting a Republican elected to the corner office instead. Now that chicken has come home to roost, and Baker is paying the price.



Nay, the real interesting races are in our 4th and 10th congressional districts, Barney Frank and Bill Delahunt, respectively. Mr. Delahunt is retiring this year, and a republican Tea-Bagger by the name of Jeff Perry is vying for the seat. Unfortunately, Mr. Perry has issues.


A woman who was illegally strip-searched and groped by a police officer in 1991, at the age of 14, has accused Massachusetts Republican House candidate Jeffrey D. Perry, who was at the time a police sergeant, of standing by while the assault occurred and doing nothing to stop it. Even worse, Perry has tried to erase this incident from his professional record.

The victim, Lisa Allen, was assaulted by former officer Scott Flanagan in Wareham, Massachusetts, after he found marijuana on one of Allen’s friends.

Flanagan asked Allen if she had any drugs, then ordered her to lift her top and bra and then unbutton her pants, according to a transcript of Flanagan’s guilty plea. Allen asked that she be searched by a female officer and began screaming and yelling when Flanagan went ahead anyway. “Without any warning or notice to the victim, the defendant then put his hand down the front of her jeans inside her underwear feeling that area of her body,’’ prosecutors said in outlining the charges, to which Flanagan then pleaded guilty.

Justice was done in the case of Flanagan: he was convicted in 1993 of civil rights violations and indecent assault of a child for the incident with Allen and an assault he carried out on another girl.

But Perry is another story. According to the official investigation, he was standing a mere 15 feet away when the assault occurred. Lisa Allen backs this up in a statement to the Boston Globe: “Perry knew what Flanagan did, he had to hear me screaming and crying.”


Just so we're clear on where the Republicans stand, the major names in this state have all provided a unified front. Charlie Baker, Mitt Romney, and Senator Scott Brown have all endorsed, and campaigned for, Mr. Perry. So that's enough said about that.

Which finally brings us to the amusing race....The Mass 4th district, or Barney Frank's seat. Barney has risen to national prominence a number of times, first some two decades ago for coming out to become the first openly gay Congressman, and in recent years for being the chairman of the House Finance Committee and the primary architect of numerous reforms and deals that have helped to save the economy over the past 2 years. He's facing another young bagger by the name of Sean Bielat.

Here's a recent ad:



So, essentially Mr. Bielat is trying to blame Barney for the national economic collapse. You'll notice that the bulk of the references in the ad are from before the meltdown, when what Barney said was probably still true. Sean is betting on the electorate's short memory, but we're smarter than that in Massachusetts; he's trailing by 40 points.

So, as we get ready for the midterm election...what's going on in your neck of the woods?

 

4 comments (Latest Comment: 10/31/2010 00:37:59 by livingonli)
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