They must have $oured on Koh:
"More female candidates mean tough choices for women’s groups" by Stephanie Ebbert Globe Staff July 25, 2018
Years ago, women’s political action committees would line up behind the lone female candidate in a given election, focusing all their resources on elevating her over a crowded field of guys.
So quaint.
This year, so many women are running for certain seats that endorsing one means, of necessity, snubbing others. When the National Women’s Political Caucus endorsed state Senator Barbara L’Italien for the Third Congressional District this month, it bypassed four others: Alexandra Chandler, Bopha Malone, state Representative Juana Matias, and Lori Trahan. All five women competing in the Democratic primary met the qualifications for the caucus, which backs women of either party who support abortion rights.
That issue defines you as a woman, as far as the Globe is concerned, and they are adamantly pro-abortion.
Likewise, EMILY’s List — the fund-raising powerhouse that recruits female Democrats who support abortion rights — has been playing favorites in this election cycle, sometimes to the displeasure of individual candidates.
Endorsements can be a dime a dozen in certain races, with candidates touting their embrace by unions, elected officials, and interest groups to appeal to different blocs of voters, but some endorsements carry more weight than others, delivering not just a seal of approval, but money and resources that can be tapped for TV ads, mailers, phone banks, and signs. EMILY’s List is one of the oldest and most successful PACs, with a national web of members who heed endorsements and funnel their donations into promising candidates’ campaigns.
And in races where the field is crowded, the endorsement of a key constituency can help a candidate stand out. The Massachusetts Third congressional race also features several women who would break new ground. Matias, an immigrant who was born in the Dominican Republican and now lives in Lawrence, would be the first Latina congresswoman from New England. Malone, a bank vice president from Bedford, is a Cambodian refugee. And Chandler, a former Navy intelligence analyst from Haverhill, is a transgender woman.
Another female Democrat, Eileen Donoghue of Lowell, decided not to run.
Is it because she didn't have a political identity and base?
In backing L’Italien, however, both the state and national women’s caucuses pointed to her years of experience — and effectiveness — in the Legislature.
L’Italien, of Andover, has served two terms in the Senate and four in the House. She moved into politics after advocating for her oldest of four children, who has autism. As a freshman in the House, she supported gay marriage and held her ground after her stance got her ousted from a leadership role at her church.
“Her toughness in standing up for what’s right, even when it costs her personally, is admirable,” NWPC president Donna Lent said in a statement. “Barbara L’Italien is the real deal, the sort of change-making woman who will get things done in Congress and carry on this district’s tradition of strong female leadership.”
The Third District congressional race isn’t the only one creating difficult choices for women’s groups in Massachusetts this year. In the Seventh District, where Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley is challenging incumbent Mike Capuano in the Democratic primary, Pressley has captured national attention as part of a wave of progressive women taking on tough races.....
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Here is how she gets things done (I'm surprised it wasn't mentioned in the story above. I guess they don't read each others work):
"State Senator Barbara L’Italien secures $16m in funds for Lowell — for a city she doesn’t represent" by Matt Stout Globe Correspondent July 30, 2018
In a few short months, state Senator Barbara L’Italien has shepherded some $16 million into various bills for the city of Lowell, funneling state cash toward parks and more than $1 million for the site of a new high school. On Wednesday alone, she managed to secure millions for a parking study, to build a bridge, and other projects in an economic development bill — all pork, all for the Mill City.
There’s just one thing: L’Italien, an Andover Democrat, doesn’t represent Lowell, but she wants to in Congress.
As she vies in a crowded primary for the US House, L’Italien has repeatedly filed, and helped pass, earmarks for the Third District’s largest city, which sits just beyond the boundaries of her own Senate district.
If I didn't know better, I would say she is trying to bribe, 'er, buy her way into Congre$$ with tax loot.
The efforts, she said, are on behalf of Lowell’s former senator, Eileen M. Donoghue, who resigned in April to become Lowell’s city manager, and her former Senate office. Donoghue’s decision to step down from her seat left the city and nearby towns without representation in the upper chamber until next year, and it was L’Italien, Donoghue said, who offered to advocate for Lowell’s targeted projects in the Senate.
Now she was mentioned in the article above.
The practice of legislators filing amendments for another district can be commonplace when there’s a vacancy. For L’Italien, it also comes at a politically expedient time before the Sept. 4 primary. The two-term senator is seeking to distinguish herself in a 10-person congressional field, and she readily acknowledges she will remind voters in Lowell of her recent work for them on Beacon Hill.
After almost 12 years on this blog, I am $ick of the endle$$ $tatu$ quo of Ma$$achu$etts politics, no matter what face they have on during the campaign. It melts away as soon the election is over.
“Absolutely. Why not?” L’Italien said in a recent interview. “Why not make the pitch? Why not tell people about the hard work that I have done on behalf of the city?
“If I didn’t do it,” she said of getting the funds, “who would do it?”
That's a great attitude, and the primary reason the state is filled with rank rot corruption.
And indeed, she has her name credited to a lot of cash for Lowell. In the final version of the state budget lawmakers sent to Governor Charlie Baker, L’Italien secured $500,000 for a city park and upgrades to Lowell’s downtown. (Baker vetoed both among hundreds of earmarks, but lawmakers have already begun overriding his cuts.)
She scored the same half-million in total for various projects in Lawrence, Andover, Dracut, and Tewksbury — the four communities L’Italien officially represents.
She really brings home the bacon, huh?
Earlier this month, L’Italien helped tuck another $4.5 million in Lowell-specific earmarks into a $2 billion environmental bond bill, including $1.25 million for environmental testing and potential cleanup costs for the site of a new high school and $2.2 million for a new park along the Merrimack River.
They are going to borrow money for pork as they raise taxes and cut services?
For L’Italien’s own district, there was $2 million earmarked for Lawrence, another $1.75 million for Dracut, $1 million for projects in Tewksbury, and $1 million for Andover. Another $250,000 went toward helping clean the Merrimack River.
A similar breakdown followed Wednesday when the Senate passed a sweeping economic development bill: There was $12 million in L’Italien amendments for Donoghue’s former district, including $11 million for Lowell; her own communities also drew $12 million.
Between the three bills’ earmarks, L’Italien secured $18.5 million for her own district and $16 million expressly for Lowell.
“The alternative would have been that they go without,” L’Italien said of pushing Lowell’s projects. “I am in the adjacent district and two of the four communities I represent consider themselves to be Lowell-centric. It made perfect sense for me to be the person to step up and file these things on their behalf,” but her advocacy irked some in her own district, who saw it as a ploy to score political points.
“It’s disheartening” that L’Italien is spending time working on behalf of Lowell, said Lawrence Mayor Daniel Rivera, who is backing state Representative Juana B. Matias in the Third District race but works directly with L’Italien’s office on funding priorities for his city.
Your expectations of her were too high!
“I know that people in Lowell are going to see this as a plot to get votes,” he said.
David M. Nangle, a Lowell representative and one of three serving the city, said L’Italien alerted him to the environmental bond bill’s earmarks after she filed them. And he said on Wednesday he hadn’t spoken to her about any of the city’s $11 million stuffed into the economic development bill.
“If I were to do something like that, I would go through the present, local delegation,” said Nangle. “It’s a common courtesy.”
L’Italien pushed back at the criticism, noting her own towns got similar funding to Lowell. She also accused Nangle of bringing “politics into this.”
Is he responsible for the out-of-district earmarks to try and win votes?
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She also misrepresented herself on Fox, so she is the perfect candidate. Lying and looting before even taking office.
Hey, that's Ma$$achu$etts for you!
