Markey, Warren throw some political weight around
By 
It was a bone-chilling Saturday morning in late November, and Ed Markey was gripping the microphone as the wind whipped across the Chelsea Creek in East Boston behind him. Though the state’s junior US senator has been out front on a range of causes, he was not there to speak about his Green New Deal legislation or other issues of national reach. Neither did he come bearing news of some new federal funding he helped secure in Washington that would translate to help for a standing need in the neighborhood.
Instead, the longtime DC fixture was standing alongside the local state rep, Adrian Madaro, newly-elected Mayor Michelle Wu, and others to offer his endorsement of Lydia Edwards, a Boston city councilor who was in a Democratic primary face-off against a Revere school committee member in a special election for a vacant state Senate seat.
“In the same way that Michelle Wu is a transformational leader for the city of Boston, Lydia Edwards will be a transformational leader for the Massachusetts state Senate,” Markey thundered in the throwback style of a pol who first won office 50 years ago.
More recently, Markey endorsed Andrea Campbell in the three-way Democratic primary contest taking shape for attorney general.
It’s an usual level of engagement in races for lower office by the state’s two highest-ranking Democratic officeholders. Not only have Markey and Warren jumped in with endorsements, but they are doing so in contested Democratic primaries, something elected officials at their level often regard as off limits.
Scott Ferson, who served on Ted Kennedy’s Senate staff and now serves as a consultant for Markey, said the liberal lion did his best to avoid wading into contested Democratic primaries. “He consciously tried to stay out,” said Ferson, who added that the one exception might be a race where Kennedy had a clear personal connection to a candidate.
“The tradition was, you don’t get involved in primaries,” said Lou DiNatale, a veteran Democratic strategist. “You get burned if it’s a loss – it’s perceived as a loss for you. But these are different times.”
DiNatale said Markey, who rode the energy of young progressive activists to fend off a primary challenge from Joe Kennedy two years ago, “needs to keep the edge” by showing a willingness to buck some of the traditions of old-school political customs.
Markey seems to acknowledge the idea of now operating in different times.
“They’re leaders who will reaffirm our faith in a true justice system,” Markey said this week, referring to Campbell and Rahsaan Hall, whom he endorsed in the race for Plymouth County district attorney. “If we are committed to solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, that begins with electing eminently qualified leaders from the Black community.” Campbell and Hall are both Black, as is Edwards.
Campbell, a former Boston city councilor who placed third in last year’s preliminary race for mayor, said she reached out to every member of the state’s congressional delegation, lawmakers at the State House, and local officials in search of public support for her run. She said Markey’s endorsement “brings credibility that is already resonating” on the campaign trail as she works to build momentum in the race.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Boston City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo, whom she endorsed in the Democratic primary race for Suffolk County district attorney. (Photo courtesy Ricardo Arroyo campaign)
In endorsing Arroyo’s run for DA, Warren called him ”an experienced and compassionate public servant and attorney with an unwavering commitment to justice.”
Arroyo, a former public defender, said he also reached out to Democratic officeholders across the state – and was “thrilled” when Warren responded with a willingness to offer her endorsement. “She’s someone who has cared deeply about progressive criminal justice reform,” he said. “She’s someone who understands that our justice system does not work for everyone, especially when it comes to racial and class disparities.”
Warren also endorsed Edwards in her special election Senate primary, but has otherwise tended to steer clear of backing candidates in contested Democratic primaries in Massachusetts. Her campaign committee said she had strong ties to Edwards and Arroyo.
Warren knows something about the touchy business of getting involved in primaries in her home state. She was thrust into the middle of Markey’s high-profile 2020 race with Kennedy, where it would have been very awkward not to endorse her Senate colleague. Warren endorsed Markey, but also offered plenty of praise for Kennedy, her one-time student at Harvard Law School and an early backer of her presidential bid.
As for Markey’s willingness to jump into contested Democratic primaries, he certainly has first-hand experience with the sharp elbows and bruised feelings those can bring.
“I’m an expert on that,” he said with a laugh following his Edwards endorsement speech alongside the Chelsea Creek.
MICHAEL JONAS
FROM COMMONWEALT
Romance scam: A former state correction officer pleads not guilty to accusations of engaging in sexual relations with an inmate in a “romance scam” – pretending to be in love with him because he was in line for a civil lawsuit financial settlement. Read more.
OPINION
PILOT reform: Enid Eckstein, Marianne Walles, and Eric von Berg say payments in lieu of taxes, or PILOTs, by larger nonprofits should be standardized statewide at 25 percent of commercial property tax payments. Read more.
FROM AROUND THE WEB
BEACON HILL
The House established an Equal Employment Opportunity officer position in 2018 amid the #MeToo movement to handle staff complaints of harassment or discrimination, but the position has been vacant for the last 15 months. (Boston Globe)
The House is poised to take up legislation today to ban discrimination based on hairstyle, an issue that came to the fore when a Malden charter school sanctioned Black students for wearing braids with extensions. (Boston Globe)
HEALTH/HEALTH CARE
Coronavirus concentrations in Boston area wastewater are ticking back up, a worrying sign of a potential coming rise in COVID cases. (Boston Herald)
Researchers at MIT and Beth israel Deaconess Medical Center have developed a new COVID-19 vaccine that they hope will address distribution problems in developing countriesA. (GBH)
WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL
In an unprecedented address to Congress, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky invokes the attack at Pearl Harbor and 9/11 in pleading for more US military aid. (Washington Post)
President Biden names Dr. Ashish Jha of Brown University as his COVID coordinator. (Associated Press)
The US government has agreed to pay the families impacted by the 2018 Parkland, Florida, mass school shooting a total of $127.5 million to settle charges of negligence by an FBI agent. (Connecticut Public Radio)
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
The New Hampshire Legislature is advancing a proposal to stop New Hampshire residents who work remotely for a company in another state from being taxed – a response to Massachusetts’ attempts to tax them. (Eagle-Tribune)
EDUCATION
Students at Northampton High School stage a walkout and call for the ouster of Principal Lori Vaillancourt. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)
ARTS/CULTURE
Chef Irene Li of Mei Mei Restaurant in Boston wins a James Beard award for leadership. (WBUR)
TRANSPORTATION
A 1947 map of a possible expansion of the MBTA subway system that would have lines extending as far as Reading, Lexington, and Dedham has transit advocates today lamenting what might have been. (Boston Globe)
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
Oil prices have plunged, but gas prices at the pump are not falling nearly as quickly, with watchdogs charging that gas stations are enjoying the wider margins for a while. (Boston Herald)
CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS
Newly unsealed court records raise questions about the handling of the case against a driver who struck a State Police trooper in July. The officer died two years later. (Boston Globe)
The family of a Fall River man shot and killed by police responding to a domestic violence call is pressing their lawsuit seeking records from the investigation by Bristol DA Thomas Quinn that cleared police of wrongdoing. (Herald News)
Juvenile arrests are dropping after a reform of criminal justice laws. (Gloucester Daily Times)
The State Ethics Commission will not dismiss a case looking at whether Worcester DA Joseph Early, former state police Col. Richard McKeon, and others improperly altered the arrest report of a judge’s daughter. (Telegram & Gazette)
A Worcester food kitchen director is being investigated for allegedly coercing women using the soup kitchen into having sex with him. (Telegram & Gazette)
The ongoing saga about unhealthy conditions at the Springfield courthouse continues with new pictures showing sewage seeping out of bathroom floors and through ceilings. The chief justice of the state Trial Court toured the building Wednesday. (MassLive)
A Barnstable County jury clears a Hyannis man accused of rape and other charges in 2018. (Cape Cod Times)
Former WBZ-TV meterologist Mish Michaels died at age 53. (WBZ)