Hidden Link

September 27, 2024

By Gintautas Dumcius

Implicit in the arrangement between House Democrats and their speaker is loyalty.

The hefty stipends aside, they vote for him and with him, and they get the gazebo they want for their town green. The speaker also seeks to shield his flock from tough votes inside the chamber, and takes the slings and arrows that can come from outside.

He releases some arrows of his own, too, as Speaker Ron Mariano did in coming to the defense of state Rep. Marjorie Decker. Earlier this month, the Cambridge Democrat barely survived a furious primary challenge from her left in the form of a Harvard graduate student who charged that she was too close to Beacon Hill leaders.

In a Thursday scrum with reporters, who asked for his take on her squeaker of a victory, Mariano took aim at her opponent and the Boston Globe. “I was a little bit outraged by the fact that her opponent declared himself the winner,” he said, referring to Evan MacKay, who goes by “they/them” pronouns.

“I was even more concerned that the Globe wrote it up like he was the winner based on what one of his workers said was going to happen. I mean, you guys have an obligation to write what’s really gonna happen,” Mariano huffed. “And when there were all sorts of ballots that were left uncounted, all of the mail-in stuff, we knew that night that this thing wasn’t going to be decided for another day or two. So to read that story really, really angered me.”

A candidate or campaign claiming victory is news, and it’s not unusual to report it with caveats, as the Globe did, noting that Decker had not conceded. But to Mariano, it was an “overstep and an overreach."

The newspaper had an “agenda,” he continued, deploying a classic accusation leveled by countless pols before him. “Even though they endorsed her, they really gave her a couple of smacks in the story they wrote on the campaign,” he said referring to the endorsement written by the Globe editorial board, which is separate from the newsroom, and the news article written by two reporters previewing the race.

No Globe reporters were in the scrum to hear him. But afterwards, a spokeswoman for the regional newspaper said they have “one agenda when covering election results—to report the facts in real time, with all necessary context, as we did the night of the primary.”

As the scrum wound down, Mariano was asked if he had learned anything from watching the Decker-MacKay match from afar. “No. I don’t campaign the way she does,” Mariano said flatly as he stepped into a waiting elevator. “I’ve never yelled at any constituents.”

Reporters were left puzzled by his parting comment, as Decker does have a reputation for yelling, and not just at constituents.

In a statement after the scrum, Decker said Mariano was “making a joke and referencing the unfounded accusations being made against me” in the Globe, which quoted a constituent and MacKay supporter who said Decker yelled at her.

A Mariano spokeswoman put out her own statement, echoing Decker and saying Mariano was being sarcastic about the yelling. “He congratulates [Public Health Committee] Chair Decker on her primary victory, as she has a proven track record of working incredibly hard on behalf of her constituents, and he looks forward to continuing to work with her to deliver results for the people of Massachusetts,” the statement said.

After all, loyalty goes both ways.

First lady or first partner?

Some reporters this week saw a press release from Gov. Maura Healey’s office and heard wedding bells.

The press release featured Gov. Maura Healey and two first ladies: Her partner Joanna Lydgate, and Olena Zelenska, the first lady of Ukraine, who met them at the State House as her country is defending itself against the Russian invasion.

But it was the reference, apparently for the first time, to Lydgate as “first lady,” rather than the usual “first partner,” that raised eyebrows and prompted some phone calls to Healey’s press office to ask whether the Bay State’s first openly gay governor got married. (Massachusetts was the first state to legalize gay marriage in 2004.)

There has been no status change, a spokeswoman said, adding that the office considers “first lady” and “first partner” to be interchangeable terms.

Whatever the title, the role has tended to be a public one, and the State House News Service reported earlier this year that Lydgate, an attorney and the CEO of States United Democracy Center, is taking several steps into the spotlight. In June, Lydgate started the ceremonial role of president of the Doric Docents, volunteers who provide tours of the State House.