GOP GAGGING ON GALVIN'S 'GREAT DAY' THEME: Secretary of State William F. Galvin is a leader in the Democratic charge to make our temporary, expanded mail-in voting system permanent and finds himself clashing regularly with Republicans who strongly oppose the move. Former Andover state rep and current MA GOP Chairman Jim Lyons has said, "A permanent system where unsupervised voting is the norm, held in settings that are unsecure, is no way to ensure electoral integrity. We hold election day for a reason, and we vote in person for a reason, and it all has to do with ensuring that the public has no doubts as to the integrity of the results." Voting by mail was expanded for last fall's elections in response to the pandemic and should not continue once the crisis has passed, Republicans believe. To make those changes permanent would be "inviting chaos," asserts John Paul Moran, an MIT-educated scientist and Republican who ran unsuccessfully against Democrat incumbent Seth Moulton in the Sixth Congressional District this past November. Moran has also said "the responsibility should be with Secretary Galvin to prove that (election) fraud did not and will not happen." Galvin does indeed have overall responsibility for ensuring fair and honest elections in Massachusetts. His record demonstrates that he has always taken that responsibility very seriously. He is a lawyer and has been Secretary of State for 26 years; he knows more about elections than anyone alive today in Massachusetts. When Galvin declared the Nov. 3 election "a great day for democracy in Massachusetts," that had more than superficial meaning. Galvin told reporters on Nov. 19, while calling for the incoming Biden administration to start an obstruction of justice investigation into President Trump's calls to election officials in Michigan while votes were still being counted there: "...in Massachusetts, we have not had or experienced some of the problems that other states have had. And when I say problems, the problems have not been with (our) election administrators. The problems have been with the concerted effort by the Trump campaign to intimidate, threaten, and, in some cases, I suggest, engage in obstruction of justice with the process." The number of Massachusetts voters who participated in the Nov. 3 election totaled 3,657,972, which was nearly 300,000 more than voted in November, 2016, the highest previous total before that. Expanded mail-in voting made that record-breaking participation possible. "I am thrilled that turnout in this election exceeded even my own high expectations," Galvin said. "Even in the midst of a global pandemic, our voters showed up in the ways that worked best for them, whether it was on election day, by mail, or during early voting." More Massachusetts citizens voted than ever before and there was no fraud. Shouldn't we be celebrating that fact and the local election officials in our 351 cities and towns who helped make Nov. 3 "a great day for Democracy in Massachusetts" -- a trouble-free, crime-free election? Shouldn't we be confident all of these officials could do it again smoothly and honestly two or four years from now? Or must we regard any future election built on the model of Nov. 3 as we would a sales pitch for time-shares in Florida, that is, with suspicion and fear, as Mr. Lyons, et al., would have it?
BAKER NEVER TELLS A CHARITY, "BUZZ OFF:" Every year he's served as governor, Charlie Baker has had his hair buzzcut as part of the "Saving by Shaving" fundraiser for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston. The latest cut took place this past Wednesday. As I've said before in this blog, Baker's willingness to have his enviable head of hair cut to three-eighths of an inch all over demonstrates a commendable, manly indifference to his appearance. It also evinces a lack of vanity not normally associated with prominent figures. Some celebrities and lots of average folks participate every year in "Saving by Shaving" -- the "saving" refers to the cancer patients given new leases on life -- but I don't recall many politicians of high rank going this route. There are many politicians we can safely say would never have their hair mostly removed, on camera, in public, for charity. Take, for example, Baker's fellow Republican, Donald Trump, whose long swoop of artificially colored hair must require elaborate manipulation (plus clouds of hairspray) every morning to achieve just the right helmet look. You'll never see Trump perched amiably in a hotel function room while some volunteer rushes the clippers over that creation. Baker said after his latest buzzcut, "I know this doesn't look very good. But it doesn't look very good for a short period of time and it grows back...It's a moment and an opportunity for those of us who, thank God, don't have cancer to understand what it might be like to have cancer and to lose all your hair and to end up in a situation where you feel a little uncomfortable about the way you look." This year, "Saving by Shaving" is expected to raise more than $7 million dollars. Thanks for adding a significant chunk to that sum, Governor, and for leading by example.
WHEN MARKEY SAVED A TRUTH-TELLER: The New York Times published a lengthy obituary on Allan McDonald, an engineer for Morton-Thiokol who tried unsuccessfully to delay the launch of the space shuttle Challenger on the fateful morning of Jan. 28, 1986, ["Allan McDonald Dies at 83; Tried to Stop the Challenger Launch," 3-9-21]. The write-up contained an account of how our state's junior senator, Ed Markey, prevented the company from later demoting McDonald in apparent retaliation for handing information to a presidential commission investigating the explosion that destroyed the Challenger soon after launch and caused the deaths of all seven astronauts aboard, including, most prominently, Christa McAuliffe, a Concord, NH, schoolteacher who had grown up in Massachusetts. Markey was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives at the time. Because of how cold it was in Florida on the morning of the scheduled launch, McDonald, who was in charge of Morton-Thiokol's booster rocket program, was concerned that the rubber O-ring gaskets on the Challenger's booster rocket would become so stiff as to allow fuel to leak and cause an explosion. He and another company engineer, Roger Boisjoly, argued that the launch should be postponed until the weather improved. According to the Times, "Both Mr. McDonald and Mr. Boisjoly, who had provided internal Morton-Thiokol documents to the commission, were later punished by the company: Mr. McDonald was demoted and Mr. Boisjoly was placed on leave. After Representative Edward Markey of Massachusetts learned about their treatment, he threatened to bar Morton-Thiokol from future government contracts unless it restored the two men to their positions." After Markey intervened, McDonald was named a company vice president and put in charge of redesigning its booster rockets. (Boisjoly apparently chose not return to the company.) Like millions of others, I watched on TV the launch of the Challenger. I remember most how the camera was trained, right after the shuttle lifted off, on the faces of McAuliffe's parents, Edward and Grace Corrigan, and how their expressions changed from excited and proud to alarmed and stricken when the ship faltered, veered off course and started falling. They were stunned, uncomprehending. The camera lingered on them until they slowly left the bleachers where they were stationed. It truly hurt to witness the impact of the accident upon them in real time.
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