Angry at Beacon Hill? Vote Republican

By Joan Vennochi, Globe Columnist
October 12, 2008

MASSACHUSETTS voters could send a message to liberal Democrats on Beacon Hill by voting to rescind the state income tax. Or they could just stop sending liberal Democrats to Beacon Hill.

"If you really want to send a message . . . send more Republicans," said state Representative George Peterson, a Republican from Grafton.

There are only 19 Republican legislators in the 160-member House of Representatives; only five of 40 state senators are Republican.

That means the Bay State votes overwhelmingly for Democrats who bring a certain fiscal philosophy to their job.

That philosophy is no mystery. Democrats view taxpayer-funded government services as essential to solving a range of problems.

Yet, even as voters elect Democrats, they're angry about how they spend their money. Taxpayer anger is supposedly the impetus behind Question 1, which calls for eliminating the state income tax.

So, why not get angry enough to switch horses and vote Republican?

"I always tell people that if they want to send a message to Beacon Hill, they should vote for Republicans. Nothing gets the attention of the majority party faster than a slew of lost elections," said Charles Baker, president and CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare. "Look at 1990. The Republicans won a ton of House and Senate seats, and Bill Weld, Paul Cellucci, and Joe Malone all got elected to statewide positions. The climate, for a while anyway, changed."

At the moment, it's hard to find many Republicans to elect. Baker, who served in the Weld administration, is often mentioned as a possible Republican candidate for governor or US Senate. However, he has yet to commit to a race.

Commonwealth Unbound, the online magazine of the nonpartisan public policy group MassINC, recently noted that Massachusetts ranks dead last in the nation in contested races by the major parties for seats in the Legislature.

Of 160 House contests, only 28 have both Democrat and Republican candidates. In the Senate, seven races have both Republican and Democrat candidates.

It has been 12 years since any Republican represented Massachusetts in Congress. US Senator John Kerry is running for reelection against a little-known challenger, Republican Jeff Beatty. Democrats won back the governor's office in 2006.

The 1990 election that swept William F. Weld into the governor's office swelled Republican ranks in the Legislature to the point of being able to sustain a gubernatorial veto. The GOP's numbers have been shrinking ever since.

As governor, Mitt Romney recruited more than 100 fellow Republicans to run for legislative office. Not one won election.

"There's a disconnect" between what Massachusetts voters say they want and who they elect, said Republican state party chairman Peter Torkildson, a former congressman who lost his seat to a liberal Democrat.

"If you're a Republican here, you have to be Joe DiMaggio. You have to be a tremendous player. The standards are very tough to meet," said Peter Blute, a Republican who also went to Congress, until he, too, was defeated by a liberal Democrat.

A range of theories explain the GOP's lack of traction in Massachusetts. They include the Bay State's broad-based rejection of social conservatism; the general disdain for Bush administration policies; the power of local labor unions; and the fact that many who find the Massachusetts political climate offensive simply move elsewhere.

It's also hard for Republican candidates to raise money and attract media attention.

But there could be opportunity in the Bay State's current political flux. If Democrat Barack Obama wins the presidency, Governor Deval Patrick could go to Washington. Patrick said he won't, but that isn't stopping Democrats like state Treasurer Tim Cahill and Attorney General Martha Coakley from positioning themselves. Kerry's name also comes up in connection with an Obama administration, and US Senator Edward M. Kennedy's illness leaves questions about that seat, too.

But, first, the GOP needs good candidates at the grass-roots level. They're hard to find because Republican candidates in this state usually go nowhere but home on election day.

The Question 1 vote will measure one facet of citizen anger. But if Massachusetts voters keep electing liberals, maybe they should get angry at themselves for doing it.

Joan Vennochi can be reached at vennochi@globe.com.