Susan Estrich: Massachusetts speaks on political trust – West Central Tribune

Tuesday was primary day in Massachusetts, where winning the Democratic primary makes you the prohibitive front-runner in November. Which is a long way of saying that Massachusetts will be returning three aging Baby Boomers to Congress. I couldn’t be more pleased.

The lucky three are Senator Ed Markey, 80 and Representatives Richard Neal, 77 and Stephen F. Lynch, 71. Markey has been in office 50 years, first as a state rep, then a U.S. Congressman, then a Senator. Richard Neal has represented western Mass for 37 years and Mr. Lynch, the “newcomer,” was first elected to Congress in 2001.

Two 70-year-olds and one 80-year-old are running for re-election in the year of generational change. Their three opponents all campaigned on the need for a new generation of leaders. It’s worked in other states. Why not Massachusetts?

The answer is not ideology. True, Markey ran on a 50-year record of progressive activism and his opponent was the so-called moderate in that race. But not so for Richard Neal and Stephen Lynch. Both faced progressive challenges. Both were painted by their opponents as way too moderate for Massachusetts. Both won.

Massachusetts should be a Democratic Socialist of America stronghold. It was just the opposite on Tuesday. The traditional left-center held.

Massachusetts is my home state. I’ve lived in California for most of my adult life, but I still think of Massachusetts as home. Politics in Massachusetts is a sport that rivals the Red Sox. Politics is national, but it is first and foremost local. Lynch and Neal are almost newcomers by my standards, but I’ve known Eddie Markey forever. I remember when he and Barney Frank lobbied then House Speaker Tommy McGee to give each rep a staff member. McGee would have none of it; he wanted to punish the two renegades, but he didn’t want to be accused of anti-Semitism by punishing one of the few Jews (Barney) in elected office.

So, he punished the Irish guy instead, moving Eddie’s chair into the hallway. It became a memorable ad: “You can tell Ed Markey where to sit, but you can never tell him where to stand.”
That is as true today as it was half a century ago.

Yes, Eddie — Ed, these days, is eighty years old. And watching former President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump at 80 is cause for concern. We have seen what happens when Senators stay too long. It’s not pretty. But I’m not worried. For one thing, Ed said repeatedly during the campaign that he would resign his seat if his age rendered him unable to fulfill the duties of a United States Senator. And I — and the majority of voters in Massachusetts — trust him on that.

With reason. We know him. He has been around — not only around the Capitol, but a major figure in Massachusetts politics since I started doing politics. The trust of Massachusetts voters is something he earned, worked tremendously hard for and deserved. Being a long-time Senator turns some folks into fancy people who forget where they come from and who they represent. Ed Markey is and always will be a working-class boy from Malden, Mass., a product of the working class and Catholic schools.

Politicians rank right down there with used car salesmen in terms of public trust. That is dangerous in a democracy for obvious reasons. We see too much corruption every day. It is poison. Eddie’s victory is a triumph of trust in a world in which it is sorely lacking.

This Susan Estrich commentary is her opinion. She can be reached at:

sestrich@wctrib.com.

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