My
Journey With Deval Patrick
by
Parwez Wahid
By
end of December 2004 Democrats across the country were deeply depressed. A month earlier the Presidency was lost when John
Kerry fell short in Ohio. To make
matters worse for Democrats, the US Senate and House would see more Republicans
in the new year and it seemed the Democratic Party was
floundering badly.
I
became a political activist in 2003 and had campaigned for John Kerry’s
Presidential bid. His defeat and the
even stronger grip of the Republicans on Washington created a genuine feeling
of emptiness and disappointment. I left
the country for a few weeks of rest in Karachi, returning by mid-January of
2005.
As
a political activist I was Secretary of the Democratic Town Committee in my
residential town of Framingham, Massachusetts.
(This year in 2006 I was elected Chair of this same Committee.) Despite my own feelings of disgust following
the 2004 debacle, I had to carry on my duties within the Committee and I also
began planning a State Convention event with Muslim Democratic community
leaders. Soon I learned that one of the
candidates in the next Massachusetts gubernatorial elections would be Deval
Patrick. Along with me, Mushtaque Mirza, Hanif Butt, Habib Rahman, Farooq Mirza and Shahid Khan (all
members of the Democratic Party), began to discuss holding a Muslim community
leaders dinner during the Convention weekend in May of 2005. We would definitely invite Deval Patrick to
this event. About the only thing I knew about
Patrick at that time was that he was African American.
However
those who had mentioned his name to me carried a certain excitement in their
voice and I would soon discover why. A
friend from the Democratic State Committee, Russell Ashton, invited me to visit
the Deval Patrick campaign office on Milk Street in Boston so that I might
learn more about Patrick. Unfortunately
I was busy that day and could not attend, but I promised Russ that I would take
a good look at Deval Patrick some time later on.
I
first saw Deval Patrick in March of 2005.
He was speaking before a packed lecture hall at LaSalle College in
Newton, Massachusetts. He spoke very
well and I was truly impressed.
Following the lecture I gave my card to one of his staff members,
Brendan Ryan. I began paying more
attention to Patrick’s campaign.
A
month later in April I met Deval Patrick very briefly during the Democratic
State Committee meeting in Ayer, Massachusetts.
I extended to him an invitation to the Muslim community leaders’ event I
was organizing at next month’s state convention. Patrick expressed some interest but directed
me to his campaign manager, John Walsh.
I chatted with John for a minute and gave him the information on the
invitation.
The
2005 Massachusetts Democratic State Convention was held in Lowell,
Massachusetts at the Tsongas Arena. (Named after the late Democratic Senator Paul Tsongas.) The convention was held on Friday May 13th
and Saturday May 14th. With
other Muslims serving in the Democratic Party (mentioned above), I organized a
dinner event where Muslim community leaders could meet with candidates and
elected officials. (A report on this
event written by Kashif Ahmed was featured in the
June 5, 2005 Pakistan Link.)
Deval
Patrick was among the guests at the dinner party on May 13th. He was accompanied with Congressman Jim
McGovern, who represents the Massachusetts 3rd District. The Congressman is from my neighboring
district and I had met him several times in the past. I also helped organize a fund raiser for Mr.
McGovern the previous year. I personally
regard him as one of the most decent individuals I have met. To see him accompanying Deval Patrick and
giving endorsement for Patrick’s candidacy was very significant. I would now pay very close attention to
Patrick’s campaign. Deval Patrick also
wrote to me personally following the 2005 Convention expressing his
appreciation for the opportunity to meet with some leaders of the Muslim
community.
Now
along this way I had also picked up interest in supporting a friend, Mike Festa, who was considering a run for District Attorney of
Middlesex County. Five months earlier I
was in a post-election depression and now I found myself getting excited for
some new contests. As it turned out Mike
would opt to withdraw from the DA race early into the next year and instead
sought re-election to the State Representative position that he holds. However my involvement in the Mike’s campaign
was educational in learning more about the criminal justice system and the role
of the District Attorney and also getting my political interests recharged.
As
the Summer of 2005 began, I was helping my son with
his college applications and attention shifted from political activities. This began to pick up again after a few
weeks. In August I attended the
Democratic State Committee meeting in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Here I listened to the presentation of one of
the other gubernatorial candidates, Attorney General Tom Reilly. After listening to Reilly and reflecting on
what I had heard from Deval Patrick several weeks ago, I made my decision. I would support Deval.
I
was still buoyed by Deval Patrick’s charisma and eloquence, but as I learned
more about this candidate I came to a deep belief that he was a true leader and
would make for an outstanding governor if elected. This would not be easy. Poll numbers had Patrick at below ten percent
and his campaign treasury with very little funds. However Patrick moved his campaign office to
its new location in the same building complex as the State Democratic Party
offices. The new location and growing
interest among the activists indicated a campaign picking up steam. His slogans “Together We Can” and “No
Ordinary Leader” were catching attention.
Patrick’s grass-roots issues based campaign was working. During the campaign trail I would hear former
Governor Mike Dukakis explain how personal contacts from door-to-door
canvassing and phone calling would make the difference.
Later
in August 2005 I went for a visit to the campaign office where I was given a
tour by Nancy Stolberg the Field Director for the
Deval Patrick campaign. A very nice
lady, she welcomed me to the campaign as I offered to coordinate in the Town of
Framingham. One of my first tasks was to
deliver box of campaign literature to a supporter in the Town of Natick on Pond
Street; this was easy enough. I would
remain in touch with Nancy on other matters as I began coordinating in
Framingham.
The
weeks to follow would involve identifying members of the Framingham Democratic
Town Committee and other Democrats who were interested in supporting
Patrick. I found several and we began
planning standouts (holding signs on street corners) and spreading the word
about Deval Patrick to our contacts. We
began holding regular meetings at a Starbucks to prepare for the Democratic
caucus that would be taking place in February of the following year. From early on the Framingham supporters were
Chris Lorant, Elsa Aviza,
Pam Roberts, Norma Shulman and Rochelle Sivan. Others would join in as well and we worked
together for the duration of the campaign.
In
September 2005 Deval Patrick visited Framingham, appearing at the Civic
League. I was distributing mini-fliers
to publicize the event and telling everyone I knew to come out and hear
Patrick’s message. Patrick greeted me
with “Asalam alaikum” which
I appreciated and also I thanked him for the letter he had sent me after the
State Convention. Among his gifts, Deval
Patrick is an excellent public speaker and he easily warmed up to the audience
present at the Civic League that evening.
Following
the presentation a friend from the Democratic Party asked me for my thoughts on
Patrick. “I like him,” was my
reply. “He doesn’t have the money, but
he has the charisma”; my friend agreed.
Nancy Stolberg, who was also at the Framingham
presentation heard my comment and added, “The money is coming.”
Deval
Laurdine Patrick grew up on the South Side of
Chicago. He never described his birth
place as “poor” so much as it was “urban” and “challenging” and even “tough”. But he appreciated the sense of community in
which he grew up and in his talks he always told the “Ms. Jones” story. Deval’s talents
caught the attention of his teachers and through a program called A Better
Chance he came to Massachusetts to attended Milton Academy donning a wind
breaker. (Students at Milton Academy are
required to wear jackets; at the time Deval’s family
didn’t know it meant a blazer! But he
figured it out.)
From
Milton Academy it was on to Harvard and then followed a tour in Sudan with the
United Nations in a youth training project.
He returned to Harvard for law school and practiced law during the
1980s. He actually sued then Governor
Bill Clinton on a voting rights issue.
This led to deep respect between the two. After Bill Clinton was elected President, Patrick
went on to become Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in the Clinton
Administration. Following this he became
an executive counsel with Texaco and Coca-Cola.
While
in the Clinton Administration he was given the charge of leading the largest
criminal investigation in the history of the United States prior to 9/11. This was the investigation of the series of
church burnings in Black communities during the mid-90s. His efforts resulted in several arrests and
convictions in the case. The task was
made all the more challenging by having to coordinate with various law
enforcement agencies that traditionally do not communicate with each other. His leadership abilities helped him to
succeed in this major assignment.
Of
course any good gubernatorial ticket needs a worthy running mate and the
question of Lieutenant Governor was also to be considered. I had heard the presentations from the three
declared candidates and was mulling over whom to support. Then a friend from the Democratic State
Committee, Kate Donaghue, suggested that I wait to
hear from Tim Murray who would likely be announcing later that year. At the time Murray was seeking re-election as
Mayor of the City of Worcester and would make any such announcement after the
November 2005 elections.
I
had met Tim Murray twice on previous occasions.
First was in August 2004 when we co-hosted the fund raiser for
Congressman McGovern (mentioned earlier).
I saw him again in April 2005 at the State Committee meeting in Ayer
where he gave me a baseball cap to promote the new Worcester Tornadoes baseball
team that would be playing in his city.
I would need to learn more about Murray before I could decide; but I did
appreciate the cap.
October
turned to November and the Patrick campaign was steadily pickup up its
pace. His poll numbers had risen while
his campaign finances were getting stronger.
It was not just that Patrick could speak well. His well crafted and thoughtful words were
coming from a man full of leadership, vision and courage. Patrick supported the controversial Cape Wind
project, a mission to establish an electric generating wind farm off the coast
of Cape Cod. Though the project was opposed
by many, including Senator Ted Kennedy, Patrick was rightly pointing out that
Massachusetts needed new sources of energy and the state could help its sagging
economy by investing in alternate energy production.
In
December of 2005 I met Patrick again at a library in Sudbury,
Massachusetts. In just over a month the
Muslim community would celebrate Eid-ul-Adha in
January 2006. I drafted a good-will
message and suggested to Deval that he issue this to the Muslim community. I would provide list of mosques in the state
to whom the message could be delivered and I could forward it to others in the
community. Deval agreed and the message
was issued just prior to Eid wishing all Muslims a
joyous celebration and a fulfilling journey to those traveling for pilgrimage. The message was issued and received wide circulation
in the Massachusetts Muslim community.
On
the local front the interest in Deval Patrick continued to climb and I was
preparing a slate of candidates pledged to Deval Patrick who would contest for
delegate positions to the 2006 Democratic State Convention. The Town of Framingham (being the largest
town in the state) is granted 35 delegates by the State Committee. As coordinator for the Patrick campaign in
Framingham it was my task to pull together the interested individuals and form
a slate to get elected at the caucus.
In
Massachusetts the nomination of a gubernatorial candidate is as follows: The nominee who appears on the ballot in the
General Elections (held in November) must win the party’s Primary election that
takes place the previous September. In
order to be on the Primary ballot, a candidate must secure a minimum of 15%
support of the delegates at the State Convention. Any candidate not securing 15% at the State
Convention is knocked out and cannot contest the Primary. The candidate securing 50% at the State
Convention earns the party endorsement.
Delegates to the State Convention are elected at caucuses held in
individual communities.
Interest
in Patrick’s candidacy had grown and by mid-January 2006 the Framingham slate
of delegates for Deval Patrick was at around 25 and there was the possibility
of the entire slate going for Patrick. I
was contacted by John Stefanini who was coordinating
for the Tom Reilly campaign on the suggestion of forming a unity slate with
some Patrick supporters and some Reilly supporters. While I was open to John’s suggestion, I knew
this could become contentious within the Patrick camp.
A
furious flurry of email messages, some with accusations, was exchanged among the Patrick camp. I did my best to explain that all decisions were
being made as openly as possible and all information was being exchanged as
quickly as it was known. A deal was
struck where a unity slate would be formed with 26 Patrick delegates and 8
Reilly delegates. (The 35th
delegate would be the Democratic Town Committee Chair, which is an automatic
delegate.) The 3 alternates were all
pledged to Patrick as well.
Most
communities across the state held caucuses on February 3rd; however
Framingham scheduled its caucus for February 4th at Framingham’s
Cameron Middle School. By caucusing on
Sunday many of the candidates were able to attend the Framingham caucus and
make their pitch. Among them was Deval
Patrick who received a standing ovation when he came forward to introduce
himself.
In
short Deval Patrick did very well in the Massachusetts Democratic
caucuses. In Middlesex County (where I
live) Patrick delegates were in the majority by 9-to-1. While I felt confident about Deval Patrick as
a candidate, the outcome of the caucuses was the first true signal that he
would be the candidate to beat in the 2006 elections. Deval called me a few days after the caucus
to thank me for my efforts in rallying the Framingham delegates. Though when I asked him about his chances on
getting the Party’s endorsement he cautiously stated that it tends to go to
insiders.
A
week before the caucus, I finally got to hear Tim Murray make his pitch for Lt.
Governor. With a very “ordinary guy”
persona, Tim made it clear why his candidacy would be the best for the
Democratic ticket. In 2002 the Democrats
lost in the western part of Massachusetts.
Being from Worcester and having his network spread in that region, Tim
would give the Democrats a stronger chance to win in the west. His work as Mayor of Worcester was
impressive. Under his stewardship the
City of Worcester had seen some dramatic redevelopment. I made my decision to support Tim Murray for
Lt. Governor. I informed Matt Gilman,
who was one of Murray’s staff members, of my decision to support the campaign
and he was delighted. Matt is a college
student in Worcester, but his parents live around the corner from my home. Tim Murray attended the Framingham caucus as
well in February.
A
native of Worcester, Tim grew up in a working family. His father was a teacher and his mother a
nurse. He appreciated what ordinary
working families have to do and put up with to get by each day. When I campaigned in Worcester for Tim Murray
I would hear the locals of that city speak glowingly of Tim and how they
appreciated what he had done for their city.
This was high praise given that many of Worcester’s
previous politicians were never so well appreciated by that city’s residents.
Soon
after the caucus my friend Mike Festa announced his
decision to drop from the race for District Attorney. It was in fact Mike’s campaign that had renewed
my interest in political activities after the 2004 fiasco. I spoke to Mike and expressed my respect for
his decision and wished him well in his re-election to State
Representative. Mike also told me he would
be supporting Deval Patrick and that he felt very strongly about Patrick’s
chances.
I
ran into Mike and his legislative aide, Fred Rich, about a month later when
Deval Patrick held a rally at historic Faneuil Hall
in Boston. Congressman Jim McGovern and Deval’s wife, Diane Patrick were also on hand for the rally
before a packed audience. Although I had
arrived almost an hour prior to the rally, I was one of the last two people to
be admitted into the building. Several
of the core supporters from Framingham made the trip as well.
At
the end of March I attended Tim Murray’s St. Patrick’s Day breakfast in
Worcester at Union Station. I just sat
down with some other Murray supporters to enjoy breakfast and talk about the
campaign. Congressman McGovern was at
the breakfast as well. Tim had a bit of
embarrassment when he admitted that the breakfast was scheduled the same day as
his daughter’s christening, but his wife, Tammy was being very patient and
understanding.
By
this time I also got some medical news that was not too cheerful. It was clear that I would need to slow down
and so I informed the Patrick campaign that I would have to discontinue my role
as coordinator in Framingham. This task
would be shared for the remainder of the campaign by DTC members Bob Berman and
Valerie Mulvey (who is also the Framingham Town Clerk). I would remain involved with the Patrick
campaign but in a much smaller role. My
need to stop as coordinator would also have been necessitated a bit later as in
April 2006 I was elected Chair of the Framingham Democratic Town Committee. It just would have been too much to
coordinate for the campaign and also handle duties as Committee Chair. I would assume the Chairmanship role in July.
While
the focus had been mostly on the Governor’s race there were also municipal
elections in the Town of Framingham.
Several members of the Framingham Democratic Town Committee were elected
to Town Meeting, School Committee and Planning Board. Campaigning for a municipal seat has its own
challenges. Most residents do not pay
attention to municipal elections although it is the municipal positions that
have more direct impact on decisions affecting day to day life.
The
weekend after the Town Elections, I had the Saturday “off” in a sense. My wife was taking a weekend class and my
sons were off on a school trip to New York.
So I decided to attend a political breakfast in Attleboro, south of
Boston. Congressman McGovern and
Secretary of State William Galvin were in attendance. I mentioned to the Secretary that my son
would be visiting the State House later during the week as part of a school trip. (His high school drama club
finished first in State competition; earning a tour of the State House.)
The
Primary candidates were featured at the Attleboro breakfast, all making their
pitch. By this time a third candidate
had entered the Democratic Primary for Governor. This was Chris Gabrieli
who had been a candidate for Lt. Governor in 2002. Chris spoke very well and had some great
ideas that he would pursue. I was
actually glad that he entered the race so late, because a year earlier he would
have been a greater challenge for Deval Patrick. He was a guest at the Framingham DTC meeting
the next day and I got a chance to chat with him before the meeting. With a big campaign treasury to rely on Gabrieli would begin airing TV and radio ads in June. His ads were effective and helped him climb
up in the polls; but not enough as it would turn out.
Also
in April 2006 I approached two mosques in the City of Boston to host Deval
Patrick. Patrons from Masjid-Al-Hamdulillah and Masjid-Al-Quran
would welcome Deval Patrick during their voter registration drive. This was held at Masjid-Al-Quran
located off Blue Hill Avenue in Boston.
This Masjid is actually on Intervale
Street and I mentioned a curious fact to the Masjid’s
Imam, Talib Mahdee: Intervale Street in Worcester is the address of Tim Murray
the candidate for Lt. Governor. If for
no other reason, I quipped, he should support Murray for living on a street
with the same name as the Masjid’s address!
Patrick
arrived at Masjid-Al-Quran to a warm welcome. He gave his usual fine presentation and took
questions. Mushtaque
Mirza of the State Committee was in attendance as
well. Imam Farooq
Abdullah had some straight forward questions for Deval concerning his beliefs
and Patrick described himself as “a man of faith”. There seemed to be a bit of friction on the
gay-marriage issue but this did not boil over.
Following the presentation, Deval was presented with a copy of the Holy Quran by Imam Mahdee.
A
week later I met Deval Patrick at the delegates’ breakfast in Hopkinton and he
appreciated my efforts for bringing him to the Masjid
the previous week. Many of the
Democratic Primary candidates were present at this breakfast. Also on hand was Congressman Jim McGovern and
he was taking some light hearted ribbing over his arrest the previous day. Congressman McGovern along with Congressman
John Olver was arrested in Washington DC for
disturbing the peace. They were in fact outside
the Sudanese Embassy protesting the genocide in Darfur. (Both were released after paying a fine.)
By
this time the race for Middlesex County District Attorney had been decided for
all intent and purpose. When the year had
started there were four candidates and now there was just one remaining: Gerard
Leone. Unchallenged in the Primary and
General Elections, Gerry would become the County’s next DA. With a record of solid professionalism as a
prosecutor and also having tried some high profile cases including the Shoe
Bomber, it was clear that Gerry would be an excellent District Attorney. Gerry Leone was also at the Hopkinton
delegates’ breakfast and I briefly chatted with him. I broached him on the subject of visiting the
Islamic Center of Boston where I am a member and he expressed his
interest. We were able to arrange his
visit and presentation to the Center’s patrons later that year. (Reported in the Pakistan
Link, October 6, 2006).
It
was time to begin telling more people about Deval Patrick and Tim Murray. Through my own involvement in the
Pakistani/Muslim community of Massachusetts I had built up quite a contact
list. I began sending emails and also
direct mails giving information about Patrick and Murray as my choices for
Governor and Lt. Governor. People began
paying attention. In an effort to
identify voters the Patrick campaign had launched an effort for supporters to
get their friends, neighbors and just about anyone to fill out pledge cards in
support of Deval Patrick. Each supporter
would have their own page on the Patrick website to show how many pledges they
had collected. The first target level
was for 35 and I passed this easily gathering over 50 pledges.
Towards
the end of May 2006 my son’s high school graduation was coming up. We did a party for him over Memorial Day
weekend, prior to the commencement. I
had a bit of a dilemma for commencement weekend as that would also be the
weekend of the 2006 Democratic State Convention. Having supported Patrick for so many months I
would be truly upset were I to miss the chance to give nomination for him at
the Convention. Friends from the
Democratic State Committee felt that the nomination process would be over before
4pm and would give me enough time to get to the graduation exercise scheduled
for 5pm. However a gift from nature
brought heavy rains for the two days of the Convention on Friday and
Saturday. The graduation was moved from
Saturday to Sunday June 4th.
The
same group that had organized the Muslim community leaders’ dinner in 2005 did
a similar event for the 2006 Convention.
And we were able to get Deval Patrick to come to our program this year
again. There was some disappointment in
that some of the community members who had attended in 2005 did not come this
time. Possibly weather was a factor with
the heavy rains, but a few admitted they had completely forgotten about the
program. It was too bad really. Several members of the Framingham DTC came
over and managed to say hello to Deval Patrick just as he was leaving the
reception.
The
2006 State Convention was held at the DCU Center in Worcester, home to
Congressman Jim McGovern and Tim Murray.
Senator George McGovern (who lost the 1972 Presidential Elections) was a
special guest of the Convention and he minced no words in speaking out against
the Bush Administration and its failed policies concerning Iraq. Senator Ted Kennedy accepted nomination to
the US Senate for what would be an unprecedented 9th term. Martha Coakley was
nominated for Attorney General.
In
an interesting re-positioning of players was taking place. The current Attorney General Tom Reilly made
his decision to run for Governor. This
opened up the Office of Attorney General and District Attorney Martha Coakley expressed her interest in this office. She would be unopposed in the Primary and
faced a weak opponent in the November elections. As such she would easily win election as the
next State Attorney General. By vacating
the Office of District Attorney for Middlesex County, Coakley
launched what was initially a four-way race for the DA’s office, but this was
settled long before the Primary as mentioned above when three of the candidates
withdrew to leave Gerry Leone as the last candidate unopposed.
Saturday
June 3rd was the big day that Deval Patrick delegates had been in high
anticipation for. I was among the 34
elected delegates from Framingham, of which 26 were pledged for Deval Patrick. The Chair of the Framingham Democratic Town
Committee, Norma Shulman, was also pledged to Deval
Patrick as were the 2 add-on delegates.
One of the add-ons was Farooq Mirza, who qualified under the minority category. In all Patrick would receive nomination from
29 Framingham delegates.
State
Committee member Bill Dooling was assigned as teller
for our Senate District (the Second Middlesex Norfolk). He would poll each delegate for their
nominations. There were three offices
for which delegates would give nomination: Secretary of State, Lt. Governor and
Governor. When I was polled I proudly
stood up and announced my nominees: “Galvin.
Murray. Patrick”.
It
would take several hours to count the totals but the results were never in
doubt. Deval Patrick earned the Democratic
Party’s endorsement as candidate for Governor in the Primary Elections. Patrick claimed 58%. All candidates in the Convention made the 15%
threshold and thus qualified for the Primary ballot. Tim Murray won the endorsement for Lt.
Governor on a voice-vote, second ballot.
(Murray got 49.9% on the first ballot.)
Thus a fun summer of campaigning would ensue with three candidates for
Governor, three candidates for Lt. Governor and two candidates for Secretary of
State.
At
the convention I met Mike Firestone who had been hired by the State Committee
to organize Victory 06 field work in different parts of the state. Mike was assigned to the Senate District that
included Framingham and we would get together for some tasks over the summer. Victory 06 was the State Party’s coordinated
campaign to organize grass-roots efforts across the state and be prepared to
hit the ground running immediately after the Primary. We canvassed and also organized a Victory 06
barbeque that was among the best attended events of its kind. Shahid Khan hosted
the barbeque at his home; Cameron Kerry (brother of Senator John Kerry) was
among the guests.
With
victories in the February caucuses and the State Convention, Patrick had the
grass-roots support that he very much sought in order to run an effective
campaign. To this point, the campaign
was reaching most of its targets. New
poll numbers would put Deval in a statistical tie with Tom Reilly and Gabrieli not too far behind.
The
day after the Convention as the rains finally let up, my son’s graduation
exercise took place at Bowditch Field in
Framingham. I saw Dave Magnani (a former State Senator) who was at the Convention
as well. He asked me what was more fun,
“The Convention or the graduation?” I
replied, “The graduation!” It is a
moment every parent cherishes.
A
couple of weeks later I attended the summer cookout for the Wayland Democratic
Town Committee. (Wayland is one of the
communities next to Framingham.) I had
become friends with Jon Saxton, the Chair of the Wayland DTC when we were both
supporting Mike Festa’s campaign and extended the
invitation to Democrats in the neighboring communities. Russ Ashton and his wife Cathy were there as
well. During the cookout I was
introduced to Tom Conroy, a Wayland resident, who would be seeking election as
State Representative to the 13th Middlesex seat in the Massachusetts
House. The district is comprised of
Wayland and the communities of Sudbury and Lincoln. The seat was held by an incumbent for ten
years and was controlled by Republicans for decades. In the Bluest of Blue states, this was one
district that consistently voted Republican.
I
also chatted with Matt Harutunian, who was managing
Tom Conroy’s campaign. As it turned out,
Matt had been involved with Mike Festa’s campaign
earlier in the year. I mentioned to Matt
that I had a friend in Wayland whom I might approach on the suggestion of
hosting Tom Conroy for coffee and meeting people. We were able to set this up for later in
August at the home of Omar and Nigar Khalidi. It was a
nice living room sized gathering where Tom got to talk about his campaign. The Honorary Consul General, Barry Hoffman
attended this as well and he too was impressed with Tom’s background. Barry
offered some support and promised to mention Tom to friends in the district.
Now
at the time, the legislators in my own district were unopposed for
re-election. I learned that Tom Conroy
had set up his campaign office across the street from the Islamic Center of
Boston in Wayland. This presented a good
opportunity to help the campaign on weekends when I would be going to the
Center on Sundays. I also asked Tom if
he would visit the Islamic Center in September and he expressed interest. (This was the joint program with Tom and
Gerry Leone.)
As
the summer began I would transition from Secretary of the Framingham DTC to its
new Chair. The out-going Chair, Norma Shulman, would continue an effort she had started: running
an information table at the Framingham summer-time concerts. The Town of Framingham holds free Friday
night concerts on the lawn by the historic section of town. The Framingham DTC set up an information
table to distribute literature about candidates, campaign buttons and
stickers. We invited all candidates to
visit on any Friday night and greet the people before the concert. Tim Murray was the only one to do so.
The
TV and radio ads were increasing. This
was benefiting Chris Gabrieli who had climbed up in
the polls to pass Reilly and nearly overtake Deval. The Patrick campaign had yet to air any
ads. Each day they could get by without
spending money on the expensive TV and radio spots would leave more available
for the days leading up to the Primary.
One of the Reilly TV ads featured a shot of Shahid
Khan who was fund raising for the Reilly campaign. (Shahid has earned
the reputation of a masterful fund raiser for the Democratic Party and he
worked on the campaigns of Governor Jon Corzine of
New Jersey and several candidates for the US Senate.)
Early
in August I took a few days off and journeyed to Newport, Rhode Island for some
relaxation with the family. While at
Newport I was checking my email and got a reply I had been awaiting. The same group with whom I had organized
events at the last two state conventions was now hoping to have a direct
meeting with Deval Patrick and Muslim community leaders to discuss issues of
importance to us. The scheduling staff
for Patrick could not find a suitable time, and then offered to have the
campaign manager meet with us in place of Patrick. We felt a little bit of let down at not
getting to meet with the candidate himself, but we thought it would still be
useful to have the discussion with John Walsh.
This meeting was setup for August 19th.
In attendance were: Imam Talal Eid, Kemal Bozkurt,
Hanif Butt, Mushtaque Mirza, Farooq Mirza
and myself. We discussed several
subjects and pledged to engage the Muslim community into the Patrick campaign. We also met with one of the staffers, Samantha
Shusterman, and we would arrange several phone banks
with her.
Also
in August was the Victory 06 barbeque.
Several members of the Framingham DTC stepped up to help the planning
and organizing for this event. It was
well attended and helped to create the interest and momentum needed to launch
the full force of the grass-roots campaign efforts. This effort did not focus on any single
candidate. Rather it was to urge more
support for the Democratic ticket so that supporters would be ready to start
working for the General Election right after the Primary ended.
The
week of August 21st I decided to commit several days to the Tim
Murray campaign. The Lt. Governor’s race
was a difficult one to call. With
attention on the gubernatorial candidates, hardly anyone knew the three people
in the Lt. Governor Primary. While some
polls had given Murray a slight lead, the majority of voters were
undecided. Tim was in three-way race
with Andrea Silbert and Deborah Goldberg. (Prior to the June convention there was a
fourth candidate for Lt. Governor, Dr. Sam Kelly, but he withdrew before the
convention.) Like Deval Patrick, Murray
would be out-spent by his opponents. But
Murray’s message was getting across, because just like the Patrick campaign,
Tim Murray had the best field organization of the three Lt. Governor candidates. At the Murray campaign office I finally met
Tim’s campaign manager, Joe O’Brien with whom I had spoken to on the phone.
August
22st was a Murray standout out the
Worcester Tornadoes baseball game. I
wore the Tornadoes cap that Tim had given me a year ago as I joined his
staffers to hold signs outside Fitton Field. The next day featured letter writing at the
Murray campaign office. These are
hand-written notes sent to potential voters telling them about Murray and his
campaign. My nephew Khurram
Khan came to the campaign office to volunteer as well. Then on Thursday was a fund raiser for Murray
at a club in Lowell. Since I work in the
City of Lowell, I felt I could easily attend after leaving the office at days’
end. During the event in Lowell I met
that city’s Mayor, William Martin.
Some
fun to be had in August 2006 as a major fund raiser for the Patrick campaign
would be organized in Framingham. After
some discussion on the location, we settled on an office building in
Framingham. A Patrick supporter, Phil
Jack of Ashland, worked in that building and he was agreeable to offer the
space for the function. It was a rather
enjoyable event and drew nearly 200 participants and raised over $20,000. I was able to get several friends from the
community to attend: Tariq Malik,
Hameed Pervez, Iftikhar and Naheed Kazmi and their daughter Mariam. Farooq Mirza and his wife Farhana were
also present. A colleague from my work
place, Amrut Tailor, also attended and brought two
friends along. It was this type of
networking and involvement of new supporters that had boosted the Patrick
campaign into the lead.
A
friend from the Framingham DTC, Jerry Desilets began
the program by introducing the first two speakers. My State Representative Deborah Blumer and State Rep. Tom Sannicandro
from the neighboring 7th Middlesex District made some welcoming
remarks. Congressman McGovern was in
attendance and introduced Deval Patrick who gave another stirring
presentation. Following the presentation
and questions, Deval graciously met the audience, shaking hands, posing for
photos and signing autographs.
Towards
the end of the event I was interviewed by Lisa Wangsness
of the Boston Globe. She asked my
thoughts on why I felt Patrick had drawn so much attention and interest and I
shared comments similar to what has already been written in this article. Lisa then asked straight out if I thought
Deval would be elected Governor. For a
moment I was going to say “I believe he will”, but then I replied with firm
conviction, “Yes he will”. While my
comments did not make the Globe article, my picture did. And as they say, a picture is worth a
thousand words!
Labor
Day weekend was upon us and the City of Marlboro would be having a parade. Deval Patrick and Tim Murray, as well as
other candidates would march in the parade.
The Patrick and Murray groups would march in succession. Congressman McGovern joined the parade as
well supporting both Patrick and Murray.
I joined the Deval Patrick group and we were quite visible in the
neon-green shirts that Patrick supporters wore that day. Deval arrived a little late and joined the
group in the parade route. He went from
side to side, shaking hands with the spectators. I took the assignment of distributing Patrick
lapel stickers which many people took with enthusiasm. At the end of the parade, Deval was joined by
Marlboro’s Mayor, Nancy Stevens. It was
fun day and Deval thanked every supporter who marched with him.
By
this time campaigning for two candidates was truly keeping me busy. A week after the Patrick fund raiser in
Framingham I had to organize an event for Tim Murray also in Framingham. Shahid Khan agreed
to host the event at his home, where he has hosted several fund raisers for various
candidates. However many of our usual
contacts were expressing donor fatigue. Shahid and I became concerned if the event would be
successful or not. We did get a small
gathering together and Tim Murray gave a nice talk on his background and his
plans for the office of Lt. Governor.
The
polls now had Deval Patrick in firm command of the Primary. His TV ads began airing in late August and
were catching the attention across the state.
Something special was in the making.
I knew it and wanted to alert everyone that I knew to pay
attention. I just hope they paid attention
in time. The Patrick campaign was
stressing that the key to victory was to identify voters committed to
Patrick. This would be accomplished
mainly through phone banks, and person to person contact. In addition I was posting lawn signs and
distributing literature. My sister, Yasmin Khan, and my brother, Jawed Wahid, agreed to lawn
signs as well for Patrick and Murray.
Deval’s
last major event before the Primary would be on September 12th at
the State Room atop 60 State Street in Boston.
It was a jam packed gathering and the campaign took the effort to thank
the fund raising committee for its efforts. While the Patrick campaign had been outspent,
the campaign had out raised its opponents during the past year. The average contribution was under $100, so
it was not just the big check writers who were supporting Patrick.
Imam
Talal Eid and my friend Aijaz Balcoh and his wife Saadia attended the event on September 12th. My brother and sister-in-law, Jawed and Iffat Wahid, attended this as well and got the chance to
say “Hello” to Deval; he was very glad to meet them too. Eighteen months ago Deval Patrick had
announced his candidacy for governor and now the man with no chance was in the
lead. However the campaign was
emphasizing all supporters to “Ignore the polls” and “keep up the fight”.
The
weekend prior to the Primary I attended a political breakfast in Marlboro. The major Primary candidates were not in
attendance but I did get to say hello to some new contacts in the Party. The following day on Sunday September 17th
was the program at the Islamic Center of Boston featuring candidates Gerry
Leone and Tom Conroy. They spoke on
community outreach and civic participation and also took questions on their
candidacy.
Later
that day was the one and only Lt. Governor’s debate. It was held at a high school in Framingham
and organized by the Democratic State Committee. I had been contacted by Bob Cassidy of the
State Committee to help publicize the event in Framingham and also to provide
some food for the debate staff. Several
members of the Framingham DTC pitched in to buy sandwiches and beverages. The debate featured only two of the three
candidates, Murray and Silbert. It was moderated by State Party Chair Phil
Johnston who ended the program with a reminder for the Primary upcoming in two
days. Then he finished with a wisecrack:
“Vote early and often!”
On
Primary day, September 19th, I was “banished” to cover the morning
shift at Woodrow Wilson School on the far side of Framingham. The polling station at this school tends to
see low voter turnout and I was the only supporter standing outside holding
Patrick and Murray signs. But I did my
part until 9am then went off to the phone bank at Phil Jack’s office. For the rest of the day we would make phone
calls to Patrick supporters to make sure they had voted. I took some time out to take my mother to
vote and made sure my sister-in-law had the right voting information.
We
felt confident and the results were not even close. Patrick won the Primary easily.
For
the Primary Night celebration I first went to Gerry Leone’s victory party in
Cambridge. I opted to skip the Patrick
campaign party as it would be too crowded.
(The location they picked was too small, so I went to Leone’s party. The campaign later admitted they had not
planned the Primary Night celebration too well.) Mike Festa, who had
been an opposing candidate earlier in the year, was in attendance at Leone’s
victory party. After withdrawing from
the District Attorney race, Mike had given his endorsement to Leone, and as a
legislator pledged to work with him on law enforcement issues.
Mike
actually got to speak to the gathering and introduced the out-going District
Attorney Martha Coakley. She then introduced the new DA, Gerry Leone
who thanked everyone for their support, and introduced his campaign staff. There was a big TV screen setup showing the
Primary results and Patrick was comfortably ahead.
Meanwhile
the Lt. Governor race appeared to be a close call and I felt I could leave the
Leone party and drive out to Worcester to catch the Tim Murray event. As I was driving to Worcester the radio
reported that the race remained close with Murray in the lead. The expectation was that once Tim’s own city,
Worcester, reported its numbers that would give him an insurmountable lead. It sounded like Worcester would take a little
while to finish its counting. “Good,” I
thought. I probably could arrive in
Worcester just in time to hear Murray’s victory speech.
However
by the time I reached the event it was over.
Murray was declared the winner and had left for Boston to join Deval
Patrick for his celebration. It seems
the radio station was behind in its reporting.
A bit disappointed but I did get a chance to congratulate the Murray staffers
whom I had come to know during the campaign.
Four
days after the Primary the Muslim community world-wide would be observing the
month of Ramadan. That means changes for
many people in the Muslim community. My
own campaigning activities would slow down.
Ramadan would fall right into the General Election cycle, ending with
about two weeks before the November elections.
I did get my brother-in-law, Siraj Khan, to
join me for a phone bank after an Iftar one
evening. However I found myself quite
tired from this, at times getting a migraine; I had to keep the pace very
limited.
The
State Party opened a campaign field office in Framingham. Its official opening was on September 30th. Deval’s wife, Diane
Patrick attended the opening where a large turnout welcomed her. The State Party assigned Clare Kelly and Rob Boutwhall to handle the phone calls from this office. In addition to the field office we still had
the phones at Phil Jack’s office which was just down the street. Between the locations we were well armed for
some heavy duty phone banking during the course of the General Election
campaign. And we would make good use of
these resources.
Following
the Primary, Deval Patrick was the clear front-runner with a huge lead in the
polls. This began to dwindle as the
opposition began to air negative ads against Patrick. Deval was facing Lt. Governor Kerry Healey of
the Republican Party in this race for the Corner Office. There were two other candidates in the race:
Christy Mihos, an independent, and Grace Ross of the
Green-Rainbow Party. Their poll numbers
had them well behind Patrick and Healey.
Patrick’s
lead slipped to 13 points but never dipped below 10. He himself refused to go negative and
withstood the broadside attacks from the Healey campaign. One of these ads criticized Patrick for
defending a convicted murderer. As a
civil rights attorney Patrick was doing his duty and in doing so he was
defending the Constitution. However the
Healey ad questioned if such lawyers are fit to be governor and this
backfired. The Massachusetts Bar
Association, which never gives political endorsements, gave its endorsement to
Deval Patrick and in turn criticized Healey for labeling all lawyers with her
negative ads. Patrick stayed positive
and his poll numbers rose again.
October
13, 2006. This day should have been just
another birthday for me and at this age, I do not need to be reminded I am
another year older. However on this day
my disdain for the subject was soon erased when I received a phone call from
DTC member Cheryl Tully Stoll. She had
some sad news: our State Representative, Deborah Blumer,
passed away that same morning from a heart attack. I had just seen Debby the night before making
phone calls at the Patrick field office in Framingham. I was stunned. I went to the field office right after work
where others had gathered. Tim Murray
was to have made a visit to the field office that evening, but he canceled due
to the circumstances. We were in
disbelief as we exchanged embraces for support and fought back tears. This did create a troubling question on how
to fill Debby’s seat in the House with the elections in about three weeks.
On
Sunday the 15th would be the monthly Framingham DTC meeting. I consulted with a couple of senior members
on how best to proceed and the opinion was that the meeting should go ahead as
scheduled, however the agenda would be differed to address the issue of filling
Debby’s seat in the State House; she had been unopposed on the ballot. On the afternoon she died, Secretary of State
Galvin ruled that the seat would be decided by write-in candidates. This could lead to a free-for-all.
The
afternoon of October 15th I headed to Boston for the Deval Patrick
“No Ordinary Rally” on Boston Common.
Thousands surrounded the Band Stand where Patrick would be
speaking. As I reached the Stand I heard
my name and saw the “usual suspects” from Framingham: Chris Lorant,
Norma Shulman, Rochelle Sivan, and Pam Roberts. They were also joined by Lee Mason and Sarah Micciche. (Other
Framingham supporters, Elsa Aviza and Stephanie Mercandetti arrived later.)
The Framingham group would be among several to go on stage and stand
behind Deval Patrick. What a thrill!!! I ended up standing right behind the podium
when Deval Patrick spoke. At the back of
the rally I saw the TV cameras and I was thinking that I might get some air
time out of this. In fact the scene did
air on the nightly news and was also featured in the final Patrick TV ad. I got lots of compliments for this one.
Scheduled
to begin at 3:30pm, we waited an additional 30 minutes for Patrick to
arrive. It was a mostly cloudy day and
getting a bit chilly. Then the sun broke
through the clouds to warm us up and Sarah commented, “That is Debby smiling
down on us!” As we left the Band Stand
we met Diane Hwang, who was legislative aide to Debby Blumer. She was grieving over Debby’s passing and we
consoled her. It brought to mind what
was to follow later that day: the DTC meeting to discuss the future of Debby’s
vacant seat.
For
the rest of the week my focus would shift from the Patrick campaign to the 6th
Middlesex State Representative seat. The
October 15th meeting saw a large attendance of DTC members and
interested Democrats. We discussed the subject
at length with no conclusion. The
meeting adjourned with a pending motion on organizing a caucus to select a
candidate; the meeting would reconvene on Tuesday October 17th.
Services for Deborah Blumer were held at Temple Beth Am
on Monday October 16th. The Temple
was filled to capacity and I met Tim Murray on my way in. We were both glad to see each other but
certainly regretted the circumstances.
The services were simple and respectful according to the family’s
wishes.
That
evening on October 16th I met with John Stefanini,
Dave Magnani (both former legislators), Jerry Desilets (former Town Moderator), Steve Joyce (of the
carpenter’s union) and Cheryl Tully Stoll (long time DTC member and
spokesperson). We put together the
framework for a caucus that would take place the following Sunday, October 22nd. The caucus would be non-binding since it was
not sanctioned by the State Party, however all candidates participating in the
caucus were asked to abide by its outcome.
The
DTC meeting reconvened on Tuesday night October 17th. Several other motions were either withdrawn
or voted down and the DTC membership accepted the motion to hold the caucus on
Sunday October 22nd for the purpose of selecting a candidate for the
6th Middlesex House seat. A
caucus committee was appointed by me (as Chair of the Framingham DTC). Including me, the caucus committee consisted
of Nancy Coville Wallace (the DTC treasurer), Cheryl
Tully Stoll, Steve Joyce, Helen Lemoine (Town
Planning Committee), Mike Dineen (former
Superintendent of Schools) and Adam Blumer, son of
Debby Blumer.
We would spend the rest of the week in preparations, issuing a press
release, preparing a candidate questionnaire and setting up the caucus
rules. All of this was quickly posted on
the Framingham DTC website and made known to the members as fast as it was
released.
Before
the caucus, on October 21st I had invited the Patrick Committee to
send a surrogate speaker to the Islamic Center of Boston and address the
members during the weekly Iftar gathering. In fact invitations had been sent from the
Center to all four gubernatorial candidates.
As a Patrick supporter I pursued the matter with the Patrick
Committee. For that evening we had four
speakers, three on behalf of Deval Patrick and we were joined by Green Party gubernatorial
candidate Grace Ross. On behalf of the
Patrick campaign were Sheriff Jim DiPaola, State
Senator Susan Fargo and my friend Russ Ashton from the State Committee. All four briefly addressed the gathering
after the Iftar, Russ and Grace stayed for dinner.
The
caucus was on Sunday October 22nd.
It was held at Cameron School in Framingham. It was also the last day of Ramadan and with
the caucus scheduled to start at 5pm I would be ending my fast in the middle of
the caucus. The interest and passion
shown by the Framingham Democrats on this day was truly impressive. The caucus itself (which can take over a
month to plan) was organized in less than a week and had an attendance of
nearly 200. Many non-voting participants
sat with interest in the gallery of the auditorium. We were also joined by Irwin Blumer, widower to Debby and Adam Blumer. Around 6pm as the candidates were answering
questions from the moderator (and I was keeping time), I quietly sipped some
water to end my fast. (About an hour
later I got some food that Farooq Mirza
had brought for me.)
Following
the questions voting took place. There
were three rounds of balloting as the rules stipulated that the caucus winner needed
to carry a majority of 50% plus one vote.
Five candidates were nominated at the caucus. Two candidates were eliminated after the
first ballot and one more was eliminated on the second ballot. On the third ballot Pam Richardson emerged
the winner with around 59% of the votes.
She would be the Democratic write-in candidate for the 6th
Middlesex State Representative seat.
I
offered to host a gathering for Pam Richardson at my home on November 4th. This would be just three days before the
elections, but it would still give Pam the chance to meet more voters. The Framingham DTC held a special meeting the
week after the caucus to get the DTC members more involved in Pam’s
campaign. Pam’s campaign manager Rob Arcangeli addressed the meeting to discuss strategy. He stressed the point that for Pam to win,
voters would have to either write her name on the ballot or attach her sticker
in the write-in space. Deborah Blumer’s name would still appear on the ballot (since these
had already been printed), but any vote cast for Blumer
would not be counted.
The
day after the caucus was Eid-ul-Fitr. It was a pleasant day with much of the same
celebrating that we engage in. That
afternoon my wife decided that she wanted to buy a new car so we headed over to
a dealership to check some cars. On the
way over we stopped at a hotel in Framingham where Deval Patrick was
appearing. I had hoped to get a chance
to chat with him but the program was running too long, so we had to leave. I had taken Monday and Tuesday off for Eid, so on Wednesday it was back to campaigning for Patrick/Murray.
On
October 25th there would be a rally for the Patrick/Murray ticket at
the DCU Center in Worcester. (This was
the location for the 2006 State Convention a few months earlier.) There was a pre-rally reception and fund
raiser where Senator Ted Kennedy appeared with Congressman McGovern, Deval and
Tim Murray. At the reception I also
chatted with Deval’s wife, Diane Patrick. I had sent her a photo that I had taken of
her and Debby Blumer during the opening of the
Framingham field office and she appreciated the picture. From the reception we moved to the arena of
the DCU Center for the main program with the featured guest speaker: President
Bill Clinton. Patrick had worked for the
Clinton Administration so it was quite obvious the former President would be
stumping for his one-time Assistant Attorney General. Clinton was magnificent; he still had the
charm that had warmed the nation during the 1990s.
Now under two weeks to go before the elections.
October
28, 2006. With some ten days remaining
before Election Day and it was clear that Deval Patrick was well in
command. Barring any mishaps, his
election seemed eminent. The campaign
office was still hammering across this message to all supporters: “Forget the
polls and keep campaigning.” On October
28th Patrick, Tim Murray appeared at Natick High School, joined by
Congressman Jim McGovern and my own Congressman Edward Markey. It was wonderful to see Markey stumping for
Deval Patrick as Ed seemed to be missing for most of the campaign. Prior to the presentation I chatted with
Nancy Stolberg.
I declared to her “The campaign has now come full circle”. When I first met Nancy, over a year ago, she
had asked me to deliver a box of campaign literature to a supporter in
Natick. I mentioned to her that the
supporter’s home was on the street just outside the high school.
By
this time the Patrick Committee had printed “Dear Friend” cards and I
distribute many sets of cards to friends at the Islamic Center. I was very grateful for their willingness to
take the cards, address them and mail them out.
I provided pages of addresses from the long list of contacts I had
developed over the years. Close to 500
cards were mailed out.
The
final week of the campaign featured calls for Patrick/Murray. Calls for Richardson. A coffee gathering at my
home for Richardson. Breakfast with Tim Murray in Worcester. More calls for Patrick/Murray. Campaigning day and night.
Then it was Election Day.
November
7, 2006. History will record that that
first African American to hold office of Governor of Massachusetts was elected
on this day. It was a landslide. The
Deval Patrick/Tim Murray ticket won by 56%; they finished some 21 points ahead
of the competition. One of the local TV
stations declared for Patrick a minute after the polls closed. I heard this on the radio as I was driving to
Boston for the election night party. The
party itself was a thrill at the Hynes Convention Center with Boston Mayor Tom Menino, State Treasurer Tim Cahill, Senator Ted Kennedy and
Senator John Kerry addressing the audience before Tim Murray and finally Deval
Patrick appeared to give their acceptance speeches.
This
journey was over. It ended with smiles
and embraces and exhaustion and overloads of “Congratulations” and “Thank yous”. That lecture
I attended at LaSalle College now seemed like such a long time ago. In the four years I had been a political
activist this campaign was easily the most satisfying; perhaps difficult to
surpass. That remains to be seen. As this journey ends another will surely
being.
In
an epilogue to the Patrick/Murray victory, Pam Richardson won the write-in
campaign and she would be my new State Representative. Then add to this, Tom Conroy won his election
to become State Representative from next door in Wayland. Tom’s win was quite significant as he
unseated a ten year incumbent and claimed a House seat that had been held by
Republicans for decades. Ted Kennedy was
re-elected easily to the US Senate. Bill
Galvin re-elected Secretary of State. Martha
Coakley was elected Attorney General. Across the country Democrats unseated
Republicans to claim the US Congress and after close one in Virginia the
Democrats took that Senate too! More
history to be made as a woman, Nancy Pelosi, would become the new Speaker of
the US House. Shahid
Khan had much to celebrate as well. His
fund raising efforts on the national scene helped several Democrats win seats
in the US Senate.
The
day after the elections I called Russ Ashton, my friend on the State Committee,
just to thank him for getting me involved initially with the Patrick
campaign. He in turned thanked me for
taking interest and supporting Deval. In
time attention will be shifting to 2008 and the White House, but for now it is
time to enjoy this victory. No one is
naïve enough to expect changes overnight, but the election of Deval Patrick and
the Democrats win in the US House and Senate do give hope for a government that
will help to bring better quality of life for more people. Yes I can proudly say that I was part of this
journey.
-Parwez Wahid, December 2006
This article was written after
reflection of the past two years since the end of the 2004 elections. I did not have notes and have prepared this
from what I remember. I have tried to
mention as many people as I could and probably have failed to mention many
others. However these notes do describe,
as accurately as I can recall, my involvement with the Deval Patrick campaign, as
well as other campaigns during the 2006 elections.