We endorse Helina Fontes for Governor's Council (District Six) and Ed Markey for US Senate in the September 1, 2020 primary election.
Helina Fontes for Governor's Council District Six
The struggle for racial justice, worker rights, and reform of a broken criminal justice system is urgent for the people of our city and the entire district. With its role in determining who gets to be a judge, who sits on the Parole Board, and who makes decisions on disability claims, the Governor's Council can have a positive impact on these issues if its members fight for change.
Helina Fontes will carry that urgency to the Governor's Council. She has perspective lacking on the current Council because of her experience and training as a leader in the mental health field, her years as a community activist in Lynn, and her lived experience as a working class Black woman.
We need a representative on the Governor's Council who will seize every opportunity to push for change. Last year, the Governor's Council had a chance to demand more diversity on the Parole Board. Governor Baker had ignored repeated calls and nominated a white prosecutor to a Parole Board that lacks racial diversity and has long been dominated by law enforcement. Almost half the Governor's Council voted to reject the Governor's choice. But Helina's opponent, incumbent Terrence Kennedy, was one of the key swing votes who allowed the nominee to be approved despite these concerns. We are confident that if Helina Fontes had been in that position, she would have voted for change.
We also need a Governor's Councilor who will take every chance to create awareness and involve our communities in the push to reform the criminal justice system and protect worker rights. Helina Fontes has pledged to do that. She took exactly that approach in this extended discussion at a candidates forum with Progressive Massachusetts; her opponent was invited but did not take part.
The recent Boston Globe editorial on the dysfunction of the Parole Board makes clear that it's time for new voices on the Governor's Council who will push for change. Helina Fontes will bring to the Council intelligence, perspective, and an understanding of the "fierce urgency of now."
Governor's Council District 6
The district includes these areas:
LYNN; Lynnfield; Marblehead; Nahant; Saugus; Swampscott
CAMBRIDGE; EVERETT; MALDEN; MEDFORD; MELROSE; Reading; SOMERVILLE; Stoneham; Wakefield; Winchester
CHELSEA; REVERE; Winthrop; PARTS of BOSTON (Wd. 1, Pcts. 1-14; Wd. 2; Wd. 3, Pcts. 1-6, 8; Wd. 5, Pcts. 1,3-5,11; Wd. 21, Pcts. 4, 6, 7; Wd. 22, Pcts. 1, 2, 5)
Ed Markey for US Senate
As residents of a multiracial working class community on the coast, we need elected officials who fully support the struggles for climate justice, racial justice, and economic justice, who understand the links between these issues, and who align with grassroots movements fighting for change. That's why we believe Ed Markey is the best choice in this contest.
We need elected officials who carry grassroots demands for bold action into the halls of power, and that's what Ed Markey did when he partnered with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as Senate co-author of the Green New Deal.
We need the kind of transformative change that is born of grassroots social justice movements and truly progressive challenges to power. That's what our group believes in, and that's the side Ed Markey has chosen to stand on. That's why he has been endorsed by the Sunrise Movement, Our Revolution, Coalition for Social Justice, Progressive Massachusetts, The Working Families Party, UNITE HERE Local 26, CWA, American Federation of Teachers, Massachusetts Teachers Association, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Chinese Progressive Political Action, and many other progressive groups and individuals.
Photo: Helina Fontes (right) in November, 2018.
Unfortunately, his opponent has too often lined up on a different side in recent years and opposed progressive candidates who are now bringing needed change to our state on issues from housing to criminal justice reform; in several cases Joe Kennedy III lent his support to more conservative, "insider" candidates when they faced credible challenges from progressive women of color running for change.
Neither candidate is perfect, but a careful look at where these candidates stand in this political moment shows Ed Markey is more progressive on policy and is more ready to ally with grassroots social justice groups as we fight for change.