Medford Mayor Michael McGlynn, a Democrat, has officially given his support to Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Tom Reilly, a former district attorney who currently serves as state attorney general.
"I have been with Tom Reilly from day one," McGlynn said. "I was with him in the attorney general's fight, and I'm with him for governor."
McGlynn said he has endorsed Reilly partly because the candidate has demonstrated a strong commitment to local politics. "His history has always been [to] work with the local communities," McGlynn said. He also cited a decision of Reilly's as attorney general that supported Medford in a dispute over the construction of schools.
According to McGlynn, Reilly's interest in local politics stands in stark contrast to the less-active administration of current Governor Mitt Romney, a Republican.
"It's obvious that the present administration doesn't lend a lot of support to cities and towns," McGlynn said. "Local aid is what allows us to deliver services to people in the community."
McGlynn said that Romney's conservative aid policy had been consistent throughout his term. "He came in and announced that he'd be cutting local aid to communities, and it's been continuous ever since," he said.
McGlynn said Romney had not given any support for snow and ice removal in Medford last winter. "We got nothing," McGlynn said.
Corey Welford, a spokesperson for Reilly, agreed that local areas need more help from the governor's office. "Cities and towns like Medford haven't had a true partner in the governor's office," he said. "That's something that Tom would be."
But senior Kevin Johannsen, president of the Tufts Republicans, finds this characterization of Romney's administration unfair.
"I feel that it is far too easy to issue a blanket statement that Romney had been too unresponsive to local needs," he wrote in an e-mail. "Local needs will always exist if towns are solely reliant on the state to fix local problems."
Johannsen wrote that many of Romney's actions have been the result of the state deficit that he inherited. "Romney made the appropriate cuts to ensure the economic vitality of Massachusetts in the future," he wrote. "He has even pledged in his State of the Commonwealth that he is aiming to increase local aid now that the deficit has been dealt with."
Johannsen is skeptical as to whether Reilly would be more effective in responding to local requests. "I'm not convinced that if he were to become governor he would be more responsive to local needs than Romney has been," he wrote.
Reilly is competing against Deval Patrick in the Sept. 19 Democratic primary. Members of the Tufts community are actively involved in both of their campaigns. Tufts trustee and professor Alan Solomont (LA '70), for example, is chairing Reilly's finance committee.
Though Reilly had formerly held a strong lead in opinion polls, he lost ground last month after his running mate, Democratic State Representative Marie St. Fleur, pulled out of the race for lieutenant governor after it was revealed by the Boston Globe that she had delinquent tax debts and student loans.
The most recent opinion poll from the Boston Globe shows a dead heat between Reilly and Patrick, with Democratic support for the two candidates evenly split at 40 percent apiece.
"A lot of people who were with Reilly withdrew their support [after St. Fleur backed out] and went to the undecided column," McGlynn said.
McGlynn stressed that not all Reilly defectors necessarily switched their alliances to Patrick. And according to Tufts Democrats President Aaron Banks, Reilly still holds an important advantage over Patrick: campaign experience. This is Patrick's first race, whereas Reilly has been involved in Massachusetts politics for two decades.
"Reilly's had the chance to work with McGlynn as a DA and as attorney general," Banks wrote in an e-mail. "The level of support he receives from people he has worked with, like McGlynn, will go a long way towards determining if he can win the Democratic nomination."
