With Speaker Mariano, progressives get what they deserve
Progressive activists helped defeat at least one progressive who could have challenged Mariano.
By Joan Vennochi Globe Columnist,Updated December 28, 2020, 3:55 p.m.
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Rep. Ron MarianoLane Turner/Globe Staff/file
So, it looks like leadership of the Massachusetts House will be handed off from one white guy to another.
It also looks like some of the people complaining about the lack of diversity in leadership are the same people who helped make it happen.
If thereâs no progressive alternative to Ronald Mariano â the 74-year-old lawmaker from Quincy who says he has the votes to succeed House Speaker Robert DeLeo, who stepped down Monday to reportedly take a job at Northeastern â itâs because progressive activists helped defeat a progressive who could have challenged him. That would be former state Representative Jeffrey Sánchez, who, as chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means committee, failed the progressive purity test and was kicked out of office. Itâs a classic story of political consequences, when the perfect becomes the enemy of the possible â more specifically, when the candidate deemed more ideologically perfect wins the election battle. Meanwhile, the power that comes with seniority is lost, along with the chance to make a difference, not just a statement.