The QDCC blog is open for member-submissions. Members in good standing who would like to write a post for consideration should email their entries to <quincydems@gmail.com>. Submissions may be edited, condensed, published or not published at the discretion of the City-Wide Communication Officer and/or Communications Committee. This blog post was written by a member in good standing of the Quincy Dems and the Quincy Ward 1 Democrats Committee. The opinions expressed are his own and do not constitute an official position of the Quincy Dems or the Quincy Ward 1 Democrats Committee.
A blog submission by member, Joe Murphy of Ward 1.
If you are familiar with me, or my attempts to participate in the city government of Quincy, you know that a constant theme of mine is the trouble local governments find when themselves in when formed in the vacuum of a political clique. To be clear, what I mean by this is when a group of people become elected, and stay elected, not from ideas or goals for the city or its people, but thanks to relationships and familiarity. These relationships are often between each other, with the typical quid pro quo, and often between the leaders and their constituencies. When a political clique forms and solidifies within a city government, it becomes harder to dislodge, and the prevailing mentality becomes “get along to go along.” This line of thinking is what I want to warn my fellow Democrats about.
From most reports, Mayor Koch is a nice and generous man who loves his city and its people. He’s a lifelong dedicated servant of Quincy who has a vision and works to carry it out. From most reports he does not enjoy dissension within the ranks of his government. He wants the city council to be on the same page as he is, and he is not above a last-minute op-ed in the Sun to get the voters to install the people he enjoys working with. So, he’s not perfect and he’s not terrible, he’s a successful politician doing what he thinks works best for his city. Rather than see the mayor as the enemy, I see him as a politician who is willing to evolve on issues, but for that to happen he needs strong and well-crafted messages from the residents. For me, the city of Quincy’s Better Angels should be its Democrats.
The mayor has many good qualities, as I’ve mentioned above, but his first instinct in recent years is often conservative. In February of 2018, Mayor Koch made the decision to leave the Democratic party over its stance on abortion. While many people share his stance on this issue, including many Democrats, I find it peculiar that the Mayor decided to make this move in 2018, when the Democratic party has had the same views for decades. The Mayor pointed to some clumsy statement made by then-DNC Chair Tom Perez, which Perez later clarified, but it felt to this observer that the Mayor used this flub as an exit. A few months later, in April, Mayor Koch was greeting Vice President Pence along with RNC chair and then-Quincy Councilor Kirsten Hughes on the tarmac at Logan, filling in for both Governor Baker and Lt. Governor Polito. We Democrats remained largely silent.
His first instinct on climate issues, despite Quincy’s history of coastal flooding and other marsh issues, is often to pump the brakes on mitigation efforts. However, to his credit, the mayor seems willing and eager to be convinced. It only took the perspective of some Central Middle School kids to change his mind on a plastic bag ban. The mayor has been there to push back on the compressor station, but we cannot always rely on his default reflexes. And it’s unfair to remain silent when we feel he is wrong. He is a human being, not a political superhero from some Aaron Sorkin drama.
Fast-forward to December of last year, when Mayor Koch decided to wade into the waters of the Commonwealth’s politics to express his disdain for the Roe Act, which aims to protect a woman’s right to choose. The mayor posted a strongly worded screed on his personal Facebook page, saying in one spot “Must Massachusetts once again be part of the upper tier of radical states to always push the limits of rational and moderate views?” While this was far from the worst part of his post, it sheds some light on the mayor’s base positions. His post, shared over 100 times and eliciting ~700 comments, claimed that those of us who believe that abortion should be safe and affordable for any woman who needs it are radical. He invoked religion and described our nation as "founded on Judeo-Christian values," when the founders were quite clear that there was to be a separation of church and state. He described pro-choice citizens as having a culture of death. His diatribe amounted to a cut and paste of talking points from the pro-life playbook.
Now the mayor is passionate about this issue, and he has a right to a personal opinion, but what bothers me is the thunderous silence from our city’s Democrats. When a response to this diatribe was drafted and brought before influential Quincy Democrats, there was near-universal concern that the response would upset the mayor. And this brings me back to the problems with a political clique. We should never be scared to stand up for our values, and Democrats have been supporting a woman’s right to choose since 1976. Yet, when the mayor of our city writes an emotional, unsourced, and hardly proofread rant on this issue, we turn our collective gaze anywhere but where it belongs.
Then on Thursday, the Quincy Sun published an article informing us that the mayor sees “no need” to add a department of social justice. It is unclear whether he watched the city council meeting where the department was discussed, but in the Sun article, he pointed to the questions the lone Black member of the City Council, Ian Cain, had brought up during the debate on the issue. Misunderstanding or misstating Councilor Cain’s position he neglected to mention that Councilor Cain was concerned the department’s creation was not ambitious enough. The mayor remarked, “If anybody has credibility on this issue, it’s Councilor Cain.” This is the kind of awful argument that many White people are known to posit. The mere fact that the mayor would point to Mr. Cain’s questions while ignoring his ultimate vote in favor of the department is why we need to be vocal. He also dismissed and took umbrage to Council President Liang’s concerns about equality across the city. Councilor Liang is the lone Asian councilor in a city with a high percentage of Asians residents.
Mimi Balsamo, a convener of the StandOut Quincy 4 Black Lives a group that stands out every Thursday in Quincy Ccenter supporting Black Lives Matter, gave an impassioned reply on her Facebook page:
“I am deeply disheartened.
As an ordinary citizen of Quincy, I have heard and seen the evidence of prejudice and bias in the angry screams, gestures, and aggressive arguments of local residents, as expressed to me and others as we hold up our signs for racial justice and equity in Quincy center.
My own neighbors share their experiences of having racial epithets hurled at them, nurses have told me that there is bias expressed toward Asian patients {due to} the [Covid19] virus.
Racism is alive and well in Quincy as well as across the country. We need lots of positive actions to transform our society, not only to address under reported injuries. Let's tell the Mayor our opinions by phone and letter, ask him to reconsider.”
Democrats of Quincy, the Mayor doesn’t see the need for this department. If you do, let him know.
Mayor Koch is reachable at Phone: (617) 376-1990 or e-mail: mayorkoch@quincyma.gov
This blog post was written by a member in good standing of the Quincy Dems and the Quincy Ward 1 Democrats Committee. The opinions expressed are his own and do not constitute an official position of the Quincy Dems or the Quincy Ward 1 Democrats Committee.
References
Balsamo, M. (2021, Feb 26). Facebook Post. Reaction to Quincy Sun Article.
Jackson, S. (2021, February 25). Koch: No need to add a social Justice Dept. Quincy Sun, p. 1 and 14.
Koch, T. (2020, Dec 19). Tom Koch Facebook Page, Public Post. Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/tom.koch.1610/posts/10222294811736426
Tiernan, E. (2018, February 7-8). Mayor Koch Leaves Democratic Party over Abortion. pp. https://www.patriotledger.com/news/20180207/koch-leaves-democratic-party-over-abortion.