OP-ED; Suffolk DA's race: Politics of payback

Thomas M. KEANE, Jr.
848 words
14 June 2002
Boston Herald
All Editions
035
English
(Copyright 2002)

Why is conservative South Boston City Councilor James Kelly backing liberal Brian Honan instead of Dan Conley in the race for district attorney? Because in Boston, payback trumps ideology.

Kelly never forgave Conley for refusing to support him for council president in 1995. Seven years later, Honan is reaping the fruits of revenge. But in the end, does that help or hurt his campaign?

The Suffolk County DA's race has received little attention, an odd circumstance given that next to mayor, the job is the area's most powerful as well as being an excellent launching pad for higher office. One campaign operative blames "priests and terrorists" in the news for making all but the statewide gubernatorial contests virtually invisible.

But blame also attaches to the near invisibility of the candidates themselves. After some machinations, the race has essentially come down to Honan vs. Conley. (There is no Republican and two other possible Democratic contenders both decided to run as unenrolled, effectively marginalizing themselves.)

Neither Honan nor Conley is well known. Both were prosecutors in the district attorney's office before moving on to become district city councilors, representing perhaps 70,000 people and almost unknown to the rest of the county's 690,000 residents. Both tended to the needs of their constituents; neither made much of a splash citywide.

But Conley got lucky. When incumbent Ralph Martin announced he was leaving the DA's post, it was up to acting Gov. Jane Swift to appoint a successor to fill out his term. Both Conley and Honan interviewed. Conley got the job in February and with it, a critical edge: incumbency.

Despite their similar employment histories, the two have markedly different personas. Conley is serious and sometimes seems almost humorless. He was never comfortable in the role of politician, always longing to return to the DA's office.

Honan, on the other hand, is a political natural. Gregarious and voluble, he connects easily with people and is popular with all sorts of progressive activists. His stint at the DA's office was different from Conley's as well: While Conley recalls his courtroom experiences, Honan focuses on his outreach work to Boston's neighborhoods.

And it is those differences that appear to underlie the dual messages of Honan's campaign. One is that he is the "real" Democrat in the race - a shot at Swift naming Conley to the job. The second is that he is the more progressive of the two, the natural heir to the popular Ralph Martin.

Taken together, they make for a good story. Swift is deeply unpopular in Boston and it will be easy for Honan to play on the suspicion that Conley offered her support in exchange for the job (something Conley denies). Moreover, Honan stresses themes of community policing, drug treatment and combatting domestic violence - all issues that play well to Suffolk County's more liberal wards.

Yet the message suffers under scrutiny. Kelly's support is but one example. Another is Honan's recent endorsement by the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association. The BPPA virulently opposed Martin when he ran for DA. The union's antipathy to Conley stems from the former councilor's refusal, as chair of Public Safety, to cut special deals for the cops - the kind of principled behavior one would normally would hope for from a DA.

Even the idea of a "real" Democrat is troubled. Honan's ostensible mentor, Ralph Martin, was himself a political appointee of a Republican governor - indeed, Martin switched parties as a precondition for the job. It's hard to fathom why one such appointee is all right while the other is not.

Yet, Honan's deeper problem may be the nature of the job itself. Honan points to the wide and diverse support he has received from other politicians and political organizations as proof of his popularity. Yet DAs aren't supposed to be affable; rather, we want them to be substantive, experienced and no-nonsense. It may be the one political job where traditional political skills don't matter. For example, Attorney General Thomas Reilly got his start when he ran for Middlesex County DA. His principal opponent was a popular and well-regarded politician from Somerville. Reilly, despite his dry, rigid manner, easily won.

His message? Professional, not politician.

That's the message that Conley is crafting for himself as well, and it's a potential trap for Honan. By defining himself as a progressive or as a Democrat, Honan is defining himself in essentially political terms. Meanwhile, Conley argues, the DA's office should be the opposite of political. Justice, he says, shouldn't be politicized.

Honan is hoping that a "kinder, gentler" DA will appeal to voters. Conley is betting that people believe the job is ultimately about trying and convicting people who do bad things. Especially in a post-Sept. 11 world, that idea may have the greater resonance.

Tom Keane can be reached at tom@tomkeane.com.

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