Bostonian Rap

0:00Hello and welcome to Boston and RAP. My name is Rachel Meiselman and you are listening to me on WBCALP 102.9 FM Boston. This is Boston's Community Radio Station. So like we always do, we're going to go to a quick disclaimer and then we're gonna come right back and jump right on in to tonight's show. The following commentary does not necessarily reflect the views of the staff and management of WBCALP or the Boston Neighborhood Network. If you would like to express another opinion, you can address your comments to Boston Neighborhood Network, 3025 Washington Street, Boston, Massachusetts, 02119. To arrange a time for your own commentary, you can call WBCALP at 617-708-3215 or email radio at bnmedia.org. Hello and welcome back to Boston and RAP.

1:01My name again is Rachel Meiselman. And so I just want to kind of start off the show with a bit of correction. So on last week's program, I spoke about some races and the results. And a couple of those races were particularly close to call. And one of them is the race for the state representative seat and the 25th Middlesex district. So the incumbent Marjorie Decker, she actually pulled out a win and I was allated to discover this. But the numbers that I had in going into the show weren't the most recent. And again, this race as well as one other that I'm about to talk about have been or were particularly close.

2:03So I am very happy that Marjorie Decker, in fact, won. She won over Evan McKay and it was a rematch because he had run against her, challenged her for the seat in 2024. And I would say that the reason why I am so happy that Marjorie Decker won is because she's just a wonderful person. And unlike so many people who hold public office, she really, I think, gives people a reason to believe in politicians. And I really think that she leads with heart. And she's very much invested in Cambridge, not only as someone who was from there. She's every Ancik Cambridge girl, as I said on last week's show.

3:06But she really is very much a community-driven person. And I think a lot of what she does and says, it's focused upon how can we all be better together as opposed to how can I, myself, do better. So I'm really just elated. She won by 500 some votes. So congratulations, Representative Decker. You very much deserve this victory. Again, I think she's wonderful. And I'll have more to say about Marjorie Decker and shows to come. And I want to impress upon some people who ask me some questions as to why I was so supportive of her, why I am so supportive of her.

4:08And I put it down to, I don't need everyone to agree with me. But I do need to know that their hearts and their intentions are good. I need to know that their hearts are in the right place, that their intentions, that they act in good faith. And I really do believe that is the case with Marjorie Decker. And another, I think, critical part of the puzzle for me is someone who is willing to sit down with someone, even if there are disagreements upon or over a particular issue. And not everyone is able to do that, particularly in this day and age. I feel like there's so much polarization. So someone who is willing to continue the conversation notwithstanding any disagreements is someone who I think is very focused on the job of being a public servant

5:14as opposed to being a politician, which of course has very much negative connotations as a negative sense and for good reason. Now the other race that I talked about and I didn't have the most recent results, that was very much a nail-biter. And election day, of course, was Tuesday. And as of, so September 1st, but as of Thursday, Thursday evening, there were only three votes that separated State Senator William Brownsberger. And that Senate district is Suffolk and Middlesex. So that includes Austin and Brighton

6:15as well as Watertown and Belmont. And Brownsberger, of course, served for some time in Belmont as a select man. So he's someone who's very, very seasoned and I have consistently explained my support for him stemming from him being so seasoned and having really a strong knowledge of government and how it works and what it can do. And he is built a number of relationships because he is willing like Marjorie Decker to sit down and talk to people and he has a strong grasp of the issues. So that race, though in particular, if you want to talk about a nail-biter election,

7:18then that's exactly what that's the textbook definition. So apologies for any confusion about what transpired. I always want to be accurate as possible and as of September 3rd, as I said, with a difference of only three votes, both campaigns, Senator Brownsberger and his opponent, Daniel Land, are both requested recounts. So I will have a lot more to say about this election, about the implications and really kind of an overall commentary about this election season because it's been,

8:24it's been at times, I guess, one can say it's been an anxious time. A time for concern, a time for hustle. It's been close and it's been, there have been some fierce, I think, contests on the political, on the other side of the political aisle and it's important to kind of sit down and think about what that means going forward. And for my side of the aisle, Republicans, I honestly, my side, because I do want to focus, as I said on last week's show,

9:25I want to really kind of get into a little bit more about what happened on my side of the aisle. I think that really quite frankly, it was a mess. And really, my party needs to get it together or not, or not, but I think that if anyone is to have success here, she's going to have to do it independent of the Republican Party. That is, of course, a Republican candidate. If he or she wants any chance at getting elected and as it is, even if it's a great candidate, it's going to be in a pill battle. And that's the shame because it doesn't have to be like that. But we have a lot of people who have no business being in the positions that they're in. And so there's that.

10:28There's a staggering level of incompetence. And I'm going to throw in stupidity because I don't think that everyone who is held up as a shining star is necessarily the brightest bulb. And I'm just I'm being, I'm being, I think, maybe even more candid than usual, but I think that it's very important because people need relief. People need hope. And the Exodus from Massachusetts is only going to pick up. And I need to impress upon people. And I've said this before on the show that this Exodus,

11:28it's actually, it's nothing new. It's actually nothing new. We have had people leave who have been leaving Massachusetts for quite some time. And the reason why is because the cost of living is just so exorbitant, but it's not just the cost of living. Everything is difficult. Everything is difficult, whether we're talking about the city of Boston or overall elsewhere in the Commonwealth. I think in Boston, the situation is particularly acute, but really truth be told, it's really difficult to survive and to get by and to flourish. People are working and it's just for the privilege

12:29of being able to tread water. And that's not a way to live. Because there are so many people who are in positions of power and they're so thoroughly incompetent and some are downright stupid. And again, it must be said, whether we're talking about people working on behalf of a political party or we're talking about a municipal or a state division of state government or something on a municipal level related to municipal government, it's just we don't have our best. The best are not working in these positions where again, decisions, important decisions are being made that have a tremendous impact. And after a while, people who are learning on the job who don't have the right qualifications

13:30to even think about being there yet actually are there, after a while, it's time to pay the price. But the people who are making these decisions, the people who are in these all important meetings, they're not the ones that are paying the price, the people are. It's almost impossible to get people on the phone, particularly in Boston. And if it is a situation where, a situation where someone is reached via telephone, then that person generally doesn't have the answers that are needed. And it's just, it's really difficult because a tremendous amount of time and energy needs to be spent to get things done. And we're talking about things that might seem trivial, but aren't really to things that are very

14:32obviously and objectively important. And again, that's just no way to live. And I really haven't heard enough Republicans talking about this. In fact, I've heard precious few talk about the fact that it's not just the cost of living, but it's the cost of being here. And those are two different things for me because the cost of being here entails, involves what I just described. And that is just having to fight for everything or having to go back once, twice, three times to get just even the smallest of things done. It's very tiring. And it's just, it's not a way to live one's life. And people are tired. People are fed up. So there's certainly that. People are tired of the lack of political diversity.

15:32This really is the truth. People are not satisfied because of the incompetence and the stupidity, but they're also not happy. They're dissatisfied with government, state government, as well as municipal government and federal government, too. But in the more immediate, state and municipal, they're not satisfied because they are not hearing views that represent who and what they are, that are not representing the set of priorities that they themselves have. Now, while I appreciate that we don't have to have all conservatives in office, for, for example, me to be happy, because at the end of the day, it's about people who are willing to listen, right? And people who are willing to listen, that's not party-affiliated,

16:32and that ability and the willingness to do that is not particular to any part of the political spectrum. I still would like to see different points of view. And there are a couple of democratic politicians, and they cause play, modernity or conservatism. And for me, and a number of others, that doesn't really have the right to be happy and for me, and a number of others, that doesn't really cut it because we need the real thing, and then as it just so happens, these particular politicians don't actually have any deliverables. So it's just, it's adding insult to injury. So I just, I think that at this point,

17:40it's, if a candidate stands up, a candidate has an aura after his or her name, he or she's just going to have to do it on his or her own. And it's a shame because what has been shown, demonstrated on my side of the aisle, is that to run, one just simply needs to have a lot of money. Now, I think that's true in general, or someone who can raise a lot of money. And while I think that that's nothing new, in fact, that's long been a problem, that's plague politics, I think that the situation is particularly acute on my side of the aisle. We have John Deaton. John Deaton has run a crap-tastic campaign thus far.

18:41And it's insulting. He elbowed, there was another candidate that was thinking, another person who was thinking of throwing his hat in the ring, he was effectively elbowed out of the race. And so there's just Deaton. But instead of Deaton, really trying to take advantage of that time to really get into spaces where he needs to be, he's just been on cruise control. And now that Markey is one, it's like, oh, okay, so now the race begins. Well, no, the race began once you made the 15%, you got 15% of the delegate vote, at least 15% of the delegate vote at the Massachusetts Republican Party stake convention.

19:43And then you got at least 10,000 certified signatures. That's when the race began. And so these past few months, Deaton should have been taken advantage of that time. To really make his mark. And so someone might try to argue in his defense that, well, it was a little hard for him to really campaign at full throttle because he didn't know who he was going to be running against. I disagree because he still could have gotten out there and really just campaigned hard. But because he was the only candidate, because again, he elbowed the other candidate out of the race and because the other person out of the race, he just didn't think he had to. And I think there's also the idea that well, because he got 40% lost go around,

20:46he doesn't have to do that much to get to at least 50. He doesn't really have a whole lot to do. And he's done really what he should have been doing and he's where he should be. Well, I strongly disagree. I think that Ed Markey is a force to be reckoned with. I do. He's very much a force to be reckoned with. I hear some people talking about his age. Markey's still very much alert. Well, let's be clear. He's very much alert. And he's going to be tough to be. It's not just about being an office for decades. It's more than that. He's very astute and he's been able to move with the times.

21:52Deet and Scott has worked cut out for him, but I don't see him really acknowledging that. There seems to be this idea on my side of the aisle that if one just stands up and runs, he's got a fighting chance because, oh my gosh, one party rule and, you gotta have something different. You gotta have a little something different. That's lazy. That's very lazy. Because what's the point of decrying the one party rule if one doesn't even have a platform or ideas as to how things could be shaken up? So it's really sad because people do deserve better and more.

22:57And to stress, again, it's not just money that has made a difference, the cost of living, people are dissatisfied with government. And the reason why is because it's incompetent. And the reason why it's incompetent because cronism has replaced training and relevant experience. I personally think Massachusetts has been destroyed. And I can't blame it all on more healing. I'm gonna challenge what some people, some people, enough people want others to think is popular opinion, but I don't think Charlie Baker did a good job. I don't. I think there were a lot of things that he needed to do that he didn't do.

23:59And I think that when he was ready to go, he didn't even really have co-tails. And I've said this before. Were there some things that Charlie Baker did that I really appreciated? Yes. But we're talking about here there as opposed to overall. If Charlie Baker was such a popular governor, if he was the most popular governor or one of them in the United States of America, then Republicans should have taken advantage of that. And Charlie Baker should have used that to build the party. But our numbers have steadily fallen.

25:01And since 2018, I would say that they really started to plummet. The numbers just came out. And the Massachusetts Republican Party state wide is under 8%. So under 8% of registered voters in Massachusetts are Republican. I've shared that statistic. And I, don't know how to explain it in any other way because apparently words aren't getting through to people, but sadly, neither are numbers. I said that the party is dead. It is. If we have under 8% of the electorate,

26:01we're not a viable solution. We are a one party state. And we need to work toward building an infrastructure. We don't have anything. And my part of the Commonwealth, Suffolk County, and I keep on beating this drum, talking about this last week, Suffolk County, Boston, Revere, Winthrop and Chelsea, we're at 4.11%. We don't exist. We have Republicans. We have parts of an infrastructure, but those parts are just on paper. And the people who are chair of this or treasure of that, these are just on paper. And the people who are chair of this or treasure of that,

27:02these people, it's just, these are titles. It's clout. It's status. But when it comes time to actually do something, to move the needle, these people don't do anything. They don't want to do anything. They want to be big fish and a little pond. And so it's not just a matter of building the party, we have to completely reshape the culture. And so a lot of people don't want to admit to that. But that's the fact of the situation. That's where we're at. And it's a shame because we do have some elected officials who are Republican, and they are outstanding people. And they're doing great.

28:02They have a long list of deliverables. They're accessible. And they answer to their constituents. And they offer really meaningful representation. But as I said, we have Republicans. We don't have a party. And if one thinks about the legacy and the history of the Republican Party in Massachusetts, man oh man, it's particularly heartbreaking. It's really heartbreaking to acknowledge just where we're at. We're going to go to a quick break. We're going to talk more about how things have kind of shaken out on my side of the aisle.

29:02And we're going to talk about why we desperately need change and concrete terms. But let's go to that break. Whether you need it to cool off after a workout or warm you up in a hot bath, your tap water is there when you need it. And cleaning the fruits and veggies you like to snack on. Your water utility works hard around the clock to ensure high quality drinking water is there when you need it on demand. To learn about your water's journey from source to tap, contact your local water provider. Visit drinktap.org to learn more. This message is brought to you by the American Waterworks Association. Ever wonder how music streaming apps know what's on your list or how videos streaming apps decide what to show on your feet? It's all about data science. And it's one of the fastest growing industries in the country. Whether you're still deciding your career or looking for a change,

30:04you can join the world of data science. For more info, you can visit go.edc.org forward slash up. On the train or on the bus, you can listen to us wherever you are. 24 step at WBCARadio.org. From music to radio shows, we got it all. Just run down to WBCARadio.org for 24-hour program. Have a good one, y'all. Hello and welcome back to Bostonian Wrap. Again, you're listening to me, the host and producer, Rachel Meiselman. This is airing from WBCALP102.9FM Boston, Boston's community radio station. We started talking about how things turned out, the election results, and unlike the Democratic side,

31:11the other side of the aisle, the results, there were no nail biters. Things turned out, and in one particular case, unfortunately, just as it was expected. So let's talk about some of those results. The governor's race. So, talked about Deaton, who's running for US Senate, the only candidate, so yes, he's now officially the nominee. You have Elizabeth Deon, the only candidate in the race. She's officially the nominee for the Office of Treasurer and Receiver General. You have Mike Walsh, who he's on the ballot.

32:13He got back on the ballot, and very much a technicality. And what I want to say about that is, I appreciate Mike Walsh has some strong support. And I've met some people who are working on his campaign, and I actually found them quite pleasant. But I will say that there are people for them, the fact that he was throwing off the ballot, and he only got back on because of a technicality, that is going to weigh on people. That has weighed on people. And I think it's going to make his path to victory a little bit more complicated and challenging. I'll leave it at that. But he, like Deaton and Deon, he is now officially the Republican nominee

33:16for the Office of Treasurer General. For the governor's race, it is sad, because a lot of effort was put in to hype Mike Monogop and really just pushing him to a strong victory at the convention. And once that was accomplished, that was used as the basis to deny the candidacy to invalidate the candidacy of Brian Schwarzsleeve. And the reason why I think that this role

34:19that the party has chosen to go down is dangerous is because, well, first of all, we're just in franchising voters. We have allowed a small group of people to determine races before they have finished. We are saying that some people, because of their participation at one point, it's worth more, carries greater weight than the actual election itself, which is just sheer lunacy. And it's offensive. And it's so wrong and unethical and dishonest.

35:19There are three parts to the race, and all three parts should have been respected, but they weren't. And so Mike Monogop's candidacy is another example of if you have enough money, you're going to be able to bulldoze your way to victory. And that shouldn't sit right to anybody. It's not Mike Monogop's ideas. It's not his platform, because he doesn't have either. It's his bank account. And the same people who can't figure out who don't understand, who don't know how to reach out and recruit even 10 people in their hometown or where it is that they're living, they're the ones who are getting paid

36:21or getting nods from this kind of practice. I can't imagine being that self-serving and that completely, it's not oblivious. The word is indifferent to the suffering, to the challenges, to the voices of literally hundreds of thousands of people. The bullying that went on. And so, short sleeve, he fell short. He was handily beaten by Monog,

37:21but short sleeve by far and away ran the better campaign. And he was actually out there hustling and grinding and he actually understood that election votes in an election votes have to be earned. They can't be bought. Short sleeve was called a horrible and he's a dumb plan and he's colluding with Healy. He's there just to mess things up. And he was treated to all sorts of other names. Yet when he conceded, he still acted with grace and class and he urged his supporters to support Mike Monog, and he said that the time has come for all of us to come together and work toward defeating Morahili.

38:25And magically, just like that, it was all that was a very classy thing to do, Brian. Oh, wasn't that nice of what short sleeve? Wasn't it a kind thing for him to do? And I wanted to jump in and say something and I said, you know what, I'm not going to say anything. I don't have to, you know, every party that I'm invited to, I don't have to go so to speak. But I did sit there chuckling to myself saying, you know, suddenly he's nice and he's classy and he's kind because you're hearing what you want to hear because you're seeing what you wanted to see because the results came back the way you wanted them to.

39:25It's not a good look. And it's hard, it's going to be hard for the Massachusetts who are a Republican party to argue that we are the party for the common man, for the average man, for the working class, as well as everybody else. I mean, both major political parties should be for everyone at the end of the day. But it's going to be hard. So maybe I should rephrase that. It's going to be hard for us to try to argue that we're here, that we understand the plight of the working man. When we have allowed not one but two Republican candidates for statewide offices to essentially buy their nominations. Pretty sad, pretty disgusting.

40:28I don't need, I don't need someone to look up to, I don't need a hero. I needed a competent, knowledgeable, engaged person who's willing and ready to do the work. I think it's human nature where people feel the need to lie in eyes, someone they need their heroes. But I feel, and I could be wrong, but I feel like we do that a little bit more on my side of the aisle. I feel like the left, particularly the hard left, not that all, not that the Democratic Party in general

41:28is the left and the hard left. Because you do have moderate and conservative voices, unfortunately, that just simply drowned out. But what do I say on the other side of the aisle? I feel it's more causes. Or maybe agendas. Whereas we do causes too. Let's be clear. We do cause this too, but we like our heroes. And it's... If Massachusetts is going to be saved, we ourselves have to do it. And that involves being able to think for ourselves. It involves not allowing ourselves to be manipulated. It allows us to actually know the issues. It allows us to do more than shop at events and being

42:28papped with this candidate or that candidate. It allows us to do something more than look for likes and retweets and shares. We have to do better or not. Because I'm at the stage where it's... I don't know how much longer people can stick their heads in the sand. But the party is dead. We have figures. We have Republicans. We have faces, faces of party, lots of air quotes. But the party... We don't have a viable alternative. We don't.

43:28We have Sean Oliver. And I love Sean. I do. And I'm stunned at the lack of respect that he has caught in. There was a congratulations offered to him for being... becoming officially the Republican nominee for the Office of Lieutenant Governor. This is someone who he was the last candidate to get into the race. Because of course you had Anne Brinzley who served, I believe, but one term as a wailin select woman. She was a select person for, yeah, maybe one term. And she was just thundersly applauded and gettily fetted. And it was just...it was insane. And she didn't really seem to have a whole lot of ideas. And at different points one could have sworn that she actually thought she was running against healy.

44:33More a healy. But still she was like I said, there was this collective pumping of the fist, you know, when she walked into a room and couldn't even make the ballot. After all that, couldn't even make the ballot. And then you add Anne Manning-Martin who has run for a few different offices. But she has served, I believe, during all those various attempts. She has served as a Peabody City Councilor. She's a long time Peabody City Councilor. She made the ballot, but it was only with the signatures that were fraudulently obtained. There was substantial evidence that there were signatures on her nomination papers that were fraudulently obtained. And when of course she was rightly challenged by Sean Oliver and a member, a leader in the Democratic Party.

45:46Well, there was over a thousand signatures that were tossed and so she got bounced off the ballot. And incredibly it was Sean Oliver's fault. It wasn't her fault, it was Sean Oliver's fault. And in fact, there was a lot of talk about how he had colluded with the Democrats. No, he didn't. But Sean had to work for his signatures. He had to go out and do the work. He was the last candidate for this office to get into the race. And he was the only one who made the ballot without issue. There were no cliffhangers, there was no plot twists, there was no nothing. He got on the ballot. I don't understand how people could think that it was fair or how it would have been fair for him to be on the ballot.

46:49And in Manny Martin to also be on the ballot, yet as it turned out over a thousand of her signatures, we're not actually valid. Or not legitimately obtained. That's not fair and that's not right. And just like it's going to be hard for us to argue that we are a viable alternative to the work of man who every day has to wake up and struggle to navigate a myriad of challenges, it's going to be hard for us to continue to claim that we are the party of election integrity. Hello. He deserves a lot more credit. He's just been out there working so hard. And you know, another note about Anne Manning Martin, as a long time counselor,

47:52I really, she could have gotten at least half of her votes, I'm sorry, signatures. Thank you. She could have gotten at least half of her signatures in B buddy. Surely she knew whether Republicans and unenrolled voters were in P buddy. She could have gotten right there. It's just, it's just the lack of effort, overall effort, the lack of coordination, the lack of organization. It just, it doesn't make us look serious. It doesn't make, and it's just for me, when we do have people who stand up, and they don't have it together, it's selfish because what do these people think they're going to accomplish?

48:56Because in addition to then making Republicans after, who run after them, making them have an award that much harder, they also do a disservice to maybe another candidate who could, another person who could have jumped in and could have been a lot more competent or a lot more credible of a candidate. But they jump up, they happen to get, you know, the glory, the attention, the who's ease, the what's ease. And so, you know, there we are, and that's, and that's, we, you know, that's, that's what it is. But I can't accept that. So there's just a lot of things that play, and I think that last point goes back to what I said about Deaton.

49:58If a candidate is, if someone does want to run for an office, he has to really bring it. And if he wants to really clear the race, well, then he's really going to have to be exceptional. Otherwise, he's just sucking up all the oxygen in the room. So we have, we have all these different things that play. I don't like to use hackneyed expressions, but moving pieces, different elements. But once we tie all, everything together, tie everything all up, bring everything together. What it comes down to is just a tremendous stunning lack of organization, quality offerings,

51:00and little reason to hope for change. And this, we can't keep on going on like this, or, or not. I mean, we can, but nothing's going to change. As it stands, we have a situation where, unless a candidate is challenged from the political left, and about, I should say, an elected official. So a Democrat, right? More likely than not. We're talking about a Democrat. So unless there's a challenge and it's going to be from the left, it's not going to be from the right, why would it be from the right? If we had a robust, if we had a party, and if it were robust, there is the possibility

52:08that an elected official would have to fear for a challenge from the right. But because we are non-existent as a party, because the Massachusetts Republican Party has kicked the bucket, has bitten the dust, elected officials, Democrats, they only have to fear a challenge from the left. Doesn't that make sense? How is that really all that difficult to understand? So really, I think the only way things are going to be turned around is if we just have new people. We need a whole new cast of characters. We need to change the culture, as I said before. And then that's really all there is to it, but that's not going to happen overnight.

53:11And I don't know how many more people are going to have to leave before what I'm saying, and maybe would have select a few other people are saying as well, finally, syncs in. And so until then, it's very hard to live in Boston. It's going to remain very hard to live in Massachusetts on the whole. And we're going to have to put up with competence and incompetence and corruption and cronism. I don't know what else to say. And normally I like to live and on a positive note, but this is where we're at. But that's all I have time for. I thank you so much for listening. And as always, I look forward to hanging out with you next week. The preceding commentary does not necessarily reflect the views of the staff and management of WBCA or the Boston neighborhood network.

54:11If you would like to express another opinion, you can address your comments to Boston neighborhood network, 3025 Washington Street, Boston, Massachusetts, 02119. To arrange a time for your own commentary, you can call WBCA at 617-708-3215 or email radio at bnimedia.org.