See You in September (Not)
The news out of June 14ths state Democratic convention that two of the contenders in the gubernatorial race did not make the ballot overshadowed the lone candidate for lieutenant governor who won’t make it to the primary election on September 9.
First some full disclosure. This past winter and spring I served as western Massachusetts campaign director for James Arena-DeRosa, running his electoral operation in Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden and Hampshire counties. I’d known James for 30 years and having worked with him in former Secretary of State Mike Connolly’s office in our youth, I knew he was the most qualified candidate for LG.
Running statewide is a daunting task for any first-time candidate and James had entered the race very late because he did not want to leave his post at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food & Nutrition Service last fall during the shutdown of the federal government.
As someone who has spent a career working on the issues of food and agriculture, James’ core message of “ending hunger while creating jobs” was music to my ears. Many who said his candidacy was narrowly focused on a single issue failed to digest his Renewed Deal white papers because they contained more policy protein than any of his other three opponents combined.
On a sub-freezing day in February, Arena-DeRosa trekked out to Ashfield to tour a sawmill and learn about the challenges facing the forest and wood products industry and also the opportunities around Combined Heat and Power biomass. He was the only statewide candidate to attend Agriculture Day at the State House and talk about expanding farm-to-school programs and getting Bay State-made food and beverages into the stores at the Massachusetts Turnpike service plazas and at Logan airport’s terminals. In April, he went to the White Farm in tiny Hawley to shine the spotlight on some idiotic nutrient management regulations that state bureaucrats had concocted without consulting the experts at UMass Extension that threatened to put struggling dairy farmers like Tedd White out of business with huge fines if they spread manure in the wrong month of the year.
So you would think that farmers, locavores, nutritionists and other foodies would have embraced Arena-DeRosa’s bid and stepped up to help him win the Democratic nomination. After all, at USDA he had gotten Secretary Vilsack to put Crasins on the menu of the school breakfast program helping our cranberry growers and had overseen SNAP and WIC funds to people battered by the great recession that began in 2008. Conservatives and moderates should have hailed him as the guy who forced Gov. Patrick to crack down on EBT card fraud. Well you would be wrong.
It is exceedingly rare in an urban state like this for a candidate to feature food security and helping farmers as the centerpiece of their campaign. I know because I worked for the only full-time farmer in the Legislature back in the late 80s and early 90s and it took 22 years to elect the next one.
As Arena-DeRosa sought support and aid from food bank directors, Buy Local promoters, Ocean Spray executives and school food service managers, he was given the cold shoulder. During his stint at Oxfam America he created a public advocacy program as his legacy to develop and hone the organization’s strategy at influencing public policy and in a cruel irony, he watched as too many potential allies on hunger, sustainable agriculture and the state’s food and farm network failed to engage electorally on his behalf.
These advocates and activists often like to complain about their legislative and issue agendas not being advanced on Beacon Hill but when given a chance to put a champion of theirs into the suites at the corner office they blanche at running for delegate, hosting a meet and greet or making a campaign donation.
So now as front runner Steve Kerrigan, Mike Lake and Leland (Please Don’t Notice I was Once a Republican State Legislative Nominee in Virginia) Cheung hit the summer circuit of parades, steak roasts and senior center luncheons, Arena- DeRosa who Boston Magazine pundit David Bernstein called “an interesting activist who we won’t get to learn more about for now,” won’t be joining them on their quest to be the next Mr. Second Banana.