Hubster interview: Mary Berninger

The second of four interviews with candidates vying for East Boston's open House of Representatives seat is with Mary Berninger. The 51-year-old mother of three has been active for many years on a wide range of community issues.

Berninger and I spoke Monday at her home, interrupted a couple of times by jets whose flight patterns took them right over our heads. Click on the headline above or on "comments" below to see the entire interview, which I recorded and transcribed in whole.

Interviews with all four Democratic candidates will be completed by the end of this week; however, it will take me a several days to transcribe each one, so please be patient.

The Leone family speaks

After receiving requests from readers on this blog and an email from Frank Leone, I went to see him, his wife Patty and her 85-year-old mother Mary today at their home on Wordsworth Street to allow them to offer their side of the story regarding their attempt at building an addition to their home a few years ago.

I feel that it is only fair to give them space here after posting state rep candidate Jeff Drago's version of the events in an interview I did with him that was posted nearly a week ago. You can find Mr. Leone's written statement describing the events if you click "Comments" below or the headline above. Their description of the way things unfolded is disturbing, including a city hearing in which they were not allowed to speak and a total of $26,000 lost.

Frank's mother-in-law Mary spends part of the year with a daughter in Florida, but when she is here in East Boston with her daughter Patty's family, Mary has to sleep in a crowded, partitioned room with her 16-year-old grandson. (See photo above.)

Light! Camera! Eastie!

The Hollywood pic Bachelor No. 2 was filming at East Boston High School yesterday. In the morning I saw signs just outside Day Square that read "CREW" and "SET," pointing people to where they were supposed to go. I'm not sure if there's more filming to be done in the neighborhood today or in the future.

The Boston Herald reports that Kate Hudson was here yesterday (see photo) as part of the film. The actress was reportedly under "heavy security" because her ex-boyfriend, Owen Wilson, attempted suicide over the weekend.

ICE storm

Federal agents and state law enforcement personnel raided a number of addresses today in several communities, including East Boston, looking for gang members with outstanding warrants.

Boston.com reports that "a multijurisdictional task force that includes local police; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; the Middlesex Sheriffs Department; and police from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority" joined agents from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency looking for members of MS-13, a street gang with an increasing presence in Greater Boston, including Eastie.

The police had a list with 50 photos and names on it, but the story has no information about arrests. A more detailed story appeared in the Globe on Wednesday morning.

The witch -- OK, one of them -- is dead

Looks like Alberto Gonzales, our embarrassing excuse for an attorney general, is finally taking the hints -- OK, demands from Democratic and Republican legislators alike -- and beating a path out the back door. Good riddance.

The New York Times is reporting that Gonzales called President Bush, his old pal from Texas, on Friday to tell the Decider that he was done. This comes not long after Karl Rove, the deputy chief of staff and architect of Bush's political strategy, announced that he is leaving at the end of this month. That leaves the sneering, Vader-like Dick Cheney as the last of Bush's high-ranking inner circle, and it'd take an act of impeachment -- or the concentrated power of the Force -- to unseat the Evil One.

Gonzales had no supporters left on Capitol Hill after repeatedly lying in testimony before Congressional committees on both his role in the illegal wiretapping program and in the firing of nine US attorneys for political reasons. He also paved the way for American violations of the Geneva Conventions when, as chief White House counsel, he opined that torturing detainees sounded like a good -- and legal -- idea. Seriously, did he get his law degree via mail order?

My guess as to Bush's appointment to fill the AG's spot: crazed gun advocate and right-wing rocker Ted Nugent.

The Hubster Forum: Week #5

Though I am in the process of interviewing each of the Democratic candidates for the open state rep seat, the weekly questions still give the four hopefuls a chance to air their views in detail on specific policy areas. It also gives the constituents, me included, a way to highlight our concerns and offer our points of view on issues. This weeks topics:

With the Supreme Court firmly in the hands of conservatives, it's not unrealistic to imagine that Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that legalized abortion is the US, could be overturned soon. That would not make abortion illegal, but rather it would leave the decision to individual states. Are you pro-choice or anti-abortion? How would you cast your vote in the legislature on this delicate and divisive issue?

Another polarizing issue nationally is same-sex marriage. Massachusetts is the only state that allows same-sex couples to marry. Do you believe that this is sound policy or not? Would you vote to repeal same-sex marriage or keep it as is? Would you be in favor of letting the voters decide the issue via ballot question? Would you allow out-of-state gay couples to marry in Massachusetts?

A pair of aces

In the City Weekly section of today's Boston Globe there are a pair of stories that highlight East Boston's past and it's future. First there is a look back at Rosa DePasquale, who died in June at 83 after running Tony's Restaurant on Sumner Street by herself for 30 years.

When I was 17 years old I worked at Festa Liquors, on the corner of Cottage and Sumner, and I had dinner at Tony's a couple of times. There were no menus. Customers ate whatever she was cooking and drank from large jugs of red table wine (which we delivered from the liquor store). As the story says, Rosa -- above in a photo from Boston Magazine -- was "hostess, waitress, cook, bus person, and dishwasher." The walls were covered with pieces of neckties that her husband Tony -- who died in 1977 -- had cut from guys, many of them celebrities and politicians, who couldn't finish their meals.

The other story is about Ariana Nunes, a 17-year-old incoming senior at East Boston High School, who volunteered at a community center in Brazil over the summer. Nunes is now an excellent student, though she struggled a few years ago when she was "under the influence of the people around me." Nunes now has big hopes for her future. Too many teenagers never have that "a ha!" moment.

Hubster interview: Jeff Drago

The first of our interviews with candidates vying for East Boston's open House of Representatives seat is with Jeff Drago. The 28-year-old has spent a number of years working as an aide to Boston's mayor, Thomas Menino.

Drago and I spoke at his headquarters yesterday. I asked him about a pair of incidents that have been mentioned on this blog, as well as his viewpoint on a number of issues. Click on the headline above or on "comments" below to see the entire interview, which I recorded and transcribed in whole.

Two of the other candidates have already scheduled interviews with me next week. I will do the best I can to get those up, but I am not the fastest of typists and, also, I do at times have other obligations.

Candidate interviews

I interviewed Jeff Drago, one of the four Democratic contenders for East Boston's open House seat, today, and the transcript of that interview will be published on this blog as soon as I can finish typing it. (This may take a couple of days.) Drago talked about the issues in the race, as well as a pair of incidents that have been referred to in many comments at this site.

Each of the other candidates is extended the same offer: an interview of about 15 minutes with my digital recorder on and no conditions on the questions. I make no judgment about who takes part and who doesn't, and -- as I frequently point out -- I have never appointed myself as moderator or arbiter of this campaign. As has been the case with The Hubster Forum questions or the idea of a debate, I am happy to assist in a discussion of the issues in any way I can.

Courting the different constituencies

Today's Boston Globe has a front-page story on East Boston's open state rep seat, focusing on the ethnic backgrounds of the candidates and how that translates into votes in a community with a growing Spanish-speaking population.

Gloribell Mota has been trying to break out of "the Latina candidate" label, and strikes that chord again, saying, "I'm not here to represent one section or another." The article notes that Carlo Basile and Jeff Drago are actively courting the Latino vote, while paraphrasing Mary Berninger's position like this: "immigrants should learn English and get more involved in neighborhood causes."

The piece also points out the neighborhood's history of voting "for the candidate whose last name ends in a vowel," as well as how far some coffee and donuts can go at a gathering of senior citizens. As anyone who has been at a polling place on election day for any length of time knows, the turnout in the morning and afternoon is mostly elderly women. Courting them with charm is a campaign necessity.

Woman assaulted

A woman told police that she was raped yesterday on the way home to Bennington Street from her job at Logan Airport, the Globe reports. It happened "after a man flashed a knife about 12:30 a.m. in an alley or walkway" as she walked home.

The article notes that there have been a dozen rapes or attempted rapes in East Boston so far this year, which is down 33% from last year. In another story in today's paper, the police commissioner, Edward Davis, announced that there would be more foot patrols in a number of city neighborhoods, including Eastie.

I know that the Logan Employee Transportation Management Association began an early morning shuttle this summer, which picks up employees between 3:00 and 5:30 at eight stops in the neighborhood and drops them at the four airport terminals for $1 a ride. I wonder if it'd make sense to do the same for employees returning home after dark?

Bushwacked beyond belief

Just before the South Carolina Republican primary in 2000, John McCain and George W. Bush were being interviewed by Larry King on CNN. McCain had won a 19-point victory over Bush in the New Hampshire primary the week before and if the Arizona senator could take South Carolina, the race would likely be over. Not so fast. Bush’s people, led by Karl Rove, unleashed viscous attacks on McCain, with phone calls, flyers, leaks to the media and other “whisper campaign” tactics that said that the Vietnam War hero, who spent more than five years in captivity in Hanoi, was a traitor who gave information to his captors and was a spy for the Soviets, that his time as a POW had broken him psychologically, that he was gay, that his wife was a drug addict and that he fathered a mixed-race child out of wedlock.

When McCain brought up Bush’s dirty campaign in the Larry King interview, Bush responded that he had nothing to do with it and that he didn’t appreciate McCain impugning his character. Then came the moment when, I believe, McCain lost the election. He should have, at that instant, fired back with fury in defense of his reputation and in the face of Bush’s lies. (People like that. Remember Ronald Reagan saying, "I paid for that microphone," at one of the debates.) Instead, McCain laughed nervously, allowing Bush to appear to be the candidate sticking up for his good name. Soon after, McCain lost South Carolina and his race was over.

I was thinking of McCain because he was on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart last week. It was his tenth appearance on the program and, just like the other times I’ve seen him on there, he was funny and straightforward, clearly not reading from talking points, not on guard to avoid saying something he’d regret. I don’t agree with McCain on most issues, especially the invasion of Iraq. However, he does seem to be more honest than most politicians, speaking more from his gut. Personally, he seems like a good guy, and when reading the story of his military service you can’t help but see that he is a hero. You also can’t help but feel disillusioned by the fact that the Republicans nominated Bush instead of him, and that the Administration failed to listen to him on the issue of torture, which he knows about first hand.

A US Navy pilot, McCain was almost killed in the summer of 1967 when an accidentally-fired rocket hit the fighter plane he was preparing to launch from the deck of an aircraft carrier. McCain jumped off the aircraft onto the burning deck of the ship seconds before ordnance on the plane exploded, killing 132. Three months later, McCain was shot down over enemy territory, breaking both arms and a leg. An angry mob then crowded around, kicking him and spitting on him.

At the infamous “Hanoi Hilton” prison McCain was interrogated, beaten and tortured daily, but when it was discovered that his father was the admiral in charge of all American military personnel in Vietnam, McCain was offered the chance to be released. He refused special treatment, telling his captors that he would not go unless every man taken prisoner before him was set free as well. Instead of being held for months, McCain was a POW for more than five years. As a result of his torture he cannot lift his arms over his head. He was finally released in 1973 (see photo of President Nixon greeting McCain as he returned to the US) and retired from the military in 1981, having received a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, the Legion of Merit, the Purple Heart and a Distinguished Flying Cross.

Where was George W. Bush while McCain refused preferential treatment and was tortured instead? He was receiving preferential treatment in the Texas Air National Guard, forgetting to show up and getting soused instead. It’s a travesty, made all the more depressing by Bush’s enthusiasm for heading blindly into war in Iraq and then compiled by his supporters twisting and ridiculing the military record of another war hero, John Kerry -- a guy who was not drafted but signed up out of a sense of duty, served nobly and then came back and spoke honestly, publicly and intelligently about the American effort in Vietnam.

And, by the way, that mixed-race child that South Carolina voters were warned about? It's a girl that McCain and his wife adopted from an orphanage in Bangladesh that was founded by Mother Theresa.

Boys of summer

No matter what happens today, Michael Rando and his Walpole teammates will always have the memory of a spectacular catch and an exciting win Friday, the opening day of the Little League World Series. After "the catch" saved their 3-2 win over Hamilton, Ohio, the squad representing New England lost 1-0 yesterday to Lake Oswego, Oregon. Today, at 6 p.m., Walpole faces a do-or-die situation when they square off against a team from Georgia. [The game has been postponed to tomorrow because of rain.]

I take a bit more interest in the LLWS now because I was at the 2005 edition, covering the team from Westbrook, Maine, as a sports reporter for that community's weekly newspaper, the American Journal. Me, another reporter and a photographer hastily made plans to head down to central Pennsylvania from southern Maine in the aftermath of Westbrook's improbable come-from-behind wins at the state and regional tournaments, which the other reporter had been covering.

It was a long ride, but we found the Williamsport area relatively uncrowded and the Little League facilities were quite nice, with free admission for fans and modestly priced food and souvenirs. Of course, as part of the working media, I never paid to attend sporting events. In fact, the media room had complimentary sandwiches for lunch and hot food for dinner. Pretty sweet.

Westbrook went 1-2, and headed home after the "pool play" round. We beat them back to Maine, ready to capture the heroes' welcome they received, and we had some excellent stories and photos in that week's paper, as well as a special section the following week. It was a fun story to cover, and we were able to go above and beyond what the Portland daily did -- a testament to what community weeklies can and should do for their readers.

The Hubster Forum: Week #4

What is your opinion of the current business climate in Massachusetts, and -- if you feel that it is lacking in some way -- what kind of changes would you advocate making? Are there any steps the state should take to help out small businesses? The Commonwealth's unemployment rate is currently 5.1%, which is a half-point above the national rate. What can be done to create more jobs or to better prepare those out of work for the types of jobs that are available?

Sticking to the rule of law in a dangerous world

Jose Padilla is not a very nice guy. As a juvenile, he once participated in the killing of another gang member by kicking the guy in the head. Still, his arrest, detention and trial on terrorism charges concern me.

Even before the verdict was rendered by a federal jury two days ago, Padilla -- an American citizen arrested on American soil -- clearly had his Sixth ("speedy trial") and Eighth ("cruel and unusual punishment") Amendment rights violated. He was held for more than three years as an "enemy combatant" before being transfered to the civilian court system, and during his stay in the military brig he was tortured.

The trial rested on an application to train at an insurgent camp that Padilla allegedly filled out. The jury deliberated less than two days, and Padilla will likely get life when a sentence is handed down. I'm not saying that this guy isn't dangerous. He may have met with actual terrorists, and he may have been in the process of planning some violent acts. What I'm saying is that there is a process here in the United States, and that the rule of law has to carry the day every day or we risk becoming more like the enemy whose ways we claim to abhor.