The Bay State Banner goes out on the hustings with the four candidates running for the Democratic nomination for the 2nd Suffolk state-senate seat: State reps Nika Elugardo and Liz Miranda, minister Miniard Culpepper and former state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson.
State Rep. Liz Miranda of Roxbury announced today she's running for the 2nd Suffolk State Senate seat that Sonia Chang-Diaz will leave next year as she runs for governor. Read more.
State Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz announced this morning she's running for governor in next year's elections. Read more.
The Chelsea Record reports Chelsea City Councilor Damali Vidot has turned in papers to run against state Rep. Dan Ryan in the September Democratic primary for the 2nd Suffolk district, which covers Charlestown and most of Chelsea.
State Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz says she's so disgusted with both sides of the Question 2 issue she doesn't want her answer to be used by either of them to bolster their case.
"I have real beefs with the way the campaigns have been carried out," she said tt a candidate forum sponsored by the Ward 11 and 19 Democratic ward committees in Jamaica Plain last night. Read more.
David Bernstein alerts us that David James Wyatt, who ran for mayor last year on a platform of saying virtually nothing, has collected enough signatures to get on the ballot against state Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz in the 2nd Suffolk district this fall.
In a mayoral debate last year, Wyatt said he is a pro-life Republican.
The South End News reports on a debate between one-term incumbent state Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz and Democratic challenger Hassan Williams.
Latest results, also show Obama winning Boston, Question 1 losing in the city, Question 2 winning, Question 3 winning, but not by much.
Ann Withorn is a professor of social policy and welfare rights at UMass-Boston. She writes how, as a long-time supporter and fan of Dianne Wilkerson, she now feels like an enabler, but adds:
I don't know if it is addiction, depression, or the effects of past trauma that kept our brave beautiful Dianne from asking for help. She will have to face the consequences. But she should not face them alone. We in the Massachusetts Left and the multi-racial progressive movements who knew her (and used her) in the struggles cannot abandon her and pile on as if we couldn't see it coming. She needs help, probably treatment and certainly lots of love - because of the mess she is in, not in spite of it.
And we need to pay more attention to our comrades, to warn them away from their own demons, to pitch in and not wait for the train to go off the track. Let's all learn from this.
She promises another announcement on Nov. 5 about her position as a state senator. Her term runs out in January.
The Globe reports she made the statement after a meeting with black clergymen, a number of whom called on her to resign yesterday.
From Boston.com: The state Senate passed a unanimous resolution this afternoon asking Democratic Senator Dianne Wilkerson to resign immediately.
(And yet they've let Jim Marzilli keep his seat until his term expires in December.)
Will make U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan, who brought the charges against her, an issue, the Globe reports.
Boston Daily gets ahold of Councilor Turner, who tells the media to look up what Jesus said about juries or something and leave poor Wilkerson alone, judge not and all that. He also says he wouldn't support Sonia Chang-Diaz because she lives in a white neighborhood:
She's not part of our district.
Now what about Rep. Byron "Z" Rushing?
And will city councilors Charles Yancey, Sam Yoon, Stephen Murphy, and John Connolly do likewise? You may recall they made a point of not endorsing anybody in the 2nd Suffolk state-senate race after their horse lost by a nose in September. Now that said horse has made them look like, at best, tools, you think they might make the best of a bad situation and endorse their fellow Democrat?
I wonder if Sandy Tennant wants his money back? According to state campaign records, on Oct. 15, the Republican fundraiser and former executive director of the Massachusetts Republican Party donated $500 to Wilkerson. His wife, Cynthia, donated another $303.
On federal corruption charges, PolitickerMA reports.
The Globe reports the federal government alleges Wilkerson was caught on tape taking bribes.
UPDATE: Read the FBI affidavit. Or take a look at photos allegedly showing Wilkerson putting cash in her bra (including the one above - the entire collection is a 1.2M PDF file).
Innocent, etc.
The Phoenix reports on two more issues involving Wilkerson:
One involves a questionable personal loan from a powerful developer who has dealings with the State Senate, and the other involves, yet again, failure to file tax returns, this time for a nonprofit she has run.
Dianne Wilkerson's campaign Web site is now www.diannedelivers08.com instead of www.diannedelivers2008.com, so don't even think of going to the latter, especially since the campaign simply pulled the plug on it, rather than doing anything so radical and risky as redirecting people who click there to the new site.
On Monday, the Herald reported the old site still listed endorsements from pols who no longer back Wilkerson, now that she's no longer the Democratic nominee for the 2nd Suffolk State Senate seat. The new site lost the endorsement list, along with the "20" in the URL.
Via PolitickerMA.
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