SOUTH END NEWS: State Senator, challenger meet in more ways than one

By Ben Berzai | June 12, 2008

It started and ended with a handshake and remained, as moderator and Democratic Ward 4 co-chair Elizabeth Corcoran-Hunt remarked, "collegial." Perhaps a little too collegial.

The two Democratic contestants for the Second Suffolk Senate seat came to United South End Settlements’ Harriet Tubman House on June 10 to discuss the issues at a meeting of around 40 Ward 4 Democrats. Eight-term incumbent Senator Dianne Wilkerson and second-time challenger Sonia Chang-Diaz spoke about issues for the first time in the same room since the Democratic Senatorial primary in 2006. Wilkerson edged Chang-Diaz by five percentage points in that election, then breezed past her Republican challenger to victory that November.

But this event was neither a debate in structure - candidates did not address each other and only answered questions from the moderator for the audience - nor was it a "debate" in the ideological sense of the word. The candidates sat at an arm’s length from each other at the same table - about as far physically from each other as they were philosophically. Whether answering questions about health care, crime, the Pine Street Inn’s proposed permanent housing on Upton Street, or affordable housing, the two candidates’ similarities greatly exceeded their differences.

While Wilkerson answered a question about Massachusetts health care reform, saying that some of the rising costs must be paid by employers, Chang-Diaz nodded in agreement. On other questions, the roles were reversed, Wilkerson nodding at Chang-Diaz’s points. More frequently than not, the candidates built their responses around their opponent’s answer to the same question, adding or subtracting their ideas, or refocusing the answer into more personal terms, but rarely differing on the gist of the ideas as a whole.

What is clear is this: Both candidates are self-professed "progressives." Both are assuming the same roles they did in the 2006 primary - Wilkerson is still the long-time incumbent and Chang-Diaz remains the upstart, albeit now more seasoned, challenger. Both believe Barrack Obama will win the presidency this fall, and both identify closely with Governor Deval Patrick, though both disagreed with his casino legislation, saying that while they disagree with the legislation for economic reasons, the morality of what having casinos does to poor people in this "diverse district" ought to be considered. Both agree that the $1.6 billion state deficit needs to be made up, and neither is naïve about how that has to happen - taxes.

The Democratic primary is set for Sept. 16, and Ward 4 Democratic committee will make an endorsement committee by early-to-mid July.

In the meantime, with no Republican challenger on the scene, a few guarantees about your next State Senator can be made: The winner will be a woman, a minority, and she will be a progressive Democrat whose toughest race will be won against another progressive Democrat.

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