The “Fearsome Foursome” have spoken. The four women running for the 8th Essex District representative seat banded together and sent a letter authored by candidate Polly Titcomb, attacking male candidate Tristan Smith for offering high-level endorsements in favor of his election. The tone of the letter and the op-eds that followed are a stretch of ethics. These four female candidates have targeted Tristan with the complaint that he is promoted by “friends of his father’s”, all male and all of a certain generation.
I am a feminist if that means that all genders should have equal opportunity. I am a feminist if that means that women should have equity in jobs, housing, and health care and freedom of expression and education. I am a feminist if that means that girls and boys, every girl and boy in America, can believe in an open and successful future. I am not a feminist when the concept of fairness becomes shrill and seems desperate.
What irony that Jenny Armini and Diann Slavit Baylis. Terri Tauro and Polly Titcomb finding problematic the titans of Massachusetts Democratic history acknoweldging the strength, dedication and potential of Tristan Smith. We all can learn from Congressman John Tierney, who offered the best constituent services anywhere, ever. We can honor Congressman Barney Frank for the struggle he embodied to be openly gay at a time when society and the legislature were hostile. We applaud U.S. Sen. Ed Markey for his bold and fervent leadership around the environment and jobs. We are grateful to former state senator and Lynn mayor Tom McGee in understanding the plight of the lower-income residents and the unheralded need for safe, sound and reliable transportation.
Do you remember that Markey was Tristan’s age when he first was elected to Congress? Look at that courageous and selfless career and the impact it has had on the quality of life in our
Commonwealth. Would the “fearsome Foursome” be as outraged if say, Sen. Elizabeth bet Warren or Evelyn Murphy or House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had been among the recognizable names?
Tristan Smith is a recent law school graduate. He has known his supporters most of his life. He is born and educated in the 8th district. He has ample experience with community roots on the North Shore. He views the office of state representative not as a stepping stone but as a vehicle to make a change. He is polite, reliable, willing to listen and eager to learn.
I am voting for Tristan Smith with full confidence and enthusiasm. He is the whole package: above all, he has the needs and concerns of each of us in mind and in the heart. – Ina Resnikoff, Orchard Circle, Swampscott
