Speakers' Corner

It's a bad sign when you want the Speaker of the House to keep his mouth closed. We've spent the better part of the 104th Congress hoping that Newt Gingrich would zip it, and his reckless comments have resulted in his being considered merely laughable even when he occasionally says something rational..

Once you've said, "Males are biologically driven to go out and hunt giraffes," there's really no going back. But Gingrich is a known commodity. Here in Massachusetts, we also have a Speaker in need of some quiet time.

Tom Finneran (D-Mattapan) burst into the spotlight earlier this summer after almost two-thirds of teacher candidates in Massachusetts failed a newly-imposed state certification exam. The results were staggeringly disappointing, to be sure, but the Speaker chose hyperbole over reasoned dismay, proclaiming the test takers "idiots" and their college diplomas worth the same as "a dirty Kleenex lying in the gutter." His comments set the tone for what continues to be an acrimonious and uninformed debate on the need for improvement in our schools.

That debate took a turn for the better during the run-up to the Democratic gubernatorial primary, in which all three candidates--Brian Donnelly, L. Scott Harshbarger '64 and particularly Patricia McGovern--shared reasonable and intelligent thoughts on education reform. Harshbarger won the primary easily and--for a few moments last Tuesday night--looked poised to challenge Acting Governor A. Paul Cellucci's weakened position in the corner office.

But Speaker Finneran spoke up yet again, this time replacing hyperbole with that old Ciceronian stand-by, alliteration. The morning after the primary, at a Democratic "unity breakfast," he refused to endorse Harshbarger, voicing concerns about the candidate's liberal policies.

He said, "The question is, is the Democratic Party going to lurch to the left? The proof is in the pudding. We win when we stay in the middle and when we stay sane...If you go loony left, you lose."

The irony of his comment was two-fold: first, a Democratic Speaker in a largely Democratic state should not be worried about a liberal agenda, and second, Scott Harshbarger is hardly a radical liberal dragging the party over a cliff. He favors an increase in education spending, but given the immense budget surplus we've enjoyed this year, his plan is not too far-fetched. Finneran, on the other hand, is almost Republican in his fiscal policies. Most notably, in July he quashed a bill which would have raised the minimum wage by 90 cents an hour. The bill had Democratic support, and even Cellucci had reluctantly agreed to sign it.

Finneran's disturbing comments may reflect less the real concerns of a party leader and more the personal worries of someone whose power would be severely diminished should a Democrat become governor. Several years ago, in a contest against a liberal Democrat who had a plurality of Democratic votes, the Speaker gained his position by promising a small group of Republicans to be sympathetic to their needs if they would vote him into the speaker's chair.

As it stands now, Finneran controls the House and has the ear of Cellucci, who needs the Speaker's help to push through major policy changes. Should Harshbarger take office, he would not need Finneran to help him communicate with Democratic legislators.

Thus, as the Speaker coyly hints at endorsing Cellucci, the weeks leading up to the Nov. 3 election will perhaps center most on the person not even running for the office: Finneran. Whatever will he say next?

Policies and power aside, the unerringly controversial and unconsidered commentary of our Democratic state Speaker reminds me a little too much of the antics of the Republican Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. Both men are more enamored of neat rhetoric than they are of reasoned statements or even sensible ones. Who could forget Gingrich's famous speech at the 1996 Republican convention on beach volleyball: "A mere 40 years ago, beach volleyball was just beginning. Now it is not only a sport in the Olympics. There are over 30 countries that have a competition internationally....And there's a whole new world of opportunity opening up that didn't even exist....And that's what freedom is all about."

Even amidst the troubles of President Clinton and the saturation of the airwaves with talk of impeachment and resignation, comments by political leaders on serious issues facing our nation and state can and should resonate with voters, not just with those who of us who collect humorous quotations.

For that reason, both in Washington and on Beacon Hill, the House Speakers have a responsibility to constituents to be voices of reason and thoughtfulness. I wish Mr. Finneran would stop taking his cues from Mr. Gingrich and put more care into his comments. The state would certainly benefit from a Speaker who didn't talk so much.

Susannah B. Tobin '00 is a classics concentrator in Lowell House. Her column will appear on alternate Thursday.