Meehan Eyes Run For Mass. Governor

U.S. Rep. Martin Meehan (D-Lowell) has received accolades for co-sponsoring landmark campaign finance reform legislation, defending President Clinton during the impeachment proceedings and fighting Big Tobacco.

But now Meehan may be setting his sights on a higher goal: the governorship of Massachusetts.

Democratic political analyst Lou DiNitale says Meehan, who was reelected to a fifth term in Congress last week, has the "tactical pieces" needed for a gubernatorial run.

"He's got a base in Middlesex County," says DiNitale, the poll director at UMass-Boston's McCormack Institute of Public Affairs. "He's developed a national profile on a couple of issues so he'd be able to argue that he's done something, that he has issues on which to run. And he can fundraise."

And after a scandal-ridden year, Republican Gov. A. Paul Cellucci's favorable rating has fallen to 35 percent, according to a Nov. 1-2 Boston

Herald/WCVB Ch. 5 poll, making him potentially vulnerable in 2002.

In an interview with The Crimson last week, Meehan said he would consider running for governor over the next several months.

"I'm not sure what I'm going to do in the future," Meehan says. "The governor's race is something I've thought a little about. Over the next four months or so, I'll have the chance to think a little more about it."

A number of other Democrats have said they might challenge Cellucci in 2002, including Senate President Thomas F. Birmingham '72, Secretary of State William Galvin, Treasurer Shannon O'Brien, former Democratic National Committee chair Steve Grossman and former state Sen. Warren Tolman.

In a big pool of candidates, Meehan could emerge on top.

"He's viable to grab 25 points and win the nomination," DiNitale says.

On the downside, he adds, Meehan "doesn't compare" with Birmingham or

Tolman on education, and is "not as knowledgeable" about state government as O'Brien.

"His problem will be establishing his grasp of the statewide issues," DiNitale says. "No one knows what his gubernatorial position would be."

Finance, Frugality and Fairness?

the Shays-Meehan Act, which would ban foreign and soft money contributions, rein in campaign advertisements posing as issue advocacy and increase the disclosure of political expenditures.

The bill passed the House in Sept. 1999 but was been stopped by a filibuster in the Senate.

Meehan says he and others are applying as much pressure as they possibly can to get the bill passed, but says it is unlikely that the Senate will act on it this year.

"[The] Republican leadership is opposed to it," he says. "They like the present system where basically unlimited amounts of money can be funneled to the political parties and candidates through soft money. They like the status quo."

Meehan himself came under fire for maintaining the status quo earlier this year by running for a fifth term, breaking a much-celebrated pledge he made in his initial campaign in 1992 to serve no more than four terms.

He easily defeated his two opponents in September's Democratic primary, however, and now says he made a mistake in making the promise.

"I was mistaken to think somehow that members self-limiting themselves would result in term limits being passed," Meehan says. "The people overwhelmingly think that they should choose, and I think the election results reflect that."

His Congressional experience, he says, became more important than sticking to "what clearly was a mistake to begin with."

"I would be compounding it by following through with the decision I know is wrong and not following through with the interests of my home state," he says.

He points with pride to his work from the past term. He has obtained funding for a reuse plan of the closed Fort Devens army base, passed campaign finance reform in the House, added parts of the Sudbury, Assabet and Concord Rivers to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System and been recognized by the Concord Coalition seven years in a row for fiscal

responsibility.

"I've been a strong advocate of strong fiscal policy," he says. "That type of voting record has helped turn the economy around and put the federal government budget in better order."

In the upcoming term, Meehan says he will work to pay off the national debt by 2012, establish a patients' bill of rights and Medicare prescription drug benefits for seniors--and continue to push his signature issue.

"The truth is there are more members in the Senate and Congress who will support campaign finance reform because of the gains Democrats have made in the House and Senate," he says hopefully.

But while Meehan works on those issues in 2001 and 2002, he might also be running for governor at the same time.

Last month, President Clinton headlined a Meehan fundraiser in Lowell, adding about $140,000 to the $1.7 million in Meehan's campaign account--even though Meehan had no opponent in the general election.

Meehan says that the timing of the event was a result of Clinton following through on a promise to come to Lowell--the first time a sitting president had done so--and adds that the fundraiser was "very popular" with the community.

But he also acknowledges that the money "will be used in a future race."

"If I were to run for governor, I have less money than the other candidates for governor," Meehan says. "If one is going to think about running for higher office, then one had better fundraise."