EDITORIAL: State Democratic Party deciding its future in Galvin/Zakim race

June 06--The biggest headline coming out of the state Democratic convention this weekend was not in the governor or U.S. Senate races but in the often overlooked secretary of state's race.

There, 34-year-old Boston City Councilor Josh Zakim upset six-term Secretary of State William Galvin for the party's endorsement, an astounding rejection for a party member who has served in office for more than 23 years.

Don't count Bill Galvin out yet. The longtime secretary noted that he was not endorsed by the party for state treasurer in 1990 when he later the won primary. And he was not endorsed in 1994 when he went on to win the first of his six terms as secretary of the commonwealth.

Zakim is running against Galvin as a reformer and has pointed to the fact that Galvin is late to come out in favor of same day voter registration and automatic voter registration. The two reforms were long ago adopted by other New England states and would bring many non-regular voters into the system. He has also criticized Galvin for not being a champion of better reforms to the state's public information law, which remains unwieldy and sometimes expensive to use. Zakim suggests digitizing the records and putting them online.

It might be easy to understand why the 67-year-old Galvin, who was close to former House speakers Tom Finneran and Sal DiMasi, might be described as the ultimate protector of those inside the political game. He's been a player in Massachusetts for almost five decades and at one time was labeled the Prince of Darkness for his alleged ability to work the press behind the scenes.

To be fair, Galvin has his own legitimate reform credentials. When he was acting governor in 1998, he filed legislation to force HMOs to divulge details of their costs for providing prescription drug coverage to senior citizens. Later, it was Galvin's office that found 5,000 John Hancock life insurance company policyholders the company claimed it could not locate just as it was transitioning to being a publicly-held company.

Still, the voter access and public records issues raised by Zakim are more than legitimate ones. And they deserve public debates between the two candidates this summer before the September 4 primary election, which Zakim has charged Galvin placed the day after Labor Day to discourage turnout.

In races across the country this year, there is talk of a "blue wave" as women and young people upset by what they see as as President Trump's lack of a moral compass become involved in the political process in numbers not seen at least since President Obama's first presidential campaign in 2008. At the Worcester convention, a full fifth of the delegates were estimated to be party members who had not been involved in the political process before.

Zakim had done his groundwork. Before a convention vote was cast he had secured the endorsement of Congressman Seth Moulton, who himself upset a longtime Democratic incumbent four years ago. Even more importantly, he won the endorsement of Boston Mayor Marty Walsh. Boston, like New Bedford, is a city where same-day and automatic voter registration, would bring many new voters into the system whose voices are currently not being heard.

Before the convention, it was clear that Zakim was going to meet the party's 15 percent threshold for a place on the ballot. But few expected he would actually wrest the endorsement away from Galvin, who points out he has never been the favorite of Democratic activists.

The party is now in for a real summer campaign. Galvin has $2.6 million on hand vs. $500,000 for Zakim but Steve Grossman is helping the latter so he may be competitive, especially in wake of the convention endorsement.

Beyond the electronic media advertising money, however, we hope the race will largely be about some of the reforms Zakim has proposed, as well as the need to bring new blood into the party. In announcing his campaign, Zakim called for "a new era of leadership on Beacon Hill focused on inclusion instead of exclusion." That is the challenge for the Democratic Party as it becomes more a party of women, African-Americans and Latinos, both in Massachusetts and nationally. It is a challenge that Galvin will have to explain -- why his long service on behalf of the party makes him the best vehicle to achieve that inclusion.

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