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Jurassic Politics
Here on Cape Cod we have two species of politician sometimes referred to in print as RINOS and DINOS. We have the chance to observe these political specimens close to, and get some insight into their habits and characteristics.
RINOS are considered the more common – Republicans In Name Only. We can observe an especially classic specimen, Rep. Shirley Gomes of the 4th Barnstable District which runs from Harwich to Provincetown. Over the years, Rep. Gomes has been a moderate Republican, and has often suffered from the RINO accusation. While Rep. Gomes finds the label infuriating, as she is a good Republican, she does tend to fit the profile. She is socially a liberal, very concerned about the environment, involved in education issues, and conscientious about constituent service. Her Committees in the Legislature reflect her interests and expertise – Health Care, Human Services and Elderly Affairs, Medicaid, Housing and Urban Development, and in previous terms, Counties. Reading over the list, it jumps out that she is covering the issues which are most important to her district, and in doing so she makes a healthy specimen of a RINO. About the only thing that differentiates her votes from those of a Democrat are the ones she takes on fiscal issues. She is a financial conservative, unlike the Democrat with a similar record who hasn’t ever seen a spending program they didn’t like. Rep. Gomes picks one or two financial priorities, like the Children’s Cove program for sexually abused children in Barnstable, and works for State funding for that. She is usually frugal with tax dollars. But, her more liberal voting record on social issues turns off more conservative members of her own party, and she gets little appreciation of her hard work from members of the Democrat party. After ten years of hard work for her district, a single vote on gay marriage has drawn two primary challengers and national targeting as a Representative to be eliminated. It is interesting that another single vote, against the death penalty, which went against her Republican governor and leadership in a vote which was decided by a single vote, was applauded by the same Democrats now seeking to unseat her. This is often the hard fate of RINOS – to be eliminated by Democrats who see only the letter after the name instead of the years of dedicated representation and hard work trying to include their point of view in voting decisions.
DINOS have been very rare until lately, when our sole DINO seemed to have gained a single partner. Democrats In Name Only can be summed up with a person like Rep. Demetrius Atsalis, who since his first campaign six years ago assured people that he was ‘really a Republican’ and was conservative and deserved the support of ‘fellow’ Republicans, especially those at the County level he could bully. His Committee assignments, to Commerce & Labor and Public Safety, also reflect a conservative orientation. Rep. Atsalis’ mantra for the last six years has been that he ‘has the ear of the Speaker’, although it has never been asked of him exactly what he has had to give up in return. In his initial interview regarding the new Speaker, Salvatore DiMasi of Boston’s North End, he referred to the Representative as ‘Sal’, indicating that he intends to continue his self-portrayal as a ‘connected’ legislator. It is unknown if he would ever have dared to refer to the previous Speaker as ‘Tom’. A surprising number of Republicans allow Rep. Atsalis to influence their actions, which may or may not be to the long term benefit of the Republican Party on Cape Cod. Many long time Republicans refuse to endorse his challenger, Barnstable Town Councilor Ann Canedy, based on his DINO assertion. Despite this lack of critical support, Canedy came within about 400 votes of toppling the two-term incumbent in what was deemed an ‘unwinnable’ race. Their rematch will be this November. This DINO may have picked up a supporter, given the repeated and remarkable statements of Democrat Cleon Turner that he doesn’t want to be considered as a Democrat, but just as a person. This is a far cry from the usual assertion that only a Democrat can get anything accomplished in the Legislature, and may well mark concern over the effectiveness of Gov. Romney’s legislative candidate recruiting. However, Turner can be considered only a faux DINO at best, as his obsession with taxation and creation of expensive programs would group him well within the traditional Democrat pack. The question that Mr. Turner should have to answer is how he would vote when the financial interests of Cape Cod clash with those of the North End Boston leadership in both branches, and how he can be an effective Representative if he has to kowtow to those interests. He likes to claim he is a reasoner, a debater and a conciliator, but it’s hard to sweet talk the division of a dollar bill.
The DINO Atsalis generally fares better than the RINO Gomes, in that the Democrat party structure seems to tolerate his flirtation with conservatism better than the local Republican Party seems to accept her concern with human service issues not traditionally part of the GOP roster of concerns.
Politics has always been a jungle, and the principal difference between the two species seems to be one of hypocrisy. The RINO is faulted for voting her conscience, and no amount of hard work can make up for that. The DINO votes slavishly with the leader of his pack, and only pays lip service to his conservative ideals. Be careful which species you choose to feed your vote to this November.