Progressive Democrats of Cambridge - DFA

In light of recent reports posted at Blue Mass Group, it appears I was wrong all along: Dianne Wilkerson is in fact out of touch, and just doesn't care about her constituents:

For four and a half hours Wilkerson spoke passionately about the people she represents and how they are dying from the environmental pollution in their communities. It was a remarkable speech, where she appealed to her colleagues to represent those people who can't afford lobbyists and have no one to speak for them on the Hill. She said: "we're supposed to be their lobbyist, that's what we're here for."

Speaking out against a sinister and often invisible problem that affects disempowered people disproportionately: check.

Four and a half hours filled with stories about her constituents: check.

A deep belief in fighting for her constituents, motivating a passionate speech delivered into the wee hours of Friday night: check.

Yep, sounds like someone who's deeply out of touch and needs to be unseated right away! A purely lazy and uncaring official! Go get her!

For a while now I've been pointing people who recite the standard "legal and ethical problems" line at this very long piece in Boston magazine which examines each of these problems in turn. Read that piece, and tell me that it's not a bit plausible that she is being subjected to a simple witch hunt.

I'm not saying that we have a clear case of conspiracy here; there's no evidence of that. On the other hand, something short of outright conspiracy can still have devestating impacts. Around Wilkerson, investigator smell blood, and when investigators smell blood, they attack. When someone is in a position of power and has poor personal finances, as Wilkerson does, there's blood in the water. (The whole string of issues appears to have begun in 1991, when Wilkerson did not have enough money to pay her income taxes.) Progressive leaders stretching back to Martin Luther King, Jr. and beyond have experienced just this problem in the past. While I don't necessarily think that anyone is out to "get" her, I do think the cumulative impact of all these investigations is simple: if you lack a lot of personal wealth, and get into power anyway, you're liable to get burned.