Columnists :: Pressing The Flesh
Catching up with Jarrett Barrios by Laura Kiritsy
Editor-in-chiefWednesday Aug 20, 2008 It’s been a little over a year since Jarrett Barrios, the first openly gay man to win election to the state Senate, left Beacon Hill to head the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation, the healthcare philanthropy that was a driving force behind the enactment of the state’s landmark health insurance reform law. For those of you wondering what he’s been up to since he left the political stage, we recently did a quick catch-up with Barrios and got the scoop.
For one thing, the man who was a leader on LGBT issues in the legislature has managed to continue that advocacy in his new post by working with BCBSF board chair Phil Johnston to expand the criteria for the administration of the foundation’s grants so that healthcare disparities within the LGBT community can be researched and remedied. "It’s a lot less dramatic than gay marriage," said Barrios, who served a total of nine years in the legislature, first as a state representative and later in the Senate. But he added, "I guess for me, it shows that in every line of work there are still barriers to overcome."
He’s also pleased that in the last year Massachusetts has become the state with highest percentage of health-insured residents. "And that’s due in no small part to health reform, something that I work on every day and am extraordinarily proud of," said Barrios.
"We’ve been able to be a part of that both in researching and providing needed data and models to the state and working with the legislature and the administration - not as lobbyists but as neutral providers of [information]." While such work keeps Barrios in the public policy arena that he so enjoys, it comes with less "hub-bub" than that of an elected member of the legislature.
It also allows him to spend more time with his family, which consists of spouse Doug Hattaway, who most recently served as an advisor on Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, and their sons Javier and Nathaniel. For instance, Barrios said he’s now home for dinner three to four nights a week, a rarity when he was in politics. "I don’t know that my kids always appreciate it because I’m usually the one that cooks," he says with a laugh. "But that’s another story." We know the story - no Fluffernutters! (It’s so hard to resist the Fluff jokes. Maybe someday.)
But - and this is a big ’but’ - Barrios is sitting on a stash of more than $500,000 according to OCPF records ($542,044.21, to be exact). And while he’s moved away from his political base of Cambridge to Boston in the last year, with that much cash still in the coffers, it’s safe to assume Barrios hasn’t completely given up his political ambitions. Though he said he’s pleased to be working to expand access to healthcare for Massachusetts residents at BCBSF, he added, "just as I couldn’t have told you ten years ago that I was going to be running for the legislature, I can’t tell you today if or when I might attempt to re-enter public life to serve. But if there’s an opportunity to serve in a way that makes a real difference in all our lives, including those of us who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, I just might take another shot."
So, could Barrios be a contender for the 2010 Boston mayoral sweepstakes, about which political junkies (and wanna-be mayors) like to fantasize will include someone besides Hizzoner Tom Menino? After all, he did wade in the city’s political waters earlier this year when he took a seat on City Council President Maureen Feeney’s civic summit advisory committee. "I’m supporting Mayor Menino in his re-election," Barrios replied. "That’s my answer for that."
And what if Menino doesn’t seek re-election, or at some other point in the near future decides he no longer wants to be Mayor for Life? "I’m supporting Mayor Menino in his re-election," Barrios repeated.
Sounds to me like we’ll have a gay mayoral candidate when Menino decides to finally take a powder.
Hogan’s a hero in Salem
Kate Hogan is running for state representative in the 3rd Middlesex District, which includes the towns of Bolton, Hudson, Maynard and Stow. So it wasn’t surprising that there weren’t many potential votes at a fundraiser held for her at the Salem home of her good friends Pat Gozemba and Karen Kahn, co-authors of the Massachusetts marriage equality history Courting Equality, on Aug. 17. "Is there anybody here who can really vote for her?" Gozemba asked the crowd of about 30 that gathered in her well-tended garden.
Actually, there was - Hogan, of course, her partner Susan Vick, and Mary McCarthy and Bonnie Winokar, a lesbian couple from Maynard who are active in LGBT and Democratic politics. "Nice party for four votes," McCarthy piped up from her lawn chair.
"We’ll do anything for those four votes," Gozemba replied. "We’re trying to solidify them."
Well - almost anything. "We don’t behave so well," Gozemba confessed later on. "So we won’t go out and knock on doors. But we’ll try to scare up some more money for ya."
Indeed, Kahn, who worked with Hogan in the 1990s at the now-defunct feminist magazine Sojourner, had high praise for her former colleague in introducing her to the crowd. "She cares a tremendous amount about feminist issues [and] the LGBT community. She’s running as an out lesbian in one of the most conservative districts here in Massachusetts," Kahn told her guests. "The other issues that Kate has been really out front about, that I think are really important - she’s a big supporter of public higher education and public education in Massachusetts," Kahn added, drawing a round of applause, "and also she’s a strong environmentalist, an issue a lot of us on the North Shore care about." Kahn also pointed out Hogan’s North Shore roots - she is a native of West Lynn - and noted that many of her family member, several of whom attended the fundraiser, live in nearby Beverly.
Hogan, a vice president for sales and marketing at Gnomon and a longtime Democratic activist, is running in the three-way Democratic primary to succeed state Rep. Pat Walrath, a Stow Democrat who is retiring from the seat she’s held since 1985 at the end of this term. Walrath, a pro-equality lawmaker, has endorsed Hogan’s candidacy.
In her remarks to the crowd, Hogan emphasized her Democratic loyalties thusly: "I was born gay but I was also born a Democrat," she told the crowd to much laughter. "I will die gay and I will die a Democrat."
Though she’s campaigning in a conservative-leaning district, Hogan said she’s not afraid to appeal to potential voters as a Democrat and in turn "people are not afraid to tell me what their worries and concerns are. And they are many," she added, from seniors concerned about heating their homes this winter to middle-class families concerned about college tuition for their kids. She also emphasized her West Lynn lunch-pail Democrat roots, noting that despite her progressive ideals, she understands the need to address fiscal issues in the legislature. "I will do that ... and that’s why I feel like I’m going to be successful in the district because I’m willing to talk about the economics, I’m willing to bring it home to what’s honest and I will never deny who I am and I’ll never deny that I’m at the table and that’s important."
|
|
|
