Lou

State Rep Sally Kerans was elected as State Representative for 13th Essex District. Sally ran unopposed but Michael Bean of Danvers ran as a write in candidate.

Senator Joan Lovely was reelected as State senator for the 2nd Essex District. Senator Lovely was opposed by Damian Anketell. Senator Lovell received 67.6 % of the vote.

Democrat Andrea Campbell has been elected as Massachusetts Attorney General, NBC News projects, making her the first Black woman to serve as the state’s top law enforcement officer.

She defeated GOP candidate Jay McMahon, who was seeking to become the first Republican elected to the post since the 1960s.

During the campaign, Campbell promised a focus on equity while McMahon vowed to target crime and corruption.

Speaking to an audience of supporters at an election night party in Boston on Tuesday, Campbell called it a “history-making night” for Democrats.

[This is] the first time you have elected a woman of color and a Black woman to serve as attorney general in Massachusetts,” Campbell said. “We don’t just say representation matters, we are showing it, and that history and responsibility is not lost on me.”

Campbell declared herself the winner less than an hour before the AP announced its projection that she would defeat McMahon late Tuesday night. Her speech was briefly interrupted by a wave of cheers that rang out from the back of the room to the balconies.

“I will come to work every day with joy, hope, possibility, integrity, and accountability to you the people,” she said. “I look forward to getting to work for a more fair and just Commonwealth.”

DDTC members stand on Sat. Oct. 22 from 8:30 to 11:30 at Town Hall celebrating the first day of early voting with State Rep Sally Kerans and State Senator Joan Lovely.

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol issued a subpoena to former President Donald Trump on Friday, compelling his testimony and relevant documents.

The committee took the major and unexpected step of voting to subpoena Trump during its hearing last week. The subpoena sets up a timeline for the president to provide relevant documents to the committee, by Nov. 4, and to testify before the committee, by Nov. 14.

Among the documents that Trump must provide are his calls and messages from Jan. 6, 2021, any contact with members of Congress related to the election between Dec. 18 and Jan. 6, 2021, photos and video recordings taken during the events of Jan. 6, communication referencing extremist groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers and any communication between Nov. 3 and Jan. 20 with a list of individuals including Steve Bannon, Roger Stone and John Eastman, among other documents.

On Monday Oct. 10, the DDTC and other neighboring Democrat Committee members held a major visibility event on Route 1 North at the CVS/Stop and Shop Plaza supporting the all state and local Democratic candidates.  

There was a good turnout and a lot of positive feedback from route one drivers.

Everyone got there on time except one person who created the notice for the event on this website and showed up promptly at 12:00 PM as everyone was getting ready to go home.

Candidates for Massachusetts governor Geoff Diehl and Maura Healey participated in the first televised debate between between the current attorney general and former state representative.

There was a lot of back and forth during the debate, which was held by NBC10 Boston, NECN and Telemundo Boston, on issues that have been making a lot of headlines lately, including immigration and climate change.

One of those issues was abortion.

“I appreciated that the Supreme Court overturning of Roe v. Wade with the Dobbs decision because I always felt, like Ruth Bader Ginsberg felt, that abortion should be a states issue,” Diehl said, adding that his job as governor would be to protect women’s healthcare choices.

Healey, though, criticized Diehl’s position on the overturning.

“The Supreme Court overturned Roe. My opponent celebrated when the Supreme Court overturned Roe,” Healey said. “He wants to defund Planned Parenthood. He wants to jail doctors who provide abortion care. That’s a real difference in this race.”

Healey and Diehl also clashed when it came to education.

“My opponent’s education plan, I just want to be really clear with the voters: he wants to ban books,” Healey said. “He wants to require that anytime a child wants to go into a public library, they have to get a permission slip… That’s not the direction we need to go.”

Diehl argued back, saying he wanted to give more choice to parents. “No, this is not about removing books from libraries or banning anything,” Diehl responded. “This is about allowing parents to have a say for what is in the schools, whether it’s in the curriculum or what is in the school libraries.”

Speaking of school, when asked about giving a letter grade for Governor Baker, Diehl gave him a “B”. Healey wouldn’t give him a grade, only saying he did a really good job.

Former President Donald Trump’s name loomed large at the start of the debate.

“This is really clear in this election— my opponent is Donald Trump’s candidate for governor. I’d be honored to be yours,” Healey said.

Diehl called mentions of Trump simply a distraction to what’s important in the race. He seemed to distance himself a bit from Trump and stolen election claims, even admitting that President Biden won in 2020. “You’re going to hear about Donald Trump because it’s Halloween time and that’s her bogeyman, that’s what the media likes to talk about, it’s Donald Trump,” Diehl said.

Another big issue that was brought up was transportation in the Bay State.

“We don’t have a functioning economy in Massachusetts unless we have a functioning transportation system that works for all over the state,” Healey said. “We need to make it safe, we need to make it affordable and we need to make it reliable.”

Diehl wants to see less outside help when it comes to getting the MBTA up to speed. “What we need to do, I believe, is not bring in consultants who always try the MBTA what to do,” Diehl said. “I think we need to listen to the workers. The workers know exactly what needs to be fixed.”

In my view, it was an odd debate.

Healey has not been criticizing Baker apparently courting the Democrats that voted for Baker and the moderate Republicans. This gave it the feeing that she was the incumbent defending her record instead of attacking the previous administration.

Diehl spent the hour “putting lipstick on a pig”. He really wasn’t that pro life and would just enforce the states laws regarding abortion. He really wasn’t a true Trump MAGA disciple who won the nomination just because Trump liked him. He really wasn’t for removing books that didn’t jive with his ideology just parents rights to set the curriculum. He really isn’t the guy displayed at the GOP convention.

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol voted Thursday to subpoena former president Donald Trump as it presented a sweeping summation of its case placing him at the center of a calculated, multipart effort to overturn the 2020 election, beginning even before Election Day.

At what may have been its final public hearing and just weeks before midterm elections in which control of Congress is at stake, the panel knit together evidence and testimony from its nine previous presentations while introducing new revelations about Trump’s central role in numerous plots to maintain power.

The committee laid out in vivid detail how Trump, enraged and embarrassed that he had lost the election and unwilling to accept that fact, sought to join the crowd he had summoned to Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, as it marched to the Capitol — knowing that some of his supporters were armed and threatening violence as Congress met to certify his defeat.

“None of this is normal, acceptable, or lawful in our republic,’’ said Representative Liz Cheney, Republican of Wyoming and the committee’s vice chair.

The committee also showed previously unreleased video from the secure location where congressional leaders hunkered down while the Capitol was under attack. The footage offered a glimpse of the shock and disbelief that gripped them as they urgently phoned governors and top national security officials in efforts to summon the National Guard or get Trump to call off the assault.

After nearly 2½ hours, the committee wrapped up with a direct challenge to the former president, voting to subpoena him to appear for a formal deposition, a step that is exceedingly unlikely given his refusal to cooperate in the inquiry and could lead to a bitter legal battle.

“He is the one person at the center of the story of what happened on Jan. 6,’’ said Representative Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi and the committee’s chair.

“He must be accountable,’’ Thompson added. “He is required to answer for his actions.’’

In one particularly chilling segment of the hearing, the panel played video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi huddling with other congressional leaders after being evacuated from the Capitol, reaching out to law enforcement and military officials and begging for the National Guard to help put down the violence.

“Do you believe this?’’ Pelosi says to colleagues as she receives reports that lawmakers are donning gas masks on the House floor to prepare for a breach.

Later, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, is seen speaking loudly into his signature flip phone, apparently during a call with Jeffrey A. Rosen, then the acting attorney general, imploring him to get Trump to ask his supporters to leave the Capitol, where Schumer notes that some senators are still hiding in their offices.

“Why don’t you get the president to tell them to leave the Capitol, Mr. Attorney General, in your law enforcement responsibility?’’ Schumer said.

The stunning behind-the-scenes look came as the panel delivered what amounted to a closing argument to an investigation that began 15 months ago. Members took turns laying out an indictment of Trump, telling a story that began in the summer of 2020 and, by their own account, has still not ended.

Well before any votes were cast, the committee members said, Trump had hatched a plan to simply claim victory on Election Day.

“The ballots counted by the Election Day deadline show the American people have bestowed on me the great honor of reelection to president of the United States — the deadline by which voters in states across the country must choose a president,’’ Tom Fitton, a right-wing activist who heads the group Judicial Watch, suggested Trump say in a statement, effectively discounting lawfully cast early and absentee votes.

Fitton, who offered the advice days before the election, indicated in a text message presented by the panel that he had discussed the idea with Trump.

And the committee showed how the president embraced that approach, despite the advice of aides who told him on election night that he could not say he had won. With a coterie of allies, Trump then sought to stave off his defeat by spreading lies that voting across the country had been marred by widespread fraud.

Even though dozens of courts ruled against him and his own advisers ultimately told him to concede, Trump stubbornly ignored the facts, the committee said, and aggressively pressured state officials, strong-armed Justice Department leaders, and sought to create fake slates of electors in states that had been won by Joe Biden.

Then, with his hold on power slipping, Trump called a crowd to Washington on Jan. 6, mobilizing both ordinary supporters and far-right extremists, some of whom had expressed their violent intentions in the days leading up to the event, the committee said. As hundreds of people stormed the Capitol that day, assaulting police officers and disrupting the certification of the election, Trump effectively turned his back on the chaos he helped sow.

Chief among the new revelations at the hearing was that the Secret Service was aware before Jan. 6 that some Trump supporters were using online forums to discuss plans for violence, including plots to storm the Capitol. Trump and key members of his security detail knew on the day of the attack that many people in the crowd that had gathered to hear him speak in Washington were carrying weapons and were possibly dangerous, the committee said.

The panel plans to continue investigating the Secret Service’s role in Jan. 6, including testimony it has received about “potential obstruction’’ and “advice given not to tell the committee’’ about certain incidents, said Representative Pete Aguilar, Democrat of California and a committee member.

The panel presented more evidence that Trump had been told by several of his own top advisers, including his daughter Ivanka Trump and former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, that he had lost the election and should abide by the decisions of more than 60 courts that had ruled against his claims of fraud.

But Trump, mortified by his losses in court, could not bear to do so, according to a recorded interview with Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to Mark Meadows, Trump’s final chief of staff.

“He said something to the effect of: ‘I don’t want people to know we lost, Mark. This is embarrassing,’ ’’ Hutchinson recalled in the interview.

Boston Globe October 14, 2022

Video shows in vivid new detail how congressional leaders fled the US Capitol on January 6 and transformed a nearby military base into a command center, where Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Shumer frantically coordinated with Vice President Mike Pence and Trump Cabinet members to quell the insurrection and finish certifying the 2020 election. 

The extended raw footage shines a devastating light on then-President Donald Trump’s inaction during the riot. Lawmakers are seen working around Trump to secure any help they could get – from the National Guard, federal agencies and local police departments – to defeat the mob he incited. This was essentially the legislative branch of the United States of America being attacked by the Executive branch. They called called state Governors and local officials outside the federal agencies for help.

“Everyone involved was working actively to stop the violence, to get federal law enforcement deployed to the scene to put down the violence and secure the Capitol complex,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, said about the footage at the hearing. “All of them did what President Trump was not doing, what he simply refused to do.”

The new clips show chaotic scenes of Democrats and Republicans working the phones at Fort McNair, sometimes together, trying to figure out what was going on at the overrun Capitol, and begging for help.  

In one dramatic scene, then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer shouted at the Secretary of the Army, Ryan McCarthy, after hearing a rumor that Trump blocked the DC National Guard from rushing to the Capitol.  

“I’d like to know a good God damn reason why it’s been denied,” Schumer said. “Please – the whole Capitol is rampaged. There is a picture of someone sitting in the chair of the Senate. We’ve all been evacuated. There have been shots fired. We need a full National Guard component, now.”  

McCarthy then assures Schumer that there was no stand-down order for the National Guard. 

And in another shocking moment, Schumer and Pelosi are seen chewing out the acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen. In a heated phone call, Schumer told Rosen that federal authorities should “make arrests, starting now,” but Rosen only offered a halting, non-committal response.   

“Um, I have to defer to law enforcement on that,” Rosen replied. 

NOTE: After the attack Republican House Leader Steve Scalise stood at the podium and asked why Nancy Pelosi didn’t call the National Guard. The video shows Nancy Pelosi working feverishly calling federal agencies, states Governors, National Guard and local police with Steve Scalise standing next to her. He knew what she did and lied about it.

DANVERS — It was a show of unity and love when more than 60 demonstrators (looked like 100 to me) gathered on top of the Danvers Rail Trail Bridge over Route 114 Wednesday night.

“I’m so encouraged by the tremendous turnout, I really didn’t know what to expect,” said Danvers resident and demonstrator Stephen Steinberg. “It just underscores the fact that Danvers, all of our wonderful neighbors, believe to speak out whenever we see hatred.”

DDTC members Julie Curtis, Tom Meagher and Lou Bernazzani participated in the march. (Julie, Tom and Lou are pictured in the photos below.)

Steinberg, who’s Jewish, was standing in the same spot where masked Neo-Nazis displayed an antisemitic banner on Sept. 10.

The sign incorrectly claimed that Jewish people were behind the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. It was also held from an overpass on Route 1 in Saugus that day.

This isn’t the first antisemitic act to happen in Danvers over the last few years. Hateful pamphlets were found on lawns and swastikas appeared in the middle and high schools. A hazing scandal on the boy’s high school hockey team also included instances of antisemitism.

“My mother said that 99% of people are good,” Steinberg said. “When that 1% wants to speak their mind with hate, then we have to speak reasonably, which we’re doing here today.”

Demonstrators and town officials atop the bridge were also joined by Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll, State Sen. Joan Lovely, D-Salem, State Rep. Sally Kerans, D-Danvers, and State Rep. Paul Tucker, D-Salem.

Tucker attended a similar event in Saugus, where demonstrators spoke out against the antisemitic message seen over Route 1.

“A woman came up to me (there) and she said, ’I am Jewish. I have two young kids. I drove by those people that had the banner out there, and I was shaking as I was driving my car,’” Tucker told the crowd in Danvers Wednesday night.

The woman drives on that road twice a day. She worried seeing the bridge again would bring back that horrible memory.

“The fact that we all showed up collectively as a community, she said that made a difference,” Tucker continued. “That made it OK for her to start driving on that road again.”

Donna Hopkins is a member of the Danvers Human Rights and Inclusion Committee. She was also an organizer behind Wednesday’s event.

“This makes me feel accepted,” said Hopkins, who is Jewish. “There was a time where I didn’t feel as welcome as I do now. When I didn’t feel as safe as I do now. But so much has changed over the last 10 years, and I’m happy to live here.”

Committee chair Dr. Dutrochet Djoko read a famous quote by Martin Niemöller, a Protestant pastor in Germany who was imprisoned for speaking out against the Nazis during the Holocaust.

“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me,” Djoko recited.

“When the community is suffering, you can’t just go home and eat, drink and be at peace with yourself because we are in this together,” he said.

Some of the demonstrators waving at passing cars donned yarmulkes, a round hat known as a kippah in Hebrew that is traditionally worn by Jewish boys and men. Others held signs, including Norah Hass, a 16-year-old junior at Danvers High School who is Jewish.

Hers read: “6 million less voices, but our voices are LOUDER than ever.”

“It’s nice to see that there’s this community, especially since the community around me seems very small, because we’re high school students,” Hass said.

She said she was glad to be joined by a diverse range of neighbors at the demonstration. As was Steinberg.

“I’m proud to be a resident of Danvers and the human family,” he said.

By Caroline Enos | Salem News Staff Writer