Contenders

Barging ahead

Part 2

by Dan Kennedy

Remove Joe Kennedy from the gubernatorial sweepstakes, and the odds-on favorite to be the next occupant of the corner office would be Luther Scott Harshbarger, a 55-year-old minister's son who brings to the table ambition, unquestioned integrity, a strong pro-consumer, pro-environment record, and -- yes -- more than the requisite amount of intelligence. Though he's not a particularly accomplished speaker, Harshbarger exudes energy and physicality, qualities that serve him well when addressing small groups or working a room. A former Harvard football star, he exercises almost every day, often running along the Charles River at noontime. In his shirtsleeves, his blue suit jacket draped over a nearby chair, with piercing blue eyes and a graying prosecutorial haircut, Harshbarger comes across as a formidable presence.

Yet, though Harshbarger has undeniable strengths, it's a sign of how thin the Democratic bench has become that he and Kennedy are the party's only viable candidates for governor. Harshbarger is a career prosecutor whose vision falls considerably short of gubernatorial. For instance, he touts economic development and education as two of his principal issues. When pressed, though, he talks mainly about crime: removing it from urban neighborhoods so that commerce can flourish, as he says he's done through police/community/ business partnerships in Dorchester and other areas, and from schools so that students can learn in a violence-free environment. Important ideas, to be sure, but more appropriate for an attorney general than a governor. A convention center? Study it, he says. Welfare reform? Monitor it. Fortunately for him, he's got time to develop a more comprehensive vision -- Primary Day, after all, is 21 months away.

In other areas, Harshbarger has compiled the kind of liberal-reformist record that's reminiscent of that of Michael Dukakis, to whom he's sometimes compared.

He's been a leader, for instance, in fighting banks on "redlining" (illegally denying mortgages in poor or minority neighborhoods) and on the so-called second-mortgage scam, in which low-income homeowners were enticed into taking on loans they couldn't afford. He tangled with giant Fleet Bank, even going so far as to work with officials in Georgia, where Fleet has a large mortgage operation. "He's been out there on a cross-section of issues that affect working people. He has never backed off," says Bruce Marks, executive director of the Urban Neighborhood Assistance Corporation.

Harshbarger has won plaudits, too, for his environmental initiatives. Most recently he's received praise (and some criticism) for his proposal that utilities in the Northeast not purchase electric power from high-polluting plants in the Midwest. Rob Sargent, legislative director of MassPIRG, the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group, says that despite some differences (Sargent, for instance, thinks Harshbarger gave Massachusetts Electric Company too sweet a deal in a recent deregulation ruling), Harshbarger has been a stalwart on a range of environmental and consumer issues. "Obviously you have to agree to disagree on certain things," says Sargent, calling Harshbarger "a real ally."

But Harshbarger is sometimes accused of having a publicity-seeking, sanctimonious side.

For instance, his Tobacco Litigation Project, aimed at recovering smoking-related health costs from the tobacco industry, has received praise from anti-smoking activists, but it hardly addresses one of the overriding issues of the day.

His proposal to mandate safety requirements in the manufacture of handguns brought a swift rebuke from Smith & Wesson, whose Springfield gun factory is one of that region's major employers. The initiative made for a nice press release, but the problem in crime-plagued urban neighborhoods is the quantity of guns, not the quality.

And his steadfast opposition to casino gambling -- opposition he insists is based on economics, not self-righteousness -- has nevertheless brought down upon him a chorus of criticism that he's seeking to impose his own sense of morality at the expense of the state's coffers. Even if Harshbarger is correct that a casino would be an economic loser and a magnet for organized crime (questionable propositions, given the success of Foxwoods, in Connecticut), gambling supporters point out that the Wampanoag tribe has a legal right to build such a facility, making Harshbarger's opposition little more than a delaying tactic.

"The rest of the country is kicking our ass and taking Massachusetts dollars," complains a businessman who considers himself a former Harshbarger supporter.

Part 3

Dan Kennedy can be reached at dkennedy[a]phx.com.