Contenders

Barging ahead

Part 3

by Dan Kennedy

Interestingly, that businessman nevertheless says he continues to admire Harshbarger's integrity and may end up voting for him. More than anything, Harshbarger's reputation for integrity is built on his admirable willingness to pursue political corruption, a willingness that -- along with a staunch independent streak -- has left him without any major allies in the Democratic Party hierarchy. (Asked to identify some Democratic supporters, the Harshbarger camp produced four: District Attorneys Kevin Burke, of Essex County, and William Bennett, of Hampden County; and State Representatives Carol Donovan, of Woburn, and John Quinn, of North Dartmouth.)

Yet Harshbarger's record in prosecuting corruption is decidedly mixed. Though he boasts that he's compiled an 80 percent conviction rate in the 100-plus cases he's brought, these have invariably been of lesser-known local officials. And there have been several embarrassing failures. The best known: former state attorney general Eddie McCormack, acquitted of conflict-of-interest charges in 1994 after the judge at his trial said the evidence actually showed McCormack was innocent, and State Senator Henri Rauschenbach (R-Brewster), acquitted by a jury of influence-peddling in 1995. Another setback came early this year, when the Pilot, the Roman Catholic archdiocesan newspaper, accused Harshbarger of grandstanding at the expense of former Boston mayor Ray Flynn, whose campaign finances were the subject of an inconclusive two-year federal and state investigation.

Harshbarger himself blames the weakness of state corruption laws, and notes that the biggest corruption cases of recent years -- of former Massachusetts House Speaker Charlie Flaherty, former congressman Nick Mavroules, former Essex County sheriff Charles Reardon, and former Middlesex County sheriff John McGonigle (whose onetime political relationship with Harshbarger resulted in a rare questioning of Harshbarger's own reputation for probity) -- were brought by the US Attorney's office, in many instances with Harshbarger's cooperation.

"It has been frustrating," Harshbarger admits, "and in some of the cases you mentioned, if you had not done them, then people would be questioning why you weren't taking them on. If you do them, then people attribute various kinds of motivations."

Then, too, Harshbarger's pursuit of political corruption has helped cement his reputation as a political outsider -- a stance that can appeal to voters, especially suburban independents, but that can make it difficult to govern. "The attorney general's office is completely autonomous and completely independent, and it can give you a false sense of your ability to chart your own course," says a prominent Democrat and former aide to Jim Shannon, the incumbent attorney general whom Harshbarger beat in the 1990 Democratic primary.

Harshbarger's status as an outsider in tribal Massachusetts begins with his childhood: he grew up in central Pennsylvania, a distant precinct indeed for someone who would subsequently make his mark in a political culture where alliances extend back several generations. His mother was a schoolteacher; his father, a graduate of Yale Divinity School, was the chaplain at Penn State University. He came to Boston to attend Harvard, where, in addition to playing football, he says, he worked his way through school as a $1.96-per-hour union laborer on a road-construction crew. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1968.

After a stint as deputy chief counsel for the Defenders Committee, the public defenders' agency in Massachusetts, Harshbarger went to work in 1975 for Attorney General Frank Bellotti, running the AG's Public Protection Bureau, which is responsible for issues such as consumer protection, the environment, and civil rights. (Bellotti could not be reached for comment.)

Harshbarger made his first bid for elective office in 1978, challenging Middlesex District Attorney John Droney, a Democrat. Although Droney was ailing from what was later revealed to be Lou Gehrig's disease, he hung on in that fall's primary, and Harshbarger took a job as head counsel of the Massachusetts Ethics Commission. Four years later, he challenged Droney again; this time he won.

As DA, Harshbarger joined with other young prosecutors -- notably, Bill Delahunt in Norfolk County and Kevin Burke in Essex County -- in modernizing antiquated operations and developing innovative programs to combat emerging problems such as domestic violence and child abuse. Though Harshbarger developed a reputation as something of a headline-grabber, he also proved to be popular with voters and a tireless campaigner.

In 1986 Harshbarger passed up an almost certain chance to move up when his mentor Bellotti retired. Instead, the attorney general's post was won by former congressman Shannon, who'd been casting about for an office since losing the Democratic US Senate primary to Kerry two years earlier. Yet after appearing too cautious in '86, Harshbarger did a 180 four years later, taking on Shannon in the Democratic primary and winning, despite having trailed him by 40 points early in the campaign. It was a victory that carried a price, though; in beating an incumbent who was popular with Democratic leaders, Harshbarger did not exactly ingratiate himself with insiders.

Part 4

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