In memoriam

Arthur Lambert, 1963 - 2000

by Seth Gitell

An old political adage states that if you want to assess politicians, you should take the measure of their staffs. Well, two influential Bay State politicians -- Secretary of Environmental Affairs Robert Durand and Senate President Thomas Birmingham -- benefited from the contributions of the same man: long-time Beacon Hill aide Arthur Lambert, who died last week at the age of 37.

This week's dailies reported Lambert's death in a car accident during his return from Birmingham's holiday party at the State House on the night of Friday, December 15. The story the dailies didn't tell was of the grueling, sometimes monotonous -- but important -- work the legislative staffer did.

Lambert, a graduate of Assumption College, was hired in 1988 by Robert Durand, an up-and-coming state representative from Marlborough. By 1990, Lambert had become Durand's chief aide and chief of his office staff. He grew in knowledge and expertise as Durand --who replaced Paul Cellucci as the senator for the Middlesex and Worcester district -- advanced. As Durand developed a higher profile in the Senate and took the lead on key environmental issues, Lambert nailed down the details, kept abreast of constituent services, and defended Durand from electoral challenges.

When Durand got called up by Governor Cellucci to head the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, Lambert was forced to make a decision: move with Durand or strike out on his own. He opted to take the risk and jump from staffer to candidate. He had, after all, maintained his hometown ties -- serving on the Marlborough Democratic City Committee and coaching basketball. The special election in 1999 was a tough race, and his toughest opponent was Representative Pamela Resor of Acton.

Resor remembers a hard-fought but clean race in which Lambert was the opponent she feared the most. As a former staffer to a state senator, he had ties in all 12 communities in the district. But Resor, the race's only woman, narrowly edged him out in the primary. "He called up and conceded and the next day we had a unity gathering of all the candidates," she recalls.

After the election, Lambert struggled with what to do next. Eventually he decided to go back to what he knew best -- legislative work. Birmingham's energetic and ambitious office snapped him up. There his work was varied, including such diverse areas of responsibility as constituent services and historic preservation.

But one thing is clear: Lambert's ties to and deep knowledge of central Massachusetts -- and his familiarity with the 17 community newspapers in Durand's former district -- made him invaluable. While nobody's broadcasting it, it's obvious that Lambert would have played an important role in Birmingham's campaign for governor in 2002.

Now that won't happen. But his life serves as a reminder to the wife and baby daughter he left behind -- and to the rest of us -- that it is possible to serve with honor in the world of politics.