E-Mail This Article to a Friend Can he lead? (continued)
	‘A man of the heart’ HOW WILL SENATE president Robert Travaglini’s low-key leadership style affect the gay-marriage debate when the constitutional convention begins next week? Advocates of civil-marriage rights for same-sex couples are optimistic. State Representative Paul Demakis of the Back Bay and Beacon Hill lauds Travaglini’s decision to delay the convention to its currently scheduled date of February 11 and to solicit an advisory opinion from the Supreme Judicial Court on whether civil unions are a permissible alternative to gay marriage. "I expect the SJC to say clearly and unequivocally that they didn’t intend anything less than full marriage, which will then pull out the middle ground from under the legislators who are seeking that right now, and then force them to make a choice between an anti-gay-marriage thing that offers nothing to gay people versus rejecting that," Demakis says. "And I think then we might be able to get a lot of the people in the middle to come over to our side." This analysis jibes with observations from Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus executive director Arline Isaacson, who lobbied Travaglini on benefits for same-sex couples when he was a city councilor two decades ago and now regards the senator — despite his pro-civil-union, anti-gay-marriage stance — as an ally. "He had a conservative streak when it came to the issue of marriage, and he still has that today," Isaacson says. "But he has simultaneously always wanted to do the right thing, to help gay people garner benefits. And he’s clearly a man of the heart.... He doesn’t wish to hurt us." — Adam Reilly

TRAVAGLINI’S conviction that government should provide for the most vulnerable segments of society squares with his personal background. The second of five boys, the Senate president hails from a family of modest means. He grew up on Horace Street in East Boston, a short block situated just west of Logan Airport and dominated by modest one- and two-family homes. His father, Albert, was a wholesale grocer; his mother, Josephine, stayed home to care for Travaglini and his brothers.

In 1970, when the future Senate president was 16, Travaglini’s father died of a heart attack. Whether Travaglini would otherwise have chosen the career he did is impossible to say. He had already been active in community service, but it seems clear that his father’s death catalyzed his political awakening. After the loss, Travaglini — first as a student at Savio Prep, then as an undergrad at the now-defunct Boston State College — threw himself into Eastie’s youth community work with abandon, attracting the attention of the neighborhood’s political luminaries in the process. "My senior year in high school, right after my dad passed away, I realized that this was the area my career was heading into," Travaglini recalls. "I looked at public service as a noble endeavor. I realized that helping people was something that I found extremely rewarding, and that having the capacity to acquire power and influence politically — if used appropriately — was something that was positive.

"Anybody that was in elective office or that was involved in campaigns, when they came to East Boston, would have a conversation with me, as [a representative of] the younger generation," he continues. "I appreciated that. And I was moved by that. And I only got more involved because of it. I was the head of a summer youth program that had 1500 members; I was involved in almost every organized athletic sport in East Boston as a coach.... I mean, I was building an army that even I was unaware of. I was just doing something that I found tremendously rewarding, and building relationships and gaining respect from parents when their children were in my company. And I didn’t realize what was happening."

The politicians who saw Travaglini in action, however, quickly pegged him as a young man of great promise. "You could spot him way back," recalls former attorney general Frank Bellotti, who enlisted Travaglini’s help during his 1970 gubernatorial campaign. "He was kind of a classy kid — you know, he carried himself well, he was a handsome kid, he was intelligent, he showed a lot of promise. Very loyal."

Bellotti’s bid for governor failed. In 1974, however, he was elected attorney general, and rewarded his former protégé by making him an aide in the AG’s press department. In 1981, Travaglini took a similar position in the office of Boston’s mayor, Kevin White. In 1983, at the age of 30, he made his first bid for electoral office and secured a seat representing District One — including East Boston, the North End, and Charlestown — on the Boston City Council. During his time on the council, Travaglini served with Tom Menino, who was then a councilor from Hyde Park and is now, of course, the mayor of Boston. As his council tenure progressed, Travaglini developed a reputation as a supporter of progressive causes, backing a needle-exchange program and domestic-partnership benefits for city employees. He was also known as an aggressive procurer of jobs for his constituents: one former colleague recalls Travaglini devoting "95 percent" of his energy to this pursuit, with Massport serving as the employer of choice.

In 1988, Travaglini challenged incumbent Michael J. LoPresti Jr. for the Democratic state Senate nomination. It was a bold move, since LoPresti, also of East Boston, had represented the district since 1974. Travaglini lost. But he impressed political observers in defeat, topping LoPresti in every precinct in their mutual hometown. Four years later, when LoPresti chose not to run, Travaglini garnered the Democratic nomination without opposition and moved on to an easy general-election victory.

Between 1992 and 2000, Travaglini compiled a reliably liberal voting record, demonstrating a particular passion for children’s issues and leading the Massachusetts Legislative Children’s Caucus in the late 1990s. His personal charm endeared him to his colleagues and helped him ascend the Senate leadership ranks. At one point, Travaglini backed Louis Bertonazzi for the Senate presidency over Birmingham, but when the latter became president, he named Travaglini his majority whip. Two years later, he rose to the Senate’s top post.

SINCE THEN, Travaglini has stumbled. After he named his leadership team, Linda Melconian — a former front-runner for the Senate presidency who eventually threw her support to Travaglini — accused him of reneging on an agreement to reappoint her Senate majority leader. (Today, Melconian won’t discuss the flap, insisting that the two have "a wonderful, very, very mutually respectful working relationship.") Travaglini was also criticized for a few other moves — earmarking $2 million for sound barriers on Route 1 in Revere, for example, and padding the Senate payroll with temporary jobs for friends and acquaintances.

In the end, however, there’s no question he’s started strong. Progressives trust him. His fellow legislators like and respect him. And while some observers predicted Travaglini would struggle for relevance in a State House dominated by Romney and Finneran, no one’s making that argument today.

But one concern lingers: what, exactly, are the long-term ramifications of a governing style based on sharing power and making people feel good? Consider one political observer’s take on the Senate’s refusal to consider new taxes last year. "Travaglini, historically, has been a person who’s very sympathetic to human-service needs, so it’s impossible to think he’s a person who thought fiscal responsibility requires this. What’s credible to believe is he felt that while he personally abhorred the cuts, that his members did not want to go out there and fight this fight alone with the governor and the House. I think he acceded to the chamber’s preference rather than getting the chamber to accede to his." (Travaglini, who once suggested that a tax increase might be a last resort for FY ’05, now rejects this possibility: "I would [consider it], but I’m also a realist.... The administration is not supportive of it, the House is not supportive of it, so this would be an exercise that in no way would get any traction.")

It’s an open question whether Travaglini’s focus on consensus leads him to concede too quickly — or to pass on key battles that, while daunting, are actually winnable. The upcoming constitutional convention will go a long way toward answering that question.

In assessing Travaglini’s leadership next week, though, bear in mind that his decisions may have implications that aren’t immediately evident. "He handles things in a very friendly way, a collaborative way," Panagiotakos says. "But make no mistake about it, if he’s got an issue that’s important to him or an agenda that he wants, you might walk away thinking that you got what you wanted. But let me tell you, at the end of the day, he’s going to be more of a winner."

Adam Reilly can be reached at areilly[a]phx.com