Every election season we are subjected, mind-numbingly, to political advertisements that evoke the need for change and a new generation of leadership. For his part Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Minogue claims he would be a `”new kind of governor.’” I am not interested in a new type of politician anywhere near as much as in old-school Republicans, the pre-Trump kind, which Minogue seems to be if one doesn’t count his use of “radical Democrat” to describe state Attorney General Andrea Campbell.
Minogue was the chief executive officer of Abiomed, which under his leadership developed the world’s smallest heart pump. He is basing his campaign in part on his success in business, goals such as lowering the cost of energy, childcare and housing and the fact that he is a U.S Army combat veteran. On his website, Minogue says he would pursue four priorities, three of them being affordability, accountable government and economic opportunity. So far, so good. However, his promise to `”(keep) communities safe,” is troubling. Minogue opposes giving undocumented immigrants the “right to shelter, and free everything,” because doing so would attract “more of them into our states and cities.”
Xenophobia is not new. I suspect the Minogue campaign reckons that, despite Trump’s tanking popularity, MAGAs still account for a significant percentage of voters in Massachusetts. While those people will certainly not vote for the Democratic Governor Maura Healey, many of them will not cast a ballot for what far-right rank-and-filers call RINOs (Republicans in Name Only). Absent his promise of safe communities and talk of a radical Democrat, Minogue definitely comes off as a RINO. In our state, Republicans need all the votes they can get. With that in mind Minoque’s campaign has decided to sprinkle itself with fearmongering. We’ll see how that flies with old-school Republicans.
Daniel S. Miller
Granby