Professionalism over Political Rhetoric

Sometimes the stakes of an election are too high to let empty rhetoric go unchallenged. The election for Hampden County District Attorney this year is one such election. We have had the luxury of a highly professional DA for the last 20 years, effectively taking our DAs office off the list of stepping stone jobs for ambitious politicians. Unfortunately, the Democratic candidate for DA this year is intent on changing this.

Hampden County voters have already elected a popular state senator to a Clerk of Courts post who lacked any relevant qualifications for that job and may be poised to similarly politicize the county’s top law enforcement office. Comically, then Senator Brian Lees made very similar arguments for why (despite not even being a lawyer) he should be elected Clerk of Courts as Senator Buoniconti is now making for why he (despite his lack of trial and prosecutorial experience) should be elected District Attorney.

When Bill Bennett chose to retire, the initial crop of interested candidates was very encouraging; all career trial attorneys. Then, career politician Steve Buoniconti decided to exploit his huge political war chest (raised to support his state senate re-elections) to get himself promoted to the more visible DAs office. The result was a primary campaign in which the well financed and well organized Buoniconti campaign avoided saying anything substantive, frequently borrowing ideas and arguments from the websites of his much more qualified challengers in order to avoid embarrassment in debates. Thanks to superior name recognition, low voter turnout, and a local media unwilling to engage in investigative journalism, Buoniconti survived the primary despite having the thinnest resume and a host of ethical questions swirling around him.

But alas, all was not lost. Mark Mastroianni’s decision to avoid the crowded Democratic primary and run as an independent candidate may end up saving the local Democratic establishment from itself. Mastroianni, who like Buoniconti spent 5 years as an ADA, has since become one of the most successful and well respected defense attorney’s in the state.

Unlike Buoniconti, Mastroianni’s five years as a prosecutor were very distinguished, making it necessary for the Buoniconti campaign to minimize the importance of trial and prosecution experience in the race to become the county’s top prosecutor. Instead, Buoniconti is claiming to have superior “vision” and “community outreach” skills that will make him a better DA. Despite the vacuous nature of this argument, Buoniconti hopes to survive by exploiting his financial and organizational advantages. His ability to use Democratic coattails and other party mobilization efforts are crucial to his chances of beating his much more qualified opponent in November.

Mastroianni, on the other hand, has benefited from a surge in post-primary fundraising and endorsements from key prosecutorial and law enforcement individuals and groups. In addition, there is a not so quiet whispering campaign among Democratic Party officials and activists who say that they will vote for Mastroianni, but cannot publicly endorse him because of their place in the party infrastructure.

My own vocal opposition to Mr. Buoniconti’s election has jeopardized my elected positions on both my town Democratic Committee and the Democratic State Committee. Nonetheless, I continue to speak out forcefully against the election of an unqualified, career politician to the DAs office because public safety is too important and too precarious in our region to be sacrificed on the altar of partisan politics. Mark Mastroianni has earned the respect and the endorsements of the vast majority of the WMass law enforcement community for a reason. Law enforcement professionals do not want to be led by a career politician, especially one who thinks that a DA’s public relations duties are more important than his law enforcement duties.

More Democratic Party leaders need to come out of the shadows and admit that the party has nominated an unqualified candidate for Hampden County District Attorney, whose inexperience in law enforcement and as a trial attorney will not be mitigated by his political experience on Beacon Hill. Though I have publicly endorsed the independent candidate over the party’s nominee, I encourage other state and local party committee members to come out publicly against Mr. Buoniconti’s election. Doing so without explicitly endorsing Mastroianni’s election will prevent Buoniconti partisans in the state party from trying to punish you by threatening your party committee membership. The safety of our communities is too important to be left to politicians.


Jerold Duquette, M.P.A., Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Political Science
Central Connecticut State University

69 Clairmont Street
Longmeadow, MA 01106