TRULY TRULY amazing
Wilkerson is backed for national post
Late entry in pursuit of Democrats' vice chair
By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff | February 5, 2005
State Senator Dianne Wilkerson, a rising star in state politics until her federal conviction on tax-evasion charges, is making a late bid to become a vice chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, lining up endorsements from Mayor Thomas M. Menino, US Senators Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry, and other leading Massachusetts Democrats.
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Wilkerson, who joined the competition for one of four such positions in the last several weeks, faces an uphill fight to win the contest, scheduled to take place next Saturday, when the 447 party delegates meet to elect new national leadership for the Democratic Party. Four other women, including the current national deputy party chairwoman and the number two executive of the AFL-CIO, are running for two contested seats.
"I am doing very well; I am surprised I am doing this well," Wilkerson said yesterday from her Roxbury district office, where she was contacting delegates to seek support. "I got to be close to the halfway mark to getting to enough votes for victory."
Wilkerson, the only African-American in the state Senate, said she has been able to gain quick traction in the contest because of the backing she is getting from "the power of the delegation" from Massachusetts.
She also cited her legislative record as a supporter of labor and equal justice, issues that are important to Democrats.
In the race for chairman, to be decided the same day, former Vermont governor Howard Dean has emerged recently as the heavy favorite to succeed Terry McAuliffe. Kennedy said yesterday he expects Dean to win.
Party leaders said yesterday that Wilkerson's late entry into the race caught the Massachusetts Democratic establishment by surprise, but many of them, who have not committed their votes to others, have rallied around her candidacy. Besides Menino, Kennedy, and Kerry, she has picked up the endorsements of state party chairman Philip W. Johnston and US Representatives Barney Frank of Newton, James P. McGovern of Worcester, and Stephen F. Lynch of South Boston.
But her last-minute decision to try to win the part-time, nonpaying post is only one obstacle she must clear as she competes in the party's national scene. Her criminal record has been raised, in what one party official said is a whispering campaign. When party delegates from Eastern states met in New York last weekend, her legal problems circulated among the Democratic activists.
Wilkerson, a Democrat who was first elected to the Senate in 1992, served six months under house arrest after she pleaded guilty to four federal tax charges in December 1997. She owed about $200,000 in back taxes. She was incarcerated for 30 days in June 1998, after she violated her original sentence by attending late-night Senate sessions.
"She made a mistake several years ago, and she paid the price," Johnston said. "Since then, she's established herself as a forceful state legislator and is widely respected."
Wilkerson said she confronts the issue head-on. "It is not an issue I can hide," Wilkerson said. "I talk to people about what happened. I tell them truth. I don't dodge that."
Wilkerson faces tough competition from well-connected Democrats. They include the current deputy party chairwoman, Susan W. Turnbull, and Linda Chavez-Thompson, the AFL-CIO's executive vice president since 1995.
Also, the Reverend Al Sharpton, is lobbying heavily for his close political ally, Marjorie Harris.
Wilkerson said Sharpton has reacted negatively to her candidacy, speaking sharply on the phone and in person at last weekend's party meeting in New York. She said she has known Sharpton for years and has helped him in Boston when he visited the city.
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