Interest Groups Vie for Platform Spot

A myriad of special interest groups, ranging from gay and lesbian organizations to labor unions, jockeyed for a spot on the state Democratic Party platform at open hearings this past weekend.

More than fifty group representatives testified at the three-hour meeting Saturday, the last of six public hearings--in which a total of 300 testimonies have been given--in the process of coming up with a Democratic platform for the state convention in May.

While individual organizations did their best to convince members of the platform committee to include planks on their concerns, party leaders emphasized the need to distinguish the 1985 platform from past party statements.

"We should avoid dwelling in the past glory of the democratic party," said former U.S. Congressman James M. Shannon, who chairs the committee.

New Message or New Packaging?

"We are not working from last year's platform," he added. Instead the committee will write a platform by culling testimony from this hearing and others for a "progressive, forward-looking document."

But some Democrats present urged the party to stick to its traditional principles and not give in to pressure to move to the right.

"When Walter Mondale said at the national convention. 'America we heard you' [referring to the 1980 rejection of Jimmy Carter]," said a representative of Boston's Rainbow Coalition, "We felt that was absolutuley wrong."

Added the testifier, "We took it as a move to the right," unwarranted just because the party lost an election.

Workers' Party

Representatives of traditional Democratic strongholds, such as labor and minority groups, called for continued attention to their concerns.

"The democratic party is now, has been, and always should be for the working men and women in this country." Tom Evers of the Building Trades Council told the committee.

"Minorties are not fairly represented in the entire democratic process," said Michael Lone of Roxbury's 12th Ward. He called on the platform committee to "make certain Third World people are an intricate part of the democratic process.

Two feminist groups, the Massachusetts Women's Political Caucus and the National Organization of Women, said the Democrats should reaffirm their support for the Equal Rights Amendment and for the right of women to have abortions.

Newes Minority

Other witnesses at the hearing told the party to adress new minority concerns. "The platform should call for the end of discrimination on the basis of sexual preference," Martha Jones of the Massachusetts Gay Political Caucus said, urging "stronger language" in the platform on this issue.

Even city governments were not without their lobbyists at the hearing. Representatives of Boston Mayor Raymond L. Flynn's office said the platform should address the revenue generating problems faced by the state's cities.

City Councilor Thomas M. Menino echoed their request, calling for the state to give cities more fiscal responsibility, in order "to benefit from economic growth and provide adequate services."

Another issue which received attention at the meeting was the need for revisions in federal tax laws. Leonard Golder, of the Chelsea Democratic City Committee, said the platform should support the "implementation of the [Sen. Bill] Bradley [(D-N.J.)] fair tax plan."

"It is important for the Democratic Party to sieze the initiative" on this issue, controlled by the Republicans for too long, said Golder.

Some Democrats addressed the issue of how to express the party's goals in order to attract voters.

Thomas O'Malley, speaking for himself, asked that the platform be in "readable, plain English. It should be a document that can be given out to neighbors and every household in Massachusetts as the things we stand for."