Had John Kerry decided to run for president again, the state’s political floodgates were ready to open. A number of pols would have gone after his Senate seat, leaving openings for others, and on down the line.
It didn’t happen. Assuming Kerry wins re-election, come 2009 it will have been a quarter-century since the Bay State chose a new senator.
That’s caused a pile-up of officeholders across the state. And, thanks to the paucity of serious challenges to incumbents, they rarely have to spend the campaign funds they amass. They can just keep raising and saving, and raising and saving . . . hoping to one day have a campaign to spend their war chests on.
Of course, the money can come in handy for other things, even without a campaign: running the district office, for instance, or paying legal bills after leaving office. (Hello Jane Swift and Tom Finneran.)
The Massachusetts congressional delegation ranks among the top money-hoarders in the country (and they took heat for not giving some of that dough to needier candidates in ’06). Our lower-level pols don’t do too badly themselves. The Phoenix found 30 sitting on a quarter-million dollars or more. And, of course, it won’t be long before recent office-winners, such as Deval Patrick and Timothy Murray, climb the list.
Marty Meehan, US representative: $4,894,187
Ed Markey, US representative: $2,369,412
Tim Cahill, State treasurer: $2,058,490
Joe Kennedy, none: $2,043,711
Bill Delahunt, US representative: $1,986,680
William Galvin, Secretary of State: $1,789,842
Richard Neal, US representative: $1,347,814
Mark Montigny, State senator: $1,078,046
John Tierney, US representative: $1,022,742
Stephen Lynch, US representative: $978,275
Barney Frank, US representative: $829,503
Mike Capuano, US representative: $630,557
William Keating, Norfolk DA: $591,551
Jarrett Barrios, State senator: $552,975
Gerald Leone, Middlesex DA: $545,087
Richard Iannella, Suffolk probate: $539,885
Michael Flaherty, Boston council: $456,956
Dan Conley, Suffolk DA: $451,113
Martha Coakley, Attorney General: $365,197
Peter Koutoujian, State representative: $360,582
Joseph DeNucci, State auditor: $331,380
Salvatore DiMasi, State representative: $324,313
Thomas Petrolati, State representative: $311,006
John Binienda, State representative: $308,129
Robert Travaglini, State senator: $296,788
Michael Morrissey, State senator: $291,830
Jane Swift, none: $287,858
Steven Baddour, State senator: $281,894
Joan Menard, State senator: $271,199
Ron Mariano, State representative: $267,947
Figures are for the end of 2006, culled from filings with the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance, except for congressmen, which cover the period through November 2006 and are drawn from filings with the Federal Election Commission.