VOTERS WILL GET a chance to choose US Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s Republican challenger in the primary scheduled for September 3, with cryptocurrency lawyer John Deaton and Quincy City Council president Ian Cain expected to duke it out for the nomination.
But there also appears to be the Dan Rea primary. Both Deaton and Cain made separate appearances in April and May on his “NightSide” radio show on WBZ, taking phone calls from listeners and offering a preview of the race.
Rea is a leading right-leaning voice on the radio, and he played the role of even-keeled moderator as Deaton and Cain took their turns talking to callers.
Up first was Deaton, who recently moved from Rhode Island and registered as a Republican in Massachusetts. Dave from Norwell was the typical caller, praising Deaton’s background as a Marine, calling him a “breath of fresh air,” and saying he loved Deaton’s belief in term limits.
Weeks later, Cain, who recently registered as a Republican and names Charlie Baker as a model, ended up taking a verbal drubbing from callers who disliked his past donations and support for the state’s top Democrats.
“When you look at the Republican Party, they’re not putting forward the best candidates all the time, and that’s apparent in the elections that are being lost,” Cain said at one point. “It doesn’t seem like the Republicans in the party that I’m certainly coming to know have been building a bench that would lead to success. And that matters, and that’s why I’m stepping up.”
To another caller, Cain added: “How would I ever be pure enough to you to be a Republican?” Rea then jumped in to note that Ronald Reagan was once a Democrat. (It’s worth noting that Warren was once a registered Republican herself.)
And while she may not be dropping into Rea’s studio, Warren isn’t staying silent. The Cambridge Democrat blasted out an email to supporters at the end of April, when Cain jumped in, noting that the councilor had registered as a Republican on February 29.
“So I’m running for Senate against a self-funder from Rhode Island, and a 56-day-old Republican,” she wrote.
Bedeviling Boston City Hall
The Satanists may have a point. That was the intimation from federal judges this week, when lawyers for the Satanic Temple and Boston City Hall faced off in court.
The oral arguments before the US First Circuit Court of Appeals were the latest front in a long-running legal war of religion between City Hall and the Salem-based organization, which alleges Boston city councilors are being underhanded in dealing with its representatives of the underworld.
The Satanic Temple, which wants in on the invocations delivered by local clergy at the start of the City Council’s weekly meetings, first sued in 2021, arguing the city was taking an unconstitutional and discriminatory stance by allowing other religious leaders to speak but not theirs.
A federal court judge last year sided with City Hall, agreeing the invocations were based on political and community ties rather than religious beliefs.
That led the Satanists to appeal to a higher power: The three-judge panel on the First Circuit. The Courthouse News Service, in its writeup of the hearing, noted the judges had concerns about the city’s argument.
“Suppose this was 1920s Boston and Jewish temples weren’t invited to speak,” Judge William Kayatta on Tuesday asked City Hall’s attorney, Edward Whitesell.
“I think you’d have a problem,” Whitesell responded. In a defense that seemed only to aid the Satanists’ argument, he added that “the record shows that a lot of other religions were invited.” The judge didn’t seem convinced.
The Satanists, who deposed councilors and their staff during the legal battle, have homed in on how the invocation-givers are arbitrarily chosen, and maintain they are wrongly excluded. Whatever the final outcome in this case, the devil will be in the details.