POLITICS / MASSACHUSETTS MELEE : Democrats Cry ‘Dirty Tricks’ After Convention Goes Awry

It seems as if nothing goes right these days for the Massachusetts Democratic Party. Fiscal problems that have plagued the state have been laid at the feet of the Democratic-run Statehouse. And the defeat of Gov. Michael S. Dukakis in his bid for the presidency in 1988 was a devastating blow to party morale.

Now, confusion at last weekend’s state convention in Springfield has resulted in “significant damage” to the party, according to U.S. Rep. Chester G. Atkins, the state Democratic Party chairman.

That assessment drew confirmation from an unexpected source, Ronald Kaufman, an aide to President Bush, who said he attended the convention both as an observer and to provide “color” for local television stations.

“They had a terrible convention,” said Kaufman. “It was chaos from beginning to end.”

But lawyers for the state party depict Kaufman as more than a casual commentator, describing him, instead, as the instigator of Watergate-style “dirty tricks” that disrupted the convention.

James Roosevelt, legal counsel for the Massachusetts Democratic Party, said that based on new evidence, a lawsuit filed earlier this week in the state Superior Court would be amended to include the name of Kaufman, who is deputy director of White House personnel. Kaufman also is the Republican national committee member from Massachusetts.

Laurence Tribe, a Harvard Law School professor who also is working on the case, described the disruption of the convention by members of a local police union as “an extremely serious subversion of the democratic process in Massachusetts.”

After a Springfield newspaper published documentation that leaders of the union had met with Kaufman in Washington on May 17, Tribe added: “It’s been a long time since the phrase ‘dirty tricks’ has been associated directly with the White House, but it seems to me that nothing less than that is involved here.”

But Kaufman, in a telephone interview Tuesday from the White House, “unequivocally” denied any role in the dispute.

Kaufman called the lawsuit against the police union “frivolous,” and said the charges against him were “ludicrous” with “no basis in fact.” He added that he doubted that the Democrats would actually “have the courage” to add his name to the suit, which alleges civil rights violations.

“I hope they will name me, so I can strike back,” he said.

The suit arises from a picket line by police union members outside the convention hall in Springfield where state Democratic Party members were to meet Saturday to select candidates for the gubernatorial election this fall. With delegates refusing to cross the picket line, which involved a police salary dispute, the opening of the convention was delayed nearly four hours until party officials could obtain an injunction against Local 364 of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers.

Democratic Party officials contend further that some of the picketing police officers shoved and pushed delegates as they tried to enter the convention hall. One delegate, Manny Rodrigues, said at a press conference that when he tried to enter the convention hall, a picketing Springfield police officer “beat the hell out of me.”

The president of the local police union denied suggestions that the picketing officers had barred delegates from entering the hall. Robert Jacobson also dismissed allegations of GOP involvement as “ridiculous.”

But Roosevelt stuck to his position that the actions in Springfield constituted a civil rights violation.

“There was an attempt not only to deprive delegates of their right to free political association, but the police turned violent and started pushing, spitting and throwing people to the ground,” he said. “They have offered no justification.”