Every once in a while I conduct an interview and somebody says something where I can’t help but to stop and think:
Wait. WHAT?
That happened during my interview with Republican U.S. Senate candidate John Deaton last month when he appeared on the Paying Attention! Podcast to talk about his campaign against incumbent Ed Markey.
We were talking about Massachusetts’ ridiculous political nominating system — conventions, nomination papers, signatures, and primary requirements just to get your name on the ballot when Deaton casually mentioned that the speaking fee at the Republican State Convention was $50,000.
FIFTY. THOUSAND. DOLLARS.
To speak.
At a political convention.
When you are actually running for the office those delegates are supposedly there to nominate.
Now, before somebody sends me an angry email explaining constitutional law, yes, I understand that the Republican Party is a private political organization. The government is not charging a candidate $50,000 to speak.
But, that’s not my point.
My point is that the entire system has become an insider game that has almost nothing to do with ordinary voters.
And those were essentially Deaton’s words, too.
Deaton called the convention process a “big insider game.”
He’s right.
Think about what we make candidates do in Massachusetts.
First, if you want to run for U.S. Senate, you have to collect 10,000 certified signatures from registered voters in your party.
Not 10,000 people saying they support you.
Ten thousand signatures that survive the certification process.
Deaton says that when he ran against Elizabeth Warren in 2024 his campaign was told to budget $100,000 just for signatures.
A hundred grand!
Before you’ve bought television time.
Before you’ve sent mail.
Before you’ve printed signs.
Before you’ve meaningfully introduced yourself to the overwhelming majority of the people you are asking to vote for you.
And THEN we have a convention.
More money.
More consultants.
More insiders.
More people whose entire livelihood depends on candidates spending campaign money inside the political industry.
And after all that?
Massachusetts holds its primary in SEPTEMBER.
Deaton’s description of what happened to him in 2024 should bother Democrats, Republicans and independents equally.
He had two Republican opponents. So while Elizabeth Warren was sitting on approximately $23 million and cruising toward November, Deaton had to spend his time and money persuading Republican primary voters to nominate him.
He won with about 65%.
Pretty convincing.
And what was his reward?
He came out of the primary with about $800,000 to take on Elizabeth Warren’s $23 million — with roughly six weeks remaining before Election Day.
Then Warren didn’t debate him until October 15, when Deaton says somewhere around 25% to 30% of voters had already voted.
Deaton called it an “incumbent protection program.”
BINGO!
Whatever you think about John Deaton – and whatever you think about Elizabeth Warren – forget the personalities for a minute.
Ask yourself whether that system makes sense.
If our elections are supposed to be about voters deciding who represents them, why have we constructed an obstacle course that requires candidates to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars merely to reach the starting line?
Why does a candidate have to raise $100,000 just to get signatures?
Why should anyone pay $50,000 for the privilege of speaking to a political convention?
A convention where you can still lose and not have your name placed on the primary ballot at all!
And why do we hold our primary so late that a challenger who wins it barely has enough time to introduce himself statewide before people start voting in the general election?
Who benefits from that?
Certainly not the voters.
Certainly not political newcomers.
Certainly not candidates without wealthy donors or an established political organization.
The people who benefit are the people already inside the system.
The consultants get paid.
The political operatives get paid.
The signature gathering companies get paid.
The political parties get paid.
And incumbents get protected.
Maybe John Deaton wins the U.S. Senate race and maybe he doesn’t.
That’s a different question.
But on this one, he’s absolutely right.
Massachusetts’ political nominating system is antiquated, outrageously expensive and designed far more for political insiders than for the voters it supposedly serves.
And when a candidate has to write a $50,000 check just to get behind a microphone and ask his own party to nominate him, maybe it’s time to admit the system itself needs to be on the ballot.
Of course that would never result in any changes because the legislature could just ignore the results like they did with Question #1 to audit the legislature.
One thing for sure, we do not have a functioning democracy in Massachusetts, we only have the illusion of one.
An illusion that is starting fade away as more and more regular voters start to see behind the curtain that the entire system is rigged.
Tom Duggan is president and publisher of The Valley Patriot, has published three books, is a former member of the Lawrence School Committee, is a 1990 police survivor, and hosted the Paying Attention (daily and weekend) Radio Show for 26 years. He continues to do the show as a video and audio podcast on Facebook, YouTube, GooglePlay, iHeartRadio, iTunes, Podbean and most podcast platforms. You can email him at valleypatriot@aol.com. ◊