Avi in the Press

Excerpts from Boston Globe
12/14/2003

For Toomey, another Green opponent
By Michael Jonas

...For the second straight election, [Tim Toomey] has drawn an opponent for the House seat he first won in 1992, and this could be his toughest challenge yet. Avi Green, a 30-year-old Cambridge resident who has been a consultant and campaign manager for several winning races, is jumping out from behind the scenes to vie against Toomey in next September's Democratic primary.

''I'm running,'' said Green, ''because I think too many people are being ignored and excluded by the government of Mitt Romney and Tom Finneran, and I think Tim Toomey is part of that.'' Green managed state Senator Jarrett Barrios's winning run for state representative in 1998 and served as a consultant this year to Boston City Councilor Felix Arroyo's successful campaign.

...In 2000, Frank Smizik defeated Ronny Sydney in the Democratic primary for a Brookline House seat by hammering away at her ties to Finneran. It remains to be seen whether such a tack will gain traction in Toomey's more working-class district, which includes his home base in East Cambridge as well as Inman Square and areas of East Somerville.

Green, said former Cambridge School Committee member Glenn Koocher, is clearly hoping to ''challenge Toomey from the left and mobilize the constituency that doesn't support Toomey on issues like choice and Speaker Finneran.'' Though the district is less liberal than other areas of Cambridge, Koocher said Green could still prove to be a formidable foe. ''What might get Toomey concerned is that Avi is a very skilled political strategist and would not rush into a race just because he's decided it would be nice to be in the Legislature. I think he's studied this race and developed a campaign strategy.''

Green has also managed to raise about $20,000 already, and has won an early endorsement from former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Robert Reich.

Last year, Toomey faced a Green Party challenger who managed to pull 37 percent of the vote. While that might suggest that a Democratic challenger positioned just to his political left could run even stronger, Toomey's Green Party opponent, Paul Lachelier, was able to tap the huge turnout in last November's gubernatorial race, an election that may have drawn a more liberal electorate....