LOWELL — State Rep. David Nangle said he will not take his seat among the Lowell delegation when the Massachusetts Democratic Convention comes to the Mill City this summer.
A policy spelled out in the party’s 2013 Preliminary Call to Convention says that delegate seats cannot be taken by party members who have shown support for non-Democrat candidates, as Nangle did when he threw his support behind Republican Scott Brown in the 2012 Senate race.
“When I endorsed Scott Brown, at that time I just thought there would be some repercussions for doing what I did,” Nangle, a Lowell Democrat, said Wednesday.
Nangle said state party chairman John Walsh called him Tuesday evening and informed him that his delegate credentials could be challenged based on his high-profile support for Brown. No one has challenged Nangle’s credential to date.
Under the rules that govern delegate selection, party members cannot be nominated, elected or seated as a delegate if they have publicly supported or endorsed “any candidate whose announced intention was/is to oppose a nominee of the Democratic party.”
Such a prohibition lasts four years from the date of the election.
“As it stands right now, I won’t be going,” Nangle said. “I respect John Walsh, and so I won’t be going at this time.”
Walsh said Wednesday this rule did not mean that Nangle would be banned from serving as a delegate, just that his seating could be challenged. Nangle could serve if there was no challenge.
Another Lowell official, City Councilor Rita Mercier, also endorsed Brown, said she chose not to run as a delegate after hearing she might not be allowed to serve.
Mercier said she hadn’t known about the policy when she chose to back Brown, but stands by her support.
“I thought this was America, where you could express your freedom of speech and you would have a choice, but if that’s their rule, fine,” she said. “I’ll just go about my life the way I have.”
As a state representative, Nangle is among dozens of automatic, “ex-officio” delegates who do not have to be selected by their community caucus. Such delegates include congressmen, the governor, state senators and representatives, and members of the state and national Democratic committees.
For more on this story, read Thursday’s Sun or visit http://www.lowellsun.com.
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