Kenya RPCV, Sierra Leone Country Director and Massachusetts State Senator David Magnani will not run again
Magnani will not run again
By Michael Kunzelman / News Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 17, 2004
BOSTON -- State Sen. David Magnani, D-Framingham, stunned his colleagues and friends yesterday by announcing he will not run for re-election this year after six terms in the Senate and two decades at the State House.
Magnani, 59, said he is leaving the Senate to pursue "several exciting opportunities," but he declined to elaborate on the nature of those job prospects.
"At some point you have to take stock and ask yourself if you're being naive by turning down opportunity after opportunity," he said. "I'm young enough to take on a whole new career. I won't be forever."
Magnani said he could not mount a credible re-election campaign while he also explored other job opportunities.
"I couldn't go forward with an application process while I was running for re-election. It would just be wrong," he said.
Magnani's abrupt announcement surprised even his closest political allies, including state Rep. Karen Spilka, D-Ashland.
"I was not expecting this at all," Spilka said. "I'm very saddened by this decision. It's a real loss for the district."
Former state Rep. John Stefanini, a Framingham resident, called Magnani a "dedicated and passionate public servant" who left an indelible mark on MetroWest.
"David leaves the State House a better place because of the style and integrity he brought to the job and because of the relationships he built," Stefanini said.
Magnani also has earned his share of critics, who questioned why he did not have more to show for his 20 years on Beacon Hill.
Ashland Selectman David Teller, a Democrat, claimed Magnani became increasingly "ineffective" with each passing year.
"David has been in office an awfully long time, and we didn't always see eye to eye. It seems as though we were not getting the advocacy or the fight we deserved from our state senator," said Teller.
Magnani plans to serve out the rest of his sixth term, leaving office in January.
In the meantime, the list of possible candidates to fill his seat already is growing. Spilka, Stefanini, state Reps. James Vallee, D-Franklin, and Deborah Blumer, D-Framingham, are just a handful of the MetroWest political figures who said they are weighing whether to run.
Hopkinton Republican James Coffey, a Boston attorney and political newcomer, already had declared his intention to challenge Magnani. Now Coffey no longer has to run against an established incumbent.
"It doesn't change anything for me, but I would be lying to you if I said I wasn't excited by this news," he said.
Magnani said he had a successful year of fund raising and wasn't daunted by the prospect of a rigorous campaign.
"I wasn't at all concerned about the election," he said. "If and when I decided to leave, I wanted to leave on my own steam and according to my own terms. I feel positive that's the case now."
Magnani, an Ashland native, was elected to the Senate in 1992 after serving four terms and eight years in the state House of Representatives.
A 1962 graduate of Marian High School, Magnani attended Northeastern University as an undergraduate and earned master's degrees from both Umass-Amherst and Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.
Before he arrived at the State House, Magnani volunteered for the Peace Corps in West Africa. After he returned home, he landed a teaching job at UMass-Amherst.
Magnani was living in Amherst and was a relative unknown on the political scene in 1983 when former Framingham Moderator Gerard Desilets helped recruit him to run against former state Rep. Drew Rogers.
"David has excellent leadership qualities. He's a great listener," Desilets said. "I thought he would be able to bring groups of people together and get things done."
Education has always been one of Magnani's top legislative priorities. He was serving as the Senate chairman of the Education Committee when the Legislature passed the landmark Education Reform Act of 1993, a bill he helped draft.
Magnani also cited his work to secure funding for higher education, low-income families and early childhood education as some of his proudest achievements.
"Those are lonely battles, but I'm glad I fought them," he said.
Magnani led the fight for equity in the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority's toll structure as he sponsored legislation that called for a 50 percent discount for FastLane users on the most recent round of toll hikes.
He also founded the I-495 Technology Corridor Initiative, which promotes high-tech growth in MetroWest.
"David's departure will be a great loss for the MetroWest area," said state Rep. David Linsky, D-Natick. "He has been a tremendous advocate for the people of Natick, Framingham and other MetroWest communities on a wide range of issues."
Magnani's hopes for capturing a more prominent leadership role in the Senate dimmed in 2002.
Not only did he support former Senate President Thomas Birmingham's unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign, but Magnani also endorsed state Sen. Stanley Rosenberg's failed bid to succeed Birmingham as Senate president, a job won by East Boston Democrat Robert Travaglini.
Magnani rejected the notion that Travaglini's victory hastened his departure.
"The fact is, the Senate president has been enormously supportive," he said.
