I found Kathy Greeley’s letter disheartening (“MacKay supporter responds to letter for Decker, seeking a representative for all of Cambridge,” Aug. 23). She makes a lot of claims about Marjorie Decker, but unlike Kathy Greeley, I live in the 25th Middlesex District, and I will be voting for Marjorie.
After three years of actively supporting Evan MacKay, Kathy Greeley has devoted considerable energy to criticizing Marjorie, yet I have seen little of that same scrutiny, including about accountability, directed at her own representative.
I have known Marjorie since high school, when she was already fighting for Cambridge kids on issue after issue. She is still that same fighter. As an educator, I have watched her make school-based mental health support a priority, lead on gun-safety legislation and fight for health care access and for families struggling to make ends meet. I still have friends and colleagues who call her when they’re stuck – a health care issue, a neighborhood problem – and she comes through, every time. That is the Marjorie I know. I don’t recognize the person being described in these letters.
The repeated claim that Marjorie has attacked Evan for being a graduate student is misleading. What I’ve seen are legitimate questions about what voters understand of his experience. After three years, many people still don’t realize Evan’s work as an educator and union organizer has taken place while he’s been a Harvard graduate student living in Harvard graduate housing, not in our public schools. That’s relevant for voters deciding who’s ready for their first job outside of being a student.
And it goes beyond biography. Cambridge is a historically rich, unique, diverse community, and Marjorie is part of its fabric – she is one of us. Noting that Evan has spent his time here as a Harvard student, not as a longtime resident raising a family or sending kids through Cambridge schools, isn’t “class warfare.” It’s a fair reminder that knowing this city takes more than living in it for a few years while enrolled at Harvard.
The same goes for transparency. Marjorie is the only Cambridge legislator I’ve seen subjected to this level of scrutiny – which really just means no one’s asked the same of the others. I often wonder why that is. What we do know is that Marjorie made her committee votes public while also fighting for rule changes to make legislative votes more accessible generally. She did both. Yet the narrative has become that Evan cares about transparency and Marjorie doesn’t. I find that hard to square with what I’ve watched happen.
I am an educator. I care about making sure every Cambridge child has what they need, and every family has someone willing to fight for them. That is what I’ve seen Marjorie Decker do for years.
So I will be voting for Marjorie – not because someone told me what to think, but because I have known her, watched her work and seen the record. Unlike Kathy Greeley, I live in the 25th Middlesex District. And I know exactly who I want representing me.
Sarah Blout Rosenberg
Putnam Avenue, Cambridge
