POLITICS
Anti-Gay Lie Helps Massachusetts Incumbent Win
Alex Morse, Holyoke’s gay mayor, loses Dem primary to US House Ways and Means chair
BY DUNCAN OSBORNE
Relying in part on antigay
attacks that suggested
his opponent
was a sexual predator,
US Representative Richard Neal
easily defeated Alex Morse, his out
gay challenger, in the September 1
Democratic primary that — with
no Republican candidate running
in November — decided who will
hold the western Massachusetts
House seat in the next Congress.
“It looks like a resounding victory
this evening,” Neal said during
a speech just a few hours after
the polls closed. “I’m going to keep
on delivering… It’s legislation that
changes our lives.”
Neal, who did not mention Morse
during the speech, led the 31-yearold
mayor of Holyoke by roughly
20 points. Neal even beat Morse in
Holyoke, where the progressive has
Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse campaigning in a western Massachusetts US House Democratic primary, in
which his candidacy was upended by fabricated charges made by students at UMass Amherst.
been the mayor since he was 22.
Neal pointedly thanked Holyoke for
its support in securing re-election
to the seat he fi rst won in 1988.
INSTAGRAM/ ALEX.MORSE
Morse announced he would oppose
Neal last year and won support
from progressive groups, such
as the Justice Democrats and the
climate change-focused Sunrise
Movement. The Victory Fund, an
LGBTQ political group that works
to elect out candidates to offi ce,
was the sole national LGBTQ group
that supported Morse. The Human
Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ
lobbying group in the US, endorsed
Neal.
Alex Morse, Holyoke’s out gay
mayor, loses Democratic primary to
House Ways and Means chair Richard
Neal
In October 2019, members of the
College Democrats of Massachusetts
(CDMA), including Timothy
Ennis, who was hoping to win a job
with Neal, and Andrew Abramson,
a president of a CDMA chapter, fabricated
allegations that Morse used
his status as mayor and a lecturer
at the University of Massachusetts
at Amherst, where he taught from
➤ ALEX MORSE LOSES, continued on p.15
UMass’ $200,000 Contract on Alex Morse Detailed
Boston law fi rm , ex-prosecutor quickly signed deal to investigate, with no time limit set
BY DUNCAN OSBORNE
The University of Massachusetts
is prepared
to spend as much as
$200,000 to investigate
an out gay candidate for a US
House seat in western Massachusetts
who was the object of fraudulent
charges that likely contributed
to that candidate losing in the September
1 Democratic primary.
“University hereby engages Firm
to investigate, and provide advice
and legal counsel, to the UMass
Amherst campus leadership regarding
allegations of inappropriate
behavior by one Alex Morse in
his capacity as an sic UMass employee,”
reads the contract between
UMass and Saul Ewing Arnstein &
Lehr, a Boston law fi rm, that Gay
City News obtained under the Massachusetts
open records law.
Natashia Tidwell, a partner at
Gerry Leone, the UMass general counsel, won’t answer questions about any of the university’s procedures
on investigating Title IX complaints while his $200,000 in inquiry into Alex Morse is ongoing.
the fi rm, will lead the investigation
into Morse. Her time will be
compensated at a rate of $475 per
hour and she will be assisted by
an associate, Angella Middleton,
UMASS OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
whose time will be compensated at
$360 per hour. Those rates are for
the fi rst $100,000 incurred for the
work. After $100,000, Saul Ewing
agreed to reduce the hourly rates
by fi ve percent, and by 10 percent
after it has billed $200,000.
The contract specifi es that
Tidwell will report to the UMass
general counsel’s offi ce. The investigation
will not be supervised by
any of the nine offi ces at the university
that currently handle Title
IX complaints. The UMass website
does not list the general counsel’s
offi ce among the organizations that
employees and students can contact
to fi le a complaint under Title
IX. All work under the contract will
be protected from disclosure under
attorney-client privilege.
Morse, the mayor of Holyoke,
Massachusetts, a progressive, announced
in 2019 he would challenge
Richard Neal, a powerful
Democrat who has held that seat
since 1988 and chairs the House
Ways and Means Committee.
➤ UMASS’ CONTRACT, continued on p.36
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