With few Republicans running in the reliably Democratic Berkshires, the party primaries carry more weight than November’s general election. After months of campaigning, it’s time to survey the major contests in the waning days of the cycle.
The sheriff’s race has seized headlines as Chief Probation Officer of the Southern Berkshire District Court Alf Barbalunga challenges two-term incumbent Tom Bowler for the next six-year term. Over the course of the rancorous and often personal campaign, Bowler’s decision to house female inmates from the county in the Western Mass Regional Women's Correctional Center in Chicopee has emerged as a flashpoint. Barbalunga says he’d bring them back to the House of Corrections in Pittsfield.
“Women are higher demand clientele," said Barbalunga. "We have the same amount of money, we prefer not to deal with them. And they are higher demand clientele, I'm not dismissing that whatsoever. You worked out a deal with your friend in Hampden County to release the women down there, whether it's 12 women, 14 women, whatever it is, now they're gone. No thought process to the families traveling down there whatsoever. Three hours round trip for sure. No thought process to different types of onboarding, getting through the visit, strip searches, things like that.”
Bowler says the Chicopee facility is the best place for women to receive support from the criminal legal system.
“That’s the last thing they need, is to be back with their families," said Bowler. "They've been separated from their families. [Massachusetts Department of Children and Families] has had their children, they've had them for a long period of time. DCF is not going to put a child and traumatize them time and time again while these parents, these individuals fail, fail, fail. It's a long-term process to bring somebody back into the community or back into their families.”
In the district attorney race, first-term incumbent Andrea Harrington – who ran on a reform, progressive platform in 2018 – is facing Pittsfield attorney Timothy Shugrue.
"We have worked to build trust and faith in the criminal legal system by making sure that the community understands the policies that the district attorney's office implements in ensuring that we get fair convictions," said Harrington. "We've implemented a Brady List to ensure that the evidence that we're presenting is credible and unbiased. We have implemented open discovery policies.”
Shugrue says he’d be tougher on crime than Harrington, and that his comparatively robust legal experience would give him the edge as DA.
“28 years I've been defending people. I've represented all sorts of people of different backgrounds: people of color, people of different, have a different gender issues, people with all different sexuality, and the bias and the prejudices that I've seen on a day-to-day basis, it's real," said Shugrue. "I've seen it. We need criminal justice reform, we do. But we need progress with it. So just kicking the can down the road isn't the answer. We need to help people that are in that system, to help them out. At the same time, we need tough prosecution.”
In the race for state Senate, longtime 2nd Berkshire District State Representative Paul Mark is being challenged by Williamstown resident Huff Templeton. Three-term incumbent Adam Hinds is stepping down at the end of the year after an unsuccessful bid for lieutenant governor. In the 1st Berkshire district, recent college graduate Paula Kingsbury-Evans is challenging incumbent State Representative John Barrett. State representatives Tricia Farley-Bouvier and Smitty Pignatelli are going unchallenged in the primary in the 3rd and 4th Berkshire districts, respectively.
Polls are open until 8 p.m. Tuesday.