Memo to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
If you want to beat fellow Republican Donald Trump in New Hampshire, come to Massachusetts.
Once here you can campaign on promising, if elected president, to build two new Cape Cod Bridges to replace the functionally obsolete Bourne and Sagamore, which is something Massachusetts politicians have failed to do.
If you do so, the progressive Democrats on Martha’s Vineyard might even thank you for it and throw you an all is forgiven fundraiser.
Even the 50 illegal immigrants, mostly Venezuelans, that you flew into toney Martha’s Vineyard from Texas last year might, out of gratitude, attend. After all, they are doing so well in Massachusetts that none of them have plans to return home.
Perhaps even Barack Obama and John Kerry, who both have homes on MV, will silently be grateful, even though neither use the bridges, but fly in and out, unlike their help.
A Martha’s Vineyard fundraiser would show you are no stranger to the Cape or the Islands since you held a $5,000 a head fundraiser on neighboring Nantucket in August 2022.
Also, you could brag about building or rebuilding bridges in Florida following the devastation in the wake of Hurricane Ian. You, for instance, completed building of destroyed barrier island bridges in a matter of days, not years.
New Hampshire voters, many of whom rely on the Boston media, will take notice, as will millions of voters from across the country who vacation on the Cape and the Islands.
Besides the 260,000 residents of the Cape and the islands who rely on the bridges as vital connections to the mainland, some 5 million tourists come to the Cape annually. Collectively some 35 million vehicles cross the two bridges annually.
The bridges, owned and operated by the federal government, were built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 88 years ago. They were designed to last for 50 years. The engineers called the bridges “functionally obsolete” 15 years ago.
It is estimated to cost some $4 billion to replace the bridges which, after construction, would be turned over to the state. However, the Massachusetts delegation to Congress, all Democrats, has repeatedly failed to win any of the $4 billion it would cost to replace the bridges.
Outside of writing letters that end up in wastebaskets, Sens. Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren have been a total bust when it comes to securing the necessary federal funds even if the state comes up with half the money.
That epic failure also illustrates the ineffectiveness of Cape Cod U.S. Rep. Bill Keating, along with the rest of the state’s delegation to Congress. This includes Rep. Ritchie Neal of Springfield, the ranking Democrat (and former chairman) of the House Ways and Means committee.
So, Gov. DeSantis, you have nothing to lose coming to Massachusetts.
And had you come earlier you could have also visited Romolo Del Deo, the ageing artist the National Park Service kicked out of his shack in the sand dunes outside of Provincetown Thursday. He had lived there for 77 years. At age 94, Del Deo is older than the bridges and was around to watch them being built.
The Park Service wanted him out of the federally owned land. It maintains he had no right to be living there upon the death of the original owner of the shack who enabled his occupancy. A 90-day extension of the order to vacate expired last week.
As in the case of the bridges, letter writers Markey, Warren and Keating — instead of showing up at the shack — wrote to the National Park Service, urging it to allow Del Deo more time, as well as a chance to apply for an application to remain on the property.
The letter no doubt ended up in the same wastebasket.
Any political leader of substance would have personally visited Del Deo in his shack early on and have brought the needed attention to the federal government evicting a 94-year-old man form the only home he has known for 77 years.
And these are the politicians who are going to get us two new bridges when they can’t even save a single shack. Yeah. Right.
Peter Lucas is a veteran Massachusetts political reporter and columnist.