One that says something about the Massachusetts Senator as a good, decent guy.
Virginia Buckingham ran Bill Weld's 1996 campaign to unseat John Kerry and take the Senate seat for the Republicans. She ran a good campaign and was in there every day with the press releases and Republican message against Kerry. She was admired by Kerry for her skills in running that campaign. (Ahm, note for all, Kerry is not someone who generally holds grudges in politics.)
Buckingham was put in charge of the agency that runs Logan Airport after Paul Cellucci won the Massachusetts Governorship in 1998. She was the Administrator in charge in September 2001 when terrorists hijacked two jet airlines out of Logan Airport and used them to attack the World Trade Center towers and begin that awful day of terror. Of course, Buckingham got the blame for the lax security measures at Logan from everyone else in the State who sensed that she was now extremely radioactive, politically speaking. (Buckingham was forced to resign later on in the fall of 2001.)
In Sept 2002, Buckingham wrote a story for the Boston Globe about what it was like to go through the 9/11 attacks and what the reaction was like for her after. Here is a brief excerpt:
In Washington, President Bush rallied the nation with an emotional speech to Congress and took the political risk of visiting CIA headquarters to embrace and encourage the agency, under fire for possible intelligence lapses. Democratic leaders shunned partisanship and offered unconditional support for the war on terror. In New York City, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani put aside a bitter political battle with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and became the personification of a city's strength in grief. But in Boston, politics still ruled. We extended an invitation to the governor for her to visit Massport's operations center, but the offer was rejected. Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who was doing television interviews down the street at the Logan Hyatt, also declined. A week after the hijackings, Menino was quoted in the Globe as saying that Logan's new runway project should be shelved. The Boston Herald quoted a Massachusetts congressman admitting anonymously, "We are embarrassed that two of the planes came from Boston."
By contrast, US Senators Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry wanted a full tour and briefing at the operations center on September 13. They gave a pep talk to the federal, state, and local emergency workers manning the center, thanking them for their efforts and giving them an update on the national response. Their questions at a private briefing afterward were incisive and to the point. Kerry, with whom I had tangled politically in the past, most notably when I ran then-governor William Weld's Senate campaign against him in 1996, commented that this was a national problem, not a Logan problem. It was a statement he would make repeatedly over the next several weeks as he led the successful fight to federalize airport checkpoint security. Kennedy said he had told the media earlier that it was counterproductive to search for scapegoats. As Kerry was leaving the briefing, he asked me when we thought the airport would reopen. ``I know it's hard, but at some point you just have to make the call,'' he said and squeezed my shoulder. I nodded. He confirmed what I already knew - the decision was mine to make, and it was time to make it.
Boston Globe Magazine, Sept 8, 2002
Everybody in the State was content to let Virginia Buckingham take the blame for the security problems at Logan. Everybody ran away from her as fast as their legs could carry them. The Republicans deserted her like the proverbial rats from the ship. However, there were a few people who didn't try and blame everything that happened on her. John Kerry was one of them.
SHE HAS A FRIEND IN SENATOR KERRY
Date: December 16, 2001 Page: B8 Section: Metro/Region
If former Massport executive director Virginia Buckingham needs any job references in the future, she could list a couple of surprising names on her resume: Senator John F. Kerry and his wife, Teresa Heinz. Kerry came into contact with Buckingham in 1996, when she ran then-Governor William F. Weld's US Senate campaign against Kerry. Although Kerry won, the Democratic senator was impressed with Buckingham's drive, political instincts, and communication abilities, says someone who's heard him express his admiration. The same is true for Heinz, a Republican who admires Buckingham's ability to balance her career with raising a family. Buckingham resigned as executive director of the Massachusetts Port Authority after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and security questions about Logan.
Buckingham is a Republican. She has criticized Sen. Kerry in print for the Boston Herald whenever she thought he merited it. But I think she also knows a decent guy when she sees one. He was one of the few in Boston who didn't try to score political points off of her at one of the worst moments of her life. I am not that surprised to see this endorsement in the paper from her. Ah, they have a history. And, ah, really, there aren't any more at home like that. Sigh!
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