It was a rare whimsical moment in what has been a relentlessly angry five-month campaign. But fury is what has propelled Silber, 63, to the top of the polls, ahead of the two veteran politicians–former attorney general Francis X. Bellotti and Lt. Gov. Evelyn Murphy–who are his primary opponents. Silber’s candidacy galvanized voters who blame retiring Gov. Michael Dukakis and the Democratic establishment for the state’s descent from “Massachusetts Miracle” to recession, a possible billion-dollar deficit and the lowest bond rating of any state in the nation. “Voters are in a kick-ass mood and they see [Silber] as the guy,” says Ben Bradlee Jr., political editor of The Boston Globe. “He’s Archie Bunker with a Ph.D.”
In his brief political life–he is on leave as president of Boston University–Silber has offended most of the key constituencies in the Democratic Party. He likened Jesse Jackson’s oratory style to Hitler’s, remarked upon the “phenomenal” racism of some Jews, suggested Cambodians came to Massachusetts for its generous welfare benefits, and compared state employees to welfare recipients and Democratic leaders to white supremacists. It was no surprise that Silber chose to leave the convention podium to the tune of Bruce Springsteen’s “No Surrender.” “He’s realized there’s something to be gained by beating up on [the people] that barroom philosophers believe cause all the problems–welfare mothers, immigrants, politicians and state workers.” says Dan Payne, a media adviser with close ties to Dukakis.
Silber’s take-no-prisoners approach, or what he terms “my joyous exercise of First Amendment rights,” has sent reporters scurrying for synonyms for contentious. It has also enabled him to dominate the local news like no Massachusetts office seeker since Dukakis ran for president. Little of the attention has been flattering. Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr suggested a campaign slogan of “John Silber: A Bad Man for Bad Times” and said Silber on TV “provides 1,000 percent of your minimum daily adult requirement for Vitamin H[for Hate].” Boston Globe columnist Derrick Jackson compared Silber to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan; Globe cartoonist Paul Szep cast him as hate-comic Andrew Dice Clay. Silber bristles at such comments, believing that the media and his opponents are willfully distorting his record. “I’m running a campaign of hope that the disinformation experts have been trying to pass off as a campaign of hate, " he told NEWSWEEK.
Silber’s campaign has not been all provocation. A lifelong Democrat, he blends the New Deal faith of his Texas youth with the conservative fashion of the Reagan era–and the combination makes him decidedly unpredictable. While advocating stripping welfare benefits from teenage mothers who get pregnant again, Silber has long called for early-childhood education. Despite a tough stance on crime, he opposes capital punishment. And while Silber regards most abortions as “ethically indistinguishable from first-degree murder,” he believes it is a mistake to legislate that view because, lacking consensus, it erodes respect for the law. He has also offered some of the campaign’s meatiest ideas, from converting abandoned military bases into prison schools for troubled youngsters to establishing Japanese-style state partnerships with entrepreneurs. “Massachusetts has the finest concentration of basic researchers in this country,” he says. “We have to become an economic–not a welfare–magnet.”
New prominence: The primary campaign will inevitably focus attention on Silber’s 19-year stewardship of Boston University. He has presided over its growth from a sleepy city school with a $19 million endowment to a giant university with an endowment of almost $200 million–and one not afraid to compete with its more prestigious neighbors across the river in Cambridge. The appearance of two heads of state, George Bush and French President Francois Mitterrand, at last year’s commencement symbolized the university’s new prominence.
Silber’s tenure has also been extremely controversial. He broke B.U.’s faculty union and has targeted faculty he considers too left-wing. At the same time, he has embraced faculty and ideologically tinged programs of a more conservative bent, like a “journalism” course for Afghan rebels. Silber’s autocratic style has led to repeated clashes with student groups over a host of issues ranging from First Amendment rights to parietals. He has also been criticized for B.U.’s heavy investment in high-risk biotechnology.
Silber shows no regret and even less self-doubt. Asked by NEWSWEEK whether he had ever been wrong, Silber pondered and then replied, “In 1965 . . . " Certainly not in the last three presidential elections when he voted Republican. Bellotti, who won the convention endorsement for governor insists that Silber “doesn’t stand for things that the Democratic Party believes in. " But given the state’s Dukakis Debacle, that may be Silber’s greatest appeal.
