Newton Dems Oust Chairwoman For Racially Insensitive Remarks

NEWTON, MA — A local Democratic party official was voted out of her post Tuesday night, after party leaders said she was not only supporting Republican candidates for office but posting racially insensitive social media posts.

Janet Sterman, who served as chairwoman of Newton’s Ward 1 Democratic Committee since 2009, was voted out of office and removed as a member of the city committee at a party hearing at City Hall last night in a vote 15-4.

"I want the headline for this to be that racism is inappropriate and inexcusable in any setting anywhere regardless of political party. And we're proud to have taken action on our committee," Chairman of the Newton City Democratic Committee Shawn Fitzgibbons told Patch.

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Sterman and her lawyer Guive Mirfendereski did not immediately return requests for comment left on their voice mails and email Wednesday. But her attorney did tell the Boston Globe that Sterman’s public comments did not contradict the requirements of her office, and criticized the manner in which the vote was taken.

Fitzgibbons said that the Democratic Committee had seen Sterman over the past few years take to social media with what they viewed as an abuse of her leadership role on the committee, posting using words with racial undertones like "cotton pickin" and showing support for Republicans.

Her support for Republicans and the nature of her social media posts grew over the years, he said. "She was always a more conservative Democrat and we were fine with that," he said noting that members of the committee had asked her to resign, but he said instead she increased her rhetoric.

And then something changed, he said. The committee never before had enough members who agreed that Sterman was abusing her power as a leader of the committee, until President Trump was elected.

"Prior to Trump's election many democrats took for granted that things were mostly doing ok. And when he was elected, people wanting to suddenly get political started streaming in. Membership in the Democratic Committee has exploded. It's true everywhere. And it's true in Ward 1, previously didn't have the votes to negotiate the problem. Now the membership has doubled."

The Ward 1 Democratic Committee grew two fold to about 40 members and more seemed upset by what they saw, he said.

It's not rare for political committees to call meetings similar to the one they called yesterday, he said, but in order to change who is in a leadership role, there must be a two thirds vote by the membership.

Democratic committee members collected posts from Sterman's Facebook and Twitter feeds as well as the Newton Republican City Committee's Facebook page they said violate rules of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, the Newton Democratic City Committee and the Newton Ward 1 Democratic Committee that specifically prohibit support for Republican candidates by a member of a Democratic Ward Committee. They posted them online here.

They collected posts they deemed deeply concerning to NDCC officers because they are hurtful to minorities and also posted them online.

"I think she's not understanding that when you assume a leadership role in a party the words that you say are not just your own, they represent the party," said Fitzgibbons. "The issue for us is that the person elected was pretty much doing the exact opposite of what her role was. We were fine with her staying as a member, we just didn't want her to be the chair."

The meeting was convened by State Democratic committee members and the local Newton committee called it. But the decision fell to those who are officially members of Ward 1.