Lori Trahan’s alliances will come to haunt her in 2022

U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan of Westford does not have to worry much about a Democratic primary opponent in 2020. That is because she is doing a pretty good job of running against herself.

Still, even while she is entangled in a House Ethics Committee investigation into alleged 2018 campaign finance irregularities, the freshman is an odds-on favorite to beat back any primary challenge and cruise to re-election in November.

That investigation has already cost Trahan some $380,000 in lawyers’ fees. At issue is the $300,000 her husband gave to her campaign during the last days of the 2018 campaign for the open seat in the Lowell-centered 3rd Congressional District. Trahan won after a recount.

Trahan has maintained that the $300,000 did not come from him but came from a joint fund that gave her equal access to the money.

Regardless of the outcome of the probe, Trahan will survive in 2020, largely because she has worked hard, been accessible and delivered for the district. The only criticism comes from conservatives who charge that she is just another rubber-stamp progressive.

Trahan’s problem will come in 2022. That is when the state’s nine congressional districts will be redrawn following the 2020 census. The redistricting map will be put together by the Democratic-controlled Massachusetts

Legislature.

Ordinarily this should not present a problem. She’s a Democrat, as are all nine members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation.

But unlike the others, Trahan is the only one who has foolishly aligned herself with enemies of Democratic House Speaker Robert DeLeo, the man who will influence what the redrawn congressional districts will look like in 2022.

Trahan estranged the speaker when she supported state Sen. Diana DiZoglio of Methuen, who has made a career out of recklessly attacking DeLeo over his program of voluntary non-disclosure agreements in sexual harassment cases.

DiZoglio signed an NDA when she was fired as a legislative staffer in 2011. She did not accuse anyone of sexual harassment. That came years later when sexual harassment became a national issue.

With Trahan at her side, DiZoglio at a recent State House press conference, called DeLeo a “liar” over the issue, claiming that NDAs are aimed at buying silence even if signed voluntarily.

“Lori Trahan had no business supporting such a phony attack on the speaker,” one top Democrat said. “Trahan was conned by DiZoglio. The speaker won’t forget.”

Another legislative source said DeLeo “has gone out of his way to establish a formal policy to deal with sexual harassment complaints. If anyone is doing the harassing, it’s DiZoglio. She’s toxic.”

DiZoglio is known on Beacon Hill for her exaggerated claims of sexual harassment. Two years ago, her bill to ban NDAs was killed in the House. This year, her bill to ban NDA taxpayer money was sent to a “study” by her peers in the Senate. You do not get bills passed when you go around falsely attacking the speaker

The goal, however, is not to get legislation approved — the House already has a strong NDA policy — but to get publicity.

DiZoglio’s outrage stems back to 2011 when she, as a 26-year-old legislative staffer, was caught by a court officer alone with a legislator in the closed House chamber at 4 a.m.

The court officer reported the incident to DeLeo, who has since declined to talk about it.

DiZoglio was later fired, not by the speaker, but by the Republican representative she worked for. Her lawyer negotiated an NDA settlement. Neither DiZoglio nor the lawyer claimed sexual discrimination.

That was only alleged in 2018 when DiZoglio, elected to the House, first openly attacked DeLeo. She claimed that she had been sexually harassed and fired as a result of “false rumors” stemming from that night in the House chamber. Her remarks coincided with the birth of the #MeToo movement.

She got enough publicity to be elected to the Senate. Now, coinciding with the nasty Harvey Weinstein sexual assault trial, DiZoglio went after DeLeo again, claiming victimhood, and that she was forced to sign her 2011 NDA under duress, which the speaker denied.

It is bad to be accused of sexual harassment. It is worse when it is not true. This is what Trahan signed onto.