But coming just days after Republican Gov. Jane Swift's historic choice of an out gay man - former Melrose Mayor Patrick Guerriero - as her candidate for Lt. Governor, the announcement that another gay Republican was launching a bid for statewide office was news. Grabauskas told Bay Windows he was not surprised by the inquiries, but found himself challenging reporters on their definition of "openly gay."
"I said, 'What does 'openly gay' mean?'" the 38 year-old Grabauskas explained. "And they said, 'Well it's never been in the paper.' I said 'Well that's interesting, that's an interesting definition because it's quite public for people I work with, my family, my friends, my partner's family and friends.' It's never been anything that I would say I've worn on my sleeve, but it's never anything I've certainly ever hidden. If you came into my office you would have seen on the wall next to my desk a picture of my partner and I on one of our vacations. Nothing big, but - and many of the State House press corps certainly as I've gotten to know them, where it would be beyond the issues and talking personal stuff, they would know."
Though Grabauskas understands the heightened interest in the issue because of Guerriero's candidacy, he adds, "To be honest with you, [being gay is] probably not very relevant being state treasurer. I don't vote on social issues - my stand on capital punishment or something isn't going to be something that's going to make it - last time I checked no state treasurer's ever executed anybody or taken a vote on things. It's probably not as relevant when it just comes to managing money, managing the office well and trying to be honest and upfront with people. I'm not in a position to sign or veto legislation...which probably is the reason that I think it's much more relevant if you're a legislative candidate or if you're running for governor or lt. governor."
The first-time candidate is more interested in talking about his track record as Registrar of Motor Vehicles, where he instituted a series of reforms aimed at making the agency more user-friendly. Grabauskas, who was appointed to the position two years ago by then-governor Paul Cellucci, cut the average wait time - the biggest complaint leveled at the Registry-which often stretched to over an hour. "Last month our average wait time across the state was under ten minutes," he noted, attributing the shorter waits to the expanded hours of operation implemented on his watch, as well as the online services now available at the agency's Web site. "In 1999 there were about 37, 000 people that did transactions online and in 2001, the last report I got...the people of Massachusetts performed half a million transactions online. So that's a half a million people not waiting in line, which helps reduce the wait times, and a half a million people who also weren't trying to call through on our phone systems. It's self service 24 hours a day, seven days a week."
Grabauskas, who is facing businessman Bruce Herzfelder in the Republican primary, said the management skills and focus on customer service that he put to use improving the Registry will also serve him in the role of state treasurer. "[W]ithout question the treasurer is the CEO of a multibillion dollar corporation, a government corporation perhaps, but there are five-hundred plus employees. You're dealing with stewarding the people's money, making investments on behalf of the pension funds, you're running the lottery system, you're looking at trying to return abandoned property to people, you're administering the U Fund, which is a plan that helps people to invest - to say, put kids or grandkids through college. And when you look at what I've done at the Registry most recently as my experience, the Registry is a billion dollar public or government corporation of which I've been the CEO. And I think I have a lot to talk about in terms of strong management credentials - that I can bring that same kind of energy and skill to the treasurer's office." Democrats in the race for treasurer include Beverly state Rep. Mike Cahill, Norfolk County Treasurer Tim Cahill and former state Rep. Jim Segal. The Green Party's Jamie O'Keefe is also making a bid for the seat.
Prior to taking over at the Registry, Grabauskas served as director of the state's Office of Consumer Affairs, a post he took over from Swift when she left to run for lt. governor with Cellucci in 1998. He's managed election campaigns for GOP state Sens. Brian Lees and Richard Tisei in addition to serving as chief of staff for former state Sen. Mary Padula. Padula later recruited Grabauskas to be her deputy secretary when she was appointed to then-Governor William Weld's cabinet. In 1995 a job with the International Republican Institute took him to Lithuania for a year, where he worked with newly emerging political parties and candidates running for parliament. The job also offered Grabauskas, whose father is a Lithuanian immigrant, a chance to dig into his ethnic roots.
His roots in politics and public service also stem from his family tree. Though his parents were apolitical, the Central Mass. native, who earned a degree in political science from Holy Cross College, describes his mother's family as "good Irish Catholic Democrats from Millbury"-his maternal grandmother served as chair of the town's Democratic Committee-while his father's parents were staunch Republicans. "It was kind of weird," Grabauskas recalled. "This is not a joke - I'd go to my mother's parents house and they had a picture of John Kennedy on the wall. I'd go to my father's parents' house and they had a picture of Ronald Reagan on the TV set. ...Maybe it skips a generation, but I've always just loved government and politics, I think it's kind of exciting. I think it's right that we should be involved, so I've been involved ever since."
Though he believes that sexual orientation is irrelevant to the role of a state treasurer, Grabauskas, who lives in Ipswich with his partner of 13 years, Paul Keenan, is well aware of its relevance given that like Guerriero's, his candidacy presents an opportunity to become the first openly gay statewide elected official in the state's history. But until now, he laughingly admits, he's never really thought about it. "I mean insofar as I've always felt like people have been generally very good, in fact they've been great, about the fact that I've been judged on what I've done. But being gay is certainly part of who I am and to the degree that I, I don't know, being the first whatever, can break a wall down for other things, that's great." However, Grabauskas points to other politicians, such as his friend Bob Ebersole, an out gay Republican who successfully ran for town clerk in the "tiny town" of Lunenburg back in 1984, as being more a forerunner than he is. "I can look back and see that people said, 'Who cares. Bob's a great guy, he's smart, he does a terrific job,'" he says. "But it also introduced people...who might not know someone who's gay, or not know that they know someone who's gay, that you know, we're people too. And we do good jobs. Bob's one of those people that I look up to for the fact that he was a real forerunner. The nice thing is I don't really feel like today I'm so much of a forerunner. I think people are much more accepting today and that's thanks to people like Bob."
Laura Kiritsy is a staff writer at Bay Windows. Her
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