By: Bhumika Choudhary, 2023 Rappaport Fellow
This summer, the Rappaport Fellows had the honor of meeting with Andrea Campbell, Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. As a Legal Intern with the Office’s White Collar and Public Integrity Division, I was excited for the Rappaport Center and Rappaport Institute Fellows to meet the captain of the ship. AG Campbell has diverse experiences including working as a legal services attorney for the EdLaw project, practicing employment law at Proskauer, working in Governor Deval Patrick’s Legal Counsel’s Office, and serving the public as General Counsel at the Metropolitan Area Planning Commission. In 2015, AG Campbell successfully ran for the Boston City Council becoming the first woman to represent District 4 on the Council. This was followed by her unanimous election as City Council President in 2018. AG Campbell is a trailblazer as the first Black woman to hold such titles.
AG Campbell shared her insights on public advocacy with all of us. She set a tone of gratitude, especially for the contribution of the Fellows, all of whom work in state or local government offices. The AG noted that she is one of the three Black women who have been elected to serve as a state Attorney General during a time where abortion rights and affirmative action is under attack. She shared, however, that she remains hopeful due to her faith and that she recognizes public service is her calling. AG Campbell also highlighted that collective lived experiences inform our approach to issues which is critical to building teams where individuals from various walks of life come together to serve. She added, “the best table looks like this one,” referring to the Fellows who represent a diverse and enthusiastic group of public-minded graduate students.
Most of the meeting was spent answering questions because AG Campbell wanted to hear from the Fellows. When asked about her transition from campaigning to being elected, AG Campbell emphasized the importance of keeping her promises especially given the distrust between constituents and government officials. Accordingly, delivering on reasonable expectations remains her priority and among other initiatives, the Office is doing so by setting up gun violence prevention and reproductive justice units. AG Campbell firmly believes that keeping her promises is how the office will build and maintain trust with the people.
Other topics discussed included housing disparity, the rise of antisemitism, and gun violence. AG Campbell’s common thread through all her responses was the importance of collaborating with people on the ground and using existing resources such as grants to address various issues. She believes the government should adopt a proactive approach instead of reactive. Fostering dialogues internally and externally, across the state and federally, to tackle issues collectively rather than individually, is a critical component to the structure of the AG’s Office. AG Campbell firmly believes that relationship building, delivery of promises, and varied lived experiences will allow the office to most effectively serve the Commonwealth.
Meeting AG Campbell was a memorable experience for the Fellows. In fact, she asked all the Fellows to introduce themselves at the outset and throughout the conversation, she would connect with the Fellows by referring to something they said during their introduction. For me, it was sharing that I had just received feedback from my supervisor prior to meeting with her and while encouraging the Fellows to maximize their summer experience to network and receive “feedback,” she winked at me.
Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy 