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Andrea Cabral's campaign for sheriff has received endorsements from every elected official of color in the city. Sen. Edward Kennedy and Massachusetts Democratic Party Chairman Phil Johnston are behind her effort.
But no supporter is worth more than one who will go to work for a candidate.
Lisa Doe, who spent four months in South Bay last year on a probation violation, was at Cabral's Roxbury office last week, folding campaign literature for the sheriff. For Doe, the decision to help Cabral was not a hard one.
"She's the only sheriff I saw walking around the unit," Doe said of Cabral. "She walks around and introduces herself."
Doe said she first saw Cabral while she was eating in the mess hall. The corrections officers, who then allowed the prisoners five minutes to eat their meals, were calling on the inmates to finish when Cabral came in.
"She said 'no, they should be allowed to eat until they're finished,'" Doe recalls. "'No one should be forced to eat their food in five minutes.'"
Cabral's campaign, which has kicked into high gear with the September 14 primary less than a week away, has attracted scores of volunteers in the black community.
Political observers interviewed by the Banner say the infusion of community support is sorely needed by the campaign, which has suffered from an onslaught of bad publicity in the daily papers.
News articles have blasted Cabral for allegations she prevented military reserve officers from accruing sick and vacation time while overseas, fired an officer who questioned the department's preparedness for the Democratic Convention and missed payments to the city's pension fund.
Cabral inherited problems, including a $5 million...