Alan Khazei

Candidate Profile: Alan Khazei

By Jenna Pizzi

Boston University Statehouse Program

BOSTON–Alan Khazei calls himself a social entrepreneur, not a politician. But he says his race for U.S. Senate is the next logical step in his quest for change.

“I’ve come to realize that, as President Kennedy said, ‘politics is the highest form of public service,’ because that’s where our decisions get made,” says Khazei.

When Khazei waves to crowds at campaign appearances a red, plastic watch pokes from beneath his suit jacket.

The watch face is adorned with the logo for City Year, an organization that gives young people the opportunity to volunteer a year to community service. Khazei founded City Year with his Harvard College roommate Michael Brown in 1988 from a small office in Cambridge.

“We were assigned to be roommates freshman day and we became best friends and we talked about how we could change the world together,” said Khazei.

City Year has expanded to 19 cities in the United States and Johannesburg, South Africa.

Khazei’s red watch also has “Be The Change” scrawled across the band. Be The Change, Inc. is an organization Khazei founded to help non-profit and grassroots organizations find public policy solutions.

“This watch represents my past and my present,” Khazei said.

Khazei, 48, is one of the lesser known of four Democrats vying for the party’s nomination. He has a law degree from Harvard, was raised in Bedford, N.H., and the Boston area. His mother was a nurse; his father was a doctor who emigrated from Iran.

“[My mother] raised me with this wonderful philosophy that every single person has something unique to give and to offer,” Khazei said. “We need to try to help people realize their potential. A life of giving is a life worth living.”

Khazei has tried to give as much as possible. His wife Vanessa Kirsch is also a social entrepreneur and founder of New Profit, Inc., an organization to help fund non-profits. She created two other non-profits; Public Allies and the Women’s’ Information Network.

Khazei and Kirsch live in Brookline with their son and daughter.

Khazei is not a career politician. His legislative experience comes in working with politicians to pass service legislation.

“Even though I haven’t been in politics I’ve been in public service,” he said. “I have a 22 year track record of making big change. I know how to do it.”

He worked with Bill Clinton in the creation of AmeriCorps, a national service organization partially modeled after City Year. More recently, Khazei worked with President Obama, Sen. Kennedy and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, to pass the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which gives Americans volunteer opportunities.

“His legislative experience is very cool because he did it as a non-elected official,” said Marianne Kulow, one of Khazei’s Harvard classmates.

Khazei’s has surprised some political cynics by raising $1.1 million, making him second in the fundraising sweepstakes to Attorney General Martha Coakley’s $2.1 million. The success speaks to Khazei’s connections around the country.

Maxwell Kennedy, the son of Robert F. Kennedy, flew from Los Angeles to endorse Khazei. Many City Year alumni and Harvard friends have supported his campaign.

“The people who are supporting him are people from college who are most likely to have ‘Eew, yuck that guy’ memories. But they don’t,” Kulow said. “I honestly think he has a chance at winning.”

Khazei refuses to take any money from lobbyists or political action committees. He says the lobbyist money is “polluting our system.”

“The powers that be don’t want me to be successful because I will raise hell,” Khazei said. “I’m a reformer and I’ve been a reformer all my life. I’ve always done what I think is right and I’ve always pushed for big change.”

Because of his community organizer background, Khazei’s calls his campaign Obama 3.0. But unlike Obama’s long run for president, Khazei will have less time to catch on. It is less than two months before the Dec. 8 primary.

“I’m not Barack Obama. I’m not Ted Kennedy. I’m me,” said Khazei of his campaign strategy. “This is a grassroots campaign for someone who’s been counted out.”