Voting activist joins Patrick campaign

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deval L. Patrick yesterday tapped prominent activist and voting rights organizer Ron Bell as a deputy campaign manager, signaling an aggressive effort to reach black and young voters in and around Boston.

Bell is seen as a potentially powerful vote-getting force in the city. He lives in Milton, but is well connected in Boston neighborhoods, including Dorchester, where he is a deacon at Greater Love Tabernacle church. He is founder of Dunk the Vote, a voting advocacy group that has registered some 35,000 black, Latino, and Asian voters in Massachusetts. Last year, he was recruited by Mayor Thomas M. Menino's administration to help make city elections more accessible to non-English-speaking voters.

''By me coming on, it will help reach the invisible vote, the young people, the hip-hop community, not just blacks," Bell said yesterday. ''The theme of my life has been bringing people together of diverse backgrounds and it'll be an opportunity for me to tap into the networks and relationships I've built over the years. I know Boston. I know the state of Massachusetts."

Yesterday, Bell left his job as executive director of Dunk the Vote, which is nonpartisan.

The campaign of Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly, Patrick's chief rival, said it is also pursuing minority votes.

In Boston, minority candidates have had increasing success and voters in black, Hispanic, and Asian neighborhoods have been seen as growing forces.

Patrick, who seeks to become the state's first black governor, has courted Boston's black middle class, appearing at social gatherings and networking events for black professionals. He has recently held several fund-raisers at the homes of black supporters.

The campaign has encountered resistance among some black clergy, however, because of his support of gay marriage and abortion rights.

However, at least some members of Greater Love Tabernacle, a black Boston congregation, threw their support behind Patrick after he spoke at their church in February, stating that the black community has bigger issues than the debate over gay marraige.

''It is absolutely essential for us," John Walsh, Patrick's chief campaign manager, said of Bell's arrival. ''People know him well in Boston, but he's got networks in the communities across Massachusetts."

Reilly, considered the front-runner in the race for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, is widely considered to have a strong base of black support. He has powerful black allies in former US attorney Wayne Budd and former Suffolk district attorney Ralph C. Martin.

Reilly, who is white, will rely upon the history he already has with Boston's communities of color, said Corey Welford, campaign spokesman.

''Tom needs no introduction in any communities," Welford said. ''He's worked with them; he's produced for them. People know he's been there for them, and that's what he'll do as governor."

Spokesmen for both candidates said they will work to garner votes from all communities, including whites.

Patrick's campaign created Bell's position after the two met through a mutual acquaintance over the winter, Bell said.

Months later, Patrick spoke at the Greater Love Tabernacle church.

Bell said the two started talking and he became excited by the idea of working with a partisan organization.

Bell said he thinks that Boston's minority communities and young adults make for a strong voting bloc that has historically been underserved and could be a sleeping giant.

Bell also plans to introduce Patrick to potential constituents who want their governor to fix Boston's violence problems.

''The problems going on in Boston will be hitting Springfield or Worcester or already are," said Bell.

''Unless we nip this problem in the bud in Boston, it's going to spread across the state."

Adrienne P. Samuels can be reached at asamuels@globe.com.