Far too often, elected officials behave like dinner guests who linger on towards midnight. You wish they'd simply pick up and leave on their own, but it soon becomes apparent that they require not just a polite nudge but a boot out the door. Too many enter elected positions with the notion that they'll stay glued to their coveted seats until the Grim Reaper pays a visit. Subtle hints are rarely enough to send chronically entrenched politicians packing, unless their job becomes a hopeless dead endand they have a bigger and better political job lined up.

Such as what happened to David Cohen in the State House. Cohen backed the wrong man for speaker in 1996, and so the victor, Tom Finneran, took away his legislative power and sentenced him to political exile.

Say what you want about Hizzoner, at least he had the common sense to know that his long reign as an influential state representative was up. So with no future in the State House he bailed out and upgraded to the mayor's office.

Kay Khan, a Newton legislator since 1994, followed the lead of Cohen and also backed the wrong candidate for speaker. She lost, too. Not that she had any clout to begin with. Her political fortunes rested with former Speaker Charlie Flaherty, who was indicted; David Cohen, who was exiled; and Ritchie Voke, who was expunged.

But unlike Cohen, who cut his losses and got out, Kay Khan lingered on despite having no prospect of a committee chairmanship, no chance to move up the political ranks, no real consideration for her bills and no shred of any political clout.

Suffice it to say that since her mentor, David Cohen, jumped ship in 1996, Kay Khan has been a political lame duck. She is now, has been and will remain politically irrelevant. She's irrelevant to the State Legislature, irrelevant as a representative for Newton. Khan doesn't matter in the State House.

For 10 years, she's been doing little more than taking up space on Beacon Hill. And it shows.

In the decade since she's been at the State House, only a handful of the many dozens of bills she's sponsored have even made it to the floor of the House for debate. She couldn't even muster up enough support for something as simple as Route 128 sound barriers for Waban. Her political stature is so low she had no role in securing state funding for Newton North.

Khan has a zero rating with Citizens for Limited Taxation, which means she's voted for every imaginable tax hike that came her way. Even after her Newton constituents approved a state income tax rollback on a statewide ballot question, she still lobbied to maintain the tax hike.

She isn't taken seriously at the State House. Neither, for that matter, are her Newton colleagues, Ruth Balser and Cynthia Creem. They're all viewed for what they are - far left liberals. In a liberal State Legislature, they're even too liberal for the liberals. They're more in sync with the Socialist Workers Party than the mainstream Democratic Party.

Khan has spent the last eight years wasting her time trying to oust the House Democratic leadership and railing against a succession of Republican governors. She's managed to alienate them all. And in the process, she's become a political nobody to the Democrats and a joke to the Republican governors. She's had zero political influence on Beacon Hill - none with the governor's line of Weld, Celucci, Swift or Romney; none with the former or current House Democratic leadership. Her office lies in the basement of the State House - the political basement - where she'll remain indefinitely.

At this point, Khan is about as welcome on Beacon Hill as a bag lady at Symphony Hall.

Question: How has Kay Khan's eight year relentless hostility towards the House Democratic leadership and all the Republican governors benefited Newton? Answer: it hasn't. And as a result she's become a political liability for Newton.

That's why she has to go. But like any self-indulged politician devoid of pride, she won't leave gracefully. She needs to get booted out. We need to vote her out. She's been so lazy on the job, she even forgot to file her nomination papers on time in the last election. And until now she's had at most token opposition. Those days are over. Because of one smart, classy, dignified private citizen who can and will matter for Newton in the State House.

Greer Tan Swiston.

Swiston is not a politician. Unlike the backroom Democratic City Committee deals that initially brought Khan to power, Swiston is not a political insider. She's not beholden to David Cohen. She doesn't socialize with political lackeys like School Committee Members-for-Life Anne Larner or Susan Heyman. She has no need to grovel before the Newton political establishment. She's not one of them. She's a political outsider beholden to no one.

And with the enthusiastic backing of the governor, she'll do well by Newton.

Swiston is a progressive Republican, not a George W. conservative Republican. She comes from that long line of altruistic progressive Republicans which our state - and city - have been famous for. Newton has produced some of the most acclaimed Republican leaders the state has ever seen. Governor Christian Herter. Senator Ed Brooke. Mayor Monte Basbas. Mayor Teddy Mann. All outstanding public servants. All beloved politicians. All progressive Republicans. We voted for who they were and how they represented us. Their party affiliation was always of second nature.

Diversity, it's a theme we take seriously in Newton. And we've always prided ourselves on being the type of maverick city that goes against the trend. Ed Brooke was the first black U.S. Senator since Reconstruction. Ed Brooke of Newton. He was one of us. He embodied us.

So what could today be more demonstrative of our tradition of celebrating diversity than electing Greer Tan Swiston, an MIT-educated engineer of Asian descent, to represent us on Beacon Hill? There's never been a single elected Asian-American, male or female, in the State House. Not one. It's long overdue. We could - and should - be the first city to send the first elected Asian-American to Beacon Hill.

Swiston has the charm, intelligence and charisma to reintroduce Newton to the State House. She'll be a crucial conduit to this Republican governor and the next. She'll give us the political clout we'll need on Beacon Hill, and command the respect and attention that our current whining all female delegation is lacking. She'll be the best political asset for Newton.

Ed Brooke started from Newton; Greer Tan Swiston could as well. She's has all the makings of a future U.S. Senator.

Yes, she's a Republican. But so were Ed Brooke, Bill Weld and Teddy Mann. And we were glad to vote for them.

Tom Mountain can be reached at tmount117@hotmail.com.