.08 Acres (and a Donkey)

Freudian Slip at PolitickerMA

2008-11-24T08:22:00.002-05:00

I got my first chuckle this morning out of this unfortunate typo in this morning's "Wake Up Call" email from PolitickerMA. Here's the screen capture from my gmail account. See if you can spot the mistake:

Off to Vote for "Obaba"

2008-11-04T17:57:00.001-05:00

Future Democrat driving to the polls in a zero-emissions vehicle.

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T20:27:00.005-04:00

Not quite ready for Batman yet, so this year he's a Bat Toddler.

29th Middlesex Unofficial Results

2008-09-17T07:20:00.005-04:00

Here are the unofficial results for the 29th Middlesex district election -- all write ins.

	Watertown	Cambridge	Total	%
Steve Corbett	298	20	318	5.8%
Julia Fahey	1555	563	2118	38.8%
Jon Hecht	2152	854	3006	55.1%
Josh Weisbuch	9	1	10	0.2%

Jon Hecht wins both communities convincingly -- by a wide enough margin that a recount should not be necessary. I hope to have some more to say about this shortly.

It also looks like the Republicans could not scrounge up 150 votes to get a challenger on the ballot for the general, so unless someone wants to wage an even bigger sticker campaign, Jon will be our next State Representative (in General Court).

Congratulations to Jon!

What Might a County Caucus Look Like?

2008-09-09T08:09:00.001-04:00

Now that Middlesex County Register of Probate John Buonomo has stepped down from office in the face of theft charges, it is worth spending a little time discussing what might happen if Buonomo wins the primary, but then withdraws his name from the General Election ballot. I like to think that I have a little bit of knowledge about the process, having gone through it earlier in the year after Rachel Kaprielian resigned from her position as state representative to become our new Registrar of Motor Vehicles.

As the newspapers are reporting, it is too late for Buonomo to withdraw his name from the primary ballot. Since his is the only name that will appear and this race is so low-profile, it is not inconceivable that he will get more votes than any write-in challenger. WBUR this morning was reporting that should he win the primary, Buonomo would withdraw his name from the general election. Democrats throughout the county would then be able to fill the ballot line via a caucus, as provided for in Mass General Laws chapter 53, sections 49 and 14. Now, I am not a lawyer, and my eyes glaze over each time I try to scan through that text, so if I'm mistaken someone should correct me. As I understand it, each community in Middlesex would get a number of delegate seats to the caucus according to this formula from MGL chapter 53, section 14:

Each ward and town committee in the wards and towns compromising such a district within the limits of more than one municipality shall, as occasions arise, choose from its members delegates to fill vacancies as hereinbefore provided, in such manner as it may determine by its rules and regulations, to a number not exceeding one for each five hundred votes, or fraction thereof, cast in its ward or town for the candidate of the party for governor at the last state election, and shall forthwith notify the state secretary of the delegates so chosen.

So, each town and ward gets to select as many as 1 delegate for each 500 votes (rounded up) that Deval Patrick got in 2006 in that locality. My back-of-the-envelope math (using Deval votes from here) shows the breakdown thusly:

City/Town	Deval Votes	Delegates	City/Town	Deval Votes	Delegates
Cambridge	26,269	53*	Stoneham	4,387	9
Newton	23,483	47*	Sudbury	4,254	9
Somerville	16,004	33*	Westford	4,100	9
Arlington	12,854	26	Hudson	3,501	8
Lowell	11,574	24*	Wayland	3,775	8
Framingham	11,076	23	Wilmington	3,857	8
Medford	11,192	23*	Ashland	3,118	7
Lexington	9,086	19	Bedford	2,993	6
Waltham	9,082	19*	Hopkinton	2,768	6
Malden	8,192	17*	Maynard	2,537	6
Natick	7,550	16	North Reading	2,573	6
Watertown	7,405	15	Weston	2,539	6
Chelmsford	6,553	14	Groton	2,171	5
Woburn	6,611	14*	Lincoln	1,820	4
Belmont	6,329	13	Littleton	1,929	4
Melrose	6,221	13*	Pepperell	1,923	4
Billerica	5,740	12	Stow	1,624	4
Marlborough	5,824	12*	Tyngsborough	1,829	4
Acton	5,069	11	Ayer	1,162	3
Concord	5,320	11	Boxborough	1,124	3
Everett	5,235	11*	Carlisle	1,458	3
Wakefield	5,284	11	Sherborn	1,148	3
Winchester	5,022	11	Shirley	1,069	3
Reading	4,881	10	Townsend	1,345	3
Tewksbury	4,925	10	Ashby	581	2
Burlington	4,391	9	Dunstable	535	2
Dracut	4,319	9	Holliston	739	2

Note, however, that the cities in the above list which have ward committees (starred in the above list) will have their delegates calculated by ward, not by the city total. The count listed there is a minimum because the rounding by ward may produce more delegates. For example, in a fictional city with 2 ward committees where Deval Patrick received 1020 votes, if the ward split was 710/310, the city would receive three delegates (two for ward 1, one for ward 2). If the split, however, was 510/510, the city would get four (two from each ward) thanks to the ward-based formula.

How are these delegates chosen and how do they come to their decision? On that, the law is generally silent, so the Democratic Party rules for caucuses apply. Now, not all provisions for those caucuses can be enforced -- particularly the requirement about giving proper notice. Here are the important points:

Anyone registered with the Democratic party as of Dec 31st, 2007 was eligible to serve as a delegate to the caucus, but only members of the Democratic Town Committee could vote on who would become a delegate
Delegates selected by committees must be gender balanced
The selection of delegates must be done within the jurisdiction of the Town/Ward
10% of eligible delegates at the caucus constitutes a quorum
Ballotting at the caucus continues until one candidate gets 50% of the vote plus one
The caucus is subject to the open meeting law

Of course, given the scope of this potential caucus, more formalized rules for this specific process may be forthcoming from the Party.

Keep in mind that all this must happen between the time Buonomo withdraws from the ballot -- no sooner than the morning of September 17th, the day after the election -- and September 25th at 5PM, the Secretary of State's deadline to fill vacancies.

Now, when I think about what this means to me personally, as the chair of a Democratic Town Committee, I'm wondering exactly how many people I'd be able to convince to show up on one or two days notice to pick delegates for a caucus that would decide such a low-profile position. My guess is very few. We may be able to fill our slate of delegates, but barring anyone from Watertown running, I imagine that we won't send as many as we're allotted. My hunch is that this will be true in communities throughout the county.

So, what does this mean for the election? Well, in one sense, it's a safety valve in the case that Buonomo manages to win. In another way, it represents a strategic choice for activists. What should we be rooting for? Is it better to let Buonomo win and trigger the caucus, or is it better to spend energy trying to beat him with a write-in? Given the estimated number of delegates, Tom Concannon of Newton is poised to do well in any caucus. A Cambridge or Somerville candidate also has the potential to get a large number of votes. Just on a geographic basis, it seems to me that in the caucus process a candidate from inside 128 would have the advantage over someone from Lowell or Framingham, but it would all depend on what communities managed to pull delegates together in the short time available.

In all, I'm probably rooting for the caucus to happen, if only because I think it would be fascinating. Personally for me, it would mean more hassle, but if it leads to any sort of formalizing or reform of the caucus-to-fill-vacancies process, I'm in favor of it.

Open Letter to my Belmont Neighbors

2008-06-17T22:08:00.001-04:00

Dear Belmont Neighbors,

I can understand why you all rejected a Prop 2 1/2 override this month that would pay for road repairs. No one, after all, likes to pay higher taxes.

That said, you quite possibly have the worst roads in the Commonwealth. Yesterday, driving to work, I did not even realize that I had a flat tire until I got to Route 2. I have grown so used to the bumping and shaking and noises while driving your roads daily that it was only after I got on the highway and the shaking didn't stop that I figured out something was wrong.

It's not my place to tell you folks how to run your town, but if you drive through your town as I do, I have to imagine that the amount you're paying on tires, alignment, etc has to be more than any tax increase spread over the next ten years.

Becoming an Insider

2008-06-16T06:15:00.001-04:00

About two years ago, David from Blue Mass Group accused me of being a poltical insider in part because I was attending that year's Democratic State Convention. To me, this was quite laughable since the reason I was even able to attend the convention was that I had just organized a coup, defeating the candidate of real party insiders in his hometown caucus.

Two years later, things are very different. In March I was elected the chair of my Democratic Town Committee. Since then, I've lobbied on behalf of others for political appointments, I've been inside the proverbial smoke-filled room, my local paper has even used the dreaded I-word to describe me. I'm afraid that David is finally right. I have become a party insider.

I can even pinpoint the moment the transformation occurred. It wasn't when I became chair of the town committee, though that certainly contributed. Still, there are plenty of members and even chairs of town and ward committees who would still consider themselves party outsiders. It wasn't even when I was calling town councilors, trying to smooth the way for the committee's picks for election commissioner. That was as much me trying to avoid having to find more volunteers to put forward as it was advocating for specific people.

No, the moment I became a party insider, at least in my own mind, was May 21st, 2008, at roughly one or two o'clock in the afternoon. It was then that I received a phone call from my now-former State Rep, Rachel Kaprielian, who informed me that she was leaving to become the new Registrar of Motor Vehicles. This news was so unexpected that I could scarcely process it. At first I thought she was telling me that she was going down to the RMV to renew her drivers license or something and I couldn't figure out why I needed to know that. Eventually it became clear that she was resigning her seat at the state house to head up the RMV and that due to the timing of her appointment and the fact that she was unopposed in the Democratic primary, the Democratic Town Committee would have the opportunity to hold a caucus and replace her on the ballot with the candidate of our choice. As chair, it was my responsibility to guide this process.

The fact that the DTC had any sort of legal power was almost as much of a surprise as Rachel's abrupt resignation -- and not just to me, but to most of the other people I talked to over the next two weeks as well. In fact, the first time I called the Secretary of the Commonwealth's office to try and figure out what our responsibilities were, even they had never heard of the caucus option. This, unfortunately, left me in sort of a limbo for about a day and a half -- a long time in the age of instant communication. In the meantime, I was getting calls and emails from reporters, DTC members, potential candidates, and other interested parties and all I could tell them was that I would let them know the details as soon as I found them out myself. The only thing that was clear in the early going was that we'd have an unfathomably short turnaround time on this.

With the help of state party officials, state election officials and my crack legal team, we pieced together how the process was supposed to happen and who was responsible for all of the moving parts. Since the 29th Middlesex contains all but one precinct of Watertown and all of Ward 9 in Cambridge, our town committee and their ward committee were each responsible for picking delegates to a caucus that would be called by the state party in proportion to the vote that the Democratic candidate received in the last gubernatorial election. All of a sudden, I was glad I did all that GOTV work for Deval -- it turned out that Watertown got 18 delegates and Cambridge got seven. The caucus would be empowered to replace Rachel's name on the ballot. If the caucus failed to meet or failed to nominate someone, the primary ballot would remain blank and whoever got the most write-in votes over 150 would become the Democratic nominee. All this had to be completed by 72 weekday hours after the last day to withdraw names from the ballot, June 4th at 5PM.

The exact method of choosing delegates to this caucus is not specifically outlined in party rules or bylaws. We were instructed to use the method of selecting delegates to the senate district caucuses where Democratic State Committee members are chosen (another arcane process) as a guideline. Those rules allowed only town and ward committee members to vote for delegates, though 20-year and associate members are permitted to participate in that selection. This posed a slight problem since our records of associate memberships were sketchy and there was a challenge to our official list of 20-year members, forcing me to spend an evening sorting through forty years of town committee election results. These rules also required that we hold the delegate selection meetings within the jurisdiction of our town and ward committees, which ruled out having a joint meeting between Watertown and Cambridge (unless we wanted to conduct it in Mount Auburn Cemetery).

Watertown picked our delegates at our next DTC meeting, though I didn't really intend for that to happen. The plan was to lay out the process we were going to follow at our meeting so that everyone knew the rules we were playing by. Then candidates would have three or four days to line up who they wanted to be delegates and have time to lobby individual DTC members.

It didn't work out that way, though. Early on in the packed DTC meeting it became apparent that the majority of members did not feel comfortable putting someone on the ballot, which would essentially anoint Rachel's successor without a general vote. Nearly all those in attendance spoke against replacing Rachel's name, and we passed a near-unanimous motion (none opposed, two abstentions) declaring that the DTC wanted to leave the ballot blank. We spent the bulk of the meeting after that motion trying to figure out the best way to achieve that goal. Since the quorum requirements at the caucus where a potential replacement would be named were so low (10%, or three attendees), we could not afford to boycott the caucus by not selecting anyone to attend. Instead what we did was elect delegates with the instructions that they try to ensure that no name is placed on the ballot and that they would only be seated on condition that Cambridge Ward 9 also selected delegates.

The discussion at our meeting was so one-sided that most of us assumed that the Cambridge delegation would make the same decision and that there wouldn't be a caucus at all. After all, our delegates would only be seated if Cambridge picked theirs, and Watertown had enough of a majority of delegates that we would have the votes to get the outcome we wanted. On Saturday, however, the Cambridge Ward 9 Committee decided to select delegates and so the caucus was on.

The caucus was held June 3rd in the Watertown Town Hall, with State Senator Steve Tolman as chair. Originally I had thought that the caucus would be a quick affair, with the Watertown delegation making a motion to adjourn shortly after the meeting opened. After calling around to some of the Cambridge delegation, however, I changed my mind. Several of the delegates from Cambridge felt that they were shut out of the process and that Watertown had decided what was going to happen regardless of what they thought. This was a fair criticism, though I think it was more of a consequence of the process -- we couldn't have a joint meeting to select delegates and we couldn't expect Cambridge to know anything about Watertown politics (and vice versa). I thought that at least we owed it to the Cambridge delegation to explain why we thought the way we did, even if we disagreed on what we should do. So, I told my committee's delegates that we should allow a debate, even though we had the votes to end the meeting before it began.

This was not necessarily a popular decision with my committee. The danger was that if the Cambridge delegates were to open nominations and nominate a candidate, we could potentially end up in a situation where someone had to win. I was accused of being naive, and threatened (in jest) with being strung up from the town hall chandeliers if someone ended up on the ballot. Luckily for me, things worked out pretty much how I planned. We had a short debate -- about 45 minutes -- on the merits of naming someone to the ballot or not, and at the end the caucus voted 19 to 6 to leave the ballot blank.

Personally, I was glad it worked out the way it did. Even though I'm now officially an insider, that doesn't mean I have to act like a party boss. Not to be overconfident, but the 29th Middlesex is a strong Democratic district. To put someone on the ballot unopposed in the Democratic primary and potentially unopposed (depending on whether someone wins the Republican, Green or Working Families party primaries as a write-in) in the general is basically appointing someone to the State House for at least two years and then giving them the power of incumbency for any challenges in 2010. It just did not seem necessary to do this, at least to me. It would have been different if this were a general election with a Republican opponent on the ballot, but the stakes seem lower since this is a primary and we have a number of good potential candidates.

Happy Father's Day

2008-06-15T10:41:00.003-04:00

I hope all you fellow dads have a happy Father's Day today!
Gosh, it got dusty in here!

Super Tuesday Today

2008-02-05T09:26:00.000-05:00

I just got back from casting my Super Tuesday primary ballot. There was no line, no wait at my polling place, though the poll workers said there had been a pretty steady stream of people. There was no presence for any candidate, but there was a fun moment when a police officer was walking with a little boy (we vote at a middle school) down the hallway in the other direction saying "Well, if you do well in school, sure you could grow up to be president. Do you like talking to people? If you're going to be a politician, you're going to have to talk to a lot of people."

It's probably too late for any endorsements to have any effect, and in all honesty, they probably wouldn't have any effect anyway, but I voted for Barack Obama. I had had a hard time picking between the candidates early on in the election cycle, but I suppose I knew that I'd eventually settle on Obama. Other people have made the case for him better than I could, so I'll just say that in the end, it's because I'm still a Deval Patrick supporter. Because of Deval I went from someone who follows politics to someone who is involved in politics. My hope is that through the Obama campaign, thousands of other people across the country like me will have that switch turned on and become active. I will happily vote for Senator Clinton in the general should she win the nomination, after all the differences in policy between the candidates are so minute, but I don't think that she has the ability to be a transformative force in American politics -- if only because we've seen what a Clinton administration looks like already.

Plus, as an added bonus, I'd like to think that I'm canceling out Sal DiMasi's vote.

There are two other races on the ballot here in Watertown. The Democratic State Committee holds its elections at the same time as the the Presidential election, and in the Second Suffolk & Middlesex state senate district, the Democratic State Committeewoman seat is open. I wrote in our state Representative, Rachel Kaprielian for that position. She currently holds that seat, but due to the change in date for the primary missed the deadline to get her name on the
ballot. Rachel has been active on the State Committee and I think it's important that we don't lose her progressive voice setting the direction of the Democratic party.

In addition, 35 members of the Watertown Democratic Town committee are up for reelection. I'm a member of the slate of candidates and we're running unopposed. My dream is that I'll get more votes in Watertown than Mitt Romney, but my guess is that most people who pull a Democratic ballot will end up skipping the right side of the ballot (I know I did in 2004).

Update from Mrs. sco at the home front:

The Clinton campaign has been calling every five minutes. Finally I
picked up and said we already voted. They asked if we voted for Hillary and I said I didn't know who you voted for. I don't know why. I mean, we've made those calls. I guess I just didn't feel like telling her anything useful because I was annoyed at all the calls.

Superbowl Pregame Baby Blogging

2008-02-03T17:21:00.001-05:00

He doesn't have any Patriots gear, but he's wearing his baby football overalls as he eats his first Super Bowl crackers.

Go Pats!

Update 10:07PM: Crap.

.08 Acres Turns Three

2008-02-01T07:59:00.000-05:00

Three years ago today, I made my first post to this blog, which detailed how Mitt Romney's Commonwealth PAC was dumping money into early primary states. As of now, all he has to show in the states he worked so hard in is a single win in his birth state of Michigan. He may yet win the GOP nomination, but that's a pretty poor track record for over three years of campaign work.

In some ways, you could describe this blog the same way -- three years of work and not much to show for it. This blog-year started off with the birth of our son, the defeat of the marriage ban, about half-dozen special elections, and ended with a four-month hiatus and me pretty much ignoring my New Year resolutions.

The blog has undergone a few cosmetic changes as well. I've added categories to every post and now have a sidebar with some more dynamic content. Still, I've noticed that this year I had fewer posts where I was able to do the kind of detailed analysis that I had done on issues in previous years and once again I failed to blog about my experiences working on a local campaign.

If anyone is still reading the blog, here are some of my favorite posts from the past year:

Interviews with then-statehouse-candidate Jim O'Day, Lisa Williams of H2OTown, Massachusetts insurance expert Stephen D'Amato, Boston City Council candidate Susan Passoni, and State Senate candidate Jeff Ross
Interviews with the Democratic candidates to replace former Congressman Marty Meehan: Rep. Jamie Eldridge, David O'Brien, Rep. Barry Finegold, former Lowell Mayor Eileen Donoghue, and eventual winner Niki Tsongas
This post about the state's structurally deficient bridges
My 2007 Massachusetts Democratic Convention report
My report on the community meeting about Watertown's Sawins pond

For trips further down the .08 Acre memory lane, check out my second blogiversary and first blogiversary posts.

Last Day to Register for Presidential Primary

2008-01-16T10:45:00.000-05:00

Today is the last day to register to be eligible to vote in the Feburary 5th Presidential Primary. You can download the mail-in form here (it must be postmarked today!) or travel down to your city/town hall and register there. I've been told that most town clerks will be open late tonight for the deadline. The Boston Globe reported yesterday that people are registering in big numbers in advance of the primary, moreso than in previous years. I imagine it's because the presidential race might actually still be in dispute by the time Massachusetts holds its primary this time around, since we've moved it up to February with the rest of the states. I remember four years ago John Kerry had it all but sewn up by the time we voted here. I nearly didn't make the trek out to my polling place because I didn't think it was worth it.

This year, I'll have an added incentive to get out, though, because I'm going to be on the ballot here in Watertown! I will be on the slate for the Watertown Democratic Town Committee, along with thirty-five other Watertown Democrats. We are unopposed, but we still need to beat the write-ins, so if you live in Watertown, please consider voting for our candidates!

Mitt Takes Michigan

2008-01-15T22:59:00.001-05:00

It looks like our former Governor Mitt Romney has emerged victorious in the Michigan GOP primary. This was widely seen as a must-win for him given his previous losses (at great expense, I might add) in Iowa and New Hampshire, and the fact that Michigan is one of Mitt's many home states. Romney has the personal fortune to keep him going if he had lost, but three high-profile losses would probably have defined him as someone no one trusts and no one would vote for.

As much as I would have enjoyed the Romney schadenfreude, it's probably better for Democrats that he managed to win (and convincingly so). The longer the GOP field is fractured, the more money they'll spend, but more importantly, Romney's victory should slow John McCain's momentum from his New Hampshire victory. Though I think he's past his expiration date, McCain is really the only Republican who can challenge the eventual Democratic nominee on foreign policy experience. He's also the only Republican with any sort of crossover appeal -- I admit that I myself nearly got swept up in McCainimania back in 2000 when I attended a McCain rally on Wall Street of all places. I'm not sure that McCain has enough money to compete everywhere on Super-Duper Tuesday on anything other than name recognition, and with the field still uncertain, there's a chance that Rudy Giuliani's strategy of skipping the first several contests could actually work out for him.

I tuned in to a few minutes of Mitt's victory speech -- just as much as I could stand. I noted that he made the claim that Washington lobbyists are now scared because he represents change. I had to laugh out loud. I'm sure that these lobbyists are really upset today.

Update: I noticed from the exit polls that Mitt Romney won the self-described liberal vote 33% to McCain's 30%. Maybe this had an effect, after all.

Weekend Baby Blogging

2008-01-13T22:21:00.001-05:00

Testing out his newest teeth

Pre-Primary Thoughts

2008-01-07T23:21:00.000-05:00

I finally got a chance to read Governor Patrick's endorsement of Barack Obama in Saturday's Boston Globe. I know that Patrick and Obama have similar messages (and share consultants), but I feel like Deval just did a search and replace on one of his 2006 stump speeches to come up with that Op/Ed. Anyone who followed his 2006 campaign should recognize some of his stock phrases -- "wise guys and wise gals", "not buying what either party is selling." I guess if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Will Mitt Romney finally be off of my TV screen after tomorrow? The New Hampshire polls have him down, and the national polls have him even lower. If he doesn't get the bandwagon boost from a win there, can he carry enough states on Super-Duper Tuesday to get the nomination? Seems like a tall order.
Bill Galvin is right. The primary process is even crazier than last time. I'd like to see regional primaries as well, but what are the chances that New Hampshire and Iowa would give up their positions? The parties had a hard enough time this year getting the states to wait until after Feburary, and we'll likely see that their threats to refuse to seat delegates to the convention will be empty.

President Younger's Inaugural Speech

2008-01-04T06:47:00.000-05:00

I attended Wednesday night's inauguration of town officials at the Commander's Mansion. It was a small, tasteful affair with some good food and of course all of the usual suspects one would expect to see. Returning council President Clyde Younger gave the inaugural address, which you can see on tape at the TAB's blog. Here's the text of the speech as delivered:

Two years ago, the thirteenth town council session began with six new councilors, which constituted a 2/3rds turnover of the committee in one election. That included my going back on to the council. We were immediately thrust into getting to know one another's idiosyncrasies, learning how to work as a team and also negotiating a new contract with the town manager.

I'm acutely aware that all of the happenings surrounding the council these past two years gave the public the appearance that little town business was being accomplished. However, I wish to dispel any question in your mind of the effectiveness of the 13th council. It was one of the hardest working councils that I have been associated with in my prior six years on the council. In the past two years, the council has met innumerable meetings per week in the town council and in subcommittee. Outside of the work on the manager's contract, most of the work accomplished was in subcommittee,
which allowed for considerable dialogue, discussion and input from interested parties that resulted in establishing a consistent policy direction for the council.

These achievements were due to the fact that we had individual councilors who were not afraid to ask hard questions on behalf of their constituents. We approved very important programs ranging from coalition bargaining with all town employees that has the potential to save the community a considerable sum of money in health care costs. We increased moneys for sidewalk and street reconstruction. We approved quarterly water/sewer billing, provided additional capital funds for our schools and town buildings, and also we approved the lease of the Coolidge school that is designed to bring in an additional $355,000 in the first year and thereafter $55,000 in fees per annum for fifty years which should result in $2 million in revenue to the council and the community.

Of special importance, the council established a new subcommittee, namely the Budget and Fiscal Oversight committee. This Committee is charged with the responsibility through the Council to provide policy direction to the town manager on fiscal matters.

Despite the accomplishments at the end of the term of the 13th council, we were marred by multiple situations where questions were raised regarding the election process and the actions taken by the town manager. Although it is apparent that the manager had the authority to initiate a court review of the election, bypassing the Council was inexcusable.

I look forward to working with the 14th council on such issues as the following: improving the town's overall infrastructure, both above-ground and underneath; and in view of the fact that Watertown is one of the most densely populated cities in the Commonwealth, we need to look for opportunities to support and improve upon our commitment to open space. We also need to resurrect the bicycle/walk path plan that has become dusty on the shelf. We also need to investigate the town's electoral process, and this examination will cover all activities before, during, and after the election, including the manager's preemptive bid to take the matter to the Superior Court if the candidate had not taken action.

In addition it is imperative that we examine our charter, in order to make some substantive changes to it. It has become quite evident that changes are in order. One question that quickly comes to mind is whether the president of the council should be chosen by the council rather than the general public and also whether any other form of government would be closer and more representative of the people. There has existed for some time an imbalance between the legislative and executive branch that must be addressed.

In closing, in reflecting back over the past two years, could we have presented ourselves better on camera -- certainly so. My personal goal for the next two years is to officiate over a more mundane, hard-working council. I am asking for the cooperation of each and every councilor to assist me in this endeavor. Thank you for your attention this evening.

A couple of things stand out. First, I think it's interesting that Younger wants a more "mundane" council, but he peppered his speech with barbs directed at the town manager, Mike Driscoll. Twice he chastises Driscoll for threatening to go to court to determine what went wrong with the town's election, and after that he implies that Driscoll's abuse of power is sufficient enough to change the town charter over. Never mind that Younger admits that Driscoll had the authority initiate a court review of the election. I will say that it seemed strange to me that Driscoll would want to take the town he manages to court, but it's even stranger still that he would need to ask permission from the very council whose election was the one that was suspect.

Younger appeared defensive, bringing up that everyone thought the last council didn't do anything. Then his examples of the things they accomplished were that they held a lot of meetings. Now, don't get me wrong, I know that the town councilors work very hard for very little compensation. Still, it seems to me that it would have been a better speech had Younger decided to talk more about his plans for the next two years than trying to defend any perceived inaction.

I hate to bring up George Lakoff in a discussion of town politics, but if someone tells me not to think of an elephant, my head is going to involuntarily fill with pachyderms. Similarly, if the president of the town council tells me that the last session wasn't as ineffective as everyone says, I'm immediately going to think the opposite.

Poor Mitt

2008-01-03T22:33:00.001-05:00

Seems like our former absentee governor had a bit of a bad night tonight. I suppose it's not too early to get him a consolation gift.

It may be obvious, but the reason this hurts Mitt so much is not necessarily that he lost, but that he lost by double digits (or nearly so) to someone he outspent by 4-to-1 after laying groundwork in Iowa for nearly three years. Romney was buying favors in Des Moines before anyone outside of Arkansas ever heard of Mike Huckabee. That someone could waltz in and render all that effort moot in the last month or so leading up to the election shows how soft Romney's support really was.

Also, don't forget that Romney needed some big wins to raise his national profile before Super-Duper Tuesday next month. He doesn't have the name recognition that Giuliani, McCain and even Thompson have.

That said, Romney could pull it off. I think it may end up being McCain, since the Republicans gravitate toward the person whose "turn" it is when in doubt (See Dole, Bob). But McCain is the darling of the media and of Independents, not necessarily Republicans -- and they'll have more of a say in the nominee than anyone else. I have a hard time picturing the GOP faithful who consistantly rank "immigration" as one of their top concerns turning en masse to the candidate least in line with the Republican platform.

New Years Blog Resolutions

2008-01-03T07:59:00.000-05:00

I'm a few days late on this, but I wanted to make sure I committed to electrons some of the blog resolutions I've made in the new year. One thing that visitors to this site will have noticed is the decline in posting frequency in the last quarter of 2007. This also happened in 2006, both years because my involvement in campaigns got me out of a posting rhythm. For 2008, I'd like to get back to my at least once-per-weekday (holidays excluded) schedule. In addition, I'd like to actually follow through on my desire to blog about my involvement in a campaign while I'm actually doing campaign work. It's a simple idea, but one I've utterly failed to do in the last two years.

Also, for 2008, I'd like to see the blog have some more dynamic content, so I've added a section to the sidebar I've tentatively titled "Posts I've Read" (anyone with a better suggestion, please submit it) which lists my most recent del.icio.us bookmarks -- blog posts or other web content that I've recently found and decided was worth sharing, but not quite worth an entire blog post. In 2007 I spent a lot more time reading blogs than writing blog posts, so I think this would be an easy way to share the things I've read that don't necessarily merit a longer post.

Given that 2008 is a presidential election year, there's a temptation to have more national content on the blog, but I find that I have little to add to all the excellent national coverage in the blogosphere. Instead I'd like to go the other direction and have more local-level coverage in addition to state-level coverage. This will likely be a challenge in the run-up to November, but given how involved I was in the recent election here in Watertown, I regret that I didn't really talk about all the craziness in the aftermath.

And, of course, the one resolution I will most likely keep: More baby pictures.

Question of the Evening

2008-01-02T23:06:00.000-05:00

If Mitt Romney is the candidate who will "stop the militant gays", then why was he unable to do so as Governor of Massachusetts? This has perplexed me for a while. Romney could not stop marriage equality here in Massachusetts. Why should those for whom banning same-sex marriage is a priority think that he is the best person to do so nationally? Because he failed so often and utterly that he's due for at least one victory?

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-25T05:26:00.001-05:00

So far the biggest hit of the holiday season has been a tupperware container full of synthetic wine corks. I hope you and yours have a happy holiday.

Post Christmas Update: Other big hits included: a full box of tissues, an empty box of tissues, a pratice golf ball, the letter "I" from a wooden puzzle of his name, my in-law's cable box, and his godmother's Roomba.

Mihos/UMass Pollster Violated Ethics Laws

2007-12-19T22:45:00.000-05:00

When I first heard about the UMass-Lowell pollster Louis DiNatale having violated conflict of interest laws by conducting polls for UMass at the same time he was conducting polls on behalf of then gubernatorial candidate Christy Mihos, I immediately thought of this poll, which I noted at the time was a big wet kiss to Mihos. That poll, however, was a Suffolk University poll, not a UMass poll. The UMass poll DiNatale conducted while he was on Mihos' payroll was this one, which was of the candidate vs. candidate variety.

Looking over the poll results, it's hard to conclude that DiNatale let his connection with Mihos bias his results at all, so it's probably just as well that his only punishment for the conflict of interest was publicizing that he'd violated the law. Still, one wonders what conflict of interest laws are for if there's no penalty for breaking them.

The Mayor of Chicopee Must Really Want Casinos

2007-12-18T22:59:00.001-05:00

Now that I've been to a number of Democratic State Conventions, it's not uncommon for me to get all sorts of political mail. Today, when I came home, I found that between my wife and myself, we had gotten not one but four brochures from the Mayor of Chicopee, Michael Bissonnette, with the header: "Resort-Style Casinos: For our Towns. For our towns. For our cities. For a better Massachusetts." Now, I understand that it's a hassle to go through your database and make sure you're only sending one piece of mail to a household -- I did this myself during Susan Falkoff's campaign -- but unless Mayor Bissonnette thinks that the number of mail pieces we get will reflect just how much he wants to be able to have a casino in Chicopee, there's really no reason we should be getting four.

The piece itself describes resort casinos as "a predictable and reliable source of local aid" and details just how much our cities and towns need revenue. It claims that resort-style casinos would "create upwards of $500 million in new annual tax revenues" -- above and beyond the revenue generated through job creation -- and notes that we "can't keep paying for schools, public safety, and roads and bridges in Connecticut." All in all, it makes a good case for increased local aid, but it really avoids the question of whether resort-style casinos are the best way to go about increasing such aid.

If anyone wants a copy, let me know. I have plenty of extras.

[UPDATE]: wbennet over at BMG called the mayor's office to find out who was behind the mailing. The answer was, of course, a lobbying firm: The Dewey Square Group.

Preview of Grove Street Condos

2007-12-18T08:22:00.000-05:00

Last week I trudged out in the storm to try to go to a hearing on the condo complex being proposed for the Grove St. Aggregate site by the Hanover Company. The meeting was canceled -- which was the right move given the road conditions -- but thanks to Chris over at the TAB's blog, I was able to find this artist's rendition of what the new property may look like:

You can find the picture on Hanover's website. I think this would be looking at the building from Grove Street, with Coolidge Hill Road going up the side. The complex as pictured is certainly more appealing than the Aggregate site is now -- largely piles of dirt and rock -- but I remain concerned about the trend in Watertown of turning commericial property into residential.

Weekend Baby Blogging

2007-11-11T22:26:00.000-05:00

I've seen two seperate comments to the Watertown Tab blog attributing Susan Falkoff's victory in Tuesday's Town Council election to some kind of Watertown liberal "machine". Having been involved in that campaign, I can show the world an exclusive picture of the machine most responsible for her win:

As you can see, it's clearly fallen into the wrong hands.

Susan Falkoff Campaign Video

2007-10-31T23:03:00.001-04:00

[Cross posted to H2OTown]

Part of the reason that I have been absent frm this blog lately is because I've been working overtime on friend-of-the-blog Susan Falkoff's campaign to return to the Watertown Town Council. It's just under a week until the election and the campaign has released this video on Youtube. Check it out:

It's a little long, but it's a great way to see why Susan is running for Town Councilor-at-Large and it features testimonials from Don Levy at the Town Diner and some other families in town. I think Susan's really the only candidate who has much of a website, and if you haven't seen it yet, click over to www.susanfalkoff.com right now. There is great information about who she is and why she is running for Town Councilor-at-Large. Susan even has a campaign blog.

Election Day is next Tuesday, November 6. If you contact the Susan Falkoff campaign at falkoff2007@aol.com, they can help you get to the polls.

Happy Halloween

2007-10-31T22:57:00.001-04:00

Dressed up as tigers for Halloween.

Election Day in MA-05

2007-10-16T08:47:00.000-04:00

I feel a bit bad that after I paid such loving attention to the Democratic primary race in Massachusetts' fifth district I've gone missing for the entire stretch of the general election. Unfortunately, the triple pressures of a baby, a full-time job, and yet another campaign have left me with little time for blogging.

In any case, today is the day that voters of the fifth finally decide who will replace former Congressman Marty Meehan. Democrat Niki Tsongas (interviewed here) is favored to win over Republican Jim Ogonowski, though the race has been close by Massachusetts standards. Really, though, nine points is a comfortable margin in a competitive race. I can't see Ogonowski winning for three reasons -- he has been incomprehensible on SCHIP, I don't think he can match the Democratic Party's GOTV operation, and Unenrolled voters don't tend to vote in special elections at the rate he would need them to. There's always a chance that enough Democrats would cross party lines because of immigration or some other reason, but I have yet to see evidence of that in a Federal-level race in Massachusetts. Historically, Democrats are much loyal to their party's nominee for Federal office than for state or local office.

In any case, if you're able to volunteer for Tsongas today, Blue Mass Group has some ways to help.

Upcoming Watertown Events

2007-09-26T08:33:00.000-04:00

There are a couple of interesting events over the next couple days here in Watertown. First, on Thursday (tomorrow), Sept 27th, the Watertown Democratic Town Committee will be meeting at 8PM in the lower hearing room of the Town Hall. Senatorial candidate and former Watertown resident Ed O'Reilly is scheduled to speak at that meeting. O'Reilly is challenging current Senator John Kerry for the 2008 Democratic nomination. I met him briefly during the unveiling of a memorial to his father, the late Watertown Fire Chief Robert O'Reilly, and I'm interested to hear why he's decided to take up such a seemingly impossible task.

On Friday, frequent guest blogger Susan Falkoff is having her campaign kickoff party. The event will be held from 7 to 9PM at the home of Barbara & Jeremy Ruskin, 140 Spring Street in Watertown. Susan is running to return to the Town Council where she served from 2004 to the end of 2005. For more information on the event, see her website, and be sure to check out her campaign blog.

On Saturday, from 10AM-4PM in Watertown's Saltonstall Park, the town will hold its annual Faire on the Square. Last year, then-gubernatorial candidate Deval Patrick, fresh off of his primary victory, came and was a big hit (Kerry Healey was scheduled to attend as well, but stood the town up). This year, the Watertown Democratic Town Committee is conducting its first presidential primary straw poll at the Faire. I will be manning the booth for most of the day, so if you're attending, stop by, cast your vote, and say hello.

Weekend Baby Blogging

2007-09-23T21:58:00.000-04:00

The Honorary Ringbearer, looking sharp.

Tonight's Sawins Pond Community Meeting

2007-09-19T23:00:00.000-04:00

Tonight I went to a presentation of the results of an initial Phase II Comprehensive Site Assessment of the Sawins and Williams Pond property located at Arlington Street and Coolidge Avenue here in Watertown. Sawins Pond is privately owned and the assessment was carried out on behalf of the property owner. Both ponds are currently contaminated and fenced off. They're filled with muck, barrels, and a lot of old rubber from the former BF Goodrich site which used the pond as a landfill. Any potential cleanup would not be financed by the town. The assessment was tasked with finding the potential sources of contaminants. Their scope was limited to PCBs, metals, petroleum products, etc, and they did not look at any biological contaminants such as human or animal waste. There were about a dozen people in attendance.

The company doing the assessment, Vineyard Engineering, took 17 sediment samples, six soil samples, surface water from five locations and groundwater from 14 onsite wells. The water in the ponds is only a few inches deep on top of several feet of muck and during the sampling, Vineyard did not get the sense that there was any current dumping going on.

Fifteen of the sediment samples had high levels of PCBs, particularly in the western part of Williams Pond, close to Elm St. There was not as much where the water's deeper, but PCBs were found in the sediment throughout both ponds. Metals found in the sediment followed the same profile as PCBs. The found higher than acceptable amounts of six metals: Cadmium, Copper, Lead, Mercury, Nickel and Zinc. EPH (petroleum) and SVOC (semi-volatiles) concentrations were found in Williams Pond and under the Arlington street culvert. Ten volatile organic compounds were also found, with acetone most prevalent (though thismay be caused by natural anaerobic fermentation processes). Gasoline leakage from motor vehicles may be a primary source of some of these compounds.

So, while the sediment seems to be extremely contaminated, the surface water was a different story. There were no PCBs detected in the surface water. This was mostly expected, as they don't tend to enter the water body very easily. Only five metals were detected in the water, with nickel the most common at low levels. A little bit of arsenic was also present, but not mre that would be expected in an urban environment. There was no apparent source of either, however. In addition, the surface water contained no petroleums, only small SVOCs at very low levels. No volatile Petroleums or Organic Compounds apart from Xylene at low levels.

The soil tests revealed no soil PCBs apart from one boring with a very small amount. There were slightly elevated levels of Beryllium, Chromium and Nickel (with no explanation). There were surprisingly low levels of Lead and Mercury in the soil, considering the high levels in the sediments. One soil sample smelled of gasoline and had high levels of VOCs. There was so much rubber on the site, it's impossible to not get any rubber in your sample, but that was outside of the scope of the project.

As for the groundwater, no PCBs were found. There were only trace levels of Arsenic and Zinc, well below the standard. Only Xylene was detected above the risk standard.

The study concluded that the North bank of Sawins Pond needs further evaluation, as does the source of Petroleum-related hydrocarbons. That may be reflective of garbage that fills the pond, or it may be runoff from the road. The representative from Vineyard noted that a likely source of the PCBs was a 1983 release of about 500 gallons of PCBs into the ponds from a nearby Boston Edison (now NStar) facility. They did a cleanup then, the levels they found after the cleanup are consistent with what we have today. In addition, in 1979, there was an oil spill in Sawins pond. There have apparently been many releases on the NStar property. NStar may be responsible for cleanup of the sediments.

I spoke briefly with the presenter after the meeting, and he noted that any such cleanup of the sediment would cost millions of dollars, and he couldn't speculate on what the end result would look like. After all, the woods around the area would have to be cleared for roads so that trucks can be loaded with the toxic muck and cart it away. He imagined two craters where the ponds once stood after all was said and done. Alternatively, they could "cap" the sediment and divert the water into culverts that would lead to the Charles River. In any event, it may take another century to return Sawins Pond back to the condition it was when a fancy hotel sat on its banks over 100 years ago.

So This is How it Ends

2007-09-18T17:41:00.000-04:00

I've seen enough movies to know that this can't be good:

Villagers in southern Peru were struck by a mysterious illness after a meteorite made a fiery crash to Earth in their area...

Seven policemen who went to check on the reports also became ill and had to be given oxygen before being hospitalized.

When we're all dying of some space flu, or turned into zombies, or fighting off the blob, casinos will be the least of our problems.

Rolling the Dice

2007-09-18T08:40:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I returned from out-of-state to find that the Governor has submitted a plan to allow three casinos in Massachusetts. I'm not particularly bothered by gambling, though I will admit that if opening a casino in the Boston area ends up closing down the Keno parlors in my neighborhood, I will not shed a tear. Anything that causes fewer discarded scratch-off tickets to end up in my driveway can't be all bad. Indeed, I think in the short term these casinos would be a boon -- there's the up-front licensing fees, the construction jobs, and once they're built, the casino jobs themselves. I'm less convinced of the ongoing revenue that the casinos would provide the state, these large companies all seem to have a way of cheating the state out of taxes, but on balance the plan the Governor has put forward is a sensible way to bring casino gambling to the state.

The bigger question is whether we even want to bring gaming to Massachusetts. A majority of residents polled usually support it (58% percent most recently). That said, I imagine that the results would be different if residents were asked whether they wanted a casino in their own town. I do think, however, that those who say that casinos would "change the character" of Massachusetts for the worse are engaging in a bit of hyperbole. A couple of resort casinos aren't going to turn Massachusetts into Nevada. Inevitably, the places that host the casinos will change, but the impact of any resorts on the state as a whole will be small. The bigger question is whether you can control the genie once it's out of the bottle.

Of course, it would be silly to ignore the social ills that seem to come hand-in-hand with casino gambling. The advantage of the resort-style casinos that the Governor is proposing is that many of the tourists coming to these resorts will take the cost of these ills and costs back home with them. That would not generally be the case if the state just, for example, let Suffolk Downs put up slot machines. The big disadvantage of a resort-style casino, however, is that the economic benefits are not generally felt in the surrounding area. A casino's interest is to keep you on their property, close to the gambling floor, and never more than a few feet away from a slot machine. If you leave the grounds to go to a neighborhood restaurant, they've lost that potential revenue. So, while a resort casino may bring more tourists to an area, the number of visitors to local businesses is likely to decrease. This is what makes me very skeptical of any plan to revitalize New Bedford with a casino.

It seems to me that if someone fritters all of their money away on gambling, it's no different than if they had maxed out all their credit cards on designer clothes, electronics, or Faberge eggs. Is sitting in front of a slot machine all day really any different than sitting in a Keno parlor (now legal) or the track (also legal) or day trading on the stock market? So, yes, while I'm sympathetic to the idea that compulsive gambling will increase if we have casinos, it seems to me that anyone with a bus pass or an Internet connection can already do all the gambling they want. Frankly, I'm more concerned about the side industries that flourish along with casinos -- loan sharking, prostitution, money laundering, and other crimes -- not to mention the inevitable corruption that accompanies large sums of money changing hands. I think the Governor is being a little naive when he says that we're going to tackle those problems better than anyone else ever has.

What bothers me is the pattern the Governor seems to be following on these big decisions. For both his casino proposal and the budget, Gov. Patrick went into seclusion for weeks and then emerged with a fully-formed policy. Sure, he sought council from legislative leaders, from advisors and commissions, etc, but I never thought that they were the "We" in "Together we can". It's worrisome to me that the Governor had more inauguration parties than public meetings on expanded gaming. In the time after his election, Patrick often talked about how he wanted to convert his grassroots organization into a vehicle for grassroots governing. One way to do that would have been to include the grassroots in his decision-making process.

Middlesex, Suffolk & Essex Primary Day

2007-09-11T08:05:00.000-04:00

Today is the primary for the Middlesex, Suffolk & Essex Senate seat formerly held by Sen. Jarrett Barrios. The race features four Democrats competing for that position: Cambridge City Councilor Anthony Galluccio, former assistant district attorney Tim Flaherty of Cambridge, Chelsea City Councilor Paul Nowicki and Cambridge civil rights attorney Jeff Ross. For more information you can read my interview with Ross or my reports of the debate in Charlestown last month and the debate in Cambridge last week. Galluccio is seen to be the favorite by many because he's run this race twice before and should have the highest name recognition throughout the district. That said, in a low-turnout special election anything can happen.

There are no unenrolled or Republican candidates in the race, so barring a massive last-minute write-in campaign, the winner of the Democratic primary will be the next Senator from that district.

Weekend Baby Blogging

2007-09-09T17:41:00.000-04:00

Twins!

Liveblogging the Middlesex, Suffolk & Essex Debate

2007-09-06T19:24:00.001-04:00

I'm at Lesley University for the last debate in the race to replace former Senator Jarrett Barrios in the Middlesex, Suffolk and Essex state Senate district. The debate is sponsored by the Cambridge Democratic City Committe, and it's about to begin. The candidates are Cambridge City Councilor Anthony Galluccio, Chelsea City Councilor Paul Nowicki, Cambridge attorney Tim Flaherty and Cambridge attorney Jeff Ross. Former Mass. Attorney General Scott Harshbarger is moderating, and it looks like questions will be submitted from the floor. The election will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 11th.

The debate is in the Porter Exchange in Cambridge. Outside the building, Flaherty and Galluccio seemed to have the biggest sign presence, and with the traffic in Porter Square, they got a lot of visibility. I recognize a number of familiar Cambridge activists in the crowd, which is quickly reaching the capacity of the small auditorium.

Harshbarger kicks off the proceedings with thanks to the University and the audience and gives a few brief remarks and compliments the candidates for their committment to serve by being an elected official. He asks how each member of the audience is going to get out the vote, noting that it's not the candidates' responsibility, but that of all of us to encourage our friends and neighbors to go out to vote.

The debate will be three parts -- opening statements, candidate-to-candidate questions (personal or general), audience submitted questions. Rebuttals are not allowed unless Harshbarger deems them necessary.

Opening statements
Anthony Galluccio: First, thanks to Scott Harshbarger. Tonight is about "you being sure" about who to vote for. He's given most of his adult life to public service, elected official, coach, mentor, etc. Reflect back on his service in Cambridge. The city deserves a resident state Senator.

Tim Flaherty: Harshbarger is correct when he says the "election is about you." He's a lifelong resident of Cambridge from a family with a tradition of public service. He's also a former prosecutor and talks about his work in the Norfolk DA's office. He's worked in Govt and outside of Govt. Three priorities: Not letting Harvard overrun Alston/Brighton, fully fund promis to put 1000 officers on the street, fund life science initiative.

Paul Nowicki: Thanks to everyone. The only candidate not from Cambridge, suggests that everyone should stay home on election day (in jest). He's be honored to earn the votes of Cambridge voters. The Senate position requires someone with experience with diverse communities and diverse interests. Chelsea is the most diverse community in MA. He's been on the City Council for 15 years, president for four terms. District needs someone who can unite a diverse community.

Jeff Ross: Thanks to everyone. It's the most diverse group we've seen. We have a new opportunity for Govt to "reflect our shared values". He spent three years at the Kennedy School. He sued the Romney administration when they tried to change the RMV rules. That's the type of leadership he will provide.

Candidate Questions
Tim Flaherty to all candidates: He's been endorsed by the Globe, the Chronicle, the Somerville News, etc etc. His question, is there anything in his personal or professional life that would cause embarassment to those who endorsed him?
PN: His whole life has been about integrity and character. There's nothing anyone would be embarassed about.
JR: No. He told the Globe that if they endorsed him, it would improve the reputation of the Globe. He talked about some immigration case in Texas he helped with.
AG: He's proud of his life experience. Thanks to voters for making the campaign about issues. His life has been a "complete life experience". He's shared his successes and mistakes. His misteps have made him a stronger person and a better elected official. His life has been "far better documented" than others.

Paul Nowicki to everyone: He's not running for re-election to Chelsea City Council and will be a full-time state senator. Will wou stop practicing law if you win? Will you withdraw from the Cambridge City Council?
JR: He's an attorney in Boston, and has been working full time on this race and his practice is running itself. He will continue to be involved in the practice, but he will be a full-time state Senator. He's been very engaged as a lawyer, so he has time to do these things.
AG: He will not hold two jobs. He will fill out the rest of his City Council term, but if elected to the senate, will not accept a nomination to another term on the City Council.
TF: He hasn't made any business decision. "Practicing law isn't a profession, it's who you become. It's how you live your live." All of his time will be consumed by the Senate. If there's time left over, he'd like to practice law, but if he can't he won't.

Jeff Ross to everyone: Casinos. He'd vote no if there was a vote today and he was a Senator. Do the other candidate support it?
AG: No. He is not supported by gambling interests. The jury's not out on this issue. He has no opposition, but he's not a supporter. The "where, when and how" have to be looked at. He'd work with the admin to find the real cost/benefits. He will watch it very closely, but is not currently a supporter.
TF: Comes at the issue from a law enforcement background. He knows about the dangers of gambling. He belives that gambling is coming to Massachusetts eventually. How do we be smart about it? How to we minimize the social harms and maximize the benefits? Need education and traffic studies. Need to link revenues to education.
PN: Chelsea has been the "hotbed" of economic development. He says "yes" until negative impact has been proven. He doesn't gamble. He says it will bring jobs, improve capital assets. This is one way to relieve burden on taxpayers.

Anthony Galluccio to everyone: Today he met with biotech leaders. He's called for a forum in each community to support after-school education with young people and families. How would you get to know young people across this district?
TF: he's knocked on doors all across the district. In Charlestown, he said he'd get the drugs out of Charlestown. There's not a single treatment bed available in Charlestown, he'll change that if he's elected.
PN: He's already invested in the public school system. He has two kids in public schools. That will be a focus for him. He's in favor of extended school days. He's done work with community-based after school programs in Chelsea. He's been a youth volunteer adn a sports coordinator in Chelsea.
JR: He was in Bellingham Square in Chelsea, and he saw the promise of the future in the kids crossing the street who came up to him. He wrote a letter to the lege for overrides of funding line-item vetos. Towns and cities need resources for after-school programs.

Audience Questions
Q: Follow-up on casino gambling. How many believe they are supported by people who support casino gambling? Why has each independent study shown that in Massachusetts there are no benefits?
PN: No casino interests have donated to his campaign. Rep. Bosley says we will lose our historical and educational character. He doesn't believe that. We have to know the answers to how many police officers we need, how much traffic we can expect. We need to knoew the answers to this.
JR: He will be an independent voice. He doesn't owe any political favors. In 1971, the lottery was supposed to bring money back to cities and towns, but that didn't happen. He doesn't support casinos and is not supported by casino intersts.
AG: He's more interested in seeing the life sciences expand, working on literacy, etc. He's upset about the focus on hot-button issues. Casino gambling is not a priority, housing, education are priorites.
TF: He doesn't have any casino entities supporting him. He's raised some money, but there isn't anyone who can contribute $500 that will change his mind about anything. he doesn't need this job. He's happy with who he is, but he wants the job so he can impact the state in a positive way. We need to be smart now to protect our interests and prevent harm. He'll be beholden to no one.

Q: Education reform. What changes need to be made? What is wrong with MCAS for urban public education? How does change further provide quality education?

JR: He has two kids in the public school system. They lose interest in repetitive MCAS studying. We need to value teachers. Doesn't support ending MCAS. It has good points, students who score highly get scholarships. He supports giving incentives to teachers for after school programs.
AG: Having chaired a school committee, he's come a long way from supporting MCAS. It should not be the sole criterion. A standardized test is not the answer. How far has a student advanced over the course of a year? Those are the types of evaulations we should be looking at.
TF: MCAS is a good minimum standard. It's not the way to measure a child. Curriculum directed toward passing a test is not the way to educate a child. People on Brattle street and in Charlestown care about the same things. People in urban districts love the MCAS.
PN: MCAS should not be the sole provider. Administrators, educators should be held accountable. People who are in the school system have an advantage over transitional students who come in mid-year.

Q: Would you favor moving the cap for charter schools? How would you address inequities in the charter school funding formula. Is the agenda dictated too much by the teachers unions?

AG: One of my faults is my honesty with interest groups -- this cost him endorsements. He's not in support of extension of charter schools. He wants to see energy spent improving public schools. He'll be honest with you.
TF: Charter schools are problematic because the dollars leave the public schools. If a private company comes, they can run a for-profit school. Where are the overages going? They're public dollars.
PN: We should keep the cap until we figure out the funding system. They should be a seperate line item. Teachers should be held to the same standard as public schools. there should be open information. What does well in each school, they should share information? It's about improving education for all children, regardless of public or charter school.
JR: This is a question that effects real families. He's met a family with children in both types of schools. There should be a moratrium on charter schools. We should continue to reinvest in public schools.

Q: We spend more money on corrections than public education. How would you make the choice between these two? How would we raise revenue?

TF: When he ran for DA, he opposed capital punishment and mandatory mimums for drug offenses. Dollars should be spent on diversion, full day kindergarten, after school. We need to spend money on education to catch problems before they occur. If he's elected, the first thing he's going to do is fund a study commission to see how much it costs educate a student in Massachusetts.
PN: We need to close corp. loopholes. We need to look at gambling. We should have local options for meals & hotels. In Chelsea, the community was on fire, under siege by gangs. They put more cops on the street, firefighters, hazmat. They reduced homeowners insurance. They focused on alcohol & drug rehab, etc.
JR: We need to increase funding for higher ed. We should create a muni. bond for stem cell research. We need to look at the root of crime and reduce it at the begining. 85% of people who are released are repeat offenders and drug abusers. if we create a broader approach, we can reduce the burden on prisons.
AG: Crime is a local issue. health care is a local issue, affordable housing, etc. We have a responsibility to support young people in our communites. A state senator should get to know the young people of the community. he will intercede on behalf of at-risk young people.

Q: The last two state senators had "contrasting styles". What is going to be your style? Which of these two would you emulate most?

PN: He's not one to draw attention to himself. He's a street worker. He sits with people, solves problems with community input. He'll have community advisory groups made up of residents. He will be in the communities day-in and day-out.
JR: Both Senators have brought unique styles. he will be an independent voice and create a more inclusive legislative process. He speaks four languages so he can serve the entire district.
AG: He's going to be just like Jarrett. He'll be a liberal in Cambridge, and be "Italian as hell" in Everett. There's only one candidate endorsed by papers in Everett and by the Mass Alliance.
TF: He will emulate the best of each of them. They were both committed. He hopes to emulate someone like Alice Wolf (who is present) or Tip O'Neil. That's what the Boston Globe was saying when they endorsed him.

Q: You have focused on programs, but some of you have rejected casino gambling. How will you find the revenue? What positions will you take on increasing taxes in interest of progams you support.
JR: We need to close corporate loopholes, like the telecom loophole. We need to look at ways for communities to raise their own sales and meals taxes. Would support raising the income tax on high-income individuals.
AG: there are families in this district who are very nervous about tax increases, on fixed incomes, etc. Mass. does not have a progressive real estate tax structure. We have to address those on fixed incomes. We can do that if we stand up to wealthy intersts.
TF: He would begin the argument about a progressive income tax. There are people who are impoverished. People in Everett are concerned about taxes. He'd close the telecom loophole.
PN: He would support closing the loopholes, it would give us about half a billion dollars. He need more economic development -- set higher environmental standards. Job training programs in exchange for tax breaks. When you hire, people should come from the community.

Q: Businesses feel like they do not get a fair shake in Massachusetts. Our Universities in particular. How do you see the expansion of Harvard into Allston?

AG: As co-chair of the Riverside development committee, he got consessions from Harvard. There is a way to put Harvard's feet to the fire and to link Allston to the University. He's the only candidate who has experience doing this.
TF: With all due respect to Harvard, he's not worried about their future. They're paying the City of Cambridge very little. People aren't opposed to Harvard, they just want to save their neighborhood. Hopefully the University will understand they can coexist.
PN: He has 15 years experience dealing with urban development in densely populated areas. He takes credit for building 15,000 units of housing in Chelsea. He would work to stop the expansion until the concerns of the neighbors are met.
JR: The neighborhood is not opposed to the expansion, but opposed to the procedure that the University has not been following. The University violated the trust of the community. They need to follow the proper procedures.

Closing Statements
AG: Good speeches don't get things done in Government. He helped create the best affordable housing program in the state. They made literacy a priority. that happened through tenacious advocacy. This is everything he's ever done in his life. It would be an honor to represent Cambridge in the Senate.
TF: This is about your communities, your future. The protagonist in the Greek tragedy that is American politics is you.
PN: Integrity, courage does matter. You want a leader who rebuilt a community from the ground up. He was a leader in restoring Chelsea from where it couldn't get any lower to someplace good for families.
JR: Elections are about choices. He's running for the people of the district who have problems. He'll be there for you.

Who Won Where?

2007-09-05T08:02:00.000-04:00

The Boston Globe has a list of the Fifth District election results by city and town, and I thought it might be instructive to see what that looked like on a map:

The results make sense. Barry Finegold won his hometown of Andover, and Jim Miceli won Tewksbury, which he represents. Jamie Eldridge won a group of small towns that overlap with his state rep. district. Eileen Donoghue won Lowell and the surrounding towns, including Methuen where she had the support of Sen. Steven Baddour (D-Methuen). Niki Tsongas was able to take the primary by racking up victories in Lawrence, Haverhill and Concord and coming in second in almost every community she didn't win (except Boxborough).

The general election for the seat will be October 16th, where Tsongas will face Republican Jim Ogonowski and three third-party and independent candidates. Tsongas will likely be the heavy favorite in that contest give the district's typical Democratic swing in Federal elections. Given that, it will be interesting to see how much the national parties get involved. Neither, I'm sure, wants to spend much money on a sure-win or a sure-lossm, and in particular Ogonowski must be careful that he doesn't get too heavily linked with President Bush or the national Republicans, neither of which are particularly popular in Massachusetts as a whole or the Fifth District in particular.

Niki Tsongas Wins MA-05 Dem. Primary

2007-09-04T23:18:00.001-04:00

The results are in and Niki Tsongas, widow of former Senator Paul Tsongas, has won the special election to replace former Congressman Marty Meehan. Tsongas managed to hold on despite a late surge from Eileen Donoghue, who closed what had been a double-digit gap in the polls to just five points on primary day. Here are the results from the Boston Globe.

What's interesting to me how close the actual results were to the most recent SUSA poll, despite all the disclaimers that polling for a day-after Labor Day primary would be mostly meaningless. Here they are lined up:

	9/4 Result	8/30 Poll
Niki Tsongas	36%	40%
Eileen Donoghue	31%	29%
Jamie Eldridge	14%	15%
Barry Finegold	13%	9%
Jim Miceli	6%	3%

Every candidate was within four points of where they polled, and they finished in the predicted order.

Primary Day in MA-05

2007-09-04T09:05:00.000-04:00

Today is primary election day for the Fifth Congressional district. There are two certainties today: one, that turnout will be very small, and two that Jim Ogonowski will win the Republican primary against challenger Tom Tierney.

Regular readers of this blog (if there are any left after my unscheduled two-week hiatus) will know that the real race is in the Democratic primary, where recent polls show Niki Tsongas with a healthy, but shrinking lead over Lowell City Councilor Eileen Donoghue, with the rest of the field a distant third, fourth and fifth. The low turnout, however, would seem to work against the frontrunner Tsongas if her opponents' supporters are more motivated to come out. Presumably, every supporter of another candidate has been contacted by one of the campaigns or is at least interested enough to follow the race. The same cannot necessarily be said of those who support the candidate with the highest name recognition. I expect, though, that Tsongas will will today's election, but perhaps by a smaller margin than predicted.

Update: Dick Howe has some preliminary information about turnout, and the unsurprising consensus is that it's going to be low. The city of Haverhill reported a total of eight absentee ballots!

Interview with Jeff Ross - Candidate for State Senate

2007-08-22T06:02:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to talk with Jeff Ross, a Cambridge human rights attorney who is running in the Sept. 11th special election to replace former Senator Jarrett Barrios in the Middlesex, Suffolk and Essex state senate district. Ross is up against Cambridge City Councilor Anthony Galluccio, Chelsea City Councilor Paul Nowicki, and Cambridge attorney Tim Flaherty. I contacted all four candidates, but Ross is the only one so far who responded to my request for an interview.

Ross touted himself as an independent progressive voice for the legislature, one with fewer ties to the political establishment. He noted that environmental problems were among the most important that the district, and that bringing clean energy jobs and technology to the area would be a priority. To that end, he supports Governor Deval Patrick's plan to invest a billion dollars in high-tech and would consider tax incentives for companies looking to set up shop in Massachusetts. That said, he also favors closing corporate tax loopholes.

While Ross does not favor deregulation of the auto insurance industry in the Commonwealth, he would like to see more competition and more companies moving into Massachusetts. He also spoke of the need to fully fund our health care system, particularly our public hospitals, and the expansion of state immunization programs.

One of his more unique suggestions was the idea of setting up issue-based councils of advisors so that the various communities in the district could share information and collaborate on solutions to similar problems.

In addition, Ross noted his support for the Urban Ring and North/South Rail Link projects and favors raising the bond cap for infrastructure repairs. He notes that apathy among youth is a pervasive problem and would like to see more after-school community programs, a Boys and Girls Club in Everett, on demand treatment facilities for substance abuse, CORI reform and job training and development programs. While he told me that he supports merit pay for teachers, he is not in favor of lifting the cap on charter schools until the funding formula can be fixed.

If you're interested in supporting Jeff Ross' campaign, his website can be found at www.ross4senate.org and his campaign email is info@ross4senate.org.

Read the full interview inside
Q: Your website touts you as the progressive Democrat in the race. What makes you the progressive choice, as opposed to the other candidates?

I think being the progressive choice means that I bring a unique combination of real-life experience coupled with legislative writing, drafting, and advocacy. I'm not supported by any special interest groups. I don't owe any political favors, so I will be an independent voice for the will of the people in the legislature. I've also got years of pragmatic consensus-building experience, working on legislative issues and meeting with advocacy groups, and drafting and whatnot. I feel like a progressive democrat is somebody who has fewer ties to the political establishment and who's a consensus builder and who has a unique ability to look at social problems in the course of life and try to figure out how to solve them if it requires a legislative issue or to be involved in unlawful rule-making and to try to stop that, like the Registry of Motor Vehicles in the previous governor's administration.

For me, and for the people I've spoken to in the community, a progressive is somebody whose politics looks forward, who's young, fresh, new, and who tries to realize solutions. And to keep these solutions moving forward, and try to build consensus. So that for me puts the progress in progressive. Also, advocacy on behalf of those who are most at risk for injustice.

Q: You said that you wanted to seek out solutions. What are the most important problems in this district that require solutions?

Well, I think that we're looking at serious environmental problems in the world today and in this district, and I think the solution would be real clean energy solutions like the wind project, which is a real clean energy solution. Once that's built there's little maintenance, no pollution, and long-term effects.

Q: Do you support Cape Wind?

I support Cape Wind, and I think that it's a real clean energy solution, unlike some other alternative energy solutions that may use solar energy, may have short term panel or chemicals in them have, in the long term, it's uncertain how other forms of energy will affect the environment, and I think that Cape Wind is a real clean energy solution, and I like it, and I think that the question is where.

Q: Do you see any opportunities for wind or solar energy in your district?

I do, because off the coast of Charlestown there is. Massachusetts is one of only two states that have an alternative wind project, and it's a wind turbine that will be developed off the shore of Charlestown, and that's right in the district. So I'm excited that we'll have the opportunity to do that, to develop it, and I think that Massachusetts can be a leader in product services and technology worldwide, and something like that will bring interest and investment into Massachusetts, and the technology sector has a great tax base for growing the economy, so I support the governor's interest in investing a billion dollars in technology.

I think that partnerships with technology companies are not something that requires legislative rulemaking, but requires outreach to companies and incentives for companies to come to Massachusetts. I think we're on the verge of an era in politics where we have the opportunity for the government to reflect our shared values and I think that developing technology is around the corner in terms of the future.

Q: What would you do to encourage technology companies to come to Massachusetts in general and in particular, to locate in your district?

If possible, I think that tax incentives can be provided, and I think that building relationships with companies that might be considering moving here. Part of it is tax incentives, which is a state issue. Part of it is reaching out and building relationships with companies and bringing them to Massachusetts and introducing them to people in the community and talking about our intellectual capital base and facilitating those relationships to deepen interest in development in Massachusetts.

Q: Do you have experience doing that sort of thing?

I've spent years reaching out to different communities and trying to build relationships in communities. I worked at the US Embassy, at the training program in 1994 which was developing relationships between US companies and French distributors so that we could help the United States businesses export technology to Europe -- trade shows and making introductions and advocating on behalf of US companies. I've also written articles on export licensing controls to help keep United States businesses from exporting technology by hiring foreign national workers and keep jobs in the United States, and educate the companies about the HR requirements and licensing controls that exist, and as they're amended, so it's something I've been interested in for a long period of time. Also, I think that I could be quite useful in that area in the district.

Q: You mentioned tax incentives, and the governor has proposed closing corporate loopholes. But he's also proposed lowering corporate tax rates in exchange for that, so it would be revenue-neutral. What do you think about that?

I think we need incentives for companies to come to Massachusetts and to create jobs. I think that some of the exemptions, like the telephone company exemption, are arcane, outdated, and the quality of service we're getting in Massachusetts from broadband providers is very low compared to the cost to the state and cost to end users. I think we need to close those loopholes. Now, in terms of getting companies to come to the state and create jobs and help grow our economy, we need to have incentives for those companies to come here.

Q: One group of companies that has wanted to come here for a long time is out-of-state auto insurance companies. Now the issue of auto insurance reform is being revisited. Do you have any thoughts about those reforms?

I think that more companies would provide more competition, in terms of the rates.

Q: So you would be in favor of letting companies set their rates with fewer restrictions than we currently have?

No, because that would mean an increase in rates. I think we could let more companies come in and sell more affordable insurance and compete for services in the community. I think people in the community are feeling overwhelmed with the cost of insurance and rising prices, so I think bringing in more competition in that area. I don't think that we need to lift price restrictions because I think that will let companies charge more and buy each other out. When we're looking at insurance reform we need to be mindful of the end user and people in our communities that are struggling with the cost of insurance.

Q: Of course, the big cost of insurance that people are concerned about is not auto insurance, but health insurance.

We need to fully fund our health care system.

Q: Do you think our state's new health care law is working?

I think it's a good place to start. It needs additional analysis, additional legislation. I think that one of the problems with the way the health care system is set up now is that we have one remaining public health care system in Massachusetts and that's Cambridge Health Alliance. It's in financial jeopardy -- the state owes it $150M and the MassHealth pool is not fully funded, so I support fully funding it.

I think the state has made strides in raising the requirement of poverty up to 300% of the poverty level, because it includes additional families. A family of 4 needs to make $60K a year to participate in the MassHealth program, which I think is good because it will cover more people, but it needs to be funded so that the public hospitals don't bear the burden of absorbing those costs. That puts the whole system in jeopardy and I would be in favor of protecting the system and creating access to health care and preventative care so that people don't end up in the emergency room. I think that we should have immunization programs from children and seniors more readily available.

Part of the problem with the way the law is written now is that companies are penalized $295 for not providing health care to their employees, and $295 sounds like an incentive because the cost of providing health care for employees when you have more than 11 would presumably be higher than $295. It's written so that companies who opt out pay a penalty, and I think that large companies should pay into a pool so that companies that are right on the cusp of being required to cover their employees and are struggling have a pool to draw from so they don't end up closing and so the state doesn't lose jobs.

Q: Does that conflict with what we were talking about earlier -- trying to provide incentives for companies to come here, if we're increasing their costs?

No, that's going to be a cost, but in the larger balance of equity maybe people would locate here and get set up and get access to state resources to set up their business here, so I'm not sure they should get exemptions for health care. They could get exemptions for setup, other tax exemptions. We have to balance out our interest in creating jobs and providing incentives for companies to come here with workers' rights. That would be a question I would focus on as a state senator.

I don't have all the answers. There are going to be new issues that come up all the time. I feel that it's important for a state senator to be able to get communities involved and create dialogue around the issues, and that's a skill that I provide, bringing consensus and building relationships so that people can work together to find solutions. To me, progressive is a nice liberal label, but to me it means getting to the end result.

Q: It seems like a difficult job getting communities together in this district particularly because it's so spread out -- going from Brighton all the way up to Saugus. In fact, I found out the district is in the Massachusetts Common Cause's Gerrymander Hall of Shame because of its shape. Would you support legislation to move redistricting out of the hands of the legislature?

A: I would support the appointment of a council for redistricting. I would also, if elected, create a council of advisors across the district on health care, education, technology, art, human rights...

Q: What would those advisors do?

They would meet and talk about what's going on in their district. There are seven cities and they can learn from each other. Saugus is struggling with their budget, and they have a diverse body of new residents and Everett has taken great time and effort to count and keep accurate records of the new residents that are moving in and what the language needs are, and what special needs are. Because of that, Everett got $4M back this year for some of their education programs, for some of their ESL and special needs work that they need to do. If Saugus reached out to its community that it could benefit in a similar way.

Creating a council of people who share their experiences about what's going in other areas of the district could be enlightening and beneficial for residents and help build a sense of community in a district that's ethnically and economically diverse. I'm very excited about the prospect of working with the challenges that such a spread-out district presents.

Chelsea needs to be brought into transportation planning in a way that's equitable and would help create an infrastructure. I support the Urban Ring project, I think it should be underground and should be done right the first time, it should go to all of the communities and serve them all equally, and that will help develop the economies of all the communities.

Q: You also support the North-South Station rail link. In light of the Big Dig and all the problems we've had with the large public works projects, do you think there's an appetite for more of that in Massachusetts?

I think that the federal government and the state and local governments are struggling right now because the federal money is being drained off the states so I don't think it's a realistic project in the short term. I think it would be optimal, and public works projects create jobs, they create tax revenue, they create economy, they keep people working, they keep people in their homes, so I'm not opposed to public works projects.

We got a lot of federal money that would not have come to Massachusetts, for the Big Dig, that we otherwise wouldn't have gotten. I certainly think that public works projects could be better managed than the Big Dig was. A public works project doesn't have to be poorly run and poorly managed. There was a time in this country when public works projects got us out of the Depression and created some of our greatest assets, the Hoover Dam, etc., so I don't think that public works projects are necessarily the big evil. I think [apathy] and lack of interest in our youth are the big evil out there.

Q: Do you support lifting the state bond cap to pay for infrastructure repairs?

Absolutely. We have an urgent need to repair our roads and bridges, and I think that building infrastructure helps to grow the economy and improve the transportation system. The Tobin Bridge is falling down and residents are worried about crossing the Longfellow. We desperately need to look for revenue to keep our infrastructure. We need to continue to invest in maintaining the infrastructure and not wait until projects are desperately in need of repair because the cost is greatly increased by prolonging investment.

The previous governor's administration talked ad nauseum about maintaining our bridges and our roads, and we're still in the same position that we were, four years later. We need somebody in there who is not divisive, who's going to continue to build relationships and work to build consensus to move things forward.

Q: Earlier you said the great evil was apathy among youth. What can be done about that?

Well, in Everett, they need a Boys and Girls Club, and a place for kids to go recreate with supervision. We need on demand treatment facilities for substance abuse. We need CORI reform and job training and development programs, so that youth are occupied during the summer. In Chelsea, Central Latino recently got $200M slashed from its budget, line-itemed by the governor's office. Those are funds that keep kids involved in community projects, give them something to do, and build a sense of community responsibility and belonging to a community like Chelsea that has a huge problem with gang violence. Slashing those funds -- in summer, we're going to have more kids on the street with working and struggling parents and less to do. We need to have workforce training and development programs, we need to have youth centers and keep kids involved.

Q: What would you like to see the schools themselves do, if anything?

I'd like to see longer school days and stipend incentives for teachers -- merit pay -- to stay after school and get kids involved in science and technology. There's a great program statewide, the Massachusetts Science and Engineering Fair, that's a great opportunity for kids from communities to get involved in something that will help them go to college.

Q: Do you also support raising the cap on charter schools?

I think until we can find funding charter schools without draining public school resources, we should have a moratorium on expanding the charter school system. I've met parents who are very happy who have children in both. Some children don't function well in the public school environment, so I think the charter schools we have are a good alternative, but I don't think that we should be draining resources off our public education system. I'm product of the public education system, my children are in the public school system, and I think that we need to continue to invest in our future and invest in our children.

Q: Lastly, what's your stance on Marshmallow Fluff?

We did a study on my campaign team, with the fluffernutters, and we took a poll, and we all agree that we like fluffernutters and that we value the jobs that the Fluff company creates in the district. Everyone agreed that we should also look at school lunches and make sure that school lunches provide our children with the nutrients they need to succeed.

Q: How can people get involved in your campaign?

They can email us at info@ross4senate.org, or visit our website at www.ross4senate.org.

Another Special Election in the Cards

2007-08-22T00:24:00.000-04:00

It had been widely rumored, but now it's confirmed. State Senator Bob Havern (D-Arlington) is resigning to take a position with a lobbying firm. Havern represents the The Fourth Middlesex District, which includes the towns of Arlington, Billerica, Burlington, two thirds of Lexington, and all but one ward of Woburn. This means another special legislative election will have to be held over the winter. He's also the third high-profile state Senator to leave before his term is up this session. The other vacancies so far this year alone have been:

Rep. Jim Leary resigned to become then-newly elected Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray's chief of staff.
Rep. Bob Coughlin resigned to become the undersecretary for business development in the Patrick administration, a job he's now leaving to become president of the Mass. Biotech Council.
Senate President Robert Travaglini left his post to become a lobbyist.
Senator Jarrett Barrios resigned to become the head of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation.
Rep. Anthony Petruccelli had to step down from his seat in the House after he won the election to replace Trav in the Senate.

And of course, that doesn't include former Congressman Marty Meehan, who announced his resignation early this year and who formally resigned from the Congress over the summer to become Chancellor of UMass Lowell. If one of the three state reps looking to replace Meehan happens to win that election, there will be another special election early next year to fill that vacancy.

ADL Recognizes Armenian Genocide (Mostly)

2007-08-21T18:21:00.000-04:00

One week ago today, the Watertown Town Council broke off ties with the Anti-Defamation League's No Place for Hate program due to the refusal of the ADL to call what refer to the massacre of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire as genocide and reports of the League's lobbying efforts to defeat a Congressional resolution that would recognize the Armenian Genocide. Since that time, this amazing chain of events has occurred:

Other local communities started exploring the idea of cutting ties with No Place for Hate.
The New England chapter of the ADL broke with the national group in acknowledging the genocide. The local chapter called on the national ADL to do the same.
The next day, Andrew Tarsy, the regional director of the New England Chapter was fired for breaking with the national ADL by recognizing the genocide.
Two members of the ADL's regional board resigned in protest of Tarsy's firing.
Other Jewish groups started to pressure the ADL to change its stance.
Finally, today, the ADL announced that it has changed its policy and will now recognize the slaughter of Armenians as genocide.

Of course the ADL has not changed its stance on the Congressional resolution that would recognize the genocide as such. They still oppose it as something that would endanger Turkish relations with the US and Israel, as well as Jews living in Turkey. I understand these concerns, but isn't it somewhat worse to acknowledge the genocide but then claim that we shouldn't do anything about it because it's too contraversial? This strikes me as a half-measure, though it is at least a step in the right direction. The ADL's credibility has really suffered during the course of this controversy, and while they claimed that it was not one of their own making, every response they made to critics seemed to be formulated to generate the maximum amount of outrage, miring them deeper. One would expect more sensitivity from an organization created to combat bigotry and promote understanding.

On the other hand, former regional director Andrew Tarsy managed to come out of this looking like a hero. He did the right thing by refusing to wait for the national group to recognize the genocide, and he lost his job because of it. He took a lot of criticism here in Watertown for toeing the ADL line, and I'd like to think that part of the reason he changed course was because he came to town and met with the people the ADL's stance was affecting. If he had not called on the national ADL to change, it's unlikely that they would have done anything.

There's a lesson in this, and I think it's the opposite of the one from last week's Watertown Tab editorial. The Tab's editors looked at the situation as of last week and decided that it was evidence that Watertown should not get involved in "national or international issues". Leaving aside whether fighting bias is not a local issue (my personal experience in Watertown says that it is), I think that sentiment is exactly backwards. What this episode proves is that the measures we take in local government can, in fact, change the world. A 94-year old organization referred to the killings of Armenians during World War I as a genocide for the first time today in large part because our town council stood up to them.

Weekend Baby Blogging

2007-08-19T20:19:00.000-04:00

I can hold the spoon all by myself!

Globe Discovers Fifth District Race

2007-08-17T08:26:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, the Boston Globe had a front page article on the race to replace former Congressman Marty Meehan in the state's fifth district. The piece focused on some of the methods that the candidates are resorting to in order to get people's attention over the course of a special election that no one seems to be following. I thought it was particularly ironic for the Globe because part of the reason that no one is following this race is that the Globe just hasn't been covering it. Sure, there have been occasional articles, and some columns (mostly about candidate Niki Tsongas), but the Globe's coverage of the race has been substandard when compared with in-district papers like the Lowell Sun and Lawrence Eagle-Tribune.

That may be changing. After yesterday's article, five stories about the race appeared on the Boston.com local politics blog -- the first posts to that blog in more than two weeks. In addition, the Globe had a story today covering yesterday's fifth district debate in Haverhill. The Demcoratic candidates for this seat have had what seems like hundreds of these local debates across the district and it's rare that the Globe even sends someone to cover them, let alone prints an article afterward. I hope this is a sign that the race will be getting the attention it deserves from the region's largest paper.

Now, if we can only get the Globe to cover the special legislative elections...

SUSA Poll of MA-05

2007-08-15T17:55:00.000-04:00

Via Jon Keller comes the latest WBZ4/SUSA Fifth Congressional District poll. This, I believe, is the first poll done by an independant firm for the race to replace former Congressman Marty Meehan (D-Lowell). The results showed candidate Niki Tsongas as the frontrunner, as expected, while Eileen Donoghue, Barry Finegold and Jamie Eldridge are roughly tied for second place. Barely registering (in fact, below "other" and "undecided") is Jim Miceli. Here are the numbers:

Tsongas	38%
Donoghue	16%
Finegold	14%
Eldridge	13%
Miceli	4%
Other	10%
Undecided	6%

Now, some may find it surprising that the number of undecided voters is so small in the SUSA poll. I've discussed this about SUSA before, but the reason for that is two-fold. Part of it is the question that's asked: "If the Democratic Primary for U.S. House of Representatives were today, and you were standing in the voting booth right now, who would you vote for?" That question encourages the respondent to make a choice. This is appropriate, in my opinion, because if people are undecided on election day, they're likely to stay home. This is particularly true of a special election where only one race will be on the ballot. It's also important to remember that these respondents are those SUSA considers likely voters. People who support a candidate are certainly more likely to vote than those who do not.

Of course, since this is a special election the day after Labor Day, any likely voter model is practically guesswork. The only people who I expect to come out to vote in the primary are people who have been contacted by a campaign. The winner of the race is likely to be the candidate who has done the best voter ID and is able to drag their supporters out on the first day of school.

Also interesting in this poll was the fact that 66% of the respondents disapproved of the job Congress is currently doing and 82% said the country is going in the wrong direction. These opinions, however, had no bearing on their choice for Congressional representation.

In other MA-05 polling news, I just got a notice from Eileen Donoghue's campaign touting the fact that their internal tracking poll shows them just six points behind Niki Tsongas. Their own polling also has Donoghue winning Lowell by a better than two-to-one margin and winning among "voters who have made a final decision on a candidate". Given how different this is from the public poll, I'm skeptical. The timing suggests that the internal poll was released to counter the SUSA poll, so take these numbers with a grain of salt.

Question of the Day

2007-08-15T08:29:00.000-04:00

How badly do you have to screw up an election cycle to not get hired as a Washington lobbyist?

I guess if there's hope for Brian Dodge, the now-former director of the Mass GOP who oversaw last year's devestating losses for state Republicans, there's hope for anyone. I wonder if his search for a way out is the reason that so many Democrats have gone unopposed in special elections this year.

I am Not a Lawyer

2007-08-13T08:17:00.000-04:00

If I were, I might have known this:

1819. That’s the year state lawmakers last updated penalties for corporations convicted of involuntary manslaughter, the charge now facing a Big Dig epoxy supplier. Consequently, the maximum penalty is $1,000. Lawmakers want to stiffen the law, but it won’t matter in this case, because the attorney general is bound to the law on the books at the time of the tunnel collapse.

And taken it into account in the post I wrote Friday. It makes sense, but it also means that if Martha Coakley comes down with involuntary manslaughter charges for any of the other Big Dig companies, she'll be stuck with the $1,000.

Weekend Baby Blogging

2007-08-12T16:20:00.001-04:00

Daddy and Grandpa prove incapable of putting the Exersaucer together correctly.

Another Blow to Fall River LNG

2007-08-11T09:49:00.001-04:00

Weaver's Cove Energy, the group attempting to put a liquified natural gas terminal in Fall River, has been dealt another setback. This time, it's the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, which rejected the company's request to dredge Mount Hope Bay. Weaver's Cove needs the bay dredged because it's currently not deep enough for the huge LNG ships that would need to travel the channel. This is apparently even after the company agreed to use the smaller ships necessary to travel under the Brightman Street Bridge -- necessary after the Massachusetts Congressional Delegation prohibited federal funds from being used in the bridge's destruction. From the Providence Journal:

Along with denying the application because it was incomplete, the DEM said it also found the scope of the project "had substantially changed" and that Weaver's Cove "had failed to provide adequate information to enable the department to determine the exact nature of its project or how the project is viable" following a May 9 U.S. Coast Guard letter "effectively denying the project."

While the company has gotten approval from the Federal Government for the project, state and local officials have consistently opposed the project and the Coast Guard has also expressed skepticism. So far, however, Weaver's Cove has pushed forward despite all the opposition. I can't help but wonder, however, if the company had started the siting process for a different location years ago, when it was apparent that Rhode Island and Massachusetts officials would try to kill this project by any means necessary, that they would be ready to build at a different site. At what point does it become not worth it anymore for Weaver's Cove to keep fighting? LNG opponents will certainly be trying to delay the project until that time.

First Things First

2007-08-10T17:50:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, the Boston Phoenix's David Bernstein had this to say about the $1,000 criminal indictment faced by Big Dig epoxy supplier Powers Fasteners:

[I]t was pretty clear at yesterday afternoon's press conference that AG Martha Coakley wanted to use the indictment of Powers Fasteners as an impetus to spur the state to change its ridiculous cap on criminal penalties for corporations. Good for her.

Today, it looks like that's exactly what's happening. From the Boston Herald:

With an angry public demanding justice in the tunnel disaster, top state lawmakers vowed yesterday to stiffen an ancient 1819 manslaughter law that could let a Big Dig company get off with a meager $1,000 fine if found guilty in the death of Milena Del Valle.

"Clearly, we've got to take action," said State Sen. Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester), who vowed to file legislation within days. "If we're going to have criminal sanctions, they need to mean something and they must match the seriousness of this situation."

While some may be clamoring for Coakley to take down the major players in the Big Dig investigation like Bechtel/Parsons Brinkerhoff, Gannett Fleming, or Modern Continental, it makes perfect sense to me for her to wait for the legislature to raise the absurdly low cap before going public with any charges against those firms. Can you imagine the outcry if Bechtel were the company facing just a $1,000 fine? Hopefully the legislature will act quickly to update the manslaughter penalties for corporations.

Media Coverage of Senate Debate

2007-08-09T22:02:00.001-04:00

While the big Boston dailies completely ignored this past Monday's State Senate debate in Charlestown between candidates looking to replace former Senator Jarrett Barrios, some of the area's weeklies came through with reports on the event.

The Charlestown Patriot-Bridge has a good synopsis of the event, though they did not manage to include information about which candidates actually made the ballot. In addition Bay Windows has a long profile of the race, including the candidates' support of LGBT issues. That did not end up being much of a topic in the Charlestown debate, but it promises to come up in next week's debate in Cambridge on August 16th.

Unsaid Word Speaks Volumes

2007-08-09T08:33:00.000-04:00

Guess what word is missing from the letter to the editor in yesterday's Boston Globe by Anti-Defamation League New England Regional director Andrew Tarsy and Regional chairman James Rudolph?

Give up? It's "Genocide".

Not to belabor a point I made earlier this month, but if I had been accused of Holocaust Denial by the ADL and then came back and said "many groups have experienced horrific atrocities" as a way of explaining myself, I'm not sure that anyone would find that answer satisfactory. I'm sure that Tarsy was surprised by the controversy, but he keeps digging himself and his organization deeper into it with each statement he makes to the local paper. It would have gone a long way toward quieting the uproar if he had simply used the word "genocide" to describe what happened to the Armenians under the Ottoman Empire instead of dancing around it with "massacre" and "suffering".

Governor Holding Cards Close to his Chest

2007-08-09T00:54:00.001-04:00

Governor Patrick, you don't need to show your cards yet, but we're going to have to see your hand before you get any payoff. People already think that the process is rigged in favor of casino gambling -- and in some cases, they're probably right -- that you need to be sure that everything you do is completely transparent. You can hold on to the casino study until you make your final decision, but if you don't release it people are always going to wonder what was so awful in there that the public wasn't allowed to read.

[Update]: Now that I've had some time to think about it, there is one scenario where it makes sense to keep the casino report private. If the report recommends allowing casinos and also lists concessions that the state must seek from Indian tribes and casino developers, it does make sense to keep those under wraps until such time as the Governor gives his Yay or Nay. There's no sense in giving casino proponents extra time to prepare for the eventual negotiations. Still, this report should be released when Governor Patrick makes his decision on whether to allow gaming in Massachusetts -- even if his eventual position is at odds with the study's recommendations.

How to Dislodge an Appointee

2007-08-08T20:02:00.000-04:00

Today, the Boston Globe noted that John Moscardelli, a member of the Turnpike Board, has resigned, giving Governor Deval Patrick free reign to appoint a majority of the board. Why did Moscardelli resign? He wasn't speaking to the media, but this says it all:

Moscardelli, who was appointed to the board in 2002, resigned a month after a change in state law stripped board members of several perks, including health insurance and a $25,800 annual stipend. It was the only state board that paid benefits, state officials said.

Coincidence? You decide.

Question of the Day

2007-08-08T17:07:00.000-04:00

What crumbling infrastructure?

Four Candidates Left in Race for Barrios' Seat

2007-08-08T08:31:00.000-04:00

Yesterday the Cambridge Chronicle reported that four candidates remain in the special election to replace former Senator Jarrett Barrios. Here is the final list of candidates, all of them Democrats:

Cambridge attorney Tim Flaherty, the son of former House Speaker Charlie Flaherty
Cambridge City Councilor Anthony Galluccio
Chelsea City Councilor Paul Nowicki
Cambridge attorney Jeff Ross

I exchanged an email with Laurie Leyshon, the only other candidate who had submitted signatures, to find out why she was not on the ballot. She told me that she had collected enough signatures -- more than 700 -- but one of the sheets was disqualified because of an incomplete address. She said that she is "absolutely devastated" and is currently considering her options. I'm not sure there's anything left she can do, however. To my knowledge, the SJC has already upheld the seemingly capricious rules regarding signature petitions (one stray mark and the whole sheet is disqualified!?). Frankly, I'm a little disappointed. While I did not expect Leyshon to win the election, I did think that Monday's debate was better for her presence in it.

[Meta-Update]: I'd just like to note that according to Blogger this is my 756th post. And I did it all without any blogging-enhancement drugs, too.

Senate Candidates Debate in Charlestown

2007-08-07T17:35:00.000-04:00

Last night, I attended the state senate debate between candidates vying for former Senator Jarrett Barrios' seat in the Middlesex, Suffolk and Essex District. The debate was held in Charlestown and was sponsored by three local organizations, Friends of the Charlestown Navy Yard, Charlestown Business Association, Charlestown Waterfront Coalition. As you might imagine, local issues dominated the discussion. The candidates, as mentioned previously, are Chelsea City Councilor Paul Nowicki, Cambridge attorney Tim Flaherty, Cambridge attorney Jeff Ross, Cambridge City Councilor Anthony Galluccio, and Cambridge teacher and activist Laurie Leyshon. The debate was moderated by Michael Jonas of MassINC's CommonWealth Magazine.

The debate, I thought, was well attended for a special state-senate election debate. I estimated at least 80 spectators, most of whom seemed to be Charlestown residents. Outside the debate, Ross had the biggest presence early; his (mostly young) supporters carrying signs and wearing matching T-Shirts. Flaherty supporters were also out, but I didn't notice anyone for the other three candidates (I got there a little early to get a seat by an outlet!). I did notice that Leyshon and Ross seemed to be the ones who worked the crowd inside before the debate began.

The debate was largely cordial, with the candidates agreeing on many of the questions asked, particularly on the need for community involvement in development issues. Nowicki was the most forceful in his support for casino gambling in Massachusetts, and Ross was the only one who said he would not seek state funds to match city funds for Charlestown Navy Yard, but all were skeptical of MCAS as a graduation requirement to varying degrees. None of the candidates had anything particularly nice to say about the Boston Redevelopment Authority. There were only a couple of pointed moments during the two-plus hours. Earlier in the debate, Flaherty had mentioned that he wanted the seat because now was "a new and exciting time in Massachusetts politics." Galluccio countered later that he "wanted this job when it wasn't a new and exciting time in Massachusetts politics" and that he'd had the most time to think about the needs of the whole district. Also, having the last word in the debate was Paul Nowicki, who in his closing statement noted that he is proving his commitment to the district by declining to run again for his safe seat on the Chelsea city council. Unspoken, of course, was that this is in contrast to Galluccio, who is running for re-election as a Cambridge City Councilor at the same time he's running for the special election.

On style issues, I thought Galluccio, Nowicki and Flaherty were the most polished, though the two city councilors had more to say on their specific accomplishments in their respective cities and I felt like they could relate better to the problems of Charlestown residents. Galluccio noted that he wants to be "like a City Councilor, but with more power' and that he'd go to every community meeting in the district. Frankly, I don't see how that's possible given the insanely gerrymandered district comprising nine communities spanning three counties -- is he really going to go to every meeting from Brighton to Saugus? If he can't, he shouldn't promise it. Leyshon came off as very approachable, and I felt afterwards that she must have talked to half the neighborhood in preparation for the debate. She also, however, came off as very "Cambridge" and I'm not sure how that plays in the rest of the district. Ross has an interesting and varied resume, but he seemed much more comfortable when the conversation turned to statewide issues rather than the minutia of city planning.

Blow by blow below the fold
(anything in quotes should be accurate, consider anything else paraphrased)

QUESTION: Do you support the bill establishing a director of Tidelands and Great Ponds? How can MA ensure waterfront access?

Laurie Leyshon: Says she has a strong interest in environmental issues. It's important to designate tidal areas. The people of Charlestown should have the ultimate say in what happens to their access. She's heard over and over -- you're not represented by someone who lives in Charlestown. [Of course, none of these candidates in Charlestown, either -- sco] It's important for people to have ownership in their community. We need to have a sustainable approach.

Anthony Galluccio: It's crucial that legislature maintain power over the coastal areas. Chapter 91 has should be strengthened. This is an opportunity to elect someone who follows Barrios. He's cautious in delegating away authority. Main charge to protect Chapter 91.

Jeff Ross: Supports designation of a director. He will be involved in the future of the waterfront & what the development will be. We need to make sure the waters aren't becoming polluted. He supports the expansion of green space in Charlestown. He will work with the community.

Tim Flaherty: Chapter 91 was watered down during the Dukakis years. DEP allowed buildings to take place. Need to have clarity on that issue. The legislature has intended to 'seek clarity' after the SJC decision. Waterfront is greatest natural resource. Supports the legislation.

Paul Nowicki: Also would support the legislation. Chelsea waterfront is dilapidated. We've worked hard to bring it back. Proponent of open dialogue. He demanded to open process when a power plant wanted to move to Chelsea waterfront and has a history of dealing with waterfront development. Salt piles -- DEP has failed to regulate them. We've worked to bring them 'under the umbrella'.

QUESTION: Business health is not good in Charlestown. They're losing storefronts. Parking is always an issue. How to balance residential parking needs with commercial parking needs?

PN: We face that in Chelsea -- it's densely populated. To deal with existing businesses, you need to open up dialogue. For new development -- minimum of 1.5 parking spots for each person that goes in. They did a study in 1995 in Chelsea. He talked about a new development with 90 units, but spots for 36 cars. Supports requirements for parking for all new developments.

TF: We have to balance Quality of Life issues. He lives in Harvard Square, so he understands parking issues. Having neighborhood restaurants is a benefit. Supports a requirement for densely populated districts that valets be available during certain hours so business will have to provide parking.

JR: There's a study coming out that is going to look at best use of Charlestown along Main Street. The question lies with the community. What types of mixed-use buildings should there be? He would be an advocate for residents.

AG: He brought Zipcar into Cambridge. No one has gone to more meetings around development. Harvard, MIT, these are routine issues. Senator would be very similar to a city councilor in seven communities. Show up to meetings, etc. Neighborhood has to decide on development vs parking.

LL: Ultimately the citizens of Charlestown need to decide these. Residents need support from Representatives & Senators. Need to 'look outside the box' for solutions. Residential parking and parking for residents are different. A lot of residents may need to walk to the restaurants. She doesn't drive and would look into having better municipal transit. What about shuttle buses that run frequently at times when people want to go to dinner? A lot of unused space under Rt 99 and the highways where you might put in parking spaces. Study what other cities do for parking. "Make it fun for people" to take transit.

QUESTION: MA is 47th in spending on state parks. DCR merger has been done in name only, hasn't worked well. All parks are suffering. How would you change this?

AG: Worked for Sen Robert Wetmore, who had a reputation for protecting state parks. GOP administrations were not very supportive of open spaces across the state. He initiated an open-space fund in Cambridge. Would like to eliminate MBTA storage spaces. He would be a strong advocate for reinvesting in public spaces.

JR: Charlestown has one of the most important parks in MA. Lately there have been many crimes in the park and the surrounding area. The challenge is funding so rangers and police can make the parks safe.

TF: The DCR is symptomatic of 16 years of GOP governorship. Across the board things have been underfunded. Open space is important -- that's a quality of life issue. We need to reinvest in state park system. Not just the DCR, all across the board. The crime lab -- 16,000 pieces of evidence not processed because they're underfunded? Where to get the money? We need to prioritize.

PN: In Chelsea, they made a requirement that open space be provided with new developments. He got funding for the Chelsea Soldier's Home because he made it a priority. The GOP admin have depleted everything. He's not in favor of privatization. Prices will skyrocket and the people who need / want it the most are going to be priced out. He would work with municipalities to make sure the state property is taken care of, finished being built, etc.

LL: The park is the heart of the community. Parks everywhere in the state are in trouble. We have to take care of them. They reflect how we feel about people's lives. It's a matter of pride. The state should close corporate loopholes to pay for them. 1,100 corps that earn $100M and only pay $456 a year in taxes. Wal-Mart doesn't pay taxes here. "Wal-Mart is not a church. It should not be tax exempt." Combined revenue is at least $340M. That pays for a lot of things.

QUESTION: Education -- it's five years since MCAS became a grad requirement. Supporters say it boosts achievement. Critics say it's an impediment. What's your position on MCAS?

JR: Has two kids who go to public school. Son studying for MCAS (5th grade). He's bored by the repetition and not learning. As a parent, he doesn't like it. Teachers need to have more discretion. There are benefits. Kids at the highest levels get benefits. We don't need to eliminate it. Supports bill to scrap it as a grad requirement.

TF: Don't know that he would support bill. Know a little bit about it. Education "changed my life". Is MCAS the best way to test a kid? He's not sure. Teachers are penalized if their teachers don't grade well, so of course the curriculum is geared toward teaching to the test. There's a place for music, arts, PE. The State Constitution is "a very interesting document" -- says that MA must, for the "preservation of rights and liberties", provide for public education.

PN: Does not believe in test as soul requirement. He has two daughters in Chelsea public schools. It's imperative to focus on broader scope of what schools do. Education is important. He would work to make sure that anything that comes out of Beacon Hill is fully funded. He'd also like to expand the school system -- early childhood education, after school programs.

LL: "I am actually a teacher." She would support the legislation. A child's entire portfolio should be taken into consideration. She started an art school in California because art was eliminated in the public schools when she lived there. As a teacher, the way you connect with children is to cater the lesson plan to each child. Kids should be excited to go to school. MCAS kids are not excited. She worked on the achievement gap task force with Boston Public Schools. You have to have freedom -- if children need more time on one subject, you have to take that time.

AG: Spent 13 years on public schools -- he's "obsessed with public schools", and at-risk kids. He's been endorsed by Mass. Federation of Teachers. Portfolios are a better determinant. However, MCAS did improve public schools in Cambridge. He's the only candidate that has chaired a school committee and negotiated a teachers' contract. The MCAS is not as important as things like extended school days, bullying, etc. Let's move on to real-important issues.

QUESTION: Infrastructure -- Do you support prioritizing renovations in Charlestown? How do you prioritize as a legislator?

TF: Look at the netting under the Tobin Bridge. It's to catch lead paint chips. Do we want to suffer a tragedy here? This is an emergency situation. Romney improved the cape commute so people could get to their beach houses. What about Charlestown? There should be a capital bond immediately for Sullivan Square. There should be mitigation for building a stadium.

PN: Back in 1994, he sat on the charter commission in Chelsea. Chelsea went into receivership. Capital improvement was very important -- they put 5 year capital improvement plans in the charter. Legislature needs to make sure that there is a process that there is prioritization of infrastructure improvements. Make sure there is community input and that improvements are done by needs, and not by who's the loudest voice. There should be a comprehensive plan, not piecemeal.

LL: We don't have a choice but to make sure our bridges are kept up. Look at the Big Dig. We have old bridges where no one is accountable, but with the Big Dig there was a lack of accountability in the construction. There's a lot of money that's still due the state. We should close the corporate loopholes so there are more funds. We can't afford to take the risk. Sullivan Station needs a lot of work. It's not a pleasant place to go to, but it could be a vital center.

AG: Not only would he fight for funding, but he'll be at every neighborhood meeting. He recognizes the "whole picture". He is not going to be a senator that spends a lot of time on Beacon Hill -- but will be a neighborhood senator. Roadways are a disgrace. Long term planning is a disgrace. This is true of Charlestown, Everett, Chelsea, Somerville. Look at pedestrian crossings. The district needs development that makes sense -- residential housing density, low-level retail, etc. There need to be long-term plans. That has to be the charge of this senator.

JR: The state needs to look for ways to reinforce the infrastructure. Federal money is being drained off. We should look at public-private partnerships for funds. We should have mixed-use zoning planning.

QUESTION: Boston Redevelopment Authority - What do you think of its dual role as development agency and planning agency?

PN: In Chelsea, the city had no checks and balances. This caused problems in Chelsea. Those are two areas that should be separate. Look in the navy yard. It's important to have separate entities. When you're changing the landscape of the community, the process has to be open, accessible, inclusive so everyone respects the end product.

LL: She's been in the area for six years and never seen anything like the BRA anywhere else. She's never seen a city where you have a planning commission where there's no oversight. The BRA is astonishing in that it just does "whatever the heck it wants to do" She's heard this over and over again and would work to get that changed. People have to have the ability to control what happens to their communities. Where does the BRA money come from? They deal with this all over the city -- Roxbury, etc. City needs to also look at green building.

AG: Cambridge has an independent planning board. It was shocking to see the difference in Charlestown. He wouldn't pretend to be able to overhaul the Boston City Charter as a State Senator. Still, folks need to look to a state senator who can "exert influence over the process". He will be tenacious, relentless.

JR: The problem with the BRA is how development is approached. What needs to happen is the community should take more of a role and band together and work with councilors, legislators. etc. Communities could use some leadership in coming up with a vision and changing the perspective.

TF: The BRA has an inherent conflict. It's an inside ballgame. We need transparency in government. Why does the BRA share dual roles? He's not afraid to stand up to BRA, Mayor Menino or anyone. There's a sea change happening across the commonwealth and he wants to have a chance to take part in that. "I don't need this job. I want it"

QUESTION: Casino gambling may be on its way in MA. Is gaming the easy way out?

LL: At the heart of that question is "Why did it take us 400 years to recognize the Wampanoag nation?" We are obligated to allow them to have a casino. Whether we want to have everyone else come in, that's a "tricky issue". One casino is one thing, five is something else. She would like to study it further. On one hand are issues of gambling addictions, but the real issues are traffic, the effect on the infrastructure. Given how much the Wampanoags lost when we came here, we need to give back.

AG: "I have no horse in this race." He doesn't have any objection. Gov. Patrick has the potential to be a great Governor. He thinks we should have slot machines first, then casinos. He will take a hard look and keep an open mind, but he's not sold.

JR: State needs to look at the environmental impact. It's not clear how much money would actually come back to the state. We need to look at it as a community. What's the detriment versus the revenue?

TF: He comes to the issue from a law enforcement perspective and says he understands the social ills surrounding this issue. It's not a moral issue. Gambling is on the way in Massachusetts, but it's not going to happen overnight. This is a 4-5 year process. We need to be smart about it. We need to be able to reap the benefit of it. There are measures we can place to limit social ills. How are we going to pay for it? Expand the economy. Create real paying jobs. If gambling comes, he will make sure that the district gets their fair share.

PN: We should adopt the slots at dog tracks. Casinos should absolutely be allowed. Before you have the process of addressing the questions, you need to say yes. He has the endorsement of Rep. Kathy-Anne Reinstein (D-Revere) who has Wonderland dog track in her district. He will make sure there is community input. Let's open the doors so that we can do this in a smart way.

QUESTION: Healthcare costs are soaring. Municipalities now have the option to opt into the GIC. The law requires approval of unions, so few will. What can we do to reign in health care costs?

AG: He supports the Governor's. plan. Increasing purchasing power is one way to fight back. This is an example of middle class vs working class vs unions. He's proud at how well Cambridge pays employees. State should transition to single-payer health care. We're robbing Peter to pay Paul. We need to look globally at health care. Stop pitting people against one another.

JR: State needs to continue on working on universal health care system. The GIC bill is a good start. Everybody needs coverage.

TF: This is a divisive issue. This district is wonderful because of the diversity. Universal health care / single payer should be available for everyone. GIC process is good but a complicated process. One third of our budget is spent on health care costs. It's a budget buster and this is not going to change -- people are living longer. Paying for it is a complicated issue. Municipal partnership act is a good idea. GIC is good in the short term.

PN: He has the experience of uniting people on divisive issues. He's in favor of entering into GIC -- it would save Chelsea $1M. It's the same across the district. We should work to restore this money back to the municipalities. He created & chaired Labor Relations committee in Chelsea. They've gone from 90-10 to 85-15. That's leadership. He's in favor of Universal Health Care / Single Payer. We need to review programs on a year-by-year basis.

LL: Cambridge Health Alliance has done a good job. MGH has been providing free care. We're just beginning to get the health care situation right. We tried to get health insurance through the health care website for daughter. We couldn't find the right plan! She supports the Municipal Partnership act and doesn't want to pit private sector against public sector. Michael Moore's Sicko should be required watching for Americans. We could be so much better. We need to study what other countries are doing.

QUESTION: Do you support use of state funds to augment city funds for Charlestown Navy Yard?

JR: It's "hard to find community in the Navy Yard" because of how it's been developed. He would try to create public-private partnerships instead. It's difficult to appropriate funds so directly.

TF: Yes. The Navy Yard is a beautiful place to live.

PN: Yes. We have a history of doing similar in Chelsea.

LL: Yes. Definitely work on partnerships between the state and the city. She did get a sense of community in the Navy Yard. The walkway along the waterfront was frequently blocked. We're going to have to deal with the BRA.

AG: Sure. The next Senator should fight for state funds. A little goes a long way. The reality is we have to make the developer pay through zoning. We reduced densities in Cambridge, increased open spaces.

QUESTION: What is the most important issue facing Charlestown, and how would you help resolve this issue?

TF: The prevalence of drug use among young children. He was a prosecutor in charge of a drug unit. It's very easy to talk about being tough on crime. That's not being smart on crime. There's no intake facility in Charlestown. In 2003, the state lost more people to ODs than car accidents. There is a problem in Charlestown, Cambridge, Somerville. Let's get the drugs out of Charlestown.

PN: The drug & alcohol problem. It's the same in Chelsea, Everett, Somerville. He has a history of dealing with this for 15 years. He sponsored a Weed & Seed program in Chelsea. We need more Police officers on the street. They assist in prevention, and can act as social workers. He's worked with re-entry programs. We need funding for those programs so when people come out they have a sense of where to go.

LL: Crime. She talked to kids in the projects. They're just as worried as the wealthy people. This goes across economic lines. As a teacher, the first thing is to make sure we have mentors, after school programs, support groups, social workers for parents. More programs are critical. She did a green jobs forum with Sen. Downing, Rep. Festa. When people have jobs, they're less likely to do drugs. "Green Collar jobs, not drugs."

AG: He sees what everyone else sees. This is a pervasive problem. Where are the drugs coming from? It's not just more beds and more counseling. Charlestown has very effective programs. Every kid in Charlestown should know who their senator is. Building that relationship is the first step. He supports diversionary justice. "We're turning kids who don't think they're thugs into thugs by treating them like thugs."

JR: The problem is more broad based than just drugs. We need more first responders. In Brockton, there are similar problems. There needs to be a broad-based approach to reducing crime. You need to have counseling centers. We need transitional assistance. We need CORI reform so people can get jobs. There isn't just state money.

QUESTION: The LNG deliveries put the neighborhood at risk. Also, we are overbuilding our Waterfront in Charlestown. What are your thoughts?

PN: LNG? Get it out of here. You can't, for the sake of money, change the character of our neighborhoods. We put all those oil tanks along our waterfront. We sold out to get the quick buck.

TF: The LNG freighter is a disaster -- 3 feet on either side. We were reduced in federal homeland security funding. Other non-urban areas get more funding. The harbor pilots are not even government regulated.

JR: Charlestown & Chelsea need more advocacy to keep things out of town. There's a proposal to put LNG off the coast. The community needs to be involved.

AG: The Tobin Bridge, Oil Tanks, Rt. 99 as a dumping ground all shouldn't have happened. There are risk assessments that the public should be able to see. The Waterfont is our most valuable resource. We should be moving to residential T-Stops, not putting density toward the waterfront. He has a legacy of taking on institutions.

LL: The LNG situation is crazy. There's no such thing as an acceptable risk. Lloyds of London has insured the LNG. No one's allowed to see these assessment. We don't need to spend money on a risk assessment. They've already been done.

CLOSING STATEMENTS
LL: She loves the Navy Yard and was particularly impressed with the Korean War memorial. Her father was a West Point grad, killed in action in Korea. She feels an obligation to make the country a place worth dying for. Her main interest is in the environment. He put together the Green Jobs forum in Cambridge. She's always worked as a public servant -- trying to help people, bring people together. People came to the forum because there was a desire for change. Everyone wanted to create a better place. We will have a green jobs policy for Massachusetts. She's also the Cambridge coordinator for CORI reform.

AG: Thanks to everyone. "I wanted this job when it wasn't a new and exciting time in Massachusetts politics." He's had a lot of time to think about the issues brought up today. How do we unify the town? How do we protect the skating rink? The community has become near and dear to him. Picture him when the bridge gets closed down, etc. He wants to act like a city councilor but with more power.

JR: Thanks everybody. Each area in the district has needs. He's suited to meet those needs. He's sued the RMV to stop them from implementing REALID. He's been working on civil liberty issues, particularly his work in Brockton. He cares about all the towns and districts.

TF: We've all got varied experience. We're all "progressive democrats" but he admits that he's not sure what that means. He has experience is in trying cases. "Don't vote for me because of the cases I've tried. It's not about me. It's about you, the voters." Politics is going to be done differently. We have to create real, affordable jobs. This district is a microcosm of Massachusetts. It's about where we're going.

PN: These issues are the issues he's been working on in Chelsea. It's important to look at the past. In five of eight terms, he's been the top vote getter in the most diverse community in MA. A leader brings people together and does it the right way. That's what he's done. That's what he'll do. Four terms as president of the city council. Chelsea's image is catching up to reality because of the progress. Drug relates to crime prevention. Weed & Seed. Make sure we have programs for nonviolent offenders. Money should be available for immigration programs. He's not seeking reelection to city council seat.

Question of the Evening

2007-08-06T23:10:00.000-04:00

I came across this chart of 2008 candidates' positions via BoingBoing. It has a large matrix of candidates and issues with checkmarks for positions they support and X's for things they oppose. But for former Governor Mitt Romney, they had to invent a new icon -- an x'ed out check -- for his position on reproductive choice. Given that they'd already invented one symbol for Mitt, why not give him double the checkmarks under the Guantanamo category?

Weekend Baby Blogging

2007-08-05T20:42:00.000-04:00

Standing up (with help)

Ten Million Daily Crossings Over Deficient Bridges

2007-08-03T17:35:00.000-04:00

Both the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald both have front-page reports today on the state of Massachusetts' bridges, particularly the 588 of them that the Federal Highway Administration has deemed "structurally deficient", the same designation that the I-35W bridge over the Mississippi river had before it's tragic collapse on Wednesday. The Globe has a list of the top 100 deficient bridges as well as a map. Still, I wanted to look at the whole dataset (why stop at 100, after all?) and went to the FHWA's National Bridge Inventory and downloaded the Massachusetts dataset myself. Here are a couple of interesting (read terrifying) facts about those 588 bridges that the FHWA has classified as "structurally deficient":

Massachusetts drivers make an average of 10 million crossings daily over structurally deficient bridges.
Laid end-to-end, the span of these bridges would be just over seven miles.
The top six most heavily travelled of the bridges are used by Rt. 128, in Canton, Dedham, Newton and Wakefield
Forty-seven of the bridges are in the City of Boston. Fall River is a distant second with 15.
The majority of the bridges cross railroad tracks or another highway.
Fifteen of the bridges over the Charles River are structurally deficient. The next highest total by waterway is the Sudbury River with twelve.
The road with the most structurally deficient bridges is Route 2, with 19. The next highest is a tie between the Mass Pike and I-91 with 14 each.
The total estimated cost to repair or replace these bridges is over $2 billion in year-of-estimate dollars. Cities and towns are responsible for nearly $400 million of that total.
While this article claims that the Bourne Bridge is the most highly trafficked structurally deficient bridge in Massachusetts, the FHWA data shows that bridge as being only "Functionally Obsolete". Here's the difference:

A bridge is Structurally Deficient if it is in relatively poor condition, or has insufficient load-carrying capacity. The insufficient load capacity could be due to the original design of an older bridge that used lighter design loads, or due to deterioration. A bridge is considered Functionally Obsolete if it is narrow, has inadequate under-clearances, has insufficient load-carrying capacity, is poorly aligned with the roadway, and can no longer adequately service today's traffic.

Now, I should point out that the average daily crossings and total project cost numbers are given by the FHWA only for the year the bridge was last observed. That means I am somewhat inappropriately adding up trips and dollars from anywhere between 1996 and 2006. While normalizing these to get current-year costs and current-year trips would give us a better picture, the figures I've presented without doing so are good-enough for back of the envelope calculations.

Here are the top-ten communities in terms of average daily traffic over structurally deficient bridges:

City	Total Bridges	Average Daily Trips	Combined Miles
Boston	47	1,449,187	0.73
Dedham	5	455,000	0.04
Newton	8	384,317	0.13
Canton	3	321,500	0.04
Fall River	15	308,100	0.44
Danvers	5	267,610	0.03
Framingham	10	203,750	0.12
Attleboro	4	186,300	0.04
Northampton	12	185,813	0.14
Springfield	6	181,095	0.09

GOP Candidate Starts Airing Ads

2007-08-03T05:50:00.000-04:00

The Herald's Casey Ross notes in his Daily Briefing blog that Republican candidate Jim Ogonowski has started airing ads in his bid for the Fifth Congressional District seat. The ad itself is well done if generic, though the images in the background flash a little two quickly. I also notice that it does not mention that he's a Republican -- probably a good move in a Democratic district.

Still, the ad buy does not really make sense to me. The only reason the Democrats have aired campaign spots thus far is that they have no choice given the September 4th primary. Ogonowski does not have a primary challenge to speak of; Tom Tierney, his only opponent, doesn't even live in the district. Because of that, he has the luxury of waiting until after Labor Day to start his advertising blitz. That's when people are actually paying attention, home from vacation, and willing to think about politics. I also have to imagine that he has pretty decent name-recognition already.

Oganowski had about $112,00 on hand at the end of last month, less than any of the Democrats except for Rep. Jim Miceli. The conventional wisdom in Washington is that the National Republicans are not all that excited to dump money into what they consider a likely loss in Massachusetts, particularly since they fundraising problems of their own. When Ogonowski is down ten points in the polls come October, I imagine he'll be wishing he still had the money he spent on this ad buy over the summer.

The only way this makes sense is if this is a small ad buy, made more to get media talking about the ad than to actually pay to air it. Otherwise, I think he's jumped the gun.

Five Dems Line Up to Succeed Barrios

2007-08-02T21:52:00.000-04:00

The Cambridge Chronicle has the list of candidates who submitted enough signatures to get on the ballot in the race to replace former Senator Jarrett Barrios in the Middlesex, Suffolk and Essex Senate District. The final list looks to be Cambridge City Councilor Anthony Galluccio, Tim Flaherty, son of former House Speaker Charlie Flaherty, Chelsea City Councilor Paul Nowicki, Cambridge resident Jeff Ross, and Laurie Leyshon, also of Cambridge. Bob over at BMG had more information on all of them and a few that didn't make the cut. Bob also subtly urged me to attend a forum this Monday in Charlestown. I'll make every effort to get out there and report back.

The Chronicle does not mention, however, that all of these candidates are Democrats. That means for the third time in four legislative special elections, there will be no Republican on the general election ballot. If you count the special election in East Boston to replace now-Senator Anthony Petruccelli where a GOP candidate has yet to emerge, that makes four out of five special elections that the state Republicans have conceded. You could argue that most of these have been in areas unlikely to be friendly to a Republican candidate, but it's not like there's that much else going on for them to focus on. In any event, this means the election will be decided in the Sept. 11th primary. That means August 22nd will be the last day to register if you want to participate and haven't already.

Last Night's Progressive Forum

2007-08-02T06:24:00.000-04:00

Last night, I attended the Fifth-District Congressional Debate sponsored by the Mass Alliance. While I thought that the debate was not very well attended, I talked to some DSC members afterwards who thought that turnout was in line with their expectations, particularly for a debate in Lawrence. Most of the attendees seemed to already be supporters of one of the candidates; I felt like I was the only one in the auditorium not already wearing someone's sticker -- and I can't even vote in this race. I spoke briefly with Mimi from Left in Lowell who confirmed that this was the case for nearly all of the other debates as well.

Outside the school where the debate was held, volunteers lined the street for all candidates except Rep. Jim Miceli. In both debates I've attended, Rep. Miceli has come alone and left alone. I'm sure he has supporters, but I'm starting to wonder if he's a serious candidate if he can't get them to show up anywhere or give him any money. Rep. Barry Finegold had the biggest signs and loudest supporters, but that shouldn't be much of a surprise given that Lawrence is his home turf, so to speak.

The format of the debate was fairly standard. The first round consisted of questions from three panelists -- Carl Nilsson of Neighbor to Neighbor Massachusetts, Cathy Dwyer of the American Federation of Teachers, Massachusetts and Angus McQuilken of Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund. The next was a lightning round conducted by Emily Rooney of WGBH, and following that the candidates were allowed to ask questions of two others. Frankly, I think the panel was wasted -- anyone could have been up there asking questions -- and perhaps we'd have been better served if the panel members could ask follow ups rather than move on to a completely different subject for a second question.

I'm a big fan of Emily Rooney's interviews on Greater Boston, but I'm not sure her style works in this format either. She forgot the opening statements, but she did, I think, keep the candidates honest when they strayed into talking points without answering the question -- at least in the second round.

The questions, as expected, ran the gamut of progressive issues. The candidates were asked about their opinions on the Bush Tax cuts (all are against), the war in Iraq (almost all want out as soon as possible), reproductive choice (one pro-life, four pro-choice), NAFTA (only Tsongas admitted that she would have voted for it at the time), Climate Change, the ERA, DOMA, Health Care and so on. The subjects seemed to be a natural fit for Rep. Jamie Eldridge, who is arguably the most progressive candidate in the race and was the only one of the five to have been endorsed by Mass Alliance in a previous race. It's hard to tell, however, who did well in this debate since most of the ground that was covered had been gone over in previous debates and the format prevented in-depth discussion of any single issue. I felt like I left the forum without having learned much.

There were a couple of interesting moments, though. Rep. Miceli grumped about how no one is paying attention to where the other candidates are getting their money during a question on campaign finance, and Rooney disagreed with him, offering to list the names of all the PACs that had contributed thus far. Miceli also spent his closing statement touting his experience and taking thinly veiled jabs at fellow candidate Niki Tsongas, saying how he couldn't believe someone could be elected to Congress without so much as even local-level experience. Eileen Donoghue also took some shots at Tsongas, pointing out how Tsongas promised ten years ago to bring a Performing Arts Center to Middlesex Community College, yet she couldn't deliver on that. In her defense, Tsongas offered up that the center was "too expensive" but still a possibility. Donoghue also took Rep. Finegold to task for voting in line with the wishes of some campaign contributers, but I feel that this lost a lot of its punch since Donoghue was forced to defend her own acceptance of PAC money earlier in the debate.

I have notes, but unless people are clamoring for a blow-by-blow account, I won't bother transcribing them. My laptop ran out of juice after about the second question and I have only my barely decipherable chicken scratchings to go on for the last hour and a half of the debate. Unfortunately, I could not get a wireless signal otherwise, I'd have live-blogged.

For more, see Marie's post at Dick Howe's blog.

Update: Here are the reports from The Boston Globe and the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune.

No Place for Genocide Deniers

2007-08-01T17:54:00.000-04:00

What started out as one man's crusade to be able to hate gays "and not be called on [it]" has now ventured into the world of international politics and landed on the front page of the Boston Globe. At issue is Watertown's participation in the Anti-Defamation League's No Place for Hate program, and specifically, the efforts of ADL national director Abe Foxman lobbying against a Congressional resolution that would recognize the Armenian Genocide as exactly that. From the Globe:

Sharistan Melkonian -- chairwoman of the Armenian National Committee of Eastern Massachusetts, based in Watertown -- accused Foxman of engaging in "genocide denial" in an interview with the Globe. She said she will call for the Watertown No Place for Hate program to sever its ties with the ADL unless it denounces Foxman's position and acknowledges the genocide.

In a separate interview, Foxman countered that it would be "bigoted" to dismantle a program focused on fighting hatred simply because the ADL does not share the Armenians' point of view. And Foxman maintained his position that the ADL, which has spoken out against ethnic cleansing in the Balkans and genocide in Darfur, does not have a role in the long-standing dispute between the Armenians and the Turks.

See this Daily Kos diary for more background on Foxman and the Armenian Genocide.

Previously, complaints about No Place for Hate were nonsensical claims about how it was some sort of left-wing mind-control conspiracy. But now that it has become known that the program's sponsors are linked to deniers of the Armenian Genocide, the controversy has exploded here in Watertown, which if you believe Wikipedia, has the third largest population of Armenians in the US.

The ADL's regional director Andrew Tarsy wrote a letter in last week's Watertown TAB trying to defend the ADL and Foxman's stance -- or lack thereof -- on the Armenian Genocide. Here's what he had to say on the matter:

Neither ADL nor our national director, Abraham H. Foxman, has lobbied against the legislation. Rather, when asked by media, we expressed an opinion that the issue was one to be resolved between the two countries -- Armenia and Turkey.

There may be disagreement with our opinion, but, as you rightly say, getting rid of "No Place for Hate" is not the answer.

Now the ADL has done a lot of admirable work, but I have to say that if someone had said the same thing about the Holocaust -- that it was a matter for Germany and Israel and the rest of us needn't have an opinion -- they'd surely consider that Holocaust denial and denounce it (as well they should). Certainly they would not chalk it up to a mere difference of opinion, as Tarsy does. Nor does Tarsy go on to explain that their 'opinion' implies that the US should not, in fact, recognize the Armenian Genocide. Given how concerned they are at fighting Holocaust denial, it seems to me to be hypocritical for them to turn around and deny an earlier genocide because they don't comment on "something that happened in the past". I also find it particularly offensive that Foxman himself would claim that it's bigotry to fight for recognition of the Genocide.

Personally, I can't fathom why the ADL doesn't have a position on the Armenian Genocide. After all, inscribed on one of the walls of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington is this quote from Hitler himself: "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?" One would think that the ADL would take that seriously.

I do, however, understand that Israel needs the support of a friendly Turkey, and pro-Israel groups may be hesitant to antagonize that country. Still, fighting prejudice in general and genocide in particular sometimes means you have to be critical of your friends. I would have more respect for Foxman if he admitted that this was the real reason why the ADL refuses to take a stand, but that does not excuse his denials.

In any event, the position of the ADL on the Armenian Genocide has little effect on the work of the Watertown No Place for Hate committee, which is according to its chairpersons, an autonomous local group that "fully recognizes" the genocide. It does, however, receive program grants through the ADL. According to the Globe, the committee plans to meet with Tarsy and question the ADL's stance on the Armenian Genocide and will consider their options after that meeting occurs.

It would be the height of irony if the NPFH committee were forced to sever ties with the ADL because they didn't live up to their own standards. Yet that might be how it shakes out. I would hope that the Watertown No Place for Hate committee could continue its work without the support of ADL grants, either under that name or as a new group committed to promoting diversity and preventing hate crimes.

Question of the Evening

2007-07-31T21:40:00.000-04:00

Didn't Andrea Silbert already do this in her run for Lieutenant Governor last year? How'd that work out for her?

Weekend Baby Blogging

2007-07-29T23:13:00.000-04:00

Just in under the wire.

More Tunnel Trouble

2007-07-27T08:42:00.000-04:00

Earlier this week, I expressed my skepticism as to whether the state could be trusted to replace the Storrow drive tunnel with a new, wider tunnel that could accommodate both directions of traffic. This Herald story detailing how state engineers knew they used the wrong epoxy in the section of tunnel that collapsed last year makes me even more reluctant to have the state embark on another tunnel project -- no matter how much simpler it would be. From the article (via BMG):

The documents, disclosed yesterday by attorneys for the epoxy supplier, reveal a chain of communication in which state officials were clearly informed of the deficiencies of the glue that failed and caused 26 tons of concrete to crash onto the roadway of the Interstate 90 Seaport connector tunnel on July 10 of last year. [Milena] Del Valle was a passenger in a car crushed by the falling concrete ceiling.

The documents also show that those engineers called for a more robust standard epoxy, but that either the contractor or another Big Dig firm still failed to use the right product.

Of course, don't forget that the media has been burned by phony memos before. This memo is being produced by the epoxy manufacturer to protect them from any liability. It also does not seem to be in the document dump the state sent to the National Transportation Safety Board in the course of their investigation. Was the memo lost, simply overlooked, or was someone engaged in butt-covering of their own?

Second MA-05 Ad Goes Live

2007-07-25T23:46:00.000-04:00

Fifth District candidate Rep. Barry Finegold (D-Andover) has launched what I believe is the second television ad in the race to replace former Congressman Marty Meehan. Fellow candidate Niki Tsongas was the first to go on TV with an ad that aired a month ago. Frankly, I'm a little surprised that there hasn't been more activity on the air in the race given how much money the candidates have and how close the election is getting. I expect that Eileen Donoghue will join in before too long and perhaps we'll see a second offering from Tsongas.

As far as the ad goes, there's an art to using humor in political ads, and Finegold's effort in that regard falls flat. The dancing Congressman is just weird and off-putting. Perhaps memorable, though, and that may be what Finegold is after. For me, it reminds me too much of one of our local furniture store ads (sans furniture, of course).

That said, I do think that the spot gets to the nut of why Congressional approval ratings are so low. People are frustrated because Congress is unable or unwilling to bring about the changes in policy that they thought they were voting for last November. In reality, however, electing Barry Finegold does not promise to change that, nor would electing any of the other candidates for the fifth district. To be sure, Finegold is not claiming he can change that, and he's at most promising that he'll listen to voters.

Blue Mass. Group has more commentary.

Tackling Health Care Costs

2007-07-24T23:12:00.000-04:00

Dave Denison has an excellent article in the Summer issue of CommonWealth magazine on the lack of attention paid to controlling costs in last year's landmark health care reform law. It's becoming apparent as the state works to implement that law that it does little to address the rising costs of health care and there's little political will to change the status quo, even as cities and towns, not to mention private sector employers, struggle to keep up with those costs.

The cost argument at the time, if I recall correctly, was that if we were able to achieve universal health coverage, costs would magically lower themselves as hospitals would no longer have to cover the costs of care for the uninsured and people who would under other circumstances end up in the emergency room would now be able to afford to go to a primary care provider before a health situation worsened (and therefore became more expensive).

Of course, if that were the case, Massachusetts should have already had low health costs. Even before the new reform law took effect we were already insuring 90% of the population, which was enough to put us in the top ten, tied for fourth with five other states. If a low percentage of uninsured individuals was enough to keep costs down, we should be among the lowest cost states, not the highest.

Denison notes that the group nominally in charge of reducing costs is the state's Quality and Cost Council, but according to the article, they are focusing on creating a public database of local health provider costs and, presumably, outcomes. That, however, is still in the brainstorming stages and won't see the light of day for another two years according to council member Charlie Baker. I for one remain unconvinced that individuals would use such a tool to comparison shop for doctors or hospitals. Baker points out that the real benefit would be in third parties, such as insurance companies, legislators or journalists who would use such a database to ask tough questions of care providers that were out-of-step with the rest of the market. It seems to me, though, that we're relying on those very people right now to ask these questions, and they don't seem to have the stomach to come up with answers. A database would be nice -- more sunshine on these matters would be a good thing -- but don't our legislators have the power to compel providers to give them this information now without linking it to a public database? Don't insurance companies have the incentives and the leverage to get this information from hospitals? Why do we have to wait for the state to put together a big web-enabled database that we can search ourselves if the savings are going to come from experts using that data anyway? Could we not get those same results just by commissioning a study of current costs and investigating the differences between providers?

New Tunnel or No Tunnel?

2007-07-24T08:37:00.001-04:00

Today's Boston Globe brings us two pieces of tunnel-related news. The first is that the Storrow Drive Tunnel may be beyond repair and need to be replaced. The Globe notes that it was not waterproofed when it was constructed over fifty years ago and it has, perhaps unsurprisingly, suffered extensive water damage over the past half-century. This means, of course, that the planned rehabilitation of Storrow Drive will be neither cheap nor quick.

In addition, a local activist has shown that there are more accidents in the I-93 tunnel than in other tunnels in the area. This news, in my opinion is less important given that I would expect the O'Neill tunnel to have more accidents than the Sumner or Callahan tunnels given that it's longer, wider, less straight, and more heavily traveled than the two older East Boston tunnels and that area residents are still not used to the traffic patterns on the relatively new road. Frankly, I would have been astonished if there were not more accidents on I-93.

The Globe also presents two alternatives for replacing the Storrow tunnel. One would put the westbound as well as the eastbound traffic underground, allowing the city to expand the nearby Esplanade. The other would get rid of the tunnel altogether, and bring the eastbound traffic above ground. Here's my question: After all we've gone through with other area tunnels in not just the past year, but the past 15, does anyone in the Greater Boston area really have an appetite for more? Sure, it would be nice to connect the Esplanade with the rest of the city by burying that portion of Storrow, but what assurances do we have that such a project would not just turn into a Mini-Dig?

Weekend Baby Blogging

2007-07-15T20:47:00.000-04:00

This week was spent mostly tending to work-related items, rather than blog-related items and next week promises to be similar. Expect the irregular schedule to be even more irregular. Here's a picture of the baby to tide you over:

How Not to Avoid Jury Duty

2007-07-11T22:26:00.000-04:00

"The trick is to say you're prejudiced against all races."
--Homer Simpson's advice on how to avoid Jury Duty

In further proof that Massachusetts, not Vermont, should be the true home of the Simpsons, a Falmouth man took that advice to heart on Monday. He's now looking at possible charges for perjury. Here's a partial transcript of his interview courtesy of the Boston Globe:

"You say on your form that you're not a fan of homosexuals?" Nickerson asked Ellis, according to the preliminary transcript.

"That I'm a racist," Ellis interrupted, according to the transcript. "I'm frequently found to be a liar, too."

"I'm sorry?" Nickerson said.

"I said I'm frequently found to be a liar," Ellis replied.

"So, are you lying to me now?" asked Nickerson.

"Well, I don't know. I might be."

The punchline of the story is that the man's mother is now forced at the end of the article to stick up for her son by claiming that he really is a racist liar. Now that's motherly love.

MA-05 Poll Update

2007-07-11T22:04:00.000-04:00

In my post Monday on the latest Fifth District poll commissioned and released by candidate Eileen Donoghue, I posted a few questions that one should keep in mind when reading any internal poll put out by someone running for office. Today, I heard from the Donoghue campaign, who wanted to reassure me that their poll was legitimate.

First off, I wondered why they had used a different polling outfit than they did in their last poll. I speculated that perhaps they had commissioned two polls and released only the more favorable one. Donoghue's people assured me that this was not the case, and that they only switched polling firms because their campaign manager has worked with the new pollster before and was particularly happy with how he targets his regional breakdowns. They said that the campaign has commissioned two polls and released both of them. In addition, I noted that we had no information about what kind of questions were asked. I was told that in this case, it was a "straight horserace poll" without any biographical information and without any push. The only caveat to that is the poll was on likely voters, and as I've said in the past it's hard enough to predict who is likely to vote in a regularly scheduled general election, let alone a special primary -- especially one the day after Labor Day.

That disclaimer about likely voters aside, I feel more confident about Donoghue's poll than I did earlier in the week. Candidates depend on honest information about the electorate to craft their message or plan their targets. They do not benefit by paying someone to lie to them. The campaign that relies on misleading numbers will find itself in for a shock on election day.

Tuesday Night Links

2007-07-10T23:17:00.001-04:00

I've had a busy week at work and at home, so I've once again been on a too-light posting schedule lately. Here are a couple of things that I've come across that are worth passing along, but I haven't had the chance to write a full post on.

Congressman Barney Frank (D-Newton) leads the pack in number of trips paid for by private entities with 84 trips at a total cost of over $100k. The prize for the costliest travel, however, goes to the former Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) at nearly $221k. When ranked by cost, Frank isn't even in the top 50 (via Political Wire)
Below Boston reminds us of the previous remarks of Senator David Vitter (R-LA), frequenter of brothels, in which the Senator trashed "Massachusetts Values" at the same time he was seeing prostitutes.
Tomorrow, July 11, Governor Deval Patrick is hosting a Volunteer Expo in the Great Hall at the State House from 11AM to 2PM. Just once, I'd like to see them schedule these sorts of things at times people who work for a living can make it. In any event, they're supposed to be holding more of these around the state in the coming months.
Governor Patrick's Insurance Commissioner is reportedly considering deregulating the auto insurance rate-setting process even as insurers ask for lower premiums. This seems counterintuitive to me. If rates are going down for everyone under the current system, why guarantee that they will go up for some people by deregulating? It would make more sense, I would think, to push for deregulation in a time of increasing premiums to give some drivers a break on rates.
Former Green-Rainbow Party gubernatorial candidate Grace Ross is now seeing an at-large Worcester City Council seat. It will be tough, despite the name recognition she gained from last year's run since all of the incumbents are currently still running. She'd have to knock one of them off. If she does, though, she could find herself Mayor of the city and the highest ranking Green-Rainbow elected official in Massachusetts.
The Boston Globe had more examples of why the telecom property tax exemption is bad policy. Telecoms have been abusing the law since a 2005 SJC case decided that telecommunications companies that were organized as limited Liability companies were exempt from taxes on polls, wires and other property. After reorganizing, Verizon Wireless' tax bill in Boston went from $3 million in 2004 to $8,984 in 2005. In Newton, their bill went from $118,000 to just $296.15.

Question of the Day

2007-07-10T22:05:00.000-04:00

Does Senator John Kerry really think this has a chance of passing over the President's veto? I would be surprised if there are enough Republicans willing to vote for cloture to send this to Bush's desk anyway. Not only that, but every Senator looks in the mirror and sees a future president. I'm sure there are a few who'd like to save the power to ignore the law for themselves.

Latest Fifth District Polling

2007-07-09T08:12:00.000-04:00

Over the weekend, the Lowell Sun reported on a Fifth District Congressional poll taken by candidate and fomer Lowell Mayor Eileen Donoghue. The poll shows Donoghue second behind Niki Tsongas, but by a smaller margin than a similar poll taken in early May. Here are the results for the whole district:

Tsongas	25.7%
Donoghue	16.8%
Finegold	12.9%
Eldridge	10.0%
Miceli	3.8%
Undecided	29.0%

Donoghue's poll also showed her winning Lowell with 35.4% and with six points of Tsongas in Greater Lowell. The only candidate from the Southern end of the District, Rep. Jamie Eldridge, apparently does best in that region, though he still is behind Tsongas 20.7% to 26.6% in that region. Of course, given that the poll as a whole has a margin of error of 4%, the subsamples will have a much smaller sample size and have an even larger MOE. It's not clear how useful any of those individual regional numbers might be since we don't know the regional breakdown of the poll.

Of course, the usual caveats apply to this data because it is an internal poll, paid for by one of the candidates. It's true that Donoghue would benefit from having an accurate picture of the electorate as it stands now, but it's also true that her team has control over the questions and the decision whether or not to release these numbers. It's interesting that this poll was done by a different firm than the last one, which makes me wonder whether she is commissioning multiple polls at a time and only releasing the ones that show the most favorable results. In addition, there's no indication of how the questions were asked and what information led up to the selection of a candidate. I know that some polls in low-profile races give short bios of each candidate before asking the respondent to choose one. That may not be the case in this poll, but the Sun article makes no mention either way.

In the end, what the poll really shows is that more people are undecided than support any particular candidate. That may mean that the race is more up-for-grabs than the Tsongas team would like. Of course, what will really matter is which candidate can drag their supporters out to a special election the day after Labor Day. It seems to me that the undecideds will be less likely to schlep out to vote and that number is only important insofar as one candidate or another can gain the support of people who have not yet made up their minds. That may be a tough job over the summer when so many people are on vacation and thinking of other things than politics.

Weekend Baby Blogging

2007-07-08T11:58:00.000-04:00

First visit to Grandma and Grandpa's

Gee, Thanks

2007-07-05T08:36:00.000-04:00

Following up to Friday's Question of the Day, yesterday was the drawing for the lottery's Star Spangled Sweepstakes, the one with the $20 tickets. The Herald reports that eleven people became millionaires thanks to the sweepstakes, which paid out $40 million in prizes, despite not selling that much in tickets. The Herald also notes that 35% of the 4 million tickets were sold, along with this:

All revenue generated from the sweepstakes will be divided among Massachusetts' townships and cities.

By my back of the envelope calculations, there were only 1.4 million tickets sold, netting a total of $26 million (not counting printing and advertising costs, etc)

That means the sweepstakes cost cities and towns at least $14,000,000. Do you think they'll send us the bill?

Update: The Boston Globe has more on the sweepstakes, including the reaction of ticket-buyers to the news that the Lottery extended the sales deadline over the weekend. They're upset that their chances of winning were lowered. They have a point, but the idea that lottery players are complaining that the odds of winning the lottery are too low is hilarious to me.

Keller on 2006 Gubernatorial Spending

2007-07-04T23:12:00.000-04:00

Last week, Jon Keller had a blog post where he confessed his love for Michael Dukakis. He took issue, however, with the Duke's comment at South Shore Democrats party for former Massachusetts Democratic party chairman Phil Johnston. Keller calls Dukakis "flat wrong" when he said that then-candidate Deval Patrick was outspent by, overall, some huge number. Here's the quote that gives Keller so much trouble:

Turning to John Walsh, the new state Democratic Party chair who managed Deval Patrick's run for governor last year, Dukakis says: "Yeah, you raised some bucks in the end John, but I don't know what he was outspent by, overall. It was huge, and he won by 21 percentage points. And it had everything to do with that grassroots precinct-based organization... We have the most dramatic example of the effectiveness of this right here in the Commonwealth because of what happened last fall."

(Keller also commits an Internet faux pas by not identifying where he found the Dukakis video -- I assume he found it through BMG, and not by trolling around YouTube looking for former Massachusetts Governors)

Keller then goes into the numbers from the Office of Campaign and Political Finance and shows that Patrick spent $8.9 million and Kerry Healey spent $13.2 million, but when you take independent expenditures into account, the difference between the two was not "huge" and therefore you can't say for sure that grassroots organizing makes more of a difference than spending.

Here's the problem, while Keller adds the amount that the Massachusetts Teachers Association and the Service Employees International unit 1199 (a total of $3.418 million) to Deval Patrick's spending total, he neglects to add the amount the Republican Governor's Association spent on Kerry Healey's campaign (nearly $1 million). You could make the argument that you can ignore the RGA expenditures because they didn't make a difference, but if you do that you may as well ignore all of Healey's spending -- after all, she lost. Keller also omits the $8.5 million that Christy Mihos spent trying to become Governor. If the premise that "Patrick was outspent" is what Keller is disagreeing with -- remember, Dukakis never mentioned who he was outspent by -- then it seems like leaving out the massive amount Mihos spent in his own quest to become governor would mean you're getting an incomplete picture, particularly when Dukakis uses the word "overall".

I also think it's important to note that Patrick was significantly outspent on the airwaves. While Patrick may have achieved near parity in total spending, at least in Keller's eyes, the premise of Dukakis' speech was that grassroots organizing wins out over TV ads. Healey's camp spent $9.6 million on media buys, while Patrick spent a paltry $4.3 million in comparison. Even after adding in the third-party issue ads, Patrick still was outspent by nearly $3 million dollars in the media. That's not nothin', and when people talk about campaign spending, this is generally what they're talking about, not payroll or field events. Dukakis' point was that Patrick focused on field instead of media. Field isn't necessarily cheap, and Patrick's spending there made a huge difference overcoming his lack of TV presence.

In addition, I think that it's important to note that Patrick had two elections to win, while Healey (and Mihos) only had one. Patrick was massively outspent in the primary by Chris Gabrieli. If you count only the money spent before the primary, Gabrieli outspent Patrick two to one. It's not clear which election Dukakis is talking about when he says Patrick "won by twenty-one percentage points". While Patrick won the general by 20 points, he also won the primary by a similar margin -- 22 points. Everything Dukakis says is equally applicable to the primary as it is to the general election, and it would be laughable to say that Patrick was not outspent in the primary. When you take into account how much Patrick was outspent overall, it's clear that the primary should be part of the picture.

Happy Fourth of July!

2007-07-04T14:34:00.001-04:00

The front page of today's Boston Globe suggested heading to a high place to watch the fireworks. So, I went up today to Mount Auburn Cemetery, and climbed Washington Tower, which is may well be the highest one can go up in Watertown (Yes, the Cemetery's street address is in Cambridge, but most of the actual land, including the tower falls in Watertown). You won't be able to watch fireworks from there, unfortunately -- in closes too early -- but there's a great view from the top:

Here are the rest of the pictures I took today.

MA-05 Hopefuls on Libby

2007-07-03T21:30:00.000-04:00

I'm not entirely sure why an aspiring Congresscritter needs to trumpet their reaction to President Bush's commutation of Scooter Libby's prison sentence, but I got statements from two of the candidates in the Fifth District race to replace the now former Congressman Marty Meehan (D-Lowell). I hate blogging-as-stenography, but I'm trying to get back in the swing of things after a busy couple of days in the real world.

The first statement came in yesterday from Rep. Barry Finegold (D-Andover). Here's what he had to say:

"This is a display of the cronyism that has infected Washington. Lying under oath is illegal, unacceptable and unethical. And now the protection racket has swung into action yet again to avoid accountability for this administration. President Bush has, once again, shown his contempt for the rule of law. The American people deserve real leadership. They don't deserve more of the same."

Fellow candidate and former Lowell Mayor Eileen Donoghue followed with this:

"President Bush is once again proving that he has no respect for the office and the people he represents by pulling special favors for his staff. We demand more of our public servants. This action mocks the system we have in place, and flies in the face of efforts to make it better."

Meanwhile, our one-time Governor, Mitt Romney, has predictably gone the other direction and defended the President. This, despite the fact that Romney never once issued a pardon or commutation himself in his four years as Governor, saying that he did not want to overrule a jury.

Weekend Baby Blogging

2007-07-01T12:53:00.001-04:00

"Ask not what a baby can do for you; ask what you can do for a baby."

Question of the Day

2007-06-29T07:53:00.000-04:00

If the state's $20 lottery game didn't break even, why is State Treasurer Tim Cahill talking about doing it twice a year?

He says it's because the game "helped boost overall sales at the lottery," but I'd like to see some evidence of that before the state continues pushing a money-loser.

Good News From the North

2007-06-28T19:22:00.000-04:00

Via Political Wire, American Research Group released a poll today showing former New Hampshire Governor and current director of the Kennedy School's Institute of Politics Jeanne Shaheen thumping incumbent New Hampshire Senator John Sununu in a rematch of their 2002 race by a margin of 57% to 29% with 14% undecided. Check out the by-party numbers:

	Shaheen	Sununu	Undecided
Republicans	30%	61%	9%
Democrats	96%	1%	3%
Undeclared	50%	25%	25%

Shaheen not only gets virtually every Democrat, but even thirty percent of Republicans are, at this early point, so turned off of Sununu that they plan to vote for his opponent! That's incredible.

Now, the usual caveats apply. It's an early poll and doesn't reflect what's likely to happen over the course of a campaign and furthermore Shaheen has not yet even announced her intention to run, and it's an open question whether she will. Still, seeing these numbers, I'd be surprised if she didn't try to take a little revenge at the guy who beat her (by cheating) five years ago.

Debate Watching Party Tonight

2007-06-28T08:36:00.000-04:00

As mentioned elsewhere, Governor Deval Patrick will be doing the candidate introductions at tonight's Democratic Presidential Debate at Howard University on PBS. According to the forum's website, this is the first time that a panel exclusively comprised of journalists of color will be represented in primetime. It's only natural that they'd have the only sitting African-American governor do the introductions. The debate will also be broadcast on pbs.org for those who prefer streaming video or can't get to a TV.

In addition, the Massachusetts Democratic Party and Mass. Democratic Future/Young Democrats of Massachusetts are sponsoring a debate watching party tonight starting at 8:00PM at Porters Bar & Grill, 173 Portland Street in Boston. State Party Chair John Walsh is scheduled to say a few words before the debate kicks off at 9. I'm planning on heading over there assuming that I can step away from baby duties long enough. Hope to see you there!

Gov. Mike Dukakis on Grassroots Organizing

2007-06-27T21:41:00.000-04:00

Below Boston has some must-see video of former Governor Michael Dukakis speaking at a South Shore Democrats party for former Massachusetts Democratic party chairman Phil Johnston. Dukakis has been talking about the need for precinct-level grassroots organizing to anyone who will listen for a long time now -- years -- and he brings this message to the gathering of Democratic activists. I transcribed some of his speech:

I wish I could tell you that Democrats around the country understand precinct based organizing, but you know they don't. They don't. We've got all these consultants, some of them my dear friends, who never rang a doorbell in their life, and they have no idea what happens when a real human being who lives in the precinct, is part of the precinct, talks like the precinct and looks like the precinct goes out and knocks on doors. You've done it. Deval did it; we all did it for him. Yeah, you raised some bucks in the end, John [Walsh], but I don't know what he was outspent by, overall. It was huge, and he won by twenty-one percentage points. And it had everything to do with that grassroots precinct-based organization.

And folks, we have got to do precisely that nationally beginning now in every one of the 185,000 precincts in the United States of America. All fifty states, 185,000 precincts. No one's going to tell me we can't do it. And I'm depending, Phil, on you and John to go out there and deliver that message nationally. I wish I could tell you the state chairs get it. They don't! I've talked to them and they don't understand. They belittle it. You know "that's yesterday." That's baloney. We have the most dramatic example of the effectiveness of this right hear in the Commonwealth because of what happened last fall.

The speech is short, and it's well worth watching the whole thing.

Mitt Romney and the Dog on the Roof

2007-06-27T19:28:00.000-04:00

The Phoenix's Adam Reilly is fascinated by how the Boston Globe took a story about how Mitt Romney hosed dog excrement off his station wagon into some kind of profile in courage. Here's the excerpt from the Globe profile Reilly quotes with his emphasis:

As the oldest son, Tagg Romney commandeered the way-back of the wagon, keeping his eyes fixed out the rear window, where he glimpsed the first sign of trouble. "Dad!" he yelled. "Gross!" A brown liquid was dripping down the back window, payback from an Irish setter who'd been riding on the roof in the wind for hours.

As the rest of the boys joined in the howls of disgust, Romney coolly pulled off the highway and into a service station. There, he borrowed a hose, washed down Seamus and the car, then hopped back onto the highway. It was a tiny preview of a trait he would grow famous for in business: emotion-free crisis management. [emph. added]

It is strange that the Globe would pick this anecdote to highlight Romney's coolness under pressure. Still, what I was more struck by was the act of strapping a dog to the roof of your car in the first place, and I'm not the only one. I've never been a dog owner, but I am a frequent driver, and I've never seen roofbound dogs in my travels. Is this a common practice?

Update: Romney's Dog Speaks!

Did You Know There Was an Election Yesterday?

2007-06-27T07:55:00.000-04:00

Chances are, you didn't. The general election for the race to replace former Senate President Robert Travaglini was yesterday in parts of Cambridge, Everett and Boston. Turnout was limited to less than 3% of eligible voters mostly because soon-to-be-Senator Anthony Petruccelli was running unopposed. Petruccelli won last month's primary against Everett City Councilor Dan Rizzo in a race that saw higher, but still light, turnout at around 17% of the electorate or so.

His election creates a vacant seat in his East Boston district, the First Suffolk. The East Boston Sun Transcript and the Hubster Blog have the candidates to replace Petruccelli currently as Carlo Basile, a "political operative", and Jeff Drago, a City Hall employee. The Hubster also mentions local activist Mary Berninger may be interested in running as well.

Update: I found a cached version of an earlier Eastie Watch column that has more information on the candidates:

Basile, a political operative in Eastie who helped Republican candidates Mitt Romney and Kerry Healy, may be the most conservative of the bunch because of his close ties with these two gubernatorial races. Basile’s got support in the neighborhood but whether his ties to conservative issues may hurt his candidacy among the growing population of progressive voters in Eastie is unclear.

Drago, who has worked for several years inside City Hall, might be able to line up the support of Mayor Thomas Menino. However, its unlikely Menino will make any commitments until he sees the field of candidates so Drago can’t bank on the Mayor’s machine just yet.
...
Beringer’s experience and passion fighting Logan expansion could make her a favorite among Eastie activists long opposed to Logan operations and expansion projects. However, Beringer is not the consummate political insider so big name support from Eastie’s elected officials may be hard to get.

In addition, I noticed today that Felix Arroyo's Organizing Director, Gloribell Mota has set up a fundraising committee for the First Suffolk seat.

Herald Sounding Bitter

2007-06-26T21:56:00.000-04:00

In a otherwise positive editorial on the new Charlestown wind technology center in today's Boston Herald, the editors could not resist inserting a little dig at Governor Deval Patrick:

"Hosting a national wind technology testing center will boost the clean energy technology sector already taking root in Massachusetts," Patrick said. (He might want to keep in mind this kind of energy innovation -- centered on job-creation and attracting manufacturers -- before venturing off on the predictable path of government limits on energy profits, a plan he unveiled yesterday in The Boston Globe.)

Frankly, it seems that the Herald is just upset they got scooped by the Globe more than by any ideological differences. In fact, the companies whose profits would be "limited", to use the Herald's words -- namely NStar and National Grid -- are reportedly on board with the Patrick plan at this early stage. Sure, the Devil's always in the details, but if the governor can come up with some way to change the incentive that utility companies have to get us to use as much power as possible, we'd have a real shot at not only saving consumers some money, but also reducing the costs for those who supply our power. It's a win-win situation. Unfortunately, the Herald's parenthetical aside shows that they're more interested in dinging the Governor for choosing the wrong paper to make the announcement in than in actual solutions.

Update: The Herald's parenthetical aside looks even more foolish in light of Jay Fitzgerald's article today in their paper that argues the opposite point -- that the Patrick plan would cause too much profit for energy companies.

Mixed Signals from Romney

2007-06-26T21:11:00.001-04:00

I kept hearing over the weekend from former Governor Mitt Romney's spokespeople how well fundraising is going for the presidential candidate during his efforts at Fenway Park and TD Banknorth Garden. But, if his fundraising were as good as his they make it out to be, why then is Romney dumping his own money into his campaign account?

Mitt's explanation is that he's not as well known as the other leading candidates -- after all Rudy Guiliani and John McCain are national figures and lurking in the wings is Fred Thompson with his Law and Order exposure. Because of that, it's necessary for him to spend money to introduce him to the people of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina in a way that the other candidates don't have to.

Of course, it might just be that Mitt's second quarter fundraising isn't living up to his high Q1 numbers. After all, the first quarter is when you get all your friends, relatives and other supporters to max out. The second quarter is a much better test of how you're able to convince people you're worth giving money to. Still, Romney's burn rate remains very high, and he's spending funds as fast as he can raise them. Romney has hundreds of millions of dollars at his disposal; it will be instructive to see how much he's willing to put toward his candidacy.

Either way, we'll find out after Friday, when the second-quarter fund-raising effort ends.

Stick Mosquito Challenges Chinese Ballots

2007-06-26T07:42:00.000-04:00

No matter where you come down on the issue of ballots being printed in languages other than English, you have to admit that this is hilarious:

In Mandarin, for instance, [Secretary of State Bill] Galvin said, his own name could be translated either as High Prominent Noble Educated -- or Stick Mosquito.

According to the translators whom Galvin consulted, [Boston Mayor Tom] Menino's name could be read as Imbecile in Chinese. Or Sun Moon Rainbow Farmer. Or, in the worst case scenario for the mayor, Barbarian Mud No Mind of His Own.

[Former Governor Mitt] Romney's name can be seen as Sticky Rice or Uncooked Rice, Galvin said. If former US Senator Fred Thompson jumps into the Republican presidential race, Sticky or Uncooked Rice has the potential of appearing on the March presidential primary ballot in 49 of the Boston's more than 200 precincts, battling with Virtue Soup.

I know there are serious issues about making sure that citizens who are not literate in English are able to vote, while at the same time limiting the potential for shenanigans. Still, I never laughed so hard at a Frank Phillips article.

The obvious solutions are mentioned in the article -- use the transliterations that appear in Chinese-language newspapers or let the candidates pick them themselves (within reason). It seems to me that Stick Mosquito just doesn't want to be bothered with making any accommodations for citizens who only read Chinese.

ActBlue and MA-05

2007-06-25T22:48:00.000-04:00

Marie, in her comments to a previous thread writes:

Everyone keeps mentioning who is raising on ActBlue. If you took the time to go a little bit further you would see that Finegold is the only candidate that is using a different online tool for donations on his website.

Not a bad idea since you can tell exactly what everyone else has raised online except for him.

I would add to this that it's certainly true that you should not measure a candidate's fundraising prowess based on what they collect via ActBlue. That amount largely depends on how much that candidate is pushing Internet contributions and does not, as Marie points out, take into account any money not raised through ActBlue. By way of example, Rep. Barry Finegold is showing only $16,250, yet he raised almost 19 times that amount in the first quarter alone through other methods. Relying on ActBlue to draw conclusions on how a candidate's fundraising is going is not likely to give you a full picture.

What I would disagree with, however, is that it's somehow a bad idea to allow the public to see exactly how much you have raised online. On the contrary, it's often a very good thing, particularly if you're stressing your online contributions. ActBlue's Karl-Thomas Musselman notes today in the ActBlue blog that using ActBlue can earn you positive media. He mentions several downballot races in the past few weeks that have had free press in the local media as a result of public fundraising numbers on ActBlue. He elaborates:

Political beat reporters are hungry to have a reason to write. As a former journalist and state-level blogger myself, the public fundraising numbers that are provided by ActBlue are a great hook. This is great for local stories about elections that may not otherwise be generating much news. While politics is more than just about money, smart campaigns can leverage this fact to their advantage. In an environment where earned media is an important component of modern campaigns, the public nature of ActBlue can be a natural ally. Feel free to make use of it!

Of course, the end of the fundraising quarter is coming up. If you support one of these candidates, your contribution will make the most impact if you get it in before Friday. You can see how all of the Massachusetts candidates are doing on Actblue here

Brookline Home One of 11 Most Endangered Places

2007-06-25T21:56:00.000-04:00

Via Metafilter, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has listed its 11 most endangered places on 2007. Making the list this year is the H. H. Richardson House, home to the 19th-century American architect Henry Hobson Richardson. Richardson designed such landmarks as the Trinity Church, Sever Hall at Harvard, the New York State Capitol, Albany City Hall and the William Watts Sherman House in Newport. The building is now vacant and the owner has indicated that he may lift preservation restrictions since no buyers have surfaced after several years on the market. Should that happen, it's likely that a developer would buy the property and tear down the house. The NTHP and local groups such as Preservation Massachusetts are looking for a buyer who would preserve the building as a residence or as an office for a nonprofit organization or foundation. Preservation Mass. has more here, including a photo.

The Richardson House joins several other Massachusetts locales that have made the list over the years including the Old Deerfield Historic District (1988, 1989), Walden Pond and Woods (1990, 1991), Cape Cod (1994), Historic Boston Theaters (1995), Nantucket (2000), Minute Man National Historical Park and Environs (2003), and Historic Catholic Churches of Greater Boston (2005).

Legislature Looking to Expand Permitting Power?

2007-06-25T17:46:00.000-04:00

Boston Globe Business writer Steve Bailey had an ominous column in Friday's paper that I didn't notice until this morning. The piece is about House Speaker Sal DiMasi's hesitation over a bill that would essentially reverse a Supreme Judicial Court decision that found the Department of Environmental Protection does not have the power to exempt companies from state law that requires public access to property near the water. That ruling had, according to Bailey "raised serious questions about the permits and titles for scores of current and planned buildings and projects." While DiMasi's office explains his hesitation by saying he's just running everything by the lawyers, others think that his reticence means he's interested in more legislative control over the permitting process.

The column ends thusly:

DiMasi tells a story about having lunch years ago at Pier 4 with restaurateur Anthony Athanas. Mike Dukakis, then the governor, was pushing hard to move the permitting from the Legislature. DiMasi was fighting a losing battle. His question to Athanas: Wouldn't you rather be negotiating your deal with Tommy McGee (the House speaker) and Billy Bulger (the Senate president) than some faceless bureaucrat?

No doubt Anthony would. And that is exactly the problem.

Indeed. The permitting process in Massachusetts is an insane web of competing regulations that thanks to Governor Deval Patrick is at least going in the right direction. Under his direction, approval time for development projects has gone from two to three years in some cases to just six months. Inserting the legislature into that process could either upset the apple-cart and stretch out the permitting process, or worse, create even more incentives for developers to grease the palms of politicians to get their permits approved faster.

Update: A Thursday Globe Editorial provides more context on this issue.

Does This Happen Often?

2007-06-24T22:26:00.001-04:00

Fifth District Candidate Rep. Barry Finegold has found himself in a bit of controversy after it was discovered that he appeared as a cosponsor of a bill that would require a 24 hour waiting period before a woman would be allowed to have an abortion in Massachusetts. That information came out during last week's debate, and fellow candidate Niki Tsongas used that bit of information in a fundraising appeal that went out through EMILY's List, a pro-choice political organization. Finegold has since claimed that his sponsorship was the result of a mistake on the part of his staff, and has removed his name from that bill. He's also called on Tsongas to stop using his unintentional support of the measure to cast doubt on his pro-choice record.

This comes just about a week or so after the confusion over whether Senator Paul Donato actually meant to cosponsor Senate Bill 123 got to the point where Senator Robert Hedlund, who filed the bill, had to issue a statement explaining how co-sponsors were listed. The confluence of these events makes me wonder how often legislators end up being cosponsors of bills they never either read or meant to lend their support to.

This might seem like a small matter, but I think it actually can affect the race. The differences between the Democratic candidates -- aside from Rep. Jim Micelli, the most conservative of the field -- are actually quite small. Sure Rep. Jamie Eldridge has staked out the territory furthest to the left, but Tsongas, Finegold and Lowell City Councilor Eileen Donoghue occupy a similar center-left space. If the other candidates can convince voters that Finegold is squishy on choice, that might be enough to cause undecideds to rule him out in favor of candidates whose records are unblemished.

Weekend Baby Blogging

2007-06-24T12:30:00.000-04:00

Don't interrupt me when I'm reading!

Saturday Evening Links

2007-06-23T20:23:00.001-04:00

Another candidate has surfaced in the race to replace state Senator Jarrett Barrios (D-Cambridge) as he's slated to leave the legislature next week. The Cambridge Chronicle reports that Jeff Ross has announced his intention to run. Ross once worked with California Senator Dianne Feinstein, and founded the Brockton Civil Rights Task Force to address social justice issues.
No sooner did yesterday's Boston Globe say that localities were lobbying for power to levy meals taxes, did I get a letter from the mayor of Revere, Thomas Ambrosino, who also serves as chair of the Metropolitan Mayors' Coalition urging me to take action in favor of the Municipal Partnership Act, part of which would do just that. As I've said before, I'm not sure that meals taxes are a good fit for Watertown, but that doesn't mean that I think I should have any say over whether Revere (or Cambridge, or Boston, or Nantucket, etc) should be able to enact them.
Also in yesterday's Globe, Ellen Goodman had a great column responding to the alarmist claim that Massachusets would turn into the gay Las Vegas if the 1913 law prohibiting out-of-state same-sex couples from marrying were repealed. The short version -- even if it did, good! If you missed it, it's well worth a read.
State Rep Rachel Kaprielian (D-Watertown) -- a friend of the blog -- had a good week last week. Not only did the bill she filed that would allow municipalities enter into the state's health insurance plan pass the House, but she was also named legislator of the year by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council.
Just down the street from the .08 Acre homestead, the Watertown Fire Department dedicated a flagpole to the memory of the late Fire Chief Robert O'Reilly, who passed away last year. Here are my pictures from the dedication ceremony. Ed O'Reilly, a former Watertown firefighter himself and one of Chief O'Reilly's sons, was there. He has announced he's running against Senator John Kerry in the 2008 Democratic primary.

Rep. Wallace Explains His Switch

2007-06-22T08:06:00.001-04:00

In today's Boston Herald, columnist Peter Gelzinis talks with State Rep. Brian Wallace (D-South Boston) about his vote last week to protect marriage equality in Massachusetts. Wallace was one of the nine legislators who had voted in favor of the marriage ban in January, but changed his mind and voted against it last week. Wallace explains his change of heart:

"Six out 10 people who live in Southie now have been here less than 10 years," he said. "At every community meeting and barbecue I went to, I'd have four, five, six, a dozen people approach me very quietly and politely.

" 'Representative,' they'd say, 'we'd just like you to know we live here, too.' The landscape has changed and it continues to change every day. But it's not just that. You've got thousands of people who've married in the last four years. They raise families. They pay taxes. What are we supposed to say to them? That their marriages are a lie? That the rights we gave them suddenly don't apply to other people? How can we do that?"

Wallace denied rumors that we circulated before the vote that he'd been bought off or promised a job in the administration to get him out of the legislature. He also noted that in the week since the vote, he has been getting "hate-filled e-mails" that prove to him that had the marriage ban been placed on the ballot, it would have been the "ugliest, most divisive election this state has ever seen."

Over at Take Mass Action, Chris has the message that anti-marriage activists sent out to supporters of the ban, which is the likely cause of the email barrage Rep. Wallace and others are experiencing. If you're a support of marriage equality, give those legislators a thank you email to reassure them that they did the right thing.

Patrick-Murray Inaugural Committee Awards 215 Grants

2007-06-21T19:00:00.001-04:00

The Patrick-Murray Inaugural Committee announced that it has awarded grants to charitable organizations across Massachusetts using the leftover money raised for the inauguration of Governor Deval Patrick and Lt. Governor Tim Murray. Over 1500 organizations submitted applications, but only 215 grants of $2500 each were given out.

Though I was a member of the 400 person grant committee, as it turns out I was unable to use my considerable clout to bring more grant money home to Watertown. Only one Watertown organization, the Catalogue for Philanthropy made the cut and received one of the grants. Here is the list of other recipients.

Governor Raises Money; Globe Raises Fuss

2007-06-21T07:47:00.000-04:00

The front page of today's Boston Globe has an overblown story about a Deval Patrick fundraiser, written by usual suspect Frank Phillips. Phillips admits that such fundraisers are "not uncommon during previous administrations" but they are front page news when they are held for Governor Patrick for some reason anyway. After all, Patrick promised as a candidate that he would never raise any money, and he never held any fundraisers while running for governor. Oh wait, he didn't do that? Well, then, it's front page news because the Globe is still pissed that Patrick chided them months ago for not "getting it".

Here's what I don't understand. Nary a day goes by without some quote in the Globe or the Herald from Michael Widmer of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation complaining about how the Governor's tax loophole plans are bad for business, and now all of a sudden the Globe is upset that Patrick has a "growing relationship" with state's business leaders. Well, which is it? Is he too cozy or too anti-business? Personally, I don't think he's either, but he certainly can't be both.

For more, read Mass. Liberal's take.

Update: Note that while a Frank Phillips article on the Governor's fundraising belongs on the front page with an enormous headline, a Phillips piece on House Speaker Sal DiMasi's fundrasing doesn't make the paper, but lands in the Globe's new "All Politics is Local" blog that no one's heard of. Why is one so important and the other not?

Kerry Touts Watertown Battery-Maker

2007-06-20T23:22:00.001-04:00

Watertown company A123 Systems has been all over the news lately promoting their new plug-in hybrid car technology. I have heard of people converting their hybrids to take power from a wall socket for some time now but this is the most attention I've seen the idea get in the news. Senator John Kerry today touted his support for plug-in hybrids after the Senate finance committee approved incentives for the production and purchase of such vehicles. Here's his statement:

"Plug-in car technology offers a blueprint for clean, efficient, affordable driving and it should be widely available to consumers very soon," Kerry said. "I don’t know of anyone who isn’t interested in getting 150 miles to the gallon with their car and that could soon be a reality. The American people are ready for advanced auto technologies, and companies like A123 Systems are ahead of the curve, giving hybrid drivers the option of actually running their cars on battery for the majority of their daily commute. This is exactly the type of technology that we will promote by passing strong CAFE standards this week in the energy bill."

In addition, Google recently announced that it was using A123 System batteries in a $10 million effort to get the company to use plug-in hybrids and NPR did a story on the company last week. Whoever's doing the public relations over there in the Arsenal is sure earning their salary.