View from the ‘Bridge

These endorsements may ultimately get me kicked off the Cambridge Ward 3 Democratic Committee…

These were typed up all very quickly, in the midst of a horribly busy work schedule. Apologies if there are typos, incomplete thoughts, etc. I just wanted to get the gist of all this out there…

Senator
If you haven’t been paying much attention to this election, you may not realize that not only is Ted Kennedy up for re-election, but he does have a Republican challenger. This is a simple endorsement — please help re-elect Ted Kennedy. Kennedy may be an entrenched Democratic stalwart, but he is one of the most progressive, entrenched Democratic stalwarts. We should hope for the day that the entire Democratic Party has the positions and voting record of Ted Kennedy.

Governor
It’s probably no surprise to anyone that I endorse Deval Patrick for Governor. As a progressive candidate I have been amazed by his and his campaign’s ability to use grassroots political organizing to sweep past the Democratic establishment machine of Tom Reilly and the big money of Chris Gabrieli. Patrick has put together a strong, grassroots-based campaign, the only one of it’s type I’ve seen on a statewide election since my days working for Wellstone in Minnesota. This has been a campaign driven as much by the charisma and positions of the candidate as by the hopes and dreams of his dedicated supporters. With the likely election of Deval Patrick, Massachusetts is poised to elect only the second African American Governor in U.S. history.

I do want to make it clear that I have my problems with Deval, particularly his past employment as corporate lawyer in some huge, multinational corporations. As most of you know, I’m generally not the type to run out and support corporate lawyers for office (I generally tend towards the Paul Wellstone professor/organizer types, of which there are few). But what separates realists from idealists is the understanding that no candidate, lest no person, is perfect. I have had the opportunity to sit with and talk to Deval Patrick, and I am confident that he is honest in his desire to end the corruption and insider dealing on Beacon Hill and bring real people into the political process. This is what his campaign has been built on and I know this is what his administration will be built on too.

I do have much respect for Green-Rainbow candidate Grace Ross and would love to see a world where a person like her can be elected Governor. However, without serious electoral reforms that will not happen. We must work and fight for those reforms, but until that happen we can not let spoiler politics elect Republicans.

Attorney General
This is a difficult race for me to make an endorsement in. Democrat Martha Coakley has little chance of losing to Republican Larry Frisoli, and for that reason I don’t feel any strong reason to give her my support. The fact is, while it’s important to have women in powerful offices, I can’t in my right mind lend strong support to someone who has been the Democratic Party establishment’s anointed successor to Tom Reilly. The Massachusetts Democratic Party, though liberal, is not progressive. They resist — no, the abhor change, and would like to see this remain a state where patronage and graft is the modus operandi. Coakley is an example of this. Please help send a message that we will not rubber-stamp candidates, and leave the ballot line for Attorney General blank.

Secretary of State
This race pits incumbent Democrat William Galvin against Green-Rainbow candidate Jill Stein. My strong support in this race goes to Jill Stein. Again, Bill Galvin represents the Democratic establishment like Martha Coakley. However, beyond just that he has been a disastrous Secretary of State. The job he has been elected and reelected to is that of chief elections officer in the state — however, under Galvin’s reign four of the largest cities in the State have been investigated and/or sued by the Bush Justice Department for federal elections law violations having to do with failing to provide translated elections materials for non-English speaking citizens. Additionally, Galvin has consistently failed to meet Help America Vote Act requirements for providing new elections systems to assist people with disabilities vote. As a candidate, Galvin has dishonored the voting public by refusing to participate in any debates with his primary challenger John Bonifaz and world-renowned voting-rights activist. Now, Galvin has only agreed to a 5-minute private debate in an undisclosed location against Stein. This is the ultimate disrespect. Galvin is a disgrace and deserves to be removed from office.

That being said, Stein is a strong candidate in her own right. She is a vocal opposition to the back-room dealing and influence peddling that plagues Beacon Hill. She has pledge that, as Secretary of State, she would expose the power of lobbyists by making all lobbying info public before bills are voted on. She is a strong proponent of the Clean Elections Law passed by Massachusetts voters in 1996 that would have challenged the influence of big-money by provided public funding for candidates, but that was defeated by the money-driven legislature in 2003. Even as a Green, Stein has been able to win endorsements from such papers as the Metrowest Daily News and the Cambridge Chronicle. I urge you to elect Jill Stein as Secretary of State.

State Auditor
There is a theme in this year’s election: that is, shoo-in Democratic establishment candidates facing no Republican opposition and only minimal third-party opposition. The problem, therefore, is that while voters in Massachusetts hate the Democratic establishment (hence GOP Governors for the last 16 years) there is no alternative. This year, Union and Community activists are working to change that with the establishment of a Working Families Party in Massachusetts which would focus on electing candidates through fusion voting (see my explanation of Ballot Question 2). The Working Families Party is already active in New York and Oregon and is centered on bread-and-butter working class issues like living wages, universal health care, right-to-organize, among others. In order to win a ballot line, however the WFP needs to win 3% in a statewide race and they have, therefore, nominated Rand Wilson for State Auditor. I urge you to vote for Rand Wilson and help establish a Working Families Party for Massachusetts. The only other option in this race is Joe DeNucci, the establishment Democrat who has no chance of losing.

State Treasurer
Again, establishment Democratic incumbent Tim Cahill faces opposition only from Green-Rainbow candidate James O’Keefe. While I no little about the office of Treasurer, or even the candidates in this race, we can’t let the establishment Democrats force their candidates down our throats. As a Progressive Democrat I would like to see more challenges from the inside, however when that fails to happen I will support any progressive alternative. Therefore I strongly urge you to vote for James O’Keefe for State Treasurer.

Congress - MA-8
Virtually everyone who reads email, from Somerville to JP and in between, is in Massachusetts’ 8th congressional district. Our congressman is Mike Capuano, a liberal Democrat and former Somerville Mayor. He faces only token opposition for a Socialist Workers Party candidate, so I endorse Congressman Capuano for re-election.

Ballot initiatives
Eh… i’ve run out of time now so brief explanations are in order

Question 1 - Wine in Grocery stores - I’ve waffled on this one a bit, but after talking about it in depth to a few friends of mine I’ve decided to oppose Question 1. Yes, as a consumer I like cheap prices and increased access, but that doesn’t seem to be a problem. Everywhere I’ve lived in Massachusetts there has been more than one liquor stores in walking distance. Rather, I am afraid that the sale of wine in grocery stores would jeopardize small, local businesses and only help increase the profit of large corporations like Shaws or Whole Foods.

Question 2 - I have donated time and blog space to advocate for the support of Question 2 which would allow fusion voting. Fusion allows candidates to be endorsed and listed on the ballot as the candidate of all those parties. It helps third parties build support without being relegated to “spoiler” status as is too often the case, while holding winning candidates accountable to their issues. I unfortunately don’t have a ton of time to explain it here, but please take a look at the Fusion resources page I have up at http://www.jessekb.com/fusion or http://www.yesonq2.com

Question 3 - I am less passionate about this one, but would encourage people to vote yes on Question 3. Basically this allows private, home child care providers to bargain collectively with the state who sets their rates. It’s been a relatively silent campaign as well as I can tell, but in general I believe strongly in collective bargaining and respect some of the groups that have endorsed this initiative.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 6th, 2006 at 1:37 pm and is filed under Elections, Endorsements. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.