Dear friends,
We are once again reaching out to friends and neighbors
with our recommendations for the upcoming election, this time for statewide
candidates in the Democratic primary Tuesday,
September 4, the day after tomorrow (which is Labor Day). We recommend Jay Gonzalez for Governor, Quentin Palfrey for Lieutenant Governor, and
Josh Zakim for Secretary of State. We
will elaborate on our reasons below. Please
forgive us for the lateness of this message.
We have also been working very hard on one local race, and our intense
focus there has prevented our getting to this communication until now. More on that below also.
Our views and priorities in state campaigns are of
necessity colored by the current national scene. We feel that we are in a state of emergency. Just as it is becoming more urgent to address
economic injustice, enormous racial disparities, environmental degradation, and
climate change, the federal government is racing in the wrong direction. Instead of using its power and resources to
find equitable solutions to these pressing problems, the current administration
acts as a slush fund for officials in key power positions, enacts policy that
plunders the earnings of people with low and moderate incomes to benefit the
wealthiest among us, destroys protections for workers, consumers, and the
environment, threatens a variety of human rights, and foments hatred and
division to divert attention from these ravages.
In this context, we feel that it is crucial to use
whatever power is available in state government to address the problems we face
and hold a firm line on further erosion of human rights. We need leadership.
We feel that the administration of Charlie Baker and
Karyn Polito has been characterized mostly by mediocrity and mean-spiritedness. Baker has stood by while our transportation
infrastructure crumbles, failed to take bold steps to stem the opioid epidemic,
tried to undermine public education, taken only baby steps to slow climate
change, and shrunk rather than expanded access to health care coverage. This is unacceptable and unnecessary. Jay
Gonzalez has a comprehensive set of proposals on these and many other
issues, the administrative experience to bring his vision to fruition, and the
boldness to fight for it. Jay was the Director
of Administration and Finance in the Patrick administration and had a lot of
private sector experience before that; his background gives him standing to
refute Baker’s claims of management expertise.
Take a look at Jay’s issues proposals here. We think you will be impressed, as we have
been when hearing Jay speak about his vision and plans for action.
Quentin
Palfrey brings both passion and a wealth of experience in
finding innovative solutions to some of the pressing problems outlined
above. As Senior Advisor for jobs and
Competitiveness in the Obama administration, he led a variety of initiatives to
create an economy that works for everyone.
In Massachusetts he served as chief of the Healthcare Division in the
office of the Attorney General, overseeing implementation of health care
reform. He is dedicated to addressing the underlying causes of poverty and
inequality. We have been impressed with
his comprehensive grasp of the key issues we face as well as his heartfelt
approach to public service. You can
learn more about Quentin here.
Josh
Zakim, a young attorney and Boston City Councilor, is
challenging the long-time incumbent Secretary of State in order to make voting
more accessible to citizens of Massachusetts.
Sometimes the office holders and candidates who are vying for offices
that are not at the top of the ticket don’t get much attention, but who holds
these offices can have a profound effect on how our democracy plays
out. The Secretary of State administers our election system,
overseeing (with considerable discretion) how the election laws are implemented. He
or she is in the position to propose and champion changes to existing
law. The election laws we have now in Massachusetts resemble the
ones in states like North Carolina where Republican-controlled legislatures
have enacted draconian legislation with the express intention of suppressing
voter turnout.
Josh points out that
our voter turnout has plummeted over the last 30 years. Low turnouts here favor entrenched
incumbents, especially top leaders in the state House of Representatives who year
after year prevent vital environmental, worker protection, and funding
legislation from moving forward. If we were serious about expanding
access to voting we would expand early voting to include primaries and
municipal and special elections, institute no-excuse absentee voting, and
remove the 20-day deadline before an election to register to
vote. Josh Zakim favors all of these reforms, and is already
fighting for them.
In his current role as
a Boston city councilor, Josh has consistently stood up for equity, fairness,
housing security and protections for immigrants. We would be proud
to have him as our Secretary of State. You can learn more about his platform here.
In our local race for
State Representative in the 17th Worcester District, just next door to the one
we live in, we have been helping our longtime friend and political ally David
LeBoeuf to win the Democratic nomination.
If you live in that district we have already reached out to you to let
you know about David, and we urge you to vote for him! He brings an impressive track record of civic
engagement, successful advocacy, and community service to his quest for public
office. Professionally, David has led
initiatives to support small business and develop strong local economies. He has held key roles in a number of
political campaigns including serving as campaign manager for Harriette
Chandler’s re-election in 2014. You can
learn more about David here.
Looking toward the
November election, we urge you to support and get involved in ballot questions
#1: Safe Patient Limits, and #3: protecting civil rights for transgender
individuals. We will elaborate on our
reasons for supporting these questions in a later post. Meanwhile, you can learn more here
and here.
Thank you for
taking the time to read through this!
Most importantly, please vote!
As we say in the campaign business, Many Happy
Returns!
Sincerely,
Margot and David
P.S. A little of how the process works: you can vote in a party primary if you are
registered in that party or if you are registered to vote but not enrolled in
any party. Polls are open from 7 AM to 8 PM. If you are unenrolled, you
need to ask for a Democratic ballot to vote for the candidates we are
recommending. If you are not sure where
you vote, you can find out here.
