Recommendations for 2018 general election

Dear friends and neighbors around the state of Massachusetts,

Here are our recommendations for the upcoming election, this time for the General Election which will be held on Tuesday, November 6, with early voting options also available.

To see who is on your ballot, follow this link, and after you fill in your address information, click “my state election ballot” in the box under “view my ballot.”

Both of us voted early this year (you can still do that through Friday) and we both voted yes on all three ballot questions and for Democrats up and down the ticket.  We are giving you our list to keep it simple, with detailed rationale and links below if you choose to read further.  We elaborate in particular detail for some races: 1) where we think we have something to offer for your consideration, 2) that are more seriously contested, and/or 3) where the outcome seems to be in doubt and really matters.                                                                     

The candidates for statewide office that we strongly recommend are: 

Elizabeth Warren for United States Senate

Jay Gonzalez/Quentin Palfrey for Governor/Lieutenant Governor

Maura Healey for Attorney General

Deborah Goldberg for State Treasurer

We also strongly recommend a YES vote on all three ballot questions.  A quick summary of the questions is below, with our reasons later. 

If you reside in the 2^nd Congressional District, you have the opportunity to vote to re-elect our good friend, the amazing James P. (Jim) McGovern for United States House of Representatives. 

There are contested elections in some local races; for some offices we have listed candidates in a few different districts who we feel are worthy of your vote if you live in one of those districts. 

In the contested races (we omitted those that are uncontested) we recommend the following:

In the Worcester area:

Paul DePalo for Governor’s Council (listed as Councillor)

Joseph D. Early, Jr. for District Attorney

Dennis P. McManus for Clerk of Courts

Kathryn A. Toomey for Register of Deeds

You are allowed to take a list of recommendations or your own voting plans with you when you go to vote, but you are not allowed to share it with anyone else within the voting location. 

In area State Senate districts that are contested, we recommend:

Tom Merolli, Worcester and Norfolk district

Anne Gobi, Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire and Middlesex district

Susan Chalifoux Zephir, Worcester and Middlesex district

In contested State Representative races, we recommend: 

David LeBoeuf, 17^th Worcester district

Jean Strauss, 5^th Worcester district

Tanya Neslusan, 1^st Hampden district

Ballot Question 1 would set minimum legal requirements for safe nurse staffing levels by limiting the number of patients who can be assigned to each registered nurse in MA hospitals and certain other healthcare facilities.

Ballot Question 2 would create a commission to advance an amendment to the US Constitution to limit the Influence of money in elections and to establish that corporations do not have the same rights as human beings.

Ballot Question 3 maintains the existing law adopted by the legislature in 2016 that prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity in places of public accommodation, including hotels, restaurants, and hospitals.

If you want to read further, here is why we are making these recommendations. 

Our views and priorities in state campaigns are of necessity colored by the current national scene.  We feel that it is no exaggeration at all to say that we are in a state of emergency.  It is more urgent than ever before that we address economic injustice, racial disparities, and environmental degradation including climate change. 

The federal government and our country are racing in precisely the wrong direction.  Instead of using its power and resources to find equitable solutions to these pressing problems, the Trump Administration ignores or exacerbates these challenges.  It has functioned as a slush fund to enrich the president, his family, and other government officials.  It threatens human rights, attacks the free press, and foments hatred and scapegoating.  Simultaneously, Republicans have moved to enact policies that plunder the earnings of people with low and moderate incomes in order to benefit the wealthiest people on earth.  They have stripped workers of basic protections, endangered consumers and the environment, and suppressed the institutions of basic democracy including the right to vote. 

In this context, we feel that it is crucial to use whatever power is available in state and local government to address the problems we face and to hold a firm line on further erosion.  We need effective and compassionate leadership that will resist the party of Trump. 

Senator Elizabeth Warren displays this kind of leadership.  Because of her distinguished background in bankruptcy law, she knows more than almost anyone else about why families are struggling to make ends meet.  Her research on this led her to advocacy and then to running for office, and she is driven by her passion for justice, never by personal ambition.  She never fails to stand up for what she believes in, challenging officials appointed by Democrats as well as Republicans.  We need to keep her voice in the U.S. Senate.  Senator Warren’s Republican opponent was the 2016 chair of the Trump for President campaign in Massachusetts.

We feel that the administration of Charlie Baker and Karyn Polito has been characterized mostly by timidity, mediocrity, and mean-spiritedness.  Baker has stood by while our transportation infrastructure crumbled, failed to take bold steps to stem the opioid epidemic, tried to undermine public education, taken only baby steps to slow climate change, favored corporate interests over those of workers and consumers, and shrunk rather than expanded access to health care coverage.  As environmental activists, we are especially disturbed by Baker’s undermining of the solar industry in Massachusetts and his support for public funding of pipelines carrying fracked gas.  All this is unacceptable and unnecessary.  Baker is depicted as tall, handsome, affable, and moderate (or at least not Trump).  But he has repeatedly supported allies of Trump and proposed policies pushed by ALEC, a major right-wing think tank.  This article sums up how we can do better and expect more.  If you want to know even more about how the Baker/Polito administration has failed us, read about a whole range of issues here.

Jay Gonzalez, by contrast, has a comprehensive set of proposals to take on these and many other issues.  Jay was the Director of Administration and Finance in the Patrick administration and had a lot of private sector experience before that and since then.  In running for Governor, he brings this administrative experience as well as a passion for improving our quality of life and we feel he can bring his vision to fruition.  Jay believes, as we do, that it is time for ambitious vision and goals, not timid management and handouts to big business.  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.  Jay’s running mate, the Lieutenant Governor candidate, Quentin Palfrey brings strength to the ticket with both passion and a wealth of experience in finding innovative solutions to some of the pressing problems outlined above.  You can learn more about Quentin here. 

We love Attorney General Maura Healey.  She has been doing amazing work as “the people’s lawyer” during her term in office.  She has brought millions of dollars back to Massachusetts residents by making polluters pay, challenging overcharges by utility companies, and getting exorbitant student loans discharged.  She has stood up against Trump Administration policies including offshore oil drilling, immigrant travel bans, and restrictions on family planning.  She has cracked down on sex trafficking, on firearms sellers exploiting loopholes in our commonsense gun safety laws, and on predatory trade schools.  She is fearless and tireless. 

Deb Goldberg has been a hands-on State Treasurer, delivering on promises to help families save for college (at no cost to taxpayers), help residents develop financial literacy, fight for greater diversity on corporate boards, and promoting sustainability and accountability practices in corporations that do business with the state.  She continues to fight for wage equality.

Many people don’t know much about Governor’s Council and why it is important.  This body approves or rejects the Governor’s judicial nominees.  Judges and their basic perspectives matter.  Paul DePalo, a former schoolteacher and an attorney with experience representing children in juvenile court, is running to bring a community perspective to this office.  He will fight for the selection of judges who will affirm gender equality, find help rather than incarceration for troubled youth, and enforce worker rights and civil rights.  Learn more about Paul here.  

Joe Early deserves to be reelected as Worcester County District Attorney.  His office has done an excellent job of securing criminal convictions.  His focus is also on crime prevention and on helping nonviolent drug offenders, especially youth, to find alternatives to incarceration, giving them a chance to become productive members of society. 

Dennis McManus deserves to be reelected as Worcester County Clerk of Courts.  He has done a very good job in this role for several years and his office has been highly rated.

Kathryn (Katie) Toomey (not the Worcester City Councilor) is an experienced practicing real estate attorney running for Registrar of Deeds.  The person elected to this post manages the county office that is responsible for keeping the legal documents to ensure that the property that you own is legally recorded as yours.  Her opponent has no experience in law or real estate.  You can find out more about Katie and her campaign here.

David LeBoeuf is a first-time candidate with a remarkable track record of community service and civic engagement, running against a very right-wing Republican in a swing district.  Details about David here.  If you live in the 17^th Worcester district, please be sure to vote for David!

We strongly support Ballot Question #1 because we believe in regulations that promote safety.  The organization that represents 70% of bedside nurses in the state wrote this law in response to the large and growing number of incidents that put both patients and nurses in jeopardy.  The opponents of this ballot question (hospitals and their very highly paid executives and administrators) have spent tens of millions of dollars to confuse voters and to sow doubt.  They have couched their arguments against government mandated safe staffing levels by claiming that the requirement for minimum staffing will endanger patient safety.  They have claimed that other staff will be cut, but in fact the proposed law explicitly forbids this.  It is clear to us that a key part of their strategy is to pit lower paid and lower level staff against one another.  The state already mandates minimum nurse staff levels in Intensive Care Units.  There have been measurable reductions in hospital-acquired infections since that was implemented.  Please see this article for an analysis of the issue and the misleading claims of the campaign waged against it by the most powerful lobbying group in Massachusetts. 

We think Ballot Question #2 is a no-brainer; it is the first – and very measured – step toward developing a state position in favor of a constitutional amendment to overturn the disastrous Supreme Court decision that allowed unlimited money without disclosure of its source to flow into politics.  See this for a succinct explanation of the question. 

We have been very active in support of Ballot Question #3 because we feel it is crucial to defend the civil rights of this very vulnerable population.  You can read all about this issue here.

Thank you for allowing us to share our opinions about elections with you.  We are honored that many of our friends actually ask us for them.  We also appreciate that some people who like us and who we like don’t share our views.  Whether you agree with us or not, please be sure to vote!

Sincerely,

Margot Barnet and David Coyne