Blue Mass Group

Here goes, my first post on BMG. By way of introduction, I am John Driscoll of Ipswich, a Deval Patrick delegate.

Tonight was another first for me, the first time I have gone to a meeting of the First Essex Middlesex Coalition, a group of Democrats in the First Essex Middlesex state senate district organized around the goal of electing Democrats at all levels of government. This is certainly a tough thing to do in our district, which is probably only slightly less Republican than the Texas 22nd U.S. House district.

I met Elizabeth Kilcoyne, the chair of the coalition back in September 2005, on the weekend of the mass demonstrations against the Iraq war. I had not been able to work out the logistics to get down to D.C., so I staged my own one-man demo in the middle of Ipswich. Elizabeth came up and introduced herself and encouraged me to join the 1EM group.

Given the values that are typically expressed on these pages, I think it’s important to spark a discussion here on the Mass Ballot Freedom Campaign’s effort to re-legalize the cross endorsement a.k.a., fusion voting in the Bay State, by placing an initiative on the November general election ballot (disclaimer: I’m the Director of the campaign). The numerous labor and community organizations that have endorsed the campaign are inspired by the success of the Working Families Party of New York, where the cross endorsement is still legal. They want to hold politicians more accountable to working families, they want to focus elections on bread-and-butter economic issues, and they feel that voters should be able to express their values with their votes. We invite you to look at our web site and look forward to your comments, both here and on our blog.

If you’re in the vicinity of Agawam this evening, check out this event: all three Democratic candidates for Governor will be at a forum at the Agawam Middle School at which they’ll make opening and closing statements and will answer questions from attendees.  Doors open at 6:30 pm.  An excellent opportunity to see the candidates up close and personal. UPDATE: Kristen, of the Fray, has a brief post-debate post here, in which she includes a link to video of an interview she had with Deval Patrick afterwards.  She also says that audio of the entire debate will be posted on MassLive’s homepage later tonight.

Earlier this week, I posted Tom Reilly’s environmental plan, in part, because the mainstream media doesn’t seem to be paying much attention to any of the candidates’ policy initiatives.  According to his website, Tom Reilly announced his “Prescription for a Healthy Massachusetts” this morning at the Whittier Street Health Center in Roxbury.  His website also includes a brief overview for those looking for a faster read.  It also comes along with some endorsement statements.  From the Reilly website: Declaring that “the most important work in health care lies ahead,” Attorney General and Gubernatorial candidate Tom Reilly today announced his comprehensive plan to implement the next phase of health care reform by reining in costs for families and businesses and making the quality of care a national model. Speaking with staff at the Whittier Street Health Center in Roxbury, Reilly outlined his proposal to build a model 21st century health care system in Massachusetts. The plan will provide more effective, efficient care through better use of information technology, help patients stay out of costly emergency rooms by better managing chronic diseases, make prescription drugs more affordable through bulk purchasing and establishing a statewide system for the safe re-importation of drugs from [...]

In a comment on Charley’s post about Travaglini’s paid family leave proposal, David poses the question:

for a lot of working families out there, times are tough, money is short, and at the end of the day, should they be allowed to spend their $5 a week on their own family, or be forced to spend it on someone else’s?

This is the classic Republican vs. Democratic issue.  Taken to its extremes, on one side you have capital-L Libertarianism (where taxation is theft) and on the other Socialism (where everything is for the common good).  For obvious reasons, I don’t like putting things in these stark, extremist terms.  I’d prefer to formulate the question as:

Is this an instance where it is better for us as a society to pool our resources for the common good, or better to leave people to fend for themselves in exchange for more private resources?

You can ask the same question about everything government does.

I’m not sure why Lexington, of all the wealthy, progressive, suburban towns around Boston, has become such a flashpoint in the culture war over gay families. In Newton, a few miles south of Lexington, an activist named Brian Camenker has been fighting a losing war against any mention of homosexuality or gay families in the school system since the early ’90s. For Camenker, the battle has resulted in public humiliation and bankruptcy, and no progress for his cause in the ultra-progressive Newton schools. More…

As Susan M has already explained, the local left blogosphere is co-sponsoring a forum featuring the Democratic candidates for Lieutenant Governor.  The specifics: WHO: Deborah Goldberg, Sam Kelley, Tim Murray, and Andrea Silbert, in a forum co-sponsored by BlogLeft, the Lowell Democratic City Committee, and Greater Lowell Area Democrats WHEN: Sunday, May 21, 2:00 pm. WHERE: Lowell Senior Center, 276 Broadway St., Lowell Telecommunications Corporation TV Studio, 246 Market St., Lowell (map) All four Democratic candidates have confirmed that they will attend, so this promises to be an important event in the run-up to the Democratic primary for Lieutenant Governor. The exact format of the event is still under discussion, but the basic idea is that there will be a moderator, a panel of questioners (probably three), and all four candidates answering questions. Here is where YOU come in.  One of the questioners will be yours truly, representing the blogosphere.  And I think it would be much more interesting for me to ask a bunch of questions that various blogosphereans came up with, rather than for me to ask questions I dreamt up on my own. So: got a question for the Lieutenant Governor candidates?  Drop it in the comments!  [...]

Leominster mom and Web activist Mary Jean has posted the transcripts of the April 7 hearing over whether she was within her rights to post a video of State Police making an arrest. (She was.) The transcript is fascinating reading for anyone who wants to see case law governing the Internet in the making. Ms. Jean’s next court date on this issue is May 5. It will be a conference between her and AG Tom Reilly’s office aimed at resolving the dispute based on terms set by Federal Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV.

Well, here’s the other side: to my mind, Travaglini’s proposed paid family leave bill sounds like a well-thought-out and reasonable way to address the difficulty of having kids and retaining a job. Here’s what the article says: The other main component of the Senate bill would guarantee all workers in Massachusetts up to 12 weeks’ paid time off to care for a newborn, adopted children, or sick relatives. That plan, similar to one in California, would be financed by an employee payroll premium of at least $1.50 a week. It would pay employees their full salary, up to $750 a week. Travaglini said, however, that the figures could change. “If we do this right, we can improve the quality of life for every Massachusetts resident,” Travaglini said. “And at the same time, we can promote a strong, vital business climate.” As I said (not very graciously — sorry for that) in the comments to David’s post,  You think it’s inconvenient for businesses to have child leave for all of three months, unpaid? … Can you imagine how inconvenient it is for new parents to have to find child care for a newborn? Newborns are very difficult — they don’t sleep [...]