Blue Mass Group

The interviewer makes a compelling case for doctors as government leaders.  Here’s a choice quote:

Dr. Chatterjee:  What are some of your main goals/agenda items that you want to accomplish as the next Governor of Massachusetts?

Dr. Berwick:  There are five main areas.  First, I want to improve the quality of education in Massachusetts.  We already have one of the best public school systems in the nation.  I want to stress on public investment, specifically, investing in teachers to seek higher education and training, and thus grow intellectually.  Second, I want to improve the public transportation system in Massachusetts, which despite its quality, I think is under-maintained.  Third, I am the only candidate in the race that is seriously calling for a single-payer healthcare system for our Commonwealth, and not just paying lip-service to it.  Fourth, I want to make sure that the social safety net is in place due to rising social and financial inequality in our state as well as our country as a whole.  I am a big believer in social justice.  Lastly, I want to invest in workforce development as evidenced by my commitment to instituting workforce development programs during my stint as the Chief of Medicare and Medicaid Services.

The whole thing is well worth a read:

Why we need doctors as government leaders: An interview with Dr. Donald Berwick

Marriage Equality is coming to Texas. Yet another marriage equality ban has been struck down, this time in Texas. Yeah!

Republicans like to blame the EVIL DEMOCRATIC MACHINE for their near constant string of electoral failures in Massachusetts. They prefer not to talk about how their state party platform is better aligned with views in Arizona than in Massachusetts:

Reflecting a major shift in the makeup of the elected Republican State Committee, activists overwhelmingly embraced a new platform Tuesday night that frowns upon abortion and praises traditional marriage.

After a spirited debate in which some members disputed whether social issues should be included in the party’s guiding principles at all, the activists backed the new platform by a 52-to-16 vote.

That’s right, the hate platform didn’t just squeak by with a thin majority – Republican leaders chose hate in a landslide. It’s part of a movement to bring the Massachusetts Republican Party backwards:

Voters in Revere approved the Mohegan Sun / Suffolk Downs casino proposal with 63% of the vote. Voter turnout was high – 44.3% – with 7, 195 YES to 4,177 No votes.

Last November Revere voters approved the casino proposal by a 6,567 to 4,233 vote.

Congrats to all of the folks who worked hard for the last several weeks for the possibility to bring jobs and much needed revenue to Revere.

Our nation and our world face an undeniable climate crisis. We are already experiencing firsthand the impacts. Childhood asthma rates have soared, and many of our neighbors have lost or seen significant damage to their homes from climate change induced storms.

I applaud the Governor and the Legislature for leadership toward making Massachusetts a national leader in energy efficiency and environmental conservation, and toward adapting to the realities of climate change.

But we need to go further. I believe that one crucial step we can take as a Commonwealth is to enact comprehensive environmental tax reform. As it currently stands, we heavily subsidize pollution by neglecting to charge for the true cost of harmful emissions. It is time to end those subsidies.

Our economy should align with our values. As it is written today, our tax system puts more of a burden on the activities we want to encourage – work and investment – than it puts on pollution. By levying a tax on harmful carbon dioxide emitted into our air, we can raise enough revenue to reduce the income and sales tax burdens for Massachusetts families and small businesses.

And the benefits don’t end there. We don’t need to choose between strengthening our economy and protecting our environment. Studies have shown that commonsense environmental tax reform will actually increase jobs and add to our economy; it will create over 10,000 jobs in Massachusetts and increase our state’s GDP by $450 million per year while reducing our carbon emissions by up to 12 percent.  And, we can do that without adding to the cost of living for the average Massachusetts family.

Indeed, we would pay a far higher cost for inaction.  And that burden will fall on those least able to bear it, since climate change disproportionately impacts lower-income families and communities of color.

Massachusetts is uniquely positioned to step forward and enact comprehensive environmental tax reform.  We have the political will to be a national leader. We were the first state to make health care a human right, the first state to say you can marry the person you love, and our energy policy is far ahead of much of the rest of the country.

Change is always difficult, and we can count on special interest groups rooting for us to fail. But with the leadership of a bold, progressive Governor – the kind of Governor I pledge to be, we can keep leading the nation in responsible, forward-looking public policy.

Following a recent post here linking to chats with three Dem candidates for MA governor, a comment asked about the independents. The first Left Ahead did was today with Jeff McCormick.

Click below to hear the half hour with him. In addition, he recently appeared at Suffolk Law’s Rappaport Center roundtable. His 13-minute self-intro there appears as a video on Suffolk’s site here.

My diary draws on both his chat today and on the roundtable.

Not Mitt

First, there are bound to be the obvious comparisons with Willard Mitt Romney. McCormick too has been very successful in MA as a venture capitalist (21 years with his Saturn Partners). Very much unlike Romney, he grew up blue-collar in upstate NY, to college on scholarships, and did not have a rich, politically and corporate connected father. He claims to have arrived in Boston with $800 to make his fortune, which he did. Unlike Romney, there is no delusion when he says he’s self-made.

Superficially, McCormick was a lacrosse champion in HS and at Syracuse. He has a chin that could be a weapon and a great jawline. Those are important only in that they serve to reinforce his self-confidence and well-thought-out positions. I never for a moment felt he was jiving me.

Voters and donors have not been kind to independent gubernatorial candidates here. The few original governors came to office before parties, but maybe only Henry Gardner in 1855 fit the category. Although, as part of the Know-Nothing Movement, he was sort of in a party and managed to beat a popular Whig by a landside.

At the moment, McCormick figures he can appeal to enough voters, particularly the 53% of unenrolled ones. He seems to think it might not be as hard as some of his professional accomplishments. When asked about whether he’s hitting the public meetings and diners, he’s in his element. “I’m really comfortable in diners, much more than in ballrooms,” he said. “I can relate to just about anyone.”

sung to the “Gilligan’s Island” Theme Song

Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip.

That started from the jealousies of the S.J.C.

The commissioner was a savvy man, his top aide tried and true. If not for the pleas from judges and pols, probation would be doomed, probation would  be doomed.

With Mulligan,

Fred Wyshak too.

A guy named Ware,

and his lies.

A Federal Judge!

And The Senate Prez and Bobby D.

Here on Mulligan’s Island

The End

Really, this Probation thing is a disgrace. Read the latest via Commonwealth Magazine. And this from David Boer.i

If you haven’t seen this and you aren’t outraged…..you aren’t paying attention.

A Boston Business Journal analysis of credit card statements and reimbursement reports has spotlighted repeated instances of lavish employee spending since the commission’s inception two years ago. The expenditures, which have been criticized by a state watchdog and at least one casino-license applicant, include dozens of charges at luxury hotels and top-rated restaurants in major cities throughout the world. Other outlays include millions in payments to international gaming consultants.

Unlike other state agencies, the gaming commission has operated without formal guidelines on the amounts and types of personal spending and travel permitted among its employees. In many documented cases the commission’s employees have flouted the agency’s own $71-per-day recommendations when it comes to meals expenses incurred on the job.

Some of those same gaming officials have had tens-of-thousands in airfare, meals and hotel costs covered by the largest casino operators in the world, the same multinational companies that are vying for a select number of licenses to operate in the wealthy state of Massachusetts. (Subscription needed for remaining article.)

Other media outlets have picked up on this exceptional investigative journalism by Craig Douglas, BBJ Managing Editor, Online & Research.  Outrage is spreading across the state as people begin to realize the unbridled abuse of the public trust that is unfolding.

Well, with endorsement season a bit underway, I’d like to ask supporters of the various gubernatorial candidates one question I’ve already mooted in comments elsewhere: how would your candidate deal with the greatest obstacle to a progressive Massachusetts? That is of course being our legislature. (Sure, there are Republicans out there, but they’re generally toothless.) As much as I like what many candidates are saying, I have a sinking feeling many of their good ideas have about as much chance of getting through the State House as good federal ideas have of getting through Congress. Witness what happened when Deval Patrick, a governor of several years’ incumbency, tried to put a progressive budget before the Legislature last year. Pretty much D.O.A. With these “Democrats” clogging up the works, are we better off with an insider moderate than a destined-for-frustration progressive? Can we have both?

So fans of Avellone, Berwick, Coakley, and Grossman: how will their progressive ideas get through the Legislature? What experiences or skills do they have that will grant them better luck than Patrick, Romney, et al, in making a mark from the Corner Office?

We’re halfway through the caucus process and I have made my decision on my candidate for Governor. It seems presumptuous to think that people care but some have been asking me so I decided to share my thoughts with fellow activists here on BMG.

As many here know, I have been volunteering for the Democratic Party, our candidates and issues for more than thirty years. I’ve worked with a number of you supporting progressive candidates from Jamie Eldridge to Elizabeth Warren and more. I am especially proud of my work for Deval Patrick and care deeply about who will succeed him.

I am proud to support Martha Coakley for Governor. She is a leader in a strong group of candidates. She stands out as the candidate with a record of accomplishment as an elected official. She is a progressive candidate who has stood up for progressive causes in challenging DOMA, taking on Wall Street and working to fight climate change.

One of the reasons I ran for City Council, and one of the reasons I’m running for Lt. Governor, is because I saw how the new economy wasn’t benefiting everyone equally. The team at Bostinno — a news website covering Boston’s startup scene — asked me to write an op-ed on some of those thoughts.

I wanted to make sure the community here saw it, too. I cross-posted it below the jump.

Which of the following popular Olympic sporting events is not like the others:

A.  Downhill skiing

B.  Halfpipe (freestyle skiing)

C.  Luge

D.  Speed skating

The correct answer is B, the halfpipe.  Why?  Because it’s not a real sport.  In real sports, the winner is determined by objective criteria – fastest, longest, heaviest, whatever.  But in the halfpipe, and in all “judged” events, the winner is determined by allegedly “expert” judges who decide who they thought did the best job.  These judges often don’t agree with each other, or with the viewing public, and they are famously subject to improper influences.  Judges in sports are supposed to enforce the rules, not decide the winners.  If the judges decide who wins, it may be a competition, but it’s not a sport.

Am I suggesting that participants in judged events are not real athletes?  Of course not – figure skaters like Michelle Kwan [2014 update: and skaters like Gracie Gold] and snowboarders like Shaun White [2014 update: and freestyle skiers like David Wise] are spectacularly talented athletes.  But the Olympics are supposed to be about winning because you are the best, not because some judge decided you were the best.  If a “sport” is not susceptible of the former kind of victory, it shouldn’t be in the Olympics.

Of course, judged events will never be removed from the Olympics.  The beloved figure skating events are the biggest draw in the entire Winter Olympics lineup, and we have to have events like the made-in-America halfpipe so that Americans are guaranteed to win at least a couple of gold medals. [/cynic]  But I think that’s too bad.