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! (And please, don’t waste my time with questions that are obviously designed to favor or disfavor a particular candidate – I will not ask any such questions.) I have posted a permanent link to this post on the right sidebar so that you can keep adding questions as you think of them.
Disclosure: I am undecided in the Lieutenant Governor’s race. I honestly, really, truly, do not know who I’m going to vote for. No one is ruled in, no one is ruled out.
I get the impression a lot of candidates (in both parties) would like the gay marriage debate to go away. I’d ask where they stand on the proposed ballot question.
“What do you see the role of the Lieutenant Governor being, and what do you bring to that role?”
I would like them to pick the issue on which they most differ from the other three candidates.
Kerry Healey in the 02 campaign said she would be a “liaison to cities and towns”. Then we never saw her until she started trying to drum up support for her current campaign, and aid to cities and towns has been slashed compared to the rate of inflation, especially when you consider the healthcare, pension and fuel cost increases that municipalities have had to swallow over the last several years. What would you do as Lt Governor to ease the pressure on municipalities? Are there areas of the state budget that you regard as less important than the local aid which pays teacher and police salaries?
I’d love to know something about each of them that we havent already heard, and that we wouldn’t know from looking at them on paper. Something sort of fun and interesting that will differentiate them on the ballot besides their policy.
Ask them about renewable energy and Cape Wind. Do they support Cape Wind and what other initiatives would they support to encourage the growth of renewable energy in Massachusetts?
What exactly makes them qualified for the second highest office in the state, and are they more or less qualified then the rest of the field?
Sure they support public education and will fight for more funding, but where do their kids, or where did they go to school…public or private.
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Everyone loves the environment and will work hard to clean it up, but what kind of car so they drive?
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How much does a gallon of milk cost nowaday?
until we are able to get a real public campaign financing law, would you agree to a “maximum spending cap” for all Lt. Governor candidates during the primaries?
a fair tax system requires taxes to be based on ability to pay. the property tax is a very regressive form of taxation.
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would you consider eliminating the property tax entirely for a fairer alternative? what alternatives would you consider?