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Live Blog from Lowell: Lt. Gov. Debate

By

The candidates are gathering in the studio now:

  • Deborah Goldberg
  • Sam Kelley
  • Tim Murray
  • Andrea Silbert

Check the Lt. Gov. forum post here from yesterday for links to the candidates’ Websites.

Lowell Democratic City Committee, Greater Lowell Area Democrats, and BlogLeft host the debate, with the technological grace of the Lowell Telecommunications Corporation. LTC will also broadcast the debate live on Channel 10.

Let the candidates hit the mirrors and the blogging begin.

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  2. So far, Deb Goldberg is the only candidate with the signs on a stick. Three men and a women are on the curb next to the LTC entry, interacting with both the drivers passing (and the occasional cyclist) and those coming to the debate.

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    Word from the Deb folk is that she has strong support in the area, with several local politicians endorsing her.

  3. The candidates are either still in or just leaving Gloucester where the city committee is having their annual breakfast.  We’re waiting for them to wander in.

  4. The candidates are headed here from Gloucester. The debate room is filling. LTC minions are tacking bunting on the candidate and moderator tables. Three cameras promise some good variety and closeups.

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    By the bye, the bloggers are in Bloggers Area! That’s good for the debate because the audience are real locals. It’s good for us, because we get to chat and rant, and click keyboards without disturbing anyone.

  5. Is it only scheduled to start at 2:30, or am I doing something wrong?  All I get is an image of four hands in red brown and yellow.  OS X 10.4, same thing in both Safari 2 and Firefox 1.5.

    • The streaming is specific to this event, so they’re not starting the streaming until the event goes live.

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      We’re still taking questions from the blogs!  If you have anything to ask, post your question here

  6. Andrea Silbert is up now.

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    She talks about the public schools.  Will they be as good for her children as they were for her and her husband?

    • Talks about her skills in creating jobs.  We need to grow the pie to get money back to cities and towns.

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      Kelley up now.

    • She is pushing her work in creating jobs and tying it to the economy too.  She also highlighted the need for a better environment.

  7. Andrea gets the first 3-minute opening statement. The other three are pleasantly attentive and polite — no eye rolling or gathering ammunition for their own yet.

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    She is trying to tie in her successful Center for Women and Enterprise experience to education. It is a tenuous connection — more jobs gives us more cash for schools. Hmm.

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    We’ll wait for the Q&A to see what she can promote.

  8. listening to the sound of bloggers typing in the morning…er…afternoon…whatever. Like the pitter patter of little tiny donkeys.

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    yeah, I know, I’m not adding any value to this liveblogging debate, just snark. I’m very tired. It’s been a long weekend. ;P

  10. Sam Kelley — the child shrink who says we need a doctor in the State House — comes off poorly as a speaker. His nasal tones and cliches (connect the dots, navigate the waters…) suggest that he’ll need a powerful message to overcome his presentation.

  11. Talking about the flooding here in Lowell and around here.

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    We need “people who care” in the corner office.  That means Democrats.

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    She will be the Lt. Gov who is “there when this happens”.

    • Goldberg mentioneed Selectperson Jay Booth of Tyngsboro, a frequent commentor on my blog, who can’t afford to get a place of his own but ended up living with his parents (Jay’s a young Selectperson). Nice touch.

      • I do have my own place, but it was the victim of about 10 million gallons off of the merrimack river. 

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        So I’m posting this from Mom & Dad’s right now.  I do support Deb though as she’s the right person for cities and towns.  All of the candidates were great, it was good seeing/meeting people at the Dubliner afterwards.

  12. She is talking about the terrible flooding here in Lowell.  She wants to make sure our government is active when disaster strikes; she is jabbing Romney for only “trying’ to get national money for the relief.

  13. Murray is rightly tying the floods in Lowell to the need for more focus on the cities and towns from Beacon Hill.  He thinks that Gov and LG need to be able to know the leadership and reps and senators from the areas so that the corner office is connected to what is happening all over the state.

  14. Message: Cities & towns, cities & towns, cities & towns.

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    Important that all corners of our state are heard from.

  15. Deborah Goldberg has the strongest opening. She said little, but everything very well. She is very convincing and very sincere. I can see her steamrolling the others.

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    Tim Murray is a very pleasant and locally oriented politician. We had seen him before, at our BlogLeft conference in Worcester.

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    Unlike the other sweeping, wide angle comments from the other three candidates, he starts locally, speaking to flooded resident and expanding out to broader issues. He seems sharp.

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    He also set the stage for urban/exburan unity on issues, savvy for a big-city mayor.

  16. The Healey Romney team. He was also the one with obvious direct oversight of municipal services and mentioned this directly in his opening statement.

  17. What in your opinion is the biggest shortcoming or failure of the current Lieutenant Governor, and what would have done (or what would you do) differently?

  18. To Andrea Silbert

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    She talks first about how Romney vetoed flood preparation for Peabody.  Now she’s talking about her track record of getting Federal dollars from the Gov’t.

  19. Two minute response, 30 second rebuttal from everyone else.

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    To Silbert:
    What is the role of Fed gov in helping in flood or other disaster?

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    Did Romney do this?

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    How would you do this?

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    Silbert: We had money set aside for flood prevention: gov vetoed it. Look 2 yrs ahead, be prepared. Got funding for Center for Women in Ent. from Fed government. Took money allocated, tripled funding, have to go down there and be heard. Want to be advocate for state. You can’t limit the bounds of Lt Gov. We have to go down there and make our case.

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    How on earth did it take so long to get $ to people? They should have been down there advocating for the money.

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    Sam, rebuttal: I agree we need to anticipate problems in th future, money made available. Been personally involved in disasters in my life, know importance of responding to disasters. Be there immediately, getting ppl back in homes.

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    Goldberg: Role of LG is to be interface between all communities. Have experience in emergengy response plans. I think perfect role for LG to be interface between Fed/state/cities.

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    Murray: Romney/healey; failed to ID how to deal pay for this.

  20. Andrea got in a quick, solid hit on Willard Mitt “Cap’n Brylcreem” Romney. Her first question was on flood issues. She built up her self at the same time — he didn’t plan and he vetoed flood-prevention projects and funding. She got to say she planned 18 months and farther out. The Cap’n didn’t and was relegated to begging the Feds after the fact.

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    …solid…

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    She followed up with the tricky angle. She defined the Lt. Gov. to be the interface between Feds, state and the local folk. Clearly our recent looeys haven’t taken active roles here.

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    This is promising that she wants to expand the duties.

  21. Andrea Silbert:
    Silbert:  Work with the feds, get the info into them, do it on time and get in their face. Make sure that you have advocacy and are ‘on it all the time.’

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    Sam Kelley: We need to have anticipatory funds for disasters. Respond  with on the ground crews right away.

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    Deb Goldberg:  Act as the intermediary between the State House and the cities and towns. Be the interface between the various gov agencies and the locals.

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    Tim Murray:  Healey did wrong. They haven’t been on the ball with getting the funds. I would try and cut the red tape to get aid faster.

  22. Murray reminds us that Healey wants to be judged as the liason  between cities and towns and so he asks, where is she now?  Nice point.  Healey is nowhere to be seen, some liason.

  23. Asks Sam Kelley about Health Care.  What reforms would he be in favor of to control costs for cities and towns?

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    1) prescription drugs from Canada

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    2) dots need to be connected on our “historic” health care plan.  The way to get a grip is to move toward a more unified payer system.

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    He’s endorsed by Sen. Steve Tolman to work with him to control costs for a sliding-scale buy in for catestrophic coverage, etc.

  24. These are some of the highest costs for municpalities and state government to bear. What would you do.

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    Dr. Kelley.  Move toward universal health care system.

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    Deb Goldberg:  Streamline the system.

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    Tim Murray:  This eats city and town budgets. Ask the unions for help in costs and in controlling costs.

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    Andrea Silbert:  Preventative  care, invest in technology, generic drugs.

  25. Sam Kelley got the health-care-cost question. He claims that our recent health-care bill is adequate. He says he’ll “lead this charge” toward making HC available to all, streamlining under a unified payer system with a sliding scale. He stressed the expenses of paperwork and administration, saying (in very general terms) that he would save lots of money there.

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    Tim Murray turned this to his expertise — municipalities should be able to buy into the state group plans and reduce the costs.

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    He had solid, but overly focused view.

  26. What do you see as the role of the Lieutenant Governor?

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    Unlikely that she’ll be leaving, going to Washington, Canada, wherever.

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    Models herself after the Mike Dukakis/Tom O’Neil model, being the right-hand to the governor.

  27. Goldberg has the closest to a yuck today on the question about the history of Republican governors and Lt. Govs of leaving town before their terms are up. She said that she would stick around and not go to “Washington or Utah or wherever else they go.”

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    So far, all the candidates in this format (two-minute slices) have hit broad topics, but no specifics.

  28. Q: Can you expand rail and increase local aid?

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    He doesn’t support the rollback, to help pay for this.  He points to what they’re doing in CT to increase rail service.  They increased some tax increases in “different areas”.

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    Commuter rail is a great investment.  It’s a cost-cutting issue, enviromnental issue and growth issue.

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    We know what rail has done for Worcester and Lowell.  We need to do it for Springfield, etc.

    • He ends by hitting Romney/Healey.  They didn’t raise taxes?  Property Taxes went up 35% under them.

  29. Murray looks to areas like Connecticut for ways we can smartly increase rail service throughout the state.  He says that the issue actually touches other areas like housing and the economy.  I am happy that he also says that paying for the program means that we cannot institute the tax roll back and that we need to dedicate a bigger portion of our gas tax to transportation.

  30. Murray shows some ‘nads on taxes. He wants to keep the income at 5.3% and admitted that some narrow investments that temporarily bump up local or state taxes can more than pay their way. He also hit our issue base by calling for more mass transit/regional rail.

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    He put the zing to the Cap’n pointing out how the Republican claims of not raising taxes is a ruse. Local areas have had to push property taxes way up to compensate for the governor’s policies.

  31. Andrea Silbert mentioned regional transportation systems, which a lot of people think is critical to the development of older cities like Lawrence and in rehabing the existing housing stock. Dr. Kelley also mentioned this and how he supports it as well.

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    Nice range of issues have come up so far.

  32. Boston should have been the first city in the country to get muni WiFi.  It’s a strong signal.  We need to be a state that is a leader/innovator in technology.

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    Internet has provided more democratic access for all kinds of people to improve their lived.

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    It’s important to have broadband access outside the cities.

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    Feed goes out for about 15 seconds, revealing STONEHENGE.

    • Stuff like this is what makes cable access way more fun than CNN.

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      CNN pretends to let you “get backstage” with that stupid pre-commercial “eavesdropping” on the control room. On cable access, it’s for real. 🙂

  33. Will it be here in my lifetime?

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    Nice roundup of where wife is and where it isn’t at:  http://www.bostonwag.org/

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    We need it, we want it, we are breathlessly awaiting it and ahm, it’s a good idea.

  34. In the middle of Andrea’s answer about the wonders of wireless access and Internet access in general, we went down. The glory of it was that when LTC lost signal, the TV screen flashed a screen saver of Stonehenge.

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    She’s talking about how we must show that we are most technologically advanced. We get an ancient view, with no electronic content.

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    Nice humor touch.

  35. Asked about Trav’s proposed family leave bill.

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    He sees a lot of individuals that are “lost in life” — teenage mothers who don’t know how to raise children.  We must move forward in creating expanded family leave.

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    Maybe not by raising taxes.  There are many parts of gov’t that we can make more economical.  Talks again about prescription drugs from Canada.  There’s plenty of money already there, we can free up funds.

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    Affordable housing, etc leads to revenue growth, which allows us to get money to pay for these things.

  36. I think all of the candidates are giving great answers.  We really do have a strong field.  I think the candidates are also doing a great job of showing how all of the issues are interconnected.

  37. Necessarily short answers to a complicated question. Everyone wants the perks, no one wants to pay for them. This forum is too short to get a good answer. The ones given here veried from the savings expected from streamlining services to the idea that we can expereince savings from what amounts to efficiencies in seervices.

  38. Deb Goldberg talks about how she had been for it, but has heard some things that concern her recently.  We need to be the beneficiary if we’re giving up a natural resource.  She also is concerned we did not have a fair bidding process.

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    She’s disturbed by the possibility that something might get in the way of renewable energy.

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    Murray: Need to make sure that all the criteria are looked at until we make a final decision.

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    Silbert: Against amendment to allow the Gov. to veto Cape Wind.

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    Kelley: Talking about the windmill he can see from Hull.  He’d like to see cell phone towers become windmills.

  39. Ahm, I think it’s unnimous. We need to get more energy and pay attention to the citizens and what they want. Ahm, I think Andrea is in favor of it, the rest are in favor of ahm, talking about renewables and talking with the locals.

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    Ahm, yeah. That was clear.

  40. Those windmills in our Southern waters…

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    Deb Goldberg waffled. She loves renewable energy, but has developed doubts. She said the windfarms may not give the area enough power and that the developer may not have gone through enough bidding and other process.

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    Murray was non-committal. Andrea says go for it. Kelley says the mills are beautiful sculpture in the fog. Huh?

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    This will be an oddly important issue, with so many wealthy and influential folks with primary or secondary homes around the Cape.

  41. Silbert does not support the congressional involvement on the Cape Wind projet.  Kudos to her on that.  Goldberg has reservations on whether the Cape Wind is a wise idea.

  42. That is, LYNN scared away the Globe reporter by talking so loud she couldn’t hear the debate.

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    Who said bloggers can’t handle local media?

  44. This is a strong field of 4 candidates for Lt. Gov. Glad all are strong advocates for education.

  45. What one step will you take to ensure that our school system is adequately preparing our children for the global job market?

  46. He has seen too many people in the emergency room because of seat belts.  Any concerns about profiling?

  47. 30-second answers to the candidates.

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    Gambling: Andrea likes slots for the chance to keep gambling money in state for education.

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    Gas tax: Murray says Healey is wrong trying to kick back gas taxes. We need the cash and for once, Romney, is right on this one. Good yucks from the audience on this.

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    One guaranteed bill: Goldberg says if she could have one, it would be fully funded public ed.

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    Affordable housing: Murray has his own tenuous connection — better commuter rail is key answer. Too much city oriented and will not resonate.

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    In general, the lightning round is not too revealing. Almost all answers were devoid of specifics.

    • Commuting from places like lowell isn’t pleasant. Trust me, it’s taking years off my husband’s life…so unless we get high-speed trains, this is not a good solution alone.

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      Also, Lowell is ALREADY wicked unaffordable already, making it an even bigger hub would only make housing tighter.

    • Sam Kelley is in favor of primary enforcement of the seatbelt law.

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      Goldberg says to increase Chapter 70 funding and local aid to relieve the pressure on the property tax.

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      Murray wants to reform auto insurance by rooting out insurance fraud.

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      Kelley does not seem to favor lifting the cap on charter schools.

  48. Tim Murray was asked what the first bit of advice he would give the governor after they take office.

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    His answer: Make sure the Lieutenant Governor has a large roll to play in his administration.

  49. The final question of the lightning round went to Murray and he scored. Asked what the first thing he’d tell the new governor, he said, “Make sure the lieutenant governor play an imporant role.”

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    Sweet.

  50. The Globe did a series on this back in 2004 and talked about how one way to keep down the cost of housing is to make reliable higher speed rail services available to older satellite cities with some housing stock and room for growth. The Globe did a series of recommendations for this that would take the system from Boston to Providence, RI, North to the Lowell – Lawrence area and so forth. I’m glad this ia ctually coming up as a topic. (Hey, it’s a bit geeky, so it’s nice to see it coming up.)

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    See the old Globe series here:  http://www.boston.com/news/specials/better_boston/

  51. Schools are not just an MCAS score. Ed reform when it was initiated in the 1990’s was to create collaborative teaching. Teachers teach more to the test now. What should be looked at is not just MCAS but student potfolios, what is the parent & community involvement, what are the best practices across the state…

  52. The free-form period let Andrea return to her comfort zone — her professional organization. She brings it back to the narrow focus. She’s do well to get away from this tack.

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    Kelley was back on cliches about needing solid leadership.

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    Goldberg at least suggests that her political experience can expand statewide. She skates back to Silbert’s approach of trying to let her experience substitute for ideas.

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    Murray is certainly the most likable of the bunch. He turned on a good interpretation of public higher ed as a key hope for the state, including people who stay here when they have their education.

  53. My post about the freeform questions got eaten somehow.  Let’s just say that the freeform question part of the debate was not particularly interesting.  Silbert likes robots, Kelley believes in things, Goldberg and Murray like cities and towns.

  54. Silbert: Talks about how she has skin in the game (a child in the system).  Talks more about her background.

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    Kelley’s closing lines:  The Karl Rove playbook is going to come into play.  He’s a child psychologist, so he understands Karl Rove.  We need someone who will fight back.

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    Goldberg: Important to have people who are tried & tested.  Need to put forth a broad public agenda by bringing people with diverse interests.  That kind of challenge she is interested in and effective at.

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    Murray: Three great candidates for Gov.  We need somebody who can compliment that Gov. who understands cities and towns.  As mayor, he’s worked on these issues.  Listening — working through problems from beginning to end.

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    Unscripted moment — Murray says “We have three great candidates for Gov.” someone else “Four candidates!” confusion for a few moments as one other candidate thought Murray was talking about lieutenant Gov.

  55. Andrea Silbert concludes that her distinctiveness is learning to help people, and then “walking the walk” by doing it here.

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    Kelley has a dour presentation in his final. He speaks of the good he does and wants to do, but he sure make it seem bland. “I know Karl Rove. I understand Karl Rove…” he says about the pending campaign. Off the wall.

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    Goldberg also depends her town meeting too much also. She does go farther toward making this real, but like the others, she needs to let her ideas step in front.

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    Murray was the only one who says what the lt. gov. should do in general. Unfortunately, he also puts his Mayor Murray mask on, like the others with their histories. On the other hand, he ties it into his broader political expertise and experience in contrast to the other candidates. It worked pretty well.

  57. “I know Karl Rove, I’ve studied him.  I’m a child psychologist, after all.”  — Dr. Sam Kelley

  58. Because the streaming video was Flash, rather than QuickTime or Real or Windows Media, it meant anytime I switched focus off the window, it would stop.  So I couldn’t check email, or post comments here, or even read new comments here, during the debate.  Just for future reference, if we plan an event like this that will have blogger involvement and streaming video: If we use Flash, people can’t blog & watch at the same time.

  59. Yet another offering on BMG that steps outside the box of “online arguing” and sets this blog apart. Nice job.

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    A thought on process – I thought the two-minute “miscellaneous” section and the closing statements were essentially redundant. If there was a solid distinction between the two sections, the candidates themselves didn’t seem to understand what it was.

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    As a general comment on the debate, I must wonder why this race seems to be marked by candidates repeatedly and somewhat superficially pumping their resumes. Silbert and Murray are the usual suspects, but even Goldberg (who otherwise came off to me as a seasoned pol)went a little overboard with it. Curious if anyone else feels the same way or has any thoughts.

  60. I was in the studio audience and thought I would give my perspective. First of all kudos to Dick Howe, Marie Sweeney and David of BMG. Their presentation was exceptional — very polished. Also Kudos to Mimi of leftinlowell and Margaret, the timekeepers. Without them I’m afraid we would still be listening to some of the candidates! Also, many thanks to Lowell Telecommunications — without THEM this debate never would have happened!

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    Now to the candidates themselves:

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    Andrea Silbert seemed to always be drawing the attention back to the fact that she successfully managed many social service projects. This is all well and good but my feeling is a Lt Gov needs more than this.

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    Dr. Kelley has a two-track campaign — childrens’ issues and prescription drugs from Canada. He, also was the most boring of the speakers, droning in a nasal montone. I almost expected him to ask the audiende to lay back and tell him what was bothering them!

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    Deb Goldberg came off as very intelligent and prepared. A pleasant speaker to listen to. However, every proposal she made did not have a method of funding. Candidates (and Deb’s not alone here) always have grandiose plans but rarely think thru the way to fund what they propose so whenever I listen to a candidate this is something I listen for.

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    Tim Murray had the line of the day: when asked what the best advice he could give to the Governor answered to make sure the Lt Gov has a strong role to play in the adminstration. This receieve a good laugh from all present. But I think Tim was only being slightly facetious. Tim has a strong background in large city management as the Mayor of Worcester. I think he was sending a message that if he were to become the Lt Gov that he hopes whoever the Gov is will take advantage of his experience. Tim also seemed the most polished and most comfortable on the stage. Tim also mentioned strategies for funding programs he proposed without quite explaining just how they would work.

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    Finally my thoughts on the whole process of the debate. I am very excited with the live blogging-live streaming-live televising )with Internet archiving and DVD production) concept. I know from speaking to David that he used several questions that were transmitted to the bloggers and then delivered to the studio while the debate was actually in progress. The wave of the future is with the electronic experiences such as this, some of which I’m sure we have not even considered yet. Id be curious to know if any other statewide political event was ever produced in quite this way. I know this is the first I have heard of it.

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    Once again my thanks and congratulations to everyone involved in the entire forum.

  61. Really, a new kind of journalism. Incredibly interesting and most educational. Thank you to all the bloggers who contributed. A++++++++++++++++

  62. You guys rock!  Just a very excellent job.  I was too nervous to live blog. I just couldn’t sit still so I did some pacing and some hand wringing and laughed when Stonehenge showed up.

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    Wonder if they’ll edit that out? 

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    Be sure to check out Left Center Left Chris did some great live-blogging and has very good analysis of the debate.

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    Elias Nugator over at Chimes at Midnight blogged it old-school, baby with pen and paper.  He has some great analysis too and an admission that he thinks Andrea is a hottie cute as a button.

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