Deb Goldberg has said over and over again that Stop & Shop provided health insurance for both full and part-time employees when her family owned the company. You can find it in all her press releases; she has made the claim at live forums and before the Democratic convention (and no doubt repeated in several newspaper articles). This widespread claim she has made is completely false.
Anyone who is a Boston Globe subscriber can search their online archives (you have to register first) can find what I found. I used health insurance stop shop and searched by most relevant and the second article unravels Deb Goldbergs deception.
Dated September 12, 1985 the headline reads, STUDY SAYS MANY LACK HEALTH INSURANCE which gave an overview of a Boston Foundation business forum and study that warned of the impending crisis that has evolved over the last twenty years. Ironically, the study was funded by Debs family, which created some unease among the participants. But the real smoking gunrelevant to this electioncan be found at the end of the article:
A number of participants said the issue of businesses’ obligations to provide adequate health benefits was a sensitive point in the group’s discussions – not least because the Stop and Shop Companies does not cover health insurance for a significant proportion of its 35,000 workers.
Twenty-one years later, Im sure Deb Goldberg will say the Globe article got it wrong. Well if that were true, the same article gave Debs mother, Carol Goldberg, who was COO of Stop & Shop at the time, a chance to refute the charge. Instead, Debs mother had this to say:
Goldberg said in a telephone interview yesterday that she did not favor legislation requiring companies to fund minimal health benefits. “The issue of the uninsured is a pretty complicated one. It may be too simple to say that it’s just a business sector issue,” Goldberg said. “I’m not particularly mandate-oriented on any subject.”
Goldberg refused to say what proportion of her company’s employees is not covered by health insurance, but she said she did not duck the issue during discussions of the study group.
“I wasn’t overly sensitive to it or avoiding it,” she said. “But I just don’t consider that government mandates in a lot of areas, including this one, are really necessary until you really understand what you mean by that.
So there you have it. Deb Goldbergs biggest lie on the campaign trail, which is a real whopper compared to all the other embellishments and falsehoods she has been saying this year.
So again, I dont think we need to worry about whether Andrea Silbert of Tim Murray will make a better addition to a Deval ticket. We need to start worrying about the nightmare scenario of electing Deb Goldberg who will sink our chances of winning in November. I can imagine the ads they will run against us.
but you are right on with this one. DG is a nightmare in Nov. seriously think of her debating hillman
If Deb Goldberg were to win for Lieutenant Governor, I believe that Reed Hillman would easily out-debate her. I believe that if it were Patrick/Goldberg, a Democratic victory may be in jeopardy-
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Deval Patrick-for Governor!
Tim Murray-for Lieutenant Governor!
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THE TICKET to beat on November 7th!
Here is the situation as I see it:
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1. The Lt. Gov office is not extremely important in the long run, especially if you believe that whomever is the Gov will not bolt for higer office.
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2. If Deval wins, and God I hope he does, he will be fighting the “Liberal” label as well as the race issue that is significant for many people when they get in the voter booth, whether they admit it or not.
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3. MA voters, although more Democrats than Republicans, continuously elect a Republican Gov to offset the Democratic legislature. Patrick, in particular, will have an uphill battle with that mindset because he is considered the most progressive of the 3 Dems.
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4. Silbert is considered the most progressive of the Lt. Gov candidates. I think if she is on the ballot with Deval, those who say their Democrats but vote Republican in the general election, will continue to do so. It may be a “Progressive Dream Team” but if unelectable, what does it matter?
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5. Deb Goldberg, although able to help financially, doesn’t bring any new voters to Deval or Gabrieli. She may bring some to Reily if he wins.
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6. Murray, on the other hand, helps Deval or Gabrieli with Central MA as well as with those Dems who jump ship in the general because they want balance.
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7. I think a Patrick/ Murray ticket is the best winning combination, although Murray by himself would not be my first choice.
I don’t get why Silbert supporters have such a hatred for Deb Goldberg. It certainly doesn’t reflect well on Silbert’s campaign.
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This is the Lt Gov race. I get that you have friends on Silbert’s campaign. In fact, almost everybody with a strong opinion on the LtG race has friends on a campaign. But what’s with the hate? Nobody from the Murray campaign feels the need to be so emotional about things. Then again, Murray doesn’t think he’s going to run the economic policy of the state out of the LtG office, and he’s probably aware that we’re at 4.9% unemployment, AKA what any economist will tell you is full employment. Silbert’s got that 4.9% locked up though.
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You really think Healey will win this race by running against the LtG nominee?
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If Goldberg wins the LtG race, are you gonna vote for Healey?
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Most likely, nobody downticket will be able to hurt the nominee (aka patrick) in november. But if anyone can, it’s Silbert, by competing for the spotlight. She doesn’t seem like a team player at all to me. Anyways, I’m out to drop more fliers.
but they have fianlly realized that it is Goldberg who is holding their votes down, not Murray…they are finally attacking the right person….that’s not personal, that’s politics…
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Patrick/Murray on Sept. 20 spells victory.
Why is it that some of the Murrayites need to take a jab at Silbert on their way to dismissing Goldberg? Is the middle class mom that scary? Yesterday at the Lt Governors debate it was about ideas but when the question was asked would you be the one to step up to the plate and challenge the current resident of the not quite corner office it was the middle class mom who picked up the gauntlet.
Please consider voting for Silbert. She will be a great addition to the ticket, no matter who is the Governor candidate. Well need her executive experience in job creation instead of Dabys fairytales and Tims fake mayor claims. Healeys people will kick sh out of both of them while Andrea has a great resume and is a much stronger debater.
because nobody has yet explained the true role of LG. Somebody, anybody, please tell me what it is that the LG does other than fill in for the gov periodically and chair the guv council? If the position requires first and foremost someone who schmoozes well, then Goldberg is a perfect fit. She is very personable and reads people well. Andrea comes off as harsh and determined (not bad, but what the heck are the true requirements of the job)? Tim Murray is knowledgeable and personable. Does the job become what the Gov wants it to be?
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I don’t have a horse in the race (although I’ve voted absentee for one of the above). The strident posts against Goldberg seem off the mark. Her mother made public statements in 1985 about health care that are proof of who Deb is? What happened after 1985? What if the company did begin covering health care for all? This post just makes me ask more questions. It’s not convincing and doesn’t address the requirements of the job. If Deb is so unpopular, then why is she ahead in the polls? Why does she have so much support if she is a liar? Is she a liar? I don’t know and absent anything else, I’m just confused.
Deb Goldberg is lying about her record. In her first ad, she says, “as the Chair of Brookline’s Board of Selectmen, (she) increased the number of firefighters while other towns cut them.”
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That did not happen. When Deb Goldberg became chair of the Board, there were 122 firefighters on the payroll and when she left there were 122. She continues to say she added firefighters, even after she was called out on the fabrication.
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Where I come from, when you say something you know isn’t true that makes you a liar.
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Now her supporters say she could have cut the number of firefighters because of budget pressures, but she chose not to. That’s bogus. The budgets each year allocate the 122 positions. If a budget is approved with 122 firefighters and the same budget shows a 4% rise in revenue, why would anyone even think of cutting firefighters?
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The truth is that no one was. I know because I was writing a column about Brookline Town Government for the TAB throughout Goldberg’s tenure. When I first saw the firefighter ad my reaction was “that’s a lie.”
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I went to the budget and took me 15 minutes to see that I was right.
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I don’t have any interest in this race other than telling people what the truth is about the Goldberg record. And the record shows that she does not give a lick about people outside of her social station. And she’ll cynically use people who put their lives on the line to convince people otherwise.
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Jim Conley
http://www.onbrookline.com
that was very convincing without being an all out attack from another campaign. I voted for Tim Murray. It wasn’t a hard decision because he is personable and knowledgeable. I also think Deval will gain a lot of insight from Tim on what needs to be done outside of Boston. The three cities most in need in the outside 128 area (Worcester, Springfield, Pittsfield), will be best represented by someone from outside of Boston. And, I was very impressed early on by the grassroots people who immediately jumped into Murray’s campaign. I guess I voted based more upon what I heard from voters than what was promulgated by the media.
What happened after 1985 was that the company was sold in a leveraged buyout in June 1988 to KKR. I doubt KKR expanded employee benefits — that’s not something there famous for.
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Poor little rich girl Debbie Goldberg had no idea how mummy and daddy treated their employees and where all that money came from. She thought even the little people got free healthcare.
Fine call me emotional–if you want to call it hatred fine. The problem with that line of argument is that I’ve been using the truth to “attack” Deb. I’ve been using facts, research and her own words.
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Can you refute one thing I or Dan Payne or the Brookline Tab or Jom Conley have said about Deb? So far you haven’t and it’s apparent you can’t. You’re the one who called Jim Conley a “local crazy”. That was the best you could do to dispute Jim’s contentions. And all you can do is say I hate Deb. I can’t stop you from making these silly issues–I’d rather you answer the charges of Deb’s “embellishments”. Can you do that?
I think it’s pretty small fry, this particular “lie”. I’m sure the total # of firefighters went up in brookline over the course of her tenure there if not during the 2 years she was chair. The reason it was phrased as “As chair of the BOS in Brookline…” was probably just for brevity because it’s easier to get the point across than “When I was a selectman the total # of firefighters went up. Oh and I was chair for the last 2 years.” Hey, it’s advertising. The average person if you explained out that whole scenario and the wicked awesome GOTCHA! you guys have unleashed would just shrug. That’s why Silbert’s campaign isn’t running with it.
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Silbert’s claims to have helped create 14 billion jobs or whatever are a stretch as well. Bill Gates’s high school math teacher could claim he created as many jobs as Silbert on her grounds. So are her claims that she’ll be in a position to do anything whatsoever about job creation as LtG. Maybe she’s not technically “lying” because of weasel words like “helped to” but it’s still the same, an exaggerated account of what she did portrayed in the best possible light… it’s advertising. We’ll see what happens on Tues.
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And as far as the local crazy comment I made about Jim back in the day, Conley’s grudge against Deb is obviously local and he’s chosen not to run for any office in his town, so I don’t assign the rocks he’s throwing very much weight. In local gov’t you get lots of decisions to make that are going to tick off some portion of your town regardless of what you do, so you do what you think is right and blow off steam by calling people “crazies”. Maybe that’s small-minded but then so are lots of people in local gov’t :).
…but let me just say a couple of things on this. Not for the purposes of edifying Mr. Booth, his scenarios replete with the phrases “must have, if not, I’m sure, was probably” speak for themselves.
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She says she added police and firefighters in her ads, in her press releases and in her interviews. I’ve given her leeway on the police…she did hire nine meter maids when the Town raised the cost of parking tickets.
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The number of firefighters did not go up in Brookline as a result of Deb Goldberg, period.
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I think Mr. Skeffington has been too polite…he calls them embellishments, when she’s clearly lying. She says she was involved in a business that employed 50,000 people when it employed 42,000. She said she put together a cliamte change plan, when no such plan exists. I could go on and on.
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You know why I wouldn’t run for public office? Because I don’t think lying to the public is acceptable when Dick Cheney does it, or when Deb Goldberg does it. I just don’t go for ideology and grandiosity.
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But really it’s because it means I would have to endure people like Mr. Booth, people who have absolutely no idea what they are talking about (like Mr. Booth’s earlier nonsense on credit ratings) and after they prove that they are a four foot thinker standing in a six foot pool they say things to me like, “too wonkish for you?”
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Mr. Booth might want to check with his candidate about my grudge. He might want to ask her about the e-mail she sent me in June where she speaks of the good relationship between the two of us. I told her then, and I’ll say it now, that’s not going to stop me from getting the Brookline record out there.
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And believe me, I’m saving the good stuff for November. Because I’ve seen Brookline under the cronies (who signed onto Deb’s full page rant in the TAB) and there is no other politician that could do as much harm to Massachusetts, as Deb Goldberg should she assume the Office of Governor.
or any single selectman. Yeah, I used lots of probablys and most likelys because I don’t live in Brookline and I’m not inside of Deb’s campaign. I’ll defer to you on the strict facts of pretty much anything in Brookline, although I wouldn’t put it past you to leave pertinent facts out when castigating Goldberg. I’m putting you in a box a little bit just because there are some people in my town that I’ll just never win with, and actual local policy details are irrelevant with them. I may be doing a disservice there, and I’m sure that you’ve been right in disagreeing with Deb at least a few times when she was a selectman there. Your continued good relationship her speaks well of both of you. However, I still don’t think she said anything in her ads that goes beyond what every other candidate is doing in terms of fluffing their resume.
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I’d also take exception to your statement about working with me, I’m very easy to work with and always focus on the hard quantitative details when I’m doing policy work. I can respect your unwillingness to put yourself through the compromises that are necessary when running for office, I’ve had to modulate my opinion on things during campaigns under the “half a loaf is better than none” philosophy and it definitely stung, but politics ain’t bean bag. I’m still of the opinion that it’s very easy to throw rocks from the sidelines and you might be more sympathetic had you been in various can’t-win situations.
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PS We should have the representative vs open town meeting discussion at some point after the election heat has died down… I’m of mixed opinions but would def favor it for a town the size of Brookline. Tyngsboro right now is open town meeting and I think that works for us except when it doesn’t.
Deb saying that when her family ran Stop&Shop they offered health care to all employees. She has said that many times, in press releases, before the convention, in forums and interviews. This Globe article proves that Deb Goldberg as lied, lied, lied to the public, the press and her fellow Democrats. BTW, three years after this article, the Goldberg’s sold the company and I can’t imagine they cleaned up their act and provided health care to all, in those three years (hell they owned the company for years–why change?). No doubt they cut costs and further eroded health care benefits to boost up profits that drive up the price of the company when they sold.
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So far, you offer no defense for this giant whopper of a lie by Deb.
To say that Jim Conley has a grudge against Deb Goldberg is like saying Woodward and Bernstein had a personal beef against Nixon, Haldeman, and Erlichman.
Conley’s doing his job as an investigative reporter, and he’s finding a lot to report. Someone here asked “why isn’t the press doing its job?”. Conley’s doing it. He knew about the story because he’s from Brookline and had been covering it for years.
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The reason Goldberg’s misrepresentations aren’t little white lies is that her misrepresentations are the cornerstone of her campaign. She chose to emphasize these issues: increasing firefighters, managing a big budget, healthcare at Stop and Shop. She portrays herself as experienced, competent, and a fighter for the middle class, but she isn’t. Has she EVER held a job that she didn’t buy or get through nepotism?? Ever?
Has it ever happened before that a candidate for Governor lost because of perceived problems with the LtGov candidate? I think they used to be elected separately, though I don’t recall any time when there was a Gov and LtGov of different parties. At any rate, I really can’t see how Deval would lose because the LtGov candidate did lousy in a debate…I can’t really see that many people even watching a LtGov debate. Are you people just looking for something to get in a lather about? How are the Red Sox doing?…
LGs and Govs run seperately during the primaries–even if they pair up togther before the primary, they both have to win.
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So, no LG and Gov can not be from different parties.
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And my point is not about the Dem LG losing a debate to the Rep LG and that causing us to lose. I’m saying the election will be close (a swing of 60 voters last time and Dems would ahve won.) And if we elect Goldberg, with her documented baggage of lying, the Rs will be given yet another arrow to shot at us.
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Will having Goldberg in and of itself result in a defeat? No. Will the Republicans add it to their attack. Yes and probably farly hard, especially if they fan the flame that Deval has “national” aspriations and won’t serve the full term or only one term (ironic yes, but they have no shame).
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So yes, Deb Goldberg will lose us votes. The debate between Silbert and Murray as LG centers around which one will gain more voters: Murray’s Central MA base or Silbert’s suburban moms. A lying hieress will definetly cost us votes–votes that can result in defeat for us in November.
Isn’t it a bit early for that? Sure, he’s done a great job in his first run for office, but I can’t believe he’s already thinking about running for president. Anyway, the Mittster aside, I think we’re about to have another decade or two when being from Massachusetts is a major disadvantage in presidential races.
I have been completely unaligned in the LG’s race, except for knowing that I would NOT vote for Goldberg after that campaign video–see former post.
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I’m afraid the hour has come for me to exercise Real Politik, which I normally advocate against.
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I agree that Deb Goldberg will be a major liability and a distraction to whoever wins as Governor.
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With polls showing things tight between Goldberg and Murray, I feel I have no choice but to side with Murray to make sure Goldberg is defeated. Sorry Andrea.
a Murray supporter but have the utmost respect for Andrea. believe me with her qualifications and support we will be seeing her again in the future if she fails to win. I wouldnt be surprised to see me as a future supporter…..
that I read she also is beholden to Charter School advocates?
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The good news is that I have seen few of her signs in the metrowest area from Acton down to framingham but I’ve seen many Murray signs.
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For what it’s worth,
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I met Tim Murray along with J. Barrios back in the spring in a small group setting. I perceived real sincerity in his words and saw a great sense of purpose.
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Barrios, on the other hand, was about as insincere as they come… (you remember Fluffernutter man)
And imagine what one could find if one were looking at more than just the public Globe archives. Maybe there’s nothing else out there, but do we really want to take that chance?
First, I have absolutely no bias in this race; I know no one on any of their campaigns. And I am completely undecided but would still like to pick an established candidate to vote for tomorrow, rather than writing someone in (which sounds more and more tempting all the time).
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All that said… I’m extremely skeptical regarding the importance of this race and the differences among the candidates. I don’t care how close an election is: I simply do not believe that the average voter cares who the Lieutenant Governor is. (And keep in mind that if you’re reading this blog, you are NOT the average voter. You are a political junkie, in the top .05% of the electorate in terms of knowledge, interest, and intensity of preferences.) Unless a downticket candidate’s issues somehow become entangled with the gubernatorial candidate (see St. Fleur fiasco), then they’re afterthoughts. The attention and the money is all focused on the top of the ticket, whereas I doubt that anyone except political junkies would even bother to watch an LG debate. It’s not like the Vice Presidential candidates nationally, where the average person pays a bit of attention (and even then, only a little bit). It’s close to irrelevant.
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Moreover, I am simply unaware of any real differences in substance among Goldberg, Silbert, and Murray — on the contrary, everything I’ve read and heard has involved ad hominem attacks. I don’t care at all about what a candidate’s mother said 20 years ago; I don’t care that much about a candidate’s slight exaggerations or mischaracterized paraphrasing of their past record (remember, when the media did that to Al Gore, we all howled); I don’t want to hear that people are afraid of a middle class mother or anything like that. I want the straight dope. What are the person’s strengths and weaknesses? Past accomplishments? How does that experience relate to the job of LG? What does the person bring to the table generally? Can anyone offer a good analysis of this race without resorting to any of the petty personal attacks and attempts to catch so-and-so in a lie?
Here
http://mblc.state.ma…
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1. Login with library card
2. Click newsbank
3. click “Massachusetts Newspapers (Berkshire Eagle, Boston Globe and The Republican)”
4. Put “STUDY SAYS MANY LACK HEALTH INSURANCE” in the search box, choose 1985 from the timeframe and click Boston Globe
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It’s about the fourth one down.
I can’t believe a significant number are going to do this level of research. Anyone that dedicated already knows who they’re voting for, anyway, the LtGov candidate is not going to make a difference. Anyway, if she’s so awful, she should lose tomorrow. If she doesn’t lose tomorrow, she must have something going for her.
Hey Alice:
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You’re from Flordia. You should know a thing or two about how awful candidates often win!
Mr. Skeffington’s post, along with some of the comments posted to date, definitely raise some QUESTIONS about Deb Goldberg’s claims. It does not, as he puts it, “prove” that her claims are “lies.” The article he found is from 1985. Goldberg’s family owned Stop & Shop for another couple of years after the article was published. Thus, they could have in that time made the decision to provide insurance to all of their employees. Did they? I have no idea. Neither does Mr. Skeffington, based upon what he’s told us.
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I’d love to see the editors contact the Goldberg campaign and try to get a detailed response to the allegation.
First – my cards on the table – I hate Deb Goldberg.
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But I don’t think this is the smoking gun being suggested. If she said they “offered” health insurance it is still entirely possible that only a small percentage “enrolled”, often this is true of low wage companies because the $ the employee would have to kick in is more than they can afford, the health plan offer may well have been lousy – but this is a case of a misleading claim, not a lie.
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Furthermore I agree with many others who posted – people are NOT going to vote on the basis of Lt. Gov – she’d have to get caught doing something really bad for it to matter at all. Her donating another 2 million in the general would far outweigh this and other negative stories.
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That said – I am not voting for her and hope she gets out of politics altogether – she’s a sanctimonous phony.
I guess I have caught the Deb Goldberg sleuthing bug. It has already been pointed out that the fireman in her commrecial who comments on what Deb did for Brookline firemen is not a Brookline fireman, so I figured I’d check and verify who the other people in the ad are. The first person who speaks is “Terry Kwan – Educator”. I wondered, what grade does she teach. It turns out she is not a teacher. She used to be a teacher but now she is a real estate broker. See for yourself: http://alumni.bingha… .
http://www.karpliber…
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Why didn’t Deb get a real teacher to talk in her commercial?
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Anyway, since it’s looking like Goldberg is going to win today, we can look forward to either 2 months or maybe 4 years of this kind of fun.