Blue Mass Group

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Globe endorses Deval Patrick

By

GLOBE EDITORIAL

Deval Patrick for governor

October 28, 2006

Election campaigns are crucibles: the heat can reveal a candidate’s character in unexpected ways. In recent times few have had their mettle tested as much as Deval Patrick, the Democratic candidate for governor. Patrick has withstood a withering personal assault from his Republican opponent and from a talk-radio political culture that polarizes and demeans. Through it all, the first-time candidate has kept his dignity, refused to be dragged into the mudslinging, and honored the promise he made early on to his supporters to promote ‘‘a new kind of politics’’ — a kind that emphasizes common goals. What that says about Patrick’s character is just as impressive as his high-powered resume, his thoughtful issue positions and his stirring appeal to new voters. We are delighted to endorse his candidacy for governor.

Patrick brings an unusual set of experiences and values to the Massachusetts political landscape, and the state is better for it. He has a solid executive background both in the public sector — as chief of the civil rights division in the US Justice Department — and in the corporate world, as a lawyer for Coca-Cola and Texaco. He grew up poor and mostly fatherless on the South Side of Chicago and was blessed with extraordinary chances that brought him to Milton Academy and Harvard. His personal history resonates with chords in the American anthem that seem almost too corny to sing out loud: opportunity, hard work, community, justice. When he says he wants to extend those opportunities to others, the voters can believe it.

With his candidate for lieutenant governor, Worcester mayor Timothy Murray, Patrick should build a team that understands the needs of the struggling cities and towns while reaching for innovative solutions to some of the state’s most intractable problems.

The issues dominating the campaign have, until quite recently, been sideshows — ugly distractions from the central questions voters have about Massachusetts: Can I afford to stay here? Can I learn, and grow, and prosper? Patrick and Murray have offered a solid and achievable plan for continued improvements in education; investments in new technologies, especially in energy and biotechnology; expanded housing development to lower prices; and tax relief where it counts: the regressive and spiraling property tax.

Despite claims by his opponents that Patrick has made a long, budget-busting list of promises to special interests, his immediate priorities are rather modest. He wants to add 1000 police officers to local communities (Cost: $85 million, or less than one-half of one percent of the total state budget.) He wants to expand the circuit-breaker limit on property taxes for the elderly so that more residents are eligible (cost: $60 million). He wants to implement the state’s landmark universal health care law — slowly and carefully, without drama. Other more sweeping investments, in universal early education, for example, will have to wait until the economy rebounds.

Perhaps Patrick’s most distinctive quality is his open, balanced approach to problem-solving, marked by a willingness to listen. A good example was on display in the debate Wednesday night. Asked whether the children of illegal immigrants should be able to pay the reduced college tuitions reserved for Massachusetts residents, Patrick began by conceding it was ‘‘one of those issues where both sides have a point.’’ But then he stepped viewers through his logic, helping them understand why he supports the idea.

More notably, Patrick took pains in the debate to praise his Republican opponent, Kerry Healey, several times when she offered good proposals. It was a remarkable display of civility given Healey’s repeated efforts to drag him down. We have seen where the politics of division and vilification can lead us in Washington. We surely do not need more of it here.

In fact, it has been deeply affirming to see voters reject the political tone set by the Republicans in this campaign, at least so far. Healey’s lurid attack ads and her dismissive attitude toward opposing views have turned against her — a healthy portent for the state.

At times in this campaign we have worried that Patrick’s policy proposals were not detailed enough, and that if he won without an explicit to-do list he would lack a mandate to govern. But perhaps the new approach Patrick brings to politics — a collaborative, consensus-building leadership style that assumes the best of people — is his mandate. If he comes into office with the voters’ strong support for this kind of governing, he could change the dynamic on Beacon Hill in profound ways.

‘‘We have got to have the resources for the shared responsibility of citizenship,’’ he said, explaining why he resists the no-new-taxes gimmick. Of course it’s the taxpayers’ money, he went on. ‘‘But it’s also their broken road. And it’s their overcrowded school. It’s their broken neighborhood and broken neighbor. So it’s not this idea that people earn what they earn and have no responsibility for the Commonwealth. We have a responsibility, in addition to personal responsibility, to take charge of shared responsibility.’’

Massachusetts desperately needs a return to such values. Our choice for governor isn’t even close.

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Comments

  2. At times in this campaign we have worried that Patrick’s policy proposals were not detailed enough, and that if he won without an explicit to-do list he would lack a mandate to govern. But perhaps the new approach Patrick brings to politics — a collaborative, consensus-building leadership style that assumes the best of people — is his mandate. If he comes into office with the voters’ strong support for this kind of governing, he could change the dynamic on Beacon Hill in profound ways.

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    Hooray! The Globe finally gets the point. It took them long enough, but hey, we’ll take it.

  3. Canvassing that day was a blast. A ton of people said that they were undecided, so and I said, “Well, if you pick up today’s Boston Globe, you’ll see just what i’m talking about…”

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    I say, today’s the perfect day to go canvass.

  4. A recent globe editorial called the lack of Republicans “shameful”. It then went on to endorse only democrats.

  5. It is such a joy to read an ungrudging endorsement, and one that shows that the Globe’s editors have had the experience many people I know have had – of falling in love with Deval Patrick as they have fallen in love with few other politicians.  And the endorsement gives really eloquent testimony to the viciousness of the Healey campaign without ever dwelling on that, instead focusing on the strengths that viciousness has highlighted in Patrick.

  6. What a wonderfully written editorial. As inspiring as Deval himself- taking his best quotes, which appeal to the better qualities in people.

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  7. The Globe statements about “division and vilification” sound reminiscent of our sitting Presidents campaign rhetoric in 2000. (the same year Deval couldn’t remember how he voted)  Remember GW saying, with a southern drawl, “I am a uniter, not a divider”.  Good luck DEMS, hang on to your wallets.  The Rt. 495/Rt. loop is still laced with empty office buildings.  I know Deval can fill them, I just know he can.  But, anything is better than Romney the Mormon.

  8. is this morning, so those who are there having read the Globe’s and the Telegram’s endorsements will be walking on air.  I’m looking forward to seeing a lot of smiling faces and some find comraderie among the local Dems. 

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    This’ll be a great day to canvass, too, despite the howling wind. 

      • Identified 19 ones and put up 4 more signs.  Good stuff. 

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        Yes, I was in Worcester, but Viva Bene was too packed to deal with.  Ended up going elsewhere to eat as I couldn’t even get near the bar just as the debate was starting. 

  9. “At times in this campaign we have worried that Patrick’s policy proposals were not detailed enough, and that if he won without an explicit to-do list he would lack a mandate to govern. But perhaps the new approach Patrick brings to politics — a collaborative, consensus-building leadership style that assumes the best of people — is his mandate.”  It stroke me as a bit funny because in one of the debates (I think the last one) Healey said something along the lines of “even the Globe thinks you lack specifics”.  And, now, here’s the Globe saying, basically, perhaps we got that wrong. Overall, it was a moving endorsement and a pleasure to read.

  10. I don’t know their history of endorsement, but the MWDN also endorsed Patrick today:

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    http://metrowestdail…

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    As far as newspapers go, he seems to be sweeping the centralish-Mass area, certainly a wave we’d like to see carry to the real vote tallys.

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    Maybe you could put this in the main post too?

    • I seized on that phrase, too, which is not the sort of language that editorial boards are wont to use.  Certainly speaks volumes as its not the sort of comment one makes if one doesn’t really mean it.

  12. I was calling into senior citizens’ housing tonight, and that Globe editorial was beautiful.  It was like melted butter getting to those “1”s.

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