OK, I admit it: this annoyed me. Yesterday’s Globe featured an op-ed by David Tebaldi, the head of the Mass. Foundation for the Humanities, who I’m sure is a very nice man but who perhaps needs to get out more. Or maybe it’s the Globe op-ed editors who need to get out more.
The op-ed starts by praising Deval Patrick for “making civic engagement a centerpiece of his candidacy.” It then praises the transition’s working group process (especially the public meetings) as a “bold gesture and a constructive exercise toward true participatory democracy.”
All well and good. But then, the op-ed announces that:
the challenge now is to identify concrete ways to keep the public involved.
Oooh, yeah, that’s right. Gosh, if only someone had been working on that during the transition!
I mean, did Mr. Tebaldi miss the fact that among the 15 working groups was one devoted specifically to “civic engagement”? Did he notice that the civic engagement working group (of which I was the co-chair) delivered a 29-page report full of suggestions of “concrete ways” to advance the cause of civic engagement? Or that the report was published to the world last Tuesday? To read Mr. Tebaldi’s op-ed, you’d never know that any of that had happened, because he never mentions it. Weird.
Anyway, let’s go down Mr. Tebaldi’s list of ideas and see how they match up to what we did in the working group.
Why not make the working groups and public hearings a permanent feature of the Patrick-Murray administration? Each of the Cabinet secretaries could have a standing nonpartisan advisory committee consisting of knowledgeable citizens who meet regularly to respond to policy initiatives, offer suggestions, and monitor progress.
Ah. That would be section I-A-4 of the report, which proposes “Public Advisory Groups” on specific subject areas overseen by the appropriate agency heads (Ryan was pushing this idea weeks ago). See also sections I-B-1 and I-B-2, which recommend that the Governor, Lt. Governor, and secretariat and agency heads convene periodic public meetings much like those held by the working groups.
Furthermore, since voter registration and participation in elections are important measures of civic engagement, an Office of Civic Engagement would surely try to increase both.
Mm hmm. Refer, please, to section I-A-3 (“Expanding Participation in Elections”), which recommends advocating for election-day registration and also recommends drawing on the work of non-profits like MassVOTE, Oiste, and Dunk the Vote to expand voter registration and participation. Next.
an Office of Civic Engagement could also take steps to encourage volunteerism in Massachusetts, mount a statewide public relations campaign, provide a clearinghouse connecting communities in need of volunteers with citizens seeking volunteer opportunities, and work with mayors to recognize the contributions of citizen volunteers.
Good grief. All of section II-A of our report talked about exactly this stuff. We talked about convening a summit on service to boost the profile of community service and volunteerism (sec. II-A-1); we talked about the Governor and Lt. Governor leading by example (II-A-2); we talked about enhancing and promoting the Mass. Service Alliance‘s “Connect and Serve” web portal which is (in Mr. Tebaldi’s words) “a clearinghouse connecting communities in need of volunteers with citizens seeking volunteer opportunities” (II-A-4); and we talked about inaugurating new community service awards designed to (again, borrowing Mr. Tebaldi’s phrasing) “recognize the contributions of citizen volunteers” (II-A-6). Next.
Civic education broadly conceived should be reintroduced as a high school graduation requirement. Wherever practicable, service learning should be a component of any civic education program.
Hey, great ideas — if only we’d thought of them! Oh wait — that would be section II-C (“Encourage service-learning in schools and colleges”), which recommends establishing service-learning as an “integral part” of the K-12 curriculum, and section II-D (“Expand civics education in schools”), which proposes expanding and integrating the existing 12th-grade elective government course into the required curriculum sequences. Anything else?
A less obvious example is the Massachusetts Cultural Council, which gives badly needed support to hundreds of community-based arts and humanities organizations across the Commonwealth…. The arts and humanities organizations that the council helps provide opportunities for volunteerism, vital connections to a community of shared values, and occasions for citizens to come together to learn about and examine matters of common concern.
Well, at least that’s an idea that is not included in our report. We didn’t hear much about the Mass. Cultural Council at our public meetings. Any particular reason Mr. Tebaldi thinks it’s important enough to include in a relatively brief op-ed?
(I should note that the council provides funding to my group.)
Oh.
And that’s it for Mr. Tebaldi’s “concrete ways” to increase civic engagement. My point, obviously, is not to say that the ideas floated in the op-ed are bad. To the contrary, I think they’re good — so good, in fact, that we already recommended most of them to the incoming administration. My point, rather, is that if Mr. Tebaldi is going to write, and if the Globe is going to publish, an op-ed on what the new administration might do about increasing “civic engagement,” wouldn’t it be appropriate at least to mention the existence of the working group on that very topic, and the fact that the working group already recommended, in a publicly-available report, virtually every idea floated in said op-ed?
…you’re, um, offended at something? grin
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I mean, how arrogant, to think that just because they asked YOU to be a co chair and YOU get to do all these media interviews and everyone likes YOU that you’re some sort of, I dunno, IMPORTAMT person or something.
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What an ego. What gall! And no, I’m not bitter, why do you ask?
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đŸ˜‰
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Oh and hey, happy new year by the way! (Has it really been like three weeks or more since we all last got together to hang out? Gotta fix that.)
Nothing that David said suggests that he’s on an ego trip or that he feels personally offended by the op-ed piece. By the way, your expression of envy at his accomplishments does nothing to help your image.
I honestly thought the winkie smilie and the grin were enough to show it was just a little poking fun…
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Well, at least you still have some defenders left in the blog, David! đŸ™‚
Mr. Tebaldi, in an interview:
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Sorry Civic Working Group. You posted your report on the…Internets. If only you’d made a movie….
David…I am sorry you feel undercongratulated but I don’t think flogging Mr. Tebaldi is the way to go. Op-Eds, particularly ones that are non-controversial, feel-good pieces, usually hang around for a month or more on an editor’s desk before they find their way to print as nice filler on the Saturday before a holiday. He may have written his piece before you even filed your report. The Patrick team held up the public release of the reports, so if Mr. Tebaldi has any life at all, he probably missed it in the week before Christmas.
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The working groups did not think up the ideas they presented, they collected ideas from people who submitted them…some were old concepts polished up, some were programs that need more funding to expand, some were ideas going on in MA cities or other states that could be applied, some were just plain stating the obvious.
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Improve voter registration, increase volunteerism, involve youth in community via school programs,keep the lines of communication open between govt.-people, connect the dots between communities via the internet….these are not secrets unearthed…
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The startling thing about the Working Reports in general (and I have read all of them) was not how many really revolutionary or original ideas emerged, but how few (considering the ‘thousands’ of folks that contributed to the effort). I think that’s because people really already know what needs to be done, the hard part is actually doing it…or paying for it…or getting the lobbyists and corporations and law firms to continue to contribute to your campaign committee if they don’t like what you think needs to get done!
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That’s the challenge for Patrick and Murray…getting people to do what needs to be done….with enthusiasm for the tasks. And I do NOT think we need one more “Office of…” or perpetual advisory groups to do that. Leadership is the ability to inspire, cajole, prod, encourage, and persuade people to participate in moving toward common good outcomes. We will see what leaders they are in the years ahead.
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Lastly, David, on behalf of all the people of Massachusetts and even Mr. Tebaldi who I’m sure would have been appreciative had he been aware of your group’s groundbreaking efforts, thank you for your work and the work of your group.
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I love this quote, don’t you?
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“It is amazing how much people can get done if they do not worry about who gets the credit.”…S. Swinney
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Unlike most other commenters, I don’t think this is about who gets credit đŸ™‚ Really, if the op-ed had talked about the Civic Engagement working group’s report, do you think any Globe readers would think to “credit” anyone in particular? (least of all David Kravitz who they’ve never heard of unless they read this blog in which case they don’t need to hear about it from the Glob)
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Forget credit. Isn’t it lame for the Globe to publish an op-ed making a lot of suggestions for how the Patrick administration could engage with the public, without noting that the Patrick transition has already written up those same suggestions? I think it’s mildly misleading, and makes the piece less useful.
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It’s entirely possible that the op-ed was written before the working group’s report was released, but it’s lame of the Globe not to have noticed, when they decided to print it, that hey, there might be a new development here worth noting.
better than I did.
I guess it goes to how much the instantaneous public reading the Globe., mindlessly swallow……
It sounds like Mr. Tebaldi wasn’t very civic-ly engaged enough before and should have done his homework, insert foot in mouth BEFORE you speak of something you’re not 100 % sure of, Mr. Tebaldi. So perhaps HE thought he was inventing the “all knowing answers” to Deval’s success?
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Also perhaps, hoping that those that still think of newsprint as their Bible, would not verify the facts elsewhere and Deval and staff would welcome him and his ideas with outstretched arms. Yeah, right…..so who is this guy? sorry, we here in Central MA are soooooo isolated at times…..No, really… :p0 !
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So we chalk it up to the Duh factor, and somewhere out there, (Beyond the world of BMG), Mr. Tebaldi is feeling a little cheated of fame, and red faced) or just still as clueless as the time he wrote the op-ed in the first place.
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Either way, Civic Engagement is certainly alive and well, has been embraced and is cathcing on in ways we may not still be awre of, but can only be good for the New Administration and Deva’l affirmation, that how he ran his campaign was “right on”!
If Tebaldi’s op=ed had included the opening…”How can we ever thank the Civic Engagement Working group for leading the way on new strategies for civic engagement….”, if that had been his opener, wouldn’t BMGers be praising his insight and good taste? (because he gave credit)
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The working group did not come up with much that was not already out there…it just collected up the submissions and put them between the covers of one report.
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Deval will have a long four years ahead if his supporters cannot let anyone else into the exclusive tent. The best way to help Deval succeed is to praise any affirmation or approval of his agenda from whatever quarter it comes.
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The road ahead will be very hard. The state is in a tough financial situation. Our new Governor will need all of the help he can get (He won the Democratic primary with under 50% of the vote and won the General easily against the weakest candidate and the pooorest campaign the GOP had run in 20 years.) There will be detractors enough for the novice Governor, so it’s best not to pillory reporters and commentators when they AGREE with him.
it’s about acknowledging the progress that has already been made. It is certainly appropriate to mention the report from the working group on Civic Engagement in an op-ed piece about this subject. The lack of such a reference is a bewildering omission either on the part of the author or the editor.
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No such “exclusive tent” of supporters exists.
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David has not attacked Deval’s agenda or the suggestions presented in the op-ed piece. Instead, he just criticized the article’s failure to cite the working group’s report and he was right to do so.
about not much.
get that on a t-shirt? me likey!
How much Ado, exactly?
And how much of the ado’ing have you been doing?