Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Comments

  1. A Deval Patrick “re-launch”.  How appropriate.  Now will there be birthday parties for the kids around him.  If they can last.

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    Imagine having to be the two deputy COS’s now that Landolfi is in there.  Somebody stamp “irrelevant” on them. 

  2. I am a little torn here. I love the idea, but I’m not sure about the execution. It just doesn’t make sense to  me for this site to be on devalpatrick.com. Who is paying for it? Deval’s campaign money or the State? What happens to it after Deval is no longer governor? Imagine this on MittRomney.com.

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    I would love to see a non-partisan civic engagement platform that informs and enables citizens. I don’t think this can be the answer as structured.

      • Can we infer that a communication to Deval’s Mass. Gov address and/or official address at the State House will not receive as much attention as something sent to his never-ending campaign website?  (And the high purpose and function of said web site is irrelevant if it’s paid ofr with campaign money – Bill Delahunt used to have virtual tours of Mass. lighthouses on his web site, but that didn’t make me think he was a tour guide instead of a candidate).

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        You won.  Deval needs to master the governing of the Commonwealth before he hits the campaign trail again, rife as it may be with feel good moments.

    • The site I would like to see would be complementary to BMG.

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      This is a bit of a brain dump but I think it would need to:

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      Inform citizens of current legislation (who filed it, who is lobbying for it, when is the next public hearing on it, what is it’s status etc…)

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      I could see something like typing your address in and getting a list of your reps and senators, what bills they have filed and all the info you need to read, track and influence it. Then a list of their voting record.

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      Some of this can be accomplished with a great deal of effort at mass.gov.

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      I think all it would take is some scraping and better organization of the mass.gov site and some dedicated volunteers to update what can’t be scraped from mass.gov.

      • mass.gov is a real mess.  They’re doing their best to improve it, but it’s a real slog for lots of reasons.  It’s a much better idea, IMHO, to roll out innovative stuff like this on dp.com.  No state money, so many fewer hassles, and no worries about crossing the not-always-bright line between politics and policy.

        • …mass.gov is a real mess

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          But they could do a neutrally-named web domain with a name something like “Massachusetts Governor.org.”  “Duval Patrick.com” sounds too much like a campaign web site.

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          BTW, when I want to research the MA constitution or code, I go through Findlaw or the social law library web site.  Unless the state has made significant stride in recent years, the MA analog to the CFRs (Code of Federal Regulations) are impossible to decipher.

        • …..we’ll have the up to date information on the POLITICAL site, dedicated to the political future of Deval Patrick, and allow a state site, equal for all citizens regardless of political orientation, to sink deeper into a ‘slog’?

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          David – you don’t see the PROBLEM with that?

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          BTW – maybe it’s because I use it often, but I rarely hav trouble finding info on Mass.gov once it’s loaded.  Just yesterday, I was able to post a bill citation on Ryan Adams’ site when he talked about repealing the 1913 marriage law – now he knows Rep. Scortino is lead sponsor, and it’s in Judiciary. Bills are still not displayed in Committee, for example.  Where’s the House Clerk on this?

    • I wish they had done something to really improve the state website first.  I think it is important to encourage and allow citizen input, but the devalpatrick.com site is not the way to do it.  It really is a political site; not a governance site.  Do not misunderstand me, I think it is a great way for the Governor’s political supporters to keep active and involved, but I also would like to see another mechanism on the state website designed to encourage and allow input from every citizen, regardless of whether they support Gov. Patrick or not.  Hopefully, something is in the works. 

  4. I will be there and am hoping that the new website and community tool (if that was is to be proposed) will makes it easy for each and ever citizen of the Commonwealth to access governmental information including voting history records of fellow citizens, ballot questions and signatories, “likely” voters etc. as well as bills and proposed legislation.

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    KnowThyNeighbor presented to the Civic Engagement Working Group (as I am sure others did) of one centralized website which would oversee this information.  The importance as I see it of the Governor doing it (for now) is that the Secretary of the Commonwealth is not obliged to do what Deval’s site might propose without legislation being drafted.  It is important for a leader (like Deval) to be the first to suggest and do something like this.  Whether or not the Secretary assumes the role in the future, can be determined later.

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    Governor Patrick does give us “hope” that we really can make change, but “the changing” is up to us–the citizens of Massachusetts.

  5. …wouldn’t it be better if Patrick were to launch something like a (blah, blah).MA.GOV web site?

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    What is it with this .COM web site?  I could understand it if he was running for election.  But he’s won.  Why not the .MA.GOV domain?

    • It’s not part of the state website. It’s not a government website at all. It’s not paid for with government $. It’s for the express purpose of two-way communication between the governor and whomever wants to show up at the site.

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      And yes, that has everything to do with Deval Patrick the eventual re-election candidate. But that’s a ways off.

  6. After two months of what could generously be called uneven governing, the priority is now on a de facto campaign event for an election 3.5 years away?  Deval can stop proving that he’s a great politician for awhile…there are more important things to do.

    • The charge of the civic engagement working group was, in large part, to figure out how to convert a grassroots campaign organization into a way of governing.  This site is a big part of that project.  Don’t let the fact that it’s not paid for with state money distract from its primary purpose.  At the moment, the site isn’t going to have much to do with the 2010 election.

      • I realize I’m no true believer, but neither of us would expect a re-elect website three years out to be up front with its purpose.  Hillary didn’t start a nationwide youth affinity group in 2003 because she likes kids — it was for her 2007 campaign and they’re now using it as much as they can.  Television programs typically use 44 minutes per hour for programming, but we all know their raison d’être is the other 16.  Same with this website.

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