Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Governor Patrick: Vote for Jim Marzilli for State Senate tomorrow

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Dear Friends,

On Tuesday, November 13th, there is an election for State Senate in your district, the 4th Middlesex, and it’s important that you learn about the candidates and vote.

Change begins at the grassroots level, and your local leaders, including your State Senator, are the people who will make a direct impact on so many of the services that you and your family depend upon.

In this important race, I’m hoping you will join me in supporting Jim Marzilli, who was an important partner to me in my own campaign and has helped to guide my decision making as Governor. Jim supports all four parts of the Municipal Partnership Act. He is a leading advocate for renewable energy as a way to increase our available clean energy supply, reduce pollution, curtail our dependence on foreign oil and spur economic growth.

You can learn more about Jim at his website http://www.marzilli…. , or for information about where you vote, visit the Secretary of State’s site here http://www.wheredoiv…  . If you are interested in supporting his campaign, consider volunteering this weekend, contributing, or convincing your neighbors to do the same.

As we just learned once again here in Boston, unfortunately, voter turnout is historically low in many local elections, and our local leaders are often elected by only a handful of votes.

This makes your participation and your vote even more valuable. Regardless of who you support, the most important thing is to take the time to learn about the candidates and cast your vote.

I know just how busy daily life can become, but don’t leave politics solely to politicians. Please take a couple of minutes out of your busy schedule on Tuesday, November 13th and vote for Jim.

Sincerely,

Deval Patrick

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Comments

  1. This is a ploy to get you to vote for someone, that voted agaisnt sending local AID back to the communities. Did Deval really send this or is this just another ploy to get your vote.

  2. I happen to think Marzilli will win (I even voted for him on EB3’s poll!).  But still – what if he DOESN’T win?  Worse, what if you need something in Murphy’s district in the future?

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    It’s bad campaign ettiquette for a major elected official to endorse in a contested primary.  All you do is make 3 enemies – and how much of a boost is this actually going to give Marzilli, anyway?

    • (Subject line chosen deliberately đŸ™‚

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      Yes, it is very unusual.  But it’s also good.  I want elected leaders who get involved in races for lower office, because they really care about the outcome, even though it’s a risk (and you rightly point out some of the risks).  This is actually one of the things that progressives and others tend to divide on.  Robert Reich, for example, has endorsed in several races for state rep and city councillor and so on, which is very unusual for someone at his level.  State Rep Carl Sciortino recently endorsed Rachel Heller for alderman in Somerville ward 7 – and she was running against an incumbent.  Very risky move on his part, and she lost, but I’m glad he did it and it makes me proud of him.

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      Yet, it’s not that different in principle from having the president of the US endorse and fundraise for candidates for US House.  That just happens to be an accepted tradition in the US, while this does not, but I don’t see any good reason for that.  this kind of endorsement is just as valid.

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      I’m proud of Patrick for it.

      • …it’s an issue of practicality.  If Patrick publicly expresses support for one candidate of his own party and if that candidate fails to win, he runs the risk of alienating the winner.

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        I suspect, but cannot prove, that that was what Ms. Porc meant.

        • And for the highest elected official to show he is paying attention, and willing to take risks for friends is, at least in my view, a good and valuable thing.

          • …but it seems to me that the governor himself did not need to embroil himself personally into the primary.  It should have been enough for him to have his operatives (of whom, I’m sure there are many) to pass the word sub silencio regarding who he was supporting.

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            Plausible deniability if his guy was defeated.  I’m not exactly sure that Patrick is ready for prime time.  He should have known better.

            • Of course he didn’t need to!  He feels that he can do some good by endorsing personally, and I’m glad he didn’t shy away from doing so, because you’re right, he could’ve stayed out.  And you and others are also right that there’s some risk in what he did, which as I explained, is part of the reason why I’m proud of him for doing so.

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              One of the reasons I supported Deval Patrick was to support the movement that adopted him as its standard-bearer, and one of the dividends of getting him elected is more support for that movement in things like state senate elections.

      • I regularly endorse in local elections. I vote to choose the people who will govern my community, and whether to override the strictures of Proposition 2.5. Even before I was elected to the House, I was always glad to share that information with people who inquired. I cannot imagine changing now.

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        Democracy works not when we elect a single star, but when a team of people take office committed to a shared set of values. I don’t worry when someone I endorse disagrees with me, I celebrate it, knowing that we have an independent and thinking office holder. I have never understood the politicians who sit on the sidelines yet expect others to endorse their candidacies.

        • It’s called leadership.  It’s what I expect from a good public official.

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          I pay careful attention to a candidate with a Marzilli endorsement in Arlington.  While I occasionally disagree with his choice, and support someone else, I have considerable respect for Jim’s judgment.

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          Pablo
          informed Arlington voter

          • Jim Marzilli isn’t the Massachusetts Democratic Party.

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            That said, we don’t have many partisan elections in Arlington.  Or at least it isn’t much of a contest.

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            2006 Governor:
            Patrick 12,854
            Healey 5,374
            Mihos 1,197
            Ross 1,197

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            2004 Presidential
            Kerry 17,821
            Bush 6,422
            Badnarik 162
            Cobb 137

          • If George W Bush were to endorse you for planning board, by all means you could publicize that if you thought it’d do you good.  I don’t understand what your question is, really.

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            Are you obliquely trying to say that it’s highly unlikely GWB would endorse you for planning board?  If so, I agree, but I don’t think that has much bearing here.  We’re not discussing the probability that Patrick might endorse in a state senate race, we’re discussing the fact that he did.

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            What is your question?  I don’t get it.

          • Local elections are PARTISAN it is a point we as republicans don’t understand and the dems do. It’s why they are successful at the state level, they have a farm team.  We need to start playing the game like they do. 

            • …Sigh.

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              I know, I know.  (OT – BTW – places like Cambridge and Arlington pay their part time Selectmen $30,000/yr, and then expect us to subsidize their farm team with tax dollars.  I say we should DEDUCT the pay of all local elected officials from local aid – and then pay what you will.  In my town, they get $500/yr, so we’d be OK with that.)

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              But it’s still WRONG.  And it’s why BOTH parties are shedding registration to the vast pool of unenrolleds who are disgusted with partisanship.

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              And Cos – GWB would endorse me for Planning board if I asked him too.  My favorite moment along those lines came in 2006, when Eric Turkington said in his debate finale that it was IMPORTANT to re-elect him as a Dem. House member, to SEND A MESSAGE to GWB.  ooohhh…a Democrat reelected in Mass. – I bet he lost sleep over THAT!

              • Cambridge does not have selectmen

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                Arlington pays its selectmen $3k/year, not $30. (Chair gets $3.5k, though).

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                As your guy once said, Facts are stupid things. But go ahead, tell yourselves stories.

        • I also elect the person, because I trust that person to be honest and thorough, not because they agree me about everything.  Also, there are so many issues and needs, I do not expect that my #1 issue will be the #1 issue for every candidate In support.

  3. because the governor’s party didn’t have many contested primaries at the local level for the past decade and a half đŸ™‚

  4. There is a political risk for any elected official when they endorse another candidate within a party primary (especially in local races v statewide). While I am not a fan of the practice, I certainly respect Governor Patrick’s loyalty and political courage (while wishing he had not done so since I am supporting Ken Donnelly).

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    I am of the opinion that the ettiquette is a bit different in open seats and special elections. No one loses a job over the election, voters faced with multiple candidates that they may not be familiar with can use endorsements (including other elected officials endorsements) as road signs to a candidate’s positions.

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    Had Governor Patrick endorsed against an incumbent running for re-election, that would have raised a much larger issue.

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    And that is why I have a problem with Rep. Carl Sciortino’s decision to endorse against an incumbent Board of Aldermen member. The incumbent’s politics are progressive (pro-choice, pro-equal marriage. pro-Labor) He is active on constitutient services and responsive to neighborhood concerns.

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    Rep. Sciortino may have made a politically brave endorsement but it was politically poor judgement.

    • Trane is liberal but he is not progressive.  On process issues, where the difference between progressive liberals and other sorts of liberals is most apparently, Trane is a government-by-clique guy.

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      It’s hard for voters who don’t know city politics to know what their vote for alderman means, because the real effects of electing the different candidates is complex and sometimes hard to communicate.  However, the sort of people who are Carl’s core constituency are the sort of people most likely to want the outcomes that would’ve been served had Heller ousted Trane.  Carl endorsing her was one of the best and most effective ways to communicate that to them, thus allowing them to more easily vote in their interest.  He made the right choice, though it was risky.

        • I summarized it above, when I said he’s a government-by-clique guy.  Somerville municipal politics is extremely closed, with a lot of decisions made behind the scenes by people who know each other, talking to people they know, without making any effort to publicize, open up, reach outside of comfortable bounds, etc.  Trane is one who seems to actively make effort in the other direction, to keep things closed.  I don’t know if he realizes it or does it on purpose, he may just be too used to how things already work to be able to see it.  But if we’re going to open up Somerville government, to make it more relevant to the majority of residents, and to put all residents on an equitable playing field, we need to remove people like Trane from the board, or at least shock him into real change.

  5. Suppose some comfortable incumbents face primary opposition next fall.

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    Don’t the candidates want Patrick’s blessing, in that case?

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    Suppose Marzilli, a big supporter of Patrick’s agenda (though not casinos) wins today.

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    Isn’t that a win for Patrick too? Doesn’t it demonstrate the value of his endorsement? Doesn’t demonstrating his willingness to make endorsements make him more of a player?

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    Seems pretty simple to me.

  6. If Marzilli’s so awsome why isn’t their a place for him in your administartion? Did you offer him a job?

  7. …that the test for leadership in the Commonwealth was how early one supported the Governor in his race? I know for a fact that Reps. Natale and Murphy did all they could to elect Deval Patrick Governor. So if the Governor’s pick, Rep. Marzilli, wins today (and I take it that there is some doubt about that because of the 11th hour endorsement) there are going to be two Reps. that MAY think twice about supporting the Governor’s intitatives when their own popularity is on the line. Does the Governor really need one State Senator that owes him? And two Reps. that owe nothing but their best judgement to their constituents?

    • I don’t buy your assumptions.

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      The simplest explanation of why Patrick endorsed Marzilli is because he thinks Marzilli would do the most good in furthering the causes Patrick supports.  You’re pointedly assuming that can’t possibly be the real reason, and that he must doing it only for reasons of loyalty or manipulation.

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      I’m concerned about your interpretation (why do you make this assumption), but I’m not very concerned about Patrick’s motives.

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      Although, if I were to argue the case on your grounds, I should point out that the flip side of “there are going to be two Reps. that MAY think twice” is that there may be a number of Reps and others who realize there may be rewards for early support of a good candidate.  Even with your assumptions, I don’t think your case necessarily holds together quite as you present it.  But the assumptions are the main problem with it.

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