Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

My Re-Election Campaign

By

I want to thank the BMG readers for your interest  in my re-election campaign, and I appreciate all the positive feedback I’ve received since my opponent announced his candidacy.  I want to share with you my response that I’ve sent to my email list today:

Four years ago, I ran for office at a time when local aid for Medford and Somerville had been slashed, and a lot of important issues were at stake.  I made a commitment to bring effective representation to our community and to deliver for the families in Medford and Somerville.

Last week, Somerville Alderman Bob Trane, whose opponent I supported in the municipal elections last year, announced he will be running against me in this year’s Democratic Primary.  He began his campaign by calling me “elitist” and “out of touch.”

It is disappointing that he feels the need to resort to name-calling to launch his campaign.  The voters of Medford and Somerville rejected those kinds of divisive tactics in 2004 when I first ran, and I am confident that they will again this year.

When I first ran, I was clear about my priorities.  Since then, I have succeeded in delivering on the commitments I made to my district:

* Increased local aid and education funding each year

* Secured funding for Foss Park and local youth programs

* Passed legislation to create senior housing

* Secured $600 million for the Green Line Extension

* And more…

I have also been honored to be able to help many constituents one-on-one with their individual concerns, family struggles, and calls for assistance.  Constituent services have always come first.

I am proud of my accomplishments in the last four years and look forward to talking about them with the families of Medford and Somerville.

I cannot, however, do this alone, and I will be reaching out for your support as the campaign gets into gear.  Please consider making a contribution to my campaign.  Your support will allow us to get off to a strong start.

I look forward to hitting the campaign trail and continuing to talk about the real issues facing our community.

Sincerely,

Carl Sciortino

Please share widely!
fb-share-icon
Tweet
0

Comments

  1. Carl has been a fantastic Rep. As his accomplishments above indicate, he’s incredibly hard working. When you send him an email about some issue you care about, it’s not unusual to get a personal, very detailed response.

    <

    p>Trane, on the other hand, appears to be launching a campaign purely out of spite. In all the coverage of his entrance into the race, he has yet to offer a single idea about what he would do differently. On the issues, he know he can’t compete with Carl, so he’s offering nothing but ad hominem attacks.

    <

    p>Note: I’ve volunteered for Carl in the past, not surprisingly.

  2. …to supporting your re-election.  We need to keep good folks like Carl Sciortino in the legislature.

  3. Carl has been an incredible ally to work with in the House of Representative on progressive issues, including the corporate tax revenue package that passed the House three weeks ago.

    <

    p>Carl played a critical role in opposing the House leadership’s proposal to aggressively cut the corporate income tax, and in fact it was his amendment trying the corporate tax rate cut to economic indicators that was accepted by the House as part of the revenue package.  This amendment will help ensure that there is more revenue to provide adequate funding for public education, affordable housing, and public transportation throughout the Commonwealth.

    <

    p>- Jamie

    • This amendment will help ensure that there is more revenue to provide adequate funding for public education, affordable housing, and public transportation throughout the Commonwealth.

      <

      p>How about tax relief my socialist friend?

      • Ernie, thought you had disappeared. I see you’re back and already name-calling … it feels like you never left.

        <

        p>As pointed out by the accomplishments linked to above, Sciortino has helped increase local aid, close corporate tax loopholes, and in a recent effort, is seeking to allow local communities to increase the property taxes paid by telecoms. Together, these should help replenish municipal coffers and take some of the burden off of property taxes on homeowners.

        • Together, these should help replenish municipal coffers and take some of the burden off of property taxes on homeowners.  

          <

          p>used to pay for $$$$ for teachers’ unions and municipal employee contracts, and other things far left organizations like Mass Alliance are pushing through their Socialist puppets like Carl.

          <

          p>Go the other guy!

        • You don’t think Carl is a Socialist.

          <

          p>Mass Alliance is. You know that, right Greg?

            • Such as those scary homosexuals over at MassEquality and the ebil socialists at SEIU. They’re out to elect progressives like Carl and wreak other kinds of havoc. They also do campaign manager trainings a few times a year that are fantastic and meant to strengthen the grassroots.  

          • Ernie, do you mean this group?  A coalition that includes the Sierra Club, the Mass Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus, and the National Association of Social Workers??

            <

            p>Ern, come on now.  I’m a social work student, and I can tell you that the NASW is far from socialist–some members are downright conservative and condescending!

            <

            p>If that’s the state of socialism in Massachusetts, well…let’s just say the captains of industry must be quite comfortable.

  4. It seems charges of “elitism” are becoming the preferred right-wing insult for use against progressives this year. According to David Brooks in today’s New York Times, all that is necessary is for a liberal Democrat to be college educated in order to be considered an “elitist.” It’s divisive politics of the sort that Karl Rove and his minions thrive on. It is particularly galling when Democrats resort to this kind of name-calling. That propensity to mud-slinging and dividing Democrats is all we need to know about Trane.

    • According to David Brooks in today’s New York Times, all that is necessary is for a liberal Democrat to be college educated in order to be considered an “elitist.”

      <

      p>Wrong. The elitist part is when people really act as if they know what is best for everyone else and are condescending towards anyone who doesn’t share their political thoughts, have their educational background, and has an acceptable cultural background.  There is a sliding scale.

      <

      p>For instance, if you are Irish Catholic you have to be 100% behind the far left or u are crap. African Americans only have to be “not republican”.

      <

      p>Romney was an elitist, Deval is an elitist, the far left intelligencia are elitists. And I’m afraid; guilt by association makes Carl an elitist.

      <

      p>I know that Carl thinks he is better than me and allot of people he represents. I am sorry. I just can’t help but feel that way.

      <

      p>I am honest about my feelings.

      • Ernie, Ernie, Ernie … I think it’s really super you’re so honest!

        <

        p>Now … could it be that your feelings towards certain progressives have more to do with your own, internal feelings of inferiority — rather than anything anyone’s actually said or done to you?

        <

        p>Could you be projecting? Hm?

        <

        p>BTW, have you actually met Carl?

        • Now … could it be that your feelings towards certain progressives have more to do with your own, internal feelings of inferiority — rather than anything anyone’s actually said or done to you?

          Could you be projecting? Hm?

          BTW, have you actually met Carl?

          <

          p>No, my feelings towards certain progressives is their politics. The far left back by groups like Mass Alliance which recruit and support candidates which support the organizations in its umbrella group. Like the Mass Socialist Party.  I am tired of politicians carrying the water fro teachers’ unions. Perhaps Carl can tell me what issues he disagrees on with teacher unions? Carl wants my liberal tax dollars to pay for all his causes.

          <

          p>And Charley, your lame argument of me having met Carl. I haven’t met George Bush either. You know what Charley, I wo9uld probably like him if I met him. But he still sucks as a President, in my opinion. Likewise, Carl may be a nice guy, buy, in  my opinion he sucks as a state rep. Too far left.

          <

          p>is is so funny how you get personal and attack me Charley when I raise issues. Don’t you think the average voter in Somerville and Medford would want to know that Carl is backed by Mass Alliance? An advocate for progressive organizations including the Mass Socialist Party? Should voters care if Carl is supportive of all the things the teachers’ unions are?

          <

          p>I think so. I think those are legitimate questions for Carl after reviewing his record.

          <

          p>Don’t you Charley?

          • What precise positions of the “socialists” and the “teachers’ unions” do you object to? Why do you object? Do you know that Carl supports those precise positions?

            <

            p>Feel free to use OpenMass.org to research your answer.

            <

            p>You’re not raising “issues”, you’re calling names. Not that I expected any different. Getting into a policy dispute with EBIII is like drinking coffee with a fork.

            <

            p>PS. I still don’t know who Dave Balfour is. I vaguely remember Grant Balfour the pitcher; and I remember the Balfour declaration … and I’ve read Ball Four — great book.

            • What precise positions of the “socialists” and the “teachers’ unions” do you object to? Why do you object?

              <

              p>Are you serious Charley? I will answer, along with the other questions. But first I want to be sure if you meant to ask me the above.  

              <

              p>BTW, Dave Balfour was a hack’s hack. Styarted out as driver for politician and ended up as MDC Coimmish.He just looked and acted the part of a hack.

              <

              p>and how bout some love for the fork headline?

      • Ernie, I didn’t know you were an elitist.

        <

        p>

        The elitist part is when people really act as if they know what is best for everyone else and are condescending towards anyone who doesn’t share their political thoughts, have their educational background, and has an acceptable cultural background.  

        <

        p>You learn something every day!  

        • If Democrats propose solutions to problems then you’re “elitist” because they’re acting “as if you know what is best for everyone else and are condescending.” But if you don’t propose solutions then Democrats are the “party of no ideas.”

  5. I live in Carl’s district and we never see him around. He has done nothing to help my neighborhood. Also, as a progressive myself, I am happy to vote for Bob Trane – he is as progressive as any politician in Somerville – AND he does his job, constituent service – not like Carl who is pretty universally know as dismal in that department. Good luck Bob – we need a change this year.

      • I honestly doubt that this is Bob Trane.  But Magic Darts, what is it that makes Trane progressive in your opinion?  What stances has he taken that you like?  I don’t live in the district, so I don’t know how Sciortino’s constituent srervice is, but what do you think of Carl’s positions?  As a progressive, do you prefer Sciortino to Ciampa?

        <

        p>Do you agree with the assertion made by some Trane backers (on the Somerville News website, for instance) that Sciortino hasn’t done anything for the district?  If so, how do you square that with the list of accomplishments Sciortino has above?

        • I think that Sciortino has fallen into the trap that Ciampa was in – he is not effective as a legislator. It just took him longer than Vinny to lose his touch. Bob is the Ward Chair of the Democratic Party in his ward (I think it is 6) and has always been active in party matters here – he worked hard for Deval in the primary and general. As an Alderman, he is great on the environment and has been the leader in making Somerville a true green government.

          <

          p>But being Alderman is mostly constituent work and no-one beats Bob at that. Ask his constituents. To me, helping the poor, the elderly and the have-nots – as Bob does daily – is true progressive leadership.

          <

          p>By the way, if it was Vinny against Carl, I’d pull for Carl – I voted for him the last two elections.

          • Thanks for the reply (and a small note–Bob is the Ward 7 Alderman).  And we’re clearly on the same page on the Carl vs. Vinny matchup; I lived in Teele Square under Vinn back in ’98-’99 (before my landlord decided to kick us out and renovate so he could charge more).

            <

            p>Again, I don’t live in Carl’s district, so I can’t comment on his constituent service.  But you do say that “being Alderman is mostly constituent work.”  Let’s not lose sight, though, of the fact that he’s now challenging Carl for a seat as Rep, not alderman.  And positions there with so many conservative Dems in the State House, are very important.

            • I fully realise that the House is chock-a-block with conservative Democrats, but Bob is no conservative. Carl does not have a monopoly on liberalism in Somerville – we are one of the most liberal cities in the state. I think that it is probably convienent for Carl to label Bob as Conservative to shore up his base but I don’t see where he gets that from. As far as I know, Bob is in favor of gay marriage, pro-choice, anti-death penalty etc…

              <

              p>Knowing the Somerville part of this district, I think that Carl is in for a real fight – people are angry and looking for change.

              • I fully agree that Carl has no monopoly on liberalism, and I’ll be interested to see Bob’s platform.

                <

                p>I must say that his use of “elitist,” for me, conjures up the sort of false populism that Republicans are so fond of using (and with which they somehow managed to convince regular people that an Exeter/Yale/Harvard-educated son of a President was on their side.

                <

                p>If that’s not where Bob is coming from, good–I figured it couldn’t be to too great an extent, as he’s not a Republican and he does hold office in Somerville.  But that was my knee-jerk response to his language.

                <

                p>(Ironic, I know, that calling one’s opponent elitist can inspire such a reaction, but maybe that’s the power of the
                Republican spin machine.)

                • Yes, I agree. I think that was a poor choice of words. The only thing that I can think of is that he may be referring to the so-called Progressives in Somerville, who run a closed group and deny lots of applicants membership. There are progressives galore in the city that will have nothing to do with the PDS because of this. That may be what Bob was getting at

                • You’re right to question that claim.Magic Darts is outright lying in claiming that PDS has denied memberships. That has never, ever happened. See my comment below.

                • You are lying.

                  <

                  p>PDS does not run a closed group nor has ever denied any single applicant membership.

                  <

                  p>You are lying.

                  <

                  p>All of PDS meetings are advertised as open to the public and newcomers show up regularly.

                  <

                  p>You are lying.

                  <

                  p>As a PDS member, I’m constantly trying my hardest to get anyone and everyone living in Somerville to show up to our meetings.

                  <

                  p>You are lying.

                • Easy there.  Repeating the same thing over and over doesn’t strengthen your message–it makes you sound rabid.  I believe that PDS doesn’t exclude people, as it jibes with my existing understanding, but I don’t see how you’re going to win over anyone on the fence this way.

                • I will check my sources on that one, but I have heard that people were denied membership of PDS – I will get back to BMG on that.

                  <

                  p>But come on all. There is no denying that PDS has alienated many many of Somerville’s progressive voters and that is why the organisation is in decline and why their hand-picked candidates do not do as well as they should.

                • When you check your sources on that one, please let me know.  I personally have seen every single membership request to PDS in the entire five years of its existence.  If you can find someone who was not allowed to come to a meeting, please let me know.  That has never happened.

                  <

                  p>If you can find someone who was not allowed to join our email mailing list, please let me know.  Because we are a political organization, we do ask people to give us their names and voting addresses before we add them to the list.  We have over 250 people on our email list.  If you know someone who has actually had a problem joining please let me know.

                  <

                  p>As for the organization being in decline…we continue to grow in membership every month.

                • “As for the organization being in decline…we continue to grow in membership every month. .  .”

                  <

                  p>That maybe so but your challangers do worse each cycle.

                  <

                  p>Just look at Heller & Martinez – as well as Fred Berman actually. They were all well beaten, and beaten soundly too.

                • Martinez came damn close to unseating an incumbent, a devilishly difficult task if there ever was one, and Berman lost his campaign manager 6 or 7 weeks before election day.

                  <

                  p>So, if you’re a big Connolly guy Magic, you can count your blessings that you’re guy’s still in office at all, but I wouldn’t pat yourself on the back too hard about it.  

                • I think we’ve been very successful at both the state and local level. At the state level, we helped elect Sciortino, Provost, and Jehlen, and in the last cycle, we endorsed the entire state delegation because of their commitment to progressive values. In the school committee, he helped elect newcomers Bockelman, Niedergang, and Sweeting, and endorsed the incumbent Rossetti as well.

                  <

                  p>That leaves the Alderman races which are the hardest ones to win, and I think that’s what you’re referring to by our challengers “doing worse”. So far, we’ve won Ward 6 and have endorsed two incumbents At Large, White and Provost (before she was State Rep). The challengers haven’t done worse so much as the races have become harder.

                  <

                  p>Also, there are more measures of success than how many candidates we elect. Consider how existing incumbents have become more progressive because of pressure we’ve brought to bear. Two of our recent endorsements (Toomey and Rossetti) were candidates we once opposed.

                • Magic Darts is not “on the fence”. He joined this site just today, clearly as a sockpuppet of Trane, with the intention of disseminating information he knows is untrue. I don’t think we should be legitimizing sockpuppets on BMG.

                • PDS has not had electoral success lately – there is no point in pretending otherwise.

                  <

                  p>Marty Martinez was the hot favorite to win the special election but was blindsided by Jack Connolly. *BTW, I voted for Marty – I agree Jack is a hack).

                  <

                  p>Then Rachel Heller got smoked in Ward 7 and Fred Berman ran a pretty bad last in the at-large. These are not good results. Perhaps, PDS should try to work out why they are losing votes in the community, rather than attacking the old guard constantly.

                • Magic Darts, first let me apologize for getting a bit too angry about the claim that we are a closed group that rejects members. Some who disagree with us have made that claim, but it is completely false. I shouldn’t have placed the blame squarely on you for repeating false information you probably heard or read elsewhere.

                  <

                  p>I’d like to welcome to show up at our next meeting and join our mailing list. Just visit pdsomerville.org for more information. (The next meeting date hasn’t been announced yet, but when it is, it will be publicized on the website and sent to the mailing list.) As always, the meetings are open to everyone, and newcomers are particularly encouraged to attend. There’s no better way to see what we’re about than to see it for yourself.

                  <

                  p>To address some of your concerns, we are not attacking the “old guard”, we’re supporting those candidates we see as the most progressive. That includes candidates who have been in office for quite some time, including Denise Provost, Bill White, Tim Toomey, and Mary Jo Rosetti, as well as newcomers to political office. It’s their positions that matter to us, not whether they are “old” or “new”.

                  <

                  p>PDS only started in 2002. We had tremendous success between then and 2006. All the races that you pointed to were in 2007 — that’s only one year out of a mere five year history. And even though those candidates didn’t win that year, we still influenced the debate in a more progressive direction and put pressure on those that did win to become more progressive.

                  <

                  p>Our membership is growing, not in decline, and we have more candidates seeking our support each election cycle. We are not exclusive in any way shape or form, and I routinely ask anyone and everyone I know from Somerville to attend our meetings. They’re pretty informative and, I think, usually fun.

              • That term is a bludgeon right-wingers use to drive a wedge among Democrats of different demographic backgrounds.  

          • But only to ensure that it never meets.

            <

            p>A friend of mine, and a neighbor of Mr. Trane, was on his Ward Committee slate without even knowing it.  In every other ward, anyone whose interested can be on the committee, but Bob stuffs his committee with relatives and neighbors to make sure actual community activists stay off of it.  The Progressive Democrats of Somerville, submitted their own slate this year to try to get Ward 7 to actually do things, though there were only six candidates on their slate, (all six were elected), so Bob remained in control.  

    • I don’t know what you are defining as “constituent services” but I have always found Carl and his aides responsive and helpful.  The few times I have called his office with a problem or question they have always been helpful and checked back with me several times to make sure things were okay.

      <

      p>I have also heard many stories of other constituents he has helped.  In fact, the only people I’ve heard complain are those that do not agree with a particular position he may hold – such as equal marriage.

      • I hope that both you and Magic Darts (which is really one of the more creative names I’ve seen here) stick around for a while and build some cred.  

Archives