Tonight Gov Patrick came to Arlington’s Town Hall, as the weather was too difficult for the originally-scheduled outdoor meeting using the natural outdoor amphitheater of Robbins Farm Park.
More then 100 men all wearing blue and holding identical pre-printed signs stood silently in the rain. I tried to talk to a couple of them, to find out whether they were there about details at construction sites, or the Quinn Bill but each of the fellows I tried to talk told me they weren’t there to talk to anyone so I gave up trying to talk to them. So I don’t know for sure why they were there, and really they looked damp and miserable but weren’t particularly sympathetic as they wouldn’t talk to me. While their signs accused Gov. Patrick of being “anti-labor” that didn’t help me much, in terms of what caused them to stand in the cold rain for so long.
The hall filled up quite well. Arlington’s legislators were there [Garballey, Brownsberger, Kaufman, Donnelly – other legislators not all of whose names I wrote down,as were the Secretaries of Labor, Administration and Finance, and Public Safety and a few other notables including several town officials from Arlington]
What interested me the most were the following:
1. When asked about “shared parenting”, which I view as a children’s right’s issue – Gov. Patrick said he supports equal access to both parents for children as much as possible, and shared parenting in principle.
2. When asked about reforming the Criminal Record Offender Index [CORI], Gov. Patrick made clear this was something he intended to get done.
3. When asked about education, Gov. Patrick seemed pained by the impact of the economic downturn on his Readiness Project, and clear that to be in a position to prosper Massachusetts needs an educated citizenry. The Governor accepted position papers, and seemed sympathetic, but my sense was he wasn’t sure quite how to find the resources to do what he had hoped to do. If someone received a different impression, do let me know.
4. The Governor talked about rebuilding trust with voters, and how the pension reform done [for which he gave a great deal of credit to Rep. Kaufman] was a good start and that ethics reform was critical before seeking additional revenue from voters.
I thought our Governor was quick on his feet, well spoken, and accessible.
He’s wonderful in the town hall setting – thoughtful, accessible and warm to all of the questioners, even those who came with tough questions pre-prepared and written down. I do wish the Governor had provided stronger assurances about protecting funding for programs serving the disabled. As tough as times are, I just don’t see balancing the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable.
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p>I asked the sign-holding folks out front why they were there – I was told that there was a spokesperson, but that the spokesperson wasn’t available to talk to me. None would explain why he was there. Not a very effective demonstration if no one participating knows or can be trusted to explain why he’s there.
Maybe they were protesting people not minding their own business.
I did that for a while in high school, till I realized no one noticed, so I started protesting people minding their own business instead.
100 men … “anti-labor” signs
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p>Same guys from 2006, just keeping sharp? Actually, their appearance here probably shows that Kerry Healey had nothing to do with those guys. Maybe they’re Mihos minions?
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p>The hall filed up quite well.
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p>Is that a Nazi reference, right in the Main Text? Godwin’s law only applies to comments, so I’m not sure what to do here. I’ll continue reading.
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p>Gov. Patrick said he supports equal access to both parents for children as much as possible, and shared parenting in principle.
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p>How did he come down on 2 + 2?
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p>When asked about reforming the Criminal Record Offender Index [CORI], Gov. Patrick made clear this was something he intended to get done.
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p>Uh oh, sounds like a words problem…
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p>3. When asked about education, Gov. Patrick seemed pained by the impact of the economic downturn on his Readiness Project, and clear that to be in a position to prosper Massachusetts needs an educated citizenry.
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p>Well, that’ll be a good excuse, we aren’t ready because of the downturn… It’s precisely the downturn that people need to be ready for! The downturn is a general trend now, finally.
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p>The Governor accepted position papers, and seemed sympathetic, but my sense was he wasn’t sure quite how to find the resources to do what he had hoped to do. If someone received a different impression, do let me know.
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p>Was this accompanied by a bugle player, by any chance?
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p>4. The Governor talked about rebuilding trust with voters, and how the pension reform done [for which he gave a great deal of credit to Rep. Kaufman] was a good start and that ethics reform was critical before seeking additional revenue from voters.
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p>Voters don’t trust “ethics reform”, so that’s no answer. They trust corruption. They trust that Democrats “seek additional revenue” every time they get in power.
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p>I thought our Governor was quick on his feet, well spoken, and accessible.
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p>Cool, just like we like em to be. That makes us proud and dreamy and sleep well.
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p>And I’ll continue what the fa-heck you’re finding here that neither I nor google are finding.
If it’s some kind of Nazi reference, it’s so obscure, and uses such common words in such an ordinary manner, that I can’t see how it would be effective. It’s like saying “I don’t give a damn” and expecting everyone to assume it’s a GWTW reference, as though nobody ever utters those words without thinking of the movie.
I thought it was supposed to be “filled up”. “Filed up” makes it sound like the crowd marched in rows wearing uniforms, I was joking if they did that in Arlington now. Nevermind, sorry, it was late…
Ive heard you could find that on the infernet.
It was late when I typed it. Thanks DC.
If there’s one basic description of this governor on education “not quite sure” seems to be it. His Readiness Project is a mishmash of thinking that would require unprecedented resources, and a naked power-grab from the towns.