When the online discussion wraps up this Friday, Dr. Jean MacCormack, Chancellor of UMass – Dartmouth will select participants from the online forum to summarize the discussions and present a report directly to Governor Patrick. Share your perspective at http://www.mass.gov/forum
Please share widely!
The testimony provided to the Platform Committee does not seem to have made it into the Draft Platform.
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p>The Governor’s “civic engagement” forum, process, and website did not lead to response or inclusion.
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p>The timing, right before the convention when so many of us have no time at all is not workable.
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p>And I admit to having no faith that any time or effort I put into this “forum” will have any use or effect at all.
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p>A Forum open until this Friday is utterly useless – at least to me.
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p>Just as the ability of any Democrat to call a hearing has come to feel more like window dressing than a real opportunity, this forum does not interest me.
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p>Frankly, I don’t believe it to be “real” in the sense of actually being listened to or being worth any of my time given both the stresses on my time and the small window of time and the way other such initiatives went no where.
Deborah, you seem to be conflating the Democratic Party platform process with the civic engagement efforts of the Governor’s Office.
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p>This online forum is a genuine opportunity to engage with the Governor and senior members of the Administration on major issues on Beacon Hill, including new revenue proposals, ethics and lobbying reform, transportation reform and pension reform. The online forum which ends this Friday is part of a month-long public input process on these issues- that began with over 30 community forums in libraries, senior centers and schools across the state. http://www.mass.gov/governor/f…
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p>You can see that he Governor is reading and responding to comments directly, because he appreciates the thoughtful feedback and personal experiences shared from hundreds of constituents:
http://forum.state.ma.us/profi… AND http://forum.state.ma.us/profi…
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p>Other Administration initiatives such as You Move Massachusetts on transportation http://youmovemassachusetts.org/ , the Department of Public Health’s Regional Health Dialogues and the Statewide Youth Council have made an impact in their areas.
This is exactly the type of initiative I want to bring with me to the Mayor’s office. We need to have a government that eagerly opens itself to suggestions and new ideas from its constituents.
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p>Blogs and online community forums are excellent ways to establish new lines of communication between citizens and government. I have released a plan to accept ideas and suggestions from the people on the front lines, our city employees. I would like to improve that plan by opening it up to anyone who would like to contribute and have their voices heard.
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p>The Governor’s online community forum does a good job of improving upon President Obama’s Open Government website, making it easier to effectively mine the data and produce results that will make our city better.
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p>-Michael Flaherty