I do not believe Martha Coakley has demonstrated the progressive leadership and sound judgment that would permit me to support her in a Democratic primary for the U.S Senate seat vacated by the death of Sen. Ted Kennedy. The judgment of Martha Coakley as an Assistant District Attorney in Middlesex County, as the Middlesex County District Attorney, and as Attorney General can be called into serious question on a number of fronts.
First, as an Assistant Middlesex DA she recklessly overcharged and tried Louise Woodward with second degree murder, when the evidence supported, at most, an involuntary manslaughter indictment. This assertion was supported by a post conviction ruling by the Superior Court judge who tried the case involving the drowning of toddler Matthew Eappen in Ms. Woodward’s care and ultimately reduced Woodward’s conviction to involuntary manslaughter.
Second, elements of the dubious post-conviction prison release agreement she struck with Cheryl Amirault LeFave, one of the two defendants in the notorious Fells Acre Day Care Center case, as Middlesex DA in October 1999 struck me as being against the public interest. Namely, I objected to Coakley requiring LeFave to forgo all media interviews in exchange for her release on time served and agreeing to serve ten years probation following her release. Such a prohibition on all media interviews by a key stakeholder in this highly controversial child sex abuse case contradicts the public’s Constitutional “right to know,” represents an unconscionable effort at prior restraint, and raises serious questions about Coakley’s commitment to open government.
Third, while it is difficult to assess Coakley’s brief performance as state Attorney General, her record thus far is unimpressive. For example, I challenge Coakley supporters to demonstrate any effort she has made to break the downtown corporate law firm/state government/high finance/big business complex that has resulted in shady state government bond deals being consummated during the 1990’s and this decade to finance everything from the Big Dig, to our crumbling higher education buildings, to the white elephant of the Massachusetts Convention Center. The sweetheart bond deals completed by these law firms, quasi-independent public authorities, financial companies, key state legislators, and corporate interests have resulted in Massachusetts taxpayers being gouged for tens of millions of dollars in dubious bond commissions to financial companies, kickbacks to legislators, and exorbitant legal fees obtained by well-connected downtown Boston law firms. Coakley has not supported any legislation to curb the corrupting power and adverse influence that some of these quasi-independent public authorities have had on our politics, public sector management, and fiscal situation. Martha Coakley, like her AG predecessors Tom Reilly and Scott Harshbarger, has been notably silent about this form of accepted public corruption in the Commonwealth.
Let’s see a genuine progressive announce his or her candidacy to replace the dearly departed Senator Kennedy before we anoint Martha Coakley the next U.S. Senator from Massachusetts.
No one is anointing Coakley. She’s well liked, that’s true. But with all candidates they will be tested and challenged, we’re not Republicans and anoint a single candidate to run for office. I think we have an embarrassment of riches with a few very good candidates.
The Congressman from Brylcream !
A ‘ little dab’ of Steve Lynch is a dab too much.
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p>VOTE MARTHA COAKLEY !
Martha “women are better prepared for elected office than men” Coakley
VIDEO
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p>Oh snap. Does everyone have one of these moments?
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p>This video was posted September 1, 2009. If it was recorded after the Sonia Sotomayor hearing in the SJC then Martha CLEARLY is not ready for big-time politics because no one would have watched what Republicans put Sonia through, and make the same categorical statement (about gender in this case rather than race.) Ted Kennedy was a man. Is Martha better prepared than Ted Kennedy?
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Coakley’s contention that women candidates are generally better prepared due to men’s more innate confidence in their ability to run, where women often gain that confidence through longer experience, ie they are more prepared by the time they make the decision to run.
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p>To your question, YES.
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p>Ted Kennedy was a 20 something law school graduate when he decided to run for the Senate seat. There was an appointment to fill the seat till Ted turned 30, (the legal age to hold the seat), and in the mean time he worked a short stint as a prosecutor.
Do you think Coakley has anything more than pop psychology to back up that claim? How women prepare for political races versus how men prepare and as a result, which gender is more prepared or do you think she’s making am unjustified generalization based on her personal experience?
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p>She made the same mistake arguing in front og the US Supreme court asserting California was a party to the defense when in fact California, one of the most populous states in the union, does put it’s lab techs on the stand during trials.
and that is fine. But I will not fault the attorney general for doing her job and fighting to protect families, much like I wouldn’t fault a defense attorney for doing their job and advocating for their clients.
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p>What I see in coakley is an ability to get things done, no matter how hard the work. She did file suit against DOMA, but for the most part has not had an opportunity to air her views on the important issues which we as a nation are facing. So I will at least give her the benefit of a listen once she starts stumping.
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p>Also, I really don’t see the need to come out with an attacking and overtly negative journal against the attorney general, do we really want another nasty political fight in this state like we had in the primaries?
In her first term as AG, Martha Coakley has compiled a tremendous record on enforcement of wage and labor laws.
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p>She has stepped up and pushed environmental, utility, and equal rights in court and in pratical applications. Take a few minutes to review the AG’s website announcing settlements and court decisions:
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p>http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=ca…
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p>For example – look at two recent court successful decision confirming Martha Coakley’s positions defending workers rights:
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p>With several good candidates in this race, I find it sad that some are unable to promote a candidate of their choice and instead appear to grind personal axes.
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p>Here’s hoping the candidates are much better then some of their supporters.
Martha Coakley could not have (in your inaccurate words) “recklessly charged” Louise Woodward because she was not in a position to make the charges. Then DA Tom Reilly and Lead Prosecutor then ADA Gerry Leone would have made the charges in that high profile case. Wasn’t Martha Coakley 2nd chair in that case, brought in on medical testimony only?
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p>Disclosure: I am supporting Martha Coakley 100 % and will work to get her elected.
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p>Your disclaimer: ????
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Martha Coakley was chief of the Child Abuse Prosecution Unit when the indictment against Ms. Woodwardwas brought by the Middlesex County DA and, as such, was directly responsible for bringing the second degree murder charge against the au pair. As you pointed out, Coakley tried the Woodward case with Mr. Leone, but she was “not second chair,” but Mr. Leone’s co-counsel in the case. Perhaps, you are unaware of how a district attorney’s office works, but Mr. Reilly, like most DAs in Mass. and the nation, merely signs off the charging decisions brought by his senior ADAs such as Ms. Coakley.
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p>My disclaimer is that unless an authentic, reformist progressive enters the field of current senatorial candidates, such as Alan Khazei, I would support Capuano over Coakley in a heartbeat.
How are Capuano, Coakley, Markey, or Tierney not ‘authentic, reformist, progressives’.
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p>The Congressmen have all compiled an incredibly notable record for fighting for progressive reforms in all walks of life supporting universal healthcare, raising the minimum wage, environmental legislation, fighting against the excesses of the Bush administration. And with the exception of Markey and Lynch all were strongly against the Iraq War when it was incredibly hard, even for a Democratic politician to oppose it. It takes a lot more courage to actually vote against a war when 70% of the country wanted to go in and the President forced it right before the midterms then it does to sit on the sidelines and complain.
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p>Also all have fought to improve their districts and help bring home federal funding to great programs in MA.
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p>Besides starting a great public service program what else has this guy done? Where is his record on the issues?
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p>How are Capuano and the other Congressmen ‘inauthentic’?
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p>I think you and David show an irrational bias towards politicians that have been in office awhile, using your logic if we only elected outsiders we would have to vote out our incumbent every two to four years anyway even if they were doing a great job.
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p>I have never heard of this guy before today and I am pretty educated about MA politics, it sounds like he is an outsider because he lacks the courage or the inclination to bother fighting for progressive causes until the day he announces for Senate. Sorry I voted for an inexperienced outsider with Deval and that was a big mistake I won’t make again.
I wrote in my previous posting that I could support Capuano for U.S. Senate, and I wasn’t aware that Markey and Tierney had declared the intention to run for the Senate seat. If that is the case, they are both highly qualified, mostly progressive Democrats who would probably become effective Senators after a couple years of service.
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p>I just don’t understand why the political establishment and some progressives in the Commonwealth break into hives every time a non-traditional candidate from the business or nonprofit worlds seeks to enter politics in this state. It seems to me that the same progressives who fought so fiercely to get Al Franken elected to the U.S. Senate would welcome a new voice, with a different, valuable professional experience than does not include serving in Congress for multiple terms.
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p>Finally, I regret we all got burned by supporting Deval Patrick for governor, but Alan Khazei is NOT Deval Patrick. If he runs for the U.S. Senate seat, I think fairness demands that you allow Khazei to make his case to the Commonwealth’s voters before judging him “another Deval Patrick.”
I think its the other way around. You want non-incumbent outsiders to challenge members of Congress you admit do their jobs well and would make decent Senators. What do you do when your favorite outsider/ ‘non traditional’ candidate actually wins and becomes the insider/incumbent/traditional pol you automatically despise?
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p>Hey lets be clear, I wish more outsiders got involved in politics and public service, I am also disheartened to see so many career politicians make a mockery of the system with the shennanigans they play to stay in office or subvert the will of the voters. Nowhere is that clearer in IL where Senate seats are bought and party committes not ballot signatures or primary voters determine who is on the ballot. But this reality is simply not the case in MA. We have a highly skilled, dedicated, progressive delegation that all have the judgment and experience to be good Senators so I don’t see why we should punish good public servants for being ‘insiders’ while promoting untested ones simply because they are ‘outsiders’.
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p>Also the typical ‘outsider’ is a millionaire who can afford to run a campaign from Gabrielli to Romney to Patrick and I would argue voting for millionaries is just as bad or worse than voting for public servants that have slowly climbed the ladder do to their hard work. Elevating a Congressperson to the Senate because they did a good job is a lot more meritocratic in my view than buying a seat.
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p>Find me an outsider who has a shot and isn’t a plutocrat and maybe I’d consider supporting him.
Congratulations…you win the “I won’t vote for (name of female candidate) because her life and career isn’t perfect in every way” prize. Been there, done that, seen it all before. Thanks for playing.
EC posted his positions and facts to support his conclusions. I have strong reservations about the AG as a candidate for US Senate and loved the expose in the original post about the insider’s game. She is the epitome of the Boston insider politician with cozy relationships all around Beacon Hill. I look for a whistle blower in a good AG and a ground shaker in a good US Senator. The qualities of passion, risk and leadership are not apparent.
You win, too! Thanks for playing.