December 5, 2009
Dear Friend,Please join me in voting for Mike Capuano for Senate on Tuesday, December 8th. Here are six reasons why Mike has earned my support:
1. Mike Capuano is the only democratic candidate for Senate with legislative experience. He is a lawyer and veteran lawmaker who has served Massachusetts in the United States Congress for more than ten years.
2. Mike Capuano has fought hard in Congress and delivered real results for Massachusetts cities and towns. As the former five-term Mayor of Somerville, Mike knows how important federal funding is for our local communities. As a member of Congress, Mike has brought home millions of dollars for transit projects, biotech initiatives, hospitals, neighborhood health centers, and essential non-profits, creating thousands of jobs as a result.
3. Mike Capuano has the expertise and proven leadership on the House Financial Services Committee to bring much needed reforms to Wall Street and corporate America. He fought to limit corporate salaries and the payment of outrageous bonuses while thousands were losing their jobs. Mike understands the domestic economy and knows how to put America back to work and return our nation to prosperity.
4. Mike Capuano has the character and integrity that lead him to spearhead the effort to pass sweeping ethics reform lauded by Common Cause as one of the most significant ethics reforms in a generation. He is a passionate and effective consumer advocate and has fought against outrageous credit card fees and for a complete overhaul of our financial system, including requiring credit rating agencies to reflect the credit risk of financial products to help investors make more informed decisions. Mike is a strong supporter of health care reform, especially for health coverage for children and lower prescription drug costs for consumers and particularly the elderly.
5. Mike Capuano has an impressive history of advocacy for women, children, and the enslaved in this country and throughout the world. He fought for equal pay for women and to help end workplace discrimination. Mike has pushed for a stronger federal response to violence against women and won funding for women rape victims of war. He made it a priority to establish a gender-based sexual violence counseling program to help refugees escaping from war ravaged countries.
6. Mike Capuano is the only candidate with foreign relations and war experience. He voted against the Iraq war arguing that we should have committed sufficient troops and completed the mission in Afghanistan instead of shifting focus to Iraq. Mike will continue to fight for a clearly defined plan to bring the war to an end and bring our troops home. While Mike has misgivings about the conduct of the war, he is an ardent Veterans advocate and voted to appropriate billions of dollars for Veteran Affairs. Mike wants to fight for a modern-day expansion of the G.I. Bill, which, as it did post WWII, can help stimulate the economy and strengthen the middle class.
Mike Capuano will be an effective voice for Massachusetts in the United States Senate and will fight for the things that matter to us and, especially, a secure and strong America in the 21st Century. Please join me in voting for Mike on Tuesday, December 8th.
Thank you!
Gale D. Candaras
State Senator
1st Hampden and Hampshire District
There’s an endorsement he can probably live without.
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p>To her credit, she has not yet signed on to the Senate’s counterpart to House Bill 4167, but I find her push for more charter schools disturbing, and her vote against the nurse staffing bill appalling. She supported H.4402 in 2005, opposed closing corporate tax loopholes, and voted “yes” to requiring “workfare” for mothers of toddlers and infants.
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p>What a glowing endorsement.
I would venture to say that all of the candiates have supporters with whom they might not agree on various things.
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p>How about former president Clinton’s endorsement of Coakely? He is responsible for NAFTA and the epic loss of jobs to other countries that lack labor laws and environmental standards — signed over the fierce objections of organized labor and environmental groups, to name but a few. His actions affected us gravely in New England. He is also responsible for the punitive “welare reform” of the 1990s, and more that one could fairly say was less than progressive, and certainly out of step with Sen. Kennedy. I would venture to say that Coakley does not support everything that Clinton has stood for, but I do not blame her for accepting his endorsement. Do you?
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I concede it —
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p>One truly curious trend throughout this primary season seems that of the production of strange bedfellows. Perhaps it is also fitting given arguably parallel political trajectories. As Capuano moved further to the left as a Congressman than ever he was before, so has Candaras evolved from alarmingly right-wing politics of a Mike Albano machine hangover to steadily more positive a political direction as Senator…
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p>History, however, gives me pause.