Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Be a part of it

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We are at roughly the halfway point in our “Kickoff” weekend, and I wanted to check in with the BMG community and let you know how things are going and why I feel this election is so important.

We started our Kickoff Tour last night with a wonderful event at Game On! in Boston.  Hundreds of young people, lots of excitement, a great spirit and willingness to work in support of the values we all believe in.  Today, we started the day in Lowell, moved on to Newburyport, Haverhill, back to Boston (where we met up with Tim Murray), then Worcester.  Next was an absolutely tremendous rally in Holyoke, and I just left my exceptional daughter Katherine’s student fundraiser in Northampton, with a full day of events scheduled tomorrow across the state.

The crowds and the excitement have been humbling.  I have seen lots of old faces and many, many new ones.  All committed to working together in support of the values and priorities we share, and which are at stake in this election –

• Over 97% of our residents have health care coverage they can count on, tops in the nation.  And we are working hard to lower rates for small businesses and working families.

• We are #1 in the country in student achievement, and thanks to our education reform initiative, we now have the tools to address the achievement gap and spread innovation throughout our public school system.

• Massachusetts is leading the country in clean energy policy and the life sciences, creating the jobs of today and tomorrow.  And we have made an historic investment in our infrastructure – roads, rail, bridges, broadband, and our public schools and universities – creating jobs in every region of the Commonwealth and spurring economic development.

I know we have so much more work to do.  The global economic crisis has touched us all, and while we are starting to recover, I will not be satisfied until every person who wants a job has one, until a good school is within reach of every student in the Commonwealth, until we permanently put an end to the Big Dig culture, close the achievement gap, put us farther down the road on clean energy and green jobs, and finish the job of reforming state government.  That is what is at stake in this election.

Over this first term, against strong headwinds, we have done what we said we would do.  Now, it’s time to finish what we started.

Be a part of it.

Talk to you tomorrow,

Deval Patrick

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Comments

  1. There was a great crowd and a lot of enthusiasm in Worcester.  Tim Murray was great.  He and Deval make a fantastic team!  

  2. Just a few memories from the past 42 months

    <

    p>1) Marian Walsh-What the hell were you thinking?

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    p>2) The Diane Wilkerson endorsement-What the hell where you thinking?

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    p>3) Paul Reville telling the Gloucester folks to stick it. Why is he still employed by the Commonwealth?

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    p>4) You ignoring the issue raised in #3 above. You telling the Gloucester folks to stick it.

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    p>5) Mitch Chester telling the Gloucester folks to stick it.

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    p>6) You declaring chapter 70 “broken” and doing NOTHING to fix it. (video available upon request, transcript from 2008 Salem Town Hall available)

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    p>7) You telling Nate Jacobson that charter schools were wonderful but the funding formula was flawed and then doing nothing to fix it. (video available upon request, see #s 3, 4 , and 5 above, and why would anyone interview with Natalie Jacobson? (remember John Silber))

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    p>8) You expressing concern over the charter school funding formula during a 2006 debate with Gabielli and Reilly. You doing nothing about the funding formula. (transcript of ch 4 debate available upon request and see most of the above)

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    p>9) You ignoring the PROMISE made in 2006 by the Commonwealth to raise ALL districts to 17.5% of foundation budget by fy 2011 and then IGNORING that promise in your fy 2011 budget. By the way, there are over 50 communities involved. Two of those kids affected by the underfunding identified in 2006 live in my house.

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    p>10) You doing NOTHING to solve the problems facing cities and towns relative to group health costs. Your tweaks to the GIC legislation ALWAYS left the decision in the hands of the teacher’s union and you knew it. Thus you did NOTHING to solve the problem.

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    p>Game on! Enjoy your weekend! See you in Lynn tomorrow evening!

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    p>Not a hotel room available in the City of Worcester next Friday night. Elections are apparently good for the economy.

  3. Thanks Guv for raising taxes here, there, and everywhere and thanks for working so hard on that property tax relief that you promised. Instead of property tax relief we laid off 40 teachers in three years in my community. Maybe that aforementioned messed up chapter 70 program might have played a role in all those layoffs.  

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    p>Game on indeed.

  5. for all the work done by you and Lt. Governor Tim Murray on creating blue collar, construction jobs in Massachusetts.

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    p>The only way there will be revenue to fund public services and local aid is to create jobs that generate that revenue.

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    p>You have put forth solutions not excuses and have continue to work while your critics do little but point fingers and complain.

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