Grossman Calls for Activist Treasurer

The last politician I saw show all his cards so early in a campaign was Deval Patrick running for governor. That seemed to work OK for him.

As a very successful entrepreneur and top manager of his family business, Grossman Marketing Group, he has a reputation for handling money safely and wisely. However, for commonwealth treasurer, he envisions much more.

He discusses how he would use the office as a bully pulpit. For example, he would invest the millions and billions in financial shops that help our small businesses and create MA jobs. He would withdraw funds from big banks that gouge consumers with 30% interest rates. He would work with the legislature to re-enable letting small business groups negotiate rates and buy insurance together. There's more.

I ran a recap of his plans in a post covering his kickoff press conference, here.

He's very plain about what he sees as the need for the executive branch to help citizens out of this recession. It looks like he's set the standard for issues in this race. So far, neither Dem rival Steve Murphy nor GOP one Karyn Polito seems to have responded substantially. They'll have to soon.

The best we've gotten is a tweet from the latter trying to piggyback on a Boston Herald editorial:

I'm not a “social activist” when it comes to managing tax $$. I'm a “fiscal conservative” who seeks highest return 1st. http://bit.ly/bg5106

In our chat today, he also discussed the possibility of pushback from the General Court or governor. He is more than willing to make the case for everything he'd like to do.

He responded to Polito's call on her campaign site claiming she would welcome a debate. He tweeted to her to set the day and place. He's waiting.

I think it would be great for progressives to have to re-evaluate the roles and potentials of the treasurer and other executive-branch members.

~Mike