Mike Barrett wants back in the MA General Court. He intends to get there taking over what was Sen. Susan Fargo’s seat and Carol Amick’s before that. Nearly two decades ago, he was first in the House and then in the Senate when he lived in Cambridge. He’s not short on self-esteem and says he’s ready to return and do more good things.
He joined Left Ahead yesterday for the second candidate show for this office. Previously, Mara Dolan spoke with us.
Barrett makes it plain on his campaign site as he did in the show that he differs from other Dems running. Click the player below to hear his half-hour appearance.
Among the distinctions he stresses:
- He is the candidate with previous experience in the legislature
- He has endorsements from Amick as well as U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, for whom Barrett was a co-campaign manager in Frank’s first campaign for the MA House
- He favors new revenues — higher gas taxes and MBTA fares
- He’s the IT guy, who sees a great future here for consumer electronics, particularly related to health and wellness
Much of the show was him explaining and riffing on his expertise and passion in computers, smart phones and even robotics for health. He thinks the Patrick Administration has not followed through on tech and science initiatives to stimulate the MA economy, particularly Worcester and east. He limns a picture of helping transform the economy for to a B2C (business-to-consumer) electronics one. He sees a modern version of the mini-computer era. Listen in as he describes how technologies our local companies can market could keep us healthy, reduce health-care costs, and even keep up out of emergency rooms. He wants both cheerleading by the administration and help from the legislature.
For revenues, he was sure he leads the other Dems. He said he had convinced two candidates to agree that higher gas taxes make sense, but that two others were waffling. His position is that the latter position is not a good one for progressives to take.
Of the candidates for the 3rd, Barrett stands out for his emphasis on technology. He has run an IT/health-related consultancy for nearly two decades. He says he’s ready to apply that to help our economy here as a Senator.
Asked about whether he can convince enough legislators in both houses to support his plans, he answers in two ways. First of all, no one’s ox would be getting gored. If his vision of high-tech development works, there will be more jobs and money in the economy, helping everyone without necessarily favoring one district over another. Second, he cited his relentless pursuit first of gay-rights legislation and then of low-level toxic waste management. He says neither had much support at the beginning, but that repeated efforts ended up with successes in both. He says he’s eager to do that for this new goals.
