Dear Mayor Menino,
Please get off the Warren-Brown fence and endorse the only candidate whose agenda will help the everyday folks you represent – Ms Elizabeth Warren.
Maybe Scott Brown is a good guy. You say he has helped you out on some things. Not sure what they are but sure he wants to keep you at least neutral in this thing. But, Scott Brown’s re-election leads us one more step to Mitch McConnell running the Senate. Scott Brown, who won’t ask for one more penny from the wealthiest people in the land to reduce debt and votes for budget cuts that will gut many of the programs vital to urban communities, leads us closer to the trickle-down hell you know will hurt many of the folks you care about in Boston.
No candidate speaks with more passion and precision about the issues affecting working people than Ms. Warren does. No candidate is more suited to serve in these times, where the issues she has long addressed, the financial recklessness and chicanery that almost destroyed the economy, are still in the balance.
You’ve been a great mayor. You have not been afraid to speak out on issues great and small when you thought it mattered to the people of Boston. Warren is just the same way. She calls it like she sees it, and calls it right. She has huge balls, has not backed down from anyone – Geithner, Wall Street, the most bankrolled elite lobby in the land. I’d figure you would love that.
What is it about Brown? He carried Southie? He came up through the political ranks, he is of the local state house political culture? In that way I guess he is recognizable – like Cellucci was, or even Reilly. You got on with them, hated Harshbarger, didn’t really like Patrick much to start. Warren is an outsider too. She is not “of” Beacon Hill. Maybe you worry she won’t play ball, or that she may not get you what you want from DC, while Brown can pull some strings with his GOP buddies cause they know they need to give him something to help him keep the seat.
But you know he ain’t a leader. He votes tactically. He keep his head down on tough issues until the votes are counted. He has not done anything to moderate the views of his own party. He may vote against them on occasion but doesn’t stand against them. He picks easy issues to make a splash about – Akin for example. All mom and apple pie while he lets McConnell and Demint pull the whole Senate their way. It’s a good show, but is that what you think is best for Massachusetts?
I guess I just don’t get it. Elizabeth Warren is a unique and special candidate. We rarely get to elect someone with that type of understanding of some of the most important issues of our times. And she gained it not because she always wanted to be a Senator but because she really cared and learned and taught and then did something about it. And she is running because all that built up and she figured she had so much to offer and that the times were calling for what she had to offer now more than ever. And she is right about that. She may be an accidental politician, but we need that now.
The Senate and Scott Brown would not even let her run the agency she created – Obama could not even put her name up for it because of their intransigence. There is no better way to send a message of change then to elect her to that very same body. That will be good for Boston, for the working folks who need people who stand for their interests, for the state and the country.
So lend her your hand and help her win this fight for all of us.
Sincerely,
Lanugo
a Republican-controlled Senate will support a lot of policies that are good for Boston or its residents.
I don’t see how the Mayor could let that happen. All politics are local, but in this case what is best for Boston is a national Senate run by Democrats.
Great letter except for one thing.
She’s got guts, lanugo, guts. More than we’ve seen from anyone in Congess, except maybe Nancy Pelosi.
So, should we say, ‘She’s got ovaries?” Nah
Will get him off his humungous ass and endorse. The threat of litigation got him to veto the bizarre redistricting plan for Boston.
Perhaps???
This is such a non-brainer! Right at his level.
Seems a bit unnecessary but that’s just me. Plus I think the Mayor vetoed the redistricting plan more out of politics then fear of litigation.
Menino endorsed Deval Patrick on Sept 10th in 2010 and afterwards his apparatus was very involved in the re-election campaign.
We’re obviously further along in the calendar then the 10th but I would expect an endorsement from Menino relatively soon. Either way I have to say being a resident of Boston (and a Warren supporter and volunteer) I feel like her campaign is pretty well organized in Boston already. The Mayor’s support will only enhance that.
Even though many groups were outraged at the redistricting plan, he did not veto until he was threatened with litigation. I am sorry to disagree with you but seeing who voted for and who voted against the plan makes me think the Menino Machine was behind the plan until he was threatened. The court appearance would be set right in the middle of his “next” campaign for 2013.
Good Old Boy, and Good Old Boys like to stick with their own, but Menino really should try to be aware of how bad this makes him look. People won’t forget about it, either, making this a legacy thing, for how he wants to be remembered in the Democratic Party.
A public statement and maybe an single Boston event is all that’s really necessary. He doesn’t have to go out big on the stump for her.
I listened to his speech at the Convention and saw him walking around the Mass delegation hotel, moving about with his entourage. Very little mingling with his fellow Democrats and no mention of Elizabeth Warren at all in his speech. Unless his endorsement is full throated he can keep it. If he is waiting for some fealty from Elizabeth Warren he can keep it. If he does not understand how detrimental Scott Brown is to the people of Massachusetts and the nation he can keep it. I spoke with Charles Yancy and he listed several candidates that the good mayor had backed and lost. His endorsement of Martha Coakley certainly did not bring out the vote in Boston. It is just wrongheaded to put so much cache in one person. We need to convince the people of the City of Boston that they need to understand what is at stake and then to be sure they come out and vote. Martha Coakley was short in the Boston area by poor turnout that was the difference between her winning and losing. We can do this without him unless he gets fully on board.
When/if the mayor endorses Elizabeth Warren it will likely not be a major story anywhere near where I live or impact anyone’s vote. However, the stories about how he has NOT endorsed her are carried where I live and people will remember that even if they do see a later endorsement. I cannot understand why any elected Democrat in this state won’t endorse her as soon as possible. It’s embarassing to the party, in my humble opinion, and demeaning to those who make it about themselves rather than regaining this seat in the senate. Time for everyone to pull together!