Via Twitter:
Exciting news to share with you all! koutoujianforcongress.com #mapoli
— Peter J Koutoujian (@PeterKoutoujian) May 23, 2013
From the new Koutoujian for Congress site: “Today I am announcing the formation of a federal campaign committee to explore running for the 5th Congressional District if Congressman Markey is elected to the United States Senate.”
I don’t want to jinx anything by assuming a Markey victory (and the announcement is careful to talk about continuing to work hard for Ed Markey, etc.) However, if the seat is indeed open after next month’s election, as I hope it will be, I believe Sheriff Koutoujian will be a formidable competitor. In addition to having years of experience in the Mass. Legislature, he built an organization to run a county-wide campaign in Middlesex County. While I realize that running in a crowded primary field is not the same as running for office as a Democratic incumbent, that’s a much larger campaign area than a state legislator has campaigned in.
Middlesex County has a population of 1.46 million people — considerably larger, actually, than the 650K or so in the 5th Congressional. Plus, most (but not all) of the 5th Congressional’s communities are in Middlesex. A state Senate district has a population of about 164K people.
It was weird it was up for a minute, and I was about to read, but now it’s down. I checked http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com and it appears it’s not just me.
It’s back up. Must have hit it at just the wrong blip.
Don’t know why. It looks like just one page for now. Photo montage above a donation button and this message:
It was clearly a momentary blip.
http://www.willbrownsbergerforcongress.com/
Even though Will is too heavy on the green energy side for me, he is against the three strikes policy which targets minorities and railed in public pension abuses. Overall, Will seems like a good guy, who will listen to the other side of a discussion, cares about the taxpayers, and stands on principle.
Broken clocks can be right twice a day! To all my fellow progressives turned off by DFW I hope this is not a kiss of death. Brownsberger is above and beyond the most progressive, qualified and capable candidate in an incredibly qualified, capable, and progressive field. I sincerely mean no disrespect to any of the other candidates. Carl is a great campaigner and has consistently been the most progressive rep according to the Progressive MA scorecard. And of course the Sheriff turned around a giant mess that he inherited and has created an incredibly effective department and he is one of the few politicians with the guts to tackle prisoner rehabilitation as both a humane and sound public policy. Frankly I am not confident his successor would be as effective which is why I hope he stays put, and for many of the same reasons I would prefer Sciortino to become a Beacon Hill leader in the Leg.
In the event the voters give either man a promotion I will not begrudge their success. All of our candidates are worthy successors to Ed Markey and it will come down to who gets their voters to the polls, I would argue Brownsberger who knocked on every door in North Cambridge when he was our rep and state senator will knock on every door he can in the 5th. Sciortino won a write in campaign which is quite impressive, and Koutijian has key Waltham and Watertown connections. I hope the candidates stay positive and I hope turnout is high, I wish them all the success. This is the rare fight where progressive Democrats win regardless of who wins the primary.
They are all elected officials of course, which means some lucky district gets yet another special election! (High Sheriff will be appointed ad interim, but have to seek election at the next biennial.)
There are two women in the race that bring gravitas to the field that weren’t mentioned – why is that Massachusetts??????
*Katherine Clark has a brief but impressive record.
*Karen Spilka has been a leader and moved more important legislation than the rest of the field combined.
Isn’t Koutoujian pulling a Glodis? And, the same could be said of Brownsberger – neither of whom have warmed the current seat that they occupy and just recently made promises to the voters to deliver from those seats.
Ambition is great, but how about service above self?
So, they’re all real Democrats, who has the temperament and track record to work with “opponents” and get legislation moving? Another D from MA is not going to change much….but a D from MA who can work to move even more-stuck-at-times, Beacon Hill leadership and DC entrenched politicians, is what we need.
I forgot to mention those two, I didn’t realize they were still in the running. Both have good records as well.
For fun I put together a list of communities potentially facing a special election depending on who wins the CD special:
Ashland
Belmont
Boston
Framingham
Franklin
Holliston
Hopkinton
Malden
Medford
Medway
Melrose
Natick
Reading
Somerville
Stoneham
Wakefield
Watertown
Winchester
Some of these are partials based on district lines and all of Middlesex will vote for a new High Sheriff in 2014 if Koutoujian wins.
Most sensible, perhaps, but not most liberal.
Will will work and make compromises to get a handle on the deficit, as Obama has suggested. Will realizes the one-trick pony offered by many in his party, just raise taxes on the rich, is intellectually dishonest and lazy. Will has concerns with just repealing Citizens United and the implications to the First Amendment. I look at Will as a liberal, with a brain, like Ed Koch, for instance.
Will has an interactive website, taking questions from anyone. I love that about a candidate, his willingness to have a dialogue with the voters, so everyone can learn something, check it out for yourself.
Let’s be real, it’s a left of center and bright group with the exception of maybe Koutoujian – who is more politician than progressive, at least more so than any others in the field. I would personally describe Brownsberger (whom I respect) as an intellectual or smart rather than sensible. Sensible is a trait I might pin on Spilka along with effective. I have a real hard time seeing Sciortino or Clark going heels with DC pols let alone the less than cherubic elder of our own delegation. If Markey wins will Richie Neal be the new Dean of the MA House of Rep. delegation? Ah, gag.
I think on all the big questions its a left of center group. The question will come down to who hits the pavement hardest and who has the best record of achievement to run on. Being from the eastern half of the district and having had Will as my Rep and Senator I can attest to his qualifications. I am also familiar with Carl in the neighboring district and know he will also run really hard, far less familiar with the other candidates.