That is a fabulous question! Ran across this random trial balloon on Masslive.com. Haven’t been giving too much thought to the Governor’s race but this highlighted media bit brought me there. My answer is yes, because if you’re looking for someone with a backbone, this man has one. We need someone who will speak beyond ineffective political correctness and approach the issues with clarity and honesty. Someone who is willing to call out Republicans for sure, but also Democrats when they are weak and self-focused. Someone who will lead us in the right direction, and not care if he was able to master a sentence that pleased every single person in the Commonwealth. I am so tired of the boring, nonsensical, twisted, unauthentic words from the people in charge of running our government. Let’s shake things up and elect someone who is not afraid to speak truth to power. We can do it Massachusetts! We can do it!!
How can we go from Deval Patrick’s “Together We Can” and “we need to turn to each other, not on each other” to Mike Capuano who said “Every once in a while, you need to get out in the streets, and get a little bloody when necessary”. We can do better, starting with your local dog catcher.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rQcaJKAMeo8
Don’t feed the troll.
“Every once in a while you need to get out in the street and get bloody when necessary”. If you take that literally, as if Mike Capuano would roll up his sleeves and put up his dukes, it’s obvious you need to be spoken to in boring and unauthentic words in order to function properly. Truth be told, many people have taken to the streets and ended up bloodied, an example being Occupy protesters getting hammered on by police. Maybe what he is trying to say is that in order to push for change, sometimes you have to be willing take a dose of pepper spray in your face, or a bloody nose from being thrown on the ground for using your right to free speech. Certainly, no significant change has ever happened without a little, or even a lot, of bloodshed. I think he is just recognizing the risk involved in exercising our rights in a corporate controlled world that would prefer that we just shut up and toe the line. Just to be clear, I do not support or promote violence. However, in this often ugly world we live in, we have to be prepared to face violence. That is what I think he meant by that. Alternatively, he could have been speaking metaphorically. It’s not a big deal to me, or to many people. We’ve probably said similar things and not meant it as a call to go and attack someone.
“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it’s natural manure.” during the Obamacare debate or Cap & Trade? Would you and most others just say “Oh, he is speaking metaphorically”?
Capuano made those comments during a union rally in Boston, protesting Gov. Walker and his efforts to strip collective bargaining on health care. We don’t need loose canons fanning the flames and Capuano should have kept his nose out of Wisconsin’s business.
Are you comparing the public union protests in Wisconsin to those who made up Occupy Wall Street? I do see similarities, the whining and complaining, asking for more and more taxpayer monies, and trashing of the public property when they finally left.
Nice try tring to spin Capuano’s comment into another bashing of our police officers. Remember what happened in Baghdad after the statue fell and there was no security, looting and chaos. Same thing in L.A. after the Rodney King verdict. Madison would have descended into the same chaos if the police were not there.
A month prior, Capuano said “Politicians, I think are too bland today. I don’t know what they believe in. Nothing wrong with throwing a coffee cup at someone if you’re doing it for human rights”. If he throws Starbucks Mocha Latte coffee, is that considered a hate crime, that stuff is delicious.
…knows that is a historical quote and understands the context. That’s actually tamer than some I’ve heard. I believe Capuano’s quote refered to being on the receiving end of violence whereas the more offensive quotes suggest perpetrating the violence.
Now, I support Mike Capuano 100%, I hope he chooses to run.
Solid executive experience in Somerville and a solid record in Congress. A little too combative and he clearly wasn’t used to campaigning in his last run. As I’ve told others, losing to Coakley in the primary is nearly disqualifying. But I welcome his perspective to the race if he runs. With Curtatone, a protege of sorts with a similar geographic base and record, openly musing about it, I suspect Mike stays out.
Right now I am undecided, though I like what I’ve seen from Wolf and would be perfectly happy with Grossman. That said, Capuano or Curtatone would bring really interesting perspectives that the current field lacks.
…is that Curtatone is the one waiting for Capuano to make up his mind rather than the other way around. I don’t see how losing to Coakley in the primary is disqualifying. She always had the advantage of having successfully statewide before.
I was simply saying one doesn’t run if the other does, and due to Capuano’s seniority, he has the right of first refusal. The longer he waits, the less likely Curatone jumps in.
Also, my point about him losing to Coakley was not to say that makes him unqualified to be Govenor, it does mean he will have a harder time in a wider field in a more standard primary and general schedule.
fresh, energetic and ready to move up.
Congressman Mike – whose stance on NSA is admirable seems tired or ambiguous about moving out of his comfort zones.
I would be perfectly unhappy with Grossman (or BTW, Coakley for that matter, since the topic of establishment mediocre politicians has arisen.)
Going backward with electing establishment Dems in the corner office is a big mistake. IMHO.
I met with his staff once about an issue very close to my heart. Never heard back.
I went to an event where he was speaking specifically to talk to him about that issue. I got a minute, reluctantly, from him and he laughed in my face.
He may be a junkyard dog on good issues but he was an arrogant schmuck to this constituent. Don’t think he’s going to be a good campaigner or, judging from previous experience, a decent debater.
The sadness about what is happening in our elections is that the wrong people are wiling to be groomed to appeal to everyone, and in fact have no real interest in representing the people they are supposed to serve once they are elected. They say all the right things, often different and contradictory things, depending on the audience, and then go on to cause great damage once elected. I am so done with that. I would rather be represented by someone less groomed and more real any day. I hear you about staff. They often have their own agendas. I have trouble with ours here too.
If, for example, your issue was the President’s birth certificate or that you didn’t think Exxon Mobile had enough tax breaks, I’m not going to have much of a problem if you weren’t getting much of a response. Sometimes things don’t have to be dignified.
I was advancing the idea of Solar IS Civil Defense and entry level solar to his staff and to him. In particular, I was trying to get a NATO program that distributed solar/dynamo radios in Afghanistan to begin distributing solar/dynamo radios that could also charge AA batteries, the most used dry cell batteries in the world.
The staff listened politely and never did anything that I could see. Capuano laughed at trying to get the Pentagon to do anything.
On the issues, Capuano is someone I tend to agree with. As a person, he’s disrespected me individually and as a constituent. If I have a reasonable alternative, Capuano does not get my vote because he treated me like crap. Screw him.
…stemmed from cynicism about the Pentagon rather than disrespect for you. At least the way you write it above what I imagine him saying is something like, “Yeah right – that’s a good one. YOU try getting the Pentagon to change its ways!”
It was a laugh at the Pentagon but also dismissive of my idea. In fact, I had talked with people in the military at Bagram and at NATO and there was some interest in the possibility.
Capuano blew me off. Period. End of sentence.
but I’m going to be nice instead.
The problem is that you presented him with a really obscure/no-where-near-his-radar issue with no prep or advanced notice, in a setting that was terrible, at a public venue where you get maybe a minute or two to talk, and expected him to have a really nuanced and ‘respectable’ conversation with you.
So, yeah, you probably came off a bit cray cray and certainly didn’t help your cause.
When you want to discuss an issue with a politician that’s hyper specific and requires a real discussion and real education on their part to understand it, a public venue isn’t the place.
You call up or visit their office and ask for a meeting, hopefully with a couple other people you want to bring, and you give them materials they’ll need to understand it, along with your phone number and an offer to explain anything they can’t from that paper.
You may just get the staff at first, since Congresspeople tend to be busy people, but that’s fine and doing well there can lead to a real meeting with the Congressman if you present the issue well.
That’s how interesting ideas can become appropriations and laws — and how a Congressman may become willing to tread in the murky waters of the Pentagon to try to actually ask them to do something.
So, as you describe it, I don’t think he disrespected you as a person so much as you failed at approaching your issue in a respectable way.
The fact that the staff listened to you and that Capuano laughed at the Pentagon — by your own words — not you, just makes him appear all the better in my eyes, considering how bad your approach was in this case.
And if you take your ball and go home after one bad incident, you really aren’t doing yourself — or this cause you care about — any favors. Politicians don’t learn that way.
gmoke has been putting up good posts around here for a long time. gmoke is thoughtful. gmoke chose not to write the actual issue, so I’m not going to ask what it is… but based on the totality of gmoke’s presence on BMG, it wasn’t birth certificates or in favor of fossil fuel companies.
I like Mr. Capuano, but I’ve only had one superficial interaction with him (in which he was great). Comments like the one from gmoke trouble me, although we all have bad days and nobody is “on” 100% of the time.
I appreciate the kind words and your belief that I am thoughtful.
Glad you had a good interaction with Capuano. I don’t think he’s a bad guy, just an arrogant one who disrespected me as a person and as a constituent. Not good politics.
I repeatedly used your userid because I can’t figure out a particularly good gender-neutral way to use pronouns on blogs. I hate “He or she” and “He/she” and “s/he”. You ain’t an “it” so far as I know. Hence, you are all kinds of gmoke.
…but how would you suggest he go about accomplishing this?
Unless he sits in a the Appropriation Subcommittee overseeing the defense budget, how would you suggest he get this done? Especially your suggestion that he get NATO to adopt it?
Also, does this product exist? Is there currently a company making this product? If there is, and it’s based in MA, especially if the company is located in (or near) his district…then he would be interested.
But if this is just a “good idea that we should do” you can’t realistically expect him (or his staff) to take this seriously. Your Congressman can not act on a vague concept, they need an actionable item (like a company with a product) and a strong reason (like creating jobs for constituents) to put this on their “to do list”. No disrespect to you, but you have to be realistic as to what your Congressional Critter can accomplish.
All of that could have been discussed if I wasn’t dismissed with a laugh. I was trying to open a conversation about what I think is a worthy idea and was shut down completely. That’s not good politics in my book either.
at the first moment you feel personally offended. Anyone who’s going to be successful at changing anything or moving anyone is going to get personally offended a lot.
You don’t give up on that conversation at the first offense, taking your ball and going home, you ‘give up’ only after they close the door on you… and at that point, you don’t really give up if it’s something important to you, you reconsider your tactics. For example, if one Lone Wolf isn’t getting any results on that issue, maybe some organization who cares about similar issues, but may not be familiar with yours, could.
One person coming to an office talking about an obscure/complex issue may not get very far, but you’d be surprised how much of a difference adding another three or four people to that tally could.
I won’t bore you all with the details, but this tweet that Masslive reported on is almost certainly NOT a trial balloon. In fact, he has been tweeting about Capuano for months.
I do not know whether or not Capuano is running, but I will lay odds Michael Albano has little more insight than we do. Albano is just looking for a bandwagon he can jump on for the governor’s race. I’m pretty sure neither Grossman nor Coakley would want anything to do with the failed Springfield mayoralty of Albano.
If Cap’s in this one, he’ll announce or send up a trail balloon in a more finessed way that via Western Mass’ Governor’s Councilor.
but the fact that Masslive.com posted about it at the top of it’s online front page makes it a cry out for reaction. They must be wanting some sort of feedback from the public. Or maybe it’s just a slow news day. In any case, I’m glad they did because it is time to start showing support for the people we hope will run.
I don’t know how familiar you are with Masslive, but posting some nonsense about a politicians tweet, devoid of context or whatnot is exactly like Springfield’s largest media outlet.
That said, by all means call out from every roof top your support for Capuano. I like him, too (but I’m undecided for now). I’m just saying this particular tweet has far more to do with our ex-mayor than a future political run by Capuano and Masslive should know it and probably did not care in order to drive traffic.
Lame
Belong in the hopper with the Herald. Such a disservice to the fourth estate, journalism and the region. It is both a symptom and a cause if the Greater Springfield malaise. I wonder when the expanded CD-1 will realize what it lost with redistricting?
I live in Hampden County. Crazy how you are trying to twist this into something negative. Albano won Governor’s Council seat with a huge margin, apparently a popular guy according to the voters.
It is not a negative twist. It is reality. The quality of journalism and editing has declined horrifically. If that’s all you’ve ever known….well, then shame on public education.
BTW, I wasn’t referring to GC. Former Mayor Mikey was a foundational player in the culture of corruption in Parole/Probation for years.
Ran the city into the ground and we the people bailed him out.
Just the facts ma’am.
I read all that. As well, the rebuttals and other peripheral information that makes for sound conclusions. Thanks for sharing how much you hate MassLive. Not going to stop me form linking to it again, however. Hope you can deal with it, cause it looks like you’re not dealing with it too well now. Get a grip, wouldya.
without context can be extremely misleading.
I like Mike Capuano. A lot. As a legislator. I didn’t live in Somerville while he was mayor, so I have no clue about his skills as an executive. I do know that the skillset required to be an effective executive is very different from that needed by a legislator.
I enthusiastically supported Mr. Capuano’s campaign for the senate. If he chooses to run a primary campaign against Mr. Markey, I will face a tough decision because I like each.
My feelings about him running for governor are far more mixed. I’m not saying I’m opposed to him. I am saying that he won’t get my automatic support — I want to see who else is in the race.
Finally, and perhaps importantly, I think we desperately need his expertise and experience in the House. In particular, he is right where I want him to be on privacy issues, and he is similarly in the right place to support and encourage Elizabeth Warren’s welcome leadership on economic and class issues.
Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan were awesomely great guitar players. I’m not sure either would have made a very good piano player.
however, even still it’s almost too late. You would think this would be a very serious concern to everyone. KUDOS to Mike Capuano for actually trying to do something about it.
Somerville has a “strong mayor” system and Capuano was a good one. He served for nearly 10 years.
Is there better executive experience, other than having been a governor, for the office of governor?
I’m not saying he wasn’t a good mayor — I just wasn’t paying enough attention to Somerville to learn anything about him.
I like him where he is, or perhaps in the Senate. I have not formed an opinion about him as a candidate for governor.
I agree he would have been a great senator, but that is off the table now.
for now, but not forever. Senator Markey was born in 1946. Senator Warren, 1949. Congressman Capuano: 1952. He’s a full term younger than Senator Markey, and so even if Mr. Markey doesn’t retire with fuel left in the tank, Mr. Capuano still has one senate term of youth on him.
But yes, it’s seems unlikely that we’ll have a Senator Caupuano within the next seven years.
The 1990s were a long time ago. The world’s changed and when it comes to issues that face this state (transportation, education, job creation) Capuano can’t really claim leadership on any of them. He hasn’t been on the ground getting things done in the current environment like Curtatone or Kim Driscoll or Seti Warren.
What Capuano can’t do is point to his city and say, “This is what I can bring to the whole of Massachusetts.” A sitting mayor would get more mileage out of the title.
I won’t face a tough decision. I’ll support Markey 100% and never forgive Capuano if he pulls such a stunt. Imagine if, after declining to run in 2009, Markey had seen Capuano win both the primary and the seat, then challenged Capuano in a 2012 primary. That would be shitty behavior and, absent some sort of major difference on the issues prompting such a run, I’d have been very ill disposed toward Markey.
As it turned out, Scott Brown won the 2009-10 special but the Kerry seat came open. This time Markey got in early and Capuano declined to run. Absent some major disappointment from Markey on the issues (which I don’t anticipate), I would view a Capuano primary challenge to him with great hostility. Of course it’s an academic point because I’d be very, very surprised if he challenged Markey next year.
Capuano’s confrontational temperament works great in a Congress where a MA rep needs to battle tooth and nail against Eric Cantor on a daily basis. However, a governor who’s constantly itching for a fight would be a disaster, not that too many people are likely to vote for a gubernatorial candidate who’s grumpy about seemingly everything.
On top of that, Capuano’s not young, not terribly innovative and hasn’t run anything in 15 years. He’s a reliable partisan in a job where voters want a reliable partisan, but he’s a poor fit if you’re looking for dynamic leadership.
If what you want is a candidate from Somerville who’s young, energetic, innovative and really blazing a trail, that’s Curtatone. He’s the complete package.
Capuano would be wise to stick with his job in Congress and keep fighting the good fight. It’s what he’s best at. The Dem candidate for governor needs to be someone ready to lead this state forward into a future that voters can get excited about. Capuano’s not that person.
Drikeo, I’m not sure where you live, but I live in Somerville. I’ve lived in Somerville through Mayors Tom August, Gene Brune, Mike Capuano, Acting Mayor Bill Roche, Dorothy Kelly Gay, and Joe Curtatone. I can say, without any hesitation, Mayor Curtatone will be a POOR governor.
I won’t go into detail about my strong belief that a smart, strong candidate could be able to defeat Mayor Curtatone (e.g., Aldermen Bill White or Rebekah Gewirtz, or Mike Capuano, Jr.). Like a lot of “up and coming” politicians trying to broaden their appeal beyond their hometown, Curtatone has truly angered and disappointed a lot of the people he has to govern on a day-to-day. Chris Faraone’s 4-segment expose on Curtatone’s Somerville in the Dig alt paper only scratches the surface on what most residents actually think of him.
He’s Eddie Haskell (is that reference too dated?). He’s a bully except when the people who he needs to impress are watching, and then he’s all “Fluff Festival and Shape Up Somerville and roadraces and Michele Obama Invited Me to the White House.” Speak to any homeowner about how the Community Preservation Act vote went down and the taxes we were hit with. Speak to any resident about their inability to voice an opinion on development. Speak to any resident about their concerns on parking in the city.
As Trickle Up says, Somerville has a strong mayor system. Not only that, the Board of Aldermen has pretty much been a rubber stamp for anything he’s wanted. That was NOT the case under Mayors Brune, Capuano, or Gay. In fact, Curtatone was the thorn-in-the-side Alderman who voted against any proposal by Capuano or Gay to raise his profile (and then defeated Gay).
Curtatone lacks the ability to work with a legislative body that has its own agenda and its own distinct power. He’s never had to deal with it. He will be as ineffective as Romney was – the legislature is NOT his employees, and he is not “the boss.”
Then you know it’s never been in better shape. Somerville’s raised its investment in education in recent years more than pretty much any city or town in the Commonwealth. It’s invested in infrastructure to create new jobs and housing (which, last I looked, is Liberal 101, and Gewirtz cast some shameful, Tea-Partyish votes against that). Curtatone’s one the most adamant advocates in the state for public transit. Smart growth, healthy communities, more accessible/responsive/data-driven government – Curtatone’s at the forefront on all of that stuff. Mayor all around the state are cribbing Curtatone’s notes these days.
The Community Preservation Act passed by an overwhelming public vote and I doubt you’ll find too many liberals against affordable housing, green/open space creation, public recreation and historical preservation (which is what the CPA funds).
And your complaint confuses me a bit. He gets too much done therefore he won’t be able to get anything done? Quite frankly, I want a do-something governor, and nobody is getting more done these days than Curtatone. I’m in love with what I see going on in Somerville. That is some seriously active liberalism you’ve got there. And I’ve got a lot of friends who live in Somerville who love it there and are big Curtatone backers. Honestly, I don’t think your silent majority exists.
I truly appreciate this exchange. Coming from the outside, I see the well-tended public persona that nomadlaw views with such skepticism. I remember Eddie Haskell, and I’ve wondered about the same thing. On the other hand, the points made by drikeo are absolutely on the money. I’ve met Mr. Curtatone and liked him. I liked that he was making the rounds of polling places on election day in 2012, and I liked that he took the time to actually talk with me and, more importantly, my youngest son (who was casting his first vote).
I strongly supported (and support) the Community Preservation Act and the tax increase that came with it. Yes, I am a property owner. I fully support virtually all of the public policy initiatives of Mr. Curtatone.
It is, in fact, the rumblings of less noble private dealings that concern me. Something very odd happened with the Council on Aging. I wonder if perhaps Mr. Curtatone may be more generous with “the stick” (as in “sometimes you have to throw a bit of stick about”) in private then his public persona suggests (this may be the origin of my own Eddie Haskell reservations).
I sometimes wonder if Mr. Curtatone is a far less personable guy when it comes to the day-to-day bump and grind of local politics than his public image suggests. That might be a cause for concern in a gubernatorial campaign.
On the other hand, I’d like to see SOMEBODY throw a LOT more “stick” at the legislature than Mr. Patrick seems to have done. While I like and admire Deval Patrick, I’ve been very disappointed at his inability or unwillingness to affect the direction of the legislature.
I’m all in favor of a lege that is able to slow or stop the right-leaning initiatives of conservative Republican governors — I appreciate the layer of protection that was so missing in, for example, Wisconsin. On the other hand, I resent the way that the current lege has virtually paralyzed the will of a left-leaning governor responding to the call of the overwhelming majority of Massachusetts Democrats.
So I enjoy ALL sides of this dialog about Joe Curtatone (and Mike Capuano).