Big shout out to state Senator Karen Spilka who received a fabulous endorsement from the editorial board of MetroWest Daily News that has it’s fingers on the pulse of a big chunk of the district.
I concur with their assessment and would also add that Spilka’s innovative work with reforming medical record billing, coalition and job development are unsurpassed. It is exciting to see the emphasis on climate change in the campaign. Karen Spilka’s results-driven passion for getting people to work and national security are critical and evident in her priority of infrastructure investments and improvements. She “gets it.” that a failing infrastructure is a failing country.
Education is a strong suit for Senator Spilka. Education is the issue that led her into public service as a School Committee member, House member and currently as a member of the Senate leadership team. I would like to hear more about education in the televised debate.
Tweet your questions to Braude @jimbraude.
Broadcast debate, Tuesday October 8, 2013 6pm NECN
In terms of preference, not chance to win:
1. Koutoujian- Great record of public service. Well rounded- knowledge of financial services (from Chairing Committee) will be extremely helpful. Also has experience with public safety and mental health from time as Sheriff. Is great on women’s issues.
2. Katherine Clark- Very strong female candidate who would bring diversity to delegation. Indigent counsel experience a plus.
3. Spilka- Says a lot of the right things, but just something missing there in terms of attractiveness of the candidacy. Can’t think of much she’s done in the legislature.
4. Sciortino- Like the 3 above, a reliable liberal vote. But like Brownsberger, a grandstander.
5. Brownsberger- Ugh. Tough to vote for a guy who asks that his office be a closet and then uses the fact that he was put in a closet in his ads.
you read the Metrowest list of Senator Spilka’s legislative accomplishments which top the leader board.
Major critical reforms such as CHINS and medical record billing (streamlining) that she wrote and championed? As well as the law recently signed by Governor Patrick to move the age of juvenile offenders from 17 years to 18 years. The lowering of juvenile offender ages was a direct outgrowth of the neo-cons war on “liberal” sentencing and first cousin to “three strikes and you’re out” penal policy.
A partial list is included in the highlighted/linked section to the MetroWest endorsement in the above post for your convenience.
I can appreciate the accomplishments that you listed. I should have said that I think all five would pretty much be consistent with BMG’s values if elected to Congress. That said, I’m sticking by my preferences!
Just wanted to point to the record that Senator Spilka’s legislative accomplishments/results are unsurpassed.
Here is my ranking:
1. Koutoujian–Best record of service. Great on the issues.
2. Sciortino–Also great on the issues. Close second.
3. Spilka–Very good on the issues, and a fine person. She hasn’t put together an effective campaign and her fundraising is weak, which is why Emily’s List did not support her.
4. Clark–I was offended by the way that she immediately started raising money when Kerry was nominated. She and her people should have worked for Ed Markey first. Terrible campaign.
5. Brownsberger–Did not impress me at all.
Disclosure: I am not getting paid, and I live in the district.
By grandstander do you mean someone who stands up for his progressive values even in the face of strong pressure from legislative leadership?
Look, you can say that you don’t agree with Carl. He rubs you the wrong way if that’s your hangup. Or he’s in a district you’re not that familiar with. Whatever floats your boat. But grandstander? The man ran for office for all the right reasons. His state rep victory in 2004 in many ways can be credited for the national wave of states legalizing equal marriage. He has been reliable, substantive, and hard working. If his brand of politics isn’t to your taste, just say that, rather than make up some kind of bizarre insult.
Disclosure: I support Carl… obviously.
The p-word is generally perceived as a negative in our Geo-social-political world but thank you, I am pleased to be a Spilka partisan.
I have been clear over the past ~month that I support Senator Karen Spilka and it is a compliment to be aligned with the hardest-working and most accomplished woman on the slate who has deep passion and integrity that drive her results-oriented approach to legislating on a daily basis.
Each of the candidates has strengths. It’s a big, non-homogenous district.
Disclosure: I am not getting paid.
In terms of likelihood to win
1) Clark
Has a deep bench of local officials, is all over the district and should have wide support throughout. Will also benefit from getting the women’s vote and visibly attaching hersel to that movement in a bigger way than Spilka.
2) Sciortino
Great ad, great momentum, a lot of national progressive support from act blue and Adam Greens group. Lot of daily Kos traffic and big national LGBTQ support (incidentally a hearty congrats on his marriage this weekend!). Strong backing from his geographic base and the activist community in other parts of the district.
3) Peter
A lot of union support and other organizations coming to the fray, wide name recognition, good ads, solid geographic base and a lot of national support amongst the Armenian diaspora.
4)Spilka/Brownsberger
Her support seems strong, solid, and geographically isolated to the areas she represents. His support should’ve been as the progressive candidate and his missteps alienated the wider constituency he could appeal to. He and Carl should be fighting for them and instead Carl has them wrapped up. Will perform quite well in Belmont, Watertown base and probably could second to Clark in Arlington and other towns bordering his district. Spilka could’ve been the women’s candidate to appeal to a wider constituency and instead is marshaling her geographic base (which competes with Peter’s and Will’s).
By solidifying their initial base and moving past them Carl and Clark are the candidates most likely to get above 25%.
Best wishes and great happiness to Carl Sciortino on his wedding this weekend.
Spilka actually has the most union endorsements. It is hard to understand why with that many endorsements from large unions, her fund raising has been so poor. It remains to be seen if those union endorsements will translate into boots on the ground for GOTV.
To be clear, I certainly didn’t intend any negative connotation! I’m all for partisans (in the best sense) stating their case for their candidate of choice, and I appreciate your doing so here. 🙂
and you have to dig deep into the bench to create novel tag lines for all of the civic-engagers (new word in honor of Carl’s nuptials) on this site supporting the vast field of candidates! Cheers!
She does have a very strong legislative record among the five. She is less talk, more work, and would make a very good Congress Rep. (And I say that even though I’m a Brownsberger fan.)
It’s not surprising Metro West Daily News endorsed Spilka, because she campaigned in the South Western towns – whereas all other candidates campaigned up north. Surprising how few Q3 donations she got in the MA-5 district outside of Framingham, though. She is representing as a State Sen a few other towns: why are they not contributing?
I have waited a long time for someone to say what I know in my heart and my soul…..Katherine Clark is the only person running who cares enough about us and our interests and goals to actually deliver on what we actually care about; gun control, women’s rights, jobs, hea;lth care, housing, etc. etc. She will protect me as a senior and as a women. My children and my grandchldren believe in her and I am scared about what will happen to me if she isn’t elected. Please. all of youl who are writing from a more theoretical and political place; respect my position and think about electing the person who will help us seniors the best.
It’s fine that you like and believe in Sen. Clark, but you’re “scared of” what will happen if one of the others wins rather than Clark? I can’t agree that “only” Clark can “deliver on what we actually care about; gun control, women’s rights, jobs, health care, housing, etc.”
It is highly likely that, in December, the Democrat who wins next Tuesday will be sworn into Congress. All of them are reasonably progressive Democrats. But the new Representative from MA-05 will only be 1 of 435 and the House will still be in Republican hands for now. I don’t see much changing in DC no matter who wins the seat. We will need all Democrats — including whichever candidate wins the 5th District — to stand up for those issues.
Exactly. To deliver on any of these important issues, we need to fix Congress. In this race that means finding the candidate with the strongest position and ideas on campaign finance reform. They’re all likely to be good on the “issues we actually care about”. But what will they do to fix how Congress works to make any of that matter?
but I don’t respect your feeling that anyone else would not ‘care enough about us and our interests’. Clark has proven that she is fairly progressive, when it’s easy. Her willingness to vote against the progressive position on 10 of 31 votes in the last two years is highly disturbing about the values she brings to the office. I’m not sure she cares as much about “us” as she does about her own political ambition.