Why We Urge A Vote For Jason Lewis for Senate
On March 4th, three honorable people vied for the Democratic nomination for State Senate and the seat formerly represented by Katherine Clark. Representative Christopher Fallon, Anthony Guardia, and Representative Jason Lewis ranged from traditional New Deal Democrat to progressive, and in the end it was Rep. Jason Lewis who emerged as the nominee to succeed Clark.
We urgently send out the call today for all those who supported Fallon and Guardia to unite behind Jason Lewis. We were very public Guardia supporters, but it is urgent that all voters who are unenrolled, moderate Republicans, Democrats, independents, and other mainstream voters of all stripes back Lewis.
Why is it so urgent to support Jason Lewis for our state senate seat?
There are only three weeks until the election, and there are two reasons: First, Jason Lewis has a proven record of solid mainstream positions and innovation in government. Second, it would be a tragedy to allow Monica Medeiros, the Republican nominee to sneak into such an important position representing us. Medeiros is a radical Republican who has been endorsed by ultra-conservative groups like the tea party.
We need a senator who is not an ultra-right purist, but rather a public servant known to be reasonable and mainstream on issues affecting the vulnerable – both bread and butter issues and civil rights matters alike, in the best traditions of our nation.
This could not be a more serious matter for the Commonwealth and our communities. Remember to vote for Jason Lewis on April 1st.
“In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.”
-Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Ann Mitchell Diamond, Wakefield Democratic Town Committee
Fred Rich Lariccia, Chair, Guardia for State Senate Committee
Terry McGinty, Fmr. Legal Fellow, Sen. Ted Kennedy; Sen. Patricia McGovern
As I promised I would if he won the nomination. It was an honor to support Guardia and vouch for someone I recently got to know, but this race is too important. Jason Lewis will be a strong progressive voice in the Senate and will work with Gov. Patrick, our next Democratic Governor, President Rosenberg and ALL the people of the 5th District. A vote for Lewis is an affirmative vote to move the state forward.
Thank you for this post and please encourage Anthony to make the same kind of public endorsement to his supporters and the public. We need as much unity as possible in our ranks to take on an extremist Republican who will try to trick a lot of voters into believing she’s a moderate — she’s done it before. Up until recently this district was held by a Republican. We need to replace Katherine Clark with another progressive leader. We only have a few weeks to accomplish this, so it’s all hands on deck time. Again, appreciate the post and please encourage Anthony to publically endorse Jason Lewis.
I would have expected nothing less given the civil tone of the back and forth here on the site pre-primary. I’m more concerned about Fallon and his followers. He sounded very aggrieved in the last mailer he sent out, he declined to comment when reporters contacted him immediately after election night, and I can’t find any record of a statement from him since. When you take his Scott Brown endorsement into account the best we can hope for may be that he just stays quiet.
To endorse Meideiros or stay on the sidelines. While he has a socially conservative record, he has a solid record on labor issues. I would hope labor would withhold it’s support for his re-election as a State Rep if he endorsed Meiderios who has been a foe of teachers unions in Melrose and has agreed to the radically regressive anti-labor state GOP platform.
I get why striker and others back Fallon and Lynch in spite of divergences on social questions, I do not get why that support would be earned if Fallon continues to back anti-labor candidates.
I am from Melrose, the hometown of Ms. Medeiros. She has served Melrose well as an alderman-at-large and I have seen no good evidence to support the claim that she is a “radical Republican.” It does disturb me, however, that her campaign website provides literally no details on where she stands on the many important issues facing our state. I voted for Jason Lewis in the primary and will vote for him again on April 1.
http://www.votemonica.com/#!about1/cj1g
We aren’t attacking her record as alderman, though again, I’ve seen anti labor statements that trouble me. But Larry Frisoli was a great city councilor for Cambridge who happened to be a Republican, his crusade to reinstate the death penalty was totally irrelevant to his job as a City Councilor, but very relevant during his runs for state legislative and statewide offices. Similarly, at the local level she could provide great constituent services and even vote for progressive budgets, but at the state level she will have to do a regressive line on revenue and her views on social questions will come to light. The opacity of her issue positions on her website is troubling.
In this article there are four troubling details that emerge
-She self-describes herself as a ‘true conservative woman’
-She wants to pass regressive spending caps on the MWRA similar to Prop 2 1/2
-She blames special interests and lobbyists for why local aid can’t be reformed (aka unions)
-She plans on serving in both positions (aka double dipping) if elected to the State Senate, a practice deplored by many progressives and conservatives alike
The only play I see “true conservative woman” is in your comment. Also nothing about planning to serve both positions. Did you mean to include a link to something?
Click on the ‘four’ that linked to the article. It has both of these quotes.
What groups?
– Mass Resistance (Anti-LGBT Hate Group, according to SPLC)
– Massachusetts Citizens for Life (Leading Anti-Choice Organization in the State)
The cable access channel in Wakefield hosted a debate between the two candidates and posted the video on YouTube. I thought Jason did a great job. Medeiros came off sounded reasonable but inexperienced and she has no answers for how to pay for the different improvements she admits are needed. There really wasn’t a lot of discussion of social issues so she never explicitly supported the agenda items of the organizations that have endorsed her.