Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Governor candidates on transportation and smart growth

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Transportation for Massachusetts and the MA Smart Growth Alliance asked the Democratic, Republican and Independent candidates for governor to respond to ten questions.  The questions were submitted in late May, and received in June/July.  Responses from seven candidates are available here:

http://www.t4ma.org/candidate-questionnaires/

Transportation for Massachusetts does not endorse candidates.  We and many of our coalition members are involved in ballot question 1, working on a campaign to maintain gas tax indexing in order to repair and invest in our transportation network.  The three democratic candidates for governor and both independents oppose Q1, while both republican candidates support Q1.  The DSC is opposing Q1 along with a cross section of business, environmental, labor, civic and other groups.  I’ll write more about that later.

For now, BMG readers may be interested in the candidates’ views on mobility, development, GHG reduction and more.

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  2. Why wasn’t the first paragraph of his response here the ad, it would’ve taken him less time and it’s such a broader message for the voters just tuning in!

    . To make Massachusetts more livable and successful, we would encourage the next Governor to break down agency “silos” and organize her or his cabinet to collaboratively establish and achieve economic, housing, transportation, environmental, public health and climate goals. How would you organize the executive branch to achieve these cross-cutting goals?

    Don Berwick: I have been a student, teacher, and practitioner of executive leadership for 30 years, and a CEO for 25 years. I started and led an organization from a seed grant to a $40 million organization with 140 employees. And President Obama chose me to run Medicare and Medicaid—an agency with 5,500 employees and a budget larger than the Pentagon’s—during the implementation of the early stages of the Affordable Care Act.

    Excellence starts with setting priorities, communicating those priorities to the workforce, and enlisting their energies towards achieving shared goals. As Governor, I will use my authority to emphasize smart growth; and I will work to mobilize relevant agencies, cities, and towns to work efficiently and collaboratively on behalf of this agenda. I will devote the resources necessary to ensure that agencies are supported in their efforts to support smart growth, and I will designate specific staff within agencies to work specifically on strategic development decisions.

  3. A few awards:

    Most Vapid Responses – Charlie Baker

    Could it be more obvious Baker has no thoughts on the subject of transportation beyond cutting corners and doing as little as possible? He’s beyond clobberable on this issue.

    Most Surprisingly Good Responses – Evan Falchuk

    He grasps the issues and I’m pretty sure he gets smart growth better than anyone else in the race.

    Now That’s What I Call Comedy – Mark Fischer

    It’s like you pull a string in his back and out comes right wing doctrine. I can’t get enough of him. His main transportation object surely has to be eliminating the black helicopters from our skies. It would be Christmas in September if he won the Republican primary.

    That’s Nice, But … – Berwick, Coakley, Grossman

    Solid stuff in all their responses, yet all lack a big idea and none of them have got a transportation elevator pitch down. It’s not about the individual projects, it’s about where the projects are designed to get us.

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