Left In Lowell

Nifty, I think I just got my first press release for this blog. Of course, it came from Deval Patrick’s campaign, to be expected. It states that two former Labor Secretaries, Robert Reich and Alexis Herman, have endorsed Patrick for governor (on time for Labor Day no less). Fred Clarkson had the scoop and some excerpts from the op-ed in the Globe:

On Labor Day, Americans honor the contributions of labor to American life. Today the two of us, former secretaries of labor in the Clinton administration, honor and endorse the candidacy of someone we believe has demonstrated a commitment to improving the conditions of working people — Deval Patrick.

We know Patrick from his work in the Clinton administration as the Justice Department’s chief civil rights prosecutor. He took on crimes such as attacks on churches and synagogues, gave life to the Americans with Disabilities Act, and inspired a groundbreaking fair lending program that helped focus lenders on risk rather than race and gave thousands of people a chance to own their first homes….

Having worked as a janitor, lathe operator, and snow-cone vendor, Patrick also knows how important a living wage is. And he appreciates how much we have all benefited from the hard-fought gains of the American labor movement….

This is a man whose life spans the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, and who is ideally suited for the position of governor. On this Labor Day, knowing how important jobs and labor issues are, we enthusiastically support his candidacy and honor his service to workers and their families. Patrick is no ordinary leader.

(Sorry Fred, I took your excerpt wholesale, what can I say, I’m lazy.)

Patrick is also likely to pick up the Progressive Dems of MA endorsement (really, no surprise there, but they’ve been real transparent and thorough in their process - all other grassroots groups take note!):

“We are,” writes state chair Peter Dolan in his cover letter, “nearing a decision to endorse Deval Patrick for Governor. Before we make our final decision, we want to share with you the process and the thinking that are leading us to this decision, and hear your thoughts.”

“Over the summer, the SCC [State Coordinating Committee] developed a set of PDM endorsement criteria,” Dolan continued. “We wouldn’t expect any candidate or campaign to measure up perfectly on all these criteria, but a statewide candidate endorsed by PDM should strongly exhibit a majority of these characteristics and positions, and not actively oppose or reject any of them.”

What follows Dolan’s letter is a ten-pager on why Patrick is a compelling, principled and viable democratic candidate for governor. I can’t think of any other organization that has produced such a thoughtful and detailed rationale for supporting a candidate for any office. As a member of the PDM State Coordinating Committee, I suppose it figures I would say something like that. But I would not go to the trouble of telling you about it if I didn’t think it was really good stuff.

You can read the excerpts at Fred’s blog, and the whole document will be available on the PDM website soon.