Left In Lowell

Lynne has already informed you that tomorrow night Middlesex District Attorney candidate, State Senator Jarrett Barrios will be visiting Drinking Liberally’s weekly gathering at the Brew House in Lowell. The get-together starts around 7:30 p.m.

Lowell is playing a significant role in this year’s Middlesex D.A. election. Not only because it is the largest city in the county but because the chairmen of both campaigns, Barrios’ and Gerry Leone’s, have strong Lowell ties.

Josh Glasheen, the Barrios Campaign Chairperson, is a Lowell native. He grew up in Lowell where he attended public school in Lowell. His family still lives here.

Chris Doherty, Leone Campaign Chairperson, has quite a few “powerful” Lowell connections. Before joining the campaign, he was a prosecutor in the Middlesex District Attorney’s office where he served as supervisor of the Lowell District Court. Before joining the D.A.’s office, he was a senior staff member in Congressman Marty Meehan’s office. He also served on the State Democratic Committee.

This may help to explain why Leone has the backing of the entire Lowell State House delegation, the Lowell Chief of Police, the Lowell Mayor and the Lowell Sun, which is prominently featured on Leone’s web site. I do not think the Sun has officially endorsed him yet.

Glasheen has also an impressive resume (especially for a person who is only 27 years old) but quite different from Doherty’s. During the 2004 New Hampshire Presidential Primaries, he served as the Dean Campaign Deputy State Director. After that he was Field Director for American Coming Together, the voter mobilization movement.

He also is known for beating out 1,280 applicants to serve last summer as official ambassador for the Lick Global Warming campaign. His job was to tour with the David Matthews Band to educate concert goers about the environment.

So we not only have opposing candidates but we have the potential for contrasting campaign styles: you might say the traditional and the contemporary.

I caught most of the Zoning Board of Appeals meeting last night on LTC’s Channel 10. These 6:30 p.m. start time meetings are difficult for those of us who work late and have to fight the rush hour traffic to get home.

Compared to the Planning Board’s inaugural television appearance, a few weeks ago, the seating arrangement, the lighting and the conduct of the meeting was much better. I think this group must have watched their counterparts and realized that some changes had to be made.

As a board, they came across as patient, understanding, fair and willing to work with the petitioners. I am sure the camera has a major impact on their attitude, to what degree I do not know. Perhaps those of you who have had experiences in front of this Board can let the rest of us know, how life was before LTC was present.

Most of the people facing the Board were regular home owners with issues that require variances on the current zoning laws.

The first petitioner I saw was a representative of T-Mobile who wants to build a wireless communication facility in a steeple on a church on Varnum Ave. Accepted if conditions such as copy of lease, shrub design, tax assessment are agreed upon. (more…)

Are you hopping mad? You should be. The health of your friends and neighbors (and maybe yourself) just got sold down the river by Senate President Travaglini and his people.

You probably read about the conference committee which was to resolve the House (the good) and Senate (the bad) version of the bill. I wanted to write about the death of decent health care reform earlier, and a lot of people beat me to it. But now I want to call on the blogs, and the people of Massachusetts who give a shit about their uninsured fellow citizens (of which I was one until last November), to tell Travaglini to step down.

He has shown, in the face of real health care reform that will help the people of this state, cowardice and lack of leadership. The polls even showed a majority in favor of the House bill; but still, Travaglini catered to his pro-business friends (odd to me, because 2/3 of businesses in the state stood to get a tax break under the now-dead House bill) and would not back down.

We will not get meaningful reform with Travaglini as the leader of the Senate. Therefore, he must be forced to resign.

Call Senator Travaglini today. Call, fax, and write him now and tell him you think he should step down. Then call, fax, and write your state senator and say you demand Travaglini leave his post as Senate President.

Senator Travaglini is an impediment to progress. Roadblocks are meant to be swept aside. Travaglini must step down.

MassMarrier has a post about a new anti-gay initiative in Washington state. He points to a quote from the Seattle Times:

“After all, what are rights if they can be voted up one year and down the next?” said Brian Silver, a Michigan State University professor of political science. [emphasis mine]

This is the sticking point. Traditionally, the opinions of we the people are far behind when the laws on civil rights have changed - which have been often prompted by judicial review. Yes, those pesky activist judges overturned segregation, allowed interracial marriages (which were illegal in many states until the SC ruled those laws unconstitutional in 1967), protected our right to birth control…no one would now disagree those were correct rulings. Yet at the time they provoked huge opposition - in the case of segregation, even violence. If interracial marriage were left up to a ballot initiative in most states back in the 60s, would those laws have been dissolved? In most states, I highly doubt it.

Once again, the opinion of a large portion of the country is on the wrong side of rights. Once again (at least in Mass) the judicial branch took a hard look at the constitution (in this case, of the state) and said, you are in violation of your own set of rights by denying gays the right to marry. Are we supposed to let the majority decide the rights of a minority? MassMarrier puts his finger on it: “Letting a plebiscite decide on minority citizens’ rights has a stinking, shameful history in this country, and in many others. The process most decidedly needs exemptions to protect us from us.”

We need to fix the ballot initiative process in this state (and most others). What seems to be the ultimate exercise in democracy can become the opposite - the tyranny of the majority. There needs to be a limitation on what we the people can do directly. Or else we could face a future where rights are fluid and change with the opinions of a majority. For a ridiculous but illuminating example, what would happen if suddenly we blamed all our troubles on people with red hair and blue eyes? Well the answer is simple! Take away their civil rights with a ballot initiative!

It could happen. It already is to gays. Are you next?

The lead story on CNN web site reports that sales of new homes has dropped by 5% in the month of January compared to December.

According to newly released data from the Census Bureau, there are 20% more new homes on the market this year as compared to last year.

The article poses the question is there a glut of new homes on the market. So if the answer is yes or even maybe, what are we going to do with the hundreds of new condos being built throughout the city of Lowell?

Last night, C-SPAN featured Glenn Reynolds, the “publisher” of the blog Instapundit. Reynolds was questioned by Brian Lamb, host of Q & A. The hour-long program features individuals who are “making things happen.” It is the evolution of Booknotes and it is broadcast in the same time slot.

It was a fascinating interview; Reynolds is as informative, knowledgeable and witty as his writing. It was a great primer for those who want to learn about the blogsphere; its history and current state. It is truly Blogging 101. The podcast has not yet been posted on the C-Span web site but it should shortly.

According to Reynolds, the war is the primariy “litmus test” for labeling a blog left or right. I do not know if I agree with him. He certainly feels that is what has happened with him. Although he is pro-gray marriage, pro-choice, he is still considered to be a “conservative.”

He also criticized the mainstream press (don’t all bloggers) for focusing on lifestyle stories rather than good, old-fashioned journalism. He predicted that this void left by the media will be eventually filled by bloggers. So it will not only be opinions and analysis but also hard news story, especially for those stories ignored by the media. It is a must read or see for all those interested in writing or reading blogs.

There’s stuff I want to post about today, I just need to get some other work done first. Have at it!

Musical event at Brew’d Awakening Coffeehaus, 61 Market Street.

Living in Dreamtime
Joe Burgio - movement
Heather McQuiston - movement
Katt Hernandez - violin
Walter Wright - analog synth+video

Tim Little in comments of my last post links to the Sun’s Deval Patrick article by Hiroko Sato. (Nice catch, Tim! I haven’t had time to really look for that.) I got a chance to talk to Hiroko (which is why I am quoted in the article), and she talked to the Deval Patrick caucus organizers in other towns as well, including in Chelmsford, where all 16 delegates were elected from the Deval slate.

She also talked to Chelmsford Town Committee Chair Sam Poulten, and GLAD chairwoman and Tewksbury Democrat Marie Sweeney, both of whom are not (as far as I can tell) Deval supporters. I met the both of them at last Saturday’s GLAD meeting, and while I’m happy to join them as Democrats going after the corner office, I have to dispute some of their claims in the article.

First, Sam says:

“It appears Deval Patrick’s strategy is to get all the delegates they could,” Poulten said. But, “In September, the two candidates are equal.”

Not true, in the least. First, the strategy wasn’t to get as many delegates as possible. The strategy was to build a huge grassroots network to work the caucuses which will now shift forward to help Deval win the primary. This will make Deval a much more viable candidate in September, and it will help him win in November as well. This is something Reilly needs to learn to do. You can’t depend on the dwindling network of the state Democratic party. It hasn’t won the corner office in decades. Now, as the “insurgent” candidate, Deval had little choice but to build his own network, and reach out to everyone, some may argue. But he has also done so out of a desire to run an inclusive campaign.

Marie is quoted as believing Reilly is more appealing to the centrists than Patrick, and again I have to dispute that:

“I don’t necessarily think the delegates in the convention is a reflection of what the primary result will be,” said Marie Sweeney, a Tewksbury Democrat who believes Reilly appeals to a broader range of voters in the end. Sweeney said she has sensed a lot of “activism” in Patrick supporters who put together delegate slates. [emphasis mine]

It’s the activists that will make the phone calls for the candidates, provide GOTV, have fundraisers . The Dem party has activists - why is this any different than being a part of the Victory ‘06 initiative? (Other than the fact that Vic06 is post-primary-implemented). So please don’t discount the activists.

As to the candidate being palatable to the masses…Deval Patrick has gotten support from far leftists, yes, but he also attracts centrists, and hey, even conservatives! (Yes, I know quite a few.) How? By his frank leadership (does Reilly even know what a position paper is?), a commitment to intelligent deliberation on the issues, and his call for us to become part of the greater community. Patrick appeals to our better natures, and then leads where others would waver. (Cape Wind anyone?)

So I respectfully disagree about the general electability of Patrick, and I think that the perception of his strategy (and the labeling of Deval’s supporters) is misplaced. I would not have endorsed this candidate if I thought he couldn’t win in September. And I certainly wouldn’t have endorsed him if I thought he wouldn’t win in November, either.

Patrick can win, will win, and you know what else? Deserves to win. You can’t talk about revitalizing the state Democratic party without fielding candidates who can inspire, lead, and govern well. I see all the qualities together in only one candidate for governor. His name is Deval Patrick.

On Saturday, March 11, the Deval Patrick campaign is hosting a huge rally in Boston at Faneuil Hall. People from all over the state are planning on attending. This is a great opportunity to bring your friends who might be interested learning more about Deval!

They need an RSVP (as the Hall does have an upper limit to the amount of space) so for a free ticket to the event, which starts at noon, here is the RSVP form.

I would like to discuss the possibility of a greater Lowell area carpool group, for those who don’t want or can’t drive to Boston. Or alternatively, we could form a Deval Patrick for Governor Train, and use the commuter rail. We need Lowell representation in Boston for this event!

If you are a Deval Patrick delegate, you will also be invited to a delegate event prior to the rally. And everyone is invited to the post-rally party (where that will be I don’t know yet).