Left In Lowell

Andrea Silbert for Lt. Governor

36 Responses to “Andrea Silbert for Lt. Governor”

1. waittilnextyr Says:
   September 13th, 2006 at 2:26 pm

   You have made a good choice, but I think Tim Murray also has good credentials, and my gut says that he would combine better with Deval Patrick in the November election.

2. Fran McDougall Says:
   September 13th, 2006 at 2:51 pm

   She’s not my “skin in the game.” I am still torn between
   Goldberg and Murray. Do I go for a very qualified woman to
   balance the ticket or do I go with the very qualified man who
   may please more of the middle of the road old school voters?
   Whoever wins, we are so fortunate to have had three stellar
   candidates!

3. Jeep Says:
   September 13th, 2006 at 3:08 pm

   Thank you for endorsing Andrea Silbert! You have made a great choice and one of the most eloquent explanations of her candidacy I have seen! She is truly the best candidate for Lt. Governor.

4. street Says:
   September 13th, 2006 at 3:24 pm

   GREAT! Could not agree more! Very well put.

5. steve Says:
   September 13th, 2006 at 3:33 pm

   Obviously I disagree with your choice, Tim Murray has much more to offer to cities and towns. His abilty to work with all levels of government is a trait that Andrea does not have on her resume. Mayor Murray’s has proven record of moving a big city forward. Yes, it is not a strong Mayor form of government but his ability to push as a team player has made Worcester the fastest growing city in the commonwealth. His vision to clean up old industrial sights and convert them in major econmic development/affoordable housing is another proven leadership quaility he has over Silbert and Goldbert. Anyway, Murray will continue to fight and I think he is in a the right spot to win this seat.

6. Lynne Says:
   September 13th, 2006 at 3:56 pm

   I agree Tim is strong on many fronts, but I don’t think Andrea would be a bad choice for cities and towns - her enthusiasm for the role she’s running for will extend to that, whether or not she’s been in city government before.

7. Mr. Lynne Says:
   September 13th, 2006 at 3:59 pm

   I love that both candidates are great. It’s been a while since I’ve had this problem and it is a great problem to have.

   I’m still undecided.

8. Ryan Says:
   September 13th, 2006 at 5:53 pm

   Not a bad choice. But, then again, none of them are! LOL

   So, the next question is… who’d you decide for SoS?

9. steve Says:
   September 13th, 2006 at 11:26 pm

   I will not totally disagree with you, but must again state that Tim is the only one who has faced the tough cuts in local aide and still weathered the storm. Yes, he showed his leadership skills when there were layoffs in public safety,teachers,public works etc… He showed that he could roll up his sleeves and work together to get these critical services back. I guess unless you live in Brookline you would not know what most of faced . I view this race as there are two very well versed candidates (Tim and Andrea) but Tim shows that he has much more experince in working with all levels of government. I do not buy that all these elected officials,unions are supporting him only because he is a Mayor of the second largest city. They would be doing themselves a disservices if that were the case. I believe they see that Mayor Murray’s message fighting for cities and towns and working to reduce the property tax that is crippling so many thousands of citizens throughout this state. Mayor Murray has shown that he will be voice for all of us, and yes many of feel unless you live inside 128 are voices are not always heard. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a non Boston politican representing us, even if it’s only the LG spot, at least it’s a start.

10. SD Says:
    September 13th, 2006 at 11:40 pm

    I think Silbert is a good candidate but I have to agree with wait and steve that Murry is a better match for Patrick, and the mix of skills along with the agreed ‘reduce the property tax burdon’ message that can come from this team will make them the toughest team for Healey to beat.

11. Mark Says:
    September 14th, 2006 at 7:34 am

    Trying to ‘balance’ Deval with Tim isn’t a balance - it’s called watering down a great Gov candidate. A Patrick/Silbert ticket is the only ticket that can beat Healy/Hillman. If the 49% majority of unenrolled voters are faced with a ballot that has Murray on the ticket they will put the Republicans back in office. Tim is a good mayor. He should stay mayor and maybe when we see some of his work actually completed he can do this again.

    Every Gov candidate in the debate stresses job creation as a salve to our woes. Silbert has been saying it for 18 months now. She is the only LG with proven experience - 10 years of it.

12. Tim Little Says:
    September 14th, 2006 at 11:31 am

    Wow, Lynne — you even made it to the Globe: http://www.boston.com/news/local/politics/blog/

13. steve Says:
    September 15th, 2006 at 9:36 am

    It’s amazing that you can say that Tim should stay Mayor when Andrea never ran for any office before. It is alos puzzling that you say when some of his work actuallygets done. Come to Worcester with your eyes open. You will see over millions of dollars in econmic development projects up and running. It’s obvious that you have no idea wht you are talking about. Maybe you have Andrea work in the real world and try starting a business with out a non profit status and have to use her own money like most taxpayers. Oh, by the way whens the last time a non profit paid any taxes ?? Never mind I will tell you they do not and Andrea’s job creation is so misleading but good I commend her for it. She still has NO experience at all in any layer of goverment. Mayor Murray is elected by the 2nd largest city in the state and has a proven record of working hard for his city, and would do this for ALL cities and towns across the state.

14. Mark Says:
    September 15th, 2006 at 11:46 am

    … do you really think municipalities pay taxes? News flash - they are a basically a non-profit and structured the same tax-wise as the Center for Women and Enterprise (just like any educational institution). Whose money do you think Tim is actually spending when he takes responsibilty for a $500 million building project? Ours - the taxpayers’. Seems like Tim just wants to spend money we do not have as a state. I haven’t really seen anything creative or awe-inspiring from Tim. Andrea’s Center puts $20 million back into the state’s coffers via the wages the new jobs create EVERY YEAR! That’s the type of leadership we need in our state - not another legislator divying up the pie into smaller and smaller pieces.

    My guess (and I hope you have some more education to come) is that you are actually a student and you don’t have to pay taxes either! Stop all the blather about “non-paying taxes” as you obviouly have no idea what ‘non-profit’ means. Non-profits produce plenty of revenue for the state. In fact our #1 enterprise in this state is - education (Harvard, UMASS, + 40-50 others). That is a good thing!

    Tim is an attorney with a part time city councilor’s job and he does it well, but don’t oversell it.

    It’s time for real leadership from someone with 10 years experience as a FULL time leader.

15. waittilnextyr Says:
    September 15th, 2006 at 12:44 pm

    There is a good comparison of the candidates’ positions on key issues in the Boston Globe today. All three candidates have well-reasoned answers to the questions that were posed to them. However, I believe Murray and Silbert provided better answers than Goldberg to the key question on development. I find a bit of a contradiction in Silbert’s answers to the questions on MCAS and Charter Schools. Whereas she says we need to reduce the achievement gap, especially in low-income communities, her support to expanding charter schools may have just the opposite effect by lessening the incentives to improve public schools.

16. upfront Says:
    September 15th, 2006 at 1:07 pm

    The only innovation and hope available to those very schools are only because the charter schools even exist. This is a very complex issue and I am glad Silbert is keeping the charter schools on the table. Taking them out of the equation is not the answer. And yes, it does mean we need to look at whole funding issue again. Remember though, Silbert speaks from a position of increasing revenue through job creation - then we have more funds available for both charters and regular schools and can recreate the formula so a boost to one is not necessarily a detriment to the other.

17. Mr. Lynne Says:
    September 15th, 2006 at 1:08 pm

    I want to have this problem of too many good candidates every election.

18. steve Says:
    September 15th, 2006 at 5:20 pm

    Silbert’s creation of the business is clear, she receives money from the state/federal government which allows her to use who’s money to create jobs??? A nonprofit does not pay ANY property tax,now if she is working out of shoe box and is not working a out of a building then I am wrong.

    But I am not wrong on the lack of payroll tax break a nonprofit gets and I know that Andrea is getting these breaks. Anyway, I think people will see that anyone who touts them self as a middle class person and then puts 30 thousand dollars into a race is a far cry form a lot of the middle class people.

    Have you not seen Andrea’s financial records??? I’ll take her bank accounts any day over Tim Murray’s…

19. waittilnextyr Says:
    September 15th, 2006 at 6:09 pm

    You do a disservice to your own candidate by trashing his opponent, rather than promoting his advantages.

    Let’s look at them:
    1) He recognizes the plight of cities and towns, and is lock-step with Patrick on the issue of property tax vs. income tax.
    2) He does a good job of promoting the economic advantages of a integrated plan for housing and transportation.
    3) He has government experience, albeit in a weak-mayor system. With 3 terms, he must be doing something right.
    4) Anything else you can contribute?

20. Lynne Says:
    September 15th, 2006 at 6:23 pm

    waittilnextyr is right…steve…wanna tone it down just a little bit? I have no problem with “edgy” comments. However, you’re skating close to shrill there.

21. lildem Says:
    September 15th, 2006 at 8:04 pm

    Steve - please stop showing your ignorance for once (you also seem alot like highopes over on BMG who frankly I have a hard time actually reading) and think before you type … CWE (and most non-profits like them) don’t own any property. They rent their office space, just like any business. Unless you don’t understand, they pay rent. Renters do not pay property taxes, their landlords do. They still pay taxes on wages, social security, etc. So in actuality CWE did pay (or rather reimburse their landlord) for property taxes. Mark makes a valid point - CWE is just like the largest ‘industry’ in Massachusets - educational institutions who are also non-profits.

    And of course Tim did make six figures last year according to his taxes that he very reluctantly released. Maybe you should do some fact checking and actually help your candidate. Your ignorance and continued references to issues that you have no comprehension of is not helping Tim a bit.

    Silbert is actually showing her courage by putting some of her hard earned cash into her campaign for probably some very strategic reasons. She also has very learned and competent bloggers that do not disparage her opponents through repeated incorrect ramblings on issues of which they have no understanding.

    Personally I will vote for an exciting and PROVEN candidate - Andrea Silbert.

22. steve Says:
    September 16th, 2006 at 12:07 am

    I will not debate the merit of nonprofits with you. Again, there is not one nonprofit that pays prpoerty taxes. Unless there are in an agreement with i.e. Pilot program. I like the fact that my remarks are called rambling but I never did get an answer on some of my statements about Andrea’s financial accounts. I suppose when there is something that could be correct we just ignore it. The truth is Andrea has benefited from her nonprofit status and has attempted to toe the middle of the road with her message. I have a hard time with anyone who says one thing but then does another. And to say that she showed courage by putting 30 thousand dollars into a race knowing that she is a “middle class” person with 2 young children is a joke. Let’s face it, she wants to win and the fact is that if she did not have the extra 30k she would not be throwing it in. I understand this but to say you a middle class person and still throw that can of money in to a race is alarming. I guess my version of middle class is a little different then Silberts.

23. lildem Says:
    September 16th, 2006 at 7:36 am

    Steve - your ability to focus on actual facts is appalling. Andrea’s salary at CWE (according to her taxes) was quite abit less than Tim’s current salary as an attorney and councilor. Stick with what you can verify and stop the innuendo. Andrea did benefit from her experience at CWE - she learned how to create something from nothing and in the process help 10,000 women create 14,000 jobs in our region. Just wait til every one of them, their children, parents and friends, neighbors and clients head to the polls on Tuesday.Probably about 60 -70,000 voters just to liven things up.

    As for Tim - Of course he doesn’t have to throw in any of his own hard earned money - he gets all he needs from the lobbyists and unions to do what they want him to do. Check out OCPF yourself. Then you can answer.

24. Dan MacNeil (not! dan m) Says:
    September 16th, 2006 at 8:02 am

    “steve” writes:
    >Again, there is not one nonprofit that pays
    >[sic] prpoerty taxes

    lildem writes:
    >Steve - your ability to focus on actual
    >facts is appalling.

    I’d go with lildem on this one. I know of at least one non-profit that paid property taxes. The Lowell Habitat for Humanity paid property taxes on their
    Harmony Way project. project for several years while it was in development.

    Of course “steve” avoids the question of whether or not the benefit non-profits provide is greater than any taxes they don’t pay.

25. steve Says:
    September 16th, 2006 at 3:02 pm

    I stand corrected but I have posted this in the past, unless a nonprofit is in agreement i.e.Payment in Lieu of Taxes” then they would not be paying property taxes. Again, I never said that nonprofits to do not do good thing’s me where I said this. I have said all along that Silbert’s a one issue candidate and Tim has much more experience in working with all levels of government. These are facts, Andrea has done some good things but has never had to make real life decisions concerning peoples lively hoods. She has never worked directly with state/federal legislators on had to testify on legislation like Mayor Murray has. She has know experience in any form of government at all.

    You can attempt to drag what I am saying into areas that are below the belt, I will continue to state the facts.

    By the way how come to response to the 30k that Andrea (middle class) Silbert put into the race, or any mention of the 0 balance on the Harvard degrees. You say you have the financial numbers, then show them, let eveeryone know how much property Andrea still owns in Brookline. And how much she made compared to Tim Murray, who yes does indeed work two jobs. Thanks for reminding us. He is a middle class man who has put himself through college and law school while working nights in a homeless shelter. Yes, he is rich in the sense of giving what little he has back to the city and hopefully the state he lives in.

26. lildem Says:
    September 16th, 2006 at 9:13 pm

    I think you have no idea what the Center for Women and Enterprise actually is (www.cweonline.org). Why don’t you start there as most of your purported facts regarding non profits have little to do with their organization. You do your candidate no favor by continuing to misrepresent actual facts.

    The rest of your drivel about school loans (?) and property are pointless other than to highlight the fact that Andrea is very good at managing her own finances while on a very normal salary. And while raising three children. Are you saying Tim makes $100k and still owes student loans? Personally I would like to think a possible LG of my state has been out of school long enough to have a positive net worth.

    Besides - I know for a fact Andrea worked when she was in college. She talks in her campaign video about being the president of a student run company where she learned about entrepreneurship. So we know she helped pay for her education. How do you know anything to the contrary? Pure speculation?

    Use facts. People listen. Otherwise it’s just nonsense.

27. steve Says:
    September 16th, 2006 at 9:54 pm

    Check Andrea’s financial records and you will see how much she is worth and that their are no balances for any of her 3 degrees from Harvard. Look at Tim’s and you will see that he never made 100k, good try tough. As far as Andrea working while in college who said anything about this?? I said she says she is a middle class citizen but yet never had a student loan, and Andrea said that “she left Brookline because she could not afford to live there,yet she never talks about her properties she owns there. It’s only nonsense when you can’t refute what I am stating. Don’t worry,it’s almost over. I commend your hard work and dedication that you spill out to us, it’s obvious that you and Andrea are close.

28. steve Says:
    September 16th, 2006 at 9:58 pm

    I see that that what you say is the gospel,because you know Andrea. But her own records say different. Show me that she has had any student loan from Harvard?

29. lildem Says:
    September 16th, 2006 at 10:35 pm

    …and what would that mean? Tim did release his tax records this year. He reported ‘an income of less than $100k income’(which means probably around $99,000) in 2005, almost twice what Andrea’s families income was for the same year.

    Yes, Andrea is 42 years old with I am sure some financial stability due to her work and her education (they do teach that at Harvard Business School) and I hope she doesn’t still have any student loans if in fact she did and what does that mean exactly? Does one have to have student loans to be middle class? And yes I do know Andrea and have volunteered for her campaign at times.

    Why do you care so much about about student loans? Most folks pay them off after 20 years (Andrea has been out of school for that long). I never had any loans and have never made over $50k a year in my life. Does that mean I am not middle class? Then what am I?

    Andrea owns property in Brookline? So do thousands of people. Probably a small old apartment she decided not to sell when she got married and moved to the Cape to have and raise her three children. It’s called a good investment. People try to have these for future financial stability and so their kids can go to college and not be burdened by student loans. It is called the American Dream. Ever tried to buy a house in Brookline - median price is somewhere about $700,000. For a decent one it’s more like $1 million (Deb’s is something like $3 mill) I believe Harwich is about $400k for a good house. Sounds like good financial sense to me to move there for a family making normal income. So now it makes Andrea just like thousands of other wage earners in our state - commuting long distances to work in order to afford a decent size house for a growing family - oh yeah, that is why she wants to be LG. To help our state create jobs where people live and make it easier for them to afford to live there. It’s good to have first hand experience for one’s main campaign goal.

    I’m sorry - what was it you were asking? Oh yeah, student loans from Harvard. Good for her if her parents could afford to send her there. I guess they valued education - looks like it paid off.

30. steve Says:
    September 17th, 2006 at 1:36 am

    Middle class people that I live with still have student loans from public state colleges never mind from Harvard. And show us where Tim made 99k, what year, because I know your stretching it again. I am glad to see that you admit that Andrea still owns property in Brookline, and collects some pretty decent rents from. Good for her, and believe me I know Andrea is not in the Goldberg class, your right her house is valued around 3 mill.

31. lildem Says:
    September 17th, 2006 at 7:49 am

    Well I guess you hang out with a very young crowd… but then I already knew that.

32. steve Says:
    September 17th, 2006 at 11:54 am

    Good come back, Tim Murray is the right balance geographically for Patrick. Four years ago the Dem”s lost EVERY city and town to the Republicans except Worcester. I think if we are going to win in Nov we need to realistic and commonsense should lead us to seeing that Tim Murray adds much more to the ticket. Time will tell ,but I can not see how the Deval can lose in all of Worc County and still win. Murray is the strongest one to help Patrick over the finish line.

33. Lynne Says:
    September 17th, 2006 at 12:17 pm

    Ok you two, knock it off.

    Both candidates offer geographical balance, IE Silbert from the Cape and Tim from Worcester.

    Where the LG is from isn’t going to be THAT important to the ticket. Do any of you really remember Gabrieli running as LG last time around?

    Steve, you are being very strident, and frankly, not getting results for your candidate. The attack on non-profits is nonsensical at best. I’m glad to see you are passionate for your candidate but you should take your cue from Murray, Silbert and Goldberg - they have been very civil in this race as far as I’ve seen. I love passion and I certainly don’t hold back when it comes to calling candidates on their shortcomings (witness the Gabrieli posts lately, I’m very angry at him) but you should use better facts and more cogent arguments. It would be better for Murray if you did.

    I’d verbally fwap lildem too but I see she’s following that format (except for your last post - tsk tsk!). I’m not just saying that because I’ve endorsed Silbert - I like Murray too, I just want Silbert on the ticket more.

    LOL Dan, on your nickname, by the way!

34. Jen Says:
    September 19th, 2006 at 7:57 am

    I am just trying to figure out who to vote for today and I am still on the fence between Silbert & Murray. I hate to make the decision based on charter schools (a relatively minor issue) and the candidates have similar positions on a lot of issues. I would like to see a sharp woman on the ticket, and she’s got a great record of jobs development. OTOH, Murray has done some great things in Worcester to encourage economic growth. Any other differences between these 2 to help someone decide?

35. Lynne Says:
    September 19th, 2006 at 12:19 pm

    Now you know how tough it was for me, Jen!!

    I think both will be excellent from a political and a governing standpoint. Silbert will put her jobs creation experience to work for the state and Tim would be great for cities and towns to have a voice. Both are valid uses of the LG spot, and it came down for me to a choice of the heart, which is why I went with Andrea.

    Good luck, and I can’t help you too much! But either way you vote, thanks for being so engaged.

36. Daniel Says:
    August 14th, 2007 at 12:14 pm

    I couldn’t understand some parts of this article Andrea Silbert for Lt. Governor, but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.

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