Left In Lowell

So you’re going to vote on Tuesday. Good on you! After all, that’s what democracy is all about.

Usually, our ballots, even on gubernatorial years, have many line items that are unopposed or nearly so. But this year, we’re blessed (cursed?) with many open seats or challenges with contested situations. So much so, that it can be hard to keep track of. Many people will fail to fill in the ovals for several of these races just because they do not feel they know the candidates.

In the auditor’s race, the contest is heated and close. The two big candidates in the race are Democrat Suzanne Bump and Republican Mary Connaughton. Both got through primaries to gain the nomination. At first glance, Connaughton doesn’t seem so bad - she has a background in finances. Both Bump and Connaughton seem qualified and able to to the job. And, you might ask yourself, don’t the Dems hold enough statewide offices these days?

But under the surface, Mary Connaughton isn’t such a rosy candidate. Dan Payne over at WBUR’s blog has all the details. She is being funded by the same lobbyists and PACs she said she would not take money from, and she also has the donor support of anti-gay-marriage lobbyists to boot.

But the worst elements appear to be her actual history in auditing:

While she was a top financial manager in the state Lottery office, Auditor Joe DeNucci’s team uncovered a “donut fund,” which was used to hide hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of improper expenses, such as BSO tickets and expensive parties. All under the blind eye of Connaughton, who promises ceaselessly to bring “sunshine” to state government.

The audit report said that Lottery officials used “poor accounting practices that violated state law and cost the state more than $1.6 million in lost revenue,” the Globe reported. “Connaughton was in charge of the agency’s financial operations for most of the period of the audit… and was responsible for answering the auditors’ concerns. The audit report noted that the agency refused to cooperate and turn over requested documents.” So much for Miss Sunshine.

Payne also goes into a bit of her past that, I believe, shows that Connaughton has the standard Republican Disease of Not-Governing (or, RDNG):

Also at the Treasury, Connaughton was preoccupied with getting the cheapest prices from vendors, no matter what the cost. This led her to dump the only qualified, experienced company that had successfully recovered millions in unclaimed property funds, which go to the state. Over the objections of the head of the unclaimed property division, she picked four cheaper but inexperienced competitors. The difference to taxpayers: $16 million. Win some dimes, then lose tons of dollars.

Republicans seem to love stating that government doesn’t work, then proving it.

The question that I have to ask is, if Connaughton wins, who audits the auditor?

On the other hand, Suzanne Bump, with one small, er, bump in her campaign (the question of her residency and a tax break), has proven to be a smart campaigner, one who understands the job she’s running for and who has a track record of results. Payne says, “Before she decided to run for auditor, Bump ran the state’s Labor Department for Gov. Deval Patrick. And she managed it effectively without a hint of scandal that tainted Connaughton’s time at the Lottery.” Payne has a lot more to say on Bump, and on Connaughton, so go check out his post for full details.

When it comes to the job at hand, I want to know that the person in the job will do it properly. An auditor isn’t a game changer, but as a progressive, I want efficient and effective government. Connaughton’s history is an indication of hackery and short-sightedness. That sort of oversight will cost the Commonwealth millions. Bump has proven that she can make reforms and take on tough issues - exactly the sort of person needed for budget oversight.

I will happily be filling in the oval in the auditor’s race - the one right next to the name of Suzanne Bump.

[Payne piece found via BMG.]

OK I’m a dumbass. The email SAID tomorrow, apparently I read it wrong, or too fast. Sorry about that! The Gov will be here TOMORROW (Monday) at 2pm. But that doesn’t excuse you from GOTV today. Do it before trick or treating tonight!

Just got word from our regional organizer that the Governor will be stopping in Lowell on his bus tour of the state. From his email:

The Governor is in the midst of a bus tour, that has been taking him across the state for one last contact with voters before Election Day. He will be coming by the Appleton Mills which is located at 219 Jackson st on Monday. If you are interested (and I hope you are!) please plan on arriving at 2pm, the Governor will be pulling up shortly thereafter.

You can help with GOTV by contacting the following people:
704 Middlesex Street, I-Hwei Warner, iwarner@devalpatrick.com
17 Kirk Street, Dan Lenos, dan@nikitsongas.com
73 East Merrimack Street, Melissa Roberts, donoghueforsenate@gmail.com

Got this in email and thought I would pass it along. The Lowell Film Collaborative is hosting a special event around Veteran’s Day:

The Lowell Film Collaborative in partnership with the Arts League of Lowell and our venue host, Jeanne D’Arc Credit Union, present a Special Film Event in Lowell commemorating Veterans’ Day. The event will be held at Jeanne D’Arc Credit Union’s headquarters on Tuesday, November 9 at 6:30 PM.

The event is FREE and open to the public and refreshments will be served.

The film is the 1995 Academy Award-winning documentary, “Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision,” which highlights the first 10 years of the career of Chinese-American architect Maya Lin. At the age of 21, Lin began work on the controversial Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which stands as one of the most iconic memorials in the U.S. The year was 1980. The project came under bitter scrutiny and great protest, as did Lin herself. Given the country’s recent controversies over the 9/11 memorial, we believe this film has particular relevance today.

Detailed information is also available at www.LowellFilmCollaborative.org.

Despite a general conservative bent, the Herald picked Donoghue in the First Middlesex senate race. What they had to say:

In the First Middlesex district, Democrat Eileen Donoghue of Lowell, a lawyer and former city councilor, is a worthy successor to retiring Sen. Steve Panagiotakos. As a city councilor she helped oversee a dramatic revitalization of the Mill City.

Indeed. Can’t say as I disagree!

Tonight was the last Gov debate, a rather freeform event on TV and radio. (Honestly, though I prefer Charlie Gibson to Keller, I didn’t love the format much). It was a debate Charlie [Baker] needed to break out with, and failing to do that, he didn’t do well enough to turn his flagging campaign around. To be honest, I thought his tired rewiring of trickle-down memes was a bit of a broken record, even if you believe that nonsense.

Of course, the Big Dig memo was brought up (I missed the beginning unfortunately), and both Patrick and Cahill had some things to say about it. I don’t think Baker came up smelling like roses. But it’s this part of the Boston.com reaction to the debate that I really like (bold and commentary mine):

Baker wrote the memo after he had already engineered a financing plan that borrowed against future federal highway money [swaptions!] to pay for some of the project’s peak construction expenses. At the same time, Baker was helping to push some of the project’s spiraling expenses onto the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which would rely on future tolls to repay the loans.

Thank you. Someone else is finally putting these elements together coherently in the media. There is a big picture here that has been missing - that the subterfuge-full fiscal instruments of the Big Dig under the Weld/Cellucci/Baker executive branch(es) has repeatedly come back to haunt us since, all so that no one back then had to make the tough choices.

I have returned home after traveling to Armenia for a week or so and recuperating from the experience of transferring planes in Paris while the City was on strike. In my absence the Lowell City Council approved a motionto “Request the City to take the necessary steps to assist the Armenian Community in the erection of a Monument in the City Hall Plaza area”. In Council, Referred to the City Manager,” thank-you CC. Throughout the years the Lowell CCs and the Administration have always been supportive of the Armenian community in the City; as a matter of fact both the Sun and radio station, WCAP, have provided more than adequate coverage of the annual commemoration of the Armenian Genocide. So thanks again to the City to help us facilitate this memorial. Now we have to go out and raise the money. Good to be back home!

On another note, the reaction to the Juan Williams’ firing is perplexing. It is the talk of the nation, isn’t it? I did not realize that we had so many NPR listeners in this country. Even the Lowell Sun’s editorial page got in the act. Wait, wait… don’t tell me, let me guess the station of choice at the Sun is ‘BUR over ‘GBH, right? As a card carrying member of the WBUR, I can safely say, I am not going to miss his commentaries, he was not a breath of fresh air, as they say. One of the problems with the firing is that for days NPR is doing this self-analysis but I will live through it and I did decide to double my membership contribution this year. I would be curious to see how many “memberships” were dropped and how many new ones were picked up?

BMG has a full post on this, but I wanted to make a comment or two.

The memo found by an AP reporter is summed up thusly:

Republican gubernatorial candidate Charles Baker wrote a memo labeling Big Dig spending “simply amazing,” warning that it would force “draconian” cuts to other road and bridge projects - and recommending they be taken only after his boss was re-elected in 1998.

So the smartest man in government played politics with the Big Dig, despite his claim that everything was hunky dory under his tenure as state budget guru? Shocked, I’m shocked.

Now, it is commendable that he would take a realistic look at the costs, since that was his job - but to suggest hiding it until after reelection (while understandable from a political point of view) is to not serve the public interests.

And the little-known fact is - fact, folks, yes - that the final price tag for the Big Dig was known about a decade before the number went public. The state knew that number, and they kept it hidden in fear of the political consequences. (The biggest problem was that since the project went on over such a long period, costs rose quite a lot - and of course, scope creep was another big factor.)

So really, it’s shocking for Baker to “discover” about the costs of the ‘Dig late in his tenure as Secretary of Administration and Finance, it really makes me wonder about the Republican executive branch’s handling of the whole project (Weld, then Cellucci). Who the hell in the executive branch was monitoring the thing??

And then, instead of leveling with people when the federal government threatened to, then cut off funding for the project, that it would be a burden to the state infrastructure budget, Baker and the Republicans came up with a crazy funding scheme that kicked the can down the road and nearly soaked the budget under Patrick’s tenure (luckily, Patrick was there to steer the “swaptions” ship to a better port.) They also hid the debt, in a manner of speaking, by burdening the Pike and the MBTA, among other agencies, with substantive portions of that debt - all while forcing the MBTA into “forward funding,” which set the MBTA budget in stone (instead of reimbursement for net cost of service, beyond revenues). This in turn has made it necessary for the MBTA to substantially raise fares, and the Pike to raise tolls.

Spot a pattern here? Baker wants you to believe that he was the smartest man in government back in the day, and that he would be again if elected. But all I see is politically-motivated coverups, schemes to put off the pain of debt, and mismanagement and subterfuge. I have not yet met a Republican businessman politician who doesn’t claim to be the guy who will be smart about managing the state but yet whose record says the exact opposite.

Democrats are better for business, better for our economy, better managers of taxpayer money, and at the same time more dedicated to providing a fair playing field for people and businesses to reach their potential, whether that’s strong education funding (first in the nation!), good public universities, ending homelessness while at the same time spending less, or reforming the state pension system, transportation system, or streamlining the permitting process for businesses - hands down, on all fronts, we deserve government under Deval Patrick…not tricks, lies, subterfuge and undue pain and suffering for our citizens from Republican slash and burn politics.

As snark goes, it’s pretty funny. “Don’t worry, I’ll shave a few dollars off your tax bill so you can buy one of your kids an extra Happy Meal every month.” Pretty much what you’d get!

(Via bamboobooful on BMG, who appears to also be the producer of the video.)

[Cross posted from BMG - with a minor edit to the title and a minor edit due to wrong copy-paste on district towns.]

Here in the Merrimack Valley, we’re surrounded by competitive open seats and Republican challengers to incumbents. If we want to guard the change, it would be hard to argue that we should ignore these races.

With only a week left to go, one race you should care about is the 17th Essex state Rep race (parts of Andover, Lawrence, and Tewksbury Andover, Boxford, Georgetown, Haverhill, Methuen, and North Andover) where Patricia Commane, longtime Democratic activist and state and town committee person, is running against a seriously regressive Republican.

This district is the open seat left by Rep. Finegold who is running for state Senate. To replace him with Republican Paul Adams would be to go backwards - Adams is the former Southeast Massachusetts Regional Director for the Coalition for Family and Marriage, a group dedicated to overturning civil rights for gay couples. He has “accepted campaign contributions from the president of the Massachusetts Family Institute” as well as being touted as a “great replacement” by Mass Resistance. Shockingly, he puts none of this on his website - so I am left to wonder, do voters know what they would be getting by voting for this ultra-conservative?

Obviously, Adams is out of touch with the mainstream of Massachusetts politics. But conversely, Pat Commane is a strong Democrat with great progressive values.

I met Pat during the 06 Patrick campaign, working on joint regional events - no one worked harder. She is smart, organized, articulate, and a good Democrat in the best sense of that word. I’ve kept in touch with her over the years, and I was pleased to see her jump into the race for Finegold’s old seat - I know that she would make a great state Rep for the district, as she has dedicated her life to serving, whether it’s as a Democratic activist, or helping to find jobs for the unemployed.

The problem is that her district can be a tough one and this is a close race. I know if people had a chance to meet the real Paul Adams, and meet Pat Commane, that the choice would be clear - but as you know, Republicans in our state have to run away from their record, hide their true beliefs, and pretend they are moderate, even when they are not. Let’s not make it the year that such Republicans can trick voters into electing them.

You can donate here, or volunteer here. If you know people who live in 17th Essex, please talk to them and tell them the truth about this race. This is one seat that we can’t afford to lose. There is still a chance to go backwards on all the issues we care about - even the “settled” case of gay marriage.

Note - this is a personal endorsement of Pat for 17th Essex. I am not involved in the campaign and it’s not my district, but I worry that with all the open seats happening, that we stand to see some very regressive candidates sneak through. This is my attempt to highlight one such.

I find this amusing, but also sad, at the same time. Kurt Hayes, running against Rep. Jen Benson in the 37th Middlesex (Acton area) was a no-show at the Acton League of Woman Voters debates. They also held a debate with both Sen. Jamie Eldridge and Rep. Cory Atkins and their Republican opponents.

The article states “a third debate was planned between state Rep. Jennifer Benson, D-Lunenburg, and Republican challenger Kurt Hayes of Boxboro, but Hayes did not attend.” Sounds like the LWV of Acton expected him, but he didn’t come. Guess Hayes is scared to debate his opponent?

He should be, his entire platform is so out of the mainstream, you could only get there by taking a trans-Atlantic flight. Like, being for teaching creationism in schools.