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Well, I gotta say that this, which arrived in the mail today, was a disappointment. (Click image for larger view.)
Look, I get the whole Worcester thing. But to go out on a limb like that in a hotly-contested primary? For a guy who, frankly, is not exactly in tune with McGovern's progressive politics? Sorry, but I don't buy that. It wasn't necessary, and it wasn't a good idea.
On a remote patch of Kansas prairie believed to fall outside the range of U.N. spy satellites, construction is finally complete on the long- awaited 9/11 Truther Memorial, sources confirmed Wednesday.
Funded by donations from dozens of websites and fringe publishers, and dedicated to "the fearless amateur research and bold guesswork" of those seeking to "expose the secret machinations of the world's true puppet masters," the 7,000-square-foot monument has already attracted hundreds of visitors.
In February, I took out nomination papers for the Massachusetts House of Representatives. I needed to collect 150 signatures from registered voters to qualify for the ballot; I collected the required signatures by going door to door and asking for signers, turned in my papers, and qualified for the ballot.
On May 28, I got a call from the Massachusetts Elections Division saying that an objection was filed to my nomination papers. The next day, I received a written complaint in the mail.
I looked into the filer of the objection, Stephen P. Linskey, and his lawyer, William A. McDermott Jr. I tried to cross reference their names with the person I am running against. After searching, I was not able to find any connection between Linskey and Ronald Mariano, the incumbent. I was able to find a connection between McDermott and the incumbent, however.
I've already posted on Bump's endorsements by the Boston Globe, the Newton TAB, the Brookline TAB, the Cambridge Chronicle, the Somerville Journal, the Needham Times, and the West Roxbury Transcript, but there are several more to report:
The major qualification for auditor is unchallenged probity. Suzanne Bump's opponent, Guy Glodis, has not lifted a disturbing cloud of impropriety. Ten days before the election for sheriff of Worcester County on Sept. 14, 2004, he borrowed $20,000 from a friend. He immediately loaned his campaign $22,000. It is unlawful for candidates to accept personal loans from individuals for more than $500.
Bump should win by default, but there is much more to recommend her. An attorney, Bump has served as state representative and as state secretary of Labor and Workforce Development in Gov. Deval Patrick's administration. Her objective is simply to assure that state funds are honestly spent and to determine whether programs perform as expected.
SUZANNE BUMP, former state representative and secretary of labor and workforce development, is a superb candidate to take the auditor's office in that direction.
Bump's experience in and around state government have given her impressive insight into how it all works -- and how it should work better.
She has also demonstrated the independence voters should rightfully demand from their auditor. She stood firm against powerful interests as a state legislator, spearheading landmark workers-compensation reform, and she fought the bureaucracy to streamline and professionalize her cabinet department. Many of her proposals continue that trend.
Political newcomer Mike Lake shows terrific potential, but lacks the experience of running such a high-level office.
Bump, however, has the skills and attitude to quickly turn the state auditor into a major factor for reform on Beacon Hill.
In the race for state auditor, our choice is the same as that of longtime incumbent Joe DeNucci, who's retiring after 24 years of service.
Suzanne Bump, who resigned her post as labor secretary in the Patrick administration in order to run, has impressive service in both the public and private sectors and the credentials to serve in this important watchdog role.
And the Watertown TAB, with an endorsement similar to the other TAB Bump endorsements.
Glodis has the endorsement of the Metrowest Daily News and something called the Somerville News, and we know that Lake got the Boston Herald endorsement -- anyone have any information on other newspaper endorsements?
Today, I'm proud to release a special web-only video and formally announce my candidacy for Congress because I'm anxious to keep fighting: to grow jobs, to help small businesses, to increase renewable energy, and to expand biotechnology.
The Islamic Society of North America organized a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington where leaders from the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faiths argued against what organizers called "an atmosphere of fear and intolerance" toward Islam.
C-SPAN and CNN carried the interfaith press conference live. Fox News Channel had no coverage, but instead had commentator Lou Dobbs holding forth on President Obama and the "sad isolated state this president has put himself in." Meanwhile, MSNBC offered talking heads discussing Mr. Obama's latest plans to spur the economy.
Interesting.
Separately, is it too extreme to label Florida pastor Terry Jones a traitor in light of General Petraus' comments: "The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said Monday the planned burning of Korans on Sept. 11 by a Florida church could put the lives of American troops in danger and damage the war effort." What do you think?
(Er ... "bumped." - promoted by Charley on the MTA)
If I can get CoverItLive to work right, we'll be discussing issues with the Democratic candidates for state auditor @ 1pm today. Join in the fun, with Guy Glodis, Suzanne Bump, and Mike Lake.
(Why people are anti-marriage is beyond me. Marriage is a wonderful institution that should be encouraged, not opposed. - promoted by Bob Neer)
As you may know there is a major race in the 6th Suffolk District to replace retiring REP. Willie Mae Allen!
After reading the JP Progressives Questionnaire on Mr. Russell Holmes who is a candidate for the 6th Suffolk Race, I read that he is not in support of Gay Marriage, but he support Civil Unions!
Russell Holmes, please understand that your district is made up of many different types of people and you are in support of making a different class of people.
I encourage you to spread the word around your community about Russell Holmes stance on Gay Marriage.
Newton businessman Steve Grossman has picked up the endorsement of key Massachusetts newspapers, including The Boston Globe and the Boston Herald.
Also backing Grossman in the September 14 Democratic Primary are The Salem News, Newton TAB, Somerville Journal, Watertown TAB and Press, Cambridge Chronicle, Needham Times, Waltham News Tribune, and Brookline TAB.
("Odious Glodis" indeed. Talk about a ham-handed effort: attacking a candidate for a matter of public knowledge posted long ago on her own website. Smacks of desperation, incompetence, or both. - promoted by Bob Neer)
Perhaps "Odious Glodis" has polling information showing that he is behind in the race for Auditor, consistent with the State House News poll that was out today, showing him trailing Suzanne Bump by 2 points. Statehouse News Poll, via John Keller This might explain why he has launched a misleading negative attack on his opponent, Suzanne Bump, both on the radio and in a a direct mail piece. In the piece, Glodis attacks Bump for a 20-year old ethics violation that she resolved by agreeing to pay a $600 fine. What Glodis doesn't say is that in the interest of transparency, Suzanne Bump has referenced the violation and linked to the Disposition Agreement with the State Ethics Commission on her campaign website for months. www.suzannebump.com Glodis also doesn't mention that the Commission's agreement notes that Bump fully cooperated and that there was no evidence that the gratuity was intended to influence any official act.
Further, Glodis negative attack piece falsely states that Bump lost her reelection bid because of the ethics violation. This is completely untrue. The disposition with the Ethics Commission is dated May 12, 1994, yet she left office in 1993. The fact is that Suzanne Bump lost reelection because she took on the powerful lawyers' lobby and led the reform of what was a completely broken Worker's Compensation System. The lawyers recruited and funded the campaign of her opponent. Throughout her campaign for State Auditor, Bump has repeatedly said that she is proud of her work in reforming the system, that is today a national model, and that she would do it again, even though it cost her politically. In fact, this is one of the reasons the Boston Globe cited for endorsing her: Connaughton, Bump are best in broad field for state auditor
In a state dominated by Democratic elected officials, the Democratic nominee for auditor has a special burden to demonstrate independence from the party's establishment and its most powerful constituencies. Perhaps because she has DeNucci's support, Bump appears loath to criticize the raises he ordered. Still, she's displayed significant spine in other ways. As a state legislator, Bump earned the ire of trial lawyers, and lost her seat to a primary challenger, in part because of her efforts to bring down out-of-control worker-compensation costs.
Perhaps Glodis has launched this negative attack tactic to stem the tide of overwhelming support that Bump has been enjoying this week, including endorsements by the Boston Globe, the Salem Evening News, the Newton TAB, Brookline TAB, Somerville Journal, Watertown TAB and Cambridge Chronicle. Or perhaps he is trying to distract voters from the recent news articles in The Boston Globe Glodis left loan source off his state ethics filing, Loan by Glodis followed one he received, and 2 more on ballot failed to pay tax related to his his consistent pattern of failing to follow the rules, including Campaign Finance and Tax Laws and an audit report that found that he awarded a no-bid contract and improper raises to staff in violation of internal policies at the Sheriff's office. Either way, Bump is right to maintain her positive campaign and show the voters what real leadership looks like.
(Rob O'Leary writes: "confirming what you and I already know: Rob is the best candidate to represent the Democratic Party in November." Good finally to see a candidate willing to step up and support himself without equivocation. - promoted by Bob Neer)
STAFF POST
The Boston Globe endorsed Rob O'Leary in the 10th Congressional Democratic primary this morning, confirming what you and I already know: Rob is the best candidate to represent the Democratic Party in November and the best candidate to represent the 10th District in Congress.
This is great news, and we need your help to spread the word as quickly as possible. With only 11 days until the election, Rob doesn't have much time - what he has is you, so please spread the word about this important endorsement.
I find this surprising, not because it's crazy (it's not), but because I find it hard to imagine that her base will be too psyched about it.
"The sales tax should be 5 percent. If it takes passage of Question Three to get to 5 percent then I will support it," [Treasurer candidate Karyn] Polito told The Associated Press in an interview. "I would work as the treasurer to urge the Legislature to adjust the sales tax to 5 percent. That's what it should be."
Did you get that? Polito is saying that if Question 3 passes and the sales tax is thereby cut to 3%, she will urge the legislature to crank it back up to 5%.
Whatever happened to the will of the voters?? Shouldn't Barbara Anderson be disowning Polito right about now?
On a related topic, I am calling bullshit on Charlie Baker, Tim Cahill, the Herald editorial board, and any other nitwits who are expressing "concern" that Governor Patrick might not "implement" Question 3 if it passes. Do these people not understand how ballot questions work?
(Thanks, John. Very amusing to read Keller's tenacious effort to spin the results in Baker's favor. Another interpretation of the poll, of course, is that if Patrick is this far ahead in such a difficult economy, the Governor must be a political genius of rare ability, principle and popularity. - Bob
Bumped. It's hard to escape the sense that this race has been stuck in the exact same place - Deval up on Charlie by 6-8 points, with Tim a distant but non-trivial third - for a very long time. - promoted by David)
Statehouse News via Jon Keller, the first poll that I am aware of that includes Jill Stein.
Deval Patrick 34%
Charlie Baker 28%
Tim Cahill 18%
Jill Stein 4%
Seems to be a good amount of undecided voters.
Poll was of Likely Voters, sample of 400, margin of error of plus or minus 4.8 percent.
(George W. Bush's Republican policies ruined our economy. Now it is getting better. Charlie Baker's G.O.P. philosophy would take us back in the direction of failure. - promoted by Bob Neer)
A very good overview of the recession and how Massachusetts under Deval Patrick's leadership has fared during this economic crisis from Mass Budget over the weekend. Other candidates in the race for governor have built their campaigns based on willful ignorance of the global economic recession and framing their campaigns in distortions of truth. The best way to face these distortions is to shine light on the actual facts over the past few years. How has Massachusetts fared in comparison to the country or other states for that matter. Charlie Baker has recently compared Massachusetts to other New England states. It's a false comparison, but if he wants to know, Massachusetts has done better:
Commonwealth is somewhat less bleak than that which we see in most of the rest of the nation. While in Massachusetts we have lost 2.8 percent of the jobs that we started the recession with, that is less than half the rate of job loss of the nation as a whole (5.9 percent) - and a better performance than most other states.
(Click image for larger version)
No one is going to argue that due to the recession jobs have been lost and there is work to be done. The question is who is best to lead the state. Governor Patrick over the past few years under an economic crisis has made difficult decisions that has placed the state on the path to a faster recovery. No matter what Charlie Baker's campaign ads state, the fact of the matter is that Massachusetts fared much better than the rest of the country and New England (that's right Charlie).
Dear Bloggers, Reporters, & Political Commentators,
The Young Democrats of Massachusetts invite you to attend a Virtual Auditor's Forum. We hope that you'll attend with questions for the candidates and live-blog, live-tweet, or cover the event later on your political news website or blog.
The forum will take place at the MA Democratic Party HQ in Charlestown this Wednesday (9/8) at 1 PM. We are excited to have confirmations from the three democratic candidates: Suzanne Bump, Guy Glodis and Mike Lake.
The format of the forum will allow each candidate for Auditor to present open remarks (3 minutes), and then alternate the speaking order as candidates respond to questions from our blogger guests. We will also be inviting our members and the online political community to participate, and invite you to stream the conversation live over the web.
Like Mike, I have to wonder why it takes 42 supervisors to supervise 43 workers as the Auditor's office is currently constituted.
Further, having met and spoken with Mike several times, as well as met the other two candidates for Auditor and spoken with them, as well -
On THIS race I agree with the Boston Herald. Mike Lake is far more attuned to both current technology and a fresh start in how the role of the State Auditor functions than are the other two candidates.
Here's your 40 minute introduction to the campaign season. I watched it. It's actually worth it. But for those of you feeling politically anemic, your red-meat starts at around 27 minutes.
It's amazing how much the right wing is able to dominate the day-to-day news cycles: Ground Zero Mosques (that aren't at Ground Zero and aren't mosques); Glenn Beck as the new MLK; headless bodies; scary brown people; and so forth. And for the most part, we on the left -- even/especially the bloggy left, like Kos and Talking Points Memo follow the bouncing soccer ball wherever the goons want to kick it.
Is there another story? Yup. Is it going to get told? Hell yes.
Things look grim right now. It's not an exaggeration to say that John Boehner is poised to be your next Speaker of the House: He's basically Rick Santorum without the smarts or flair. In the Senate, Rand Paul is way ahead (KY). Sharron Angle is even (NV). Joe Miller's ahead (AK). Won't that be joyous?
But if the GOP takeover were a stock, I'd short; I've got a strong sense it's over-inflated.
