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Edited on Thu Sep-29-05 06:28 PM by welshTerrier2
this was originally posted in the Massachusetts forum ... btw, Patrick has compiled an impressive list of endorsements from Ted Kennedy, Robert Reich, Barack Obama and 'enlightened' Congressman Jim McGovern ... i had an opportunity to meet DU'er "usrbs" who asked a couple of great questions during the Q&A (see below) ...
added on edit: 'enlightened' DU'er paineinthearse has also endorsed Deval !!
Gubernatorial candidate Deval Patrick spoke to a gathering of roughly 125 people this past Tuesday night at the Framingham Civic League (Framingham, Mass) ... He followed a guy running for Middlesex DA named Jerry Leone who told a chilling story about 9/11 ... the room was dead quiet as Leone recounted a story about the wife of one of his colleagues in the DA's office ... the wife was a flight attendant on one of the planes that hit the WTC and was one of the people who phoned authorities about the hijacking ... it was eerie hearing the events of 9/11 told in such a personal way ...
Patrick came to the front of the auditorium and one could immediately see from his demeanor that he "was one of us" ... he did not seem to me to have the usual arrogance i expect from so many people in politics ... he came not just to lecture but to exchange ideas ... probably 80 or 90% of the time he spent with us was spent on Q&A ... clearly, this is a man who isn't impressed with "speechifying" ... he listened; he responded; he asked us questions; it was a real back and forth exchange ... it was to say the least "refreshing" ... it was to say the most "democracy in action" ...
many of Patrick's ideas seem to be very much in the development stage ... to some degree, i worry that his "let's learn together and make choices together" style may come across as "less in command and less decisive" than i expect Reilly to come across ... where i expect Reilly to focus on giving us the right answers, i expect Deval Patrick to focus on asking us the right questions ... if voters are able to focus on Patrick's intelligence and his belief in a less partisan, more open, more learn as we go together process, Patrick will do well ... if voters are looking for an insider with a track record in Massachusetts government and someone with crisp, exact solutions to the problems we face, perhaps Reilly will prevail ... fwiw, that's my early analysis on the gubernatorial race ... there will be a stark contrast in the styles of the candidates ...
for those looking for a snapshot review, congratulations ... you're done ... stop reading ... go do something else ... for those who want every morsel from the discussion, here ya go ... to save some time and space, i'm going to pretty much just "dump my notes" here ...
Patrick grew up on the south side of Chicago (tough neighborhood) that had "typically bad urban schools" ... later, he was able to attend the Milton Academy (Milton, Mass) and eventually went on to law school ...
He spent some time working overseas and was appointed to head the Civil Rights division under Clinton ...
Commenting on the role of government, Patrick stated that "Americans are losing faith in the American dream" ... he said that while government should not be expected to solve every problem, it does "have an important role to play in ensuring that each American has an oppotunity to succeed." ... Patrick said "government should create and ensure conditions for the American dream to flourish" ...
Deval said his top priorities as governor would be 1. jobs 2. education and 3. health care ... he made numerous comments that he would like to tone down the partisan rhetoric and start solving the state's problems ... he said Romney had campaigned on some good ideas like seeing the governor as a "Chief Salesman for the state" ... then he wryly added that "of course, Romney failed at this and instead travelled around the country 'mocking Massachusetts'" ...
Patrick went on to emphasize that the next governor can do far more than just "selling Massachusetts" to business ... he said that to attract new business to the state, we had to pave the way to make it easier for business to succeed here ... to achieve this, he focussed on a number of factors ... first, he said we need to streamline the permitting and regulatory process ... this did NOT necessarily mean less regulation; the goal is better response from government and enhanced processes so that business can get up and running more quickly ... he also stressed the need to "marry" the state's large pool of investment capital to potential new businesses ... "our large pool of venture capital is a resource that is underutilized to attract new businesses" ...
Patrick, in a true "it's the economy, stupid" moment, emphasized that Democrats have shyed away from emphasizing the importance of the PRIVATE ECONOMY ... he said the reason for this was probably because we have seen so many abuses by market fundamentalism and free marketeers ... we should make clear that the difference between republicans and Democrats is that the "right wing only looks at the bottom line while Democrats see the role of government as balancing the interests of commerce with the interests of people" ...
Patrick turned his focus to other factors affecting the Masschusetts economy ... he talked about the high price of housing and the Boston area having the highest cost of living in the country (btw, metrowest has the 6th highest cost of living in the country) ... he talked about how high prices combined with a loss of jobs and several large employers has led to a loss of population in the state ... and then Patrick spent some time discussing the effects of education on the economy ...
He said we ranked 47th among all states on secondary(? i think that's what he said) education ... he said he strongly supports pre-school education, day long kindergarten and a real emphasis on life long learning ... he said school days should be lengthened ... he talked about problems with oxycontin on the North Shore and said that it's about time we stop bashing teachers and understand that many of them have spent their own money on kids in school to fill-in for the endless budget cuts ...
Patrick went on to discuss the massive problem with health care ... he estimate that between 1/2 and 3/4 of a million Mass residents have no health care ... he said it does not seem likely the Feds are going to address the problem anytime soon so Massachusetts should work as a state toward solving the problem ...
Deval closed his "prepared" (i think they were mostly ad libbed) remarks by talking about the need for more people to get involved ... "I understand that many are turned off by politics because there is just way too much 'gotcha'" ... He referenced a remark made by Barney Frank on the subject of some who don't respect the role government can play: "No one ever says they want fewer people behind the counter at the Registry of Motor Vehicles when they go there on business" ...
At this point, a very lengthy Q&A session began ...
Q: "I'm concerned about the drug crisis ... i'm more concerned about 'the profits drug dealing offers' than about the actual use of drugs ... how can we get the profits out of the drug trade?"
A: "I'm not sure you're 'going there' but i want to be clear that i am not in favor of legalizing drugs ... based on my work in government, i think we very much do need to shift the focus of law enforcement from use to sales ... i've seen the devastating effects of drugs ... i had an uncle who shot up heroine in the front room when he thought no one else was looking" ...
Q: "I'm concerned about 'all this ILLEGAL immigration' ... i'm also concerned that we are neglecting our trade schools"
A: "Illegal immigration is a serious problem in Massachusetts ... it's mostly a Federal issue ... the most important point to understand in how i view this issue is that 'we should not do anything that perpetuates an underclass' ... we need to find a way to bring these 'valued people' above ground" ... as for trade schools, i talk about this as a component of my workforce development program which you can read more about on my website ...
Q: "What are your views on taxes? Are you going to turn Massachusetts into 'Taxachusetts' again?"
A: "I will NOT take a 'no new taxes pledge' (note: applause from audience) ... we are no longer Taxachusetts ... that's the point ... we do need to continue to be vigilant about taxes ... we can't have everything ... on the other hand, 'you can put out your own fires or build your own roads in your neighborhoods' ... we need to choose what we want, what we are willing to pay for and how we are going to pay for it ... we are going to get univeral health care because 'we pay for it now'" ...
Q: "Will you support the ballot initiative being developed in Mass to call on the governor to recall all Mass National Guard troops from Iraq?"
A: "I oppose the war ... we were misled about the reasons for war but i will not support the unilateral withdrawal of Mass National Guard troops ... i'm not even sure it's legal and i wouldn't want to interfere with the important precedent that was set in the use of the National Guard in the 'Little Rock case' (note: can anyone elaborate on this point?) ... i will speak out against the war ... i will speak out against the lack of outrage over Iraq ... i opposed the war from the very start" ...
Q from wt2: "We keep losing gubernatorial elections to the republicans in a Democratic state like Mass ... did our candidates just stink or is there something that needs to be changed in the Party's infrastructure ... What role should the gubernatorial candidates play in making the needed changes?"
A: "I think one of the reasons we kept electing republicans is because the Statehouse was seen as so partisan (note: probably referring to Finneran) that voters were looking for 'balance' ... the current Statehouse no longer presents us with that problem ... as to infrastructure, we have NOT done well ... i'm trying to ensure that we build a statewide network of 'precinct captains and block captains' ... 'nothing can replace the power of neighbors talking to neighbors'" ...
Q: "The state has been steadily losing jobs and we've seen some very large employers go elsewhere ... how can we retain our current jobs base and also attract new business?"
A: "The Massachusetts recovery has been slower than what is going on nationally ... and we are losing population due to the high cost of housing ... in looking at the economy, we need to understand that many factors are 'inter-connected' ... we already talked a bit about improving 'SPEED TO MARKET' (i.e. the time it takes a new business to become operational) ... we should be putting a significant emphasis on bio-tech but we're having trouble with competition from California ... it takes TWICE AS LONG here compared to Northern California for a bio-tech business to start operations ... also, we need to do a better job providing capital to new ventures ... and i'm talking about EQUITY, NOT LOANS ... there is an excellent program called SBIC (under the SBA) that Massachusetts should use as a model ... the Federal program is about to expire ... let's bring this program here ... in addition to bio-tech, we should also take advantage of building an alternative energy industry ... Massachusetts is very well suited to renewables ... other factors that will help retain jobs and attract new businesses are: education, affordable housing, and improved mass transit ... while there may always be reasons for companies to move elsewhere, this won't be as critical if we can keep 'feeding the pipeline' with new innovations and new industry ..."
Q: "Will the price of gas go down? Would you be willing to cap gas prices?"
A: "No ... I oppose any artificial controls on gas prices"
Q: "Traffic is a nightmare ... what will you do about it?"
A: "I think we need to do much more in the area of mass transit ... two of the primary obstacles to getting people to use mass transit more regularly are routes and schedules ... we need to look at both" ...
Q: "We used to have DETOX centers all over the state but most of them have been wiped out by budget cuts ... can anything be done about this?"
A: "We have witnessed the 'shredding of our public health infrastructure' ... we've been penny-wise and pound-foolish ... i still need to do more study to understand what the best programs for Massachusetts will be given the budget choices we have to make ... tomorrow, i'll be issuing a major statement on health care ...
Q: "What was your view of the recent Supreme Court eminent domain case in Connecticut?"
A: "I found the ruling 'very troubling' ... actually, the right word is that i found the ruling 'wacky' ... we should never put eminent domain at the will of the free market ... although this ruling gives government the authority to take private property and give it to private developers, there's nothing in the ruling that says governments need to exercise this authority ..."
Q: "Would you support the repeal of Prop 2 1/2 that limits the amount of property taxes that can be levied?"
A: "MAYBE" ... as i said earlier, we need balance in our fiscal policy ... what we've seen is a rollback in income taxes that has led to less local aid that has resulted in pressure on the property tax ... the property tax is the least progressive and least efficient way to raise revenues" ...
Q: (from DU'er usrbs): "Could you give us your views on renewable energy and specifically on the Cape Code wind project? Also, could you discuss the issues that have been raised about your involvement with Coca Cola and the unions in Colombia?"
A: "There are many sides to the 'wind' issue ... you might think there is a 'pro' group and a 'con' group ... the reality is that there are five groups involved with this issue ... i've already met with four of them and plan to meet with the fifth ... i ask each group: '1. do you have a compromise position (i was surprised that they all did) and 2. who could best 'broker a deal' (they all thought government should play a key role and i agree) ... i love the idea of getting involved with a commerical-sized project like this with Massachusetts taking an innovative role ... still, i have one last group to talk to so i won't issue a formal position at this time ... with regard to Coca Cola (note: wt2 is not that familiar with the allegations ... please help with elaboration), the allegations that were made were 1. para-military groups were used to bust unions in Colombia at Coca Cola plants 2. Coca Cola conspired with these para-militaries (Deval misspoke and said 'para-legals' - i found that amusing) to bust the unions ... item one was true ... item 2 was not true ... and i defended Coke against the allegation that it was involved in the conspiracy ... the case was decided in Coke's favor ... (Note: at this point i wasn't clear what Deval was saying: he said that for four months after the trial, Coke backed him up but then changed their position ... that's when he resigned from Coke ... i'm not clear what he meant they backed him up on ... can anyone help?)
After the formal Q&A ended, a few of us continued a brief informal discussion with Deval ... the woman who had asked the question about recalling the Mass National Guard from Iraq pushed her point very forcefully ... she said she was very disappointed he took the stand he did ... i asked her whether she understood the importance of allowing the Feds to sort of nationalize state-based guard units as a precedent ... she dismissed this point saying that the proposed ballot question narrowly focusses on returning troops from Iraq ... subsequent discussions i've had on this with other people have led to the idea that while the Feds perhaps should have the authority to temporarily 'nationalize' state guard units for domestic emergencies, perhaps this authority should NOT be extended for overseas use or to wage wars ...
And finally, i asked Deval to broaden his message about "mass transit" ... I said that his emphasis has thus far been on the "economic and traffic" considerations of mass transit ... i said that while those are both worthy considerations, i also thought it was important to mention other factors like air pollution, global warming, the war in Iraq being fought for oil, and probably coming oil war as we face greater and greater competition for oil from emerging giant economies like India and China ... he said he was in full agreement with these points ... he said that the reason he talked about refusing to 'cap gas prices and create artificial constraints' on pricing was that doing so masks the problems we face ... my only thoughts on his response were that his answer was a little too 'market-based' and not adequately 'pro-active' ...
In conclusion, I see Deval as a candidate in the making ... he's smooth; he's open; he has a real chance to be the 'kid from nowhere' ... i'm not at the point of endorsing anyone yet, but Deval Patrick seems like the kind of candidate with the kind of values and ideas that Massachusetts needs ... for those who are interested, I believe Tom Reilly and Jarrett Barrios have been invited to speak at the Framingham Civic League on October 25 ... that will give me plenty of time to buy a new notebook ... this one's just about had it ... i'll post a formal notice about the next forum when i have more details ...
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