Massachusetts Political Blog

Romney's Routine

2005-09-26T08:58:00.000-04:00

More today from the Post on Governor Romney's strange, groundbreaking comedy routine wherein he goes to other states and makes fun of his constituents. This sentence in the article puts it best: "Romney favors comedic riffs that depict him as a bemused and besieged 'red dot' in a sea of liberalism."

I've said before what a bad tactic I think this is. New Hampshire may not have the same reputation for liberalism as the Bay State does, but Romney is still betting that most voters in that crucial primary state don't see anything wrong with a politician who mocks his constituents (New Hampshire's neighbors) to get ahead. I think he's wrong about that.

Source: Washington Post, "Massachusetts Governor Makes His State the Butt of His Jokes", 9/26/2005

Redistricting

2005-09-26T08:39:00.000-04:00

The Los Angeles Times mentioned Massachusetts today in an article about California's "Prop 77", Gov. Schwarzenegger's plan to have retired judges draw legislative boundaries in the state. The article has some good general background (and history) on why gerrymandering is such a problem; a more fleshed-out version of the article that appeared on KTLA's site featured this proposal, currently making the rounds, for how Massachusetts should draws its own lines.

Who draws the lines: The governor appoints a dean or professor of law, government or political science from a Massachusetts university; the attorney general appoints a retired judge; and the secretary of the commonwealth appoints a civil rights law expert. Those three members then choose four more members from a list of nominees prepared by the top four legislative leaders.

Criteria for districts: Districts should be compact, lie within municipal boundaries, keep neighborhoods together, contain House of Representative districts within Senate districts and not take the addresses of incumbents into account.

Timeline: The commission adopts a plan after the federal census in 2010.

Source: Los Angeles Times, "Several States May Revisit Redistricting", 9/26/2005

No Debate

2005-09-22T13:55:00.000-04:00

For all intents and purposes, Boston Mayor Tom Menino has refused to debate challenger and fellow Democrat Maura Hennigan. According to the Herald, Menino agreed to three meetings between now and election day on the grounds that questions can only come from audience members (WGBY will screen the questions) and that no podiums will be used because "podiums signify a debate". Also, the debate will be on the night of a crucial game in the AL East between the Red Sox and Toronto.

Hennigan is probably going along with this because she figures it will at least give her some desperately-needed publicity. But how much can she complain about the format if she agreed to it? She would have gotten a lot more mileage (and publicity) out of this by refusing to accept the format and demanding that Menino actually debate her. She could get in the news cycle every day by challenging Menino to a real debate in some new and interesting way. She should hire that "Chicken George Won't Debate" guy to go to every event at City Hall.

Source: "Menino avoids all close encounters: Candidates won't have real debate", Boston Herald, 9/22/2005

Disaster Czar

2005-09-22T08:54:00.000-04:00

Speculation has been rampant for at least a week now that President Bush would name Gov. Romney as "Reconstruction Czar" of New Orleans. According to Politics1.com, Romney's press secretary on Tuesday insisted "our office hasn't been contacted by the White House nor has our office contacted the White House about this. Governor Romney loves the job he has and is intent on serving his full term."

If offered the job, though, expect Romney to take it. I'm firmly of the opinion that he will not run for re-election; the loss that his low poll numbers seem to predict would be disastrous for his near-certain (at this point) run for President in 2008, and the business of governing would keep him from effectively campaigning. Also, if he resigned in the near future to take over the rebuilding effort in New Orleans, that would give Lt. Gov. Healey incumbent status for the 2006 election at a time, and incumbents rarely lose. It would allow him to save face in avoiding the decision to not run for re-election. And, most importantly to Romney, it would raise his low national profile in a way that advocating the blanket wiretapping of mosques can't.

Wiretapping Mosques

2005-09-16T08:49:00.000-04:00

I was pleased to see this story get a little more attention today, a day after it was reported that Mitt Romney's speech at the Heritage Foundation included the comments: "Prevention begins with intelligence ... How about people in settings, mosques for instance, that maybe are teaching doctrines of hate, are we monitoring that, wiretapping...?"

There are a lot of things wrong with the blanket wiretapping Romney seems to advocate, the most obvious violations being those of unreasonable search & seizure, half of the provisions in the First Amendment, and (depending on who you ask) the right to privacy. Politically speaking, it's also just a plain stupid thing to say if your goal is anything other than ridiculing your constituents in front of a national audience. But putting those gripes aside for a moment, it's just a bad way to prevent terrorism or other criminal activity. As five senior counterterrorism experts for law enforcement and anti-terrorism agencies explained in a memo shortly after Sept. 11, only profiling based on behaviors (not characteristics) is effective. When we start looking suspiciously at all Muslims, the suspicious behavior of an individual (Muslim or not) will go unnoticed. Besides, our translators aren't suffering from a lack of source material; if we force them to translate hours of prayers and harmless conversations, they will miss the next "Tomorrow is zero hour" conversation, guaranteed.

Other people have adequately made the civil liberties argument against Romney's suggestion. My point is that this sort of profiling increases the likelihood of future attacks.

Source:
Boston Globe, Wiretap mosques, Romney suggests, 9/15/2005
Boston Globe, Romney's slip, 9/16/2005

Gary Lee Profile

2005-09-14T07:51:00.000-04:00

Interesting profile today of gubernatorial hopeful Gary Lee (R) in the Daily News Transcript. He makes some good points about the state GOP being a party of millionaires, but he also seems to be making a mistake a lot of people (Democrats, Republicans, and Third Parties alike) make in attacking New England GOPers. For example, he points out that he is pro-choice, but his main competitor, Lt. Gov. Healey, is too. I think if you try to paint New England Republicans with same brush as the national party you're going to lose. No matter how many times you say it, voters are never going to buy that Kerry Healey is Rick Santorum. As Lee points out, though, there are a lot of Republicans fed up with their local party's fiscal policies. That's the way to win.

Source:
Money doesn't matter to Lee, Daily News Transcript, 9/14/2005

Know Thy Neighbor

2005-09-09T12:00:00.000-04:00

The Herald had a scathing editorial today denouncing knowthyneighbor.org and its founders, a married couple named Tom Lang and Alex Westerhoff. The website has vowed to publish a list of everyone who signs a petition to put the anti-gay marriage amendment on the ballot in 2008. The Herald claims:

The aim here is clearly to intimidate. It is also an open invitation to harass those who sign on to the measure. It's rather like earlier efforts by ardent anti-abortion groups who posted the names of doctors who performed abortions on their Web sites. At least one of those doctors ended up dead.

How wrong can one editorial board be? This comparison is a calculated play on emotion rather than reason.

The people who sign this petition are not voting for a law or a candidate. Rather, they're bypassing the legislature and the judiciary and trying to make law. Therefore, they're legislators. If the Massachusetts legislature stopped recording which lawmakers voted for or against legislation, that would be a clear violation of the law. How is this any different? When a minority of people want to propose a change that affects everyone else in the state, we the people deserve to know who these people are. As David from Blue Mass. Group put it, "if the backers of this (or any) constitutional amendment can't find 66,000 Massachusetts residents who feel strongly enough about doing so that they're willing to make their support public, then maybe the measure shouldn't be on the ballot after all." Indeed, this is public information anyway. Inevitably, someone signing this petition will not have been informed that his/her name would be made public; so the publicity surrounding this website may serve a valid public service.

Source: Intimidation on the Web, Boston Herald, 9/9/2005

Day of Reckoning

2005-09-07T08:56:00.000-04:00

Today is probably the day Attorney General Tom Reilly will decide whether or not to certify the 2008 ballot question that would outlaw gay marriage. Reilly is/was a longtime gay marriage opponent, though his views have gotten more squishy since he undertook a run for Governor.

The question is by most accounts illegal under the Massachusetts Constitution because it seeks to overturn a judicial decision. It is also nearly identical to a ballot initiative put forth in 2002. Since Massachusetts law prohibits similar ballot questions for two election cycles, that may also be grounds to refuse to certify it.

Obviously, the compelling interest here is in upholding the law, so we won't get an idea of his personal views. Still, his decision has implications for his candidacy as well as Mitt Romney's presidential run.

For what it's worth, here's the wording of the proposed ballot question:

When recognizing marriages entered into after the adoption of this amendment by the people, the Commonwealth and its political subdivisions shall define marriage only as the union of one man and one woman. (from ago.state.ma.us)

Update (2:45PM): Reilly certified the initiative. Did he give the Democratic nomination for governor to Deval Patrick (or someone else)? Time will tell. This certainly makes Romney's probable presidential run a bit easier: in the Northeast (which he obviously would need to win) he can avoid this divisive social issue for the duration of the campaign. Likewise, he can use his support for this measure to show the rest of the country what a conservative he is.

Boston Mayor's Race

2005-09-06T08:27:00.000-04:00

This is technically from last week, but I wanted to point out this story in which the Globe gave Boston Mayor Tom Menino some unbalanced free publicity for a cheap stunt. As apprehension reached a fever pitch last Friday over gas prices driven sky-high by Hurricane Katrina, Menino (up for re-election in two months) staged what sounds like a clumsy photo-op in which he renounced his gas-guzzling ways and jumped into a hybrid SUV, then tooled around City Hall Plaza for the benefit of reporters and photographers. Maybe the Globe is going to indulge every candidate's pratfalls from now on, but otherwise I fail to see how this is news.

The response by also-running Maura Hennigan was at the very end of the story:

City Councilor Maura Hennigan, who is challenging Menino for reelection this year, said Menino should have made the changes long ago.

Hennigan acknowledged that she drives a Jeep Cherokee, but said that is different because it is her private vehicle.

Of course it's different because it's her private vehicle! Hennigan, like the rest of us not in control of the City of Boston's sizeable budget, didn't have the option (or means) to call a press conference on Friday and just decide to get a new vehicle because we don't like high gas prices.

I'll admit that I feel bad for Hennigan; she's raised $20,000 (and mortgaged her house) to Menino's $1 million. Either way, I'm looking forward to the debates between the two, the first scheduled for Sept. 28. Priyanka Dayal wrote a really good article on the race in today's Daily Free Press, a Boston University daily paper.

Source:
Menino plans to trade SUV for gas-sipper, Boston Globe, 9/3/2005
Mayoral race a story of two bank accounts, Daily Free Press, 9/6/2005

Lt. Governor's Race Up

2005-09-06T08:01:00.000-04:00

The Lt. Governor's race has been added to the right. Thanks to Patrick for suggesting that I put it up, and for helping me fill out the field of candidates. The Republican field is understandably a bit thin at this point; like everything else, it all depends on Romney's decision.

Will he or won't he run for re-election? I personally think he won't. It seems from his frequent out-of-state trips (and in-state rallys) that he's decided to run for president in 2008. Assuming that for a moment, for Romney to run for re-election next year and lose (as current polls suggest would happen) would deal a fatal blow to any presidential aspirations.

What do others think?

Patrick Endorsement

2005-09-05T13:38:00.000-04:00

Deval Patrick (D) got a big boost in his campaign for governor today by way of an endorsement by Robert Reich and Alexis Herman, former Secretaries of Labor in the Clinton Administration. I'd say this represents a turning point, or more aptly a coalescence, for Patrick: he builds on his grassroots and blogosphere support with what may snowball into broad party support, which is extremely important in the fractured, unfocused dysfunctional family that is the modern-day Democratic Party. At the least, we're going to start seeing him starring in theoretical races touted by pollsters.
Source:
Patrick works for workers, Boston Globe, 9/5/2005

Healey Profile

2005-09-04T09:21:00.000-04:00

...on southcoasttoday.com this morning. Among other things, it shows that Lt. Gov. Healey, who has committed to running for governor if Romney stays out, may have won over enough of former state GOP chairman James Rappaport's supporters to make a Rappaport candidacy unlikely. The article also highlights Healey's departure from some of Romney's positions, including her support of over-the-counter access to Plan B, the morning after pill.

Summing up the GOP field, last week Charlie Baker announced that he would not run. Gary Lee's personal troubles and lack of GOP party support almost assure his failure. So it would seem that, in the event Romney doesn't run and assuming a Rappaport run is unlikely, any chance for a Republican primary hinges on Christy Mihos. Mihos has the money to mount a serious run, but only time will tell.

Source:
Healey is emerging from shadow, Standard-Times, 9/4/2005

Romney On Energy

2005-09-02T10:20:00.000-04:00

It's interesting to see Governor Romney veering wildly between the national Republican Party's energy policy and what seems to be his own, tortured conscience. Yesterday morning he had this to say:

"We as individual families and as citizens need to find ways to conserve energy, to utilize it more efficiently," he said. "It's an amazing fact. You've seen that almost everything in America has gotten more efficient over the decade -- except the fuel economy of the vehicles we drive, that's become more inefficient."

and this:

"Secretary (Doug) Foy said to me, `Don't use the word `conservation.' That brings up the vision of Jimmy Carter with heavy sweaters and turning down the thermostat.' That's not the idea. `Efficiency' means that we're wise in the use of energy that we have," Romney said as his secretary of Commonwealth Development stood behind him.

But later in the day, according to the Globe, he "emphasized that he did not necessarily support tougher fuel-efficiency standards." He also said:

''I actually believe that by virtue of the rise in gasoline prices, which I believe is a long-term phenomenon, that you will see a reversal of that trend."

Although Romney did not specifically endorse stronger fuel efficiency standards in the earlier press conference (nor directly oppose them in his later comments), I'm left wondering what the point was of his "It's amazing" comment if he doesn't "necessarily" support tougher standards. Romney really needs to find his own voice, and more specifically a few issues he can differ with the President on, if he hopes to win the Republican nomination. For a man who seems to be contorting himself to fit the national Republican Party, he picks some unpopular planks of their platform to latch onto.

His view that supply and demand economics will straighten out our energy situation strikes me as weak. Are people going to stop driving to work, the grocery store, or their children's schools? Of course not. The automakers have no incentive to make more fuel-efficient cars, either, when people are basically forced to buy the ones they already make. And building automobiles is a difficult industry to break into, to say the least, so the car companies don't have to fear any new competition. In fact, considering the national security issues we go through to directly or indirectly secure oil, this is arguably a situation where the federal government could intervene, the obvious way being through tougher fuel efficiency standards. But I guess that brings us back to where we started.

The Governor is sending mixed signals at the state level, too. Yesterday he called a waiver on the state gas tax "crazy", then hours later called a reporter (presumably Scott Greenberger) to reverse himself and support the idea as a temporary fix.

Source:
Romney says Katrina shows need for longterm energy efficiency, Boston Globe, 9/1/2005
Lawmaker proposes gas tax waiver, Boston Globe, 9/2/2005

Mihos Throws Hat Near Ring

2005-09-02T08:17:00.000-04:00

Christy Mihos (R) announced yesterday that he will run for Governor if Mitt Romney does not run for re-election in 2006. Mihos is the founder of Christy's Markets (the Globe calls him a "convenience store magnate"), and as a member of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority he was an early whistleblower of the Big Dig.

Source:
A new face in the crowd, Boston Globe, 9/2/2005

Update: Steve LeBlanc wrote another article for the Globe about Mihos' semi-announcement. Mihos would consider spending some of his personal fortune, something being done by every other serious contender at this stage.

If it wasn't obvious already, the financing of campaigns seems to have gone from bad (candidates having to raise tons of money) to worse (only candidates that have tons of their own money can run).

The Boston Phoenix Needs A Governor

2005-09-01T21:16:00.000-04:00

The Boston Phoenix has a good rundown this week of the various candidates (some declared, some undeclared) for Governor in 2006. They have Rep. Steven Lynch (D-9th District) in their list of possible candidates; I haven't seen anything to that effect so he's off my list for the moment.

On a related note, I have started filling out the races to the right a little more. The 2006 Congressional races are up. Please let me know if I've missed any candidates or otherwise screwed up. It hasn't escaped my attention that this blog has been governor-heavy since its inception (yesterday), but balance will be restored, I promise.

Source:
We Need A Governor, Boston Phoenix, 9/2/2005

Romney Requests Referendum

2005-09-01T10:07:00.000-04:00

Governor/presidential hopeful Mitt Romney (R) has urged Attorney General/gubernatorial hopeful Tom Reilly (D) to certify a 2008 ballot initiative on gay marriage. Forcing Reilly to make this decision is a shrewd move on Romney's part. If Reilly certifies the referendum, the move could reinforce the public perception that he holds nuanced, overly-legalistic views on gay marriage. Romney clearly wants to take the issue of gay marriage off the table for the 2008 presidential election; if Reilly goes along with the move, it would blunt what might otherwise be a major issue both in the 2006 and 2008 elections.

On the other hand, if Reilly refuses to certify the referendum, it doesn't allow him much room to differentiate himself from likely primary opponent Deval Patrick, a strong supporter of gay marriage running a grass-roots campaign for governor. If Patrick has any gas left in the tank as the primary gets closer, he will be a formidable opponent, indeed.

Meanwhile, in a couple of weeks the legislature will be considering a different 2006 ballot initiative that would outlaw gay marriage but would allow civil unions. That intiative will probably not pass due to sentiment that, depending on your view, it either goes too far or not far enough.

Personally, I'm generally opposed to ballot initiatives. The parade of special interest groups and money masquerading as "concerned citizens" obscures the real issues and bypasses our representative form of government for no discernable reason.

Source:
Romney urges '08 gay-marriage poll, Boston Globe, 9/1/2005

Governor Poll

2005-09-01T07:41:00.000-04:00

A recent Globe/UNH poll of Massachusetts residents highlights Gov. Romney's ongoing troubles on the homefront as he takes his roadshow to a national audience. The exact wording of poll questions is very important, and I can't find the questions in this case, so I'm attempting to rebuild the poll from an article I found in the Houston Chronicle, of all places. So take this with a grain of salt.

As Governor Romney presumably plans a presidential bid, is he devoting enough time to his role as governor?
Yes 38%
No 44%

Do you support or oppose Governor Romney's bid for the Republican nomination in 2008?
Yes --%
No 55%

In a theoretical 2008 Republican primary, who would you vote for?
Rudolph Giuliani 29%
John McCain 26%
Mitt Romney 19%

There was some bad news for John Kerry, too.

In a theoretical 2008 Democratic primary, who would you vote for?
Hillary Clinton 33%
John Kerry 21%

Source:
"Yet more politicians learn what familiarity can breed", Houston Chronicle, 8/27/2005

Campaigns

2005-08-31T14:01:00.000-04:00

As you can see, over to the right I'm trying to keep an up-to-date list of some of the candidates in state races coming up next year. Rather than complain about some bias towards third parties or lesser-known candidates, please email me with any omissions or updates!

Mormon For President

2005-08-31T13:24:00.000-04:00

There was an interesting article yesterday in the Globe about the fact that Governor Romney is a Mormon, and what that might mean to the all-important Evangelical voting bloc as he now embarks on what is obviously a presidential campaign (even if he's not calling it one). The article (and some commentators) seem to think he's going to run into problems. I'd say that will depend largely on the rest of the Republican field. Romney would have to hang on longer than the other Santorum-style candidates and position himself as the only GOP candidate running on an anti-abortion, anti-stem cell research, and anti-gay marriage and civil union platform. If he does that, he might be the most palatable Republican to the Christian right when the other options are John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, and Condoleeza Rice.

In other words, other candidates could split the vote and give Romney the nomination for being the least bad candidate to the largest amount of people. Lyndon Johnson actually used a similar strategy heading into the 1960 Democratic Convention, although admittedly that's not a shining example of how successful such a strategy could be.

Source:
Mormonism may sour Romney for some in Christian right, Boston Globe, 8/30/2005

Massachusetts Political Blog

2005-08-31T12:36:00.000-04:00

Thanks for stopping by. I have another blog called Slush Guzzler, but I recently moved to Bellingham, MA from Connecticut and thought this would be an interesting way to learn about and participate in my new state's political arena.

Disclaimer: I am a Democrat and have supported and worked for Democratic candidates in the past, and no doubt will continue to do so. At the same time, I'm an equal opportunity criticizer.