The recent report from the Beacon Hill Institute got me thinking about issues our candidates can and should be running on in the 2010 election. Scott Brown's race was run and won on the federal issues like health care and national security that generally aren't transferable to our local candidates for the State House. My fear is that another slate of good candidates will run for office without much of a message and hope to be elected based simply upon the public's distaste for the legislature and current state of affairs or some magical Scott Brown effect.
Sure, the approval rating of the legislature and the Governor is very low. However, in terms of the legislature, that's been the case for years. And yes, several Democrat elected officials have been indicted recently and some forced to resign in disgrace. But once again, that's also been a trend for years as the last 3 Democrat Speakers of the House have all had their trouble with the law.
The problem is that Massachusetts voters generally dislike the legislature but love their legislator. This won't change unless there is a issue (or set of issues) that is a flash-point for change like there was in the US Senate Race. Yes, we have the repeal of the sales tax increase. Is that enough considering we've been using the income tax reduction issue for years and losing seats every cycle?
What legislative issue or set of issues do you believe our candidates should be campaigning on? Should they be campaigning against the legislative agenda (overturning the sales tax, repealing Romney care, pork projects, etc.) or are they better served pushing solutions (vouchers, term limits, pension reform, etc.)? Should they be all economic or include social concerns?
I'm more interested to hear the thoughts of others, but I've included 3 of mine below for anyone interested.
Scott Brown today chose Steven P. Schrage to be Chief of Staff of his U.S. Senate office. According to AP reporter Glenn Johnson Greg Casey formally delivered Scott's resignation letter to the State Senate today as well.
Most recently, Schrage served as the Scholl Chair in International Business at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C., a leading policy institution whose board includes noted former officials such as Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski. His recent work has focused on how America can lead in the wake of the global economic crisis to create new jobs, rebuild our military strength and compete in the global economy.
"Steven Schrage is a professional who knows his way around Washington. He brings to the table expertise and background in a number of valuable areas - public policy, economic strategy, national security, business, counterterrorism, strategic planning and management. His knowledge and experience will be extremely useful in helping to advance the work of my office as we build the best team in the Senate to serve the people of Massachusetts," said Brown.
Mr. Schrage formerly served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and acting Assistant Secretary under Colin Powell. During that time, he was selected by the White House and the State Department to lead anti-terrorism, law enforcement and homeland security efforts among America's top allies as co-chair of the G-8's Anti-Crime and Terrorism Group. At the State Department, he managed more than $2 billion in global assistance and worked with military and other officials on critical civilian security efforts in Iraq, Latin America, Asia, Europe, Africa, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, where he led efforts that trained more than 27,000 police officers and helped secure Afghanistan's first historic presidential election.
Previously, Mr. Schrage served in the White House's Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). He was the first senior administration official placed in USTR in 2001, and later served under USTR Robert Zoellick. Additionally, Mr. Schrage was international trade counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives' Ways and Means Committee and chief foreign policy and defense counsel for the late Senator Paul Coverdell, a member of the Senate's Leadership and the third-ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Mr. Schrage grew up in a military family and conducted MBA and doctoral studies at Harvard Business School, earning distinction (honors) for his doctoral qualifying exam before returning to public service in 2000. He is an honors graduate of Duke University and of the University of Michigan Law School.
Since the hotel room, flight, and bar were booked for Feb 11, 2009, Red Mass Group is still hosting a party next week. Only now it will be known as the "One Week Anniversary of the Scott Brown Swearing In Bash". A lot of you have asked, so I want you to know it is still going on.
Sen.-elect Scott Brown (R), the successor to the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), will be sworn in to office Thursday afternoon, giving Republicans 41 seats in the upper chamber.
"Once we get his certificate, we expect to swear him in tomorrow afternoon as early as 5 o'clock, which is earlier than he suggested," said Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), in an interview Wednesday.
Candidates for office who want to challenge this blue-state attachment to high taxes have an important fact on their side: The "frayed-safety-net'' argument doesn't hold water. The Beacon Hill Institute calculated per-capita spending by state and local government in Massachusetts on three categories of safety-net services - public welfare, veterans services and unemployment compensation. We found that, adjusted for differences in the cost of living, Massachusetts spending thus measured exceeds safety-net spending by the country as a whole by 30 percent. It turns out that our safety net is a good deal less frayed than the public employee unions would have us believe.
The solution is to impose a tax and expenditure limitation on state spending, either through a constitutional amendment or a simple act of self-restraint by the Legislature. A tax and expenditure limitation proposed by the Beacon Hill Institute would limit the growth of spending to the growth of population plus inflation, thus maintaining a steady flow of services per person. It would eliminate the structural deficit and obviate emergency budget cuts in lean years. Had such a limitation been in effect since 1999, the state would have come close to meeting its 2010 spending target without the need for $1.32 billion in new taxes that it imposed on state consumers and corporations.
This past November, US Army Sgt. Benjamin Sherman, of Plymouth, lost his life while serving his nation in Afghanistan.
His family and friends have established a memorial fund in his honor. Just like Sgt. Sherman gave his life trying to help a fellow solider in need, his memorial fund helps soldiers and their families in their time of need.
A very important fundraiser will be held next Wednesday, Feb. 10, at the Barker Tavern in Scituate.
The event is from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and will feature food, raffle prizes, and special guests. Suggested donation is $15 at the door.
I will be in attendance, broadcasting live to celebrate the 3rd Anniversary of Monday Night Talk, heard on 959.9 WATD-FM.
Please join with us in helping remember a true American hero, US Army Sgt. Benjamin Sherman!
I have never gone to any lengths to hide my identity on this site and as a result many of you already knew me. I decided however that now was the time to come forward and take off the mask of my user name, let my record of involvement in the party be made public, and enjoy all of that fun public scrutiny. It was time for me to step forward, because so many conservatives and Republicans are under pressure to support their establishment's ticket. I'm here to say you don't have to, and it's OK, because many of us share your concerns.
Like I said, I'm Joe Sheehan, I'm a loyal Republican, and for the first time in my life I am actively supporting the candidacy of a ticket outside the GOP: Tim Cahill and Paul Loscocco. I have been a tireless volunteer since the time I was in fourth grade and held my first sign for State Rep. Fran Marini back in the mid-90s. I was one of the youngest ever members of my Republican Town Committee participating early on and joining as an elected member at 18. On my 18th birthday I drove to Town Hall to register as a Republican for the first time, it was the highlight of my day.
In the years since I served as a leader for my College Republican chapter helping candidates around the country, including at one point helping coordinate a bus full of College Republicans from Washington, DC to help Jim Ogonowski in his run for Congress. I spent my college years in DC interning in the House of Representatives working for Republican Congressmen from across the fruited plain, and before that I interned, while in high school for a Republican State Representative here in Massachusetts. I also briefly served as an aide to another Republican Representative on Beacon Hill as well. (More after the jump)
Jessica Van Sack says Bob Hedlund should pull a Cahill and run as an independent in the 10th Congressional. Republicans in his district do have a number of challengers in the pipeline ready to go if he takes the plunge.
Boston Herald
Dude, pass that pension reform right the hell now. It's got major reforms in it! (Chuckle)
Springfield Republican
Fitburg throws in the towel on Planned Parenthood.
AP
Fear not citizens of Dalton! You can now pay your increased property taxes because the Department of Revenue finally approved the increase.
Berkshire Eagle
Your Daily Video
Los Campesinos - You! Me! Dancing!
(A case for Baker/Tisei but mostly Baker. - promoted by Garrett Quinn)
(With the sudden influx of trolls and "insiders" working for campaigns posting on RMG, before you read I want to assure you I don't work for anyone. Every editor on here knows me personally, and several people know me and may not actually know it.)
I understand the hate for the Baker/Tisei ticket. I get why conservatives are fuming that Baker is "our" candidate, and I understand why people are upset over Tisei. I don't agree with Tisei on many political issues, and even though Baker doesn't really have many stances, I assume if you put a gun to his head and asked where he is on issues, I wouldn't agree with many of his answers.
Ideally, I wish both were more conservative. Heck, I wish Tisei was the slightest bit conservative! But we have to look at the ultimate goal, then figure out the options.
We are trying to get Deval Patrick out of office. We aren't trying to get the best conservative candidate in office.
No information on the April 14th Tea Party was available other than that it will take place at 10am on a Wednesday and somewhere in Boston.
Palin announced her scheduled appearance in a USA Today column defending her participation in a controversial Tea Party Convention being held in Nashville. Most interesting about this so-called convention is its limited credentialing of the media to six media outlets:
- Fox News
- Breitbart.com
- Townhall.com
- The Wall Street Journal
- World Net Daily
If you're hosting a "major" political gathering anywhere in America don't you want the press to, ya know, cover it? You include World Net Daily but not say The National Review or Reason?
(Is the Scott Brown Coalition already dead? Interesting questions and concerns over the unhappy activist base and their relationship with the Baker/Tisei ticket. Where will they go? Do social cons really have anywhere to go this gubernatorial election? What about libertarians? Should they just throw their token support behind the gubernatorial nominee or focus on legislative races?
Oh, and what about that guy with the 17 daughters in Quincy? - promoted by Garrett Quinn)
What I'm having trouble understanding is why did all the unity we had as a party in the US Senate race disappear so fast. Conservatives generally supported Scott Brown even though he wasn't pro-life and even though Joe Kennedy articulated some fiscal issues on which Scott was more moderate. In Scott's primary, his opponent was even running radio ads calling him a RINO. Conservatives overlooked certain issues because it was so important to elect a Republican that would be the 41st vote against the detrimental policies Democrats were passing and planning to pass in Washington D.C.
Now we have a Governor's race where people seem to be supporting Tim Cahill because his stances on certain issues are supposedly slightly more conservative than our GOP candidates for Governor. And, I can't understand why fellow conservatives would embrace an ex-Democrat like Cahill when a month ago they decided that Scott Brown was worth it to vote for over Joe Kennedy.
(This has to be brought back. The outrage over Richard Tisei and his candidacy for LG is extremely interesting. It's been a few months now so why hasn't somebody on that side stepped forward to challenge him? One GOP operative told me that they find the outrage with no vehicle to be "a rookie move that is causing unnecessary friction."
Now that Jeff Perry is running for congress that leaves only...Karyn Polito? DeMacedo? Somebody with deep pockets?
The caucuses and meetings for delegates are taking place now. The clock is ticking for all the Tisei Haters to do something other than bitch and post on RMG. - promoted by Garrett Quinn)
Assuming Baker wins the primary there is no guarantee that Tisei will be his running mate in the general election. It is still early and a primary for lieutenant governor is not out of the question. Joe Sheehan and DD4RP have posted extensively about the potential candidates for lieutenant governor. Now that Baker has selected Tisei none of them will likely consider running for lieutenant governor because the party establishment is backing Baker-not surprising due to all the bridge burning done by Christy Mihos in 2006-and most elected state Republicans will be weary of rocking that boat.
Oops, almost forgot...there is this bro named Jeff Perry who represents the Fifth Barnstable District and he makes sweet YouTube videos.
In the latest edition of MFI:60, I defend the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law that has recently come under attack in Washington, D.C. President Barack Obama used his State of the Union address to call for its repeal, and his Secretary of Defense Robert Gates testified in support of the repeal in a hearing today before the Armed Services committee.
I served our nation for 30 years as an Air Force fighter pilot and senior commander, including Vietnam and the first Gulf War. I know from first hand experience that allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the armed forces would be very disruptive to the morale, health and welfare of our troops. This is of particular concern for those soldiers, sailors and airmen in combat environments.
Please take a moment to sign the petition HERE. Then be sure to call Sen. Paul Kirk at 202.224.4543 and Rep. Niki Tsongas at 202.225.3411. Both serve on the Armed Services Committee, and should be encouraged to support the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy that has been effective since its near unanimous passage by Congress and President Clinton.
Thank you,
Kris Mineau
President, Massachusetts Family Institute
H. 1728: "An Act relative to gender based discrimination and hate crimes." It has commonly been referred to as the "Bathroom Bill" for good reason. The government is attempting to create a civil right to use bathrooms and places of exercise based on a gender expression independent from someone's actual gender based on biological fact. However, this is not a bad provision in an otherwise positive bill. The "Bathroom Bill" is far worse than you think.
It creates a 27 person permanent government commission. "The commission shall be an independent agency of the commonwealth and shall not be subject to the control of any other department or agency." The members are not elected, nor appointed by anyone who is elected. They are appointed by a litany of left-wing special interest groups including Mass Equality and the Massachusetts Teachers Association. This is not just a big government power grab, it grabs power and turns it over to left wing special interest groups that cannot be held accountable by we the people.
This panel will be charged with creating "programs supporting gay, and lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth on an ongoing basis to the department of education." These new regulations and designed curriculum will not just apply to our local public schools. This bill specifically outlines new regulations and restrictions on charter schools as well.
Section 24 specifically bans the the type of content that can be "published, issued, circulated, distributed or displayed, in any way, any advertisement, circular, folder, book, pamphlet, written or painted or printed notice or sign, of any kind or description" by private citizens in direct conflict of our first amendment rights. To be clear: I am not talking about government publications. These are regulations on us as private citizens not employed by the government. They want to ban what we can write in books.
Jeff Perry's announcement that he is running for US Congress in the 10th Congressional District makes him the early front runner among the declared candidates.
"It's the right time and I'm the guy for district," Perry said.
The other declared Republican candidates are CPA Ray Kasperowicz of Cohasset and former governors council candidate Don Hussey of Hingham. State Senator Bob Hedlund and former state treasurer Joe Malone are considering runs for congress.
According to the Cape Cod Times the current congressman, Bill Delahunt, will not make a decision to run for reelection until March when nomination papers become available. He does not have a declared Democratic primary challenger at this time.
"Government is growing bigger every day and the ability of states to control their own destiny is diminishing everyday," said Perry.
Perry's run for congress bars him from running for reelection as a state rep leaving his seat in the 5th Barnstable District open for the fall elections
"I'm a term limits guy anyway," said Perry.
Perry said that he would institute the same policy for himself if he is elected to the US Congress. "If I am elected to the US Congress I will limit myself to four or five terms," he said.
There is speculation that Sandwich Selectman and CPA Randy Hunt will run for Perry's vacant seat.
There is no Democratic challenger at this time.
- promoted by Rob "EaBo Clipper" Eno)
Scott Brown today chose Steven P. Schrage to be Chief of Staff of his U.S. Senate office. According to AP reporter Glenn Johnson Greg Casey formally delivered Scott's resignation letter to the State Senate today as well.
I have never gone to any lengths to hide my identity on this site and as a result many of you already knew me. I decided however that now was the time to come forward and take off the mask of my user name, let my record of involvement in the party be made public, and enjoy all of that fun public scrutiny. It was time for me to step forward, because so many conservatives and Republicans are under pressure to support their establishment's ticket. I'm here to say you don't have to, and it's OK, because many of us share your concerns.
Jeff Perry's announcement that he is running for US Congress in the 10th Congressional District makes him the early front runner among the declared candidates.
Jeff Perry is Running for Congress.
