Towards a just & healthy democracy in the Commonwealth... and beyond!
Stein's wrong-headed aspirations are not growing effective Green Rainbow office-holders
It's fun to run for a statewide office.
But what political and legislative consequence has there been to her most recent effort? What the Green Rainbow coalition needs is actual office holders in the Massachusetts General Court. How would she be effective as Governor without the backing of supporters in the legislature, if she won? The previous Republican governor can certainly testify about how much fun it was to have numerous legislative overrides of his vetoes.
Far more powerful and long-lasting politically would be making the Republican party in the Legislature Massachusetts the flailing 3rd Party. Accomplishing that instead of the Green-Rainbow grand-standing that would result in a split center-left vote for Governor, that likely would bring yet another Republican governor into office, a result inimical to the Green Rainbow coalition's aims.
Fielding effective campaigns in 30+ of the 200 legislative districts is far more important, and much harder, and much more important. The Green Rainbow coalition is capable of having more people representing districts in the legislature than the Republican Party. If I have it correctly, the House has a mere 19 Republicans of 160 seats (11.9%), and of the 40 Senate districts, there are a mere 5 Republicans (12.5%). The Democrats could use a little complacency reduction, and competition; it's ripe for a little splitting up in the Legislature.
For example, there's an opportunity to fill a wide-open State Senate office in Cambridge, either soon this year, or later this November 2010, with the resignation of Galluccio in Cambridge, and there are no residency requirements to live in the district prior to the election.
(Residency: see the Secretary of the Commonwealth's guidance to candidates: only State Representatives must have resided within the district prior to the election. http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele... )
Massachusetts certainly has a number of unsolved problems in the state, starting with funding for Education, affordable Housing, deeply in debt MBTA Mass Transit, cut-back Social Services, inadequately maintained Roads and a court system that is groaning under cutbacks. It takes a legislature to support, fund, and resolve the operations and funding of these activities.
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Quotes
Only one species on earth does not have full employment and that is Homo sapiens.
--Paul Hawken (Blessed Unrest)
We built what history will record is the broadest and best-organized grassroots organization this Commonwealth has ever seen... We didn't build up this grassroots just to win an election. We built up the grassroots to govern in a whole new way, to make change real, and lasting, and meaningful.
Deval Patrick acceptance speech
Nov. 7, 2006
and Now...
We had this incredibly rich relationship that we built with the grass-roots network the last time. And then we got in, and we let it go. And there are reasons for that. But I think it's a terrible thing. We missed it. I missed it personally. And I think a lot of the folks in the organization missed it.
Governor Deval Patrick, to a room of supporters, trying to reignite the grassroots
February, 2010
But what political and legislative consequence has there been to her most recent effort? What the Green Rainbow coalition needs is actual office holders in the Massachusetts General Court. How would she be effective as Governor without the backing of supporters in the legislature, if she won? The previous Republican governor can certainly testify about how much fun it was to have numerous legislative overrides of his vetoes.
Far more powerful and long-lasting politically would be making the Republican party in the Legislature Massachusetts the flailing 3rd Party. Accomplishing that instead of the Green-Rainbow grand-standing that would result in a split center-left vote for Governor, that likely would bring yet another Republican governor into office, a result inimical to the Green Rainbow coalition's aims.
Fielding effective campaigns in 30+ of the 200 legislative districts is far more important, and much harder, and much more important. The Green Rainbow coalition is capable of having more people representing districts in the legislature than the Republican Party. If I have it correctly, the House has a mere 19 Republicans of 160 seats (11.9%), and of the 40 Senate districts, there are a mere 5 Republicans (12.5%). The Democrats could use a little complacency reduction, and competition; it's ripe for a little splitting up in the Legislature.
For example, there's an opportunity to fill a wide-open State Senate office in Cambridge, either soon this year, or later this November 2010, with the resignation of Galluccio in Cambridge, and there are no residency requirements to live in the district prior to the election.
(Residency: see the Secretary of the Commonwealth's guidance to candidates: only State Representatives must have resided within the district prior to the election. http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele... )
Massachusetts certainly has a number of unsolved problems in the state, starting with funding for Education, affordable Housing, deeply in debt MBTA Mass Transit, cut-back Social Services, inadequately maintained Roads and a court system that is groaning under cutbacks. It takes a legislature to support, fund, and resolve the operations and funding of these activities.