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Towards a just & healthy democracy in the Commonwealth... and beyond!
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Thu Jan 07, 2010 at 18:58:35 PM EST
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Stein to jump into gov race with Green-Rainbow bid
By Jim O'Sullivan / State House News Service Thursday, January 7, 2010
Dr. Jill Stein plans to join the race for 2010 race for governor, running as a Green-Rainbow candidate and pushing the issue of universal health care, posing a challenge to Gov. Deval Patrick's left flank.
Stein told the News Service late today that she plans to formally announce her campaign later this month. Her candidacy will further complicate a field that already has two major Republican candidates, a state treasurer running as an independent, and Patrick, the Democrat seeking reelection.
"I am very excited to offer voters a real choice for change," Stein told the News Service in an interview. "We're looking at three candidates for governor who have very similar opinions on a variety of key issues. It's very important that voters have a second choice." |
| eli_beckerman :: Dr. Jill Stein throws her hat into 2010 gubernatorial race |
| Asked about issues where she feels she can stand out, Stein said she believes it's "very important that there be another health care option," which she described as affordable health care available to all. "We don't have that now and we're only getting further away from it," she said.
Stein said job creation would be a major campaign theme, including establishing more "resilient" jobs that are less vulnerable to being exported out of state and overseas, and jobs in so-called green sectors.
"I'll soon be announcing a campaign for governor of Massachusetts, a campaign to take our future back from lobbyists and insiders, and get Massachusetts working for the people, and the environment our economy depends on," Stein said in a web posting to supporters.
Stein's posting took direct aim at Gov. Deval Patrick and his low approval ratings.
"As the second round of 'yes we can' withers on the vine, Massachusetts is seeing once again that real change must come from outside of moneyed interests and the politicians they fund. The governor's dwindling approval ratings underscore the opening. And, since the three CEO/politicians heading for the ballot differ only in fine points of their shared Wall Street vision - they'll be splitting the business-as-usual vote three ways."
Stein's entrance would add a fourth political dimension, with two GOP candidates, one unenrolled, and Patrick carrying the Democratic mantle. Her liberal platform would likely drain more support from Patrick, a progressive, than the three more conservative challengers.
Stein registered under 4 percent when she ran for governor in 2002. Her 2006 campaign for secretary of state netted her under 20 percent.
Treasurer Timothy Cahill said the winner of next year's gubernatorial election would likely need fewer than four in 10 votes, and said 35 percent could prove sufficient.
Cahill said any candidate who reached 40 percent would enjoy "a blowout."
"I think somebody can win with 35 percent," said Cahill. "I think it's more likely going to be 37, 38 percent if all three candidates stay viable. And I think at the end of the day all three candidates stay viable."
Polls show Patrick leading the field with support in the low-to-high-30 percent range, and Cahill, and either GOP candidate, Charles Baker or Christy Mihos, clumped in the high 20s.
[...]
Full article here |
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| Quotes |
"Now, is this the deal I would have preferred? No. I believe that we could have made the tough choices required - on entitlement reform and tax reform - right now, rather than through a special congressional committee process. But this compromise does make a serious down payment on the deficit reduction we need and gives each party a strong incentive to get a balanced plan done before the end of the year. Most importantly, it will allow us to avoid default and end the crisis that Washington imposed on the rest of America."
--President Barack Obama on the debt ceiling "deal"
"Despite Democratic control over the White House, despite Democratic control over the Senate, despite overwhelming opposition from the American people, a small minority of the members of the Republican-controlled House have successfully pushed an extreme right-wing agenda onto the American political landscape. It is an ideology which believes that despite the fact that the rich are getting richer, the middle class is shrinking, and poverty is increasing, all - all of the burden for deficit reduction should rest on working people."
--Independent Senator Bernie Sanders on the debt ceiling "deal"
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Then and Now
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Then...
"Last year Evergreen, a Massachusetts company, agreed to establish their first-ever United States based manufacturing facility here in Massachusetts. They did so, or are doing so, at Devens. They have now agreed and chosen to triple their size at Devens. Their next phase of expansion, right here in Massachusetts, a signature company in a signature sector, and we congratulate all of the folks at Evergreen and look forward to continuing to work with you...
We made a personal commitment to Evergreen for the sake of Evergreen, but also because we wanted to show that there are ways in which state government, in working together with private industry and with the utility companies, could begin to create a different kind of environment, a different kind of business climate here, to grow that sector, and it is happening. It's happening. Evergreen is one of the most prominent examples, but there are a whole host of examples."
--Governor Deval Patrick, April 7, 2008, boasting about state investment in Evergreen.
and Now...
"Evergreen Solar Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday, completing a stunning reversal of fortune for a high-flying alternative-energy company that once seemed to herald a new era for the Massachusetts economy... At its peak, Evergreen employed roughly 900 people locally and attracted more than $50 million in state support, as its stock price soared above $100 a share.
Yesterday, Evergreen's stock closed at 18 cents. The company shuttered its manufacturing plant in Devens earlier this year and now has only 85 employees left. Massachusetts is one of its top creditors, owed $1.5 million in rent."
--Erin Ailworth, Boston Globe, August 16, 2011
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