"Juliette Kayyem goes on offensive in race for governor; Plans rally in Arlington and more aggressive campaign in bid for attention" by Michael Levenson | Globe staff May 10, 2014
When she started running for governor in August, Juliette Kayyem offered an intriguing profile for Democrats yearning for an exciting new candidate. As a homeland security official, she had worked with Governor Deval Patrick and President Obama. As a Boston Globe columnist and CNN commentator, she knew how to craft an argument.
But nine months later, she is lagging in polls, has not won any endorsements from elected officials, and recently loaned $200,000 of her own money to her campaign account. Party insiders say that she, Donald Berwick, and Joseph Avellone may not win enough support at the party convention in June to qualify for the September primary ballot.
See: Grossman Was in Greenfield
Now, Kayyem is sharpening her attacks, hoping to inject a jolt of energy into her campaign. Taking aim at the front-runners, Attorney General Martha Coakley and Treasurer Steve Grossman, she is arguing that it would be a mistake for Democrats to nominate an established figure from Beacon Hill, pointing out that when the party lost four consecutive governor’s races from 1990 to 2006, three of the four nominees fit that profile.
She plans to make the argument at a rally Saturday at Arlington Town Hall, signaling a new, more aggressive phase of the campaign, four weeks before the state Democratic convention.
“From 1990 to 2006, despite living in a progressive state that sent Ted Kennedy to Washington repeatedly, we lost election after election to Republicans,” Kayyem said, previewing her argument in an interview.
Not that progressive, actually. We lag on women, are last when it comes to the DCF, pension fund is one of the worst, money misspent all over the place. The only thing I see us being "progressive" is the gay marriage thing.
But please don't let that spoil the conventional myth about Massachusetts. The people are antiwar; the political $y$tem is not.
*****************
She contended that, as a candidate making her first run for elected office, she more closely fits the outsider mold that made Patrick an appealing choice in 2006. Coakley and Grossman “are the establishment,” she said.
Seeing how Patrick's tenure turned out.... sigh.
By raising the specter of bitter Democratic losses in past governor’s races, Kayyem could touch a raw nerve among party activists. Many of them worked hard on those campaigns and still respect those nominees, such as Shannon P. O’Brien, the former state treasurer who lost to Mitt Romney in 2002, and Scott Harshbarger, the former attorney general who lost to Paul Cellucci in 1998.
Interesting story: I didn't think anything of it at the time, but college history professor was stunned at the outcome. O'Brien, longtime political family in Massachusetts, lost to a Utah Mormon? Looking back, it looks like that was Massachusetts' first baptism regarding rigged elections.
But some party insiders said Kayyem needs to take a more aggressive approach, as she appears to be struggling for traction. Polls have shown her, Berwick, and Avellone trailing far behind Coakley, with Grossman in second place.
Though Kayyem said she is confident she will qualify for the ballot, some party activists say she, Berwick, and Avellone could fall short of securing the support of 15 percent of delegates needed to earn a spot in the primary.
“One of them has got to make some kind of a play for the delegates in order to be on the ballot,” said Debra Kozikowski, vice chairwoman of the state Democratic Party who supports Grossman. “So I think it’s a wise move on her part to show she has the chutzpah and the vision to be a candidate in September.”
I'm not even going to....
Tim Foley, Coakley campaign manager, dismissed Kayyem’s attempt to link the attorney general to the failed candidacies of past Democratic nominees. “Instead of trying to predict who voters will choose in November, Martha Coakley is working hard every day to earn their support by building a strong, enthusiastic, grass-roots campaign,” he said in a statement.
Grossman also rejected the comparison. “I’m proud to be running a positive progressive campaign that is building an army of grass-roots activists one handshake at a time,” he said in a statement.
Related: Grossman Was in Greenfield
I didn't shake.
Scott Ferson, a Democratic strategist, said he believes that Kayyem is smart to launch a tougher line against the front-runners, saying she has “got to get attention somehow.”
And the Globe stuck this article in on a Saturday!
“People always talk about positive campaigns and keeping it clean,” he said, “but if you don’t draw a contrast in a Democratic primary, where everyone basically agrees on everything, how are people going to choose?”
Lemmings.
--more--"
The guy on the way out left a real bad taste:
"Patrick tells UMass Amherst graduates to build community" by Dan Adams | Globe Correspondent May 10, 2014
AMHERST — Governor Deval Patrick urged 2014 graduates of the University of Massachusetts Amherst Friday to use their education for the greater good, saying “your education here at UMass is about more than being prepared to be good employees. It is about preparation for citizenship itself. . . . Good citizens don’t just live and work in a community. They build community.”
Overcast skies and a steady mist of rain did little to dampen the crowd’s enthusiasm at the afternoon ceremony.
About 20,000 family members and friends of the graduates sat and stood in the aisles of an overflowing McGuirk Alumni Stadium. Excited students threw beach balls, lit cigars, and stood on their chairs to lead classmates in competing chants before being awarded their degrees.
University officials said that Patrick was chosen to deliver the commencement address because of the outgoing governor’s commitment to public education, including fighting to preserve UMass’s funding during the recent recession.
Patrick’s remarks were a mix of personal reflection, advice, and stump speech on climate change and energy policy. He drew chuckles when he recalled his frustration with his own daughters, who loathed answering questions about what they would do after college.
Sigh. I'm glad I didn't have to go.
**************
By far the longest section of Patrick’s speech was devoted to climate change and energy policy.
After a chilly spring and record winter.
Citing a report released by the Obama administration on climate change, he said state leaders must set a new “clean energy standard” that would reduce emissions in Massachusetts by half before 2050 and would chart the course to “a future free of fossil fuels.”
Yeah, you couldn't miss that report, and it has really reached the point of rank offensiveness for them to be pushing that fart-mi$ting $pew. When they lie about the weather in front of you and the economy, too, well, they have lost the trust.
More immediately, he called on the Legislature to pass pending bills that would compel utilities to repair aging natural gas pipes and encourage the development of hydro and wind power.
Well, I agree on the gas lines (why were they neglected on your watch while gas companies made record profits, sir?) but I disagree on the higher costs.
Patrick also touted his environmental and energy accomplishments, saying the economy grew even as the state reduced its emissions, closed coal plants, and set aggressive energy efficiency goals.
If that is the way you have to remember it....
Patrick opened the segment of his speech by joking, “I’m aware of how important it is for me to get on and off as quickly as possible — I get it.” But his remarks on energy policy were lengthy and at times dense with figures.
I'm sure that revved up the crowd.
Some in the crowd seemed ready to celebrate. Impatient students cheered sarcastically when he boasted that the state had increased its solar energy capacity and then broke into a song that briefly threatened to drown out the governor.
OMG, he was HECKLED for his BULL$HIT!!
“People are wiseguys,” said graduating senior Janna Centrella, 22.
But the stadium quieted when Patrick invoked the memory of last year’s Boston Marathon bombings, and urged students to unite.
So he whipped out the old false flag hoax and scripted and staged crisis drills gone live card to get the kids to shut up, huh?
How lame and weak!
Btw, more and more people are coming to that conclusion regarding that sloppy as shit operation.
“We are all connected, to each other, to events beyond our control, to a common destiny,” he said.
Pfft!
Governor Deval Patrick walked among graduating recruits with State Police officials (PAUL KAPTEYN/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE).
Elitist scum amongst the thin blue line of protection.
The university awarded honorary doctoral degrees to former US representative John W. Olver and to journalist Gail Collins, a UMass graduate.
The university awarded honorary doctoral degrees to former US representative John W. Olver and to journalist Gail Collins, a UMass graduate.
The graduation of students from the university’s various schools at several commencements throughout the day created a logistical headache in Amherst. Thousands of cars clogged the town’s roads for most of Friday, inching toward distant parking lots.
Ooooooohh!
I'm sure the people in town LOVED THAT -- especially when you consider that they paid for it.
So HOW MUCH did the GREENHOUSE-GASSING CARBON FOOTPRINT of a CARAVAN COST?
--more--"
Something else we are paying for even as I type:
"Mass. Life Sciences Center chief steps down" by Priyanka Dayal McCluskey | Globe Staff May 09, 2014
Susan Windham-Bannister, who spearheaded $500 million of public investment in life sciences research and manufacturing, said Friday that she is resigning as chief executive of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, a quasi-public agency that promotes the state’s biotechnology and related industries.
Related: Biotech Giveaway Was Borrowed Money
At least the pharmaceuticals thought it was worth it.
Windham-Bannister, the founding chief executive of the center, said she always planned to leave the $285,000-a-year job around the same time Governor Deval Patrick left his. Patrick’s term ends in January, and he is not seeking reelection. She said she will remain at the Life Sciences Center until a replacement is found and help with the transition to new leadership.
“It’s been a great honor for me,” she said in an interview. “It’s been the highlight of my career.”
That you created a job you got paid for?
A longtime consultant before she became head of the Life Sciences Center in 2008, Windham-Bannister credits the agency with helping Massachusetts become the global leader in life sciences while competing with states such as California and New York.
“By any metric they have to acknowledge that we’re number one,” Windham-Bannister said. “We know what an impact this initiative has had. We have gotten a lot of visibility not just nationally, but internationally.”
Finally besides something other than gay marriage.
Patrick and the Legislature established the center in 2008 as part of a 10-year, $1 billion life sciences initiative. A Boston Foundation report last year said $56.6 million in tax breaks to life sciences companies between 2009 and 2011 created 2,500 jobs.
Which is all nice and good, except they still made profits while taxpayers endured social service cuts.
“Massachusetts invested wisely at exactly the time that it is hardest for government to invest, when things are not going well, and the life sciences responded with robust growth,” said Joshua Boger, founder and former CEO of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc., and a board member of the Life Sciences Center.
Not like he would have a $elf-$erving rea$on for $aying that.
Boger described Windham-Bannister as “an unusual leader, in that she is never satisfied with ‘OK,’ ” crediting her with successful initiatives such as a paid college internship program aimed at developing and recruiting talent.
Patrick predicted the life sciences initiative would generate 250,000 jobs over 10 years, but in 2012, four years after the law was passed, only 8,750 jobs had been created, the Globe reported. Windham-Bannister said Friday the center would release updated jobs numbers in coming weeks.
By those measures, it's a failure -- as job growth is decreasing!
The life sciences initiative has spent about half of its $1 billion allotment so far, generating another $1.5 billion in private spending, Windham-Bannister said.
Whose billion?
That means LESS than 10% of the promised jobs will materialize -- and this woman calls this the success of her life?
What is wrong with the elite cla$$, hey? Why are they so demented and deluded?
Some of the money went to private companies, some to public institutions. The center’s two biggest awards went the University of Massachusetts: $90 million for a research building at UMass Medical School in Worcester and $95 million for new research facilities at UMass Amherst....
The people in Amherst are still stuck in traffic.
So where did the other $315 million go?
--more--"
Not to the hospitals:
"Patrick pushes improvements at Bridgewater hospital" by Michael Rezendes | Globe staff May 09, 2014
Governor Deval Patrick and a large group of senior staff members visited troubled Bridgewater State Hospital on Thursday and announced that the administration will bring in a nationally recognized specialist to help reduce the medium-security prison’s overreliance on restraining mentally ill men, strapping their wrists and ankles to a bed, or isolating them in small cells for days or weeks at a time.
See: When Anger Turns to Fear
Now it is the government feeling it, thus we get an public relations photo-op.
During a meeting of about two dozen officials that included top Bridgewater administrators and advocates for the mentally ill, Patrick asked for a report outlining short-, medium-, and long-term solutions to the issues confronting the facility, ranging from the excessive use of seclusion and restraints to whether patients and inmates treated at Bridgewater should be under the care of the Department of Mental Health, rather than the Department of Correction.
After the meeting, Public Safety Secretary Andrea Cabral told reporters the administration believes clinicians and prison guards at Bridgewater use seclusion and restraints too often and noted that Massachusetts is one of only two states — Iowa is the other — that treat mentally ill persons involved in the criminal justice system in a facility run by a department of correction.
Still, Cabral said Patrick’s focus is likely to be on improving treatment for mentally ill men held at Bridgewater.
He had eight years.
*******************
Patrick’s visit to Bridgewater follows a series of Globe reports citing the questionable use of seclusion and restraints at Bridgewater, including the events leading to the 2009 death of Joshua Messier, a 23-year-old mental health patient who died while guards were putting him in four-point restraints.
The medical examiner ruled Messier’s death a homicide, but the prosecutor declined to press charges and no one was disciplined until the Globe’s February article.
*******************
On Thursday, Patrick also met with the parents of two Bridgewater mental health patients. The parents appeared at the facility uninvited and asked to meet with the governor to present their views on the care their sons have received, which has included prolonged periods of seclusion and restraints.
He was put on the spot and off his choreographed script!
“He took the time to come down here, and that’s a first step,” said Joanne Minich, the mother of mental health patient Peter Minich and a plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit against Bridgewater State Hospital, after meeting with Patrick. “I told him the system needs to be changed. What happened to my son and what’s happening to others is not right.”
Related:
Justina Pelletier: A breakthrough, and a path forward
HHS chief escapes flak, handles crises
After Patrick’s meeting with advocates and Bridgewater staff members, Cabral said the administration will retain Joan Gillece to help reduce the use of seclusion and restraints at the prison. Gillece, project director for the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors, has played a leading role in training staff at mental health facilities to reduce their reliance on such measures through a program known as the “Six Core Strategies.”
The program focuses on techniques designed to reduce violence and the factors that cause violence to escalate into situations in which staff members believe use of seclusion or restraints is the only way to guarantee the safety of patients and clinicians.
After government foments or causes so much of it?
Christine M. Griffin, executive director of the Disability Law Center, a federally funded advocacy group, attended the meeting and praised Patrick’s selection of Gillece.
I can't take much more of this.
“She’s a wonderful choice and has experience working in prisons,” said Griffin, whose organization is in the midst of a sweeping investigation of treatment and practices at Bridgewater. “She can help them reduce the use of restraints and, frankly, eliminate it. It can be done.”
--more--"
You know, between this, the DCF scandals, the Dookhan drug lab thing, the meningitis murders, and the general corruption of this administration, it is a woeful legacy. And he is taking a victory lap!
Also see:
Apple, Google, Intel, Adobe settle hiring antitrust case
That takes another legacy away.
@MassGov: Serious uproar in 140 characters
See: Patrick/rape tweet
Seeing as we are over at the school:
"Patrick is honored by teachers group; Governor hears concerns during annual meeting" by Gal Tziperman Lotan | Globe Correspondent May 11, 2014
The Massachusetts Teachers Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union, Saturday lauded Governor Deval Patrick for his education advocacy, giving him the President’s Award at the group’s annual meeting.
“I so respect and honor the profession of teaching,” Patrick said in a brief speech accepting the award. “I grew up on the South Side of Chicago, and I went to those big, broken, under-resourced urban schools that we all so worry about today. And it was teachers, individual teachers, who brought their love, and their preparation, and their concern, and their interest.”
He didn't go on and on with the pro$elyti$ing preaching like he did with the kids and their parents?
I'm not knocking teachers, either, folks. One could even say one is responsible for me being here blogging.
Paul Toner, outgoing president of the 110,000-member union, praised the governor for creating an education position in his Cabinet, bringing federal funds to the state’s schools during a long recession, and speaking for teachers and schools on a national stage.
“Through incredibly difficult fiscal times, I have seen him consistently work to protect and strengthen the public education, and advocate for wise investments in our state and our communities,” Toner said.
Then why are our schools in such bad physical shape and underfunded?
Saturday was the second day of the group’s annual meeting, which drew 1,455 delegates to the Hynes Convention Center. The teachers elected a new president, Barbara Madeloni, current secretary of an MTA affiliate. The Massachusetts Society of Professors. They also picked a new vice president, Janet Anderson, a fifth-grade teacher in Taunton.
The governor arrived in time to stand offstage and hear union members raise concerns about some failing schools in poor, immigrant-heavy communities, like Holyoke and Lawrence, being replaced by privately run charter schools. Some teachers said they believe schools are being unfairly evaluated, drawing applause from the crowd of delegates.
Patrick did not directly address the issues in his 3½-minute remarks, but called the discussion part of “vital debates of policy and organization.”
After his speech, Patrick said the union is “an incredible partner on reform,” especially in trying to improve the state’s public pension plan, recently ranked the worst in the country, and close what is often called the achievement gap between schools in different socioeconomic communities.
Related: Mass. pension plan ranks worst in US, study finds
That's odd because I was told it was doing pretty good.
Also see: Sunday Globe Special: Pooled Pensions Post
“People often go about education reform by doing it to the profession. We’ve done it with the profession. And the MTA’s been critical to that,” he said.
Gene Stein, a Newton South High School history teacher attending the convention for the first time, said he was glad to see the governor in person.
“I voted for him twice,” he said.
Now we know who to blame.
Stein was especially pleased, he said, that Patrick was there when teachers talked about how the state classifies and treats low-performing schools.
“It was important for him to hear that, because what we’re seeing in the room is a group of teachers who are voicing many different concerns,” Stein said.
So despite the fawning over the good guverner spin applied to this story.... he got an earful!
--more--"
