I like neither candidate nor the framing and focus of the campaign by the Boston Globe:
"Candidates for AG clash over campus sex assault policy; Assaults on campus, AG office’s role dominate lively debate between Democrats in a closely watched contest" by David Scharfenberg | Globe Staff August 27, 2014
Attorney general candidates Warren Tolman and Maura Healey clashed over the best way to address sexual assaults on college campuses in an often testy Boston Globe debate on Tuesday, just two weeks before they face each other in the Democratic primary.
Related: College Chaperone
Tolman pledged to convene a summit with Massachusetts colleges, pressing them to address the headline-grabbing crisis more aggressively. “We will lead here in Massachusetts when I am attorney general and, you know what, other states will follow,” he said.
But Healey said convening meetings won’t solve the crisis.
“You solve campus sexual assault by giving schools the resources they need — rape crisis counseling centers, forensic investigators, relationships with police and district attorneys that are working so that people can come forward,” she said.
The exchange underscored the dueling visions the two candidates have laid out for the office.
Healey, a former top deputy to Attorney General Martha Coakley, has pitched herself as a tough litigator who will protect the vulnerable in court. “You are the people’s lawyer; that is the role of the attorney general,” she said at the debate, hosted by the Globe’s Opinion section at the newspaper’s Dorchester headquarters.
Tolman, a former state senator who pushed significant tobacco and ethics bills through the Legislature, has pushed a more expansive view of the job — saying he will use the office’s bully pulpit to tackle issues like opiate abuse and gun control. “It’s a visionary kind of role that I see, where you look at issues, you tackle them — it could be in the courtroom, it could be outside the courtroom, it doesn’t matter,” he said at the debate.
Amid a staid gubernatorial race, the attorney general’s contest has attracted more attention than usual among Democratic activists.
Public opinion surveys show a tight race; Healey led Tolman 28 to 26 percent in the latest Globe poll, with broad swaths of the electorate undecided. And the race has pitted some of the most powerful constituencies in Democratic politics against each other.
Tolman has combined his reformer’s appeal with strong support from organized labor, including his brother Steven, the president of the state AFL-CIO.
Healey, who is a lesbian, has the support of women’s and gay rights groups.
Ironically, they both bring about the same percentage to the voting booth. In fact, the gay lobby might bring a bit more and they have a lot more power.
Gender and sexual politics have surfaced several times in the campaign; Tolman’s first television advertisement focused on his support, as a state legislator, for a “buffer zone” outside abortion clinics.
That's why I'm diving down.
During the debate Tuesday, he said Healey did not do enough to address the college sexual assault crisis when she was in the attorney general’s office.
“You’ve never prosecuted a crime, I have,” Healey replied, in one of the sharpest exchanges of the debate. “You’ve never handled a civil rights investigation, I have.”
After the debate, she accused Tolman of failing to understand the attorney general’s office and her role in it. As chief of the civil rights division, Healey said, she brought housing and fair lending cases; prosecuting sexual assault, she said, is a criminal matter.
She scored a couple of good points there.
Tolman’s campaign manager Chris Joyce said in a statement that Healey’s approach is emblematic of her narrow vision of the office: “The attorney general’s office has a number of tools — not just criminal prosecutions — to hold schools and students accountable.”
The two candidates also clashed over Tolman’s plan to issue a regulation requiring any new gun sold in Massachusetts to use so-called smart gun technology — firing only when the legal owner, identified by fingerprints, pulls the trigger.
Tolman claimed he has the legal authority to issue the regulation, citing a 1999 decision by the Supreme Judicial Court. Healey argued the decision does not authorize the attorney general to act alone and said she would seek support for a smart gun bill in the Legislature.
She also criticized Tolman for what she said was a singular focus on the proposal. Healey pressed for a broader effort to stem gun trafficking and tackle the root causes of violence. “You’re all smart guns all the time; we need smart policy all the time,” she said at one point.
“I get that this isn’t the total solution,” Tolman said, adding later, “this is something . . . that the attorney general of Massachusetts can unilaterally do which will save lives, it will prevent accidents, it will cut down on gun trafficking tomorrow.”
How about the fraud on State Street and the corruption on Beacon Hill?
There were other differences. Asked if he would ever decline to defend the state, on principle, Tolman said he would not have defended the troubled Department of Children and Families against a lawsuit by a child welfare advocate.
Healey, put in the awkward position of commenting on a case taken up by her former boss, defended the attorney general’s decision to defend the department. But she emphasized the importance of taking action to prevent failures at agencies like DCF.
Related: DCF Delaying Records Releases
Until after the election.
She did split with Coakley on the attorney general’s controversial antitrust settlement with the state’s largest health care system, Partners HealthCare. “What I’ve seen, what I’ve read, gives me pause,” Healey said, arguing that the agreement may not do enough to hold down medical costs.
Marty was shoring up here political chances with the powerful there.
Several of the issues that have defined the campaign came up again in the debate. Healey, for instance, reiterated her opposition to casino gambling and asked if Tolman, who worked for a gaming company at one point, could be trusted to oversee the industry.
In a lightning round — combining light questions and more serious queries — Tolman said he would not seek higher office four years into his term as attorney general. Healey declined to take the pledge.
Both agreed, though, that sending struggling Red Sox center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. to the minor leagues was the right decision.
At last, an importantly vital issue.
The winner of the Sept. 9 primary will face Republican John B. Miller, the only GOP candidate, in the general election Nov. 4.
I just found who I will be voting for.
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"Colleges enlist apps to combat assaults on campus" by Matt Rocheleau | Globe Correspondent August 27, 2014
Amid increasing concern about campus sexual assaults, universities and digital entrepreneurs are offering an array of new mobile apps aimed at helping college students navigate their way out of troubling and dangerous situations.
The apps can allow students to, for example, quickly and discreetly broadcast their exact location if they’re lost, ask for help getting home if they’re intoxicated, or request a friend to call to interrupt an uncomfortable date.
Before walking alone late at night, they could let a group of friends and family virtually monitor their journey via GPS, and a timer can be set that will alert companions, emergency officials, or authorities if the clock expires before reaching their destination.
Why not? NSA already is.
UMass Dartmouth — along with Providence College, Brown University, and about 100 other colleges across the country— recommends its students download an app called Rave Guardian. The schools have partnered with its creators to launch customized versions for their campuses.
Williams College has signed on to use another free app, called Circle of 6, and will encourage students there to download it starting this fall.
Also recommended by administrators at the University of California Los Angeles and used by more than 150,000 individuals, Circle of 6 was a co-winner of a White House challenge two years ago that called on software developers to find ways mobile technology could help prevent dating violence and abuse among young adults.
Notice how the military rape crisis has gone back into the closet? Never mind the irony of powerful perverts pretended to care about kids.
The contest’s other winner was OnWatchOnCampus, another free app that is in discussion with about a dozen colleges across the country about forming official partnerships to deploy customized versions of the software on their campuses.
“It’s kind of a neat tool box to provide students with mobile security,” said Emil Fioravanti, campus police chief at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, which will introduce such an app to students this fall.
I'm wonder what well-connected friend has the contracts.
“Is it a silver bullet that’s going to provide 100 percent security? No,” he added. But, “it’s another arrow in the quiver that can be used as a method of personal safety. That’s what it’s really all about.”
Tyranny is always sold that way.
Similar apps have emerged. While they can prove helpful in a range of situations, the apps are often designed and marketed as a way to try to prevent sexual assault, dating violence, and harassment.
Just to clear things up, I'm not for assaults of any kind.
Not all apps offer the same features, but many include a way to let students alert friends or family before, or instead of, police.
“There’s a growing realization that safety is a community effort,” said Todd Piett, chief product officer of the Framingham-based company behind the Rave Guardian app. “It’s no longer just about police keeping people safe; it’s about having a network of people you can trust helping to keep you safe.”
Or a gun, right?
Nancy Schwartzman, founder and chief executive of New York City-based Circle of 6, said she was sexually assaulted while living abroad shortly after she graduated from college.
Then why bring it back here?
“What hit home for me in the design of this app is what I really could have used — if not in the moment, then certainly right after,” she said. “I’d wished I’d had people’s numbers embedded into my phone.”
Seems $elf-$erving if not a staged and scripted fiction like so many rapes.
The apps are seen by many as a portable and potentially more useful version of the blue light emergency call boxes that have long been popular on college campuses.
Among college students, “most cases of rape start at a party or a place where they’re socializing or drinking, so something that lives on their phone, which they’re interacting with constantly, is going to be more effective,” said Scott Berkowitz, president and founder of the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network.
Do I even need type it?
However, advocates and campus safety officials said the older technology should not be discontinued.
“For example, if I were holding someone up, the first thing I’d do is have them give me their phone,” Fioravanti said. Having blue lights and apps as “redundant layers of communication really can’t hurt.”
The apps, too, might not work in every situation. Students don’t always have their cellphone with them, for instance. Their device might not be charged, might not have reception, or might not be working properly.
But just knowing the technology is out there could help improve safety.
Honestly, I'm sick of living with the illusions and imagery of the agenda-pushing propaganda pre$$.
“There’s a cognitive effect for the community,” Fioravanti said. “To say, ‘OK, we’re taking steps,’ and also the knowledge for the not-so-nice members of our community to know there’s one more layer of protection out there.”
Did you get the message?
Officials expect the apps to resonate with today’s tech-savvy students. Administrators also hope the software will spark discussions about sexual assault, inappropriate behavior, respecting others, and how students can keep themselves and their friends safe.
I never realized AmeriKa was such a shit hole these days. No one is safe, there is violence everywhere, the place is falling apart.
“We’re trying to encourage a campus culture where people look out for each other, whether that’s someone who needs help because they feel uncomfortable or vulnerable, or if someone needs to be told that they’re making someone else feel uncomfortable,” said Meg Bossong, Williams’s sexual assault prevention and response director.
What a sad comment that there was not one.
At Providence College, where the Rave Guardian app will debut this fall, administrators will acquaint students with the technology during orientations and at dormitory floor meetings, emergency management director Koren V. Kanadanian said.There will be workshops about how to use the app and posters will be plastered around campus explaining how to download it.
Some colleges plan to survey students about the app’s helpfulness, and, with help from the app makers, will collect and analyze anonymous data about when and how students use the technology.
The growing number of colleges interested in the apps also signals that, amid increased scrutiny, more administrators are openly acknowledging and working to combat sexual assaults on campus.
“Initially, the idea of college administrators becoming engaged with us was really difficult, and now with pressure from the government and others it’s 180 degrees,” said Medora Heilbron, brand manager for OnWatchOnCampus. “I’m hoping the pressure continues.”
Sorry, I just came.
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"Tolman apologizes for calling Healey’s questions ‘unbecoming’" by Akilah Johnson | Globe Staff August 27, 2014
When Warren Tolman called Maura Healey’s aggressive line of questioning “unbecoming” in a debate this week for Democratic candidates running for attorney general, it went unnoticed by most in the crowd.
But hours later, when word began to spread, the response by women’s political groups and Healey’s campaign was fierce. They called the remark sexist and demeaning. They sent out a fund-raising plea “to keep Maura’s fight going.” And the next day, Tolman apologized.
This is the big issue in the campaign right now, huh? His word choice?
Talk about pushing a self-censoring society and political correctness.
Tolman, in a statement, said the point he was trying to make was that “as candidates for attorney general, we should be held to a higher standard.”
The incident underscores the way in which words can become toxic when gender and politics come into play, and it echoes the 2002 Massachusetts governor’s race, when the actions of Democrat Shannon O’Brien, now a Tolman supporter, were deemed “unbecoming” during a debate by her opponent, Republican Mitt Romney.
When does cla$$ come into play in my paper?
Then, as now, the description raised the ire of female supporters, who used it to rally their cause and fire up their base.
What a monolithic bunch of non-thinking fools.
But women who support Tolman criticized the Healey campaign’s attempt to inject gender politics into a race over a word they think was just an innocent utterance by a candidate who has long supported women’s issues.
“It felt like spin to me, and it hurts women,” said Kim Driscoll, the mayor of Salem and cochair of Tolman’s campaign.
“If we’re going to cry foul over harmless statements, it only diminishes the impact over substantive statements and issues.”
Yeah, it's like constantly crying wolf.
The dictionary defines “unbecoming” as “not pleasing, unattractive” or “not proper, indecorous.”
Political analysts say that it is one of many words that can be used to belittle female candidates who are trying to break through the male-denominated world of politics.
“Unfortunately, this is not uncommon,” said Ann Bookman, director of the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
“Things are attributed to women, either personal appearance or personal characteristics, that we never hear for male candidates.”
You know what? You ladies really need to get past the victimhood and stop acting like Israel and the blacks, especially these days. I'm with you to a point, but c'mon.
It happened in 2012 during the Senate race in Missouri, when Claire McCaskill’s male opponent described her as not particularly “ladylike” during a debate. It happened the same year in Minnesota, when Senator Amy Klobuchar was referred to as a “Daddy’s little girl” and a “prom queen” by her male opponent’s campaign.
Then call him a bastard.
The exchange between Tolman and Healey took place Tuesday in the final minutes of the debate as the two were discussing ethics reform, at which point Healey pivoted the conversation to Tolman’s work over the past decade.
She said she wished that he would talk more about his jobs working for a hedge fund, an online gaming company, and as a lobbyist. He responded that they were “baseless” accusations with “no merit in fact.”
But she continued pressing, and the conversation became tense.
“Maura, it’s just unbecoming,” Tolman said. “I’m just surprised. You continue to push these issues rather than talking about the big issues you want to address.”
Women’s rights groups — including the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus and Emily’s List — and political activists pounced, saying that the word was a coded way to demean assertive women and an implication that she was somehow acting out of place.
She got under his skin.
Barbara Lee, of the Barbara Lee Family Foundation, which is dedicated to getting more women involved in politics, tweeted: “Code for close race = #unbecoming #unladylike #cold #bossy. Men always try to knock women off pedestal[s] like this in #mapoli and beyond.”
If I am not mistaken she is the only congressperson that voted against the war in Afghanistan.
Why is that forgotten amongst all the race, gender, and gay divides we are served up every two years?
Marcy Stech, a spokeswoman for Emily’s List, which backs Democratic female contenders who support abortion rights, said Tolman “took a swipe at a candidate that will have consequences with women voters who are paying attention to this race. This kneejerk reaction will offend Massachusetts women more than draw attention to the real issues.”
And by Tuesday evening Healey’s campaign had sent out an e-mailed fund-raising appeal titled “Unbecoming? Seriously, Warren Tolman?”
That e-mail alerted Renée M. Landers, a longtime Tolman supporter and friend, to the situation.
Landers sits on the board of Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, and the Healey fund-raising letter was written by Marty Walz, who is head of Planned Parenthood and its political advocacy arm.
So when it landed in her inbox, Landers said, “I immediately sent an objection. It was completely unfair. He meant nothing about trying to demean women or anything like that. I knew what he meant.”
She said the first thing that comes to her mind when she hears the term “unbecoming” is “conduct that is inappropriate to the standards applied to one’s position, and I think that was exactly what he was trying to assert regarding Maura and her conduct during the debate.”
In an interview, Healey said that she was disappointed by Tolman’s use of the word, which she found “dismissive,” but she accepted his apology.
“Did I think it was an attempt to be dismissive and an attempt to shut down a line of questioning in a conversation? Yes,” she said.
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Also see: Unbecoming issue in the AG race
Attorney general race splits Democrats’ hearts, minds
Sorry I've lost my heart and am not paying it any mind.
