Who I’ll be supporting in Tuesday’s Democratic primary:

• Nick Carter for Governor’s Council
• Josh Zakim for Secretary of State
• Quentin Palfrey for Lt. Gov
• Bob Massie for Governor

NB:  You don’t need to be a registered Democrat to vote in the Democratic primary.  Unenrolled voters can pick up a Dem ballot at the polls.

Why I support Nick, Josh, Quentin, and Bob:

• Nick Carter:  I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have reviewing judicial nominees.  He’s an experienced trial attorney.  He’s committed to ensuring fairness and increasing diversity within our courts.  I believe he’ll do everything in his power to ensure that our state court will uphold rights and legal principles we value, including reproductive choice for women, same-sex marriage, common sense gun control, and enforcement of existing state climate change laws.   (That last sentence is pretty much verbatim from his website.  I think it’s spot on.)  In contrast, I don’t trust Marilyn Devaney to defend any of those things.
• Josh Zakim:  It’s an abomination to have our primary the day after Labor Day.  I put that squarely on Galvin so I’m already not favorably inclined towards him.  That stated, I support Zakim for who he is not because he isn’t Galvin.  Josh supports Automatic Voter Registration, Ranked Choice Voting, weekend elections, same-day voter registration, and records transparency.   Galvin has not been a champion for any of those things.  I want a Secretary of State who will be.
• Quentin Palfrey:  This was a tough call for me.  I like Jimmy Tingle.   The Commonwealth needs Jimmy Tingle.  His speech at the MA Dem Party convention in June was wonderful.  He didn’t speak to technocratic details of public policy but to why we need to do the things that the liberal wing of the Democratic Party advocates for.  We need to do a better job of communicating the “Why” and he gave a master class.   So why will I be voting Palfrey?  He’s no slouch when it comes to communication either but, more importantly, when he spoke at our DTC meeting I was incredibly impressed by his vision for how to make government work better for people.  No knock on Tingle there but I perceive Palfrey to be a strong an implementer as Tingle is a communicator and I give ability to implement a bit more weight than ability to communicate when it comes to Lt. Gov.
• Bob Massie:  We need transformational leadership.  Bob will be a transformational leader.  He is a “can do” visionary and I believe in his vision. He doesn’t buy into the mentality of fear and scarcity pushed by Republicans and many conservative Democrats. It’s a mentality which has caused us to blow a lot of opportunities to build a better Commonwealth.   I believe that Bob will not allow those opportunities to pass. I find his commitment inspiring. Massachusetts has a history of bold innovation in the public good – we invented public education, we built the T, we were the model for Obamacare.   We need to shed our fear and commit to bold action in the public good.  I believe he’s best able and most deeply committed to leading the charge.  I’ll close by quoting him:

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the United States of America exist not because of a predestined law of history but because of the unbroken commitment of millions of people like us to protecting our principles.  Those principles, which we must affirm over and over again are fairness, equality, inclusion, and above all, liberty and justice for all.  We need to remember that this is a time not only of danger but of huge opportunity.  Let us join together to unleash our imaginations and restore our collective will [to create a better world.]”

Let’s do it.  Let’s make Bob our nominee on Tuesday.

Chris