Please vote in the primary election next Tuesday, Sept. 9.   Independents as well as Democrats can pick up Democratic ballot.   I encourage you to support former Treasurer Steve Grossman for Governor.

See the Sept. 3 Democratic candidates debate here.

Read a summary of the debate here in the Lowell Sun or listen to WBUR’s summary here.  Listen from the 2:00 min mark until about the 2:30 mark for my core criticism of Coakley, i.e., lack of a coherent plan to achieve her stated objectives.   In contrast, Grossman has plausible plans for achieving his objectives.  When it comes to the chief executive, good ideas are worthless if they can’t execute them.

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There are three good candidates running for Lt. Governor:  Mike Lake, Steve Kerrigan, and Leland Cheung.  I’ll be voting for Mike Lake.  Why Lake?  Cheung seems very solid on the issues but the vibe I get from him is that he’s not yet ready to step up and be an effective Governor if he had to do so.  That said, I hope he runs for statewide office again in the future.  In the end it came down to Kerrigan and Lake for me. I’m confident either could step up and serve as Governor should the need arise.  Both seem good issues.  In the end, I decided on Lake because he’s opposed to casinos and supports repeal the casino law whereas Kerrigan is a casino supporter.   It was close.  Casinos were the tie-breaker.

I believe both Maura Healey and Warren Tolman would make a good AG.  (I liked Tolman when he ran for Governor in 2002.)  Again, I’m using their views on casinos as the tie-breaker.  Healey is opposed and Tolman is in favor so my vote goes to Healey.  (I believe she’ll enforce the law no matter what it is.  I just like that she’s on record that casinos are a bad idea for MA.)

I other day I commented that I believe we’d be better off doing away with the Governor’s Council and transferring their responsibilities to the MA House or Senate.  (Their primary responsibility is to approve/disapprove judicial nominations.)  That stated, the Council isn’t going away anytime soon.   The two candidates on the Democratic primary ballot are Charlie Shapiro and the incumbent, Marilyn Devaney.  I’ve had two face-to-face interactions with Ms. Devaney, one at a Democratic Town Committee meeting in 2012 and the other at the polls in 2012.   Continue reading →

Another endorsement for Tuesday’s Democratic primary:  There are three strong candidates for Treasurer:  Tom Conroy, Barry Finegold, and Deborah Goldberg.  I’m supporting Tom Conroy.

Tom is a State Rep from Maynard, Sudbury, and Wayland.  I know one person who’s worked with him on legislative issues and has high praise for him based on that.  The Boston Globe has endorsed him.  I’ll quote from their endorsement here:

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