(As many of us wrangle with the question of what to do tomorrow, it may be worthwhile to take Grace’s considerable firsthand experience in the arena into account.   – promoted by michael horan)

As an independent and someone still seen as a political figure with integrity, I have been asked again and again who I am supporting on Tuesday. As someone steeped in the policy issues and only interested in what will be most effective for the regular people of Massachusetts, I have four key things to say.  

First – you must go vote on Tuesday! And if you are unsure/want to register a protest – leave the ballot blank. Blanking your ballot sends a clear message to those who take your vote for granted; you are present and paying attention, AND they have to do more to earn your vote in the future. People who run pay attention to blank ballots. AND by voting you stay on the radar of politicians as an active voter.

Second – thank you to so many they have told me they wish I was running. This election was a short time period, requiring lots of campaign money AND I am still focused on fighting for regular people INSIDE Massachusetts. People like me who are not multi-millionaires need even small contributions to be able to run…

Third – I am voting for Coakley – and I am asking you to join me…

• I share the anger of many at the inaction and ineffectiveness of our government when our lives, our children’s lives and our very neighborhoods are struggling if not falling down around us. It is unacceptable and those in government MUST be forced to act. And whatever happens Tuesday we must get active forcing them to act in the interests of all of us.

• I know Coakley not as a Democrat, but as probably the most pro-active fighter against the big bankers and lenders – the forces that have brought not just our neighborhoods and state into this deep economic downturn – but our world economy. She filed early against these predatory lenders and she has won cases against them. She filed aggressive legislation to force them to make the best financial choice for each property they mortgaged – no more avoiding action and the economic impact on all of us of their financial decisions.

• Coakley has also been a consistent and effective advocate against employers who don’t pay wages people already earned.

At a time when corporate greed and excess are the worst enemy of ALL of us, Coakley’s record of standing against illegal behavior of major corporations is critical.

Fourth – Scott Brown represents the worst of rightwing excess – I have a number of Republican friends in the statehouse whose integrity and commitment to local control and small businesses and regular people I deeply respect – they actively oppose huge government subsidies to big corporations and have stood with people on basic human rights.



Scott Brown does not stand in this tradition. In the thousands of hours I have spent over the last more than 2 decades working on legislation and supporting people to talk to their legislators, I have never found a reason to cross the threshold to his office.

• He supports cutting jobs, he opposes taxing the wealthiest interests while the rest of us pay and he opposes reining in the massive financial interests that have pillaged our economy.

• He has filed to cut the most basic of medical necessities, consistently opposed basic rights to live without discrimination on the basis of… well, anything, you name it.

• And what I find perhaps most unforgivable, he has opened the flood gates and welcomed into our state the kind of huge, hate-driven political monied interests which if given free-rein would work to unseat even the best Republicans let alone anyone else who cares for the greater well-being of the regular people of this state.

Please make sure you are counted by voting Tuesday.

Please consider voting for Coakley – and if you can’t, please protest by blanking your ballot.

PS: with many others I agree that the national healthcare reform is deeply flawed and should be reworked from scratch. It is needlessly expensive and will not provide realistic accessible care to many going without now – and many go without now who nominally are covered but in reality cannot use what they supposedly have.

Healthcare Reform is going to pass Congress – whether Coakley is elected or not. The only issue is how much it gives away to mega-insurance and drug companies. Brown will be on the side of the mega-corporate interests.

Also, Coakley has been a strong advocate for equal rights for women and GLBT folks; Scott Brown has been downright aggressive against equal rights – and where he has weakly supported women, don’t think that the money he is beholden to now will allow him to continue that.

Real issues have been raised about Coakley’s support for punitive law-enforcement policies that are expensive and have been proven-ineffective such as increasing minimum sentencing. I agree she is imperfect, but who isn’t?

That’s why the MOST critical lesson is that we have to stop treating our government as a spectator sport: don’t like what someone in office is doing? Call them, visit them, find them at public events, don’t give up till they listen – vote Tuesday BUT voting alone is not enough!