Green Party candidate for governor Laura Wells was arrested trying to attend a gubernatorial debate to which she had a valid ticket, because she was a gubernatorial candidate excluded from the debate itself. Marnie Glickman of GreenChange.org, and a spokesperson for Laura Wells, tells the San Francisco Chronicle about the incident here:
Sometimes it’s nice to break up all of the stress of politics with a little music. I was 17 in 1978. Spent the summer in California with this song playing in the background of my life.
Whenever I hear it, it brings me right back to that time.
Continue reading Climate Collaboration ContestTo members of the Climate CoLab community,
We are pleased to announce the launch of a new Climate CoLab contest, as well as a major upgrade of our software platform.
The contest will address the question: What international climate agreements should the world community make?
The first round runs through October 31 and the final round through November 26.
In early December, the United Nations and U.S. Congress will be briefed on the winning entries.
We are raising funds in the hope of being able to pay travel expenses for one representative from each winning team to attend one or both of these briefings.
We invite you to form teams and enter the contest–learn more at http://climatecolab.org.
We also encourage you to fill out your profiles and add a picture, so that members of the community can get to know each other.
And please inform anyone you believe might be interested about the contest.
The following is the text of a cover letter I wrote yesterday which is being sent to Common Cause with answers to its 2010 Candidate Questionnaire. The letter is addressed to Pam Wilmot, Executive Director.
Continue reading Common Cause – A Candidate’s QuestionnaireThe following is the cover letter I wrote yesterday to accompany my answers to ten questions from the Massachusetts Citizens for Life. YES answers on the questionnaire indicate agreement with MCFL‘s position. MCFL describes itself as the “commonwealth’s largest pro-life organization.”
Continue reading MA Citizens for Life – A Candidate QuestionnaireOK, I’ve done my homework. I supported Mike Lake in the Democratic Primary because I felt he would be the candidate to do the work without closing his eyes to favorite agencies or favorite officials, or ignore wasteful policies that support this or that corporation or other anti-taxpayer type “look the other way” shenanigans. But he didn’t win.
I am a registered Democrat, and have been a Democrat my entire adult life. So I will say that it took some time, thought, and reflection to decide to break with my party and publicly support and promote Jill Stein for Governor. I am convinced it is the right thing to do. I can confidently promote her candidacy to others knowing that she is the only candidate looking out for the working middle class in a meaningful way.
I am not a big fan of Suzanne Bump. I feel she has too many friends in corporate circles and that she may not always do what’s best for the people of this state. My concern is that more often than not she will approach government spending with an eye to benefiting corporate interests and corporate profits. We just don’t need anymore of this in our government. We already have too much. Mary Connaughton is not an option for me because I just can’t support the Republican principles that got us into this economic mess in the first place. Not only that, there are other social issues that the Republicans stand for that are so contrary to my values that my voting for a Republican will simply never happen.
Continue reading I am supporting Nat Fortune for State AuditorFront Page – Above the fold:
Covert Operations
The billionaire brothers who are
waging a war against Obama.
Kudos to the Sunday Republican Newspaper for reprinting this story by Jane Mayer, first published in the Aug 30 edition of The New Yorker. This article exposes the Koch brothers for their role in swaying elections and influencing legislation by using their bottomless pit of billions:
The Kochs are longtime libertarians who believe in drastically lower personal and corporate taxes, minimal social services for the needy, and much less oversight of industry-especially environmental regulation. These views dovetail with the brothers’ corporate interests. In a study released this spring, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst’s Political Economy Research Institute named Koch Industries one of the top ten air polluters in the United States. And Greenpeace issued a report identifying the company as a “kingpin of climate science denial.” The report showed that, from 2005 to 2008, the Kochs vastly outdid ExxonMobil in giving money to organizations fighting legislation related to climate change, underwriting a huge network of foundations, think tanks, and political front groups. Indeed, the brothers have funded opposition campaigns against so many Obama Administration policies-from health-care reform to the economic-stimulus program-that, in political circles, their ideological network is known as the Kochtopus.
Read more http://www.newyorker.com/repor…
It shows their connection to the Tea Party through the Americans for Prosperity organization, heck, it shows the connection to the Americans for Properity organization.
Continue reading KUDOS to Springfield’s Sunday Republican .Watch the video linked to this story — all 5 minutes and 58 painful seconds of it — and try not to cringe as the Honorable former State Representative/Lobbyist/Cabinet Secretary Bump explains in her own words the technical basis on which she is entitled to a residential tax break for two different residences:
http://www.patriotledger.com/n…
Is the auditor supposed to practice evasion, or expose it? Is this the kind of nuanced argument — I didn’t get a break on those property taxes, I got a break on this other property tax! The tax break I got for saying I lived in Boston was different from the tax break I got for saying I lived in Great Barrington, so I’m not really claiming two tax breaks! — that we expect a state auditor to accept?
Wasn’t it Suzanne Bump who was rightfully going after Guy Glodis for acting as if the laws applied differently to him than for everyone else? That there’s no place in the auditor’s office for tax evasion and double dealing?
Continue reading Democratic party candidate for state auditor explains property tax laws for the laypersonSTATEMENT BY SUZANNE BUMP, DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE FOR STATE AUDITOR, REGARDING SHERIFF GUY GLODIS AND TODAY’S FRONT PAGE STORY IN THE BOSTON GLOBE
Sep 2, 2010 | Suzanne Bump for Auditor
What makes Guy Glodis believe he is not subject to the same rules which apply to everyone else? And, more troubling, why, when caught red-handed in wrong-doing, does Guy Glodis refuse to take responsibility for his actions? Today we add federal tax evasion to the growing list of apparent violations of the law involving Sheriff Guy Glodis. MORE »
THE GREEN – RAINBOW PARTY OF MASSACHUSETTS, BOSTON CHAPTER SAYS: CHUCK IS INNOCENT OF ALL CHARGES!
On October 12, 2010 the federal government will put on trial the most prominent elected official affiliated with the GRP, neighbor and friend, Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner. It will attempt to convince a jury that he is guilty of extorting $1,000 and lying to FBI officials.
Chuck Turner is an honest man who has never extorted a penny from anyone. He has championed justice for everyone, especially the residents of District 7 in Boston, Massachusetts.
Chuck maintains his innocence. He will use the trial to expose the unethical and immoral behavior of those who have conspired to silence him.
Members of the Boston chapter of the Green-Rainbow Party have known and worked with Chuck Turner for many years. We Believe in Chuck and stand with him during this time of government and media persecution.
We believe that Chuck’s re-election, after being falsely indicted on these false charges, is proof and evidence that his peers and constituents know that he is innocent. We also demand that President Obama’s Justice Department immediately drop the false charges brought by the Bush Administration.
Chuck Turner has been a community organizer and civil rights activist in Boston since 1966. Since his first election in 1999, he has been an outstanding City Councilor. He played a major role in the fight that brought reform to the Cori laws at the city and state level. Other legislative accomplishments have included the banning of carrying machetes as well as the selling of “crack pipes” in Boston as well as giving voters the right to bullet vote in At Large Elections.
Continue reading THE GREEN – RAINBOW PARTY OF MASSACHUSETTS, BOSTON CHAPTER SAYS: CHUCK IS INNOCENT OF ALL CHARGES!From Nat Fortune for State Auditor:
October 6th, 2010
CONNAUGHTON OVERLOOKS OWN CONTRIBUTIONS FROM LOBBYISTS
In brief remarks today, Green-Rainbow Party State Auditor candidate Nat Fortune said Republican candidate Mary Connaughton was right to criticize Democratic candidate Suzanne Bump’s reliance on contributions from political action committees and lobbyists, but also noted that Connaughton failed to bring up her own campaign’s dependence on industry and lobbyists.
“Looks like Mary Connaughton needs to do a closer audit of her own campaign,” said Fortune. “As of 20 July 2010, the independent watchdog group National Institute for Money in State Politics http://www.followthemoney.org/ had identified at least a dozen contributions from lobbyists to her campaign, including prominent Beacon Hill lobbyists Thomas Trimarco of O’Neil and Associates and Robert White of Robert White and Associates,” Fortune continued. Other contributors included Daniel Haley and William Weld of the New York based lobbying group McDermett, Will, and Emery, recent lobbyists in Massachusetts for Raytheon Corporation and the failed investment bank Lehman Brothers (2008).