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Debate at Chelsea City Hall
The first debate for disgraced former Senator Galluccio’s seat was held tonight at Chelsea City Hall. It’s getting clearer who the leaders are – Albano, DiDomenico and Flaherty. Only one really stood out as the independents’ choice – Mike Albano.
This is a very short race – just 34 days left. It’s going to take a big effort for Albano to gain the name recognition he needs against some established and well financed competitors.
All three major candidates did well. But Albano was the most eloquent and compelling. His deep and resonant voice catches people’s attention. On so many issues – foreclosures, jobs, public education, drugs – he came back to the same important point – there is so much that needs to be done, yet year after year Beacon Hill fails to act:
“Why don’t we have any of this? These are good ideas. Why are they not acted on, on Beacon Hill. We need so much now. We need everything right now. What the heck is going on?”
Charles Rudnick
Charles Rudnick launched a new campaign web site. His message is right on target. Even though Creem has a 2-1 funding advantage, Rudnick has pledged not to take any contributions from lobbyists or PACs:
Charles will fight for you as a full-time legislator and will refuse money from lobbyists, PACs and special interests.
His opponent Cynitha Creem is touting her support of ethics reform, having voted for H4133, a bill which would regulate lobbyists. The bill is a mixed bag. While it would regulate lobbyists, and increase penalties for bribery, the bill further weakens the open meetings law and does not ban outright campaign contributions from lobbyists as other states have done.
To date Creem has not pledged to refuse more campaign contributions from lobbyists.
Candidates are required to disclose their campaign contributions before the primaries. We will see then which of these candidates is the independent progressive.
Cynthia Creem
The public debate over two dueling alimony reform bills has called into question whether Sen. Cynthia Creem has a conflict of interest.
There are two bills currently up for discussion in the Legislature, s1616 and h1785. Both concern time limits for alimony payments.
Massachusetts’ current alimony law does not empower judges to cap the duration of an alimony award, enabling post-divorce settlements that can last a lifetime. The current law has drawn fire from alimony payors who say they’ve been forced for years to pay large percentages of their incomes, occasionally forcing them into bankruptcy. Read the rest of this entry »
Wrentham Center
An analysis of the campaign financing for the candidates for Scott Brown’s open state Senate seat shows that Richard Ross, Peter Smulowitz and Rich Mitchell have taken almost no contributions from lobbyists or PAC’s. Lida Harkins filings show a disturbing amount of financing by lobbyists and PACs – and a penchant for shopping.
Lets start by looking at the amount of money each candidate had on hand when they last filed disclosures in January:
- Lida Harkins (D) – $7,192
- Richard Ross (R) – $14,205
- Peter Smulowitz (D) – $27,851
- Rich Mitchell (I) – Late entrant not yet filed.
Eric Dahlberg
From WickedLocal:
The Eric Dahlberg for State Senate campaign last week announced that former Gov. Paul Cellucci has signed on to the campaign’s Steering Committee as honorary co-chairman. Cellucci joins Honorary Chairwoman Lucile “Cile” Hicks, who represented the Third Middlesex District in the State Senate from 1990 to 1996.
With more high profile political support Eric Dahlberg’s campaign keeps getting stronger. Read the rest of this entry »
Marjorie Decker
Marjorie Decker posted a press release yesterday announcing that she is withdrawing from the Senate race:
When the Special Election for State Senate was first announced, I considered the prospects for victory extremely promising. Since I announced my candidacy, the number of candidates has increased dramatically – more than doubling – thus my chances of winning have been greatly reduced.
In good conscience, I cannot ask my family, friends and supporters to give more time, effort and financial support if there is no realistic prospect of success.
This is of course good for the remaining 6 candidates, but especially those from Cambridge: Flaherty and Denise Simmons. This is especially good for Simmons as it makes her the only woman in the race.
It’s not such good news for DiDomenico, as now he has a very strong competitor in Cambridge who doesn’t have to split the vote in his base with a popular City Councilor.
Charles Rudnick
An analysis of contributions to Sen. Cynthia Creem shows that her campaign is funded largely by PAC and lobbyist money. Charles Rudnick by contrast has pledged not to take money from lobbyists and PACs and is funded mostly by individuals – family and friends – and a big loan from his own funds.
Cynthia Creem starts off with a commanding campaign financing lead on Charles Rudnick. According to public campaign finance records Cynthia Creem has a political warchest of around $84,000. By comparison Charles Rudnick has raised only about $35,000. Read the rest of this entry »
Everett Massachusetts
The race for the Middlesex Suffolk & Essex seat really can be won by almost anyone. This is a very short election. All seven candidates are running in the Democratic primary on April 13th. Given that the district is leans strongly Democratic, whoever wins the primary is almost certain to get the seat even if a strong Republican challenger appears.
Since its a special election for a single state level position, with seven very similar progressive candidates its likely that there will not be a strong turnout for the election. So this race will be won by a candidate who gathers as few as about 4000 votes. Its going to come down to who has the best ground game – who can get the largest number of hardcore supporters to the polls on April 13th.
Sandi Martinez
Bentley University Republicans organized an informal event Friday to meet Republican challengers to Susan Fargo’s state senate seat. 24 hours before the event Sandi Martinez cancelled her appearance citing that because of a change in format she was no longer willing to appear.
This resulted in only candidate Eric Dalberg showing up – and the event became a one man forum for Dahlberg to put forward his own plans.
Dahlberg was surprised by Martinez cancellation:
“The kids from Bentley reached out and asked me if I was interested in a debate and I said yes. I wouldn’t invent that it was a debate. With that sense of entitlement, (Martinez) might think of wanting to become a Democrat.”
Details on this in the Lowell Sun.
Tim Flaherty
Tim Flaherty‘s campaign released this press release:
The Committee to Elect Tim Flaherty last night hosted a major fundraising event that brought in over $60,000 for the campaign, according to a press release this afternoon. The event, held in Boston at the Nine Zero Hotel, drew over 200 supporters.
“Winning this election will require hard work, commitment, and the funds necessary to get our message out to voters,” said Flaherty, a former Assistant District Attorney. “Thanks to the hard work and dedication of our supporters, we will have all three. In the coming weeks, I look forward to talking with voters in the district about the issues that matter to them, such as jobs, education, and public safety, and I’m confident we’ll prevail on April 13th.”
The campaign reports that in less than one month, Flaherty has raised more than $80,000 for the special election.
That’s a lot of money for a single event in a State Senate race, and probably puts him well ahead of his competitors fund raising. Flaherty is a former prosecutor and a practicing lawyer. He has gotten his organization and fundraising efforts up quickly. And he has already gained the backing of 4 labor unions.
Clearly Tim is one of the favorites of the machine.
And why not, after all Tim Flaherty is the son of former house speaker Charles Flaherty, who went down in disgrace for tax fraud.
His public positions are straight party line Democratic positions which doesn’t bode well for him being much of an independent.
Mike Rush
Rep. Michael Rush, a fourth-term House member, is running Sen. Marian Walsh’s open seat.
Walsh announced on her web site that she is not running for re-election. In the past few years she has attempted to make several moves out of the Senate, at one time accepting and then abandoning a job with the Patrick administration. Now that the seat is officially open its likely new candidates will appear.
Rush is known as a relatively independent Democrat who doesn’t march in lockstep with the party leadership.
Eric Dahlberg
Susan Fargo has represented the 3rd Middlesex district since 1997. This year she has a serious challenger in Republican Eric Dahlberg. He is another Republican running on a platform of responsiveness and independence and invoking the mantle of Scott Brown. He is getting campaign help from the previous Senator from the 3rd Middlesex, Lucile Hicks.
There is an article about him on WickedLocal. His campaign web site is here.
Charles Rudnick
Cynthia Creem is a six term senator. She’s been in office for 12 long years. She’s a practicing divorce lawyer and has been an opponent of all meaningful judicial reform especially as it pertains to family law reform.
This year we have an excellent opportunity to replace her.
Charles Rudnick has announced he is going to run against her. He’s experienced in Massachusetts politics, having been involved in the campaigns of Warren Tolman and Martha Coakley.
From Wicked Local Brookline:
“To me, it’s pretty simple; I feel strongly that we can do better in the Legislature,” Rudnick said. “They’re mired in scandal and awash in special interest money … I’d like to get in there and make a difference and fight for progressive issues.”
I don’t know much about him yet, but it sounds like he understands the problem.
These are the candidates I know about who are running to fill Scott Brown’s seat:
- Rep. Lida Harkins (D) http://lidaharkins.com
- Peter Smulowitz (D) http://petersmulowitz.com/
- Rep. Richard Ross (R) http://www.voteross.org/index.php
There aren’t a lot of candidates yet, but this should be an interesting race because this seat could go Democrat or Republican.
Senator Anthony D. Gallucio resigned in January after being sentenced to jail after being ordered to jail for violating the terms of his probation. A special election is being held May 11th, and a primary is being held April 13th.
This is our first chance to act.
The current announced candidates are:
- Dan Hill (http://www.danhill2010.com)
- Denise Simmons (http://www.denise-simmons.org/endorsements.html)
- Dennis Benzan (http://votebenzan.com/)
- Marjorie Decker (http://www.marjoriedecker.com)
- Michael Albano (http://www.electalbano.com/)
- Sal DiDomenico (http://www.salforsenate.com/)
- Tim Flaherty (http://www.flahertyforsenate.com)
With so many declared candidates, this should be a very interesting race.
Massachusetts Election 2010 