Eagle On Serre
A couple of nice articles about Rhonda Serre in the Eagle today (
here):
On the importance of the election and its hurried timing because of the resignation of Peter J. Larkin in January:
"Right now, Pittsfield is at a huge disadvantage. We have the Berkshire delegation doing their best to pull the weight for us while we get through this [special election], but the reality is that 12 of the precincts in Pittsfield have no representative in Boston right now. I hate that this is a fast election and we are asking voters to make a decision they have been waiting 14 years to make; we are asking them to do it in 26 days. I regret that they don't have more time to explore the candidates, but I hope they realize the urgency of this and the fact that they need someone with the ability to walk in and do the job tomorrow."
(and
here)
Familiar with downtown
Pittsfield has frequently looked to the state for dollars to help the revitalization of North Street. As part of her work in Olver's office, Serre has been a liaison to Downtown Inc., a group dedicated to improving the city's main commercial corridor.
"I know all their projects, I know what projects they have on the table, I know what their development needs are and what the costs of those needs are. I have already started facilitating federal infusions into the projects."
Deval Patrick
From
The Fray, got
this link:
The Milton Democrat, who served as the Clinton administration's chief civil rights attorney before becoming general counsel for Coca-Cola, has deposited $100,000 of his own money into his newly opened campaign account. He also has raised an additional $21,700 from dozens of individual donors.
Reilly is reputed to have $2 million, but if Deval takes some positions, he'll have access to money quick, as Democrats are growing tired of candidates that want to have it both ways (from
The Globe):
WELCOME, Tom Reilly, to the circle of politicians who long to be for and against the tough ones.
The state attorney general says his job is to defend the law of the land -- whatever that law is. That puts him behind the ruling by the Supreme Judicial Court to authorize same-sex marriage, even though he personally believes marriage is between a man and a woman. It also puts him behind a 1913 statute that banned marriages in Massachusetts, if such unions were not recognized by other states.
Reilly also says he will oppose any efforts to ban same-sex marriages. Why? "Once rights are given, they should not be taken away," he states. He insists that it is not "news" because he testified against a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in 2002. At the same time, he won't take a specific position on whether a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, now before the Legislature, should go on the ballot. That's not his job to decide, he says - that's the Legislature's, and "I won't tell the Legislature what to do."
There's a thing called "leading" -- you might want to look into it -- leave the flip-flopping to Romney.
Good News in Pittsfield Race
From
Fred Clarkson:
MassEquality PAC chose not to endorse in the 3rd Berkshire race to replace Rep. Peter Larkin because all three Democratic candidates, as well as the leading Republican, have promised to vote against the amendment.
The other side of the coin is the anti-gay-marriage Article 8 Alliance:
Like MassEquality, the Article 8 Alliance did not announce support for anyone in the 3rd Berkshire race. "This is a tough one," the Alliance complained. "Three candidates are running in the Democratic primary, and two in the Republican. We've heard they all range from squishy to bad. We're still doing research on it. We may have to play defense in this race, if you know what we mean."
I really have no idea what they mean.
This takes some powerful players out of the race (along with WHEN and the Commonwealth Coalition), which makes the endorsements already won all the more important.
MA Special Elections
Fred Clarkson has a great
Special Election update. Latest news is that Speranzo got the endorsement of the Berkshire Central Labor Council which cited
electability and his
perfect score on their questionaire. I think it's an odd choice, no doubt the mayor's backing was influential here. Since Rhonda Serre is reported to have agreed on all but one question (they don't say which), I think she should have been chosen based on
this quote:
Since former state Rep. Peter J. Larkin stepped down in January, Pittsfield has been unrepresented in the House. Serre told the crowd that her early experience as a legislative aide on Beacon Hill and more recently as a member of Olver's staff would allow her to walk into the Statehouse prepared to work for Pittsfield.
"We need someone who is going to walk into Boston on April 13 and not have a learning curve."
What was that one question worth compared to the ability to actually make progress on the other 49? On the other hand, I can see why they value him
Heading into last night's meeting at the IUE-CWA union hall on Tyler Street, Speranzo was perceived as the sentimental favorite of the 23 unions that belong to the council. His grandfather, the late Nicholas Speranzo, was a labor leader in the city, serving as president of IUE Locals 254 and 255 at General Electric Co., where he worked from 1947 until 1972. In 1982, he was named the Berkshire Central Labor Council's labor person of the year.
There is something to be said for the sentimental favorite and the clearly great work of his grandfather -- I know it would influence me if I worked with him.
