MA: Democrats Refuse to Debate Green Challengers, Why are Democrats so Afraid of Open Debates and Opposed to Political Comeptition?

From Green Party Watch:

The Berkshire Greens are calling foul on two Democratic state legislators for abruptly pulling out of debates with Massachusetts Green-Rainbow Party candidates Scott Laugenour and Mark Miller:

The October 18 debates at BCC were called off for no-shows from the Democrat incumbent state rep candidates. The debate sponsors instead have scheduled interviews with the incumbents’ only opponents, conducted by the former debate moderator. Both Smitty Pignatelli (claiming miscommunication about debate date) and Chris Speranzo (for no stated reason) informed debate sponsors late Friday afternoon (Oct. 15) that they would not be debating at BCC tomorrow, Monday (Oct. 18).

Also on Friday, October 15, in the Berkshire Eagle, Clarence Fanto echoed Jonathan Levine’s earlier Pittsfield Gazette column denouncing Chris Speranzo for jockeying for two jobs at the same time. Speranzo has been interviewing (successfully) to be Central Berkshire District Court Clerk Magistrate although he is still on the ballot, running for state representative.

Is this the kind of behavior appropriate for democratically elected, taxpayer-funded representatives of the people?

MA: Jill Stein Op-Ed in the Boston Globe

Jill Stein is the Green-Rainbow party candidate for governor in Massachusetts.  From Jill Stein's op-ed in the Boston Globe:

YOU DON’T need me to tell you that things are not going well in Massachusetts. We’re struggling with record unemployment, crushing underemployment, struggling schools, an unraveling environment, unfair taxes, and unaffordable health care. And we have a state government that can’t seem to fix anything.

With politicians failing to get the job done, you’d think voters would rise up and vote them out. But with lobbyists and big money controlling elections, people are rarely given a choice to vote for real change. Voters have been pummeled with the idea that they can’t break with the two-party system no matter how badly it treats them.

The result? Despite all the noisy rhetoric in the governor’s race, Beacon Hill lobbyists and insiders aren’t worried about the outcome. The fix is in. They know that both frontrunners will defend big money interests. I got into this race so voters could have real change with a clean money candidate who has never been a Beacon Hill insider. The defenders of the status quo have responded with the shopworn “spoiler’’ argument. They’re telling voters who want to vote for me that Charlie Baker is so bad that they have to vote for Deval Patrick instead to keep Baker from winning. They drive this home with negative campaigning that demonizes Baker as the enemy of all things good. If you buy their spoiler argument, political free speech has been taken from you. You’ll have to just shut up and vote your approval for four more years of business-as-usual. . . .

MA: Green Jill Stein Profiled in Daily News Tribune

From the Daily News Tribune, on Green-Rainbow Party candidate for governor of Massachusetts, Jill Stein:

Dr. Jill Stein had been seeking office as a political maverick long before a Tea Party was anything more than a game little girls play with their dolls. Now she says the rise of the grassroots political movement and the election of Scott Brown may mean her time has come. "We're getting screwed, and people now know it," said Stein. "The writing wasn't quite on the wall in 2002, but it is now," says the Green-Rainbow Party candidate for governor.

MA: Green Candidate for Governor Launches Campaign

From the Boston Globe:

They wore green armbands, some with white polka dots, and ate cake with green frosting, intermittently chanting “Jill, Jill, Jill.’’ As they opened Green-Rainbow Party gubernatorial candidate Jill Stein’s campaign headquarters in Fields Corner yesterday, supporters were urged to look to an unlikely source of inspiration: Republican Scott Brown.

MA: Green-Rainbow Candidates to Take on Entrenched Incumbents

From Wicked Local:

Northampton, Mass. — Voters are in the mood for change, according to the Green-Rainbow Party candidates nominated at the weekend meeting of the party's State Committee in Northampton. Nominated were: Health and environmental advocate Jill Stein for governor, Holyoke veterans' activist Rick Purcell for lieutenant governor, Nat Fortune, a physicist at Smith College, for State Auditor. Scott Laugenour was nominated as a candidate for state representative in the 4th Berkshire District. The party also endorsed independent candidate Peter White who is running for Congress in the 10th Congressional District (being vacated by Rep. William Delahunt).

Mark Miller, a former journalist and newspaper co-owner in Pittsfield, told committee members he has just launched a campaign for the House seat in the Third Berkshire District, and expects to apply for the GRP nomination in July.

MA: Boston Globe Profiles Green Candidate for Governor Jill Stein

From the Boston Globe:

Lexington doctor Jill Stein launched her second long-shot campaign for governor yesterday with a forceful attempt to tap the populist anger that propelled Republican Scott Brown into the US Senate last month. “If you’ve had enough business as usual, if you’ve had enough of the culture of influence, if you’ve had enough payoffs and layoffs and rip-offs and bailouts, this is the campaign for you,’’ Stein, a Green-Rainbow Party candidate, told about three dozen supporters, speaking from the steps of the State House.

Former Green Party candidate to challenge Mass. gov. Deval Patrick as a Democrat

Grace Ross, who ran in 2006 as the Green Party's candidate for governor of Massachusetts, is now running in the Democratic primary for the same office, against incumbent governor Deval Patrick. "I wasn't planning to run again," stated Ross, "but things got worse. Things got worse for regular people."

So far, Ross is the only Democratic challenger (and the only gay one, to my knowledge) of Patrick, although the Green Party is running its own candidate, Jill Stein. As of now, it is unclear why Ross is choosing to run as a Democrat instead of as a Green or independent, other than the answer of having an organizational structure behind her. On the blog Blue Mass Group, before she decided whether she was going to run or not, she wrote:

If I run as a Democrat, that would allow me to combat the broken structure, with the help of the many folks already in state government who are dedicated to serving the people. Many Democratic friends have urged me to throw my hat in the ring, but so have my Republican, Green and unenrolled friends. The decision I and my team make will be based on how I can best serve all of the people of the Commonwealth.

When running as a Green, Ross only received a bit less than two percent of the vote. This would make her seem completely non-competitive. However, the difference this time is obviously that she's running as a Democrat. And if she makes it onto the ballot - which would take 15% of the delegates at the state Democratic convention and something like 10,000 signatures - which is not unlikely, then she is running in a completely different race than 2006.

Interestingly, Ross announced her candidacy at an AFL-CIO conference:

Ross’s announcement came after Patrick pulled out of the state’s AFL-CIO conference in Plymouth. Patrick, who was invited by the AFL-CIO, backed out after police unions picketed the event and other unions said they would leave upon his arrival and join the police unions in demonstrating.

As for her platform, it's not entirely clear yet. However, the Boston Globe writes:

Ross said during the 2006 campaign, among other things, that she was running for governor to be a voice for the poor, and she wanted a structural change in the tax system, which she believed heavily favored the wealthy.

One of her first acts as governor, she said, would be to push for a new "circuit-breaker" tax break to help low- and moderate-income residents, a move that would shift more of the tax burden onto the wealthy. Ross also wanted corporations to pay taxes based on the amount of business they do in Massachusetts rather than on the facilities they have here.

Ross also called for devoting bout $50 million in state money to low- and no-interest loans for small businesses, municipalities, and property owners who want to add solar panels or wind turbines. She said the initiative would nurture the state's alternative-energy industry, reduce demand on the power grid, and lower energy costs for cities and towns.