The Green Rainbow Party congratulates Deval Patrick and all of the winners in yesterday’s election. We thank all candidates for offering their public service, especially the independent candidates for various offices who faced an uphill fight against financial disadvantages and media bias. We wish the Patrick administration and the legislators the best of luck in dealing with the issues facing the Commonwealth.

“It’s clear that the Green-Rainbow Party has a vital role to play in being the voice for some urgently needed solutions that are not going to be put on the table without us” said Michael Horan, Green-Rainbow Party Co-chair.

“The Green-Rainbow Party made some major advances in yesterday’s elections, and achieved most of its goals despite the fact that our long-shot campaigns fell short of dislodging the major party grip on elected offices.”

“Thanks to the splendid showing of Nat Fortune in the state auditor’s race, the Green-Rainbow Party is now classified as a major political party in Massachusetts. That frees us from the very restrictive law that limits a candidate’s financial support from our Party to $500. It also means that our party name will appear as a check-off option on every voter registration form – which is key to expanding our enrollment efforts.”

“Jill Stein set a new record for fundraising by a Green-Rainbow candidate. She doubled the size of our donor list – and that’s critical to future campaigns. We’ve put down roots in over eight communities by establishing new Green-Rainbow locals. We have dramatically increased the number of experienced Green campaign workers and professional staff. We made a lot of friends and won support from many very influential people who are fighting the good fight for jobs, the environment, and justice in Massachusetts.”

“And the Green-Rainbow strategy for running in legislative districts resulted in a very encouraging field test in our two House races. Mark Miller and Scott Laugenour took on two entrenched incumbents and ran superb races. Miller set a new record for GRP vote total in a House race – taking 45% of the vote. And he did this despite never having run for office before. These races set the stage for 2012 when we will bring increased experience and resources to bear.”

Party co-chair Nancy Lee Wood noted that “it seems clear that Deval Patrick’s victory in the governor’s race was due in large part to the fact that the people of Massachusetts perceived him as the more progressive alternative to Charlie Baker. But there is a fundamental deception at the core of that victory. We are going to see those progressive voters disappointed on almost every key issue over the next four years. The Green-Rainbow Party is going to be fully engaged in resisting the backsliding and fighting for the future for ourselves, our children, and our planet.”

I have to admit I love politics.  I love the whole thing, well I don’t like the negative stuff but I guess that comes with the territory.  Last night “We the People” had our turn and we spoke.  We spoke loud in some places and soft in others.  Now that the campaigning is over it is time to govern which is far harder to do then running.

So last night I did my usual election night routine and watched the returns come in.  Bouncing back and forth between several news networks and keeping an eye on the Internet.  I would say that Boston.com had the best coverage with interactive maps so you could see how your community voted on each ballot line.  Very interesting.

Some were winners and some losers and that is the name of the game.  This was an important election, more so then any other mid-term election.  Massachusetts politics continues to confuse me.  All 10 Congressional seats went to Democrats but in the two Massachusetts House districts near me, but democrats were beaten, one by only 2 votes.  Let that be a lesson on the whole Get the Vote out thing by the way.  Republicans picked up some seats in the House and maybe they will start to become a force for change on Beacon Hill.  I am also proud to say that my home town of Quincy will be sending it’s first Asian American to the State House.  I was also happy to see Nicki Haley in South Carolina win election as governor, the second Indian American to win high office.  I was also pleased to see the large number of young people elected, I do believe our future is bright.

I have written before that our country is bigger than one person or party.  We all need to work together and support each other more so now in the bad times, and we need to urge our leaders to put their egos behind them and get the job done, we need to you to get the job done, we put you in office to get the job done.  I will say this, I hope you have learned from this election that if you do not produce, or do things that “We the People” don’t like you will be one of those looking for work.  Get to work and fix this mess!  You may not have created it but you HAVE to fix it.

In the end the House went to the Republicans and the Senate stayed with the Democrats, now it is time to put it all behind and work together.  The incoming Speaker of the House Representative John Boehner of Ohio said last night that he hopes the President has heard the people and will adjust his agenda accordingly.  He continued that if he does this we will work with him, I hope he does.  The mid term elections of Bill Clinton’s first term saw similar results and he modified his agenda and won re-election to a second term and the country moved forward.  If the President digs in his heals “We the People” will suffer.  Mr. President you cannot always get what you want, but if you put your ego aside and work with people you will accomplish much and maybe pull us up.  We can only hope.

The hard work now begins.  I congratulate those who won and I also congratulate those who lost for running.  I know what it takes to put yourself forward, it is not easy and it takes time away from family and other things so thank you to all who ran you should all be proud of what you have done.  The Democrats swept all 10 Congressional Districts here in Massachusetts but the opposition made them work for it.  I would say stay involved and keep making your voice heard.

I will continue to pray for our leaders and that they will listen more and talk less.  We need the government to work, and work together.  This could be a great two years or a really bad two years, but it will get worse before it gets better.

God Bless America!

Tomorrow, citizens all over the country will be heading for the polls to cast votes for Congress as well as any number of state and local races. This election is being called a historic election by some and I believe will be historic indeed. I only hope that after the election both parties will be able to find a way to work together so we can get our country back on track.

In Massachusetts the people will be electing a new governor as well as all of the other constitutional offices. I am casting my ballot for the candidates from the Massachusetts Green Party. I realize that there is not much of a chance that they will win, but I believe we need more voices from an independent third party and the Massachusetts Green Party has the clearest voice for change in this election. If enough people vote Green tomorrow the voice will be heard loud and clear.

Here are some of my reasons for voting Green tomorrow:

1. Education ~ The younger generation is our future and we need to insure that they are educated in the best possible way. I serve on the Southern Worcester County Regional School Committee and I am also a certified teacher in Massachusetts and we owe our students better then they are presently getting. The Greens believe is a strong values education public education system that emphasizes the importance of literacy, good citizenship, civic participation, and healthy self-realization. The Green Party calls upon educators to prepare students for living in a sustainable society. Support access to quality, free public education at all levels, and support significant rollbacks of tuition and fees at public institutions of higher learning. And they support a fully funded public library system.

Jill Stein’s position is clear:

Fully fund K through 12 education in every year, in every budget, for every student.

It’s a matter of getting our priorities straight. Do we hand out more corporate welfare and more tax breaks to well-connected CEO’s? Or do we educate our kids? Jill says that kids come first.

Put public schools first, and don’t undermine them with private charter schools.

Every child should have access to a quality public school in their neighborhood or community. Undermining public schools in search of privatization will inevitably lead to more expensive education, inequality, and loss of the democratic right to a free education.

Let educators and parents decide how best to educate our children.

Stop the takeover of the education agenda by private interests seeking to gain a business advantage. Stop the power grabs by state level bureaucracies seeking to impose their schemes on parents and local school districts. Schools should be responsive to and accountable to the community in which they are located. State boards filled with political hacks and privatization advocates should not dictate conditions to local school districts.

Stop punishing students and teachers for the failures of Beacon Hill.

Blaming teachers for deceptively labeled “underperforming schools” is an attempt to divert attention from the failure of Beacon Hill to properly fund schools and to address other factors affecting the ability of students to learn. And punishing students by denying them the diplomas they have earned through their coursework is a devastating punishment that is unfair and misguided. Punishing the innocent will NOT be part of Jill’s educational philosophy. We need to give students all the support they need and to work with teachers who are, after all, our school’s greatest resources.

2. Economy ~ The Greens support an ecological approach to economic security, in which economic enterprises are a compatible, integrated part of local communities, with increased emphasis on local cycles of production, consumption, and recycling. And support the preservation of agriculture in Massachusetts, the expansion of sustainable community-based agriculture and urban agriculture, and the pursuit of food security by increasing the fraction of food that is locally grown.

Jill Stein has a plan to bring 50,000 green jobs to the local economy. She is against the present plan to bring Casinos to Massachusetts as they are job killers and drain resources from the local economy as well and bring higher crime to the area. Casino job are low wage and go no where, the Green jobs will bring real revitalization to our communities and put real people back to work.

Jill Stein will fight any attempt to balance the budget through tax or fee hikes that hit ordinary taxpayers. She will stand for the fairness solution — which means closing any budget gap by asking higher-income taxpayers to pay something closer to the rate that most people have been experiencing for years. Fairness is not only just, but is the only practical way to preserve essential services and to avoid a continuing series of budget crises.

At a recent debate, Jill Stein had this to say regarding the economy, “I would like to create a revolving loan fund, a low- or zero-interest loan fund using some of this money which is being squandered right now in these tax giveaways for insiders. In particular, we need jobs in weatherization. These are jobs that pay for themselves. Where energy is otherwise going out the window and up the roof, instead we get dollars and that gets put back into the economy. The local food economy is another area, and it’s going like gangbusters, even with incredible disadvantages. But there are so many farmers markets and CSAs (community supported agriculture programs) — these are ready to expand, but communities don’t have the capital to do it, so I’d like to see loans there as well. The third area is transportation, so building bike paths and safe sidewalks and public transit. It re-integrates a more active lifestyle into our communities. One other area is the recycling economy and also clean manufacturing. We know that 90 percent of the waste stream is actually usable or recyclable, and that means employing people to sort, to re-manufacture, to re-engineer — all sorts of spin-off factory-based jobs can be created.”

These are just two of my reasons for voting Green but the number one reason is that the Democrats and Republicans have run this state for generations and they are the reason we are in this mess, a third party would be a new voice to Beacon Hill and I say it is time to give someone else a chance to run things. We need real solutions, real local solutions. We cannot depend on stimulus money and the Federal Government to bail us out and we need to return control to local governments by creating sustainable jobs that support the local community. Jobs created in the local community support the local community.

I would ask you to consider a vote for real hope and change by voting for the following candidates in the Massachusetts Election on November 2nd:

Jill Stein ~ Governor

Rick Purcell ~ Lt. Governor

Nate Fortune ~ Auditor

Scott Laugenour ~ State Representative 4th Berkshire

Mark Miller ~ State Representative 3rd Berkshire
Massachusetts Green Party
If you Don’t live in Massachusetts check out the other Green candidates at the Green Party of the USA