Massachusetts Democrant

Warren Charges Up Cape Democrats [Democrant]

Wherever Elizabeth Warren goes, the crowds follow. A five stop tour of the Cape certainly energized the base once again, starting in Falmouth and ending up in Orleans. Many of the caucuses for the state Democratic convention reported new faces attending, specifically in support of Warren. Given that presidential years always have a higher and more Democratic turnout than off-year elections, and the enthusiasm for Warren, prospects remain high for Democrats in Massachusetts. Fine story on Warren's day here on CCT. 

I had heard that when it was announced Warren would attend the Falmouth DTC brunch that was held Saturday, reservations shot up. 

Despite appearances at numerous caucuses with a contingent of off-Cape supporters, I've still yet to meet anyone active on the Cape supporting Sam Sutter. Nor do I know what issue he has with Bill Keating's performance. Yes Sam, there is gridlock in DC, thanks for the news flash. One way to fix that is for Democrats to take back the House, not run against each other with no apparent platform.

I strongly supported Rob O'Leary in the 2010 primary. But I've seen the results Keating gets, not just by a voting record, but by paying attention to district needs. He's supported local fishing, small businesses and brought a $1.9 million grant for the Nauset bike trail. Working with John Kerry on conversion of the old South Weymouth air base will create an estimated 10,000 jobs. Pretty strong results in just over a year. You can be effective in and out of DC. 

In reading Randy Hunt's blog, clearly he's been uhhhh.... taking his time getting settled. I don't see that he's passed anything he's filed in 2011. Fortunately, that includes the bill I referenced in this post to increase the pension on campaign contributor John Cummings. Clearly following in Jeff Perry's school of ineffectiveness, perhaps there is a "Special CPA" position waiting for him, across the hall from the Special Sheriff.  Hunt has a Democratic opponent in former Sandwich Selectman, Patrick Ellis. 

I have not seen anyone from the GOP file against Dan Wolf, Sarah Peake or Cleon Turner. Red Mass Group seems to think Eric Steinhilber is running against Wolf, but nothing to support that. Wolf hasn't done anything to suggest that the coalition of Democrats and business leaders he put together in his first election, won't be even stronger this time. I mentioned before Massachusetts turnout in presidential years is higher and more blue, that is true of the Cape also. 

Props also to Walter Moniz, a Democrat running for Governor's Council. He is running as hard as I've seen anyone run for a position most people probably just scrunch up their face at in the voting booth and just vote party, or who had more signs. 

So when Jeb Bush criticized the GOP presidential field, do you think he meant it, or was he sending a signal? 

Finally, I'd be remiss not taking CCT to task for making sure they regularly include any connection between bad news on an individual and being anti-wind farm. That's Faux/Fox journalism. Why include one group, when people may belong to any number of public organizations you may or may not agree with? 

I always feel better giving The Blogfather a yank ;). Love the guy anyway. 

Welcome to 2012--Obama, Warren & Keating will win

The Race for Congress on Cape Cod and the South Shore

Obama, Warren  and Keating will win in November

In lieu of football, it seems like a good time to fire it up and talk about that other contact sport, politics. And there is plenty of material to work with, so let's get cooking.

There is at least one announced candidate running against Congressman Bill Keating in the new 9th district. Sam Sutter is currently the District Attorney in Bristol County. To run in MA09, he'll need to find a place to live. Bill Keating has moved from Quincy to a house he has owned on the Cape for almost two decades. Now it becomes his permanent address.

I have yet to find a single Democrat on the Cape who isn't committed to Keating.You'll get no hint at all what Sutter's issue could be with Keating from his web site. Others have speculated here about the hand of Delahunt pushing him and Rob O'Leary to run against Keating. Sutter and his people are trying to say there is no incumbent in the new district. That's a surprise to the people of Cape Cod, Plymouth, Kingston, Duxbury, Marshfield, Norwell, Hanover, and some of Rockland. 

I have yet to find a single Democrat on the Cape who isn't committed to Keating. He has been a regular presence here, plugged into the issues of importance. Even though Weymouth will no longer be in the district, Keating's work in the conversion and development of the South Weymouth base, creating 10,000 jobs, will be long felt. 

Sam Sutter: Selfish ambition over the good of the party is not an attractive issue

Seriously Sam, why are you running? Selfish ambition over the good of the party is not an attractive issue. It's not like we have a weak member of the delegation, who could lose the seat. What puts that seat at greater risk is expending resources on a primary. Same goes for Rob O'Leary. I like Rob, I supported him in the primary. I would not support him now. 

I like Rob, I supported him in the primary. I would not support him now.If I wanted the big pop, I would have used a headline that contained the words "Elizabeth Warren". I can't remember the last time a candidate has generated the type of enthusiasm she has, many people wanting to get involved and obviously opening up their wallets too. That is also a challenge to a campaign to manage all of that. To this point, I've seen her campaign as being driven by the personal power of the candidate. That's ok in January. 

I have not seen the level of organization needed to coordinate the massive amount of support and energy that is out there. And to be fair, it's not a bad problem to have, and I'm not sure any campaign is really set to handle what the Warren campaign has been asked to manage. They need to figure out how to fill water glasses to give out, coming from a fire hose. If this is not properly managed, they'll lose enthusiasm and workers. 

In a presidential election year, Massachusetts turn out is more Democratic than an off-year. That is advantageous at all levels. This state will easily go to Obama. When you then look at the Senate race, asking yourself, "ok which of these 2 will work with the President", that's a win for Warren. Brown has to hope there are some people that want to balance out Obama by voting for him. Similar rationale to why Massachusetts has had so many GOP governors versus the highly Democratic legislature.

Deja Vu, All Over Again. Randy Hunt Edition

Jeff Perry reincarnationj

House Bill H02454
   By Mr. Hunt of Sandwich (by request), a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 2454) of Hunt that the State Board of Retirement be authorized to grant an increased accidental disability retirement allowance to Lieutenant John P. Cummings of the town of Bourne Joint Committee on Public Service.
   Sponsors: Randy Hunt

So while enjoying Sunday coffee, I was thinking, soooo, what's new state rep Randy Hunt been up to his first months? I noticed something that I had seen filed by Jeff Perry, a request to increase the disability pension from someone that was a campaign contributor.

Now we know Perry's fiscal conservatism didn't extend to self interest, as evidenced by his bill last session, and remaining in the position of "special sheriff", despite Democrats and Republicans acknowledging this was a sham.

But what caught my eye this time about the bill filed by Rep. Hunt, H02454, was the name of the individual- Lt. John Cummings, who served as a corrections officer. Cummings, I know I've heard that name before. Coincidence or relation? Perhaps someone should check to see if the Sheriff has an unfilled CPA position he's been holding on to?

The bill makes no mention as to what Lt. Cummings' injuries were, other than they occurred in 1989. As recently as 2005, a campaign contribution made by Cummings to Jeff Perry indicated his occupation as Lieutenant in the Dept. of Corrections. 

Post Election Brain Dump

Democrats need some fresh, young faces, GOP doubles number of State Rep

While the conventional wisdom has been, what a thrashing the GOP took (and they did), one critical exception should be noted. The GOP picked up a lot of seats in the House on Beacon Hill. Whatever party you are with, that's where the seeds are planted. Democrats need to get some new young talent in there.

The Mass. GOP may double number of State Reps.

I can't speak for the GOP, but I know the get out the vote effort in Massachusetts was pretty strong. Certainly far more organized on the Cape than I have ever seen here in my 15 years. That said, total turnout on the Cape and Islands was just a few thousand more than '06- 118K to 115K. It did not come close to 2008 turnout, which was over 140K. Keating won this side of the bridge narrowly (.74%). Not a surprise, as in the primary, you pretty much had the same number of people voting in the Dem primary as the GOP one. 

Patrick narrowly lost down here, after winning the Cape in '06. His winning in '06 here was at least partially due to the stronger showing Christy Mihos had on Cape, taking votes from Healey. Patrick's percentage was only down slightly from '06- 46.2% then, 45% this year.

The trend of where the Democrats were strongest continues to be starting in Brewster and heading east, Falmouth and both Islands. 

There is conjecture that off-Cape, the Independent candidates hurt Perry more than Keating. On this side of the bridge, the 3 Independent candidates got a total of 6.2% of the vote. Off-Cape, they combined for 13.9%. Perry lost the Cape narrowly as I mentioned. He lost off-Cape by 7.3%. Perry counted on the Scott Brown voters sticking with him. In the towns along the South Shore, Brown was getting in the 60%+ range in most of them, 64% in Plymouth. Perry barely won there. Given Brown's 60-40 win of the 10th CD as a whole, it is a strong repudiation of Perry.

Despite negative campaign flyers that were sent out against Dan Wolf and Cleon Turner, both outperformed Keating and Patrick. Turner won his precincts in Yarmouth, I believe for the first time. Wolf was obviously much better financed, better known and had a strong reputation in the community.

With Heads Buried in the Sand Edition...

I could have used a different visual, so be grateful.

You have to like how Scott Brown and Charlie Baker will not read the court docs on Jeff Perry. Can't expect a level of diligence there, can you? Well to make it easier, here is a brief synopsis and Perry's strong defense of his actions:

Way to go there Jeff!

How can you expect average folks to read the material, when a US Senator won't? If you don't inform yourself,  you can just write it off as dirty politics - that's what Perry hopes you do. He's counting on you not knowing, tossing it off as smears. He's counting on you not caring that 2 teenage girls were sexually assaulted and that he is documented as having lied and covered it up twice. That's the type of person who wants to be your congressman.

If you play See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil on that, it gets easier to overlook the entire self aggrandizing record of Jeff Perry.

• The phony Columbia State Degree he wanted you to believe was an academic credential
• Passing no legislation of any consequence in 8 years on Beacon Hill
• Perhaps he was too busy attending law school, at least partially subsidized by taxpayers, to do his day job. Then when he finished law school, lying on his bar application ("you got me")
• Perhaps he was busy writing My GOP, where he said - "Traditionally, Republican elected officials and candidates have firmly stood for . . . traditional family values, moral and ethical behavior[.]"
• Then too busy pushing the book to other campaigns, having his own campaign purchase copies, trying to get people to donate copies as a part of care packages for troops. There is nothing Jeff Perry won't do to promote Jeff Perry.

Randy Hunt- come on down!

Federal Election Commission asks Hunt about his handling of Perry's finance

This notice requests information essential to full public disclosure of your federal election campaign finances. Failure to adequately respond by the response date noted above could result in an audit or enforcement action.

I guess you were so busy running for Jeff Perry's seat, that being treasurer of Jeff's congressional campaign got a little lax?

The Perry campaign was called on 8 instances where individuals contributed more than is legally allowed.

How on earth are you going to watch over the people's business and a state budget, with that kind of performance?

Heck they even called you on the numbers not adding up properly.

Not exactly a way to impress people that you will pay attention to the details.

Did Jeff Perry Violate Campaign Finance Law Also?

Failing the "sniff test"

You can find all sorts of interesting things in campaign finance reports. You can see individuals and PACs making contributions to a candidate. You can find out where a campaign is spending it's money. One such entry from the Perry campaign was curious, dated April 25, 2010. It was an expenditure to Perry Books for $1,185. 

That Jeff Perry may be using this as a means for personal financial gain is reprehensible.

Well you know who Perry Books is, of course. Perry's non-annotated rambling tome on among other things, values (snicker) is the one product of Perry Books. So Jeff Perry has his campaign purchasing his book, for the financial gain of Jeff Perry. Aside from failing the sniff test, it brought to mind other instances of politicians using campaigns and PACs to promote books. 

Sarah Palin did it. Her PAC bought a lot of copies of her book to distribute. Perhaps Perry should have called his book, "Going Rogue Cop"? Snarkiness aside, I had to go look to refresh my memory on the Palin story. 

This ABC News story mentioned the following:

"Palin would not be the first politician to use a PAC to underwrite the purchase of a memoir. The Federal Election Commission has heard a number of cases on the question of whether it is an appropriate expense. The rules are somewhat complex, but because Palin is neither a candidate for office, nor a sitting member of congress, her PAC is free to purchase the book under current law, according to Jan Baran, a campaign legal expert."

Uh oh. Perry in fact IS a candidate for office. It appears the conclusion can be drawn that we have one more situation where Jeff is looking out for Jeff, in violation of FEC law. Whether or not the expense from Bill Hudak's campaign purchasing from Perry Books is also a violation, I don't know.

Patriotism (again) is the last refuge of a scoundrel

Perry also encourages people to "donate" his book, to Cape Cod Cares for Our Troops, a Brewster organization that has sent 8100 care packages to our troops. It is admirable that care packages be sent to the troops. I personally disagree with the idea that these packages should have any political material included, regardless of point of view. That is not the intent of a care package. 

That Jeff Perry may be using this as a means for personal financial gain is reprehensible. His book website encourages people to make "donations" of his book to Cape Cod Cares for Our Troops. Just Jeff using the military to look out for Jeff.

If Jeff Perry is not getting financial benefit from these actions, then I am sure he would be glad to release his information filed with the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance, regarding income from Perry Books.  From what we have seen and know from Jeff Perry, don't expect an honest answer. 

Who Is Worse, The Not Just Perryochio Edition

So what's worse? Jeff Perry has no choice but to continue to lie. By now, it's probably pathological. He's probably convinced himself, in the face of well documented facts, that he didn't do anything wrong, not just once, but twice. Now he actually he has to call the victim in the case a liar. It's not some unknown person out there anymore. How far away would you have to be, Sgt Jeff Perry, supervising officer, not to hear a scream? She placed you 15 feet away, a  distance you can hear "hello" in a conversational tone.

The question the jury answered in the affirmative was:

"Did the Town of Wareham have a policy or custom of deliberate indifference to the commission of constitutional violations by police officers that caused the violation of   (Plaintiff's) civil rights you have found in answering "YES" to Question 1?"

Despite that, despite Lisa Allen's clear statement yesterday, you can find people actually defending Jeff Perry. This is the same Jeff Perry that wrote in his own book:

"Such things as . . . protecting family values . . . are beliefs that if you choose to label yourself as a member of the Republican Party, you had better be prepared to conduct yourself in accordance with such principles."

And remember, while this is the most onerous of his offenses; it is not the only one. I guess there was no ethics class at Columbia State, huh? Lying and covering up in 2 sexual assaults, lying about the radar gun, trapping citizens on red lights, lying on your bar application, and a legislative career completely void of any significant accomplishments?

Oh, so back to what's worse. The sins of Jeff Perry are well documented. How about all the people living in such a complete state of denial as to continue to defend him? I guess it's never too late to pick up co-conspirators, or participate in the victimization of these women. It's not even a matter of politics at this point; it is a simple matter of human decency.

And for your third choice as to what's worse, I offer the Massachusetts GOP. Since we are talking about Cape Cod, there is plenty of sand for you to keep your heads buried. Mitt? Scott? Still think this is your guy? What could be better than the opportunity to get a picture of Charlie Baker and Jeff Perry together this weekend at their rally? Saying nothing is not an option, you're just as complicit. Pat Foran, will you be attending too?

Lisa Allen is braver than the lot of you. She had nothing personally to gain, other than telling the truth. 

The World of Perryochio

 There's nothing like taking in another couple weeks of Jeff Perry to stimulate the keyboard. I mean, this stuff almost writes itself.

For example, I enjoy how Perry is defended by measure that he was not found guilty of anything, as if that's some badge of pride, especially given the known facts. Besides, while one civil suit was settled out of court and sealed, the other did find the Town of Wareham responsible. You don't need to name the individuals, it's superfluous. By Town of Wareham, they are not talking about a clerk or Town Administrator. It is those directly involved, those counted on to protect the citizens, people like say Sgt Perry?

He doesn't boast about his police career much in public forums anymore, does he?

It is the pattern of behavior, one that continues to this day, that should trouble people. Those incidents were merely the worst. It continued on to his 28 day bachelor degree, and later misrepresenting himself on his bar application.

And continuing on to campaign, Jeff Perry simply cannot get through a day even without lying. Check out this YouTube video:

.

You see, Bill Keating actually does a lot of the things that Jeff Perry only talks about. His work on behalf of vets won a public service award from the Boston Bar Association and The Patriot Award from a volunteer organization in the Department of Defense. Jeff Perry talks about how bad the estate tax is in government. Bill Keating worked with GOP Governor Weld to change that here. Jeff Perry has one of the worst environmental voting records on Beacon Hill. Bill Keating has been recognized for his work, and again, working across party lines, passed the Clean Water Act.

In basketball terms, Jeff Perry talks game, Bill Keating got game.

Last Thursday night at the candidate debate at 4C's, Jeff Perry said, "If you like what I've done at the State House, vote for me." Translated it means, if you want someone that has not passed a single piece of important legislation in his State House career, I'm your guy. If you want a guy who will quote statistics on illegal immigration from a racist group (FAIR), I'm your guy. If you want someone that talks about waste in government, then filed a bill to "amend" the pension of a campaign contributor, I'm your guy. If you want someone who will not fight for federal funding for projects and groups important to Cape Cod, I'm your guy.

No, that's not what's needed in Congress. What's needed is a guy that gets things done like Bill Keating. He was putting together anti-bullying programs for schools, using confiscated drug money, before the state acted with a bill. He's a guy that took on Billy Bulger, when most Dems just went along with not upsetting the apple cart. That is what you need in Congress. Jeff Perry will just go find some other way to make noise and do nothing, maybe sell a few more unannotated, non-footnoted, books. 

The More You Know About Jeff Perry, the Worse It Gets

One issue you know is vitally important to Cape Cod residents is the environment. We do take a great deal of pride in the preservation and management of our land and water resources. It stand to reason that if you represent this region, you should be on top of environmental issues. Among the clearcut differences between Mr. Perry and Mr. Keating is the fact that Keating supports Cape Wind, Perry does not. 

That said, I don't view Cape Wind as the litmus test that perhaps others do. Looking a little deeper, I found the House and Senate rankings produced by the Massachusetts League of Environmental Voters from 2008, the latest rankings available. Jeff Perry's record is not just poor, his rating is the lowest of any member of the House or Senate. I suppose Representative Perry was motivated this time, as in 2006, there was one member with a worse environmental voting record than his. 

Bill Keating on the other hand has been awarded Environmental Legislator of the Year for his work in writing the state's clean water act for lakes and streams. That's the type of leadership we deserve. Jeff Perry is running on an agenda and record that has not and does not work.