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Boston city councilor to run for secretary of state against incumbent from Brighton
By adamg on Tue, 11/28/2017 - 9:04am
The Salem News reports that Josh Zakim, who just won another term to represent Beacon Hill, the Back Bay, Fenway, the West End and Mission Hill on the city council, filed papers yesterday to run against Secretary of State William Galvin next year - in the Democratic primary, natch. A Swampscott man is also running.
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Comments
More Candidates for State Secretary please!
New Candidates for Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will advocate for greater Voter Mobilization and better FOI Freedom Of Information Open Government practices....
https://www.reddit.com/r/massachusetts/comments/7g4657/new_candidates_fo...
theszak 2018
Electronic Boogie baby.
Yes!
Galvin sucks and actively harms the prospects for open and transparent governance in the state.
This is fantastic
I wish Josh all the luck in the world. One of the biggest problems we have in Massachusetts is incumbents who never face real opponents.
I rarely think change for the sake of change is a good thing, but we could use way more term limits just to shake things up and get some new ideas.
Persuade Boston City Council President Michelle Wu !...
If only Boston City Council President Michelle Wu would be a Candidate for Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Now that would be something!
No chance for Zakim
Not a huge fan of Galvin (time to retire) but Zakim has no chance unless he knows Galvin will retire at the last minute. Keep everyone else out if the race?
Cute when local pols run for statewide office on years when they can keep their Council or Mayor seat safe. Zakim would be better off running against Charlie Baker. He'd get the support of the Dems and many of us 1,050,000 who voted for Trump.
Support of the Dems?
Versus Baker?
I wouldn't be to sure of that. For all his faults, Baker is a buddy of Liz Warren for a reason - he's a bulkhead against radicalism in the GOP.
Without Union Support
Zakim doesn't want union endorsements (or at least he hasn't asked for them in the past). Hard to believe he can win a statewide election without union support.
Unions for Zakim
Zakim has received several endorsements from unions in the past. Including several of the big SEIU locals as well as UNITE-HERE.
If a person has been elected to an office
they should be required to serve the full term of that office. The only legitimate reasons for them not to fulfill their term are death or serious illness. To allow otherwise is a disservice, and an insult, to the voters who elected that person into office in the first place.
That's Ridiculous
If he does win, there will be a special election and he will be replaced. I'm no fan of Zakim, but what's the big deal?
And how much effort
and, more importantly, our TAX money, will this special election entail? Just so an elected official can ignore the commitments he agreed to when the voters chose him, because he decides "hey, I want a different job."
Now THAT is ridiculous.
We elect politicians
Not indentured servants.
Sheesh.
Um
It ain't your tax money that would be spent on the special election.
I mean, unless you moved.
I think the comment meant
I think the comment meant that they belive Josh will be a no-show for City Council while running for secretary of state (while his constituents pay his salary).
He is a city councillor in
He is a city councillor in the biggest city in the state, filled with primary voters. It's not like he is the Governor of North Dakota running for President as a Democrat. To think he would ignore the biggest city in the state is silly.
If we applied that same rule to Galvin does that mean Galvin will be ignoring HIS job to run for re-election? After all they both have to go to East Whatever That City is Called for that little event and they of course have to stop by the Caucus on That Silly Little Island with Ten Voters but they are all Wealthy.
Yes it is unfair that elected officials play by different rules than most of us. It is also unfair that most public political appointments are able to seemingly take leaves of absence for months on end to run for campaigns as well. Just to be able to come back to their jobs if they lose. If you want to change the way the game is played then by all means put out a consistent set of rules. Don't try to enforce it randomly though.
So, Roadman
Did you ever get a promotion?
Or did you always wait to be laid off first?
He has been in office for
He has been in office for several years now, it isn't like he is some random guy who just got elected dog catcher yesterday.
He just won reelection
3 weeks ago.
That would not be legal
That would not be legal.
Check out the 13th amendment to the U.S. Constitution:
The whole point behind the
The whole point behind the city's odd-year election cycle is that it allows the councilors to keep their seat while running for higher office.
Remember the farce when the council voted to give themselves 4 year terms under the pretense that it would save the city money spent on running elections? Oh, and they wanted to keep odd year elections because voters are too focused on state/national elections in even years. Yeah right.
But if an elected official wants to step down, they should be free to do that. The question is when it's better to schedule a standalone special election, or wait until the next general election, or appoint a replacement, or just leave the office vacant until the term expires.
Why odd years?
I always thought the whole point behind the odd-year election cycle is that it reduces turnout, thereby strengthening the hand of the entrenched powers.
Zakim has a shot here between
Zakim has a shot here between his well-known family name and ability to raise money. Galvin is a dinosaur representative of the very worst excesses of the old boys' club on Beacon Hill that puts a "D" next to their name but does nothing to promote progressive policy. Galvin is such a hack that he'd rather tell people to not bother voting in the run up to elections than actually make it easier to register and vote. Zakim has my support and I bet will really push him in a primary.
A candidate to encourage easy voter registration & transparency
Let's face it. On making public records easy to obtain, the current Secretary has not been a champion. Neither did he prepare to expedite the registration of voters in the state and now has challenged a court decision to do so.
Councilor Zakim has done right by the residents of his District 8 while acting to support a broader good. He'd be a much more proactive Secretary of the Commonwealth. He stood and won re-election because he has his district's support.
Let's watch as Party support from delegates moves in support of Josh Zakim.
Prejudicial practices at Boston City Council.
Boston City Council keeps out of reach the City Stenographer Stenographic Record of Council Public Meetings. Prejudicial practices for Records Management disenfranchise hard of hearing folks, ESL English Second Language folks, all folks!
The Councilor has been ignoring prejudicial practices at Boston City Council that include bad Records Management practices.
Hey Josh
Please don't become the next Muph...
I’m a fan.
I worked with him peripherally in the recent past. I had moved out of Boston so wasn’t following his voting very carefully but I can say he’s a real gentleman. I wish him well and would probably vote for him for any office he runs for at this point, barring some dealbreaker position.
Let City Council know ideas, suggestions, concerns, questions...
Let the full Boston City Council know your ideas, suggestions, concerns, questions by email...
The Honorable Boston City Council President Michelle Wu michelle.wu at boston.gov ,
"The Honorable Michael F. Flaherty" michael.f.flaherty at boston.gov ,
The Honorable Annissa Essaibi George a.e.george at boston.gov ,
The Honorable Ayanna Pressley ayanna.pressley at boston.gov ,
The Honorable Salvatore LaMattina salvatore.lamattina at boston.gov ,
Boston City Councilor Elect Lydia Marie Edwards lydiaforboston1 at gmail.com ,
The Honorable Bill Linehan bill.linehan at boston.gov ,
"Boston City Councilor Elect Edward M. Flynn" edflynn254 at yahoo.com ,
The Honorable Frank Baker frank.baker at boston.gov ,
The Honorable Andrea Campbell andrea.campbell at boston.gov ,
The Honorable Tim McCarthy timothy.mccarthy at boston.gov ,
The Honorable Matt O'Malley matthew.omalley at boston.gov ,
The Honorable Tito Jackson tito.jackson at boston.gov ,
Boston City Councilor Elect Kim Janey kim at kimjaney.org ,
The Honorable Josh Zakim josh.zakim at boston.gov ,
The Honorable Mark Ciommo mark.ciommo at boston.gov
Greater Civic Engagement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civic_engagement is needed for Boston City Council with an improving of Council Records Management practices and Council FOI Freedom Of Information Open Government practices for hard of hearing folks, for vision impaired folks, for ESL English Second Language folks, for all with less access.