Hi everyone — There’s a lot going on out there. First of all, we just launched our first TV ad of the campaign. We tried to capture three messages in thirty seconds (not an easy task):
- I’m a Massachusetts kid – always have been and always will be;
- I know something about turnarounds – which we need – now more than ever, and;
- Unlike the crowd up on Beacon Hill, my primary focus will be creating jobs, cutting spending and cutting taxes.
I look forward to your feedback!
If you’ve been following the campaign on Facebook (and if you’re not, you should try to), you know we’ve been crisscrossing the Commonwealth on our “Had Enough?” Tour. And while the stories vary from place to place, the overwhelming message from the voters we talk to is the same – they’ve had enough – of tax increases, over-spending, local aid cuts, bad behavior and no real reform on Beacon Hill.
We’re posting weekly video updates from the campaign trail on our Facebook and campaign page every week. Here’s our most recent recap of last week. Be sure to check it out!
We had the first debate this week between Governor Deval Patrick, Treasurer Tim Cahill and me, hosted on WRKO by Tom Finneran and Todd Feinburg. We covered a bunch of topics – jobs, spending, taxes, education, immigration and health care among them – using a pretty unstructured format. My message was pretty simple – I’m not part of the team that delivered the mess we’ve got on Beacon Hill, but my two opponents are. I have plans to cut spending and reform state government, they don’t. And I have the experience to get it done.
There have been many other highlights for me on the campaign trail, but I thought I’d mention just a couple of items this week. The first was our visit a few weeks back to Brockton High School, which has done a terrific job of delivering a high quality education for the kids in that community. Almost everyone who graduates from Brockton HS goes on to some form of higher education, and their kids perform at the statewide average on the MCAS English and Math tests. This sets Brockton apart from most other urban school districts. It’s a tribute to the administrators and the teachers, and the kids and their parents. But this progress wasn’t easy and it took a “we have to be better than that” approach. They did it, and we can’t backtrack from that progress. That’s why I push back when Governor Patrick talks about abandoning the MCAS. And that’s why we say Beacon Hill needs to give cities and towns the tools they need to better manage their budgets and spending.