Get Your Vote On! Governor Primary Candidates
The Governor’s primary race is clearly heating up!
MALC* does not endorse candidates for office, but seeks to provide needed and timely information about candidate’s platforms and policies that impact artists of all disciplines, the art, cultural and creative economies. We urge everyone in our community to take the time to become informed about those running and to make the time to vote in the September 9th primary elections. Your vote really matters in a primary election!
(To find out where to vote: http://www.wheredoivotema.com/bal/myelectioninfo.aspx)
In February of this year, MALC released its policy recommendations and advocacy challenge for the candidates running for Governor. Members of the MALC Steering Committee met with almost all of those running for Governor earlier this year and we shared our policy vision for our sector with them. http://artistsunderthedome.org/malc/news/massachusetts-governors-race-update/
MALC did not send questionnaires to the Republican or Democratic candidates for Governor. Instead, MALC reached out several times to the Republican and Democratic candidates for Governor to specifically ask them when their policy platforms for our sector will be posted on their websites. We urged the candidates to post them before the September primary. MALC feels strongly that any candidate seeking to be Governor needs to have a specific policy platform for our sector.
At the time of this post**, none of the two Republicans and only one of the three Democratic candidates competing in the September primaries for Governor had platforms/issues papers regarding our sector posted on their campaign websites. (MALC will be monitoring all their websites for any new policy platform postings). We urge you to take the time to read the policy platform that has been posted this week by Candidate Grossman.
Below we list the primary candidates, links to their websites, and also links to their other webpages/policies that address our sector.
The Republican Candidates for Governor (in alphabetical order):
Charlie Baker (R) — does not currently have a specific platform for art, culture and the creative economy.
Link to campaign website: www.charliebaker2014.com/
Mark Fisher (R) — does not currently have a specific platform for art, culture and the creative economy.
Link to campaign website: www.markfisher2014.com/
The Democratic Candidates for Governor (in alphabetical order):
Don Berwick (D) — does not currently have a specific platform for art, culture and the creative economy.
Link to campaign website: http://www.berwickforgovernor.com/
Martha Coakley (D) — does not currently have a specific platform for art, culture and the creative economy.
Link to campaign website: http://www.marthacoakley.com/
Link to her policy on Education which mentions our sector: http://www.marthacoakley.com/issues/education
“Expand learning time to allow for more one-on-one instruction, enrichment programs like art and music, and professional development. And reduce the singular emphasis on teaching to the test, so that educators are empowered to help every child succeed.”
Steve Grossman (D) — the first and only candidate running for Governor in the primary who currently has a specific platform for our sector. (He posted his policy to the issues page of his campaign website after MALC’s August 26th, Get Your Vote On! Lt. Governor blog post, but issued a press release about his policy on July 15th – http://stevegrossman.com/press-release-grossman-proposes-plan-empower-creative-economy/)
Link to campaign website: http://stevegrossman.com/
Link to his policy on the Creative Economy: http://stevegrossman.com/issues/creative-economy/
Link to his policy on Schools which mentions our sector: http://stevegrossman.com/issues/schools/
“While Steve understands the focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) driven curricula, he believes we also need to emphasize the role of the arts and humanities in empowering young people and teaching them the creative problem-solving skills they need to thrive in today’s innovation economy.”
MALC will update this blog post when other primary candidates running for Governor post any policies for our sector. Please see our other Get Your Vote On Blog posts on the other primary elections!***
Get Informed and VOTE!
Kathleen Bitetti, Artist and MALC Co-Founder
John Weeks, Writer and MALC Steering Committee Member
*From our June 9th MALC blog post:
“There will be primaries in September for candidates of the Democratic and the Republican parties who are running for statewide positions. The winners of those primaries will be on the November ballot for the general election. Those candidates running as “unenrolled” (also known as independents) and have met the 10,000 certified signature requirement, won’t have a primary in September. Instead, their names will appear on the November ballot along with those candidates who won their respective party’s primaries.” http://artistsunderthedome.org/malc/news/massachusetts-governors-race-update/
** DATE AND TIME OF THIS POST: Friday, August 29, 2014, 9:10am
***Get Your Vote On Past Blog posts