Tonight I attended the democrats Lt. Governor candidates forum at the Brigham House which was sponsored by the Watertown Democratic Town Committee. Here is a recap of the night:

The first news of the night was that one of the candidates for Lt. Governor named Sam Kelly was leaving the race to work for Deval Patrick in the formulation of health care policy.

Andrea Silbert was the first candidate to speak and was introduced and endorsed by Watertown’s state rep Rachel Kaprielian. Silbert started off weak with a personal anecdote that rambled on while trying to highlight what needs to be improved about the state. However, she quickly turned things around when talking about what she foresaw her role would be as Lt. Governor and the goals she would like to accomplish in her position. First off she said she would lead efforts in economic development and highlighted her work with the Center For Women’s Enterprise; during this time, she listed an impressive array of accomplishments in her work including brokering deals and helping find the capital for recognizable state businesses like Zip Car and IRobot and assisting entrepreneurs who needed a chance to show what they could do. Next, she stressed the need to improve regional rail and to get money from the federal government to help in this matter. Finally, she talked about standing up for the disadvantaged and the need to end family homelessness. Not a lot of specifics were given about how she would do this.

            While taking questions from the crowd she said she was in favor of the Windmills and against rolling back the income tax. The Q&A session was also the first appearance of a group of 5 people who can best be described as the machine tool sector lobby. The group kept giving rambling lectures about their special interest masquerading as questions. They made many comments that did not pertain to the office of Lt. Governor throughout the night and where eventually ignored. So this is the last I will be mentioned them.

            The next speaker was Deb Goldberg who is a selectmen in the Town of Brookline and most famous for being part of the family that founded stop and shop. Overall, she was the least impressive speaker of the night. She stated a lot of generalities about the problems of property tax, health care, housing costs, Public Ed. However, she did not many specific or original ideas about what she would do as Lt. Governor. Her most specific idea was a task force that would help partner community colleges with local business.

            In her answers to questions, she revealed that she had reservations about the windmills because of the lack of a bidding process. Responding to another question she talked about the need to keep population in MA and reduce housing costs especially with the possibility of MA losing a congressional seat.

            The final candidate to speak was the Mayor of Worcester Tim Murray.  Murray started off with a lot of Romney and Healy bashing. After pointing out failures of the Romney administration he quoted Regain asking “are you better off now then you were 4 years ago?” He then went on to list his accomplishments and experiences as Mayor especially achievements in getting biotech and other hi-tech jobs in Worcester via partnerships with colleges.

            Murray highlighted the asset that separates himself from the other Lt. Governor candidates. In the last gubernatorial election, the Democrats did not do well in central and western MA. Being from Worcester, he believes he could help the democrats do better in central and western MA.

            During his Q&A session he stated he was against the income tax rollback, had not come to a firm stand on the wind farm issue, and answered my question regarding slot machines and casinos by saying that he supports them as only a last option, but admits he did give his support for them in the past because of the trying times for the state.

Editorial Time: I don’t think Deb Goldberg has the credentials and was not very polished as a speaker. Furthermore, being from a wealthy Brookline family I think she would be a political liability. Murray and Silbert would both make good candidates and Lt. Governors and bring different things to the table depending on who the candidate for Governor is. I can not completely explain why, but Murray seems like a better fit with Patrick and Silbert a better fit with Reilly. I can’t say who would be a good fit for Gabrielli.

Finally on a personal note, I attended the Hosmer Elementary School after the old East Junior High was closed down. When I was at Hosmer the old East Junior High was an imposing structure that was linked to many myths. For example, Hosmer Harry the ghost of a former student lived their and would occasionally come into the elementary school to cause trouble. In addition, I have memories from back in 88 when I was 5 thinking the building was Castle Greyskull from the cartoon He-man. Tonight was the first time I have ever been in the mythical place and can now officially report that I did not see Hosmer Harry, She-ra the princess of power, or rooms filled with cobwebs and bats as I envisioned the building containing when I was in elementary school. The room we were in had a bunch of nice chandeliers and according to Representative Kaprielian was the sewing room in the old Junior High. (Note: Castle Grey Skull is now Brigham House an assisted living community.