Congressman Ed Markey (D. MA-5), who's is running the special election to fill Secretary of State John Kerry's (D. MA) U.S. Senate seat received a big endorsement over the weekend from the Boston Globe:
http://www.bostonglobe.com/...
Now, after 37 years of legislative action — sometimes fruitful, sometimes fruitless, always engaged — Markey is seeking to move to the Senate. His primary-election rival, fellow US Representative Stephen Lynch, casts Markey as a creature of Washington, beholden to its ways. It’s an understandable argument for Lynch, since many voters are frustrated with the paralysis in the capital, and looking for ways to register their disapproval.
But it’s hard to see what Ed Markey has to do with the partisanship and discord that have turned people against Congress. He’s a happy warrior, eager to join with Republicans on matters of national importance. To reject Markey simply because he knows how to get things done wouldn’t be a blow against congressional dysfunction; it would further it.
Like Markey, Lynch is also a long-serving congressman, albeit for 12 years. But he is, for better or worse, an antiestablishment figure. He doesn’t seek to be part of the congressional leadership, and tends to go his own way on major votes. Like former Senator Scott Brown, Lynch sometimes seems to believe the job of legislator is to wait until others have shown their cards — until all the hard work of drafting bills is done — and then vote thumbs up or thumbs down. He famously turned thumbs down on Obamacare, despite passionate entreaties from most of his colleagues in the Massachusetts delegation, President Obama, and Vicki Kennedy.
Markey has been the House’s main architect of federal telecommunications policy, guiding the creation of millions of jobs — including many in Massachusetts. He’s also a leader in energy policy, and the prime mover of the far-reaching bill to address climate change that passed the House in 2009 but got bottled up in the Senate. He helped create the legislation that enabled President Obama to negotiate a 54.5 mpg fuel-economy standard for the 2025 model year — one of the greatest accomplishments of Obama’s first term. The list goes on and on. - Boston Globe, 4/21/13
The Globe also released an excellent story about how Markey came from political obscurity to becoming a Congressman (and soon to be Senator) from his sterm opposition towards the Vietnam War:
http://www.bostonglobe.com/...
In the annals of political break-ins, it was hardly Watergate. But sneaking into the Massachusetts State House with a camera crew on a summer Sunday in 1976 proved to be a pivotal moment that launched Edward J. Markey’s long career in Washington.
Once inside the quiet State House, Markey and his congressional campaign team pushed a desk into an empty hallway and shot a television commercial that catapulted Markey — an obscure 29-year-old state representative — to the forefront of a 12-person Democratic primary for the US House.
Markey was recreating an episode that illustrated his defiance of powerful House leaders, who had ordered the furniture removed from his office in retaliation for his sponsorship of a court reform bill leaders had tried to quash.
“The bosses may tell me where to sit,” Markey said in the ad, after the camera shows a wooden desk marooned into the hallway. “No one tells me where to stand.”
That campaign spot remains legendary within Massachusetts political circles for its sharp and defiant message. Perfectly attuned to post-Watergate, post-Vietnam yearnings, it marked the moment when Markey’s political ambitions kicked into overdrive, carrying him from his working-class Malden district into Congress.
“The bosses may tell me where to sit. No one tells me where to stand,” Markey said in his campaign ad.
“It was a period of intense political dynamism,” Markey said.
Markey had entered politics, campaigning for the State House as a Boston College law student in 1972. Though a proud Irish Catholic inspired by John F. Kennedy, he spurned the tribal politics of Beacon Hill and defied the older Irish establishment that ran the state’s political machine.
Markey opposed the Vietnam War and avoided the draft and overseas deployment by attending college and law school and enlisting in the Army reserves. The only jobs he would ever hold outside of politics were summer gigs as “Eddie the Ice Cream Man’’ selling Fudgsicles and Beatle Bars out of an ice cream truck and a stint as a substitute teacher.
Politics “was something that had really begun to develop in my brain, especially since Bobby Kennedy had been assassinated,’’ Markey said in an interview. “I saw this as an opportunity to make a difference, and to go up to the State House and be part of this movement to change America.” - Boston Globe, 4/21/13
The Globe article is a great read I recommend you all check out. By the way, thanks to all of us, Markey's raised a lot of money for his Senate campaign:
http://www.patriotledger.com/...
U.S. Rep. Edward Markey has raised about $4.8 million since jumping into Massachusetts special election for U.S. Senate with the bulk of those dollars coming from outside of the state.
With more than $3 million in his congressional campaign account at the start of the race, Markey had a total of $7.8 million on hand. The congressman spent about $3.2 million, leaving his account with about $4.6 million as of April 10.
More than 53 percent of the money raised came from outside of the state, with nearly 47 percent coming from Massachusetts donors, according to the campaign. His campaign said 83 percent of the more than 18,000 individuals who contributed to his campaign gave $100 or less.
Markey’s Democratic rival, fellow U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch reported raised $1.5 million since entering the race in late January, adding to the $745,000 left over from his last House race.
Lynch reported spending more than $1.7 million through April 10 and had more than $514,000 left in his account for the final stretch.
His campaign said 93 percent of the approximately 3,300 individual donors to Lynch’s campaign live in Massachusetts and 45 percent of those who donated to his campaign gave $100 or less. - Patriot Ledger, 4/22/13
The momentum is on our side! Lets keep it going and make sure Markey wins both his primary and the general election. If you're from Massachusetts, you can get involved with Markey's campaign here:
http://www.edmarkey.com/
P.S. Received an e-mail today from Markey expressing his gratitude for everyone's thoughts and prayers for the people of Boston after the Boston Marathon Bombing and he is ready to get back to work for the people of Massachusetts:
Last week was a devastating one for the people of the Commonwealth.
But through the shock, the grief, the sorrow, and the relief, there is also a deep sense of pride in the way we’ve rallied, and deep gratitude for those who have come to our aid -- from the first responders and citizens that ran into the smoke to save others, to the law enforcement officers at the local, state, and federal level who worked meticulously to bring the culprits to justice.
As President Obama said at the memorial service on Thursday, marathoners will again run down Boylston Street -- and I hope he’s right that the Sox, Celtics, Bruins, or Patriots will soon parade down Boylston as champions, as well. The proud traditions that make Boston such an iconic city will continue.
I am looking forward to getting back to work on our campaign. The investigation and the healing goes on. But so too does our work to build stronger communities and support the Commonwealth that has endured such tragedy with so much grace and pride.
Thank you for your thoughts and prayers for the people of Boston. I’m excited to get back to work alongside all of you.
Ed