The Boston Globe’s Joshua Miller wrote a story today about the possible Democrats who could run against Governor-elect Charlie Baker in 2018. Not surprisingly, Newton Mayor Setti Warren was one of the city executives he listed:
“Warren, Newton’s first African-American mayor and an Iraq War veteran, has already made a brief statewide bid — for US Senate in 2011. Operatives speculate the 44-year-old might be open to another run for higher office down the line.”
He will probably run but he can’t win. I predict Baker will be re-elected much like Governor Weld in 1994.
It is interesting that the Globe article portrays Maura Healey as the frontrunner. I don’t think she was on most people’s radar before she started her campaign for Attorney General. While she does have charisma and is a forceful speaker, more importantly, she has a grass roots organization that decisively defeated the better known, established candidate, Warren Tolman, for the Democratic nomination, and the ability to raise campaign funds. And it would certainly be an exciting first for Massachusetts to elect an openly gay woman for Governor (cue Barry Cohen).
I’m very optimistic about Healey as our next AG. But there’s tons of audio and video clips of her saying AG is the only job she wants. It would be nice to let her settle into one job.
Plus someday Massachusetts is going to be lucky enough to have an AG who looks at the recent history of failed governor bids by sitting AGs and realizes it’s not as easy as it looks.
I can also see why she defeated the Republican candidate for AG (John Miller) by a resounding margin.
Healey was an ideologue Democrat. Whether you liked her or not, you know where she stood on the issues.
On the other hand, Miller’s campaign would be best described as “Nice-guy cipher who wasn’t a Democrat”. Miller felt that most hot-button issues of the day were “settled law” and in an attempt to show his efforts to keep politics out the AG, he pledged to shed his Republican registration and become Unenrolled if he was elected.
More often than not, ideologue Democrats beat ciphers.
Unless the Democratic party rediscovers that bold leadership is a desirable trait, Setti would be a perfect candidate for Governor.
From day one I tried to encourage him to run for Governor. It appeared to me that he wanted nothing to do with it (I could be wrong), what I think is that he wants to be in DC and Governor’s dont spend enough time in Washington.
After thinking about this, even further, there definitely is a political logic towards this move. Coakley couldn’t inspire the most liberal areas in Massachusetts and thats Newton, Brookline, cambridge and Boston. Thats the liberal stronghold, where Coakley (in my opinion) lost the race because Baker did better than he was supposed to in those areas. Someone who lives in that area, who can inspire when he wants to, Setti could be a logical choice. It doesn’t hurt him having Newton as the number one city in America on his resume.
@Tom Sheff – Are you leaning to an endorsement of the Mayor of Newton because he is the Mayor of the # 1 City in America?
Doug,
I never said I’d vote for him, all I can say is that he would fit in.
Greg, I agree and am very hopeful that Maura Healey does a good job AND sticks around as AG. That said, the curse goes back to before the Civil War, which was the last time an AG went on to be elected Governor of Massachusetts.
That Coakley was the Dems (of which I am one) best foot forward speaks to the need for a shake up in our state’s leadership. I could not have been more disgusted that she was our representative in the Governor’s Race.
If not Setti, some0ne like Setti needs to step up. Enough of these arrogant, stale dems. Time for some new blood ala Deval back in the day.
Did everybody in the city get an invitation to a S. Warren fundraiser recently?
Fundraiser? You mean Setti’s getting ready to run for Governor?
@isabelle – I did and have gotten them every year. This is likely to cover past and future campaigns. I would not read it as a definite run for governor but time will tell.
I think Groot is right about this. I also think that most prospective Democratic candidates for Governor are going to wait to see just how well Charlie Baker does. He could be another Bill Weld and Mark Roosevelt can tell us a thing or two about how difficult it is to run under those conditions.
Bob Burke agreed. Bill Weld was re-elected in 1994 with 71% of the vote. This should give any democrat a reason to pause. Charlie Baker will be no push over. Setti would have had the perfect opportunity to re-place Barney Frank in Congress if he just was patient. He had just finished an unsuccessful Senate run and his timing was off. Not sure why Setti needs to raise funds at this point in time but it’s clear being Mayor of Newton just doesn’t excite him any more!
@Doug:
What do you base this on? I see the guy at so many events and he’s always launching new initiatives.
@Doug: Setti Warren is a politician. Politicians are always raising money. I’m doubt there’s anything else to read into it.
Gail- Agreed politicians do raise money but we are not currently in an election cycle, so what’s the urgency? Does he have a next campaign planned? Greg- look at the number of current vacant positions in our municipal government and tell me why Setti isn’t focused on the timely filling of these key managers?
@Doug: Not filling jobs is a legitimate concern. But it does not necessarily mean he’s not “excited about being mayor” or otherwise committed to his priorities or initiatives.
Greg,
There’s more evidence building up suggesting that he doesn’t want to be here than there is that he does want to be here. The lack of contact between he and the employees would suggest he doesn’t want to be here, the jump at the senate position was a huge red flag that he doesn’t want to be here, the fact that he doesn’t return emails or phone calls would suggest he doesn’t want to be here, not filling jobs would suggest he doesn’t want to be here, etc. What suggests he does want to be here….he attends a couple of events?? Oy.
@Tom: The Senate run was four years ago, hard to call that “mounting evidence” given that he choose not to run for the open Senate seat after John Kerry stepped down, the House seat after Barney Frank stepped down or any of the open state contests — governor, Lt. Gov, treasurer — this year.
And while you may not agree with the way he does the job –and I don’t always agree either — having different priorities is not an indication of no-priorities. For example, calling you may not be a priority. Calling a different person might be. As for job openings, there’s lots of reason why they may not be filled — people don’t want em, the city wants to save money, lack of good candidates, etc. etc. And yes, perhaps, not caring…but not necessarily either.
As for attending events..most weeks I see him multiple times. Perhaps you’re hanging out at the wrong places!
I get between 25-50 requests for donations from politicians every day. That’s no exaggeration. Congressmen and Senators spend 2 hours a day on the phone begging wealthy constituents for money. Elected officials will always have to have fundraisers, and that’s so obvious to me that it appears that someone here is living in an alternate universe.
Greg said: “As for job openings, there’s lots of reason why they may not be filled — people don’t want em, the city wants to save money, lack of good candidates, etc. etc. And yes, perhaps, not caring…but not necessarily either.”
The Mayor himself stated during the mayoral election that he was going to build a management team that was going to be the best management team in the history of municipalities.
This seems to contradict the idea that most of the jobs should be left vacant. As far as people don’t want to be head of a department? I don’t believe you believe that? Just admit he’s repeatedly dropped the ball in this arena.
As far as he not calling me back, personally I got ticked about it and now I’m done. I hear from other people the samething as well. I rarely saw eye to eye with Mayor Cohen, but when I called him, I can count on a call from Mayor Cohen to me. I have called Ted Kennedy and got call backs from Ted Kennedy. I don’t know he thinks he is, or what you think he is, but personally returning a phone call from a constituent should be the first thing on his list to do. But I guess he’s too busy flying to Vegas, Phoenix and Washington and raising money to travel is more important than constituent services.
Tom: you’re missing my only point. You’re pointing out reasons why you don’t like the job he’s doing. I’m only saying that doesn’t prove whether or not he likes his job.
Greg,
(seems like old times)…I understood you’re point and maybe I wasn’t clear with my point. In my opinion, being a Mayor is a 24/7 job and there are certain things that are imperative in doing the job. One thing that, to me, is a must is communicating with the constituents. Anyone who doesn’t want to do that shouldn’t be in politics. He maybe a great campaigner, but maybe he should be a department head as opposed to an elected official. Look at the best elected officials we’ve ever had: Ted Kennedy, Barnie Frank, Ted Mann, Tom Menino….they all had one thing in common, they loved constituent communication (services). They all got a special feeling from helping people. Setti either doesn’t have it or doesn’t care enough to want it. He doesn’t even try, he lays everything off on a citizen assistant officer (which in my opinion shouldn’t exist) and he thinks thats constituents services. In my opinion, not doing it means you don’t like your job.
I can’t stand it anymore, I have to pipe in. Tom, I don’t understand. Do you want the mayor to return phone calls or do you want him to help constituents? Those are different things. I don’t know the person who replaced Aaron Goldman but when Aaron was handling constituent services, that job was invaluable. People raved about how much he helped constituents. Yes, Aaron–not the mayor–took those calls and returned them. You may want a mayor who returns the phone call of every constituent who calls to speak to him, but I sure don’t. I want a mayor who is more efficient with his time. If he returned every call, he wouldn’t be at events, he wouldn’t attend budget meetings, he wouldn’t lead new initiatives, he wouldn’t run the city. He’d mostly listen to people complain, because people who are happy with the job he is doing — which, at last count was about 70% of voters — don’t usually call.
Can’t stand it? Seriously? Tom happens to be on target. Why not look at Newton’s beloved David Cohen’s results when re-elected the second time. The majority of voters in this city didn’t even bother to get off of their couches to vote for Mayor in 2013, much less for the proposed property tax increase which effected everyone. I expect Gail may want to be a large contributor to Warren’s campaign fund on December 4?
Actually, Janet, I haven’t even received an invitation to the Dec. 4 event, but so what if I am a large contributor, small contributor or anything in between? I can support the mayor in whatever way I choose (within legal guidelines, of course!).
As for your comparison of Setti Warren’s and David Cohen’s reelections to their second terms, it’s hardly fair to compare Tony Lupo’s candidacy to the campaign that Alderman Hess-Mahan ran. I don’t believe you lived in Newton then, but I did, and I covered that race. Tony Lupo barely campaigned–if, at all–and he refused press interviews. No disrespect meant to Tony Lupo, but, unlike Ted, he was not really trying to be mayor.
You are right about the majority of voters staying home, but that’s just discouraging all around, no matter where you sit.
“Do you want the mayor to return phone calls or do you want him to help constituents?”
Both.
Actually, I don’t want the mayor to help me out at all. I want him to fly to phoenix, vegas, washington or dubai on his campaign contributions or tax dollars. Thats what I want. I want him to go to dubai with a lame duck governor on the disguise that they are out there finding technology companies to come to Newton, thats what I want.
What did that trip accomplish anyway?
Everything Gail is saying.
Janet- If you’re not receiving multiple daily requests for donations from the Democratic Party and its many candidates, I’d love to know how you’re managing to pull that off. I’ll choose to donate to some and delete the rest. Unfortunately, it’s the way the system works. What on earth is the big deal?
One other point about David Cohen’s second term:
The reason he didn’t have a more viable candidate running against him, is that he was a popular mayor going into his second term. It wasn’t until the firefighters’ contract and, especially, Newton North that things went downhill for him. The margins in his third term victory were not nearly as high.
@Gail- Ted Mann returned every single phone call when he was Mayor of Newton. He was very accessible as was Mayor Tom Menino. I believe this is the point Tom Sheff is making.
@Doug: Did Ted Mann return every email and Tweet too? Oh wait.
My guess is the amount of input to the any government official has grown tremendously to the point where direct response would leave no time for anything else, including sleep.
Doug – If Mayor Mann returned every single phone call he received, then there were other important city matters he wasn’t attending to. It’s a matter of what’s the best use of the Mayor’s time.
A major part of the problem is that constituents don’t know who to call at City Hall to address a specific problem. When I had a problem with a developer who was not following regs on the renovation of a home next door to my house, I didn’t call the Mayor – I called Inspectional Services and they dealt with the problem effectively and efficiently. When we had a health issue in the neighborhood, I called the Health Department and they were on my street within half an hour. When I had a dead tree leaning toward my house, I called the Tree Warden and he came within a day and the tree was removed within the week. When we wanted to plant a small garden in the center of our cul-de-sac, we contacted the ward alderman, and with his help, we now have a lovely garden growing in our midst instead of a bunch of dead trees.
For a city of smart people, I’m often shocked at the lack of basic problem solving skills.