Newton Mayor Setti Warren has been calling Democratic donors, asking for campaign contributions to challenge Republican Governor Charlie Baker in 2018, sources tell the Boston Globe.
Globe: Setti Warren raising money to run for governor
by Greg Reibman | Nov 23, 2016 | Charlie Baker, Setti Warren | 6 comments
Heres’ a followup Tweet from Jonathan Dame…
A Charter Commissioner recently accused me of being too negative, so I’m going to briefly explain why I don’t support Mayor Warren.
Many readers here on V14 are familiar with my story. I was born in Newton to a single teenaged mother, who herself grew up in the Lake. I was raised on welfare and lived in Newton’s public housing. To this day, I’ve never met my father, and when I was still a teenager myself, my mom was sentenced to nearly three years in prison, primarily as a result of an addiction that has torn my family apart. Given my circumstances, there was literally less than 1% chance that I’d graduate from college. Despite these odds, however, I fought tooth and limb for a brighter future as the community of Newton and my extended family instilled in me the values and skills that I needed to overcome nearly insurmountable challenges. I found my niche in running, where I went on to lead Newton North and myself to the State Championship in 2004, which opened the door for me to earn a college scholarship. With my mom locked up, while playing a very significant role in helping raise my little brother, I managed to graduate from the University of Richmond in 2009. But thanks to the values and skills instilled in me by our community, I didn’t stop there as I went on to graduate from Suffolk University Law School, where I had unprecedented success being elected and serving as president of the largest law school organization in the United States. And more importantly, I continued working very hard to mentor my little brother (and others in similar circumstances), who I’m so very proud of as he became one of the less than 1% of kids from our shoes to graduate from college when he finished his studies at Keene State this year.
Long story short, once I finished my legal studies, I reached out to Mayor Warren as I wanted to help him create more success stories in Newton because from my very unique perspective, we are not sufficiently approaching the many issues that face kids in Newton like my brother and me. However, despite a perspective and track record that’s unlikely to be matched by many, the Mayor and his staff ignored me.
At this point, I scratched my head and asked myself, “why?” So I began looking into his approach at addressing the specific issues I faced and it all began to make sense.
While he touts his recent energy sharing initiative as a means to offer a helping hand to Newton’s most disadvantaged residents, there is zero evidence that the program legitimately targets those most in need. In fact, I was alarmed to learn that as recent as this month, there are kids in our very school system who are living without heat because it’s too expensive. As someone who has been in those shoes, I’d ask our Mayor and City Councilors: why are we not legitimately targeting those of our residents most in need?
While he touts our “unprecedented” response to testing public facilities for lead water/soil, despite me reaching out many times, Mayor Warren refuses to help test Newton’s public housing – some facilities which are former public buildings – for lead. This is despite the fact that hundreds if not thousands of Newton kids and elderly residents live in these buildings. I’ve also been informed that the Newton Housing Authority shares revenue with the Planning Department, which if true would make the Mayor’s inaction particularly egregious.
While he touts his recent housing vision – which he coincidentally put forward right before deciding he no longer wants to serve as Mayor – Mayor Warren has exposed our City to considerable financial risk by unilaterally violating federal housing and civil rights laws.
While he touts inclusiveness and diversity of thought in regard to decision making, there appears to be little to no diversity amongst his “cabinet.”
While he touts his summer jobs program for Newton’s most disadvantaged kids, as far as I’m aware, there is no transportation aspect to it, which means that those of our most disadvantaged kids inherently can’t participate.
While he touts using the levers of local government to address economic inequality, he allows our disparate ‘winter’ parking ban to be arbitrarily enforced. But of course, when it inconveniences the majority, the police don’t enforce it; when it arbitrarily harms the minority, the police willingly enforce it.
I could go on and on as I’ve compiled quite the list. Plenty of reasonable people can support him as he’s done a good job in some respects, but from my perspective, suffice it to say that Mayor Warren hasn’t earned my support as he’s proven time and again to be superficial.
@Tom– I’ve only gotten bits and pieces of your story before. It was very interesting to read about your life experience in Newton. Thank you for sharing the details. I found it truly inspiring. And I found your assessment of the Mayor to be generally spot-on.
Nice post, Tom.
I don’t know why anyone would say you have negative posts. You have a different needed perspective. Whoever said that to you, on that occasion, was absolutely wrong.
Here’s what I have found to be the problem in Newton you are concerned with. The wealthy run this city. Period. They claim to be good democrats who care about others, but if it doesn’t serve their particular needs they will dismiss you. I have gone through this for years.
Once when I ran for office, I was asked by the Tab who I thought my base was and I said I hope my base is the struggling people in the city….they laughed at me when I said that.
People come and go, but the issues remain the same. I hope you consider running for office, I would work to get you elected, if you ever decided to run. I have sworn off politics in this city, but for you, I’d make an exception. Good luck.
Whatever I may think of Mayor Warren in regards to the things Tom Davis posted, which is generally the same, I would be happy to vote for him over Governor Baker.
There is an rticle in the Globe today: Republicans Pounce on Setti Warren.
State GOP chairwoman Kirsten Hughes wrote a letter to director Michael J. Sullivan of the Office of Campaign and Political Finance saying “Warren appears to have violated campaign finance laws and regulations by campaigning for an office that is different from the office for which his campaign committee is organized.”
Warren adviser John Walsh, replied, “I don’t believe that there’s any trigger in the OCPF regulations that applies to us here. We will file the change when it’s appropriate, and I don’t think that threshold has been crossed.”
“The Massachusetts Republican Party, they’re working the day before Thanksgiving, God bless them,” Walsh added.
OCPF spokesman Jason Tait noted.
“If a fund-raising invitation says a person is running for a particular office, then we’d want a change of purpose filed with our office. If a candidate makes a public announcement, then we’d want a change,” he said in a statement. “But if a candidate does not give details of his or her intentions publicly, then OCPF does not require a change of purpose.”
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/11/23/republicans-pounce-setti-warren-nascent-baker-challenge/G95unJNpJ6oqct1ZmMj1HO/story.html
@Mike: Thank you for the kind words.
@Tom: Both your comment and support are deeply appreciated, as is your long standing commitment to helping move Newton forward. I’ll be in touch.
@Marti: The reasons I posted represent only a small fraction of why I don’t support Mayor Warren. Regardless of who supports or doesn’t support him for the highest office in the Commonwealth, I’d hope we can agree on one thing, which is that Mayor Warren should hold off on this endeavor until he is no longer Mayor as the issues we face here in our local community require full-time and fully focused leadership.