Why PDM should endorse Deval Patrick for re-election now:

At our statewide membership meeting in January, when we had an open discussion of where PDM should focus its energy in 2010, there was very broad consensus among the members present that re-electing Gov. Patrick and Lt. Gov. Murray needed to be a top priority. This is an effort that many PDM members are ready and eager to take on. Why?

First, the Patrick/Murray administration has built a strong record of effective leadership on a wide range of issues that are at the core of the progressive agenda:

• They have effectively implemented the state’s ambitious, but previously untested, plan for universal health care. Today, 97.5% of Massachusetts residents have health insurance, far ahead of every other state. And the administration is leading in the development of innovative ways to control health care costs at the same time.

• Despite the enormous challenges of the recession, they have succeeded in continuing to provide solid funding for the state’s public schools, maintaining the state’s national leadership in student achievement, while developing cutting edge programs to help underachieving schools and close the achievement gap.

• They led the successful fight to protect marriage equality in Massachusetts.

• They have provided key leadership in securing a strong economy for the state’s future, focusing on green jobs and the life sciences.

• They have undertaken the largest investment in public works in the state’s history: broadband in Western Mass, South Coast commuter rail service, extending the Green Line to Somerville, an Orange Line stop in Assembly Square, repairs to hundreds of bridges across the state.

• They achieved major improvements in tax fairness, closing corporate tax loopholes that have resisted correction for decades.

• Despite steep declines in state revenues, they have managed an orderly budget process that has protected many vital human services, and has restored critical services wherever possible.

• They led the way to important reforms in state ethics laws, the public pension system, auto insurance, and the management of the state’s transportation system, reforms that had eluded the efforts of a generation of prior governors.

(For more detailed descriptions of a wide range of the administration’s accomplishments, go to the Patrick campaign’s website.)

Has the Patrick/Murray team achieved everything that we (and they) had hoped? Of course not. These have been extraordinarily challenging fiscal times for state government. And we all have been reminded, at both the state and national level, that the political challenges in achieving progressive change loom far larger in reality than in the optimism of a political campaign. But, for the first time in twenty years, we have leadership in Massachusetts that is pushing for, and achieving, meaningful change. Let’s not stop when we’ve only just begun!

Second, the choices facing us in the coming election are stark. If any of the other plausible contenders – Charlie Baker, Christie Mihos, Tim Cahill – is elected, the loss will be devastating. If we lose the governor’s office, it will matter little how well we do in other state and local races. We would be thrown back to struggling to play defense, trying to hang on to critical state services and programs, against leaders seeking to dismantle our vital public institutions. And the risks are great. It will take a massive grassroots effort to fend off the forces of reaction that elected Scott Brown. If we aren’t ready to take on this effort, who can we expect to do it for us?

Third, it’s time for us to rally behind Governor Patrick now, even though there are other progressive candidates still in the field. Neither Grace Ross nor Jill Stein are ultimately viable alternatives for the November election. We cannot afford the luxury of delaying in helping the Patrick/Murray ticket build the strongest possible grassroots organization to win re-election.

Finally, taking on as large a role as we can handle in the Patrick/Murray campaign is also the best way to continue to build PDM’s long-term strength. This is going to be the focal election in the state this year. If we aren’t engaged in it, we will be (appropriately) seen as irrelevant. If we are engaged, we will have the opportunity to build alliances and relationships, to hone skills and train leaders, leaving us stronger in November than we are now. This isn’t a race we can afford to sit out – for our own organizational needs or for the causes we care about.

-- Peter Enrich, Lexington