The Scott Brown revolution is alive and well in Massachusetts.
Tuesday night, January 26th at 7:00 when most people would like to be home relaxing after work, almost 500 average citizens from Massachusetts packed a convention hall in the Boston suburb of Braintree. They shared some common interests. They’re either running for office or helping someone else run for office. Some of them are running for federal or state offices, some for seats in local towns and cities and some for school boards. The one sentiment they share is clear: They’ve had enough.
The event they showed up for was a “candidate school” offered by Boston talk radio host Michael Graham of 96.9 WTKK, a man the Boston Phoenix dubbed “Boston’s maestro of conservative controversies.” In between his tenure at WTKK and a career in stand-up comedy, Graham ran political campaigns. Today, he is sharing his knowledge with the citizens of the Bay State and encouraging them to participate in the system.
Attendees included people like Francis McLaughlin, a retired Boston fire fighter and registered Republican since 1975. McLaughlin is running for the Massachusetts House of Representatives for specific reasons:
“The Massachusetts legislature is totally ineffective. They’re not protecting children from predators, taxes are too high and there are way too many entitlements.”
Another attendee was Vernon Harrison, an “Independent Republican” who works in the computer industry and is planning a run for congress.
“I’m tired of the size, scope and spending of government. I also think people are tired of self serving career politicians.”
Potential candidates weren’t limited to Republicans. Marty Hogan of South Boston is a Democrat who’s gearing up for his second run for Boston City Council.
“Boston is not getting any better for Bostonians and we need real transparency. We need to return the seats to the people.”
The panel of speakers arranged by Michael Graham included every political persuasion. Holly Robichaud, a Republican strategist who blogs at the Boston Herald website as “The Lone Republican” gave a step by step explanation of a political campaign and former Boston City Councilman Bruce Bolling, a Democrat, offered an inspiring call to public service based on his own experiences. Tea Party activist, Corie Whalen provided advice on social networking software and Dennis Corrigan, a Libertarian, broke down the do’s and don’ts of campaign finance law.
Speaking of Libertarians, another attendee was Joe Kennedy, the former rival of Scott Brown and Martha Coakley in the recent Massachusetts senate race. Kennedy is a Libertarian who ran as an Independent and when asked about Brown’s victory, graciously remarked:
“I’m very happy to see the effect of the election on Washington, DC.”
Of course the happiest person of the evening seemed to be the organizer of the event himself. When I caught up with Michael Graham at the end of the night, he was beaming.
“This was phenomenal, Scott Brown inspired hope. These are all people who came here from work and these are the people who can win.”
In March, Graham will conduct the third in his series of candidate school sessions.
“By the time we’re done, we will have trained a thousand people to run or help someone else run.”
With the election of Republican Scott Brown, Massachusetts became the subject of national interest over the last month. If this new wave of average citizens turned candidates follow through with their goals, Massachusetts may set a new standard in politics which hearkens back to America’s roots.
A government truly of, by and for the people.