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Capuano is taking questions Monday 6:30 Park Plaza Hotel, Boston
By Anonymous on Fri, 11/06/2009 - 2:15pm
Capuano Campaign "Open Mike Bash"
Monday, November 9th, 2009 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
The Park Plaza Hotel
50 Park Plaza, Boston, MA
FREE ADMISSION Suggested Contribution: $30
I have no affiliation with the Mike Capuano campaign for US Senate other than supporting his candidacy.
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Comments
Good grief, Congressman
Oh, Mike. Everything was going along swimmingly until your campaign people convinced you that it would be okay to have "FREE ADMISSION" immediately followed by "Suggested Contribution: $30".
How do these political consultants keep their jobs?
really?
A suggested contribution bothers you? I mean, campaigns cost dollars, right? "Come for free, but contribute if you can" offends you?
(Not affiliated with any Senate campaign)
agreed
What is the problem with asking for donations if the event is free? I am sure it was the consultant who said, the event can't be free, lets at least say suggested.
I am undecided in this race, but am going to go to see what he has to say. I will make up my mind after another debate at least, but I am happy I get to see one of the candidates answer people's questions without a filter and for FREE.
I like the fact that it is free, it is the way it should be. Bravo Capuano for Senate.
I'm going to listen
if I like what I hear I'll make a donation, if not I won't. It probably won't be $30 but I think he'd understand.
Not offended. Just put off.
It doesn't offend me in the slightest degree. I just think that it looked silly and perhaps was a bit disingenous.
The ad is directed at undecided voters. Those people (of which I am one), by definition, have yet to decide who, if anyone, they will support. My view of the world is that people donate money only to political candidates that they support. Therefore, when I watched the clip, I thought, "why the hell would I donate money to someone I am not supporting? For the mere privilege of asking a question?"
The whole thing conveyed a "yes it's free, but not really" vibe to me. Perhaps I was more put off than I otherwise would have been because, as he is a sitting elected representative, I think that I should be able to ask Mike anything more or less anytime (within reason). Perhaps it was the fact that it was being billed as a town meeting-type event, rather than a fundraiser. Maybe I wouldn't have reacted so negatively if it said something like "if you like what you hear, the suggested donation is $30". I thought just lacked tact and couth.
Know what you mean
I've never been a fan of "suggested" donations of any kind. I'd rather these things (museums, political events, alumni organizational begging, whatever) say something like "Entrance fee: $2.00 (negotiable)" or "No fee, but it costs us $2 for each person we see in a day".
Why would he need to suggest $30 (as opposed to any other amount?)? Is the event going to cost $30 per seat available and they're just hoping to recover the funds? Is it $30 because some sociologist number cruncher determined that's the highest number you can put with the least amount of people taking offense (bang-for-buck value)?
At least $500/plate political dinners tell you up front "For the honor of giving us $500, we're going to give you dinner with the candidate"; whereas suggested donations just sound sniveling or weaselly.
I believe the event is being
I believe the event is being marketed to everyone from donors to undecideds. So if he already tapped into his donor based and said "Hey come to this, it's only 30 dollars" it would be a bit upsetting for them to see an ad saying "Hey come to this, it is free and nobody is paying." This is a way to acknowledge that some people are paying. It also says to me that if you agree with him give him some money but if you are undecided then show up and do not pay.
I personally think that rally's of this magnitude are not the best places for people to meet the candidate for the first time though. Especially Capuano, he is best served in smaller settings where he can talk to people personally. Come to think of it none of them are great big crowd speakers, which is probably why I am happy with the candidates we do have. I think they both have this great ability to connect in person.
Twitter me this!
Put on the web for prosperity?
So, they're clearly tech savvy (e-lawn signs, YouTube channel...). Will they be putting up a video of the meeting anywhere online? It's free admission, so he's not going to be undercutting his own fee to get in. It doesn't have to be live video, or accept questions from online, or anything...just an archive of the event for anyone to see if they're not going to make it.
I called
the campaign and they said they would be putting it on the web a day or two after the event. They said they were trying to live web cast it, but could not get the bandwidth needed for that to happen. They did the obvious thing and pointed me to the website where I can check out a lot of other video's and a cool audio wall of clips from the tele town halls the campaign has been doing while Mike is in DC.
I will say the site was pretty good. They are tech savvy for sure.
www.mikecapuano.com
I was undecided (but no vote
I was undecided (but no vote for coakley) til yesterday when I got a 'conference call' from capuano. listened to one person after another complain the govt wasn't giving them enuf money. his answer to all was I'm fighting to give u that. Never heard him mention how he was going to pay for free health, college, retirement pay etc fot evrryone. And then there were two!
At least
Capuano is making himself easily accessible to answer voters' policy questions via this event and a series of "telephone town halls" (great idea), not just speechify -- although he certainly does some of that, too.
Coakley on CORI - not as liberal as you might think
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wYg5yNVFXM
he's also conflating two issues...
there is the issue #1 which is about CORI's (and CORI reform). this has to do with who has access to your criminal record and for how long after and arrest they have access. and there is issue #2 which is a larger problem in that massachusetts does not allow expunging of any records, except in rare cases and specific circumstances.
issue #2 is unlikely to change at any time. if you get arrested in massachusetts, even if you are acquitted, that arrest record will stand. there are provisions to seal the records upon acquittal, but i believe your adjudication is still going to show.
and fwiw, his beef is now a little outdated, since getting caught with "one joint" unless it's one *really* big joint or you're by a school,etc. , it's not going to be a criminal offense.
Why should arrests stay on one's record?
If you're arrested but found not guilty, or the charges are dropped, you are INNOCENT. No public record should remain of your arrest -- it should be expunged automatically. Why doesn't this happen?
Good question
Personally I think prospective employees should be able to run CORI checks on their potential employers, such as supervisors and upper management. For protection, etc.
blame the boston globe!
i'm only sorta exaggerating about the globe, but not by much.
imnal, but my understanding is that the non-expungement of records in mass goes back to an old common law about the evils of secrecy. the idea is that unless there is a compelling interest against it, all proceedings shall be available as part of the public record.
the part about the Globe comes in from a case in the mid-80's which was generally found to be precedent setting in the same arena. the globe insisted that expunging records of even innocent citizens made for an incomplete public record and so now unless there is a specific reason (such as identity theft because the cause of the arrest), they courts ain't gonna do it.
fwiw, these aren't my personal feelings about the topic. i believe in reforming the CORI laws and changing the massachusetts expunging laws.
Maybe its time for Martha to take questions on CORI again
I nominate Braude to do it. Think he'll call her on her dissembling?
letter from the Capuano campaign
Did you go? What was it like?
I was in the upper left hand
I was in the upper left hand corner of this picture but I think I am blocked by the guy who is standing up to the left of Capuano.
It was a very good event and the room was packed. The campaign was estimating about 1,200 people and I believe them, the room was packed and people were still in the lobby hanging out because they ran out of standing room in the ballroom. As some people left (mostly people from Western or Southern MA with long trips home) more people came to take their seats.
The room was buzzing and the Congressman was in his element. He seemed to really enjoy having the stage in the middle of the room rather then at a far end. This allowed more people to be up close.
I was also very happy to run into people from all over. In a past life I worked in a men's clothing store and I ran into a union guy who stopped by to buy sports coats once every 6 months. I ran into people I went to school with, worked with, a former boss, bloggers etc.
I would say the best part of the evening was, even with the adoring crowd and attentive staff, when he had the podium taken off the stage and he took the suit jacket off. He became a normal guy, my congressman, Mike.