Massachusetts Peace Action endorses Bob Massie, Jimmy Tingle, and Donna Patalano
Bob Massie has worked for racial, social, economic and environmental justice over the course of his long career. He joined the effort to end apartheid in South Africa and wrote a history of the movement, Loosing the Bonds. Ordained as an Episcopal minister, he started a homeless shelter in New York City, then, after earning an MBA from Harvard Business School, developed the Global Reporting Initiative, a framework for business accountability on climate and environmental issues.
Massie strongly supports a single payer health care system, workers’ rights, reducing economic inequality and environmental justice, and strong action to overcome racism. To reduce income inequality he believes in overhauling the commonwealth’s antiquated school funding formula (the recent bill failed in the legislature), making the tax code more fair, and instead of giving tax breaks to large corporations like GE and Amazon, investing more money into local businesses and startups. He favors moving the Commonwealth to 100% renewable energy. A strong supporter of labor rights, he marched with striking JP Stevens workers in Woburn and this year with the locked out National Grid workers.
Massie has worked with Massachusetts Peace Action and spoke at a People’s Budget rally, at the 2018 Tax Day rally, and this month, at our No War with Iran rally.
In response to our questionnaire, Massie pledged support for divesting state funds from companies that produce nuclear weapons, opposed militarization of the police, called for removing JROTC from public schools, opposed police training in Israel, and pledged to refuse contributions from military contractors and the NRA.
Jimmy Tingle for Lieutenant Governor
Jimmy Tingle’s values closely match ours and he is a champion for the underdog. He believes in the power of government to change people’s lives for the better and he wants people to know that when they call for help, the person on the other end of the phone will say “You’ve called the right place.” Tingle strongly supports nuclear disarmament and opposes US interventions and excessive military spending.
Jimmy Tingle has attended many of our events, held fundraisers for us, and last year, helped write our 60th Anniversary presentation and generously emceed the celebration where it was presented. His opponent, Quentin Palfrey, has respectable credentials, but the hands-on hard work that Jimmy has put into Mass. Peace Action over many years speaks for itself. His desire to help the least among us and his passion to level the playing field for everyone has earned our endorsement.
Donna Patalano for Middlesex County District Attorney
Donna Patalano is running for district attorney, the most powerful seat in the criminal justice system. Her opponent, the current Middlesex DA, has been in office since 2013; under her the Middlesex Jail is holding 110 percent more people pretrial. Patalano believes greater transparency and accountability are needed. The incumbent has refused to release any information about bail requests or who is being incarcerated before they go to court, ostensibly because it would be too expensive to gather that data. Knowing the data on bail requests would shine a light on disparities in the criminal justice system. We do not know who is being offered restorative justice. She also is a strong advocate for treating drug users as people with a health problem not simply criminals. Patalano has experience in both prosecution and defense, and her advocacy for transparency, accountability and drug treatment will save money and help to improve our fractured criminal justice system.
State Legislature Endorsements
We have endorsed 17 candidates for State Senate and State Representative. Read about them here.
We urge you to vote for, work for, and donate to the campaigns of these progressive, pro-peace leaders!
Don’t forget to vote in the Primary Election Tuesday, September 4. What district am I in and where do I vote?