Jesse Gordon for Democratic State Committee

The Democratic State Committee (DSC) is the decision-making body of the Massachusetts Democratic Party. The Mass Dems claim that they want to attract newcomers to the Democratic Party and to the political process. I believe they are sincere, but incapable of achieving that goal. To keep the Democratic Party vibrant and open, people like you and me need to be constantly added. If elected to the DSC, I will work on issues like:

• Publicizing voting records of incumbent legislators. I helped pass the Accountability Amendment at the 2003 Issues Convention and was appointed to the Mass Dems' Public Policy Committee to assist with implementing it.

• Comparing incumbents with challengers. I've been working on the Mass Scorecard for the past year, which compares how House & Senate candidates agree or disagree with the Democratic Party Platform, and hence measures how progressive they are.

• Notifying the public about Democratic events. Most people are unaware of local caucuses, Ward Committee meetings, and so on. I regularly e-mail Reich and Dean supporters about them, and would like to add other candidates' lists. I also regularly publish articles about Democratic processes in the Cambridge Chronicle and other papers.

• Put Democratic information on the Internet. Our district has zero websites about our local Democratic Committees, except for CambridgeDems.org which I started. I have set up a half-dozen other city and regional Democratic Party websites and would do the same for every committee in our district, starting with BostonDems.org, BelmontDems.org, and WatertownDems.com.

• Make political participation easier. I served on the Mass Dems' Convention Reform Commission and the Election and Outreach Commission, where I worked toward opening the political process to newcomers, minorities, students, and independents-both candidates and voters.

My district includes Belmont, Watertown, North Cambridge, West Cambridge, Allston, and Brighton. If you reside there, you can vote in your Town and Ward Committee for attendees to the election conference on March 13. If you reside elsewhere, you can help by contacting people in those places, or by donating so I can send out mailings. There are no donation restrictions for this race (it's an internal Party race).

I will post details on my website, www.JesseGordon.org, about the time and place of your Town and Ward Committee meetings, and about the process for this election. You can also read there details about all of the points above. You can call me at (617) 320-6989 or write to jesseGordon-at-JesseGordon.org at any time. You can mail donations to 1770 Mass Ave. #630, Cambridge MA 02140 - you may make out the check to Jesse Gordon or to the US Postal Service.

Anti-war activism

[The Massachusetts Democratic Convention] urges our representatives to seek repeal of the USA PATRIOT Act and defeat of the USA PATRIOT Act II. Further, we urge them to repudiate the concept and practice of 'pre-emptive war' as well as to affirm the US obligation to abide by legal restrictions on the use of non-defensive military force as mandated in the United Nations Charter."

• The War That Cried Wolf (Apr. 2003, 2 pages). Based on this article, Mr. Gordon appeared as a guest on WRKO 680-AM's "Morning Show" with former Rep. Peter Blute (R-MA) on Friday morning April 11 2003.

• Calling for a resolution against the war in Cambridge City Council. Follow-up news report on resolution passing unanimously. (Feb. 2003, 4 pages)

• Bush still seeks WMDs; OJ still seeks Nicole's killer (May, 2003, 2 pages - parody). Note: This article was suppressed by order of the Justice Department on grounds of it being all too true

• The idiots’ guide to Pashtun: interview in the Boston Phoenix about Jesse's lecture at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education about Pashtun culture (2002, 3 pages)

• The Dove Principles: War policy in the War Against Terror (2001, 2 pages)

• More on internationalism

Environment and Development

Further Reading:

• People and the Forest - Saving Belmont's Silver Maple Forest (2003, 2 pages)

• The Cult of Tierra Sana: To safely dispose of nuclear waste, we need to found a religion. (2002, 2 pages)

• Monitoring & Evaluation of Rural Watershed Councils For the North American Fund for Environmental Cooperation (NAFTA), successes and failures in starting cooperative councils to solve watershed-wide pollution and development issues. (1998, 180 pages)

• Watershed Economics: Agribusiness versus Recreation For the The Buffalo River Stewardship Foundation, an analysis of pollution and recreation trends on Arkansas' Buffalo River, America's first National River. A complete economic and political evaluation. (1996, 92 pages)

• Third Wave Environmentalism Viewing environment through an economic lens (1995, 2 pages)

• Financing Energy Conservation Overcoming Barriers to Implementing the Massachusetts Clean State Initiative: A study for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs (1994, 87 pages)

• More on environmentalism

Science and Technology policy

• Cambridge Democratic City Committee
• Hull Democratic Town Committee
• Quincy Democratic City Committee

Further Reading:

• The Earth Isn't Flat? InformationWeek magazine. Cited on Rush Limbaugh. (Jan. 20, 2003, 1 page)
• Facts Machine vs. Knowledge Machine: Vote-smart.org vs. Issues2002.org. (2002, 2 pages)
• Reviews of RobertReich.org (Jesse served as Technology Director for the Reich for Governor Committee):
  • Amherst Gazette, April 23, 2002: on how the e-mail campaign got Reich through the Democratic caucus
  • Boston Herald, March 8, 2002: on the use of a Discussion Board
• Scientific American: Ask the Experts: Physics: The philosophical implications of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle (2002, 1 page)
• Reviews of Issues2000.org (Jesse was the Content Manager for Issues2000.org / Speakout.com):
  • Los Angeles Times, October 26, 2000: "They're like dating services for politics."
  • BizReport.com, June 22, 2000: "SpeakOut.com Acquires Issues2000.org"
  • The Palm Beach Post, Feb. 9, 2000: "Forbes and I Like-Minded? That Gores Me."
  • U.S. News and World Report, Jan. 31, 2000: "WebMap" review
  • Madison (WI) News, Jan. 28, 2000: "If you only have room for one political Web site in your life, Issues 2000 would be an excellent candidate."
  • Time Magazine, Oct. 12, 2000: "Thumbs up for VoteMatch."
  • Complete Press clipping file
• Technological Libertarianism Why technology policy should focus on a free market, and what the government should (and shouldn't) do to keep technology progressing (1994, 7 pages)

Opening the Political Process

Further Reading:

• Nader vs. the ‘liberal virus’: Boston Phoenix report on www.RalphDontRun.us. (Dec. 2003, 1 page)
• Democrats and Greens: Panel discussion at Massachusetts Democratic State Committee meeting on Green outreach (Nov. 2003, 2 pages)
• Ten Key Values : Comparison of Mass Greens' platform to Mass Dems' platform, point-by-point. MS-Word version in 2-page printable format.
• Jesse ran a survey of Dean Meetups (the political phenomenon of 2003), analyzing 600 attendees' demographics, political preferences, and views on the effectiveness of Meetups -- the first analysis of Meetups since their entry into the political realm.
  • Survey results : raw data results from the survey (Oct. 2003, 50 pages).
  • Dean activists found to be party core : Boston Globe article (Nov. 2003, 1 page)
  • Bentley Study analyzes e-campaign : Bentley College press release (Oct. 2003, 1 page)
• The Dean Movement: Howard Dean's grassroots campaign in Massacshuetts. (Oct. 2003, 2 pages)
• Jesse assisted in drafting the "Accountability Amendment" with the Progressive Democrats of Somerville (May-June 2003, 10 pages):
  • Dem senators protest online scorecard, Boston Herald, Oct. 28, 2003
  • Accountability Resolution -- scorecard of elected officials voting record against the Massachusetts Democratic Party Platform (a progressive document).
  • Accountability Amendment which passed, 60%-40%, at the 2003 Massachusetts Democratic Issues Convention.
  • Somerville Journal article, prior to the Convention.
  • "Mass Democrats Look for New Message, Boston Globe coverage during Convention day.
  • Report Card to Grade Democratic Lawmakers, Boston Globe coverage of passage of Accountability Amendment.
  • Keeping Score on the Democrats, editorial by former Rep. Mickey Edwards (R, OK) against the Scorecard.
  • Johnston Opposes Scorecard, letter by Mass Dems Party Chair Phil Johnston, against the Scorecard.
  • Losing on the Issues, editorial by columnist Scot Lehigh, against the Scorecard.
  • Congress Online: Much Sizzle, Little Steak, NY Times article on how elected represetatives hide their voting records.
  • Revitalizing the Democratic Party, our response to the opposing op-eds.
• Dems and Greens unite on Budget: Report on Budget Panel discussion. (Mar. 2003, 2 pages)
• Reich supporters vow to press the liberal cause: Boston Globe reporting on the 2003 Democratic Caucuses in Cambridge. Jesse served as the Reich organizer in Cambridge from 2002-2003. (Feb. 2003, 1 page)
• Towards democracy at State House: Rep. Anne Paulsen's activities on rule changes to reduce Speaker Finneran's stranglehold on power. (Jan. 2003, 2 pages)
• Opening the Oligarchy: How the Democratic Party closes itself to outsiders. (Dec. 2002, 2 pages)
• Same article adapted for Sharon, Mass. Jesse also appeared on the "Newsmakers" segment of the Tony Gill Show, WAIC 91.9 FM, Springfield MA, regarding this article. (Dec. 24 2002, 22 minutes)
• Voter Registration: How to beat the political insiders at their own game. (Sept. 2002, 2 pages)
• Conventional Wisdom: A play-by-play for the Democratic Party Convention. (May 2002, 2 pages)
• Democracy at Work in Cambridge: A How-To guide to attending the Democratic Party Caucuses. (Jan. 2002, 2 pages)
• Your every-number vote counts: The Cambridge City Council's "Proportional Representation" system. (Nov. 2001, 2 pages)

People for a Livable Cambridge

Further Reading:

• Questioning Rent Control - On the ballot for November (2003, 2 pages)
• Smoking and Tolerance: Smoking is bad, but a smoking ban is worse. (2003, 2 pages)
• Sign, sign, Everywhere a Sign: Wayfinding for non-motorists in Cambridge. (2003, 2 pages)
• People for a livable Cambridge: Harvard Square Redesign. (2002, 2 pages)
• Dana Laird Day : Let's celebrate bicycle commuting every July 2nd. (2002, 2 pages)
• Living the cohousing way: Cornerstone Cohousing in North Cambridge has its first residents. (2001, 2 pages)
• Tear Down This Fence! Fresh Pond for People. (2001, 2 pages)
• A glimpse into Fresh Pond’s History: A response to the Fresh Pond article above. (2001, 2 pages)
• Central Arteriosclerosis: The Big Dig as Big Pork. (2001, 2 pages)

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