Take a look at the testimony below, and write in support of these comments, or write your own based on them. Please email lots of comments on the platform to: platform05@massdems.org by March 10!

Or mail to this address: Or fax to: (617) 472-4391 Or email, mail, testify, AND fax!

Massachusetts Democratic Party SAR Building, 4th floor 10 Granite Street Quincy, MA 02169

• Platform hearing schedule - dates and locations
• Contact lists for: Platform Committee - State Committee - Municipal Committee Chairs
  
  Click on a section title below for the text of the current (2001) platform, then click on the person's name for their suggestions as to how that section should be changed for 2005.

• Preamble - Statement of Principles
  Jesse Gordon: Correcting a factual error by party leadership on typical platform lengths.
  Fred Berman: Proclaiming that the platform should stand for something.
  Francie Nolde: Supporting a platform in 3 sections: Values, goals, and details.
  Cambridge Ward 6 Committee: Opposing any effort to remove specificity from the platform.
  Sam Seidel: Supporting a platform made out of real planks
  Shai Sachs: Supporting specifics in the platform PLUS opening with a statement of principles.
  Jesse Gordon: Supporting a full platform instead of just a statement of principles.
  Governor's Councillor Peter Vickery: Supporting the existing format of the platform.
  Fred Berman: Supporting a Party infrastructure to defend Democratic vision and principles.
  Jesse Gordon: Supporting implementation of the Accountability Amendment and the Mass Scorecard.

• Part I - FAMILIES & CHILDREN, DIVERSITY & COMMUNITY
  Quinton Zondervan: Supporting part-time day-care.
  Radhika Nagpal: Supporting gender-equal parenting.
  Jesse Gordon: Supporting same-sex marriage planks and rescinding the 1913 marriage ban.
  Radhika Nagpal: Supporting Social Security reforms.
  Shai Sachs: Supporting raising the income cap for Social Security.
  Quinton Zondervan: Supporting Social Security reforms.
  Fred Berman: Supporting family sick leave and veteran's health choice.

• Part II - EDUCATION, TRAINING, AND OPPORTUNITY
  Quinton Zondervan: Supporting more college loans and experimentation with educational improvement.
  Radhika Nagpal: Supporting public schol reforms and teacher professionalization.
  Fred Berman: Supporting vocational education and adult ed.

• Part III - HEALTH CARE, ACCESS & CHOICE
  Radhika Nagpal: Supporting stem cell research.
  Fred Berman: Supporting Mass Health, an anti-smoking campaign, and substance abuse treatment on demand.
  Justin Klekota: Supporting stem cell research.
  Quinton Zondervan: Opposing cloning and supporting a right to health care.

• Part IV - ECONOMIC GROWTH, JOBS & SECURITY
  Fred Berman: Supporting supplementary education and a living wage.

• Part V - FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY, TAX EQUITY, & PUBLIC STEWARDSHIP
  Fred Berman: Ensuring adequate tax revenues and closing corporate tax loopholes .

• Part VI - SAFETY, JUSTICE & CRIME PREVENTION
  Cambridge Ward 6 Committee: Strongly opposing the death penalty
  Fred Berman: Supporting rehabilitation and re-integration.
  Quinton Zondervan: Supporting community-defined gun rights.
  Radhika Nagpal: Supporting responsible gun ownership.

• Part VII - HOUSING AND URBAN INVESTMENT
  Fred Berman: Supporting a comprehensive effort to prevent and address homelessness.

• Part VIII - ENVIRONMENT, PRESERVATION & SUSTAINABLITY
  Quinton Zondervan: Supporting renewable energy investment.
  Radhika Nagpal: Supporting making Massachusetts an energy R&D leader.

• Part IX - POLITICAL PARTICIPATION & REFORM
  Jesse Gordon: Supporting caucus participation for independent voters.
  Cambridge Ward 6 Committee: Affirming the need for an open and participatory Democratic Party.
  Lee Mintz: Supporting a voting reform package including Clean Elections, IRV, abolishing the Electoral College, and independent redistricting.
  Governor's Councillor Peter Vickery: Supporting Instant Runoff Voting.
  Quinton Zondervan: Supporting Instant Runoff Voting.
  Jesse Gordon: Supporting Clean Elections / Fair Elections.
  Ed Loechler: Supporting a package of voting reforms and safeguards for voting devices.
  Jesse Gordon: Supporting Instant Runoff Voting at the 2006 gubernatorial convention.

• Part X - WORKERS’ RIGHTS AND FUTURES
  Fred Berman: Supporting ergonomic standards and fulfilling pension commitments.

• Part XI - AMERICA AND THE WORLD
  Bruce Taub: Calling for a rapid termination of the Iraq occupation.
  Jesse Gordon: Opposing pre-emptive war.
  Quinton Zondervan: Supporting a Department of Peace.
  Fred Berman: Supporting Israeli AND Palestinian rights to a homeland.
  Jesse Gordon: Opposing the PATRIOT Act.

(Click on a newsletter title to get a list of documents arranged by recency)
• Democratic Party newsletters - by national party
• Donaghue's Democratic Dispatch - by Kate Donaghue, focusing on Metro West
• Mass Democratic Future - Democratic youth organizations
• Mass Democratic Party - official party email
• New Hampshire Democratic Party newsletters - their official party news
• North Shore Democratic Update - by Arthur Powell, focusing on North Shore
• Progressive newsletters - by several state and national progressive organizations
• South Shore Democrats - focusing South of Boston

• Eduardo Cardenas for Democratic State Committeeman, at-large male Affirmative Action seat
• Laura Carmen Arena for Democratic State Committeewoman, at-large female Affirmative Action seat (elected April 17, 2004)
• Lesley Phillips for Democratic State Committeewoman, Middlesex-Suffolk-Essex 4-year seat
• Jesse Gordon for Democratic State Committeeman, Second Middlesex & Suffolk 2-year seat
• Monica Palacios-Boyce for Democratic State Committeewoman, at-large female Affirmative Action seat (elected April 17, 2004)

• NotOneDamnDime - Part II Email Congress on Tax Day (April 15, 2005)
• NotOneDamnDime.com Boycott all spending on Inauguration Day (Jan. 20, 2005)
• NotOneRedCent.com Petition in protest of Bush's war (Dec. 2004)
• DeanForDNC.org Petition to DNC members in support of Howard Dean's chairmanship (Nov. 2004)
• RalphDontRun.us Petition asking Ralph Nader to withdraw from the presidential race (Dec. 2003)

• First Essex and Middlesex Democratic Coalition -- under the auspices of Elizabeth Kilcoyne, Patrick Abegg, and Democratic State Committeewoman Kathy Pasquina
• Quincy Democratic City Committee -- also serving the surrounding communities in the Norfolk and Plymouth Senate District: Abington, Braintree, Holbrook, and Rockland, under the auspices of Democratic State Committeewoman Bernice Mader.
• Boston Democratic City Committee
• Cambridge Democratic City Committee
• Hull Democratic Town Committee
• Gloucester Democratic City Committee
• Bolton Democratic Town Committee (discussion group)

These websites are provided as a free service ("for free, forever") to the Massachusetts Democratic Party and to candidates for the the Massachusetts Democratic State Committee. These websites are sponsored and maintained by Jesse Gordon, without coordination with any campaign and without affiliation with any party body. Contact: Jesse at DemocraticStateCommittee.com, (617) 320-6989, 1770 Mass Ave. #630, Cambridge MA 02140. All Massachusetts Democratic State Committee members and candidates, and all Democratic City and Town Committees, may establish a website here, at no expense, by request to Jesse Gordon.