Thanks!

Massachusetts and the nation have taken a turn, and I wish the winners well. I hope that this change will result in a more just, peaceful, democratic and sustainable world. Whichever path our leaders lead us down, I will continue to work for a better world for ourselves, our children and the other species with whom we share this planet.

After far too many months of juggling work, family and running for treasurer of the commonwealth, thanks are in order:

• Thanks to the O'Keefe team who worked hard to get the word out.
• Thanks to the 120-plus volunteers who got me and my other Green-Rainbow candidates on the ballot and made our campaigns the success they were.
• Thanks to my fellow candidates, Grace, Martina, Wendy, Jill and Owen, for working tirelessly to advocate for justice, peace, democracy and the environment.
• Thanks to the Somerville Journal and Grey2K for taking a chance and endorsing my campaign.
• Thanks to the people who I met during the course of the campaign who expressed their gratitude to me for running and offering them a choice.
• Thanks to the 5,618 people who voted for me in my home town of Somerville.
• Thanks to the more than 322,000 people who voted for a change in Massachusetts.
• Thanks to my wife, Melanie, for putting up with my long nights of little sleep and efforts on the campaign trail.
• Finally, thanks to my two children, Liam and Emma, for putting up with a busy daddy. It was all for you.

Sorry to all my supporters that this has taken so long.

Cahill backs out

On Halloween at the Jewish Community Housing for the Elderly Candidates Forum, Dan Kontoff brought up that Cahill refused to debate. Cahill, on the spot, agreed to debate and gave Dan his home and office contact info. We were shocked. This was after our attempts to contact his campaign, which is not an easy undertaking when all they have is a web form and the email address listed on his web site bounces. My campaign doesn't have as much cash as Cahill, but at least we have a phone and email that works.

That night, I left a message at his home number wishing a happy Halloween -- my son had been trickertreating and I cared for my nine month old daughter while he was with my wife -- and asking him to call be about debating.

Next morning, Wednesday, I contacted the office number he gave (Treasurer's office #) and left a message. Someone from the campaign called me back and I suggested that it would be easier to have a media outlet to sponsor it if Cahill announced that he was willing to debate. That suggestion was passed back.

My campaign called media outlets noting that Cahill agreed to debate and asking if they would sponsor it. A few places considered it, but only Radio with a View at WMBR did so actively.

By Thursday, Radio with a View had agreed and suggested a few times. Cahill's rep. called told me that his campaign agreed to call the media folks we were pursuing and say he wanted to debate and would they sponsor it. I gave them the names and phone numbers of the other media we were contacting. I notified Cahill's rep. that the folks at Radio with a View wanted to know whether they were available either 10-10:30am or 11-11:30am on Sunday.

By Friday morning, I had found out that some of the other media outlets were too busy, and that Radio with a View was willing to host it at 11 am on Sunday. I notified Cahill's rep. that morning via phone and Cahill's web sites contact form about the firm date/time/location for the debate. After several hours without an answer, I called again.

I was notified that Cahill was "booked" Sunday and likely Monday. What a surprise. I guess democracy isn't high on his agenda.

On other news: Galvin debated Jill Stein for five minutes. Thus qualifying as the shortest debate in history.

Four more days to go.

But why have you been quiet?

Well, setting up a debate, actually. More later today...

UK report - cost of climate change is 20 times the cost to stop it

On October 30th the UK government released the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change. Here is good summation from the press release, with a few items of note highlighted:

The first half of the Review focuses on the impacts and risks arising from uncontrolled climate change, and on the costs and opportunities associated with action to tackle it. A sound understanding of the economics of risk is critical here. The Review emphasises that economic models over timescales of centuries do not offer precise forecasts – but they are an important way to illustrate the scale of effects we might see.

The Review finds that all countries will be affected by climate change, but it is the poorest countries that will suffer earliest and most. Unabated climate change risks raising average temperatures by over 5°C from pre-industrial levels. Such changes would transform the physical geography of our planet, as well as the human geography – how and where we live our lives.

Adding up the costs of a narrow range of the effects, based on the assessment of the science carried out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2001, the Review calculates that the dangers of unabated climate change would be equivalent to at least 5% of GDP each year.

The Review goes on to consider more recent scientific evidence (for example, of the risks that greenhouse gases will be released naturally as the permafrost melts), the economic effects on human life and the environment, and approaches to modelling that ensure the impacts that affect poor people are weighted appropriately. Taking these together, the Review estimates that the dangers could be equivalent to 20% of GDP or more.

In contrast, the costs of action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the worst impacts of climate change can be limited to around 1% of global GDP each year. People would pay a little more for carbon-intensive goods, but our economies could continue to grow strongly.

The key point is that the climate change could cost us 20 times what it would cost to limit it. If you don't think 20% is too high, that was about the drop in economic output during the Great Depression.

All the more reason we need to use a portion of the pension fund to invest in energy conservation and renewable energy in Massachusetts.

Also, Steve Connor of the Independent in the UK summarizes the Stern Review's description of the effects of global climate change at different temperature increases.

My first endorsement

The Somerville Journal endorsed me in this week's paper. They wrote:

James O'Keefe, the Green-Rainbow candidate in Somerville, has been running fairly quietly against Tim-for-Treasurer Cahill, in part because Cahill won't even debate. We like the louder candidate from Somerville, thank you.

A few upcoming media appearances

For folks in Cambridge, I will be on Conversations with Lloyd on CCTV during the following times:

Friday 6pm on Channel 10
Saturday 7:30pm on Channel 9
Sunday 3pm on Channel 10
Sunday 7:29pm on Channel 9.

Also, I will be on WTKK 96.9fm on Saturday at 9:53am. It is only for three minutes, so don't miss it.

Cahill still missing from a debate

My opponent, Tim Cahill, is still missing from my call to debate. So my campaign decided to issue a "Missing" milk carton flyer. You can find it on my website. Please distribute it to your friends and neighbors and contact his campaign and urge him to debate! Thanks.

Busy weekend

I appeared on WZBC on Sounds of Dissent Saturday, WMBR's Radio with a View on Sunday and met people at the JP Lantern Parade. Plus, preping for Monday.

Some traction for my call for a debate with Cahill

My local paper, the Somerville Journal, covered my call for a debate. Also, got a mention in a Boston Globe editorial and I was interviewed by WHYN, AM 560 in Springfield.

You've got to be kidding me

Bechtel is conducting daily field inspections of remedial work inside the I-90 Seaport connector tunnel? Talk about conflict of interest. For more info see ‘Lax’ firm quietly tapped for inspections.

Challenged Cahill to a debate.

For Immediate Release Contact: James O’Keefe
October 24, 2006 617.447.0210

Mass. Treasurer Candidate Says Tim Cahill Has Failed Voters, Calls for Debate

James O’Keefe Cites Failure to Monitor Cost of Big Dig, Secret Deals

Somerville, MA – State Treasurer candidate James O’Keefe said today that Tim Cahill has failed voters, and challenged him to a public debate on issues ranging from the Cahill’s inaction on Big Dig to Cahill’s use of risky hedge funds.

“From the Big Dig to secret deals he gave former employees, Tim Cahill has failed the voters,” said O’Keefe. “We can no longer afford his risky investments.”

In a letter sent to Cahill yesterday, O’Keefe cited multiple issues he would like to raise in the debate, including:

• Cahill’s failure to act as a guardian of the people’s tax dollars and to blow the whistle about the true cost of the Big Dig.
• Secret deals that Cahill has made with former employees.
• The state’s focus on investing in risky hedge funds such as Amaranth, which has lost the pension fund over $40 million, rather than on local investments in small businesses and energy conservation.
• Cahill’s failure to challenge corporate tax breaks that have cost taxpayers nearly two billion dollars over the last ten years.

“If I’m elected, I will not gamble our public school teachers' pensions on risky hedge funds like Amaranth,” said O'Keefe. “Instead of rolling the dice with our teacher’s retirement funds, we should invest in local businesses, energy conservation and socially conscious companies that will give a reliable return while also strengthening the local economy.”

James O'Keefe, a lifelong Massachusetts resident, graduated from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and earned a masters degree in Economics from Boston University in 1998. He has worked as a software quality assurance engineer and manager for the last thirteen years. He has lived with Melanie, his wife, in Somerville since 1992 and together they have two children, Liam and Emma.

The Green-Rainbow Party is a party that is guided by Ten Key Values, such as Ecology, Social Justice, Grassroots Democracy and Nonviolence.

# # #

My campaign for treasurer has received a bit of press so far with more to come.

There is an article about me in Cahill's local paper, the Patriot Ledger.

Also, WCVB (Channel 5 for Boston-area folks), ran a summary of an interview with me during their October 18th 5:30pm news broadcast.

On other campaign news, we sent a fundraising mailing out that should be in supporter's mailboxes now and our buttons are in for those who want them. We are working on other materials so we can have them soon.