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.

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