Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll’s stealth marketing campaign for Democratic lieutenant governor is one other reminder that Massachusetts doesn’t really want a second banana.
Lieutenant governors solely exist within the Bay State for 2 causes: to steer the more and more weird Governor’s Council conferences and to be round when the governor leaves the state.
There’s completely no want for the plum publish, which comes with advantages like a state police chauffeur pushed SUV and virtually no formal tasks.
Republican Karyn Polito has been Charlie Baker’s second in command for the final eight years and had little affect besides inserting high-paid patronage appointments into state authorities and the judicial department. She additionally acted as a liason to municipal officers throughout the state.
Just a few days in the past Baker was touring out of state, leaving Polito theoretically in cost. The solely downside was she picked these days to be out of state too, which means Secretary of State Bill Galvin, a Democrat, was appearing governor. Polito not less than made sense politically as a operating mate for Baker, as a result of she balanced the ticket and helped in the important thing metropolis of Worcester and surrounding suburbs.
Driscoll, who topped the lieutenant governor race within the September major, has been a whole afterthought in Democrat Maura Healey’s sleepy marketing campaign for governor. She did get a cameo in Healey’s newest TV advert, throwing a basketball, in order that’s one thing.
But Driscoll has refused to debate her Republican lieutenant governor opponent, Leah Allen, and customarily stays near Healey’s hip pocket. She was initially scheduled to fulfill Allen in a single radio debate on Oct. 24, however Driscoll then mysteriously canceled, citing scheduling causes, based on Republicans.
That means Massachusetts voters gained’t get to listen to how Driscoll plans to deal with the job of lieutenant governor, and the way she’s going to cut up duties with Healey.
But she’s an pointless sidekick. In Massachusetts, the lieutenant governor nominee runs with the gubernatorial nominee as an all-in-one ticket so nobody will really be voting only for Driscoll in November.
Healey definitely doesn’t want her to drive out voter turnout in Salem or wherever else. No one goes to be voting for Healey due to Kim Driscoll. She doesn’t stability the ticket, which is what operating mates often do.
This previous weekend, Driscoll had two separate occasions the place she was Healey’s stand in – at a union conference in Braintree and a canvass launch in Peabody.
Healey has not but articulated what Driscoll’s tasks precisely shall be if the 2 Democrats win the governor’s race.
And nobody is de facto asking as a result of everyone knows the lieutenant governor does nearly nothing.
So why not simply remove the job and avoid wasting taxpayer cash?
Source: www.bostonherald.com”