2018 MA Governor's race: on Corporations


Bob Massie: Ceres Reporting Initiative: socially rate pension funds

I have long worried about the rise in corporate power. I edited a book ("The Big Business Reader") 37 years ago about how government was losing its ability to regulate corporations. Maybe we could organize progressive shareholders to influence corporations--in particular, religious and union pension holders, who own massive amounts of stock.

So that's what we did. I became the director of Ceres, a coalition of labor and environmental activists working with the biggest pension funds in the country. We used the huge influence of our coalition to demand that multinational corporations measure and disclose about the effect of their actions on the climate, on working conditions, and on race and social justice.

We launched an international non-profit called the Global Reporting Initiative that set a new international standard for measuring whether corporations were making progress or going backwards. This has had great success. Today 12,000 companies have adopted the new standards.

Source: ORMA questionnaire on 2018 Massachusetts governor race Dec 20, 2017

Jesse Gordon: Nationalize banks, or break up those too-big-to-fail

Q: Huge financial institutions must be broken up so they are no longer too big to fail.

A: Agree.

Candidate's position on this issue: The financial crisis that began in 2008 should have resulted in the nationalization of the big banks, and their breakup and return to community banking

Source: ORMA questionnaire on 2018 Massachusetts governor race Jul 31, 2017

Setti Warren: Downgrading of Massachusetts bond rating is a serious thing

On his reaction to the downgrading of Massachusetts bond rating: "As a municipal leader, as a Mayor, I know how serious a downgrading is. It is a very serious thing. It may mean we may not be able to implement projects, pay for services in the near future & the long term. But, it's also a very serious indicator of the fact that the state is using one time revenue sources to keep this budget afloat. We're not being honest and direct and clear about what it takes to maintain what we have and going We also need to be honest about our revenue projections, which have been off in the last couple of years. I'm calling for multi-year revenue projections, I'm calling for us to look at every single expenditure in that budget including tax expenditures that are given away to special interests, and be honest about revenue. Then we can make the investments that matter so we can deal with economic inequality in the state."
Source: WBUR.org on 2018 Massachusetts gubernatorial race Jun 12, 2017

  • The above quotations are from 2018 Massachusetts Gubernatorial race: debates and news coverage.
  • Click here for definitions & background information on Corporations.
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  • Click here for more quotes by Charlie Baker on Corporations.
Candidates and political leaders on Corporations:

Retired Senate as of Jan. 2015:
GA:Chambliss(R)
IA:Harkin(D)
MI:Levin(D)
MT:Baucus(D)
NE:Johanns(R)
OK:Coburn(R)
SD:Johnson(D)
WV:Rockefeller(D)

Resigned from 113th House:
AL-1:Jo Bonner(R)
FL-19:Trey Radel(R)
LA-5:Rod Alexander(R)
MA-5:Ed Markey(D)
MO-9:Jo Ann Emerson(R)
NC-12:Melvin Watt(D)
SC-1:Tim Scott(R) 		Retired House to run for Senate or Governor:
AR-4:Tom Cotton(R)
GA-1:Jack Kingston(R)
GA-10:Paul Broun(R)
GA-11:Phil Gingrey(R)
HI-1:Colleen Hanabusa(D)
IA-1:Bruce Braley(D)
LA-6:Bill Cassidy(R)
ME-2:Mike Michaud(D)
MI-14:Gary Peters(D)
MT-0:Steve Daines(R)
OK-5:James Lankford(R)
PA-13:Allyson Schwartz(D)
TX-36:Steve Stockman(R)
WV-2:Shelley Capito(R) 		Retired House as of Jan. 2015:
AL-6:Spencer Bachus(R)
AR-2:Tim Griffin(R)
CA-11:George Miller(D)
CA-25:Howard McKeon(R)
CA-33:Henry Waxman(D)
CA-45:John Campbell(R)
IA-3:Tom Latham(R)
MN-6:Michele Bachmann(R)
NC-6:Howard Coble(R)
NC-7:Mike McIntyre(D)
NJ-3:Jon Runyan(R)
NY-4:Carolyn McCarthy(D)
NY-21:Bill Owens(D)
PA-6:Jim Gerlach(R)
UT-4:Jim Matheson(D)
VA-8:Jim Moran(D)
VA-10:Frank Wolf(R)
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Page last updated: Dec 11, 2018