A new Green-Rainbow candidate
BOSTON -- Not to be left out of the political headlines this week, the Green-Rainbow Party introduced its replacement candidate for lieutenant governor, Martina Robinson, a 30-year-old Belchertown resident.
Robinson, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, was previously the disabilities coordinator for the Grace Ross for Governor campaign, the Green-Rainbow Party's gubernatorial nominee.
Robinson took over for former candidate Wendy Van Horne, 22, a full-time nurse from Lunenburg who dropped out recently because she didn't have enough time to devote to the campaign, said spokesman Colby Peterson.
The Green-Rainbow Party is actually a designation and not a party, because not enough residents voted for Green-Rainbow candidates for the state to declare it an official third party.
Minority status hasn't stopped Ross, however, who tried to participate in the post-primary excitement yesterday, drawing comparisons between herself and the mainstream candidates. She touted herself as the only gubernatorial candidate who is not a millionaire.
"I tend to make in the $20,000 to $30,000 range," Ross said. "I look at things differently."
And even as the Republican candidate, Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, painted Deval Patrick as too liberal on economic issues, Ross said economic development was the issue where she differed most from the Democratic nominee.
"Patrick wants to get corporations to come in," Ross said. Other governors have been doing that for years and yet, Ross said, "We're worse off."
Patrick's push for increased local aid to Massachusetts communities was not enough, Ross said.
"Local aid is important but the way to do it is to rebuild local economies," Ross said.
She discounted concerns that her campaign will undermine Patrick and help Healey.
"There are tons of votes out there that no one will get if I don't get them," Ross said. She said studies have shown Green-Rainbow Party candidates "draw equally from Democrats and Republicans."
Now that the primary election is over, the corner office candidates will have their first chance to face each other in a debate scheduled for Monday at 6 p.m. at the Fox 25 News studio in Dedham. A second debate is scheduled for mid-October, with details yet to be announced.