Short and Sweet

Robert B. Reich, former U.S. Labor Secretary in the Clinton administration and a late-comer to the race, was also the first candidate to present his 10,000 qualifying signatures to the Mass. secretary of state earlier this month—a display of his grassroots popularity.

Reich, like competitor Steve Grossman, has situated himself as a Beacon Hill outsider.

“I don’t owe anybody anything in the sense that I am not part of Beacon Hill,” Reich says. “I think the public wants someone who is fresh.”

But Reich does stress his prior experience at the federal level as beneficial training for fulfilling the duties of the corner office—running a federal department with an annual budget larger than that of Massachusetts.

Addressing the budget crisis, Reich has put forward specific numbers and a long-term economic plan for the state.

“The budget hole can be filled without cutting social services, human services or education,” says Reich, who has also said he would postpone the 0.3 percent tax rollback.

Reich is a graduate of Dartmouth College, is a Rhodes Scholar, and holds a J.D. from Yale Law School.

Left on Green

Green Party gubernatorial candidate Jill E. Stein ’73 is hoping to build on the Green’s success in 2000.

Ralph Nader and the Greens earned 6.5 percent of the vote in Mass.

2000, earning them a place on the ballot as an official political party in the state. The Greens also picked up a few seats in local elections last November.

Stein, a medical doctor and environmental reform activist, joins Warren E.

Tolman (D) as one of two Clean Elections candidates in the gubernatorial

race.

Stein is over two-thirds of the way to gaining the 6,000 qualifying contributions necessary to receive Clean Elections funding and could receive over $2 million in public monies.

With this funding, Stein’s grass-roots effort—which spent less than $15,000 in March—would receive a considerable boost.

Despite trailing in the polls, Stein remainsoptimistic about her chances.

“I think we do potentially have a very win-able election.,” she said in a talk at Harvard last month. “If you have a message that resonates, it’s powerful.”