Speech built around hope for better future

“Hope for a better tomorrow and a willingness to work for it — that is the foundation of this campaign. That is why this campaign has become a movement for change. That is why there is a place here for Democrats, Independents and Republicans — because this is not just about strengthening partisan politics, it’s about reviving citizenship.

What we have built we have built on substance, on a positive message, on the future. That is a very powerful and hopeful thing. It turns out to be very threatening to the entrenches, too. And the Kerry Healey campaign has done everything imaginable — and then some — to attack me and you. Rather than talk about her record and her ideas, her campaign and her right-wing allies want the focus to be on old cases I have handled and on my family.

But then, if I had her record, I would want to change the subject, too.

One hundred forty-eight thousand jobs and 60,000 people have left Massachusetts in the last five years. We are 42nd in the nation in job creation. The cost of housing is up, and homelessness is up — both while Kerry Healey chaired the Governor’s Commission on Housing and Homelessness. If I had that record on the economy, I would change the subject, too.

We are 47th in the nation in spending on public colleges and universities. Mandatory fees are higher than the tuition on many public campuses and the parking garage foundation at UMass Boston is being shored up by hundreds of temporary braces. If I had that record on public higher education, I would change the subject, too.

Health care reform depends on a delicate political compromise that includes a modest assessment on employers that even the business community supports. That’s how we pay for the reforms. After a glamorous signing ceremony, Mitt Romney and Kerry Healey vetoed that provision and now Kerry Healey campaigns on a pledge to kill it once and for all. If my ideas on health care were that cynical, I would change the subject, too.

The Big Dig is critical to the region’s economic future. It is billions of dollars over budget and structurally flawed. We have known this for years. But it took a human tragedy in July before Kerry Healey and Mitt Romney decided to pay attention to any of that, and the public has yet to recover one red cent. Now we learn that the administration is under federal scrutiny because it may have misled investors and the public about inspecting the ceiling bolts. If that were my record on the Big Dig, I would change the subject, too.

Let’s talk about leadership experience. I have led in government, in business, in nonprofits and in community groups. I have managed thousands of people and hundred of millions of dollars across multiple continents. Kerry Healey has not. She has missed most of the meetings of Criminal History Systems Board; chaired the Commission on Housing but done nothing about the housing crisis; and presided over the devastating cuts in local aid that have driven property taxes through the roof. If I had Kerry Healey’s record of leadership, I would change the subject, too.

Let’s talk about crime. And let’s try talking about it honestly. I am the only candidate in this race who has ever actually sent anyone to prison. I’m not a criminologist. I was a federal prosecutor. I have had to make those tough decisions about whom to charge and with what, to test that evidence and argue the sentence.

I have had to comfort victims. I have represented victims. Thanks to the newspaper, you now know my family and I have been victims of crime ourselves. You can’t grow up in a place like the south side of Chicago without understanding the impact of crime and violence on survivors and a community.

And yes, I have sometimes represented the unsavory defendant, too. And you better be glad someone does, because that’s what puts the justice in our system of justice. I’m proud of that. And if Kerry Healey had ever read the Constitution she is sworn to uphold, she’d know better than to slander those who do.

So, let’s talk about crime. There are up to 700 fewer cops on the beat thanks to this administration’s fiscal policy. Guns are flooding over the line and gang violence is soaring. Kerry Healey touts the Sex Offender Register as a centerpiece of her public safety strategy, and then vetoes the funding to support it and fails even to appoint the staff. If I had Kerry Healey’s record on public safety, I would change the subject, too.

The Healey campaign is up to tired old tricks — change the subject, say anything and do anything to tear the other candidate down. Because she has not a single reason for why she should be governor that doesn’t turn on why she thinks I should not be governor.

And that is another difference. We have not built anything on tearing anyone down. She wants to divide people. We want to bring people together. She wants partisan point-scoring. We want problem solving and progress. Hers is a politics of fear. Ours is a politics of hope.”