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My name is Jim Henderson, and I have this week begun my independent campaign for Secretary of the Commonwealth. Even though I have had the good fortunate to cross paths with some of you over the years, I would like to more formally introduce myself to the BMG community, seek your questions and comments, and hopefully earn your consideration and support.
I hope to bring a fresh, and truly independent perspective to this campaign. I am not a career politician, nor do I seek to be one. I am an attorney with my own practice based in Stow, focusing primarily on business and transactional law, as well as tax and estate planning. At the risk of patting myself on the back, my clients and friends consider fairness to all and integrity to be a couple of my noteworthy characteristics.
By why run for Secretary of the Commonwealth? First, it's a job I'd actually like to do. Second, well, that's what follows...
As has been noted elsewhere, the Secretary is the chief information officer of Massachusetts. I believe it is the Secretary's job to make sure the people of Massachusetts have easy access to public information, so they can conduct business, evaluate candidates for office, learn who's lobbying and influencing legislation. The Secretary also oversees elections throughout the Commonwealth, and is in the best position to promote greater access to the ballot box and to the electoral process in general. In short, the Secretary can help us all participate in our democracy.
Yet, we are in a time when more and more people feel frustrated with their government. Too often we feel out of touch with our representatives and cannot understand why they are not more responsive to the concerns and challenges of the people. And too often when election time comes, voters encounter hurdles to casting their ballot, or find themselves with few options to make any changes.
And after almost two decades in office, the current Secretary is too entrenched and unresponsive to deal with these problems. A fresh perspective, and a willingness to try new ideas and approaches, is what the Commonwealth needs today. I am the person who will bring that perspective and willingness to Beacon Hill.
As Secretary of the Commonwealth, I will work to make public information truly public by:
• Making all state public databases accessible through a single website, so a simple Google-like search would bring corporation, real estate, lobbyist and legislative information to a single portal
• Encouraging cities and towns to standardize their websites and public databases, so that local information is also readily available
• Opening offices in cities such as Worcester, Lowell, Lawrence and/or Pittsfield, to expand the reach of the Secretary's services already provided in Boston, Fall River and Springfield
• Establishing "substations" in communities where there are lower rates of computer and/or internet access, to make sure public information is, in reality, available to all
As Secretary of the Commonwealth, I will work to enhance the electoral process by:
• Advocating for greater access to the ballot box, through election day registration, extended (multi-day) balloting and/or mail-in voting
• Working to improve ballot machine technology statewide to take advantage of the advanced systems developed in recent years, while at the same time protecting the integrity and confidence in elections
• Using the bully pulpit of the office to fight against corporate influence in our elections, particularly in light of the recent Citizens United Supreme Court decision
• Simplifying the process of getting on the ballot, and in turn encouraging more people to run for office, to make sure our representative government is truly representative of the people of Massachusetts
In an age when heated partisanship, insider deals and well-funded "special interests" threaten to destroy what faith we have in our democratic processes, I believe having a true independent voice in the office of Secretary, a voice that will treat all persons, and all parties, equally and honestly, can only help restore that faith. I will work over the next 7+ months to earn your confidence, and hopefully the same support afforded to the incumbent's challengers four year ago, as we move toward November.
Please feel free to contact the campaign at 508-802-JIM-1, campaign@JimForSOC.com, or by going here (which, until our website can get finalized, will forward to the campaign's Facebook page).
