Setti Warren at the American Legion Post 440
Remarks as prepared
June 24, 2008 - Two weeks ago, while driving Tassy and our beautiful new daughter Abigail home from the hospital, I was reminded more than ever just how lucky I am and how many gifts I have in my life. A week before, I was in 130 degree heat in Iraq serving America as a Naval Intelligence Specialist, and now here I was bringing my newborn daughter up the steps and through the door of the very home where I grew up in Newton. I am lucky – we all are lucky, to live in America - a free, strong, vibrant country filled with hope and possibility.
I am blessed to have a beautiful and devoted family, friends and colleagues -- and to come back to such a unique, diverse, challenging and extraordinary city, the city I was raised in and have lived in all my life, the city I love and care deeply about, and the city I want very much to lead as mayor into the second decade of the twenty-first century.
I began over a year ago to consider very seriously running for mayor of Newton. Now, tonight, I can tell you with certainty that I when I return from Iraq this fall I intend to announce my candidacy.
Newton is in my blood. I attended Bigelow Junior High and Newton North and then went on to Boston College and Suffolk University Law School . As a result of the values my parents instilled in me growing up on Beaumont Avenue, the respect for government that I learned in school and the diverse Newton community that helped nurture me, I developed, at an early age, the desire to serve the public, a desire that has been one of the driving forces in my life. I believe, as so many of you do, that we all have a special responsibility to contribute something of ourselves to the common good.
From Newton North class president to serving as the Deputy State Director in Senator Kerry's Office, public service has been at the core of my career and my life.
I have been afforded tremendous opportunities to serve the public, including as a Special Assistant in the White House Office of Cabinet Affairs for President Clinton, and as the New England Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the Clinton administration, where I managed a workforce of 75 full time employees and a reserve force of 400, and was responsible for directing over 20 million dollars in program assistance funds to the New England states.
Before I left for Iraq I served as John Kerry's Deputy State Director, where I was his point person for small business and economic development.
I have also endeavored to serve the public outside of my career, having worked with the Newton Community Preservation Committee, the Foundation for Ethnic, Racial, and Religious Harmony, the Newton Economic Development Commission, and as a member of the United States Naval Reserve.
I have served at the Federal, State, and City level, and each of these opportunities has provided me with unique insight and invaluable management experience that I believe will serve me well as mayor of Newton.
My hope tonight is to not only introduce myself as a candidate but more so to begin to impart to you the vision I have for our city.
One of my foremost concerns about the city of Newton is the tone and tenor of the dialogue that our residents have with our municipal government.
As mayor, my administration will be open, flexible and innovative. We simply cannot do things the way they were done 30, 20, or even 10 years ago. We are a living, breathing, dynamic city with a deep sense of pride in what we are, what we have been, and what we have achieved.
I will call and rely upon the immense talents of the people of Newton to help me focus on where we are headed. I will respect all points of view and then act and I will not be afraid to make difficult decisions when they have to be made, nor afraid to explain my actions. Most of all, my administration will be transparent and open new channels of communication to all of the residents of the city.
AND- Let me be clear- During this campaign and as Mayor, I will not make personal attacks upon my opponents or upon people that may disagree with my positions. Our community's leadership must raise the level of public discourse so that we may effectively solve the enormous challenges that face us – and nothing is to be gained by distracting the attention from anything other than the issues most important to our city.
Newton , like our country, our state, and even our own families, faces considerable financial challenges. We must stop scrambling from month to month, year to year simply to maintain what we have or what we once had. We have to plan better and seek new ways of doing things while making tough choices.
Education will remain one of the highest priorities in my administration. The quality of our public schools defines our community. It sustains our national and world-wide reputation and is certainly one of the main reasons parents pay top dollar to live here. Our schools are excellent because our teachers are excellent. But we will not keep them if we do not provide the very best and most supportive work environment.
Like all of you, I have seen the headlines and watched with dismay as our city has become a punchline for jokes about fiscal responsibility across the state. But the cost of the high school points to a much larger problem. It has simply has taken too long to make definitive decisions. Anyone who has ever spent more than just a few days at Newton North knows that it could not be successfully renovated. There were too many systemic problems. It is a dated, corroding, and downright unmanageable building. It took months and years to conclude, rightly, that we needed a new building and even more months before the whole project got off the ground. That is unacceptable. We need to take a hard look at our procedures and discourse on this issue to help us better prepare ourselves for future endeavors, be it our roads, our schools, our firehouses, or other city buildings or services in need of maintenance.
Newton is a safe city because our excellent, dedicated police and firefighters make it a safe city. It is time to negotiate a fair contract with our firefighters, to stop the political infighting and the posturing, and treat our city workers like the professionals they are.
The city of Newton is a truly unique community. We are doctors, electricians, lawyers, teachers, nurses, small business owners and so much more. We are little league coaches, activists, and volunteers. We care about our neighbors, and we care about our community, which is a passionate one. I believe that the next mayor must bring people together from all parts of our city- regardless of what neighborhood they live in or their background. Whether you are a senior citizen or high school student, whether you have children in our public school system or not, whether you rent or own your home, whether you work or are retired, whether you live on a fixed income or not- I know we as a community can bridge the divides that separate us.
We are so fortunate to have so many talented citizens willing to participate in the process of government and I would encourage continued participation as well as suggestions of new and different ways to engage our citizens. As Mayor I will listen to recommendations from all corners of the city. One of my first steps will be to complete a major review of expenditures, efficiencies and all programs in the City- nothing would be sacrosanct. I will build a realistic maintenance trust fund to address long- and short-term infrastructure problems. I will aggressively work to find long- and short-term revenue sources beyond override proposals through public-private partnerships, small business, and state and federal resources. And I will continue to introduce energy efficient green solutions to city government and to our private and public economic development. My experience at the state and federal level positions me well to pursue these types of partnerships and nurture our relationship with state and federal government. I eagerly look forward to the opportunity to join with Governor Patrick's administration, Senators Kennedy and Kerry, our Congressman Barney Frank, our state legislators, our aldermen and school committee to maximize the resources at our disposal, and to push Newton to even farther heights as a model community in Massachusetts.
Many ideas and plausible solutions have been expressed by people, committees and commissions from all over Newton in recent years- detailed reports have been generated, including the Blue Ribbon Commission report and a plan for development and land use. In fact as many of you know there is a new Citizen Advisory Group formed to address many of the issues I have outlined this evening- I thank them for their service to Newton and I look forward to hearing their recommendations.
Over the coming months my campaign will establish working groups to solicit the best ideas around the issue areas I have outlined this evening, and many, many more. I look forward to hearing from all of you and from citizens across the eight wards of our brilliant community.
As many of you know Department of Defense rules do not allow me to actively campaign while I am on active duty in Iraq . I will observe this rule as I have over the past 8 months and focus on my mission in Iraq until I return.
When I return home this fall I promise you an all-out, open, vigorous campaign for mayor that will reach out to every ward and precinct, to every village and street, to every person and every concern. We will knock on every door – so I apologize in advance if I interrupt your dinner. I believe Newton is ready for a new kind of leadership and tonight, I ask you all to join all of us in our grassroots quest. We cannot do it alone. I need your support.
This Thursday, I leave for the final four-month leg of my one-year active duty commitment to America in Iraq. Leaving, obviously, will not be easy. But time is swift. I'll be back home in Newton in October, and as fall in New England begins to take hold, I can assure you we will hit the ground running. Thank you, thank you all for coming and listening tonight, and God bless America.
