City Year Co-founder Alan Khazei Declares Senate Candidacy Calls For “Big Citizenship”

BOSTON/Boston Common - In the parlance of journalism the following is called burying the lead. But I’m confident you’ll understand. Moments after his announcement event was over and participants and press were packing up to leave I asked a young supporter wearing an “Alan Khazei for Senate” t-shirt if I could check the label. Sure enough the shirts worn by more than a hundred Khazei supporters gathered out on the Boston Common today were union made by members of the United Food and Commercial Union textile division. A smart move undoubtedly for someone who says he will be a “citizens candidate: led energized and financed by citizens.” He emphasized that he wouldn’t “take a dime of PAC (Political Action Committees) or lobbyist dollars.” On Thursday Alan Khazei formally declared his intention to run for the open Senate seat left by the passing of Ted Kennedy. Speaking before an enthusiastic crowd of friends and supporters the co-founder of City Year the 20 year old Boston-based youth service organization modeled as a domestic Peace Corps announced his intention to run for office and carry on the work of Senator Kennedy. Ted Kennedy died of complications from brain cancer on August 25th. Calling for “big citizenship” Khazei said his values included fighting for “universal health care now!” and working to create “more partnerships and less partisanship.” He expressed respect for men and women serving in the armed forces and said he would oppose troop increases in Iraq and Afghanistan “without clear military objectives. We cannot allow Afghanistan to once again become a haven for terrorists " he added. On the economy he said “too many people are hurting…creating jobs will be job number one for me.” Remembering lessons taught to him by his mother including the importance of recognizing the good in people and giving back to the community Khazei quoted her as saying “you know I’ve never seen a U-Haul behind a hearse.” Khazei was heralded today for his inspirational work with young people and his civic organization building by former City Year volunteers as well as elected officials including Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea Cabral State Representative Smitty Pignatelli of Lenox and former U.S. Senator and Peace Corps co-founder Harris Woffard. Woffard lauded Khazei as the type of people’s representative the “founders of this country envisioned.” Woffard also mistakenly said Khazei would make a great senator from Pennsylvania – Woffard's home state – but recovered by poking fun at himself and his trademark yellow legal pad; something for which Woffard said Ted Kennedy gave him hell on the Senate floor. Other candidates vying to replace Kennedy include MA Attorney General Martha Coakley Congressman Michael Capuano Boston Celtics co-owner Steven Pagliuca and State Senator Scott Brown. A primary will be held on December 8 2009 and the final election for the Senate will be held on January 19 2010. All candidates running to represent recognized political parties must submit at least 10 000 certified signatures of state residents to the MA Secretary of the Commonwealth by November 3rd. The first Federal Elections Commission deadline to submit candidate’s financial statements comes up next Wednesday September 30th. Earlier in the day Governor Deval Patrick announced that Paul Kirk former Chair of the Democratic National Committee and a confidant of Edward Kennedy had accepted the position of interim Senator until the election next year. OMB Audio: Voices from the kick-off campaign event include State Legislator Smitty Pignatelli Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea Cabral and former PA Senator Harris Wofford. Photographs by Dave Goodman Bookmark/Search this post with: Delicious Digg StumbleUpon Reddit Newsvine Facebook Google Yahoo Technorati