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Tim for treasurerTim Cahill of Quincy counts the success of the new state School Building Authority as one of his major accomplishments in office.
We agree, wholeheartedly. The authority, created in 2004, has brought rationality to a system that previously doled out money to cities and towns to build schools however they wanted. At 90 percent state reimbursement, communities often went wild. There was no incentive to restrain spending and concentrate on the essentials rather than the frills. If Cahill had done nothing more than assemble a first-rate staff at the authority and help its start-up proceed successfully, he would be counted a good treasurer. But he has done more. During his term in office, the state’s pension fund has increased by $17 billion, to $43.1 billion. The state Lottery has had record success in the last three years, returning almost $1 billion in the last year alone to cities and towns. Cahill is not solely responsible for this financial success, but he gets a large share of the credit since he was managing the store. The pension fund is now ranked among the top 3 percent nationally of public pension funds with more than $1 billion in assets. The Republican Party did not bother to offer a challenger to Cahill. The other person in the race is James O’Keefe of the Green-Rainbow Party, who acknowledges that his main purpose in running is to attract attention to the fledgling party. That goal is laudable and we hope the party will in the future field more candidates in local races, as O’Keefe says it should. Massachusetts - especially the state Legislature - would benefit greatly from an injection of new faces and new ideas into the public discourse. O’Keefe is such a person. But new entries don’t have a monopoly on innovation or fresh approaches, as Tim Cahill has successfully demonstrated. Read more stories about this race
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