Issues

The difference is results..!

A descendent of Italian & Irish immigrants, Mike Capuano is a graduate of Somerville High, Dartmouth College and Boston College Law School. He knows the American Dream is worth fighting for!

More Jobs. Fairer Taxes.

As Mayor of Somerville since 1990, Mike Capuano has helped create thousands of new jobs, expanded businesses and improved the city's bond rating four times -- GIVING TAXPAYERS ONE OF THE LOWEST TAX RATES IN MASSACHUSETTS. Mike Capuano knows the value of a dollar....and the value of a job.

Better Schools

Under Mike's leadership, children enjoy the smallest class sizes in Greater Boston. He is also building 4 modern schools and has expanded early childhood education. Mike Capuano knows the value of a quality education.

Cleaner Government

Mike authored the state's toughest Ethics Law, which requires officials and candidates to disclose their business dealings and family employment.

Greener Spaces

Mike created 9 new parks, added 15 acres of new open space and planted 5,500 trees in the most densely populated city in New England.

Cable Competition

Mike made history when cable competition became a reality. This action saved subscribers from a 10% rate hike imposed on all other communities. Mike Capuano broke the cable monopoly.

As Our CONGRESSMAN

Mike Capuano will insist on modern schools and quality education to prepare all our children for a competitive world. Mike's mother lives in senior housing. He knows all seniors deserve a decent safe home and affordable health care. Mike Capuano will continue to stand for fair taxes, a woman's right to choose, a clean environment and a secure retirement.

Mike Capuano

Democrat for Congress

No one will fight harder for us....

and no one will make us prouder. 

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Because he took personal responsibility for improving the school system, Somerville schools have one of the smallest average class sizes in Greater Boston at nineteen students per classroom. Recently, in his MIT commencement address, President Bill Clinton singled out the Somerville public schools for innovative use of technology. During Capuano's tenure, six schools have been or are being revitalized. The West Somerville Neighborhood School opened its doors in 1996, the Kennedy and Healey Elementary Schools are currently under construction and three additional schools are in the planning stages. Capuano also instituted an optional full day kindergarten, which will be available to every child in the fall of 1998. Somerville was also the first community in the Commonwealth to have a certified Education Technology Plan.

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The Environment

Michael Capuano has dealt with wide-ranging environmental issues on the local level and will continue to support environmental legislation in Congress that gives communities the tools to protect our natural resources.

A wealth of environmental concerns are facing the nation today. These concerns include cleaning up contaminated and abandoned "brownfields" sites which restrict development and negatively impact neighborhoods on many levels, addressing growing solid waste issues, and finding ways to reduce transportation and air pollution problems.

If elected to Congress, Mike will support the following environmental laws and initiatives:

• Fight any attempts to weaken the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act;

• Work to change the Superfund law so that more money goes toward realistic cleanup and not legal fees;

• Increase incentives for developers to utilize abandoned "brownfields";

• Fight for science based environmental laws and policies;

• Support practical and effective measures to limit or reduce pollution such as emissions trading and common sense enforcement agreements;

• Support measures to reduce Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) such as public transportation and alternative fuel vehicles for reduced air pollution;

• Protect existing natural lands;

• Support policies which use voluntary actions and technical assistance to reduce emissions, backed up by solid enforcement mechanisms;

• Support measures which have benefits in addition to environmental such as EPA funding for programs which create jobs through recycling;

• Ensure that environmental justice issues are weighed of projects receiving federal funding.

On many environmental issues, Mike can point to a record of accomplishment on the local level. When he took office in 1990, Mike implemented the Municipal Approach to Environmental Problem Solving which calls on municipalities to take responsibility for the environment. As a result, Mike achieved the following:

• Created the first municipally based environmental strike force which virtually eradicated illegal dumping in Somerville;

• Hired the first municipal Environmental Protection Officer in Massachusetts;

• Created an aggressive, cutting edge and fiscally responsible recycling program in Somerville, including implementing a full scale curbside recycling program, electronics recycling, composting and yard waste collection, paint and motor oil recycling and building materials recycling;

• Successfully won grant funding for numerous environmental programs, by serving as a pilot community or participating in research;

• Created an innovative "Brownfields" insurance fund which provided monetary protection for developers and encouraged turnaround of these sites;

• Reclaimed several acres of industrial land and turned it into open space;

• Created an ongoing environmental justice through pollution prevention youth program where low income youth received extensive environmental training then worked with businesses in their neighborhoods to reduce use and emission of toxins.

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Health Care

Michael Capuano will work with his colleagues in Congress to achieve comprehenisve health care coverage for all.

Although the United States spends more money on health care than any other industrial democracy, coverage is not universal. Many who are covered have also become increasingly dissatisfied with rising costs and diminishing care. Today 41 million Americans lack health coverage. The vast majority of Americans who do not have insurance are employed or are children of the employed.

In Congress, Mike will support the "Patients' Bill of Rights". He will fight for the speedy impartial appeal of denied procedures, "reasonable person" standard for emergency room visits, direct access to ob-gyns and the right to sue HMOs for malpractice. Mike also supports the Kling "Health Care Whistle Blower Protection Act" for health care professionals who report abuse or fraud.

Mike will also address the larger problem: helping the 41 million Americans who are uninsured. He supports and will fight for, single payer health care. However, Mike knows that this goal will take time to achieve. He will not wait idly for that day but will instead explore and try to replicate promising grass-roots initiatives such as union sponsored industry wide plans, the leveraging of public funds (for indigent care and for insuring public employees) to offer risk pooling to small businesses, and Purchasers' Coops which pool risks in order to maximize negotiating power.

Mike's record as Mayor demonstrates his commitment to health coverage for all. Under his leadership, the City of Somerville pays 99% of an indemnity plan and 90% (which is the statutory maximum) of a variety of HMOs for all city employees and retirees. Somerville also has a nationally recognized Community Health Agenda that prioritizes health care for the uninsured and under-served. Under Mike's leadership, the Somerville school system's health programs have also been reformed. He supported a science based K-12 health sciences curriculum that provides age appropriate topics in sexuality including contraception, sexually transmitted diseases, gender equity and family violence issues. He fought successfully to save a school-based Teen Connection Clinic that offers contraceptives and counseling and funded a year round Parent Information Center with a full time nurse to advise parents. Mike also fostered the "Linking Kids to Health Care" initiative in cooperation with the Massachusetts Teachers Association which links each student (and his or her family) with a primary care provider.

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Affordable Housing

Mike will fight in Congress to protect and expand affordable housing.

Americans are currently living in what has been euphemistically dubbed “the best economy of our lives.” While this may in fact be true for some, it is not true for all. One consequence of this rosy economy is that rents and home prices in the Eighth Congressional District are rising well beyond the means of many working families. The federal government must help.

Mike will work in the Congress to protect “expiring use” properties from reverting to market value. The federal government invested billions of dollars to create incentives for private developers to build these properties. Now many of the owners who invested little of their own money are poised to make millions in profits by converting these units to market rate and displacing working families. Thousands of families in the Eighth Congressional District face displacement in the coming years because these units are scheduled to become eligible to market rate. In Somerville in 1990, Mike worked with Congressman Joe Kennedy to save a 501 “expiring use” building – Clarendon Hill Towers. This property was one of the first “Expiring Use Projects” in the nation to face this problem. The units are now owned by the tenants and will remain affordable.

Mike will also work to expand home ownership programs at the federal level. Many working families cannot afford the down payment and remain at the mercy of skyrocketing rents. A well-developed and funded home ownership program can:

• Stabilize housing costs for low and moderate income families;

• Stabilize urban neighborhoods by increasing the percentage of owner-occupied units;

• Stabilize communities by providing training and assistance to insure they understand
  their responsibilities and rights as property owners;

• Retain economic and racial diversity in the nation’s cities by insuring that families are
  not priced out of the communities they helped to build during prosperous times.

Mike also believes that elders should not have to worry about the high cost of housing after working hard their whole lives. Options for elders must include safe, decent affordable housing, including affordable assisted living units for low-income frail elders. Neither illness nor retirement should push someone from their neighborhood. Mike will work in the Congress to insure that sufficient housing is available and properly maintained over the years.

Mike will work to develop and implement federal housing policies that encourage participation by communities, financial institutions, investors, citizens, non-profit institutions and managers of housing. In Somerville, Mike has already implemented the following initiatives:

• An affordable housing trust fund created and funded with locally generated linkage money;

• A down-payment program that helps moderate-income families buy a home, the repayment of the loans finance future loans;

• A renter revolving loan fund that helps low and moderate income renters by allowing them to borrow the security deposit and first month’s rent to obtain a new rental unit, or pay up to two months rent in arrears when temporary setbacks threaten their housing;

• Partnerships with local nonprofit housing and service providers which insures that quality affordable housing is built, maintained and available for families who need it.

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Campaign Finance Reform

Michael Capuano will work in Congress to achieve effective campaign finance reform.

Effective campaign finance reform will help restore popular faith in our system of government. Americans vote in deplorably low numbers. Mike believes more people would participate in politics, if they believed that their time and effort could make a difference. Campaign finance reform is not just about curbing the power of the rich; it’s about empowering everybody else.

In Congress, Mike would support public funding of campaigns. He also strongly supports the Shays-Meehan Bill, which limits the use of so-called “soft money”. He supports the concept that PACs should not be eliminated unless and until campaigns are publicly funded. He is suspicious of attempts to restrict monies available to progressive groups, such as the infamous “Pay Check Protection” referendum defeated earlier this year in California. Mike believes that full financial disclosure is of utmost importance. The people have a right to know who is contributing to their candidate.

As mayor, Mike Capuano wrote and enacted the most stringent Ethics Ordinance in Massachusetts. The Capuano Ethics Ordinance requires candidates, elected officials, and a substantial number of appointed officials in policy –making positions to disclose the sources of their family’s income. Not only the office-seeker and office-holder, but all members of their immediate families, must make public every material fact about their financial situation: property holdings, investments, salaries, consultancies. These efforts are helping to transform the image of Somerville and Somerville politics.

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Education

Michael Capuano’s top priority in Congress will be to increase federal funding for local public education.

The federal government has under-invested in local public education. Too many communities do not have the financial ability to bring our students into the twenty-first century by hiring additional educators, upgrading technologies or improving buildings. The federal government can and should help.

The most important aspect of an increased federal role in funding for public education is the ability of cities and towns to maintain control of their own school systems. Different communities have different student populations, priorities and assets. Local leaders know their own communities best. No solution or single set of solutions will work equally well in every school system. Certainly any new federal funding should require protections against waste and fraud. But it must be free from bureaucratic demands that cannot be customized to specific local needs. Washington must recognize and embrace this fact. These additional funds must be invested in aging school buildings. Improved facilities are needed in most communities and are far less controversial than curriculum. The federal government must help communities accommodate both the new realities of single parent and two worker families and the new technologies our children need. An upgraded physical plant means more classroom space to reduce average class size, more facilities available after school and on weekends for a host of activities, and a building better equipped to handle the technological demands of the next century. Money must also be invested in our public school teachers. We must find ways to attract our most qualified people as teachers. Federal funds can provide tuition grants, loan forgiveness, better salaries, and improved working conditions such as flex-time, job sharing and on-site day care. The hiring of additional teachers also means that cities and town will have the ability to reduce average class size - a critically important component in the education of our children.

Our federal government should help make schools safe and encourage the kinds of collaboration that have made a difference. In Somerville, our fast-tracking program brings educators, human service providers and law enforcement officials together to monitor and prosecute violent juveniles. We also help children handle anger through our nationally recognized mediation program that teaches non-violent conflict resolution. Washington should offer a clearinghouse for ideas that have been successful in improving education. As a Congressman, Mike would work to highlight local successes and ask his colleagues to help us replicate them. This is certainly not the only answer but the federal government shouldn’t wait to reinvent the wheel before improving education. In Somerville, Mike Capuano took personal responsibility for the school system. As a result, students enjoy one of the smallest average class sizes in Greater Boston, at 19 students per room. Six schools are being revitalized, every school is going on-line at no cost to taxpayers, full day kindergarten is available to every parent and test scores have improved dramatically. Mike will take this record of successful action to Washington where he will fight for more federal funding to hire additional teachers, replace aging school buildings and prepare our children for the next century.