Thats hosted by the new England Council at the New Hampshire institute of politics, just getting some photos with the former governor before they start the discussion. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] and [inaudible conversations] and [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] just sign it or do i write something . You have to do it twice. Great. Thanks for coming. Im glad to be here. Thank you, sir. Thank you. If i could ask all of you guys to leave. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] good morning, everyone. I just want to say that four days notice, this is a lot of crowd we are auctioning off [inaudible] this is amazing, this kind of crowd with a level of interest today here for this great politics eggs breakfast. We do these things because we have great sponsors who are here. Their names are around the room to help us put these on. We have been doing quite a few of them of course, and i want to just mention that comcast, they are always front and center, always willing to help but comcast is going to be in this room in about two hours and they film their newsmaker segment. As soon as this is over we go right into comcast mode so other exciting week. We have a lot of great dignitaries you but i just want to recognize heather who really got the Harvard Institute of politics off the ground and running and its a great partner with us. Im so happy you are here today. [applause] we have a great partner, the new England Council come to England Chamber of commerce. Jim and i basically breakfast lunch and dinner together and i want to introduce jim, jim brett for the purposes of introduction. Thank you. [applause] let the record be known that i pay for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. [laughing] forget about it. I want to acknowledge the presence of a former Lieutenant Governor of the, will massachusetts, tim murray is here. We welcome him in his first visit here. [applause] and i would like to welcome all of you on behalf of the new England Council here. I want to thank the entire team, st. Anselm for their wonderful Ongoing Partnership with the new England Council. I think with a Record Number of candidates this year, we had a Record Number of politics and eggs programs. I believe today is our 20th politics and eggs. I dont know about you but the doctor says my cholesterol level is going higher and higher and higher, so its going to come to an end soon but i want to thank st. Anselm for all they do to make these programs such an outstanding must stop to say the least. And, of course, gratitude goes to all the sponsors. They are the ones who make it possible to have the venue and the breakfast here, and they are corporate citizens of New Hampshire and new england. If you know anyone affiliate with any of them you should thank them for this wonderful, Wonderful Public Service they provide here. 2019 has been an incredible year for the new England Council and with a few more events in store before the years in. I believe we over 70 events here this year and all six single state and in washington with the governors and the congressman and senators, president of candidates and cabinet secretaries. We even had the speaker of the british comments, house of commons speak at the new England Council. We havent taken off the gas pedal. Next week we host congressional roundtable in boston. The evening of tuesday december 3 we hope you will join us for our annual Holiday Celebration at the Kennedy Institute for the United States senate. Needless to say its a wonderful, wonderful evening. We promise it will be worth the drive here from New Hampshire. Our final d. C. Event of the will be held in december 10 in washington where well host congressman Stephen Lynch for a capital conversation. Our guest today is someone who i know needs little or no introduction in this room. But we take a moment to remind you of his very impressive background. Born and raised in the south side of chicago, he first came to new england to pursue his education. First at Milton Academy and later at Harvard University where he received both his undergraduate and law degrees. Went on to achieve great career success both in the Public Sector as an attorney, resident bill clintons justice department, and in the private sector. Holding leadership positions in major corporations like texaco and cocacola. Some have questioned his decision to jump in the president ial race. The word underdog has been used by many abundant, but let me remind you that many a pundit and underdog exactly what he was in 2005 when you decided to run for governor of the commonwealth, as a political newcomer he defeated wellknown longtime public official in the democratic primary, wellknown Lieutenant Governor in the general election. During his eight years as chief executive he pursued ambitious agenda which included implementing the states first of its Kind Health Care Reform law, investing in Public Education to close the achievement gap of minority students, and setting Ambitious Goals for expanded Renewable Energy in the state. All of this is to say, he is a man who is not afraid of a challenge or an uphill battle. Not on a personal note i had the opportunity to work with and get to know the governor pretty well during his tenure at the statehouse where he appointed as chairman of the Governors Commission for the people with intellectual disabilities. I always found him to be kind, very generous, very effective. More important, very compassionate. Hes been out on the campaign trail for the past two weeks and today we are pleased to welcome him home to new england and to politics eggs. I know all of you are eager to hear about his vision for the future of our country, and why he thinks hes the best candidate to take on president next year. Please join me in welcoming the former governor of the commonwealth, my dear friend, the honorable deval patrick. [applause] thank you. Jim, thank you so much for the extraordinarily generous introduction, and to you and the new England Council and two st. As and it is to of politics thank you very much for having me. Thank you to ladies and gentlemen, for coming out this morning. Its an honor to be with you. Im delighted that Lieutenant Governor is i guess were out of stickam Lieutenant Governor murray, just to be sure, we are all talk about the same person, and many of the friends are here today in the room. You already know my story. Perhaps for those of you who dont, i apologize to those wo do. I want to start there because it provides i think important context for why im running for president , and then we can save most of our time for conversation. As jim said i i started out one south side of chicago. Much of that time on welfare. I lived there with my mother,y sister, my grandparents and other relatives who came and went, at least after our parents split when i i was four. And our grandparents twobedroom timid. My mother, sister and i shared one of those bedrooms in a set of bunkbeds, you go from the top bed to the low bed to the floor. I went from big, broken, overcrowded underresourced sometimes violent Public Schools pick still, my grandmother would always tell us you are not poor and were not poor, just broke. Broke she said is temporary. For all the things we didnt have one thing we did have was a very strong community. That was a time when every child was under the jurisdiction of every single adult on the block. If you messed up down the street in front of ms. Jones, she would walk your head like you were hers. Then you got home and got it. What those adults were trying to get across was membership in community is understanding the state you have in your neighbors dreams and struggles as well as your own. The other lesson i learned mainly from old ladies in hats in church was that we were supposed to do what we can in our time to leave things better for those who come behind us. Its the same ancient lesson everyone of us are learned from our grandparents, that each of us bears our responsibility for the next generation. These lessons of community and a generational responsibility have stuck with me as they are the home i keep being called back to the college and law school, through my u. N. Work in darfur, sudan come from a civil rights work at the Legal Defense fund or the department of justice, through my assignments in business and my terms as governor. I have he an always worked to leave things better for those that come behind me. Getting those results requires building. Ive never left my conscience at the door. Confidence in values alongside openness with others is the formula for change that lasts. Thats why im running for president. We need leadership thats about bringing us together not tearing us apart. We need leadership thats about leaving things better for those who come behind us, not about scoring partisan points. We need leadership that understands that unity makes us not only stronger, but successful. Leadership with doing the job not just having it. I am a democrat and proud of it. Democrats are the party of strivers and strugglers, the folks who look for america to offer a way up and a way forward. We are the party of families who want a home they can afford in a neighborhood thats safe, of students who want to further their education without being enslaved by those who want a lawful path to mainstream American Life who want a second chance. Of all of us who Want Health Care that we can afford and count on. Thats us. The party of active government when it comes to preking the planet and civil rights and the party of government restraint when it comes to endless war or a woman making her own Health Decisions or any one of us marrying whomever we love. I believe that the american experiment is deeply invested in aspiration and common cause, in basic fairness that it works where we build community and bear our responsibility to leave things better for those who come behind us. Thats the kind of party that these dark times require. Thats why im a democrat. I dont think that you have to hate republicans to be a good democrat. I dont think you have to hate a conservative to be a good progressivement i dont think you have to hit this to be a good civil warrior. You dont have to stay poor to hate chronic poverty. To hate police to believe that black lives matter. I try to be the kind of man who rejects false choices not for the sake of tamping down disagreement and smoothing things over, but because of the range of my Life Experience has taught me, so many of the choices that we present each other in politics are in fact false. So i want you to understand that i am proud to be a democrat, but i am not running to be president of the democrats. Im running to be president of the United States. And theres a difference. Im not talking about a moderate agenda, thats the lat thing we need in times like these. Im talking about being woke, as my friend says, while leaving room for the still waking. Im talking about what it takes to govern, what it takes to actually make change that lasts. The values of community and generational responsibility are essential for the American Dream to flourish. It was because others here and abroad fought for, prayed for and died for civic ideals of equality, opportunity and fair play that i and so many others, maybe even some of you here, have experienced an improbable journey beyond our circumstances of birth. Grit, determination, resilience, High Expectations and good fortune are fundamental to be sure, but so also are good schools with wellprepared and supportive teachers. So also is food and shelter you can count on. So also is an economy that has a place for you when youre ready to go to work. Most people i meet arent looking for government to solve every problem in everybodys life, just to do its part to help people help themselves. Theres just no denying that over the years weve seen policies shift away from the values of community and of generational responsibility. The obsession with shortterm quarter to Quarter Results i saw in my business life, has crept into the way we govern, where we govern from election cycle to election cycle and news cycle to news cycle. Weve tilted our economy toward the well connected. Weve come to associate poverty with the unrelated concept of false, and weve bleached justice slowly, but methodically out of the Justice System. Common cause, let alone common decency, has vanished for much of our National Politics and weve so diminished and belittled government over the years that the publics confidence in it to address common needs keeps shrinking. Leaders who spend every waking moment trying to divide us have made it worse. Caging children and demeaning the weak and vulnerable have made us all ashamed, but the troubling fact is that before the Current Administration, the poor were stuck in poverty and the Great Recession exposed how the middle class are just a paycheck or two away from being poor. The frustration alienation and even betrayal that folks feel in farm country or in coal country, in small towns across america and many a suburb today is remarkably familiar to me, from my life on the south side of chicago. The American Dream i have lived is up for grabs, but it doesnt have to be this way. There is a way up thats not about tearing people down. There is a way to build together. I know this because thats what we did in massachusetts. We faced the worst economic crisis in a generation, just like all of you. And because we stuck together, and made shared sacrifices in the interest of shared prosperity, we emerged stronger on the other side. After eight years of hard work and focus through those values, massachusetts ranked first in the nation in student achievement, in health care coverage, in veterans services, in energy efficiency, in entrepreneurial activity just to name a few. We helped to revive an economy hammered by recession by turning it into a Global Innovation powerhouse creating a 25year employment high. We developed a National Model for addressing climate change, by working with our neighbors on the Greenhouse Gas initiatives, planning for and investing in resilience and recovery, closing coal fire power plants and creating a wind energy with alternatives and created thousands of jobs. We made meaningful reforms in transportation, criminal justice, the ethics rules, our state Pension System and we did it with responsible budgets and by earning the highest bond rating in state history. Now, we did not get everything right, nobody does. But we got these and other results because we worked hard every day to do all the good we could for all the people we could, in all the ways we could, for as long as we could. We governed for everyone everywhere, not just the people who voted for us, by asking people to turn to each other rather than on each other. If we want Affordable Health care for everyone everywhere, if we want an economy that offers a future for everyone everywhere, if we want a Justice System that is just, an immigration system that works, a tax system that makes sense, we need leadership that builds bridges. A politics that says we have an agree on everything before we Work Together on anything, that offers government by slogan and shortterm wins is exactly the kind of politics that brought us to this point. Substituting our version for theirs is not actually going to deliver change that lasts, if it delivers change at all. In the coming weeks, well be rolling out our policy agenda. Youll hear about a reform agenda that proposes fixes to systems like the tax system, immigration, health care, and criminal sentencing, systems that need to work in order for the American Dream to work and a democracy agenda to end the gerrymandering, excessive money, much of it dark, and Voter Suppression that have steadily and cynically choked off the fundamental acts of citizenship and they must be addressed so that its easier for everyone to make Representative Government meaningful. But first, youll hear about the agenda about how we grow the economy out to the middle and marginalized and up to the well connected, because treating our challenges, as if everything is a zero sum game, is neither necessary more in character as americans. Beyond the redistribution others are talking about, we need to expand the economic pie and enable more people to earn their way in it. And change of the global, and changes that last more with the indignation however righteous that may be, more than the character of the candidates is at stake this time. This time its the character of the country. This time, its about restoring the American Dream so that it works for everyone everywhere. This time its about whether we are prepared to do the work of rebuilding our National Community for today, and for tomorrow. People ask quite rightly why i am running for president , especially when the field is so full already. You sound tired yourself. [laughter] the answer is experience, both range and depth. I have two terms of accomplishments and reforms as governor, a record of successful leadership in business. A demonstrated commitment to fighting and winning for the most vulnerable as an advocate and a life that epitomizes the American Dream and what it takes to make that real. And i have learned from all of that that building a Better Future requires building bridges and rejecting the false choices we so often medal to one another. Rejecting false choices to build a better way Forward Together is not fanciful, its not Wishful Thinking or a talking point, its my life. I got a break, as jim said, when i was 14 years old for a program called a better chance, to go to Milton Academy, you know, a boarding school some of you know in a leafy neighborhood in boston. Arriving there alone in 1970 before classes began, felt to me like a different planet. They had a dress code then, boys wore jackets and ties to classes. When the closing list arrived at home my grandparents splurged on a new jacket for me to bring to school, but a jacket on the south side, you have to understand, is a wind breaker. Right. So on that first morning while all the other boys were putting on their blue blazers and the tweed coats, there was i in my wind breaker. I had a lot to learn. As i met new friends from strange places, some who had their names on the buildings and used summer as a verb, i was full of curiosity about them and their lives, but they were curious about so much about me and my life back on the south side. By the same token, my friends back home were curious about so much about my life at Milton Academy. Before long i began to sense that i was straddling these two worlds, where the price of admission to the one was rejecting the other. But it was false choice. I realized that to live my fullest life, i had to decide who i was and to be that all the time whatever world i happened to be travelling through at any given time. Its a tough lesson to grapple with at any age, especially at 14, but a vital one. I learned that being true to who i was made it possible to build bridges, and i learned how not to lose myself or my way as i built. In our history, america has herself seemed to straddle two worlds from time to time. A land of hope and welcome, and of enslavement and exclusion. A land of extraordinary progress and of confining nostalgia. A land where extraordinary wealth and transformative kindness can exist side by side with abject poverty and hate. It still makes my heartache to think that this great nation could defeat totalitarianism and win the Second World War and then demean and disenfranchise the black veterans who helped deliver that victory when they came home. The ideals of equality and fair play must endure. They are still defining for us. They are still a matter of the american character. And they still offer the best hope of the world for hum humankind. They have meaning only when we remember, especially in dark and challenging times like these, that we have a stake in our neighbors struggle, just as they do in ours. I am hopeful for america. I am hopeful because more and more people are coming off the sidelines and standing up for america at her generous and optimistic best. And at any given time on any given issue activism like we see today may make people in power, maybe make some of us uncomfortable, but in the end these activists are our neighbors. We have a stake in them just as they do in us and they have taken to the legislatures to the ballot boxes, to the streets, to the consumers, to lay claim to a better democracy. A better National Community, and ultimately to the best of the american character. If we Work Together and leave room for the still waking, we might just find that we have before us the best chance in generations to build for our children and ourselves a fairer, more just, truly great america, an america that understands our greatness comes from our goodness. Thats the kind of leadership im about, the kind of man i try to be, and the kind of responsibility i will bear as president of the United States. Thank you for having me, i look forward to your questions. [laughte [laughter] we have time for a few questions for the governor. In fact, he indicated to me hell stay until the last question. So if you have any questions, just raise your hand. I think we have somebody with do we have anybody with a moving mic. A student from st. A. Just identify yourself. Hello, governor, this is rob warner, conservative voters director here in New Hampshire. Id like to thank you, number one, for your leadership on the Global Solution warming act Global Solutions warming act, rather. What is your priority day one as president for climate . You know, i love that people ask me the day one or 100 day questions. Day one is figuring out the route from the residence to the oval office and back again. And actually, you know, really on a serious note, it doesnt exactly get to your question, but its advice i have given in other settings. Day one is understanding who the Emergency Management team is, where they are and what they control because surprises always come, always come. And i think one of the reasons why we were as prepared as we were for the marathon bombing, for example, is because we had had hurricanes and, you know, 100 year storms and the loss of drinkable water for the eastern half of the so on the serious note, the first thing is understanding where the challenge is, the resources and how to pull them together. On the question of climate change, you know, there are some things we can do if im right about the calendar, and you can help me with this, around getting back into the paris accords. If im right about the calendar. If were not, if im not right about the calendar, then we have to get back to the table and negotiate our way in. And by the way, if the condition of coming in is that we raise our own game, thats okay, too. Thats okay, too, and important. I do think that some of the other approaches to climate are like those we took here or, im sorry, took there in massachusetts. Am i pointing in the right direction . [laughter] in massachusetts. Im very excited about the prospect of a carbonfree economy. Im very excited about that, but we have to go about not frightening people, but how we bring people along. You know, we i cant remember who made this point. We didnt you know, the stone age didnt end because we ran out of stones, right . It ended because we got a better idea and were pretty good in this country historically about transition, excuse me, innovation. Were not as good about transition. So, you know, the folks in coal country, for example, and im going to go there, but as i understand from folks who have been, feel very threatened by the by a carbonfree economy, and i understand that. But you know, no one has ever said to them, how about we consider coal country as the center for developing a portion of this new sector . How about you have a stake in this future instead of feeling like the future is happening to them, that we are building this future together. And theres some more puts and takes, but those are some ideas that i have. We have a question from mary. Mic is right here. Good morning and welcome to New Hampshire. Thank you. My name is mary robers and im from aarp New Hampshire. I want to talk to you or ask you a question about something that really encompasses all of the country, it doesnt matter whether youre a senior or youre a child, or even middle aged. A lot of us have experienced the high cost of medication. My own mother at one point had to pay 400 a month and did not have any income. What would and i know this is what would you do the first day in office or what is the first thing . I promised rob my first day. May i give you the second . [laughter] or as you found the route, what is the first thing that you would do to lower the cost of Prescription Drugs . Of Prescription Drugs. Mary, thank you for your question and your concern. Youre right. Thats one you hear all over the place and for good reason. We have a we have a Prescription Drug economy, if you will, where the cost of investing in developing drugs is borne by this country, namely, not exclusively, but mainly, and the cost and the reaping of the return is borne by us and not by the rest of the world. There is a way to think about smoothing that out so that the rest of the world has a stake in the investment and so that the return, you know, what the market permits is a benefit thats spread around the world and not just borne by us. Its frankly nuts that you can get many of the same Prescription Drugs right a little while north of here for a fraction of the price here. Its also nuts that for a period of time the federal government couldnt negotiate drug prices, not with the industry and not with other jurisdictions. Funny we out of one side of our mouth were perfectly fine with the Global Economy and other, no, no, no, were going to do it this way. That we can talk about and folks have, about cost controls, price controls in particular, im not sure thats a longterm solution, im much more interested in systemic fixes. Now, mary, if i may, im going to step back from your question and say, it is just a its a born piece, but just a piece of the Health Care Cost equation. Its just darned too high. And i remember when we were trying to deal with this when i was in office and a couple of you here will remember this because you were in those meetings. We had folks from the insurance industry, from providers, from advocates, we had doctors and other Health Care Professionals around the table when prices were going up at double digits, even during the worst of the inflation of the recession. And i said, look, weve done all of this work to get access to everybody, how come the costs keep going up this fast . And the answer would always start this way, well, governor, its complicated. And then it would go like this, you know, the doctors would say its not us, its the hospitals. Hospitals say its not us, its the insurers. Theres very little or theres less transparency into how this all fits together than there ought to be, thats a part of it, but you know, we do need a much more rigorous collaboration on the Cost Containment side systemwide. In the same way, i think, at least in massachusetts we had that collaboration on expanding access, so thats its a little beyond your question, but your question about drug price is very much a part of how i think we should be thinking about solutions. Thank you. Another question, unless you have a better idea. Do you have a proposal you want to make . Because i know rob does. [laughter] i know. Well get the mic over here. Thank you. Honorable justice. Governor patrick. Can i just say before, really, seriously, this doesnt have to be a oneway thing. If you have an idea, offer it. I wish i did. I have a question though. Yes, sir. [laughter] thank you for coming here today. I formerly served as chief justice of the state and the reason i mention that for the last three and a half years ive been doing the most important work of my life and ive been going around wherever im invited to speak about Mental Health awareness. Yes. And the people in this room with me, governor, those mornings and those schools, they understand that we have a crisis in this country of young people with anxiety and depression and we do not have a Mental Health care system. So im asking on my experience, if you were president of the United States, maybe on day three, governor. [laughter] got to get those hands up, everybody what would you do or promote no one talks about this issue, it affects one in five adults and one in five kids. I hug them every time i speak to them. What would you do in Mental Health to make a difference . First, mr. Chief justice, thank you for your service and these are issues we deal with in our family, we had a bumpy first few months in office when i was governor. I have a my wife of now 35 years, i always point out that we dont have we dont have term limits in massachusetts. I have one named diane, and she said two terms and thats it. She was a she was a brilliant, but reluctant first lady and in those first few months, the stress was just too much. She has managed anxiety in the past and she ended up in the hospital. And i remember going to visit with her in the and the troopers in my security detail worked out with the hospital about slipping in and slipping out, you know, going in secretly and all that. And it was ridiculous. And i remember diane saying, this is crazy. Im not ashamed, i just dont feel well. And she said, you should explain this. You should Say Something about it. And against the advice of her excellent clinicians, we explained that she was suffering from anxiety and depression and asked for respect of that. And i will say that from the media on, people were fabulous. Here is the point. She got thousands and thousands of notes and messages of encouragement and thanks because she made it okay to talk about what she was dealing with and what we as a family were dealing with, and i think that one of the things, i wish she were here today. One of the things shes most excited about in being first lady of the United States is being a leader on those issues because some of this is just about bringing light where there are shadows, for getting past the shame. Beyond that or alongside that is a question about treating Mental Health as health care and making that and developing the capacity so that we can beyond to the needs that people have in the stations in life they are theyre in. Im not talking with socioeconomic, im talking about where they are in their own journey. You know, there was a settlement i read about in the state, ive been in so many i dont remember which one, where the teachers had secured an agreement to have a nurse in every school and the nurse upped the agreements are entitled excuse me, required to have training in recognizing at least Mental Health issues, particularly anxiety and depression, so that they can make a prompt referral and also so this they can encourage young people, Young Students as you referred to, to get past the shame and deal with it. You know, the underlying secret about expanding health care is that if we dont expand capacity, if we dont develop primary care physicians and alongside specialists, mental Health Care Professionals and spread the responsibility among the whole range of Health Care Professionals, were not going to meet the objectives that we set out to. And so, again, because like i said to marys question, im trying to think about these things as systems and what are all the elements of how we get the systems right, i think this has to be an element of how we think about making Health Care Reform really work. Thank you. The students in the right and the back here, and the gentlemen gentlemen thank you, governor patrick, for being here. Thank you. My friend from east milton. A small world. My question relates to the humanitarian crisis on our southern borders. Many of these people come from the nations and filled with a lot of Gang Activity and drugs. How would you address this Current Crisis . Well, i think there are two there are two parts of it, maybe, maybe three. We have to get at root causes. And there is a way to engage globally that doesnt make us Americas Police person, doesnt make us responsible for every hot spot in every part of the world, but that does engage in ways we know works, that serves both our humanitarian aspirations and our practical interests. So i think the saying you cant come in by the way, its amazing to me. Asylum is a legal process, but we lump it all into the same bucket of outsiders and unwanteds, and i think that has to change. When the Obama Administration was facing a similar so this is how we deal with the crisis today, when the Obama Administration was facing a similar crisis, when i was in office, we had calls, several governors got calls about whether we would be prepared to shelter, mainly these were unaccompanied children, some as young as two years old, by the way. Two. Anybody in here a parent . Can you imagine sending your twoyearold unaccompanied over thousands of miles and what that means . What motivates you to do that . Really . A drivers license . No. You were worried about the safety of your loved one. And you look the notion that you look to the United States for safety and dignity and that we treat children that way when they seek asylum to me is just wrong. Its just wrong. I do think there are partnerships with governors like the ones that the Obama Administration asked about. I dont think they actually ultimately did it, but that they asked about that can help and i think as partners and bridge builders, governors ought to be willing to help with resources and support, but i think unless we get at root causes, you know, its just a bandaid. And i think that part of comprehensive Immigration Reform has to include both border integrity by the way, dont you know, dont buy the business that democrats, democrats believes in open borders, thats ridiculous. I think we have to have modern, human, responsive, responsible systems and rules and we dont. And i think one of the reasons we dont, or one of the reasons were facing the issues we do is because, you know, capital is global, but labor is not. People go where theres opportunity, but we dont make a way for people to come for that opportunity that is transparent and straight forward and fair. But you dont have to trade that for border integrity. We should have border integrity and i think actually, we could resolve this if we could, you know, drain the racism out of the debate. Someone made the point recently very, very well that to some extent, it feels like the Current Administration would rather have the issues than a solution. Just to have it. And this administration is not the first like that, sadly. The gentleman in the back. Hi, governor. Im lee pearlman with the Educational Justice Institute at mit, we provide College Educations in prisons in massachusetts and i want to ask you about im sure you know that we incarcerate more people in this country than any other country in the world, our recidivism rate, theyre all coming back. So i have lots of proposals, but im interested in what you have to say about criminal justice reform. Just a couple of things first, mr. Pearlman. Thank you for what youre doing. We do have a you know, i refer to governor by slogan earlier. You know, three strikes and youre out sounds clever, but its a failed policy. Its not the only example, but its a failed policy and so you know, we have, as you noted, weve warehoused a generation. Mostly of black men, but not exclusively, as you know, of black men, and then we compound it by, you know, first of all, understanding that 97 , i think it is, 95 , come out one day, understanding that we still compound the ability to come out and rejoin productive life. Its a host of thing. Its education and training while youre in, preparation for coming back out, but then you cant get public housing, you cant get Public Benefits in some places. The things you need to get back up on your feet. And because we stripped so much of that out of programs inside and out of programs outside, it shouldnt surprise us, number one, that people come out frequently more dangerous than they were when they went in and two, that theres a recidivism problem because theres no where else to turn and people do dangerous and desperate things when they feel desperate. So, i think that putting the notion of rehabilitation back into the criminal Justice System is important. I think that the that minimum mandatory sentencing needs a huge overall. We took some steps in that direction and chief justice, i wonder how you think about this. The shifting of Decision Making power to prosecutors rather than to rather than to judges, which has happened in my lifetime, produces i can talk about stop i did on the Death Penalty in the south and how that tends to go up around election time for district attorneys. So, you know, how do we get ive talked about justice in the Justice System. I think there is a way. Its not just backward looking, by the way because it wasnt all that great before. But there is a way to think about we havent talked about Voting Rights for folks who are former felons. Theres a way to think about our Justice System, which is about preparing, you know, having people do their time. They did the deed, they should do the time, but preparing forecast for the overwhelming production about mainstream life and we should be. Got a mic for the general. General jack hammond, the head of the home based program, the premier program in the United States that takes care of all the returning iraqi, afghanistan vets and does it in such a compassionate and caring way, but truly a National Model in massachusetts, and the general and the boston red sox. General hammond. [applause] jim, thanks for that. Thank you, general. Thank you for your service. Sir, as you mentioned earlier, massachusetts has some amazing programs for veterans. Have you given any thought to the va with respect to the growing epidemic of veteran suicide . Yeah. Were losing 22, 20 veterans a day and i think the 20 number is a low number, thats whats reported and the challenge is identifying all of these veterans. So theres roughly 20 million veterans in the country and 10 million loose affiliation with the va. 5 are getting treatment. Weve seen the budget grow from 80 billion dollars in 9 11 to 200 billion plus to date with little to no improvement on the suicides. We had an increase on suicide of our special operations soldiers. Were now having a multigenerational war where young paratroopers fighting today were born after 9 11 and grew up in military families knowing nothing, but mom and dad or both mom and dad deploying for two decades, nearly. We have no idea of a consequences that grew up in that environment and has their own war time trauma. So the problem is not getting better, the challenges are growing while the solutions seem to be the same and not working. Yeah. But i guess my question is, have you given us any thoughts on how we could, not get rid of the va, but modernize is and bring it into the 21st century to be effective. And when you say not getting rid of the va, is that because youve thought of getting rid of the va . Ive listened to that argument and theres concern of that. When you go back to the creation, bradley was the administrator. He cautioned us to focus on combat injuries and avoid chronic care. But as the veteran population aged it became the largest chronic care, elder care system and the preponderance of the treatments they were caring for were cancerrelated cardiac care and a lot of stuff dealing with older age. Because we didnt have a lot of older veterans. And as we came into the two decades of war we have a large influx of combat wounded so we were illprepared as we entered that two decades of war to deal with that. Yes. I think part of the challenge is we need to go back and look at what should the va be focusing on. Yeah. But we cant lose sight of the fact they care for the older veterans. How can we more effectively treat this . I know i was at the Jamaica Plain va a few years ago and there was a group of guys that bused down from maine to get eye exams. So they have to get up at 6 00 in the morning, catch a bus at 7 m a. Go all the way to boston to get an eye exam or a dental exam we theres a beautiful hospital in maine. I think theres better, more Cost Effective solutions without throwing the baby out with the bath water to still care for people and do it more efficiently and bring the va into focus what they should be doing and be the best at it. Well, general, you know, im reminded at some level of what it was like when i was campaigning in cambridge, massachusetts and ask me a question and theyd already written a book on the subject. [laughter] dont ask me. But i think you made a couple of points that jump out at me because i think to some extent you are describing a failure of the larger Health Care System and the default to the va which added to the scope let me put it to mission creep. And i think that simply saying, and i am not simply saying and you are not either, but i want to be careful not to be heard to say, let me put it this way, that chronic care unrelated to combat, to combat injuries, to your point about the original mission, should be done by the general Health Care System. Im reluctant to be heard to say that thats good enough without fixing the larger system. So theres actually responses and affordable. And you will hear, by the way, if i could just drop a footnote here, its very, very hard for me to accept the way we do policy, which is in silos because most people live their lives do you wants me to wait and you can get that most people live their lives in ways that policies intersect. To me its not enough to say, well, lets go back to the Founding Mission of the va. And i recognize thats not what youre saying, its not what im is an i go either, unless we actually have a general Health Care System that can catch and meet that need. My fatherinlaw, dianes dad, is a navy veteran from world war ii and he got all of his care near the end of his life both in new york and when he was living with us in boston and most of his social life at the va. And loved both. But i do understand the strain on the system and the importance of rationalizing it, but again, i think it has to be rationalized alongside larger systems. There are other things happening in the broader system i just in health care generally. Put in place under the Previous Administration and still moving forward that i think could be promising. And one is telehealth. You know, full disclosure, im on the board or was on the board of a company that does telehealth. This is a notion of a lot of primary care and even urgent care, being available, you know, at the other end of your computer screen. Now, that depends on whether you actually have access to high speed broadband. This is what i mean by interconnected. I think that infrastructure is a part of this. But help me. Thank you. One or two more. Thank you very much. First of all, governor, i cannot tell you how happy and delighted and over joyed i am that youre in the race and bringing your superior wisdom to this process. I think its making a difference. Its making a difference here today and across the country. And thank you very much . [laughter] i want to im going to make my question about your fourth day in office and you did three and this is day four. And appoint a board and chair of Higher Education. In young Higher Education is such a critical and important part of everything that we do. On one hand, what do you think . What can we do to better its support and give resources to our institutionses of Higher Education to be more successful . But i actually want to focus my question on younger people and something that you said today about when you left chicago and you came to massachusetts to school and theres a lot of young people like you in chicago that dont get the opportunity to come to massachusetts to get this amazing education. Youre absolutely right. You are the same person when you were 14 as you are today, but the power of education has enabled you to do what it is that youre doing and i think that this is such a critical message about what you can bring to this country. There are poor kids in New Hampshire across the United States and just like you, every color of the rainbow, who need the type of education that you got. And i think as the president of the United States, you if could commit yourself to making that type of educational system available to children in the United States, i think thats the kind of transformative force that can lift up this nation and lift up the population of this country to recognize the bout of what we have to offer and what we can do for the rest of the world. I mean, can you promise me that once you get elected on day four, that education is going to be your priority . Thank you. I think you might be five, mr. Chairman. So you and i have worked on these issues together and i thank you for that partnership. I do think that i do think we have to commit not just i have to commit, we have to commit to worldclass education, prek through higher ed and frankly into Skills Development and retraining and Lifelong Learning because thats the economy were becoming. And it shouldnt be scary for people. We have a im going to come to reducing the cost of public higher ed in a minute. We have a middle skills gap in this country which i mean, if you think about it, it will blow your mind. At the worst of the recession we had 175,000 people out of work in massachusetts, i think just about, and 125,000 vacancies, and what those and many of them socalled middle skills, so, folks that needed more than a high school degree, but not necessarily a college diploma. They needed skills of some kind that were taylilored to the opportunity. What Many Employers told us they couldnt find people with the skills necessary for the jobs they had in a recession and that, i think, will be true of our economy given the pace of change for some while. And that can be a brilliant thing. It can be a differentiator, not the skills gap, but it can be a differentiator for us economically and culturally or socially, i think, in this country. It does start with having high quality schools everywhere, everywhere. By the way, thats not going to be, as you know, the same solution everywhere. There is going to have to be leadership about the goal, but were going to have to let, with accountability, state and local authorities engage on how to meet those goals. I think it does include universal access to preschool or to prek, universal. By the way, in milton where we lived for years and years, we do that for our kids. A bet a bunch of you do. If you live just walking distance in, you cant and you wont and not that you dont want to, but not that you dont understand how high quality ed can make a difference through your educational career, but you dont do it because you cant do it and by the way, if youre right on the edge where paying for it means you have to wo work, but working means you cant afford anything else, you know, that trade that so many couples and families are having to are having to make, its that doesnt work. I think also and i think youre probably baiting me to talk about the readiness agenda which we worked on together, which with a a compilation of the strategies, i think the public has to come back into Public Education, including public Higher Education. We did what we could through recession to reinvest in the Public University in College Systems by doing a 5050 match, but you know, what Public Colleges and universities, i think, have done in massachusetts and elsewhere, god bless them, is, you know, try to do this strategy you see in private colleges where theyve raised tuition what the market bears and raise tuition aid for those who cant. Except that tuition aid never keeps up with the cost of College Tuition and for a Public College in particular, it should be a meaningfully more affordable opportunity, quality, but meaningfully more affordable and i think thats in the nature of the burden we all bear in order to leave things bet are for those who come behind us. So, i dont think that the answer is about everybody going to Milton Academy or schools like it. But i am very, very conscious, as i think you know, there are lots of other young people just as creative, just as ambitious, just as determined as i was, who didnt get that opportunity and they need and deserve because they are our kids, a way forward, too. Governor, whats the proudest accomplish as eight years as governor . So the question i hate the most is what did you going to do on day one and the one i hate next is my proudest accomplishment. I think, you know, i mentioned some of them and i mentioned them in a list, not for the bragging purposes, but because i do think they connect in real peoples lives, they connect. You know, you can have a great education and no growing economy afterwards and so what, in a way, is how people are left to feel. I think that there was a tone we set that we could think big and deliver, that i think was enormously important and i think we saw it in some ways most starkly after the bombing at the marathon. You know, that was a time when a moment where there was chaos and fear, and quite justifiable, where we didnt know, you know, that wed think about it now, there were two guys, two bombs, and as if that was known at the time. We didnt know. I remember on the day of the at the end, you know, you all know about some of the drama, but you dont know that we stopped the train, the amtrak train headed to new york out of south station early this morning, stopped it outside of new haven and had it searched, that we had detained someone who fit the description of one of the bombers in the fenway, in a taxi, with an explosive device in the trunk or that federal authorities were chasing somebody else who fit the description out by the federal courthouse or that the fire at the kennedy library, remember, was thought to be related to the attack as well. I mean, there were you dont have complete information, but you still have to make decisions and you still have to encourage people know the to be overcome by their fear so they can do the job. And doing the job turns out not to be the responsibility of the officials alone, not all of us. Asking people to turn to, not on. And its a it sounds like a rhetorical thing, its real. And those acts of kindness that people show, the way they brought runners in when the race was stopped and brought them into their homes and hydrated them and explained what was happening and reunited people with their families the way that the public through their, you know, cell phone pictures and videos helped us find these two terrorist needles in a haystack in 100 plus hours, 100 plus hours. It was tragic that we lost the lives that we did at the site, but given the nature of the industry of the injuries we should have lost many, many more, but not a single lifethreatening injury resulted in death because we had an Emergency Response plan that the hospitals had practiced with us for times like these. We turned to each other and we were stronger pass a result. And so, as a kind of a snapshot of what im talking about, you know, how you can step up stronger by that kind of leadership, by the whole team, not just me, i feel very strongly that that was a pretty special accomplishment. Well, this has been a pretty special morning to have the governor here and i think were going to see an awful lot more of the governor here and as someone who also was at a service in boston shortly after the marathon bombing of the cathedral and the south end of boston where they brought together all of the clergy from the different religious affiliations, the president was there, but i really dont think you were at the you were at the very best of expressing sorrow and compassion and also being a ceo knowing were going to get through this and were going to bring people together. That day was memorable for me, but it also reflected so well on you and all the institutions in the commonwealth of massachusetts working together, but talk about stress under a disaster, you exceeded all expectations and made us proud and you made us proud, governor. Good luck on your campaign. [applause] weve got to get a picture. [applaus [applause]. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] we happen to be in london on his next to last he invited us up and we headed visit to say hello. [inaudible] he was give me a hard time. Whats the matter with you . Now hes in the private sector. I saw about, i think hes coming over though. I saw that i got invitation to a party, a reception [inaudible] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] are you guys able to wait a minute . Are you okay to wait just a minute . Stay. Stay right there is good. Tell me your first name and kelly get to know you. Chris. You lean heavily on your experiences how to convince those back and thinking of you with the right choice for resident . First of all im running to be president of everyone everywhere, and i am very, very proud of the work we did together on beacon hill. I think sometimes folks make much of the fussing that goes with it, but the fact is the legislature gave me 95 of what i asked for. Not when i asked for it and not always in the form i ask for, but thats the part of giveandtake. Governor as you are here on tv right now, lots of Michael Bloomberg has. Is a frustrating your jumping in the race and getting overshadowed someone with billions of dollars . No. Ive been up against odds like that in the past. We are going to do the work. I happen to believe that the work is much more about connecting with people personally and where they are in every sense of the term and also we are might he is not trying to buy the election . Those are your words, not mine. Governor, but now you talk to a criminal justice reform. They implement bail reform. A lot of people getting out who didnt get out before committing crimes and refitting. Some people have been arrested 12 times. How do you write says criminal justice form in a place like New Hampshire where people are solving auto . Youll learn learn as you go. One of the things we all are hoping for his innovation and Public Policy just as a c in the private sector. But if, to have successful innovation you have to be willing to try things and learn from them. I dont know that the examples youve given me all the examples that would point to what the right solution is, but we have to get over our fear of the policies being punished if it doesnt go perfectly. I remember when the aca was first rolled out. Do you remember there were troubles with the website . We had troubles with website in massachusetts as well. Healthcare reform was about extending access to everybody, and so fixing these problems, sticking together, Refining Solutions is going to do what is necessary to make all the reforms that i and the other candidates are talking that actually work. Governor, you spoke earlier about not wanting to put unwanted asylum speakers in this large bucket. I wonder under your administration do you support the repeal of section 1325 of u. S. Code is that the decriminalization . Correct. Can can you blame why . Because that ought to be against the law across the border without authorization. Asylum seeking is an authorized way to come in, and we have to make it, we have to make it functionally successful by having ways to come in a prosecute people properly. But as i said earlier not just do with the very series but still isolated part of the problem you are asking about. Given the very abbreviated time frame you have, will he be spending the vast majority of your time in New Hampshire as the state to kick it off for . First of all, i want to be respectful of the calendar and the process, and i also want to be respectful of all of the people everywhere who are looking at this next president ial election. Not just in the early states by the way but in places where people feel politically overlooked and unseen. As a practical matter we are going to try to spend a lot of time here in New Hampshire and in South Carolina, but we will be active in iowa and nevada as well. So your ten days or so, any challenge is that all . I think so. Any specific challenges you faced so far in terms of logistics getting in this late . Its interesting, last thursday refiled in New Hampshire and went from New Hampshire to california to nevada to iowa to South Carolina, and then atlantic, d. C. And new york on the way home and were starting again all over yesterday. Im going to be in New Hampshire the rest of today and then off to South Carolina tomorrow. And i think what ive seen is that path we knew was there was wider that i fully appreciate it. Its a wideopen race. The fact folks have been in for a long time and campaigning for a long time and raising money for a long time has not closed, has not resolved. Its a little bit of how i think about the importance of money, or lack of it. We wanted. We are raising it. I think were competitive and work confident [inaudible] this me too movement, do you regret your highprofile on efforts on behalf of sexual offenders like your brother law . No, i dont. First of all i dont know what efforts are talking up on behalf of [inaudible] i was not to talk about my mother in law. First of all, the record has developed since then, in hindsight [inaudible] but its not what i had. [inaudible] [inaudible conversations] i stuck up for him then because that was i think respectful of my sister and her family, and i think it was the right thing to do by stating publicly that they remained a a part of our lives. It turns out he has at a minimum lapsed, and to think of the criminal you actually retaliate against members of the board. Thats not true. Thats not true. [inaudible] that may be but the courts looked at that story and made a different [inaudible] when you were here last week you told us about a tough conversation you had with Elizabeth Warren before you decide to jump in the race. Could you elaborate on that . I wouldnt say it was tough. It was uncomfortable. Were friends and i think in an ideal world we would be working as collaborators rather than competitors. I think you can compete with your friends and keep appellate. Shes referred to the killing of Michael Brown we will have coverage of some of the newer candidates and the democratic field for president t in 2020. Former new york city mayor Michael Bloomberg will be holding a Campaign Rally in norfolk, virginia, and you can watch that live on cspan. Join us live on bite at cspan. Org or on the cspan radio app at 2 00 eastern. Our campaign 2020 coverage continues tomorrow when President Trump travels to florida for a Campaign Rally. His first rally there since he changed his official residence of new york to florida. Live coverage tuesday evening at 7 00 eastern on cspan entering the week we are featuring booktv programs showcasing whats available every weekend on cspan2. Are cspan campaign 2020 bus team is traveling across the country visiting key battleground states in the 2020 president ial race asking voters, what issues they want president ial candidates to address during the campaign. I think one of the most pressing issues were facing is poverty and income