[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] governor, i realize they need a a photo of you actually signing the eggs. Okay. You dont want to lay an egg. Dont break an egg. Dont lay an egg. You know are the recording, right . Yeah. My name is rafe [laughing] look at that signature. When he gets towards the last egg i have a feeling it will falter. Did you get one . Smile, governor. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] i just want to say, for four days notice, this is a on friday, two and half days, were auctioning off [inaudible]nd this is amazing, this kind of crowd and the level of interest today here for this great politics eggs breakfast. We do these things because we have great sponsors whop are here. Here. Their names are around the room who help us put these on it weve 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 will be in this room in about two hours and they filmed our newsmaker submit. They build a full set instream sources this is over we go right into comcast mode so very exciting week. We have a lot of great dignitaries here but i just want to recognize heather who really got thene 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 great partner in New Hampshire, a great partner with the new England Council, new England Chamber of commerce. Jim and i basically breakfast, lunch, and dinner together at a want to introduce jim jim brett for the purposes of introduction. Thank you. [applause] let the recordio be known tht i pay for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. [laughing] forget about it. I also want to acknowledge the presence of the former Lieutenant Governor of the combo of massachusetts. Timber is here. We welcome him for his first visit here. [applause] and i, too, would like to welcome all of you on behalf of the new England Council here and want to thank the entire team, st. As, for the wonderful Ongoing Partnership with the nen England Council. I think with a Record Number of candidates this year weve had a Record Number of politics and eggs programs. I believe today is our 20th six and eggs. I dont know about you but my doctor since my cholesterol level is going higher and higher and higher. Its going to come to an end soon but i want to thank st. As for all that they do to make these programs such an outstanding must stop to say the least. And, of course, our gratitude goes to all t the sponsors. Theyre the ones that make it possible to have the venue and thee breakfast here, and they ae corporate citizens of New Hampshire and new england. If you know anyone affiliated with any of them you should thank themou for this wonderful, Wonderful Public Service that they provide here. 2019 hasdi been an incredible yr for the new England Council and we have a few more events in store before the years in. I believe we were over 70 events here this year, all 16 of state and washington with the governors and congressman and senators, president ial candidates and cabinet secretaries. We even had the speaker of the british house of commons speak at the new England Council but we havent taken up the gas pedal. Next week we will host congressional roundtable in boston with bill keating and kathryn clark. The evening of tuesday december 3 we will hope you will join us for our annual Holiday Celebration in William Kennedy institute for the United States senate. Needless to say its a wonderful, wonderful evening. I promise it will be worthth the drive here from New Hampshire. And our final d. C. Event of the will be held on december 10 in washington where we will host congressman Stephen Lynch for a capital conversation. Our guest today is someone who i know needs a little or no introduction in this room but let me take a moment to remind you of this very impressive background. Bornes and raised on the southse of chicago, he first came to england to pursue his education. First at Milton Academy of later at Harvard University where he received both his undergraduate and law degrees. He went on to achieve rate career success, both in the Public Sector as an attorney, president bill clintons justice department, and in the private Sector Holding leadership positions in major corporationso like texaco and cocacola. Some have questioned his decision to jump into the president ial race. The word underdog has been used by many a pundit, but let me remind you that as an underdog, exactly what he was in 2005 when he decided to run for governor of the commonwealth. As aal political newcomer he defeated a wellknown longtime public official in the democraticer primary, wellknown Lieutenant Governor in the general election. During his eight years as the chief executive he pursued an 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 expandedbl Renewable Energy in the state. All of this is to say he is a man who is not afraid of the challenge or an uphill battle. 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 me as the chairman of the Governors Commission for the people with intellectual with disabilities. This is i always found him to be kind, very generous, very effective. But moreir important, very compassionate. Hes been out on the president ial campaign trail for the past two weeks, and today we are pleased to welcome him home to new england and to politics and eggs. I did 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 the 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, to st. As and to institute of politics can thank you very much for having me. Thank you ladies and children for coming up this morning. Its an honor to be with you. Im delighted that Lieutenant Governor is i guess we are out of state can Lieutenant Governor murray come just to be sure, we are all talking about the same person, and many other friends are here today in the room. You already know my story. Perhaps for thosese of you who dont,e i apologize to those wo do get 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. J as jim said i started out on the southside of chicago. Much of the time on welfare. I livedmy there with my mother,y sister, my grandparents and other relatives who came and went, least after our parents split when i was four. And her grandparents to make that contentment. I mother and my sister and i shared one of those bedrooms a set of bunkbed sigar from the top to the bottom to the floor every third night on the floor. I went to big, broken, overcrowded, underresourced, sometimes by the public schools. Still my grandmother would tell us we are not poor, we are not poor, justar broke. Because broke she said is temporary. Y. 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 hit your head like she dashes like you hurt then you she called home. You got to dance. For those adults were trying to get across was that membership in community is understanding the stake 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 and our time to leave things better for those who come behind us. Its the same ancient lesson every one of us here learn from our grandparents, at each of us bears responsibility for the next generation. These lessons of community and of generational responsibility have stuck with me. They are thero home i keep being called back to through college and law school, through my you in work in darfur, sudan, for my civil rights work at the Legal Defense fund of the department of justice, through my assignments in business and my terms asst governor. Whethernm representing haitian tenets and eviction proceedings, defending the rights organizers in alabama, making Employment Practices in big companies, fair and open expanding healthcare to over 98 of her residence in massachusetts or helping to grow a company that delivers dental services to poor kids. Ive always worked to leave things better for those who come behind me. Getting results in those settings and in others requires building bridges. Never once have taken an assignment i left my conscience at the door. In my experience confidence in my values alongside and openness to working with others is the formula for change that lasts. Thats why im running for president. We need leadership thats about bringing user 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 notab only stronger but successl in other words, we need leadership that is about 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 to america to offer a wake up and away forward. We are the party of families who want a home they can afford in the neighborhood that safe, of students who want to further their education without being enslaved by debt, of workers want the chance to earn their way, of seniors who want to age with dignity, of immigrants who want a lawful path to mainstream american life, of the incarcerated for one a second chance, of all of us who want healthcare we can afford and count on. Thats us. The party of active government when it comes to protecting the planet and civil and human rights, and the party of government restraint when it comes to endless war or a woman making her own Health Decision or anyone 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 these dark times require. Thats why im a democrat. But i dont think you have to hate republicans to be a good democrat. I dont think you have to hate conservatives to be a a good progressive or to hate business to be a good social justice warrior. Anymore than you if they just do grow up poorod and staple to cae about chronic poverty. Or to hate police, to believe that black lives matter. I tried to be the kind of man who rejects false choices, not for the sake of camping down disagreement and smoothing things over but because the range of my life expenses has taught me estimate of the choices 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 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 last 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 civic idealf equality, opportunityi and fair play that i and some others, maybe even some of you here, have experienced in improbable journey got our circumstances of birth. Grit, determination, resilien, High Expectations and good fortune are fundamental to be sure, but so also are good schools with wellprepared and supportive teachers here so als 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. As people i meet are not looking for government to solve every problem in everybodys life, just to do its part to help people help themselves. There is just no denying that over the years weve seen policy shift away from the values of community and of generationalye responsibility. The obsession with short term quarter to Quarter Results i saw in my Business Life has crept into the way we govern, the way we govern from election cycle to election cycle or news cycle to newsth cycle. We have tilted our economy towards the wellconnected. We have come to associate poverty with the unrelated concept of fault, and weve bleached justice slowly but methodically out of the Justice System. Common cause, let alone,nd decency, has vanished from much of ourtt National Politics and e have 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 the meaning 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 justbe a a paycheck o away from being poor. The frustration, alienation, d even the trail 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 southside 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 caring 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 sacrifice in the interest of shared prosperity, we emerge stronger on the other side. D after eight years of hard work and focus through those values, massachusetts ranked first in the nation in student achievement, in healthcare coverage, andy veterans servic, inc. Energy efficiency, and entrepreneurial activity, to name just a few. We helped to revive an economy hammered by a recession by turning it into a global innovationwe powerhouse, creatig a 25 your employment either we developed a National Model for addressing Climate Change by working with our neighboring states on the regional Greenhouse Gas initiative, planning forla an investing in resilience and recovery, closing coalfired power plants and building a solar, wind and Energy Efficiency sector that both generated ample alternatives and created thousands of jobs. We made meaningful reforms in transportation and criminal justice, the ethics rules, our state pension system. Andar we did it with a responsie budget and by earning the highest bond rating in state history. Get everything right. Nobody does. But we got these and other results because we work 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 govern 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 healthcare for everyone everywhere, if we want an economy that offers a future for everyone everywhere, if you want a Justice System that is just, and immigration system that works, a tax system that makes sense, we need leadership that builds bridges. A politics that says we have to agree on everything before Work Together on anything, that offers government by slogan and shortterm wins is exactly thete kind of politics that brought us to this point. Substituting our version or theres iss not actually goingo deliver change that lasts, if it delivers change at all. In the coming weeks we will be rolling out our policy agenda. You will hear about a reform agenda that proposes fixes to systems like the tax system, immigration, healthcare, and criminal sentencing. Systems that needor to work in order for the American Dream to work. And a democracy agenda to end the hyper partisan gerrymandering excess excessiv, much of the dark, and Voter Suppression that s have steadily and cynically choked off the fundamental act of citizenship and they must be addressed so that it is easier for everyone to make Representative Government meaningful. But first you will hear about our opportunity agenda. Which is about how we grow the economy out to the middle and the marginalized and not just up to the wellconnected. Because treating our challenges as if everything is a zerosum game, it is neither necessary nor in character as americans. Beyond the redistribution of others are talking about, we need to expand the economic pie and enable more people to earn their way in it. Changes that beats the scale of our national and global challenges, changes that last will require more than indignation, however righteous that may be. Because 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 were 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, jim. [laughing] 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, i demonstrate 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 test on one another. Rejecting false choices to build a better way for 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 for a program called a better chance, to go to Milton Academy, you know, a boarding school some of you may know in a leafy neighborhood outside of boston. Arriving there alone in 1970 felt to me like landing on a different planet. They had a dress code then, wore jackets and ties to class. When the clothing list arrived at home, my grandparents splurged on a new jacket for me to take to school. But a jacket on the southside just understand is a windbreaker. Right. [laughing] so on that first morning what all the other boys were putting on their blue blazers and their tweed coats, there was i in my windbreaker. I had a lot to learn. As i met new friends from strange places, some of who had their names on the buildings and used summer as verb, i was full of curiosity about them and their lives, they were curious about so much about me and my life back on the southside. By the samet token, my friends back home were curious but so much about my life at Milton Academy. Before long i i began to sense that i was straddling these two worlds where the price of admission into one was rejecting the other. But it was false choice. I i realize that to live my fullest life i had to decide who i was, and to be that all the time, whatever world i i happeo be traveling 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 and i learned howt 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 sidebyside with abject poverty and hate. It still makes my heart ache to think this great nation could defeat totalitarianism and when the Second World War and then the meaning and disenfranchise the black veteran who helped deliver that victory when they came home. But the ideals of equality, opportunity and fair play must endure. They are still defining for us. They are still a matter of the american character. They still offer the best hope of the world for humankind. They have meaning only when we remember, especially in dark and challenging times like these, that we have a stake in our neighbors struggles, just as they do in hours. I am hopeful for america. Im hopeful because more and more people are coming off the sidelines and standing up for america at her generous and optimistic best here at any given time on any given issue, activism like we see today may make people in power, may be even some of us uncomfortable. But in the end these activists are our neighbors. We have a stake and then just they do in us. They have taken to the legislatures, ballot boxes, to the streets, to the court rooms, to lay claim to a better democracy, a better National Community. And ultimately to the best of the american character. If wehe Work Together and if the woke 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 fair, more just, truly great america, an america that understands our greatness comes from our goodness. Thats the kindd of leadership im about, they kind of man i tried to be, and they kind of responsibility i will beartr as president of the United States. Thank you for having me. I look forward to your questions. [applause] well done. [applause] we have time for a few questions for the governor. In fact, he indicated to me he will stay until the last question. So if you have any questions, just raise your hand. I think with somebody with do we have somebody with a moving mic . A student from st. A. Justju identify yourself. Hello, governor. Rob warner i want to thank you for your leadership on the Global Solutions reform act, Global WarmingSolutions Act rather. What is your priority they want as president for climate . I love the people ask me or 100 takee questions. First, they want us figure out the route from the residence to the oval office and back again. And actually, rob, 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 the control. Wh because surprises always come, always come. And i think one of the reasons why we were as prepared as we were on the a marathon bombing, for example, is because we had had hurricanes and 100 year storms and the loss of drinkable water for the eastern half of the commonwealth and so forth. On a serious note, the first thing is understanding where the talent is, the resources, and how to pull them together. On the question of climate, of Climate Change, 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. It were not come if im not right about the calendar, then we had to get back to the table and negotiate our way in. And by the way, if the condition of come in is that we raise our own game, thats okay, too. Thats okay, too, and afford. I do think that some of the other approaches to climate are like those we took here. Im sorry, took their in massachusetts. Am i pointing in the right direction . [laughing] in massachusetts. Im very excited about the prospect of a carbon free economy. Im very excited about that. I think we have to go there in a way that isnt about frightening people but about how we bring people along. I cant remember who made this point, we didnt you know, the stone age didnt in because we ran out of stone, right . It ended because we got a better idea. We pretty good in this country, historically, about transition, excuse me, innovation. We are not as good about transition period so 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 a carbon free economy. I understand that. But no one is ever said to them, how aboutve we consider coal country as the center for developing a portion of this new sector . How about you have stake in this future, instead of feeling lie the future is happening to them, that we are building this new future together. Theres some more puts and takes but those are some ideas that i have. We had a question from mary. The mic is right here. Good morning and welcome to New Hampshire. Thank you for my name is mary and im fromm aarp new hampshir. 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 a child or even middleaged. A lot of us have experienced a high cost of medications. My own mother at one point had to pay 400 a month and did not have anynt income. I know this is what would you do the first day in office are what is the first thing i promise rob my first day. [laughing] may idb the second . [laughing] or after you find the root. What is the first thing you would do to lower the cost of Prescription Drugs . Thank you for your question and her concern. Youre right, thats one you hear all over the place and for good reason. We have a Prescription Drug economy, if you will, where the cost of investing in developing drugs is borne by this country. Mainly, not exclusively but mainly. And the cost and the reaping of the return is borne by us in the costs, but 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 that is spread around the world and not just borne by others. This is frankly nuts that you can get many of the same Prescription Drugs write a little while north of here for a fraction of the price here. Its also nuts that for that period of time, the federal government could negotiate drug prices, not with the industry and not with other jurisdictions. Its funny, at out of one side of her mouth we say were perfectly sign unconfined with the Global Economy and other, no, no, no, werere going to dot this way. We can talk about an folks have about cost controls, price controls in particular im not sure thats a longterm solution. Im much more interested in endemic fixes. If i may im going to step back from your question and say it is just, its an important piece but just a piece of healthcare cost equation. Its just darned too high. 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 in those meetings. We have folks from the insurance industry, from providers, from advocates. We had doctors and other Healthcare Professionals around the table when prices were going up at double digits, even during the worst of the recession. I said look, weve done all this work to get access to everybody. How, calls keep going up this past . The answer with a we start this way. Well, governor, its complicated. And then it would go like this. The doctors would say its not us, its the hospital. The hospital say its not us, its the insurance. There is very little or there is less transparency into how this all fits together and ought to be. Thats a part of it. We do need a much more rigorous collaboration on the costcontainment side systemwide. In the same way i think at least in massachusetts we had that collaboration on expanding access, so its a little bit the entre question but your question about drug price is very much a part i think we should be thinkingng about solutions. Thank you. Did you have a proposal you want to make . I know rob has a whole big stack of papers. [laughing] the m honorable justice. Governor can i say, susa, this doesnt have to be a oneway thing. If you have an idea, offer it. I wish i didnt have a question. Yes, sir. I might have an idea later. First of allyo thanks for coming here. I name is john and my wife by with background i served as chief justice off the state and the reason i mentioned that is for the last three and half years ive been doing the most important work of my life, and ive been going around forever and invited to speak about Mental Health awareness. And the people were with me, it would understand we have a crisis in this country like young people with anxiety and depression and we do not have a Mental Health care system in america. So im asking this question my experience on a granular level. If you were president , maybe on day three, governor, [laughing] get those hands up, everybody. [laughing] what would you do or promote no one talks about this issue that it affects one in five adults and 15 kids. What would you do with Mental Health and the United States that would make a difference . First of all, thank you for your service, and thank you for the question. These are issues we have dealt with in our family. We deal with in our family. And in those first few months he has managed anxiety in the past. He ended up in the hospital. I remember going to visit with her and the troopers in my security detail worked out with a hospital about slipping in and is slipping out, going in a secretly and all of that and it was ridiculous and i remember diana saying, this is crazy. Im not ashamed to. I just dont you well and she this. Ou should explain you should Say Something about it and against the advice of her excellent physician, we explain that she was suffering from anxiety and depression and asked for respect of thatn. I will say that some of the media on, people were fabulous. Here is the point. Dse 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 has a family were dealing with and i think that what i wish she were here today. One of the things she is most excited about in being first lady of the United States is to be a leader on those issues because of some of this is just about bringing light where there are shadows, getting past the shamee. Beyond that were alongside that is the question about treating Mental Health as healthcare and the making and developing the capacity so that we can respondw to the needs people have in the stations in life they are in. Im not talking about social economic stations. Im talking about where they are in their own it journey. There was a settlement that i read about i dont remember which estate where the teachers had secured an agreement to have a nurse at every and that the nurse under 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 they can encourage young people Young Students as you refer to get past the shame and a deal with it. You know, the underlying secret about expanding healthcare is that if we dont expand capacity , if we dont develop primary care physicians and alongside specialists, Mental Health care professionals and a spread the responsibility among the whole range of Healthcare Professionals, we wont meet the objectives we set out to and so again because like i said to marys question i am trying to think about these things as systems and what all the elements of how we get the systems right i think it has to be an element of how we think about making healthcare reform really work. Thank you. Why dont we take a student from the right in the back here and then the gentleman. Thank you, governor patrick for being here. Thank you. Small world. My question relates to the humanitarian crisis on our southern borders. Many of these people come from Central American nations filled with a lot of Gang Activity and drugs. How would you address the Current Crisis . I think there are two parts of it, maybe three. We have to get at root causes. There is a way to engage globally that doesnt make us Americas Police person, doesnt make us responsible for every hotspot in every part of the world, but it does engage in ways we know work that serves both our humanitarian aspirations and our practical interests. So, i think just saying by the way its amazing to me, asylum is a legal process. But, we love it all into the same bucket of outsiders and unwanted and i think that has to change. When the Obama Administration was facing a similar this is how we deal with the crises today, with the Obama Administration was facing a similar crisis when i was in office we had called the several governors got calls about whether we would be prepared to shelter mainly unaccompanied children, some as young as two years old, to two years old. Can you imagine sending your 2year old unaccompanied over thousands of miles of what that means . What motivates you to do that . Really, a drivers license . No. You are worried about the safety of your loved one and that the notion you look to United States for safety and dignity and that we treat children outweigh when they seek asylum to me is just wrong. I do think there are partnerships with the governors like the one that the Obama Administrationth asked about. I dont think they ultimately did it, but that they asked about that can help and as partners governors ought to be willing to help with resources and support. Unless we get at root causes, you know its just a bandaid and i think part of comprehensive Immigration Reform has to include both border integrity. By the way, you know, dont buy this as democrats in this democrats believes in open borders. Thats ridiculous. I do think we have to have modern, humane, responsive, responsible systems and rules and we dont. I think one of the reasons we dont or one of the reasons we are facing the issues we do is because capital is global, that 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 transport a straightforward and fair, but you dont have to trade that for border integrity. You should have border integrity and i think actually we could resolve this if we could drain the racism out of the debates. Someone made the point recently very very well that to some extent it feels like the Current Administration would rather have an issue than a solution. Its a habit. This administration is not the first like that, sadly. Gentle and in the. Gentlemen in the back. Hello, governor. I am with that Educational Justice Institute at mit providing College Education in prisons in massachusetts and i went to ask about im sure you know we incarcerate more people in this country than any other country in the world with recidivism rates hovering around 60 . They are all coming back, so i have lots of proposals but im interested in what you had to say about criminal Justice Reform. A couple things, first. Thank you for what you are doing. We do have you know i refer to government by slogans earlier. You know, three strikes and youre ou sounds clever, but its a failed policy. Its not the only example, but its a failed policy and i so we had as you noted we have warehoused generation. Mostly of black men, but not 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 things. Its education and training while you are in, preparation for coming back out, but then you cant get public housing, 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 the programs inside and out of a programs outside, it shouldnt surprise us number one that people come out frequently more dangerous than they were when they went in and number two that there is recidivism problem because theres nowhere else tos turn and people do dangerous and desperate things when they feel desperate. I think that putting the notion of rehabilitation back into the criminal Justice System is important. I think that minimum mandatory sentencing needs a huge overhaul we took big steps in that direction. Chief justice, i wonder how you think about this. The shifting of decisionmaking power to prosecutors rather than to judges, which has happened in my lifetime, produces problems. I can talk about something i did on the Death Penalty and how that tends to go up around election time for district attorneys. You know, how do we get talk about justice in the Justice System, i think there is a way. Its not just backwards looking, by the way. It wasnt all that great before. But, there is a way we havent even talked about voting rightss for folks who are former felons. Theres a way to think about our Justice System, which is about preparing. Having people do their time, they did the deed, they should do the time, but preparing folks for coming out which is the overwhelming majority to reenter productive mainstream life and we can be intentional about that and should be. Gets a microphone to the general. General jack hammon who is the head of the homebased program, gre premier program of the United States taking care of all returning iraq he afghanistan veterans in such a compassionate and caring way. General hammon. [applause]. First of all, jim, thanks for that. Thank you, general. Thank you for your service. As you mentioned earlier massachusetts has Amazing Program for veterans. Have you given any thoughts to the va with respect to the growing epidemic of veterans suicide . We are losing 22 veterans a day. I think thats a low number. Dot threats reported in the challenges to identify all these veterans, so roughly 20 million veterans in the country and 10 million have a loose affiliation with the va and five are getting treatment. We have see the budget grow from 80 billion in 911 to 200 billion plus today with little to no improvement with veteran suicide. Our actively serving side we have three other increase in suicide for special operationon folders and we now have a multi generational war where young paratroopers fighting today were born after 911 and grew up in military families knowing nothing but mom or dad were both mom and dad deploying nearly two decades so we have no idea of the consequences of a child that grew up in that environment and then has their own wartime trauma so the problem is not getting better. The challenges are growing while the solution seems to be the same and not working, so i guess my question is, have you given this any thought and how we can not get rid of the va, but modernize it and bring it into the 21st century so its affective . When you said not get rid of the va is that because you have thought about getting rid of the va . I have. I have listened that argument and i think there is concern for thatis. Back when it was created and omar bradley was the first administrator he cautioned us on staying focused on the mission to deal with combat injuries and to avoid getting into chronic care, but as the veteran population aged it became a larger chronic care elder care system and the preponderance of the treatment today we are caring for were cancer related, cardiac care and a lot of stuff you with older age because we didnt have a lot of new veterans. As we came into this two decades of war, we now had a large influx of combat wounded and is so we were illprepared as we entered that two decades of war to deal with that. Part of the challenges we need to go back and look at what should the da focus on, but we cant loose side of the fact they still care for these old older veterans and how can we more effectively treat . I was at the jp Jamaica Plain va a few years ago and there was a group of guys from maine. They have to get up at 6 00 a. M. , catch a bus at 7 00 a. M. Im gallantly to boston to get an eye exam or dental exam when theres a beautiful hospital just across the street so there are better costeffective solutions without throwing the baby out with the bathwater where we can still care for people, but more efficiently and bring the va into focus of what they should do to be the best data it. General, you know im reminded at some level of what it was like when i was campaigning to campaign in cambridge massachusetts where someone would ask me a questionm and they had already written a book on the subject. [laughter] dont ask mee, but i think you made a couple points jump out at me because to some extent you are describing a failure of the larger Healthcare System and the default to the va, which is added to the scope let me put it this way, i think that simply saying and i am not simply saying and you arent 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 injuries, to your point about the original mission should be done by the general Healthcare System. Im reluctant to be heard to say that its good enough without fixing the larger system, so its actually responsive and affordable. You will hear, by the way, if i icould drop a footnote here, vy very hard for me to accept the way we do policy, which is in silos because most people live their lives do you want me too wait . Most people live their lives in ways that policies intersect so for me its not enough to say lets go back to the Founding Mission of the va and i recognize that seller you are saying this out what im saying either, unless we actually have a general Healthcare System that can catch and meet that need. My fatherinlaw,d, dianes dads 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. I do understand the strain on the system and the importance of rationalizing it, but againan it has to be rationalized alongside. He larger system there are other things happening in the broader system in healthcare generally put in place under the Previous Administration and is still moving forward that i think could be promising. Telehealth and in full disclosure im on the board or was on the board of a company that does telehealth, but this is a national a lot of primary care anda ge even urgent care. Being available at the other end of your computer screen. That depends on whether you have access to highspeed broadband. This is what, i mean, by interconnectedness. But come help me. Are there one orav two more . Thank you very much. First of all, governor, i cannot tell you how happy y and delighd and overjoyed i am that you are in the race and bringing your superior intelligence and insights and wisdom to the whole process. I think it will make a big difference. Its going to make a big difference across the country. Is this a softball question . Thank you very much, next question. [laughter] i will make my question about your fourth day in office because its now day number four you know you pointed me your chair of board of Higher Education and in new england Higher Education is such a criticalch important part of everything we do, so on one and what you think we can do to better support to give resources to institutions of Higher Education, but i want to focus question on younger people and there was something you said metoday about when you left chicago and you came to massachusetts to school and theres a lot of young people in chicago that dont get the opportunity to come to massachusetts to get this amazing education. Exactly correct. You are the same person when youre where 14 as you are today but ther power of educatn has enabled you to do what you are doing. Its such a critical message about what you can bring to this country. There are poor curates here in New Hampshire across the New England States across the country just like you, every color of the rainbow who needd buttype of education you got. I think as president of the United States if you could commit yourself to making that type of Education System available to children in the us, i think that is the transformative force that can lift up this nation and lift up the population of this country to recognize the beauty of what we had to offer and can do for the rest of the world. Can you promising that once you get elected on a number four that education will be your priority . Thank you. I think you may 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 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 in life Lifelong Learning because thats the economy we are becoming and it shouldnt be scary for people. Im going to come to reducing the cost of public higher ed in a minute. We have a middle skills in this country, i mean, if you think about it will blow your mind. At the worst of the recession we had 175,000 people out of workin and thats i think just about 170 120,000 vacancies and many of them socalled middle skills, so folks that need more than high school degree, but not necessarily a college diploma. Needed skills of some kind tailored to the opportunity and what many of those employers told us is that they couldnt find the people with the skills necessary for the job they had even in recession. That come i think, will be true of our economy given the pace of change for some while. That canada be a brilliant thing they can be a differentiator, not the skills, but meeting it can be a differentiator for us economically and culturally or socially i think in this country it does start with having highquality schools everywhere. By the way, that is not going to be, as you know, the same solution everywhere. There is going to have to be leadership about the goal, but we will have to let with accountability state and local authorities engage on how to meet those goals. I think it doeser include universal access to preschool or prek, universal. By the way, where wee lived for years and years we do that for our kids. If you live just walking distance and you cant, you dont. Not that you dont want to, not that you dont understand how highquality Early Education to make a difference through your educational career, but you dont do it because you cant to do it and by the way if you are right on the edge we are paying for it, meet up to work, but working need to cant afford anything else, you know that trade that so many couples and families are having to make, that doesnt work. I think you probably are 18 me too talk about the readiness agenda, which we worked on together which was accomplishing these strategies here i think the public has to come back into Public Education including public Higher Education. We did what we could through in theon to reinvest Public University and college assistant. 50 50 match, but what Public Colleges and universities, i think, have done massachusetts and elsewhere god bless them is try to do this strategy you see in private colleges where they raised wishard as much as they think the market will bear and promise to raise tuition aid for those who cant. Except that the tuition aid never keeps up with the cost of College Tuition and for a Public College in particular it should be in meaningfully more affordable opportunity. Quality, but many freeca more affordable and i think that is in the nature of the burden we all they are in order to leave things better for those who come behind us, so i dont think the answer is about everyone going to Milton Academy schools like it. But, i am very very conscious as i think you know that there are lots of other young people just as creative, just ass 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, also. Governor, what is the proudest of, schmidt as you as your eight years of governor . The question i hate the most is what will you do on day number one in the question i hate text is what is my promise to call bush. I mentioned some of them and i mentioned a list, not for bragging purposes, jim, but i do think they connect in real peoples lives they connect. You can have a great educationnn and no glowing con afterwards and so whatro is how people are left to feel. I think there is eighth held we said 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 of 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, we think about it now, two guys, two bombs as if that was known at the time. We didnt know. I remember on the day ofe. At the end you know you all know about some of the drama, but you dont know that we stopped the amtrak train headed to new york out of south station early that morning, stop it outside of new haven and had it searched. We detained to 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 someone else who fit the description out by the federal courthouse or that the fire at the Kennedy Library remember . It was thought to be related to the attack as well, i mean, it you dont have complete information, but you still have to make decisions and you still have to encourage people not 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 it sounds like a rhetorical thing. Its real and that those acts of kindness that people show the way they brought runners in when the race was a stock and brought them into their homes and hydrated them and explain what was happening and reunited people with their families the way that the public through their cell phone pictures and videos helped us find these two terraced needles in a haystack in a hundred plus hours, the way that its a tragic we lost the lives we did at the site, but injuries nature of the , we should have lost many many more, but not a single life threatening injury resulted in death because we had an Emergency Response plan that the hospitals had practiced with us four times like these. We turned to each other and we were stronger as a result, so as a kind of 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 was a pretty special, schmidt. This has been a pretty special morning to have the governor here and i think we will see an awful lot more of the governor here and as someone who also was at service in boston shortly after the marathon, the bombing of the cathedral south end of boston where they brought together all of the different religious affiliations, the president was there, but i really dont think you are at the very best in expressing the sorrow yet compassion and also being a ceo mowing we would get through this and 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 to talk about stress under a disaster, you exceeded all expectations. You made us proud and we are very proud of you, governor. Good luck with your campaign. We have to get a picture. [applause]. Thank you. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] thank you. Thank you. You should help us make sure the policy program is responsive. We had employed an individual who went to work for you. Who is that . I cannot remember her name. Thank you so much. She worked exactly for you. Thank you. Thank you. Hello. Thank you for being here. Now i know a lot more about you. If you dont cut me off, i go on and on. Thank you. Glad you are here. Hello. How are you . Christina . You nailed it. I have to say your governors race was the first race i remember like i was like eight years old. But, you remember it . I do. I saw the ads on tv before going to school each morning. Very cool to meet you today. Thank you. Thank you. Wonderful to meet you. Thank you. How are you . Areas my name. Gary is my name. Well, come and help us. I will. Im an independent. I grew up in massachusetts. Okay. Are you retired from the navy . Chris, got hit . We have a willing volunteer. I met michael. Hello, michael. Nice to meet you. [inaudible] are you going to do a forum . [inaudible] [inaudible conversations] hello. Pleased to meet you. Good to have you good to meet you again. Happy to have you here. Ura sophomore; right connect. Unior studying criminal justice. What do you think you will do . I dont know. I like political analysis, so maybe something without. . O you mind taking a phototh no. Thank you very much. Great. Got it. Thank you so much. Hello. Hello. I love your idea on environmental issues. The other important thing is that you and i ran into one another at the ribbon barbecue. Good eating. Yes. Yeah, yeah. Well, you know good places to eat. Absolutely. What about what we did in massachusetts . [inaudible] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] thank you. Thank you, governor. Appreciate you. Hello, governor. You have a career in standup if this doesnt work. You were talking about the marathon, my dad is a Police Officer and was involved. He is on the swat team there. He was in the raid. That was quite a day and you know when he was brought out [inaudible] mind if we get a picture . Sure. Thank you. Nice to meet you. Thanks again for your help. Hello. Im kelly. Nice to meet you. Thank you. My first time to one of these you are very inspiring. [inaudible conversations] Deval Patrick 2020. Thanks for comingg. Diversity and inclusion, bringing people together gets a better product. [inaudible] im based out of New Hampshire. Thank you very much. How are you . Nice to see you. How is everything . Good. I saw him at his going away party. Thank you. We happened to be in london and he invited us to visit. Spread the word you are in the race. Well, he was giving me a hard time. Whats the matter with you. Now hes in the private sector now. I think hes coming over, though. Thats what i heard. I saw i got an invitation, a party a reception yes, yes. Happened; right . Its over . Thank you. [inaudible conversations] how are you, governor . Hello. I remember you running when i must have been in second grade. All of these people coming up and talking about how old i am. Where you from . I grew up in hampton, but went to school and newberry. Beautiful place. Migrating north, more and more north . Thats how its going, yeah. Do you mind getting a picture . [inaudible conversations] thank you. Hello, governor. Nice to see you again. Are you doing with college . Great. [inaudible conversations] thank you. [inaudible conversations] thank you. I look forward to the invitation [inaudible conversations] nice to see you again. Can we get picture of you dont mind . Thank you. Thank you. Good luck, governor. Are you guys able to wait a minute . Are you okay waiting just a minute . Dont leave. [inaudible conversations] no, stay, stay right there. Tell me your first names. Chris. You lean heavily on your experiences of being the former governor of massachusetts. How do you convince us from beacon hill that you are the person for the job . First of all i am running for everyone and im proud of the work we to did together. I think sometimes folks make much of the fuss 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 asked for it, but thats a part of a giveandtake. [inaudible] as you are here on boston tv right now theres lots of bloomberg adds. Is it frustrating you are jumping in the race and youre getting overshadowed with someone with billions of dollars no. I been up against odds like that in the past. Im going to do the work and i happen to believe the work is more about connecting with people personally and where they are and thats what we will do see mac hes not to buy the election . Those are your words, not mine. Governor, you talk about criminal Justice Reform and they implemented reform in 2018 and its been pretty rocky with a lot of people that get out that havent been getting out before. Some people have been arrested 12 times before they are held. In a place like New Hampshire where people sour. You learned you go in one of the things i think we are hungry for is innovation and Public Policy just as we see in the private sector, but to have successful innovation you have to be willing to try things and learn from them. I dont know the examples you have given me are all the examples that would point to the right solution, but we have to get over our fear of the policies being punished if it doesnt go perfectly. I remember when aca was first rolled out. Do you remember troubles with the website . Health care reform is not about a website. It was about extending access to everyone, so fixing these problems and Refining Solutions will be what is necessary to make all of the reforms i ended the other candidates are talking about. Governor, the cold, cbs news and you spoke earlier about not wanting to put unwanted asylumseekers in this large bucket. I wonder under your administration, the repeal of section 1325 of the us code. Decriminalization . Correct. Can you explain why . I think it. Dot to be against a lot to cross the border without authorization. Asylum seeking his unauthorized way to come in and we have to make it functionally successful by having ways to come in and process people crossing, but as i said earlier those are getting at the root causes and not just dealing with a very serious but so isolated part of the problem you are asking about. Given the very abbreviated timeframe you have, will you be spending the vast majority of your time in New Hampshireyoma o kick it off for you . 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 stage, by the way, but in places where people feel politically overlooked and unseen. As a practical matter we will try to spend a lot of time here in New Hampshire and in South Carolina, but we will be activeb in iowa and nevada as well. So, you are 10 days or so into this now. Any specific challenges you faced so far in terms of logistics and getting in a bit late . Last thursday we filed in New Hampshire and we went from New Hampshire to california to nevada to iowa to South Carolina andd then atlanta, dc and new york on the way home a before starting all over again yesterday. I will be in New Hampshire the rest of today and also South Carolina tomorrow. What i have seen is that the paths we knew was there is a wider than i fully appreciated. Its a wideopen race and the fact that folks have been in for a long time and campaigning for a long time and raising money for a long time has notor close not resolved anythingg. Its a little bit of a how i think about the importance of money or lack of it. We want to. We are raising it so we are competitive and confident feeling during this thanksgiving week we are featuring book tv programs you will see weekends here at cspan2 peer tonight at 8 00 p. M. Dot goldsmith talks about his stepfather associative teamsters leader jimmy hoffa. Robert wilson recounts the life of 19th century showman pt barnum of the Barnum Bailey circus and elizabeth on a minute early policy of world war ii. Book tv, tonight on cspan2. The impeachment inquiry hearings continue next week when house judiciary commissioner of the committees first impeachment inquiry hearing into President Trump focusing on the constitution and the history of impeachment. Watch our live coverage wednesday, december 4,at 10 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan3. Chairman debt nadler extended an invitation to the president and his counsel to appear before the committee. Read the letter to the president on our website and follow the impeachment inquiry live on cspan3 online at cspan. Org