Duke: The Action's at Home

"I don't hire everyone that goes to the Kennedy School," Gov. Michael S. Dukakis warned students at the school yesterday afternoon--but he did tell them where to sent resumes.

Dukakis, who taught at the Kennedy School from 1979 to 1983 after he was voted out of the Statehouse, gave what he called a "pep talk" to the more than 400 students in the Arco Forum.

"Not only is public service a noble calling, you can make a difference," Dukakis told the students, encouraging told the students, encouraging them to view state government as a the place to promote progessive and innovative ideas.

Beltway Boringness

"Because life in Washington is so deadly dull, so paralyzed," Dukakis said, "the center for creative and innovative activity has moved to the state capital." Dukakis pointed to the recent elections in Virginia and New Jersey of progressive governors and cited several Kennedy School alumni in his administration for innovative policies.

In New Jersey, Republican Gov. Thomas Kean, who won the endorsement of many solidly Democratic unions, over-whelmingly defeated Peter Shapiro '74, a K-School grad. Dukakis said the election in Virginia of a Black lieutenant governor and a female attorney general bodes well for state level progressive activity.

Dukakis pointed to his own administration as a prime example of the importance of state government.

Ten years ago, Dukakis said, "Massachusetts was called the 'New Appalachia.' Now it's a gratifying success story," the governor said, noting the state's phenomenally low 4 percent unemployment rate and the elimination of the massive state budget deficit.

One person mainly responsible for the budget surplus, Dukakis said, was Revenue Commissioner Ira Jackson, a former associate dean at the K-School.

By tough enforcement of tax laws, Jackson managed to increase tax revenues 4 percent, which Dukakis called "an innovative idea that should be on the lips of everyone in Washington as a deficit."