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www.topix.net/forum/source/berkshire-eagle/TAJHBBCNA399E6829
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www.topix.com/forum/city/pownal-vt/TO5AFH1JH4R3N1TLR
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www.topix.com/forum/city/north-adams-ma/TO5AFH1JH4R3N1TLR
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www.topix.net/forum/city/hinsdale-ma/TO5AFH1JH4R3N1TLR
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www.topix.net/forum/city/windsor-ma/TO5AFH1JH4R3N1TLR
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www.topix.net/forum/city/savoy-ma/TO5AFH1JH4R3N1TLR
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Neo Nazi Denis E Guyer (above). An innocent Jewish girl who was persecuted in the name of HATE (below)
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The Nazi swastika "blood flag" (above). Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" (below).
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Anne Frank. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_frank (above).
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Pittsfield's political inbred, dark prince: Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr.! -(below)-
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Note: Denis E Guyer does "Luciforo's" dirty work in exchange for Denis E Guyer's ability to rise to higher political office so that Denis E Guyer may be the next Neo Nazi persecutor like Nazi Dictator Adolf Hitler. "Luciforo's" end of the terrible bargain will be for him to be able to someday represent his beloved wealthy financial institutions, especially insurance companies, on Capitol Hill before Denis E Guyer declares Martial Law and becomes the next "Hitler".
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11/1/2008
Re: "amandadvice" sarcastic reply of "Um, OK, WHATEVER YOU SAY." -
This reply to my pleas for people to take Denis E Guyer seriously now instead of after he uses the Billion Dollar Crane Family via his wife Allison Crane of Crane & Company to attain great political power and then uses the US American State as Adolf Hitler once used the German State to persecute and hurt many people, especially the Jewish People and "other" minorities, is the same reply someone like me, who believes in HUMAN RIGHTS for ALL Peoples, received in the mid-1920s when Hitler wrote his Nazi beliefs in his published books, including http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mein_Kampf
I don't care what happens to me, as I am already a persecuted man by many different groups of people, including, but not limited to, minorities, political powerbrokers, and the Manchester NH Police Department's police officer John Cunningham, who is lying over and over again to cover his illegal uses of force against me to protect himself while he tries to place me -- an innocent citizen -- in NH State Prison for up to 7 years! My 2/17/2009 trial by jury is just another chapter in Jonathan Melle being screwed over by the "bullies of the World". Nonetheless, for the love of our shared humanity, please STOP Denis E Guyer now before it is too late.
Thank you,
Jonathan A. Melle
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(Above) This is a picture of the abusive, illegal uses of force, lying police officer, John Cunningham (far left).
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October 17, 2008
Re: The real Denis E Guyer! I HATE Denis Guyer & all the terrible things he really stands for!
Denis Guyer sports his skin - head haircut:
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The real Denis Guyer's anti-semetic view of the World!
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Denis E Guyer is a sick dude!
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-Jonathan Melle
P.S. I will always speak my GOOD conscience as long as I live!
http://www.topix.com/forum/source/berkshire-eagle/TO5AFH1JH4R3N1TLR/p7
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October 15, 2008
Re: I am brainwashed...
Denis E Guyer is good. You all have succesfully brainwashed me into believing so. I don't have a mind anymore, therefore I am now unable to think. I have no conscience, therefore I am able to follow him. I AM BRAINWASHED! Moreover, Andrea Nuciforo is pure in his local political machine. Andrea only wants what is best for all of his constituents. He would never do an inside deal, secretly entrap someone who does not agree with him, and put his own interests above others. I AM BRAINWASHED! Moreover yet, Carmen Massimiano only wants justice. He would never intimidate anyone. He even signs everyones nomination papers. He stands for open and contested elections. I AM BRAINWASHED! I was wrong to speak out against my prior perceived 3 political enemies. I AM BRAINWASHED! I am like all of you now. I AM BRAINWASHED!
-Jonathan Melle
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October 11, 2008
Re: How "Luciforo's" insidious entrapment of me is going to go down...
When "Luciforo" makes a run for U.S. Congress in Western Massachusetts (U.S. Representative John W. Olver' current reshaped sprawling legislative district), he is going to have a group of state and local politicians, whom I have written against via email, letters and blog postings, sue me for libel and other false charges in court. I have no doubt about my projection. "Luciforo", who already unsuccessfully tried to jail me while at the same time launching multiple "ethics" investigations against my dad to attempt to ruin his career (Spring 1998), will use Denis E Guyer and the like (definitely Carmen Massimiano, and possibly Daniel Bosley or Stan Rosenberg -- if Stan defers to "Luciforo", et al) to take me to court for my writings against all of them. Remember please, when it comes to politics, the courts are often predetermined in favor of the powerful and against the powerless. That means that I am in a grace period where I am able to seem "unstable" or "insane" to the average observer, while those who care about me can sharpen their focus and they will be prepared for the inevitable PERSECUTION of me so that "Luciforo" can represent his insurance company friends and lobbyists on Capitol Hill in U.S. Congress and reward all of his minions with political plums and campaign donations and the like. Boy, I cannot wait for this day to come so that the good people, such as my FAVORITE journalist EVER, Mary E Carey, can defend me and tell the World about what Pittsfield's political prince of darkness has done, is doing, and will do to me for the politics of corruption and special interests.
-Jonathan Melle
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Pittsfield's political inbred, dark prince: Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr.!
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October 11, 2008
Re: Is Jonathan Melle insane? Here is my answer...
Re: "just noticed": "Is Melle insane?" -
The questioning of my mental health is exactly what the political conspiracy is. I have been living with this conspiratorial entrapment for about the past 12.5-years of my life due to a terrible conspiracy orchestrated by Pittsfield area politicians all connected to Andrea F. Nuciforo II's (aka "Luciforo") local political network. Denis E Guyer is only the last in a long, long, long line of "Luciforo's" layered bullying of me. If I am still sane after all of the abuse I have witnessed and taken then I must be very resilient.
-Jonathan Melle
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http://www.topix.com/forum/source/berkshire-eagle/TO5AFH1JH4R3N1TLR
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October 9, 2008
Re: Denis E Guyer: The Man!
I am signing off for the rest of the day today (10/9/2008). In my closing for today, I choose to state:
THAT IS YOUR STATE & LOCAL GOVERNMENT AT YOUR DISSERVICE! POLITICIANS WITH NO INTEGRITY HURTING PEOPLE & MAKING YOUR LIFE and SOCIETY WORSE & WORSE OFF WHILE A FEW ELITE POWERBROKER POLS AND FAT-CATS LAUGH AT OUR EXPENSE (or misery). NO THANK YOU, DENIS E GUYER, FOR ALL OF YOUR ABUSE AGAINST ME AND SARCASTIC RESPONSES TO MY POSTINGS! I HOPE IT IS WORTH IT FOR YOU. YOU NOT ARE MY HERO, DENIS!
-Jonathan Melle
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October 9, 2008
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Re: DENIS E GUYER: Persecutor!
Denis! I have been through this persecution via "Luciforo's" layered bullying of me for nearly 12.5-years now. What you don't understand is when the same small-town network does what you did, indeed, do to me, it has become completely predictable and obvious to me after so many painful years of this mean-spiritedness. Redundantly writing, "Luciforo" tried to have my dad fired from his then-job of several dedicated decades, while at the same time trying to Jail me based on false police reports (Spring 1998). "Luciforo" has used a then-BCC professor and his young woman daughter -- whom I once had feelings for (Summer 1996) -- to entrap me into an abusive situation in return for this man's job security at BCC, which "Luciforo's" maternal side of the family ran: Wojtkowski's. "Luciforo's" insidious network blacklisted me, terminated my employment opportunities, and entrapped me into a Twilight Zone world where people think I am insane or paranoid. Denis, you were just the next guy in a long, long line of "Luciforo's" persecutors.
-Jonathan Melle
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October 9, 2008
Re: Denis E Guyer: "Luciforo!"
Denis! We were FRIENDS! We attended political events together. We talked on the telephone. We signed each others nomination papers. We shared laughs and hand-shakes. You affirmed me by telling me to give "Luciforo", Larkin and Shaun Kelly hell for their terrible leadership in state and local government. THEN, YOU TURNED ON ME, Denis, NOT the other way around. You joined "Luciforo's" evil network of mean-spiritedness, corruption and special interests and you proved yourself to "Luciforo" by SLANDERING me with vicious, hate-filled, untrue rumors that have HURT PEOPLE, including my family. Should NOT you want to make a truce with me, at least for your own sake. We should apologize to each other and resolve this destructive conflict between us by calling a spade a spade and telling the World how evil and manipulative Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr., was, is and always will be towards me, my dad, my family and friends -- past and present. Denis, please go back to the good man you once were and put "Luciforo" into his place for the sake of being a good man, which is something "Luciforo" will never be. Come back to me, Denis, if for nothing else, your own good, self-respect and peace of mind.
-Jonathan Melle
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October 9, 2008
Re: Denis E Guyer: ALL LIES!
Oh, please! I am taking the low road. The bigger the lie, the more people will believe it! That is pure propaganda! DENIS E GUYER has done nothing more than SLANDER me with the most vicious, hate-filled, racists, mean-spirited rumors for the past 4+ years now. He has used terrible words that have demeaned women, ethnic minorities --especially the Jewish people, and my family. Now he is saying that I want him to take the low road. That is so dishonest of Denis E Guyer! Furthermore, Denis E Guyer knows that the Lt Governor called him today because he is married to the Billionaire Crane Family that hosts campaign parties for John Forbes Kerry and Deval Patrick with contributions that total more than the average families home value. You Denis Guyer apologists are either FOOLS or totally snowed in!
-Jonathan Melle
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October 9, 2008
Re: Denis E Guyer: True or FALSE!
Hi, Denis E Guyer!
You are such a nice guy! You have said such nice things about me over the past 4+ years! You took the time to respond to the letter my mother sent to you about how you have been towards me. You declined to be part of "Luciforo's" political network of mean-spiritedness, corruption and special interests. AND... You never took your two pay raises in your past two terms as Dalton's State Representative on Beacon Hill's State House! AND, of course, Pigs also have wings and fly, unicorns dance around the fields of plentiful harvests, and Santa Claus is hard at work preparing for Christmas because so many people are out of luck.
-Jonathan Melle
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October 9, 2008
Re: The terrible truth about "Luciforo" & Denis E "Golddigger" Guyer!
Denis E Guyer is part of a network of Pittsfield area politicians and cronies who have used me as bait to get to my father for his then-outspoken voice in state and local politics in Pittsfield, Berkshire County, Massachusetts. The events Denis Guyer refers to were ALL manipulated by this "local political network" from day one. The episodes of the "Jewish woman from Otis" and her (BCC professor) father's abusive threats against me were ALL manipulations by Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr., et al, via his maternal side of the family who ran Berkshire Community College.
Conspiratorially, I blame "Luciforo" for coercing the "Jewish woman’s" father for this entirely abusive situation. This woman’s father was a professor at Berkshire Community College in PITTSFIELD! Nuciforo’s maternal side of his family ran BCC, including Anne E. Wojtkowski, who is “Luciforo’s” Aunt and a former Mayor of Pittsfield. I believe someone connected to Nuciforo in PITTSFIELD put this woman’s father up to harassing me. If this conspiracy is true, it fits into all of the other negative Pittsfield scenarios. To be clear, the BCC professor's job security at BCC directly related to his abusive mistreatment of me!
-Jonathan Melle
P.S. "Luciforo's" M.O. is manipulating negative events without leaving his finger-prints behind so there is no evidence of his evil political deeds.
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"Luciforo!" => Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr.
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Also, please go to my similar Blog page to connect the dots between Denis Guyer to Andrea Nuciforo II and his insidious political network:
www.jonathanmelleonpolitics.blogspot.com/2008/05/andrea-nuciforo-jonathan-melle-month-of.html
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_Nazi_Germany
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/He's_Alive
THE TWILIGHT ZONE: "He's Alive" => "He" is "Denis Guyer"!
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Denis E. Guyer
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Denis Guyer is a neo-NAZI! He is seen here sporting his SKINHEAD look. Please heed my forewarnings on Denis E. Guyer's IGNORANT POLITICS of HATE, RACISM & VIOLENCE!
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"Representative Guyer"
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"Denis E. Guyer"
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"Representative Denis Guyer"
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www.mass.gov/legis/member/deg1.htm
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www.repdenisguyerblog.blogspot.com
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DENIS E. GUYER IS THE MEANEST, MOST VICIOUS, INSIDER POL, WHOM I HAVE EVER MET IN MY ENTIRE LIFE! I believe Denis E. Guyer's politics are the politics of racism and hate! Denis Guyer continues to spread vicious rumors against me, and possibly other people who dissent against him, that echo the evil and fascism of Adolph Hitler's persecution of the Jewish People. I believe that Denis Guyer may very well be the second coming of Adolf Hitler and that Denis Guyer is a neo-Nazi!
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Denis E. Guyer's attacks against me for befriending a Jewish woman during a summer job we worked in together during the Summer of 1996 will never be forgotten!
Denis Guyer has messed with the wrong person: Jonathan Alan Melle. I will always speak my good conscience as long as I live! I will always stand for Human Rights for ALL Peoples. I will always work to end hate-filled and racist politicians' careers. I will stop Denis E. Guyer's political career!
I strongly believe that if Denis E. Guyer rises to higher political positions then more and more people(s) who will come to speak out against him and his charismatic deceptions will be persecuted through his vicious acts of hate, violence and racism.
Denis Guyer must be stopped now before it is too late. If Denis Guyer is not stopped now, then decades from now, historians will look back on my forewarnings against Denis E. Guyer's neo-Nazi politics that will have caused the persecutions of many peoples who will come to oppose him.
PLEASE DO NOT TURN The United States of America into the next Nazi Germany by keeping silent against Denis Guyer's persecution, hate, racism, violence and insider politics. YOUR SILENCE WILL NOT PROTECT YOU FOR LONG AGAINST THE IGNORANCE OF DENIS GUYER!
-Jonathan Alan Melle
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8/19/2007
The Franklin County Republican Club Blog:
www.fcgop.blogspot.com
has just added Guyer Watch which links you to a record of Rep Denis Guyer's at:
www.guyerwatch.blogspot.com
Again, the Anti-Denis Guyer Blog web-site:
http://www.guyerwatch.blogspot.com/
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DENIS GUYER's 10/20/2007 John Forbes Kerry Fundraiser!
This message was found on Denis Guyer's political web-site:
http://www.denisguyer.com/
Mid-October 2007
On October 20th, 2007, please join U.S. Senator John Kerry at an event at Four Star Farms, 496 Pine Meadow Road, in Northfield to honor Denis E. Guyer, State Representative. Hosted by the L’Etoile Family. General reception - 3:00 to 6:00 pm - Suggested donations $100 - $50. V.I.P. reception - 5:00 to 7:00 pm - $500 - $250. Featuring locally grown produce, food and wine! RSVP to voteguyer@gmail.com. Questions? Please contact Lauren Aquino at LAquino@EvalescoGroup.com or by phone at 774-230-7389. Paid for by Citizens for Denis Guyer - Mary Ward, Treasurer. This event is sponsored through the generosity of the following donors: Sheriff Fred MacDonald, Andrew Baker, Matt Barron, John and Debbie Cevasco, Attorney Ken Chaffee, Robin Conley, Warren Facey, Jr, Patricia Marcus, John Merrigan, Rachel Moore and Harry Dodson, Lenny Roberts, and Josh Simpson. WAYS TO DONATE AND DONATION RULES: RULES FOR CAMPAIGN DONATIONS! YOU CAN MAKE YOUR DONATION THROUGH THE SECURE PAYPAL LINK BELOW OR MAIL YOUR DONATION TO 55 NORWICH DRIVE, DALTON,MA 01226. MAKE CHECKS PAYABLE TO "CITIZENS FOR DENIS GUYER" ONLY. NO CASH DONATIONS ACCEPTED. STATE CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAW REQUIRES THE FOLLOWING: LIMIT OF $500 PER PERSON PER CALENDAR YEAR; MUST BE A U.S. CITIZEN; DONORS GIVING OVER $200 PER CAL YEAR MUST SUPPLY OCCUPATION IF APPLICABLE TO COMMITTEE. CANDIDATE COMMITTEES CANNOT ACCEPT CORPORATE CHECKS; ALL DONORS MUST SUPPLY ADDRESS TO COMMITTEE. Make a donation online! (Donate)
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On US Senator John Forbes Kerry:
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/k000148/
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John Forbes Kerry poses with fellow Golddigger Denis E. Guyer
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"John Kerry’s $230M fortune richest in Congress"
By Dave Wedge, September 23, 2008, www.bostonherald.com, General Politics
Bay State Sen. John F. Kerry is the richest member of Congress with a conservatively estimated net worth of more than $230 million, according to an analysis by a Washington, D.C.-based publication.
Kerry topped Roll Call’s list of Congress’ most wealthy while fellow Bay State Sen. Edward M. Kennedy checked in at No. 9 on the list with an estimated net worth of $47.62 million.
The Capitol Hill political publication based its rankings on financial disclosures that all members of Congress are required to file. Roll Call acknowledged, however, that its math is fuzzy due to vague reporting requirements.
For example, Kerry lists many assets in the category “over $1 million” rather than more specific ranges, such as “$1 million to $5 million,” making it difficult to determine his actual worth. In all, Kerry lists 180 assets, including many in the name of his ketchup heiress wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry.
Kerry, whose net worth was estimated at $1 billion in April by Forbes magazine, declined comment. Christine Hunsiger, spokeswoman for Kerry’s Republican opponent in November, Jeff Beatty, said of the report: “As usual, Senator ‘Cash and Kerry’ sits at the top of all the lists. Massachusetts voters? As usual, we’re at the bottom of Kerry’s list.”
Following Kerry in the wealth rankings are Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) at $225 million; Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) at $160 million; Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W. Va.) at $80.4 million; and Rep. Robin Hayes (R-N.C.) at $79 million.
Kennedy, meanwhile, listed the bulk of his money in a family trust valued at between $25 million and $50 million, in addition to several other multimillion dollar trusts, a $1 million Hyannisport rental property and a piece of Louisiana land.
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www.bostonherald.com/news/national/politics/general/view.bg?articleid=1120890
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Matt Barron is a political consultant and researcher.
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10/25/2007
Dear Denis "Golddigger" Guyer:
What happened to/with your 10/20/2007, up to $500-per-rich-person, web-page/web-postings of/for your most recent Northfield, Massachusetts, campaign fundraiser hosted by the uber-elitist Massachusetts POL born with a silver spoon not only in his mouth, but also, buried up his ass: U.S. Senator John Forbes Kerry?
Denis E. "Golddigger!" Guyer, How did your most recent fundraiser hosted by John Forbes Kerry go? How many people showed up? How much blood money did you raise for your trivial political career that I am going to someday legally and legitimately STOP by exposing to the entire WORLD the bad, evil, monstrous...person whom you really and truly are?
I AM GOING TO legally and legitimately STOP YOU, DENIS GUYER, before you are able to hurt anymore people, especially on a large scale basis. I am going to legally and legitimately STOP YOU, DENIS GUYER, before you climb any further up the elitist political ladder of money and power!
You are my #1 Political ENEMY! I hate you, Denis E. Guyer, more than I dislike Luciforo!
I will continue to post negative comments against you on my new Blog. I will always speak out against your Hitlerian, neo-Nazi, fascist, insider-politics of racism, violence and HATE!
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There will be more and more...emails from me to you, et al, to come!
I will always speak my good conscience as long as I live.
I have a new email address for you. Please read the new email address I have for you, Denis E. "Golddigger!" Guyer, below my name.
In DISGUST!
Jonathan A. Melle
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www.denisguyer.com
http://www.mainstreetmail.com/signup/index.phplistID=229&redirect=http://www.denisguyer.com
Join the Guyer E-News email list.
Type in your email address below and click Submit.
An email confirmation will be sent to you.
Field: DenisGuyerIsAnASSOHOLE@neonazi_golddigger_SoB!.com
(Submit) - "NEVER!"
We respect your privacy and at no time will we share personal information gathered from you.
www.denisguyer.com
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JOHN FORBES KERRY's CORPORATE ELITE GAME: KERRYOPOLY!
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Modeled on the popular board game, "Kerryopoly" allows the viewer to roll dice to move around a game board, landing on Kerry's properties and possessions. Included are John Forbes Kerry's houses, jet, bicycle and haircuts. All claims about the price of Kerry's possessions are cited with news sources.
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CAMPAIGN TRAIL: Denis Guyer
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http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4138523798218791030
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VIDEO: 30 min - Nov 1, 2006 -
Rob Riggan goes on the road with Denis Guyer, the Dalton Democrat who is running for re-election as state representative for the Second Berkshire District in Massachusetts. A Falls Cable Corp. production
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VIDEO: Denis Guyer
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http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7567070710353830114
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VIDEO: 60 min - Sep 27, 2007
An interview with Massachusetts state Rep. Denis Guyer, Democrat from Dalton, who discusses the proposed high-speed Internet bond issue, Governor Deval Patrick's recently revealed stance on casino gambling, and open meeting, public records and ethics laws. Shelburne Falls Independent Editor and Publisher Jeff Potter hosts the show.
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The following is Denis E. Guyer's open letter on his political web-site. This message was found on Denis Guyer's political web-site:
http://www.denisguyer.com/
Mid-October 2007
Dear Friends,
In November 2006 I was fortunate to have been reelected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives to represent the Second Berkshire District. The Second Berkshire District is geographically the largest district in the Massachusetts House, consisting of twenty-one towns that span through Berkshire, Franklin and Hampshire counties in western Massachusetts.
I currently serve on three joint legislative committees; Municipalities and Regional Government, Natural Resources Agriculture and the Environment, and Steering, Policy and Scheduling. These committees are very reflective of the needs and issues that are important to my district and to making a difference in the towns I serve.
Thanks for visiting my website. I hope to use this website as a way to reach out to my constituents to relay and share information about state government and the issues important to you!
This website will be updated frequently with new information concerning legislation or legislative actions that are pending. Click on the "current information & recent news" icon to see the most current news.
While you are here, I hope that you will sign up for the Guyer e-newsletter. This e-newsletter is the BEST way for you to keep in touch with what is happening on Beacon Hill. To sign up just click on the "sign up to get the Guyer e-news" icon.
Please bookmark this page and check back here often to review the site and contact me with any feedback you have.
Once again, thanks for visiting. Please keep in touch.
Regards,
Denis E. Guyer
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Denis E. Guyer
Born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, July 11, 1966.
Denis has one son, Charles David (Charlie), who was born on June 18, 2003. Denis has two brothers; Jeff of Pittsfield, Massachusetts and Edward of Greensboro, North Carolina. Denis' mother, Louise, lives in Pittsfield Massachusetts.
In 1984 Denis graduated from Pittsfield High School, and having worked many years as a "non traditional" adult student, Denis currently attends the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, North Adams.
Denis served for six years in the United States Air Force (1984 - 1990), and his service included a two-year tour of duty in Europe. Denis was honorably discharged at the rank of sergeant and received numerous awards, medals and honors during the time he served his country.
Denis began working for Crane & Company of Dalton in 1992 as a production worker in Crane’s Pioneer paper mill and worked his way through the company, eventually becoming a purchasing agent for Crane responsible for procurring $3 million a year in goods and services from outside suppliers located worldwide.
He was elected to serve as a Dalton selectman in May 2001, and he served as Chairman of Dalton's five-member Select Board. Dalton has an annual town municipal expense budget of around $10 million, a population of 6,800, with approximately 60 municipal employees.
Denis has also served (2001-2004) as the Dalton representative for the Housatonic River Restoration(HRR) Governing Council. Denis has vast experience with river and water quality issues. As part of an HRR sub committee, he has reviewed remediation programs and awarded grant proposals. These grants were used to help fund community-based river education programs and projects.
Denis is a previous appointed member of the Dalton Industrial and Development Commission, which is a commission focused on "smart" community growth and economic development initiatives. While on the committee Denis worked to help secure a Community Development Block Grant for Dalton that continues to benefit the community.As Chairman of the Dalton Website Committee and helped create Dalton's first official municipal website giving Dalton an online presence.
On November 2, 2004 Denis was elected as the State Representative for the Second Berkshire District and was reelected in 2006. Denis currently serves on three joint committees in the legislature; Municipalities and Regional Government, Natural Resources Environment and Agriculture and Steering, Policy and Scheduling.
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About the Staff
I am fortunate enough to have two talented staff people assisting me.
Lindsay M. Rowe has served as my Legislative Aide since January of 2005. Lindsay mainly works out of the District Office. Lindsay grew up in Dalton and graduated from Wahconah Regional High School. She attended Bryn Mawr College, where she graduated with a major in Political Science in 2004.
Amanda F. MacDonald joined my staff in February of 2007 in the position of Administrative Aide. Amanda graduated from Providence College in 2006 with a major in Political Science and a minor in Theology. Her previous legislative experience includes working with the Rhode Island Childhood Lead Action Project.
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9/10/2007
Dear Denis E. "Gold-Digger" Guyer, News Media, Politicians, & the People:
On Saturday evening, I went over my parents house for dinner. My mom apprised me that she received another anonymous letter disclosing a recent anti-Denis "Gold-Digger" Guyer email I sent out in response to an iBerkshires.com news article profiling the bullying Dalton, Massachusetts State Representative.
My mom is a cancer survivor twice over! On 9/18/2006 (last year), she had a breast removed. Next week, on 9/17/2007, I am going to drive my mother to Dana Farber in Boston, Massachusetts for two medical appointments that day. By me keeping my mother company, letting her relax while I drive through Boston traffic, and reaffirm to her that she will be O.K. despite the odds against her, I will be HELPING my mother through a recurring difficult situation. I hope she will be O.K. At least I will try my best to help my mother in her recovery.
THAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BULLIES LIKE DENIS E. GUYER, and a GOOD MAN like Jonathan Melle! I help people, I care, I choose love over hate, I try my best...!
I could go on about my negative feelings against Denis E. Guyer and Pols like him right now, but I am going to leave at that. I am GOOD, Denis E. Guyer is not! You make the choice in whom to believe when Denis E. Guyer spreads racist, violent, vicious, mean-spirited, and the like, rumors against me, and hurts other people in the process.
In Truth,
Jonathan A. Melle
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August 23, 2007
Dear Denis E. Guyer:
I have one word to describe your (Denis E. Guyer's) character: ASSHOLE!
Here is my profile of you:
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Denis E. Guyer grew up as a poor child in Pittsfield, Massachusetts who then went into the U.S. Military right after high school to escape poverty. Guyer made Sergeant in the Air Force by learning how to "kiss ass", not doing the right thing. After 6 years in the Air Force, Guyer had enough of "kissing ass" or serving his country, and then he decided to move back to his native hometown. After working for low wages at Crane & Company, Denis E. Guyer met Allison Crane, who has a lot of money (Millions of Dollars). Denis E. Guyer knew that if he married a wealthy woman, then he would not have to worry about being poor anymore. In the late 1990's, Denis E. Guyer married the aforementioned wealthy Dalton woman for her money, not for love.
With an ASSHOLE like Denis E. Guyer, he doesn't understand what love is. After marrying Allison Crane, Denis E. Guyer decided to start a trivial political career. After all, the true banality of Pittsfield politics was always and still is that the Crane Family has always been the "Corporate Elite Masters" of this working class community for over 200 years and counting. Denis E. Guyer started out by being elected to the Selectmen Board in Allison's Dalton. In 2003, Denis E. Guyer started a "grassroots" campaign for 2nd Berkshire State Representative. The contradiction of this campaign was that while he was for state governmental reforms, Denis Guyer would not rule out voting for Tom Finneran for Speaker of the State House of Representatives -- like his 3 other Berkshire State House counterparts had done in the past: Smitty Pignatelli, Peter J. Larkin, & Dan Bosley! Earlier in 2003, via the FY04 Massachusetts State Budget, Speaker Finneran killed Clean Elections--a voluntary campaign finance reform program that had been approved by 2/3 Berkshire County Voters in a Fall of 1998 referendum.
Denis E. Guyer's politics started to smell like the ASSHOLE that Denis E. Guyer has now proven himself to be in both his personal and political life. In late November of 2003, I spoke out against Guyer's contradictions, and he took my freedom of dissent personally. We made up in the early winter of 2004, and through his convictions for change, Denis Guyer inspired me to run for Berkshire State Senator against the corrupted incumbent Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr. (aka Luciforo). I took out nomination papers, introduced Denis Guyer at local political events, and shared his message for change. Unfortunately, Berkshire County Sheriff Carmen C. Massimiano, Jr., et al (The Pittsfield Political Machine), intimidated me from seeking the Berkshire State Senate seat, and so I decided to drop out of the race, get out of "Dodge", and move to NH to live with my family (where the Carpenters rule Manchester, NH like the Cranes rule Pittsfield, MA. Interestingly, Tim Carpenter of Northampton, Massachusetts then rejected my political email letters after my falling out with Guyer in the Summer of 2004).
Denis Guyer and I kept up email correspondences, but parted ways as Denis Guyer's message changed for the worse after Shaun Kelly dropped out of the election. I was duped (again) by Denis E. Guyer's deceptive campaign messages. I became upset with Denis Guyer, and so I wrote an angry email letter against Matt Barron for his support of "Finneran Democrats" like Pignatelli, Larkin & Bosley, et al. Denis Guyer went onto win the State Representative election and has served in this seat since January of 2005.
Denis E. Guyer has personally attacked me many times since the Summer of 2004, including when he used the word "Pussy" against me in front of women and children at the now late-Judi Loeb's home in Becket, Massachusetts during a Denis Guyer rural campaign event in late-July of 2004; then, Denis Guyer spread untrue, one-sided rumors against me to the Pittsfield area, by telling many local people at the Bosquet Ski area on July 23, 2005, that, "Jonathan Melle belongs in a psychiatric institutions, and that I (Denis Guyer) hope that he (Jonathan Melle) does not receive his Veterans Benefits because all that he did was stalk a Jewish woman from Otis [Massachusetts]." Then, in September of 2006, during a visit from U.S. Senator John Forbes Kerry, Denis E. Guyer's campaign worker, Peter Marchetti (the great nephew of my maternal grandmother), spread the one-sided rumor against me to the political people of the Pittsfield area that I dropped out of the Berkshire State Senate race against Luciforo because my grandmother asked me to leave her then-Pittsfield home. For the past 3+ years, Denis E. Guyer has proven himself to be an ASSHOLE by sexually harassing me in front of women and children, discriminating against me for my mental health disability, spreading untrue, one-sided, anti-semetic rumors against me to try to incite violence against my family and myself in particular, and, lastly, slandering me again about my relationship with my elderly, maternal grandmother through one of his campaign workers, who bears familial relations with me.
Well, Denis E. Guyer, you messed with the wrong man! I will always speak my good conscience against you for as long as I live. You are a DEMONSTRABLE: (a) racist against Jewish People,...
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(b) you are sexually harassing towards women, (c) you are inappropriate around children, (d) you are sleazy, (e) you are a Golddigger, (f) you are a Bully, and (g) YOU DON'T SCARE ME FROM SPEAKING OUT ABOUT THE REAL ASSHOLE THAT YOU HAVE PROVEN YOURSELF TO BE BOTH IN YOUR OWN LIFE & IN POLITICS!
I HATE YOU (Denis E. Guyer) MORE THAN I DISLIKE LUCIFORO! While at least Nuciforo has some class, despite his corrupted quest for political power, you, DENIS E. GUYER, are an ASSHOLE! DENIS E. GUYER IS MY ENEMY #1. DENIS E. GUYER IS A NAZI POLITICIAN -- THE SECOND COMING OF ADOLF HITLER -- WHO USES RACISM AND VIOLENCE (like terrorists) TO ACHIEVE HIS VISION FOR A SCARY, VIOLENT, EXTREMIST, HATE-FILLED WORLD. I hope that I, Jonathan A. Melle, am able to stop Denis E. Guyer now rather than later when many will suffer his classless indignities rather than just a few.
I AM A GOOD MAN! I, Jonathan A. Melle, am the opposite of Denis E. Guyer in both my personal and political life! I am like F.D.R. or Winston Churchill, while Denis E. Guyer is like Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin! I am happy that I live on my own level, not at the indecent low level that Denis Guyer really lives on, despite his many false pretenses. I am happy that the people know the truth about you, DENIS E. GUYER: YOU ARE AN ASSHOLE!
In Dissent,
Jonathan A. Melle
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"Luciforo" predictably swears in Good Old Boy James M. Ruberto on an early-January of 2008 day for his third consecutive term as the hack Mayor of the City of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, which is a city/town economically controlled by the Crane Family of Crane & Company--founded 1805.
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Legislator Profiles: Denis Guyer
By Jen Thomas - August 22, 2007
(Rep. Denis Guyer discussed his future plans at his office on Tuesday afternoon.)
This is the first in a series profiling the unique individuals who compose the Berkshire delegation. Keep checking iBerkshires.com to see your representatives profiled.
DALTON - Responsible for the largest district in the state, Rep. Denis E. Guyer has his work cut out for him.
“One of my biggest challenges is the actual number of communities. Trying to be everywhere at once is a challenge in itself,” said the Dalton Democrat, who represents 21 towns in Berkshire, Franklin and Hampshire counties, in addition to Precinct B of Ward 1 in Pittsfield.
“Some weeks I wish it were smaller, but I have a very diverse district. I get to tackle issues relative to a city like Pittsfield and then issues relative to a town like Peru - it’s these vastly different problems that keep me very interested in the job,” he said.
Just A Normal Guy
Born and raised in Pittsfield, Guyer’s political career started with a simple desire to make a difference.
“I started as a person who was always interested in municipal government and when I moved to Dalton in 2000, I was told to put my money where my mouth is, so I ran for a spot on the Board of Selectmen,” said Guyer. “I wanted to and still want to change things for the better in my community.”
After serving as chairman of the five-member board, Guyer thought he could help facilitate bigger change.
“When I first ran for state representative, I thought I’d never win,” said Guyer, who decided to challenge 14-year Republican incumbent Shaun P. Kelly in 2004 for the 2nd Berkshire seat. “I just thought I’d run and put on a good show.”
Guyer ended up defeating opponent Richard S. Stockwell, who joined the race as the Republican candidate after Kelly dropped out. With 70 percent of the vote, Guyer easily declared victory. He was re-elected to a second two-year term last November by an even larger margin - garnering 88 percent of the vote.
But it wasn’t always so easy. Guyer, 41, and his two younger brothers were raised by a single mother, who was barely able to make ends meet. He joined the Air Force immediately after graduating from Pittsfield High School in 1985.
After six years in the military, Guyer took a job at Crane & Co. as a production worker, eventually becoming a purchasing agent. Until his election to the Legislature, Guyer continued to work at Crane.
He currently attends Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and is five classes shy of receiving a bachelor’s degree in business administration.
Now, Guyer has little free time between his legislative duties and caring for his 4-year-old son, Charlie. When he does get a day off, he spends his time enjoying the outdoors or sitting at home watching the Red Sox.
“I’m just a normal guy and I was unhappy with the way things were going. I wanted to make changes,” he said.
Berkshire County Changes
With mostly rural communities in his district, Guyer, along with the rest of the Berkshire delegation, faces unique challenges, including the lack of broadband access in the western part of the state and dairy farm relief, two key issues in the Statehouse this year.
With legislative measures in place addressing these concerns, Guyer’s next biggest challenge is working on the development of environmentally-friendly and green technologies in Western Mass.
“I’m really focusing on the local growers, farmers, foresters and private landowners who live out here. I want to work to strengthen the relationship between local growers and alternative technology initiatives,” said Guyer.
With the impending construction of the Berkshire Biodiesel plant at the Ashuelot Park industrial area in Dalton and Pittsfield, Guyer believes the Berkshires will have the perfect opportunity to provide incentives and programs to allow the use of local harvested materials for biomass facilities.
“The environment is the makeup of my district. With the rivers and streams, the forested areas, the mountain ranges - I want to keep it in the forefront,” said Guyer, who serves on the House’s Joint Committee on Natural Resources, Environment and Agriculture.
As part of the cultural renaissance of the Berkshires, Guyer is proud that towns in his district are able to benefit from the new emphasis on a “creative economy.”
“I think people have recognized that these cultural and tourism-related organizations are economic engines in communities. Some of the smallest towns are part of this creative economy,” he said, using Ashfield’s Double Edge Theatre as an example of a thriving cultural attraction in Western Massachusetts.
The Berkshires, Boston and Beyond
With at least one more year to serve, Guyer is excited to continue working for the people in his large and spread out district.
“I love my job,” he said. “I’ll do it as long as they have me.”
Jen Thomas can be reached at jthomas at iberkshires dot com or at (413) 663-3384, Ext. 23.
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6/14/2005
Dear Honorable Denis Guyer,
I am in dissent over your comments concerning you sympathy for former-House Speaker Tom Finneran, as well as your worries that the State House Chamber will suffer if he is found guilty of "whitening" several state House district seats in minority areas. What Finneran did was wrong!
When I travelled far (back to the Berkshires) last summer to personally wish you well in your state Rep. campaign last summer, you made fun of me for being a disabled Veteran. You had no sympathy for my ordeals with the VA. You made unfair sexual comments about me in front of women and children. You did not know what I went through and the specifics of my case for Veterans benefits, nor did you take the time to ask me about them. You made me feel very uncomfortable and awkward. You are a mean-spirited son of a bitch! Go ahead and press charges. I have some to press against you, too, Denis Guyer--the biggest phony ever to come into the political world!
In very strong dislike,
Jonathan Melle
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"Pols pump up our taxes: Get paid for drive to work"
By Dave Wedge, Boston Herald Chief Enterprise Reporter
Monday, June 4, 2007
SEIZING THE DIEM
Beacon Hill Lawmakers have raked in nearly $200,000 in daily per diem travel pay since January (2007).
Here are some of the top earners -
Massachusetts State House:
1. Rep. DANIEL E. BOSLEY (D-North Adams) $6,930
2. Rep. DENIS E. GUYER (D-Dalton) $6,396 (Also #5 for most paid days--78 at $82 per day)
3. Rep. William "Smitty" Pignatelli (D-Lenox) $4,860
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5/8/2007
Re: "Return Nilan to parks board" (Editorial, The Berkshire Eagle, 5/8/2007): I feel that while Cliff Nilan is a good person, he would do the bidding (or dirty business) of Pittsfield's good old boy network if push came to shove. What I mean is that Cliff Nilan is a good person with the caveat of having a M.O. He does love Pittsfield and her parks, but he is NOT a leader and I do not believe he should be put in any position of authority because when pressured, he will follow the perversely-incentivized agenda of Pittsfield's good old boy network.
This last piece of analysis of Cliff Nilan's flawed political style leads me to the reason why Cliff Nilan was nominated in the first place. Pittsfield's Mayor Jimmy Ruberto has demonstrably proven himself to be a good old boy politician and play the role that makes Pittsfield into a "SMALL" city. It is more important for Mayor Ruberto to have loyalty and be part of the good old boy network and win old grudges against past and current political opponents than it is for him to have a free and open government, a constituency that does not live in fear of political persecutions, and a diverse, fresh and new make up to the community's government. To illustrate, in Nazi Germany, it was more important for the fascist government to expel Jewish People and other minorities. The Allied nations, such as the USA, took in scientist like Albert Einstein, who gave us new technologies and scientific tools to win World War II and better our way of civilian life after we won the war.
I had long talks about Cliff Nilan and his good old boy network Pittsfield Insider buddies with my dad. My dad disagrees with my negative feelings against Cliff Nilan. I explained to my dad that while Cliff Nilan never did anything to me, it is his M.O. that I fear. If this makes any sense, I told my dad that some people think differently than my dad and I. To illustrate, before the media fixated on Monica Lewinsky to hurt Bill Clinton, the media went after a then young Chelsea Clinton, who was born in 1980 and was all of 14 years old at the time. The M.O. of the media was always to hurt Bill Clinton by going after the women he loved in his life, including his then teenage daughter.
By Cliff Nilan's many past and most recent phone calls to my dad, I am at once happy that my dad has a good friend in Cliff, but then again, I wonder if Cliff Nilan is also doing the bidding of the Pittsfield Insiders who tried to (a) ruin my dad's then career at the Pittsfield Courthouse and put his son (me) in the Pittsfield Jail in the Spring of 1998, and (b) relished in the hurtful and slanderous rumors that Denis E. Guyer spread about me to the good people of the Pittsfield area from the Summer of 2004 to the present day. I wonder what Cliff Nilan really wants out of his friendship with my dad?
Maybe I am paranoid, but I have been through a lot of unnecessary bad stuff at the hands of Cliff Nilan's best friend: Carmen C. Massimiano, Jr. over the years. Cliff's buddy Carmen was in on many, if not all, of the negative Pittsfield Political entrapments laid at my feet. In the Spring of 1998, when Luciforo made secret plans with the Pittsfield Police Department to have me jailed without apprising even my father, the ultimate outcome was for me to be in the hands of Berkshire County Sheriff Carmen C. Massimiano, Jr., who would have saw to it that his Jailer Staff and Inmate Population had abused me.
Just think of the perverse incentives against the good of society? My dad fired from his long-term state job and the loss of his state pension, his son (me) rotting behind bars for practicing my Constitutionally protected rights to FREE SPEECH, and the rise of the Hitlerian, Jew-bashing Denis E. Guyer, without anyone knowing that a gold-digging, neo-Nazi, fascist now represents the people of Massachusetts in the State Legislature -- just as Adolf Hitler came to power through democracy, so may not Hitler's second-coming of hate and racism: Denis Guyer! BUT NOW, I am free and living in southern N.H., and with the Internet and a few good friends from the Pittsfield area, I will stop Denis Guyer's path to political power, hate and racism at every turn before Denis Guyer is able to hurt people(s) on a large scale basis!
That last point is the very trouble that I have with Cliff Nilan! Cliff Nilan is in the know. Cliff Nilan is well aware of all of the bad things that have happened to me and others like me in Pittsfield. While the Eagle is right to say that he does not rise to the bait of indecency even to retaliate against those who don't get their way, the Eagle omits or overlooks the fact that Cliff Nilan does not do anything to stop the indecency either. Cliff Nilan holds onto his power in the Pittsfield area by being a "behind the scenes" player. Cliff Nilan knows what is going on in Pittsfield, and if called on, he will do the bidding (or dirty business) of the good old boy network. Now that Mayor Ruberto is placing him in the position of Chair of the Pittsfield Parks Commission, Cliff Nilan will do his part to stay in the good graces of the good old boy network that he, Luciforo, Massimiano and Ruberto are all a part of.
In the end, Cliff Nilan is a good person, but what good is a good person who always caves to the demands of the insiders at the expense of the social and economic benefits of a community and society? I am glad for my dad that Cliff Nilan is his friend and they talk on the telephone on a regular basis. I just hope that Cliff Nilan doesn't corrupt his good will to my dad by meeting the unethical demand of Luciforo, Massimiano and Ruberto that I become cut off from my dad's care, become homeless, or even worse, put in Jail. While I realize that Cliff Nilan is a good person and would never want to see harm come to me, I know all too well that Luciforo, Massimiano and Ruberto all want to see me suffering in inhumane, base condition where abuse and neglect are my only ways of life. I also know that if push came to shove, Cliff Nilan would line me up in the line of sitting ducks for the Pittsfield insiders, good old boy network, guys to politically, socially and economically persecute until I was either homeless, jailed or totally controlled by their perversely incentived view of community and society.
My feelings on Cliff Nilan are long and complex, indeed. I write about them to you all so that if the day comes when you see me -- a good person -- suffering at the hands of a few lowlife political persecutors, you all will know the backstory. BUT, I stood by my dad when Luciforo tried to ruin him and Jail his son in the Spring of 1998. My dad knows full well that if I go down, it is only an insidious method by the good old boy network in Pittsfield, Massachusetts to then have the advantage and excuse to take him down with me.
My dad's only intent was to serve the people of Berkshire County as one of the last truly elected Berkshire County Commissioners from 1997 - mid-2000. Unlike the career Pols like Luciforo, Massimiano, Guyer and Ruberto, et al, my dad only wanted to help people with a short-term participation in state and local politics. But in the perversely incentived world of Pittsfield (and elsewhere) Politics, the good old boy network frowned upon my dad's outspokenness against corruption, fraud, waste, abuse and top-down, closed door governance that served only the special interests at the all too great expense of the common people.
In closing, I hope all of my writings and Berkshire Blog postings will be enough to hold the Pittsfield, Massachusetts good old boy network in check. I do not want to hurt anyone, including Luciforo, Massimiano, Guyer and/or Ruberto, but I will continue to stand up for myself and my dad if they try to hurt one or both of us, and that stand includes standing up against Cliff Nilan and his good old boy network M.O.!
In Truth,
Jonathan A. Melle
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THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE
"Return Nilan to parks board"
Editorial
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Clifford J. Nilan's 26 years of experience on the Pittsfield Parks Commission and his obvious love for the city and its parks make him an ideal candidate to replace Michael P. Filpi, who resigned from the commission for health reasons with six months left on his five-year term. The manner in which Mr. Nilan comported himself as commission chairman during the contentious debate about bringing an independent league baseball team to the city in 2003 speaks well of his candidacy. When Mr. Nilan asked tough but fair questions of suitor Jim Bouton, Mr. Bouton responded with personal attacks that Mr. Nilan did not lower himself to respond to in kind. His professional demeanor and institutional knowledge will benefit the commission, and we hope the City Council tonight will support Mayor Ruberto's nomination of him to rejoin the board after a four-year absence.
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"Guyer wants to connect communities"
By Jenn Smith, Berkshire Eagle Staff
Article Launched:11/01/2006
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
DALTON — Though he's had a rather brief political career, an election with Denis E. Guyer always seems to stand out.
His first run for public office was for the Dalton Select Board, which he won by only 43 votes.
Two years ago, in his first bid to be a state representative, Guyer, D-Dalton, won his seat by a wide margin of defeat over his Republican opponent, Richard S. Stockwell, allowing Democrats to reclaim the 2nd Berkshire District after a 14-year reign by former Republican Rep. Shaun P. Kelly.
This time around, the incumbent Denis Guyer faces off with challenger Stefan G. Racz, I-Buckland, in the lone contested House race in the county.
"I've been doing pretty good," said Denis Guyer. "I've been out there working hard, going to community events and working with people. I'm just letting people know I'd really like to be re-elected."
But to rally the residents of the district is to reach diverse populations and cover extensive ground.
Covering three counties — Berkshire, Franklin and Hampshire — and including 21 towns and Ward 1B of Pittsfield, the district has more communities than any other district in the state.
This district also has a particularly large number of unenrolled voters. According to current figures from the Office of the Secretary of State and the Pittsfield Registrar's Office, there are 26,828 registered voters in the district, 59.2 percent of whom are unenrolled.
"The thing about this district is that it's very (economically) diverse," said Guyer. He noted that each community has different needs, from agricultural development in Hancock to community preservation in Dalton to cultural support in Becket.
But, he added, the common need of all the communities is connectivity. He hopes to work toward developing funding strategies which would bring broadband Internet to the district's rural areas.
"It's not an easy venture, but if we can bring more connectivity to these smaller towns I think they will spur smaller businesses," he said.
Denis Guyer said that while he's focused on the issues of economic stimulus, health care, which includes supporting a single-payer system, and the environment, it is education that takes priority.
"I'm talking education funding, education finance reform, coming up with more equitable funding formula. Regional transportation funding is a big thing for my small towns. I'm going to push what needs to happen," he said.
Denis Guyer, a founding member of the Berkshire Compact for Higher Education, is not only a supporter but an example of supporting and funding lifelong learning.
Growing up in a single-parent home on April Lane in Pittsfield, he witnessed how that, even with free and reduced tuition programs, impoverished students still have to worry about things like living expenses and textbook fees. He felt then college wasn't an option.
After graduating from Pittsfield High School in 1984, he entered the Air Force with which he served for six years, including a two-year tour of duty in Europe. He was honorably discharged at the rank of sergeant with a number of awards.
In 1992, he began working as a production worker at the Pioneer paper mill for Crane & Co. in Dalton. While there, he saw a flyer for Berkshire Community College and began taking courses. Eventually, he became a purchasing agent for Crane & Co.
He is currently five classes away from receiving a bachelor of arts degree from the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams.
If re-elected, Guyer said he will continue to live in Dalton with his wife, Allison Crane-Guyer, and their 3-year-old son, Charlie, and maintain his office on Depot Street.
Between now and Nov. 7, he said his strategy is simple, "Work hard, stay true to your values and keep smiling."
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Thursday, 26 October, 2006
Re: I am very upset with Denis E. GUYER!
Dear Denis E. Guyer:
I am very upset with you. Some of the things you have said against me have caused me great distress and I am thinking about acquiring a criminal attorney and prosecuting you for your reprehensible slanderous rumors that you and your trivial political machine cohorts have spread against me in the Pittsfield area. I grew up in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and I hope that I may be seen by the Pittsfield residents as a good man, not what you have falsely portrayed me as. Denis E. GUYER: You have done the following to me: (a) you asked. in late July of 2004, me in front of women and children if I got some "Pussy" at the "Pussy Cat Parlor" when I was in the U.S. Army - Europe. CHILDREN, Denis E. Guyer! How could you ask me that question in front of children? Moreover, I view your question as sexual harassment and harassment; (b) at the July 23rd, 2005 Berkshire Brigades Bousquet Democratic Party gathering you went around telling women and children that I belong in a psychiatric institution and I should not receive my VA Benefits because I "stalked" a Jewish woman from Otis, Massachusetts,...
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and that you hope I am denied my VA Benefits; (c) You had your political machine pawn named Peter Marchetti go around the Crowne Plaza gathering hosting U.S. Senator John F. Kerry telling all of the political establishment that my elderly grandmother did not want me to live with her anymore in her then Pittsfield home. DENIS: You have a demonstrable pattern of harassment against me. I ask that you stop harassing me while you are still ahead. If your harassment continues and/or escalate, I will make it my personal mission in life to expose your devious behavior against me and also place you where you belong in life: BEHIND BARS! Moreover, DENIS E. GUYER, please consider being a man and admit to the people, politicians and news media that you are harassing me and that you will try to stop your criminal behavior and maybe even have the courage enough to issue me and all of the people you have spread these slanderous rumors to about me an apology.
Denis E. Guyer, you are a mean-spirited son of a bitch and I hate you! You are an asshole and I hope that Karma gives you that which you have given me and possilby other victims of your criminal behavior and past!
In Truth,
Jonathan A. Melle
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At the Bousquet Ski Resort in Pittsfield, Massachusetts during the Massachusetts Democratic State Convention on July 23, 2005, Denis E. Guyer spread vicious, hurtful, racist, violent, hate-filled rumors against me (Jonathan Melle) that "I (Jonathan Melle) stalked a `Jewish' woman from Otis, [Massachusetts]"...
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and that "I (Jonathan Melle) belong in a pyschiatric institution."
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Denis E. Guyer is racist against the Jewish People! Denis Guyer is the second coming of Adolf Hitler! PLEASE take a brave stand for Human Rights for ALL Peoples & STOP DENIS GUYER NOW while he is still starting in politics.
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9/14/2006
Re: Denis GUYER: I know of your devious methods of your collective attacks against my good name in the Pittsfield area!
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Re: Peter Marchetti's bad-mouthing of me at the September 8th, 2006 Berkshire Brigades Democratic Party Dinner hosting United States Senator John Forbes Kerry at the Crowne Plaza Hotel
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Dear Denis E. GUYER, BERKSHIRE BLOGGERS, the News Media, Politicians, & the People:
Will Denis E. GUYER ever STOP?! The newest attack on me to the people of the Pittsfield area has come from one of his campaign workers: Peter Marchetti, who is related to me on my maternal side of my family through one of my 97-year-old grandmother's siblings. Like Tim Kiely, who was and continues to be GUYER's campaign manager, and who harbors very stong ill-will towards me, Peter Marchetti is doing GUYER's dirty work.
What did Peter Marchetti do? On September 8th, 2006, the Berkshire Brigades Democratic Party hosted a countywide community dinner hosting John Kerry. Peter Marchetti, who now serves as a Pittsfield City Councilor by ousting Pam Malumphy in the 2005 municipal elections, went around to the most prominent of community leaders, including the distinguished former Mayor, Remo Del Gallo, and told everyone (in the tradition of Denis E. Guyer and Tim Kiely) that I wanted to live with my grandmother at her Pittsfield area, but that she did not want me to live with her so I had to leave.
In of itself, one would ask, What is the big deal? My answer is that this is one of many, many, many attacks on me from the Denis E. GUYER political campaign, office and machine. Tim Kiely has harassed me at a 2004 GUYER campaign dinner by walking by me at my dinner table and tapping his hand twice against my chair. This was after Tim Kiely discriminated against me as my boss at a job I worked in Pittsfield from 2001 - 2002. Tim Kiely did not like me because I have an Italian last name and would use the racist word "Wop" against me. When I complained that he was discriminating and harassing me and others at my job, he retaliated against me through lies and blacklistings so my employment would get terminated and I would have difficulty finding employment. Tim Kiely told me that he married his then wife in Dalton because her parent's left her a trust fund and home where even the property taxes were paid through his then wife's trust fund. Tim Kiely told me that if his wife ever stops being his "Sugar Mommy" then all he is going to do is find another wealthy woman to marry. Tim Kiely fits into the mold of Denis E. GUYER's politics because he is nothing more than a GOLD-DIGGER like Denis E. GUYER, who married Allison Crane for her wealth, power and trust fund accounts!
Denis E. GUYER has a long history of attacking me, especially in front of women and children. Denis E. GUYER uses sexually inappropriate language and slandering incriminating accusations against me all in the presence of women and children. Denis E. GUYER has used the word "Pussy" in front of women and children to sexually harass me and make me feel uncomfortable in the presence of women and children, whom I respect and honor, unlike Denis E. GUYER. Moreover, Denis E. GUYER, at the July 23, 2005 Bousquet Berkshire Brigades Democratic Party event hosting statewide Democrat candidates told many people there that I belong in a psychiatric institution because the U.S. President, George W. Bush, ordered me a hearing one block from the White House the previous summer of 2004 for my Veterans Benefits based on my mental health Honorable Discharge from the U.S. Army. Denis E. GUYER went on to slander me by saying that I "stalked" a Jewish woman from Otis and I don't deserve to be entitled to my Veterans Benefits. I am bothered by Denis E. GUYER's slander of me because I have never been arrested, charged, or convicted of any crime, including the false accusations he made against me, once again, in front of women and children, and, lastly, not in my personal presence.
So, I conclude that Peter Marchetti's bad-mouthing of me at the September 8th, 2006 Crowne Plaze Berkshire Bridade Democratic Party dinner hosting U.S. Senator John Forbes Kerry is a big deal because it is yet another attack against my good name by Denis E. GUYER & company in the Pittsfield area.
For the record, I lived with my grandmother from August 25, 2003 to April 6, 2004. My parent's moved to New Hampshire, where I soon followed to live with my family from April 7, 2004 to the current time and beyond, and I stayed behind because I liked living in the Berkshires and I wanted to help my elderly grandmother. About 2-months before I left my elderly grandmother's home, she had a diabetic blood sugar count of over 600. Normal blood sugar counts should be between 60 - 120. If a blood sugar count rises above 1,000 then a diabetic patient is endangered and the likelihood of death is imminent. My grandmother's doctor called and I answered the phone. They told me that my grandmother needed to go to Berkshire Medical Center for immediate treatment. My grandmother resisted my request that she get into my car so I can save her health and possibly her life. I called my maternal Aunt, whom I have been bitterly estranged from since 1996, who was visiting my other maternal Aunt in Lanesboro to come over my grandmother's home so I would have her help in getting her to cooperate with me to get her to the hospital. My estranged Aunt and I worked together to get my grandmother ready and I helped to put her in my Aunt's car so she could get the help she needed in lowering her rising blood sugar diabetic count. Needless to say that my then 94-year-old grandmother recovered from her diabetic illness and over 2-years later she is now a healthy 97-year-old happy and healthy senior citizen. Earlier this year, my grandmother sold her home in Pittsfield because she was too old to live alone there. My grandmother now lives with her son (and my Uncle) George Tremblay in the beautiful Ocean State of Rhode Island. God Bless her for living so long! I am proud to say that I helped my grandmother in her old age! I love my grandmother and want the best for her. I hope she makes it to 100 years and beyond!
Denis E. GUYER: You and your pack of henchmen can tell powerful Pittsfield politicians and community leaders that I am a bad man all the live long day. You and Tim Kiely and any of your other GOLD-DIGGER country club guy friends can kick me around and spit on my face, but there is one thing you will never be able to do to me, and that is to bring me down to your level of childish and immature behavior.
I, JONATHAN A. MELLE, AM A GOOD MAN! With the woman you referred to in your slandering of me, I went to the Massachusetts State Police to resolve the negative situation of domestic dispute and possible relationship violence. Needless to say that the woman you are referring to was married and living a productive life the last I have heard of her from her mother back in 2002. With the psychiatric institution remarks that you say I belong in, I disobeyed illegal orders as a Soldier in the U.S. Army in order to prevent tragedy and to save lives. When the current President of the United States of America sends me his regards and orders me a hearing so I may have my Veterans Benefits, I have far and above risen above your petty level of attacks. When my grandmother was ill with a 600 blood sugar diabetes count, I was there to help her to get medical care and she is still alive and well today.
I believe that democracy and the American tradition of living a good life means being a good man or a good woman! I believe that Denis E. GUYER is a GOLD-DIGGER and his country club guy friends are real political hacks who are following an agenda set forth my state Senator Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr., in May of 1996 and carried on my Denis E. GUYER since the Fall of 2003. I may not be married to a trust fund "Sugar Mommy" wife like you are, Denis E. GUYER, and I may be struggling to even survive. I may be considered a "loser" by your opportunistic standards, but there is one thing that I am not: and what I am not is someone like you, Denis E. GUYER. I believe in loving God and Country so much that I stand by my principles and take the time to write a response to you and your country club political cohorts so that the American People can know who was, is and always will be on their side: A good man by my good name: JONATHAN ALAN MELLE!
In Truth,
Jonathan A. Melle
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3/9/2006
Re: End the Legacy of Denis Guyer's political career now!
Dear Berkshire Bloggers,
I am writing to ask that we reflect on just who Denis E. Guyer is and what he has done in his tenure in municipal and state government politics. DENIS GUYER is a VICIOUS and MEAN-SPIRITED MAN!
Who is Denis Guyer? The answer is simply that he is a GOLD DIGGER! Why? Because Denis Guyer sought out ALLISON CRANE for her money, status and connections. I don't believe for one minute that a VICIOUS and MEAN-SPIRITED man like Denis Guyer married for love. I do believe that he married for wealth, power and political gain.
2-years-ago, Denis Guyer initially challenged Shaun Kelly for State Representative. On what grounds did Guyer criticize Kelly? For one was the issue of the many pay raises that Legislature voted themselves at the same time of declining state financial resources to town governments such as his hometown of Dalton. Even before taking the oath of office in December of 2004, Denis Guyer then stated that he would accept a large pay raise upon assuming political office the following month. WHAT A HYPOCRITE!
Denis Guyer SEXUALLY HARASSED me in front of women and children in the Summer of 2004. The language, including the word "Pussy", and accusations he used against me in front of women and children showed me that DENIS GUYER has no decency!
Look at the man: (1) GOLD-DIGGER!, (2) HYPOCRITE!, (3) POLITICAL OPPORTUNIST!... Moreover, Denis Guyer has slandered me to the whole Pittsfield area and did not back up his incriminating allegations against me with the police, courts and/or psychiatric institutions. I have addressed Denis Guyer's VICIOUS and MEAN-SPIRITED behaviors against me in many past email letters, but Denis Guyer only sits in silence after his outspoken desecration of my character to the many good people of my native hometown and surrounding area.
DENIS GUYER is like another JOHN ASHCROFT, JOSEPH McCARTHY, CARMEN MASSIMIANO, Jr., ANDREA F. NUCIFORO, Jr., and the like. DENIS GUYER HAS NO DECENCY. The LEGACY of DENIS GUYER is one of FASCISM, VICIOUSNESS, MEAN-SPIRTED-ness, MACHINE POLITICS, the Inciting of Violence, the Slandering of good people's Character, Gold-Digging, HYPOCRISY, and Political Opportunism!
PLEASE VOTE DENIS GUYER OUT OF POLITICAL OFFICE in 2006. End the LEGACY of DENIS GUYER NOW!
Sincerely,
Jonathan A. Melle
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16-DECEMBER-2005
Re: The Becket, Massachusetts, Man Who Criminally-Threatened Me (Jonathan Melle) For Befriending his Daughter during The Summer of 1996. This is what Denis E. Guyer was referring to when he slandered my name to the good people of Pittsfield, Massachusetts at The Massachusetts State Democratic Party's July 23, 2005, Meeting at Bousquet Ski (Summer) Resort.
I had lunch with my mother yesterday and she told me of the woman whom Denis Guyer is referring to. I won't state her name because she too is a victim of Denis Guyer's slander and the real criminal's threatening behavior.
In 1996, I became friends, and nothing more than just friends, with a woman in Becket, Massachusetts. This woman's father threatened me very badly for befriending his daughter. He would viciously point his finger at me every time we met. He would viciously verbally assault me with the most degrading of put-downs. He even threatened to assault me. One day, this man showed up at a bank I was doing business in, pointed his finger at me, put me down, and by the time I left the bank I was shaking with fear of my life. After this point, any contact I had with the woman I had befriended was overtoned by her father telling me to stay out of here. This went on for over 3 years. Finally, the Massachusetts State Police intervened. They stopped this man from assaulting and harassing me. They ended the friendship I had with this man's daughter. After the police intervened, my mother was viciously threatened by this man, who, according to my mother, all but punched her in her face.
I asked my mother why the Massachusetts State Police do NOT arrest this criminal?
My mother told me that she believes this man is now filtering his violence against me through State Representative Denis E. Guyer. I WANT THIS VIOLENCE TO END RIGHT NOW!
Please forward my message to the Berkshire County District Attorney's Office, the Massachusetts State Police, and other appropriate Law Enforcement Officials! I will travel to Massachusetts to turn myself in if I committed any crimes, including sending this email.
STOP HARASSING ME DENIS E. GUYER!!!!
END THE VIOLENCE NOW!
Sincerely,
Jonathan A. Melle
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5/29/2007
Dear Bloggers:
Timothy G. Kiely is Denis E. Guyer's campaign manager for Dalton State Representative, and I believe Mr. Kiely is the propaganda source for Denis E. Guyer's continual SLANDER against me to the good people in the Pittsfield area.
Tim Kiely was my Citizens Bank Branch Manager from around the tragic day of September 11th, 2001 through April 10th, 2002 -- for about 7-months. Also working for Tim Kiely during that time was a woman named Robin, whose ex-husband worked as a Massachusetts State Police Officer at the Berkshire County District Attorney's Office, who shared inside information about me to Tim Kiely about my past dispute with the Becket woman (who was married in the Summer of 2002), whom Denis E. Guyer racistly refers to in his slanderous rumors he spreads against me, and her vicious and verbally abusive father who threatened to assault me.
Denis E. Guyer and Tim Kiely play dirty politics and conduct themselves for the purposes of gaining political power for blood money for more political power... I hope the people will legally and legitimately STOP such slick, unethical, golddigging Pols, and sorry excuses for human beings, as Denis E. Guyer and Tim Kiely!
For the record, I did the right thing by going to and co-operating with the police to end the domestic violence perpetrated by the vicious father of the Becket woman I had befriended. This woman Denis E. Guyer refers to in his slanderous attacks against me was married in 2002, lives a safe life, and is no threat of danger from me. Denis Guyer tried to incite violence against me by telling many people in the Pittsfield area that "I stalked a Jewish woman from Otis" and that "I belong in a psychiatric institution", and the like.
Throughout my whole life, I have had to deal with hypocritical ASSHOLES like Denis E. Guyer, Tim Kiely, Andy Luciforo, Carmen Massimiano, Cliff Nilan, and the like. I have made the decision in my life to always reject "the Bully Principles", but rather to only work to help people and society.
The following are my GOALS in my LIFE--
JONATHAN A. MELLE's CAREER GOALS:
My career goals focus on helping people and society. I strongly believe in the moral principles of social justice for positive peace. I am committed to helping people both on a local scale with compassion to a global scope with understanding. One way I would be able to accomplish my goals would to become a powerful politician – maybe even a president.
I want to be able to grow with an institution and work towards my own financial independence, or at least self-sufficiency. In my institutional role, I would work with people to listen to the diverse views on social issues and problems in both a caring individual and tolerating group environment.
I hope to use my training in public management to deal with the many complex dynamics of government agencies in collaboration with all stakeholders to produce positive societal outcomes. As a public manager, I would ensure efficiency with equity, effectiveness with fairness, and accountability with merit under responsible management methodologies.
In my personal life, I hope to meet a good woman to grow into a long-term, healthy and financially equitable relationship with and always be together for each other’s mutual benefit. I hope to live a good life, marry a good woman, and live happily in a safe and healthy community that I am free to contribute to unharassed.
I may go to Law School someday.
The following was my negative experience working for Tim Kiely:
NOTES: On Citizens Bank—
· Tim Kiely, Branch Manager, is a BULLY! Mr. Kiely sees management under the banal precepts of the corporate bully principles. He misused his authoritative power for his own ends, behaved inappropriately without witnesses, baited his employees into inappropriate behavior, and then held them accountable only for their transgressions while denying his own wrongdoing. Mr. Kiely used racist language, was sexist towards his female subordinates, and he was always political in his outside life (meaning he did favors for favors—dirty business, black and white, not right or wrong). Mr. Kiely not only denied his own bad behavior while baiting and then holding his subordinates accountable for their inappropriate behavior, he then also lied about the inappropriate behavior of his employees to protect himself in his acts of retaliation. Mr. Kiely saw me coming, read me, and reveled in his abuse of me to justify his own terrible code or way of life. Mr. Kiely is a GOLDDIGGER! He bragged about his then wife’s trust fund, and how he lives in a nice home for free without even having to pay the property taxes. Mr. Kiely explained to me that if his wife ever divorced him and ended the entitlements, he would then just go and find another wealthy woman to marry and live off of. I recall Mr. Kiely taking large sums of money out of his young daughter’s trust fund account and then saying he would pay her back the money. Mr. Kiely then moved from his wife’s Town of Dalton to the City of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, presumably after his wife divorced him after he presumably robbed her trust fund of assets and money. He worked at Colt’s Investments and is now a Branch Manager for Greylock Federal Credit Union.
His birthday is in early-1969, and he is now 38 years old. In Mr. Kiely’s malevolence against me for formally complaining to Citizens Bank and then the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination against his misconduct, he made it very difficult for me to find employment by badmouthing me and lying about me to both the bank and then prospective employers. From the beginning, I was doomed under Mr. Kiely because I despise bullying and prescribing to the bully principles to make myself “safe.” It has been said to me on many occasions and times by diverse groups of professional people that my TERMINATION from Citizens Bank is the major impediment that I face to finding a full-time job. Mr. Kiely knew what he was doing to me, and carried out his disadvantageous agenda against me to full deleterious effect. The back-story was that I was already blacklisted in the Berkshires for my participation in state and local government. Mr. Kiely is a POLITICIAN and it was to his advantage to sink me to gain favor with career politicians like Andy Nuciforo, John Barrett III, Dan Bosley, et al. Career politicians make life difficult for average citizens by manipulating people and events as retaliation, for their own personal amusements, and as excuses under false pretenses to uphold their small-minded blacklists. Nuciforo, Barrett and Bosley, et al, have done this kind of thing to many people in their area of control. I was not the first, nor will I be the last. Of course, I am made to look like the bad guy in the highly manipulated eyes of their sphere of influence.
· After the April 10, 2002 incident between Tim Kiely and myself, whereby Mr. Kiely threatened me by ordering me in a hostile voice into the safe room [of the bank] where there would be no witnesses and then putting his body within one inch of me for a lengthy period of time after I disobeyed his threatening order, I was transferred to another bank branch under Larry Panzeri. While my fate was sealed on April 10th, my TERMINATION of employment was played out skillfully over the next 6 weeks by all of the insider Tim Kiely sympathizers. On May 21st, Human Resources Manager Jeff Zinn called me to Holyoke from Pittsfield to TERMINATE my employment under the false pretenses of two separate errors I made in Customer Service – one of which was initially made by Mr. Panzeri.
· For the next year and 3-months, I pursued my grievances with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. Another Citizens Bank employee, Michele Zamboni-DuCharme did the same. Both her and my separate cases were dismissed with a finding of no probable cause. I realize now that without an Attorney, no system of justice is going to weigh the merits of a case because the system and the bureaucrats that run them are lazy, and they are there primarily for their own pay check and compensation, not for truth, justice and fairness!
· The bottom line is that the system is a done deal. There are predetermined winners and losers. Management uses the corporate bully principles for a reason, and that reason is power based on a reality of black and white, NOT right or wrong. Winner: TIM KIELY. Loser: Jonathan A. Melle. Regardless of my economic class and social status, I will never go down to the base level of using the corporate bully principles. Even if I am at the bottom of society’s rankings of class and status, which I am, at least I will live at my own level of dignity without having to hurt people for my own ego and place in society. Tim Kiely is phony and has and will hurt many people throughout his miserable life! The bottom line is that while I don’t have to become an insider or subscripe to the corporate bully principles to keep my job, I MUST LEARN TO PASS THROUGH OFFICE POLITICS.
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The Daily Hampshire Gazette, Northampton, Massachusetts
"Republican, Democrat in race for Republican Kelly's seat"
By Sean Reagan, Staff Writer
News and information for Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Two candidates are vying to fill Republican Shaun Kelly's seat representing the 2nd Berkshire House District.
Kelly, the longest-serving Republican in the state House of Representatives, announced earlier this year that he would not run for re-election.
On the Republican side, retired Pittsfield businessman Dick Stockwell, 61, is running with Kelly's endorsement.
Opposing Stockwell is Democrat and former Dalton selectman Denis Guyer, 38, an Air Force veteran who lives with his wife and son in Dalton and currently works there as a purchaser for Crane Paper Co.
Stockwell, who ran unsuccessfully for the Pittsfield City Council four years ago, called his current foray into politics ''a whole new ball game.''
''I'm a big supporter of Governor Romney's governmental reform,'' said Stockwell. He pointed out that the governor's plan to consolidate the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and the Massachusetts Highway Department for an estimated savings of $200 million. Stockwell said he sees those as the kinds of fiscally responsible measures that are essential to reinvigorate the state economy.
''As a businessman I know that before you go back to the taxpayer for more money, you have to look at your own house and clean your house,'' he said. ''There are a lot of things that could be done to save the commonwealth money in terms of reform.''
Stockwell said that a frequent concern raised on the hustings is the rising cost of health care - particularly from the perspective of small-business owners who are, he said, critical pieces of the overall state economy.
Stockwell said he is opposed to a single-payer health-care plan that would consolidate decision-making powers in a new state bureaucracy. He proposes a blue ribbon commission of doctors and other health-care providers to research and recommend ways to bring down the cost of health care while ensuring that small businesses can still offer it to their employees.
Stockwell said he has no intention of following Gov. Romney or state Republicans in lockstep, pointing out that he has taken a different position on the gay marriage issue than Kelly. While he believes that marriage is between a man and a woman, he said that Kelly and other legislators erred in not allowing the issue to be brought before the voters.
''I don't want to deprive anybody of their rights at all,'' he said. ''I just believe that on something so important, you have to let the people of the commonwealth vote as to whether they want to have gay marriage or not.''
Stockwell, who is divorced and has two grown children, currently works part-time as director of transportation for the Pittsfield Red Cross.
Guyer on the issues
Guyer, who announced his candidacy when Kelly was still the nominee, said that he will bring both energy and experience to the table if elected. ''My experience in local government gave me the opportunity to put my hat in the ring,'' he said.
Guyer said that dealing with the state budget deficit will be a priority for him if he is elected. The challenge, he said, is preserving and enhancing services without raising property taxes on taxpayers who are already feeling pinched. Creative solutions and the ability to think outside the box, he said, are essential.
As an example, Guyer pointed out that state lands can be better managed in terms of forestry. Responsible harvests of old timber are a virtual trifecta - they're good for the environment, they create local jobs and they also generate revenues.
He also said that expansion of the current bottle bill to include juice and water containers could produce revenues of anywhere from $6 to $15 million.
Still, Guyer said that the top issue for him - and the one that he hears about most often from potential constituents on the campaign trail - is health care. ''Health care is the No. 1 issue of my campaign,'' he said. ''The system we have is in a death spiral.''
Guyer said he supports legislation currently under consideration that would create a single-payer health-care system. ''It shouldn't be up to businesses to provide health care,'' he said. ''Health care is something that everybody should have.''
Guyer said he will push for intensive studies to ensure that the costs of single-payer health care are feasible in the state. ''I suspect the numbers are doable and I suspect the numbers are manageable,'' he said. ''We need to try something new.''
Stockwell said his sole ambition in running is to represent constituents and act as their liaison in Boston. Pointing out that Guyer will take a pay cut if he is elected and be forced to spend time away from his family, he said that Guyer may harbor additional ambitions that will interfere with his ability to serve.
''The only legacy I want is for people to say 'he was a good legislator for us,''' said Stockwell.
Guyer said his family and local connections ensure that he has a vital stake in the issues that face voters. ''People want to talk about what matters to them,'' he said. ''Health care, education, the environment. That's what they're focused on, and that's what I'm focused on, too.''
The 2nd Berkshire District encompasses portions of Berkshire, Franklin and Hampden Counties, including Cummington and Plainfield.
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Sean Reagan can be reached at sreagan@gazettenet.com
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NEWS ARTICLE:
[John Forbes] Kerry, veterans blast current state of care
By Jack Dew, Berkshire Eagle Staff
The Berkshire Eagle
Saturday, October 27, 2007
PITTSFIELD — About 50 veterans — most of them formerly homeless, many of them recovering addicts — sat on folding chairs in a common room of the United Veterans of America facility on West Housatonic Street, waiting for a chance to tell U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry what they need and are not getting from their government.
In a dark blue suit and pastel tie and ringed by TV cameras and reporters, Kerry looked little like his fellow veterans. He told them that the fight for benefits and proper care of the men and women returning from war is a battle that has been waged since the end of Vietnam. There have been some victories, he said, and some defeats.
"Supporting the troops is not just supporting them when they are in another country and they are in harm's way. Supporting the troops means keeping faith with people who wore the uniform when they come home," Kerry said. "That means we have got to make these lessons we have learned mean something. But it is as if these folks didn't learn any of these lessons right now."
Kerry made a swing through the Berkshires yesterday, beginning in North Adams and ending with the visit to the veterans before heading elsewhere in the state for the wake of a soldier killed in Iraq. It was the senator's first public visit to Berkshire County since September 2006.
The United Veterans of America is a private, nonprofit organization that has steadily expanded its services during the past five years. It converted a former nursing home into an 89-bed facility for homeless veterans and now is trying to expand further, hoping to build an apartment complex that would house its clients and give them a chance to own their homes and build a nest egg.
Congress has had to add up to $2 billion a year to President Bush's Veterans Affairs budget, and even then there is not enough to do the job, Kerry said.
"We are spending $12 billion a month in Iraq. And Iraqi children are getting immunized, American children are not. ... We have some priorities that are just out of whack," he said.
All of Kerry's comments yesterday were in response to questions from the audience. Asking for a show of hands, he called on a half-dozen veterans during his hour-long visit.
The veterans' stories were different and the same. Some had served during supposed peace time in hot spots such as Somalia and Beirut. Although they came home suffering from conditions such as posttraumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, they were met by a stubborn VA bureaucracy that refused to recognize their service or their symptoms, they said.
"I've got PTSD from trying to fight my PTSD," one veteran told Kerry.
Others said they shrank from treatment — "I was homeless in my body and homeless in my mind," one said — and now need support from places like the United Veterans of America as they try to find their lives again.
Henry Kenneth was in the Navy and stationed off the coast of Beirut in 1983 during Lebanon's bloody civil war, which included bombings of the U.S. Embassy and a military headquarters that killed more than 300 people.
Kenneth said the VA does not recognize his combat service and has refused to treat his PTSD. He was living in homeless shelters in his native Mississippi and trying in vain to find a facility that would treat him. He told Kerry that his senator, Thad Cochrane, helped him get to Massachusetts, where there are more veterans' services.
"He got me out of Mississippi because there is nothing there for veterans," he said.
Kerry called it "interesting" that some Southern senators vote against veterans' benefits, "but they are willing to dump them up here where we can take care of you and they don't have to do it. We ought to be getting them to do their fair share. ... I'm glad you're here, and I'm glad you're being taken care of."
Kerry pledged to look for ways to streamline the screening process that determines who receives what benefits, and said that Democrats in Congress are trying to get more money for veteran mental health treatment, centers and medical care.
"The way you show support for the troops is not just with a nice speech while you are over there, but you make sure you follow through on the promises made to them when they come back," he said.
Later, in an interview, Kenneth said that his battle is typical of his fellow residents at the United Veterans home. In many cases, their military records are incomplete or just wrong, and the truth gets crushed under the massive military bureaucracy, he said. It takes months just to get a medical exam, he added, and then months more before a condition actually gets treated.
"There is one guy in here who has been fighting for his stuff for 17 years. I've been going with mine for about two years," he said.
Asked whether a visit from someone of Kerry's stature will do any good, Kenneth said "the more awareness that people have of veterans' problems, the better."
The United Veterans of America is hoping for more than just awareness from Kerry. The private nonprofit is planning a veterans' apartment complex. The residents would own their apartments and get help paying the mortgage. When they left, they would sell the unit back to the organization, getting the benefit of the equity they have accumulated and allowing another veteran to take their place.
The buildings would cost about $6 million, according to the United Veterans. The state has pledged $3 million, and U.S. Rep. John W. Olver, D-Amherst, secured an $800,000 federal earmark. The agency is still looking for an additional $2.2 million in funding.
"I am going to go back and see if there is some way we can figure out how to address some of the living issues, not just the treatment issues (that veterans face)," Kerry said. "But it all comes down to money. And the struggle for money, in the end, is who has what priority."
MULTIMEDIA: Click here to "view the video" from John Kerry's visit to the Berkshire Eagle on October 26, 2007.
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COMMENTS:
An ethically-bankrupt political has-been answering meaningless, non-probing questions from The Eagle's ethically-bankrupt editors. Berkshire's Liberals must be in rapture.
By Glenn M. Heller, 10.27.07
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Kerry visits local middle school
Ex-presidential candidate lauds the laptop program
By Scott Stafford and Jenn Smith, Berkshire Eagle Staff
Berkshire Eagle
Saturday, October 27, 2007
NORTH ADAMS — Stephanie Sacco, a 13-year-old student at Silvio O. Conte Middle School, was surprised when she got to school to learn that former presidential candidate U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry would be stopping by.
She was even more surprised when Kerry sat down next to her and let her give him a lesson on operating a software program that helps her learn fractions on her wireless Apple iBook.
During his daylong swing through Berkshire County yesterday, Kerry stopped at the middle school to hear more about the Berkshire Wireless Laptop Initiative, which provides laptops for learning to every middle school student in North Adams and Pittsfield. Later in the morning, he attended a portion of yesterday's meeting of the Berkshire Compact for Higher Education.
The senator arrived in the Conte Middle School library, and met some teachers, administrators and about a dozen students before he watched a video produced by faculty the day before using the laptops and iMovie software.
James Montepare, superintendent of North Adams schools, explained that the initiative, funded by grants and private donations, places laptop computers in the hands of "all the kids in Conte Middle School" and in the hands of all seventh- and eight-graders in every Pittsfield middle school as well.
"Our grades are up, and we think the laptops are partially responsible for that," Montepare said.
He said the next effort is to move the initiative into the high school level, but the cost of $700 to $1,000 per child is a substantial obstacle.
"That funding should not be a show-stopper," Kerry said.
"It is for us," Montepare responded.
Kerry shared the superintendent's concern, saying that, if students finish high school with little computer knowledge, "it is nearly impossible to compete on a level playing field in college."
After his visit to the library, Kerry stopped into Sacco's math class, where he picked an empty seat next to Stephanie and began asking her about what she was working on.
He then visited the band class of music teacher Christopher Caproni. Eighth-grade student Max Quinn demonstrated his laptop's prowess by recording his trumpet rendition of "Au Claire de la Lune," then playing it back with the music evaluation on the screen.
"What a great tool," Kerry said. "I play the guitar a little bit — I've used tapes but never a computer."
As he was wrapping up his visit, Kerry said the school's use of laptops "is very exciting."
He noted that there have been a variety of efforts to get laptops into the educational system in various parts of the country, but he found it impressive that this was a "self-started initiative, and that makes the effort more impressive."
He said he would like to see students be given a tax credit of up to $4,000 a year for tuition and to see the federal administration address what he calls a national "mortgage foreclosure crisis" to prevent families from losing their hopes of a higher education along with their homes.
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Our neglected veterans
Editorial
The Berkshire Eagle
Monday, October 29, 2007
When it comes to its wars, and the soldiers, who fight them, America loves a winner. If you came back from Vietnam, however, you risked being shunned, or even spat upon, and if you make it back from Iraq, even if physically or psychologically damaged, you may be forgotten by the politicians who sent you there and the Americans whose support for the troops doesn't extend past the bumper sticker level.
Some of those soldiers are among us in the Berkshires, and were visited Friday by Senator John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat and decorated veteran of the Vietnam War. In a common room of the United Veterans of America facility in Pittsfield, the senator heard about their fights with Veterans Administration paper-pushers in attempting to get help with their physical ailments or the post-traumatic stress syndrome that afflicts so many soldiers returning from Iraq.
"It's a disgrace," said Senator Kerry about Washington's treatment of Iraq veterans during a meeting with The Eagle editorial board Friday. "For all of the administration's talk about patriotism and supporting the troops, the results aren't there for our veterans."
Many of the veterans who met with the senator Friday, some of whom served in hot spots like Beirut and Somalia, are fighting addictions or trying to escape a life on the streets. President Bush, who regularly uses soldiers as props for speeches, has cut veterans' benefits and underfunded programs designed to help returned soldiers like those in the Pittsfield facility yesterday. Senator Kerry pointed out Friday that the Democratic Congress has added $2 billion a year to the president's Veterans Affairs budget, but as the senator went on to observe, this figure pales in comparison to the $12 billion a month spent on the war in Iraq.
Veterans would have been respected under a President Kerry, but he was effectively branded as "soft on terror" by a president who served — when he wasn't mysteriously absent — in the National Guard during Vietnam and a vice president who is spoiling for war now but used six deferments when he had a chance to actually fight in one. An America that put those men in the White House owes a lot to the broken men and women returning from Iraq. It can pay them back in part by electing candidates who promise to give our veterans all that is due them, beginning with care for their physical and mental wounds.
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Q&A with Sen. Kerry
The Berkshire Eagle
Saturday, October 27, 2007
During a meeting with Eagle reporters and editors yesterday, U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry discussed issues ranging from the war in Iraq to the Saudi ownership of GE Plastics. Following are excerpts from that discussion.
Q: What are your thoughts on attorney general nominee Michael Mukasey?
A: I'm disturbed (about the nomination). If you don't know what torture is, and you seem to be hedging with respect to a position that the Senate has been pretty outspoken about, with respect to water torture and so forth, I think it's an issue.
Whether it's enough to derail him or not, I don't know yet. I need to see the transcripts (of Mukasey's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee) personally and get into it. One of the things we want in a new attorney general is an attorney general who is clear about the lines you draw with respect to the behavior the White House is engaged in, and not somebody who is going to start protecting them before he is even sworn in.
Q: Many Democratic voters thought the Democratic Congress would make a real difference on Iraq and put an end to this war, and little has changed.
A: I disagree with that. I think we have made a difference. I'm not here to defend the Congress' inability to "end it" because the fact is we don't have the votes. But don't think the president would have had the review that he had, that he would have had (Gen. David) Petraeus come back here, that he would have changed the pressure on any number of fronts, had it not been for our engaging on that issue, and had we not had a majority vote in the United States Senate — 52 votes — to say we have got to set a date (for withdrawal from Iraq). The bottom line is that all of us are frustrated. But we are frustrated with Republicans who stand up and make a critical speech about the war, and then don't translate their words into a vote
Q: As someone who has been through the presidential process, how draining is the entire campaign?
A: It's a tough process. It's the hardest physical process I ever went through. It's early in the morning to the wee hours of the (next) morning, every day. It has got its constant level of pressure, but that is part of testing whether or not you can be president. It didn't bother me, it just tired me.
Q: Harder than Vietnam?
A: A different kind of thing than Vietnam. Just very different. But very, very physically, unbelievably, demanding. You are going out and giving six major rally speeches in a day, and you are flying between time zones constantly, making 30 or 40 decisions every day, trying to keep track of things and building a half-a-billion-dollar corporation in the span of about two months. I learned a lot. Had I done it again, or if I ever do do it again, I would do it very differently. I learned a lot about how to do it and do it smart.
Q: GE Plastics is now owned by Sabic, which is majority-owned by the Saudi Arabian government, which has a bad history of supporting terrorism. Does it concern you that we have a company in Pittsfield that could be channeling money from the United States into programs that threaten the United States?
A: The transparency and accountability in the Saudi system still has some ways to go, and I have had discussions with the ambassador about that. They say they are engaging in additional efforts, and they have engaged — in fairness — in some additional efforts to try to provide some of that. We are working very closely with them right now on some financial services accountability and oversight standards, and, hopefully, we can narrow the gap.
But, yeah, there is a concern, always, about what kind of money finds its way out of Saudi Arabia, through the charities and into Hamas and Hezbollah and these other entities. But the crackdown has improved. It is not where we want it to be yet, but it has improved.
Q: With all the foreign policy focus nationally, have we given short shrift to domestic policy issues?
A: Absolutely. I will make a prediction to you: I think security is going to be a key part of (the) '08 (presidential election). But I think equally large is going to be the squeeze on the middle class, the economic plight of a lot of people facing very high energy costs, high gasoline costs, transportation, wages that are either frozen or going down, and a sense of powerlessness, a sense the people feel trapped by their circumstances. Iraq is there, but Iraq could even be co-opted next spring. I'll give you a scenario: You get to next spring, they all know there is an election coming, the president says, "OK, the surge is a success. I'm withdrawing 30,000 troops." And then, in September, he withdraws another 30,000, or announces it. You will see Iraq recede, and what will emerge will be much more of a domestic fight. And I don't think (the Republicans) are on very solid ground (domestically).
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JOHN Forbes KERRY
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“Today in History”
On October 30, 2006, Massachusetts Senator John Forbes Kerry told a California college audience that young people who did not study hard might “get stuck in Iraq,” prompting harsh criticism; John Kerry later said it was a botched joke against President George W. Bush’s handling of the war.
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iBerkshires.com
Western Mass. Left Out of Health-Plan Sessions
By Tammy Daniels - November 06, 2007
NORTH ADAMS - Local legislators are calling on the state's Health Insurance Connector Authority to provide more information for Western Mass. residents as the deadline nears to sign up for health insurance.
Some $3.5 million was appropriated in this year's budget by the Legislature for outreach efforts, such as advertising and Connect to Health information sessions - none of which have occurred in Berkshire, Franklin or Hampshire counties.
"I really feel that we're an afterthought," said Rep. Denis E. Guyer, D-Dalton, on Tuesday. He said his office has had a lot of phone calls from constituents wondering what health-care reform means for them.
Residents must sign up for state or private insurance programs by Nov. 15 or risk losing their personal tax exemption, worth $219.
In a letter dated Monday to Jon Kingsdale, executive director of the authority, Guyer and five other lawmakers from the three counties say the state isn't doing enough to inform their constituents about their options under the state's landmark health-care reform.
The closest Connect to Health event is scheduled in Chicopee and "is unlikely to attract media coverage or constituents from our districts," they wrote.
Dick Powers, spokesman for the Connector Authority, said outreach efforts were prioritized to reach the most people in those places with the most need. He said Western Mass. was not excluded - it was part of a statewide mailing and advertisements had run on the Red Sox games during the World Series.
Local organizations, such as Ecu-Health Care and Advocacy for Access, have been in the forefront of outreach efforts, Powers said. "These groups have been very successful in getting people to enroll."
The Connector Authority also maintains a Web site where residents can get information and enroll.
Guyer and his colleagues say that's not enough because 32 towns in Western Mass. have no access to high-speed Internet, making it difficult for residents to use online services - if they have them at all. And because the area is served by the Albany, N.Y., television market, even fewer residents were seeing advertisements. Even the Red Sox were broadcast by Fox out of New York.
Powers said the Albany market was too expensive to advertise in.
Guyer wondered how a mother with two kids who rides the B bus to work could possibly drive an hour or more to Chicopee to learn about her insurance options.
"It's a lack of understanding of the difficulties we have in this area in in terms of geography and communications," said Guyer, adding that a lot of money was provided to the Connector for so-called mini-grants but it was not being spent equally throughout the state.
Yes, the eastern part of the state has a lot of poor, working-class people, but so does the western part, he said. "I'm really at a loss to understand their rationale."
Charles "Chip" Joffee-Halpern, executive director of Ecu-Health Care and a former member of the Connector Authority, said his organization and others locally had received funding for information programs and worked very closely with the state.
"We have active outreach programs already in place," he said, which have been "very effective." "Historically, we've had more people enrolling in all health plans."
Joffee-Halpern said he understood the state's need to "prioritize needs and to do so appropriately."
According to a recent report to the Legislature from the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, the Connector Authority had enrolled 105,000 people in subsidized health care as of Aug. 1. Those enrolled have incomes at or below 300 percent of the federal poverty level, or $30,630 for an individual.
Powers said there was a possibility that an information session would be scheduled soon in Pittsfield, but it was still in the talking stage. "Just because the enrollment [deadline] is Nov. 15 doesn't mean the efforts will cease."
Guyer said he wants more effort and sooner for the Western Mass. counties. Local health initiatives have been successful because they've had to be, he said, because the state hasn't been here.
"What they're saying is 'you're victims of your own success."
Also signing the letter were Sen. Benjamin B. Downing, D-Pittsfield, Sen. Stephen Brewer, D-Barre, Sen. Stanley C. Rosenberg, D-Amherst, Rep. Christopher N. Speranzo, D-Pittsfield, Rep. William "Smitty" Pignatelli, D-Lenox, and Rep. Stephen Kulik, D-Worthington.
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NEWS ARTICLE:
Crane & Co. gets $500K for hydropower
The Berkshire Eagle Staff
Thursday, November 08, 2007
DALTON — Crane and Company has been awarded a $500,000 grant by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative's Renewable Energy Trust Fund.
The announcement came today from state Rep. Denis E. Guyer, D-Dalton, (The Golddigging husband of Allison CRANE!) and state Sen. Benjamin B. Downing, D- Pittsfield.
According to the announcement, this grant will help fund the design and construction of a small hydropower generation facility at Crane and Co.'s Byron Weston Dam No. 2, located on the town's East Branch of the Housatonic River.
Specifically, the money will be used to replace the existing turbines with a new Kaplan turbine, the installation of new electrical equipment and modification of ancillary civil structures.
Crane believes the project's total cost will be over $1.3 million. It is estimated that the project will produce 837 megawatt hours of power each year.
"I am delighted that MTC has awarded this grant to Crane, which is an important employer in my district," said Guyer. "It is my hope that the investment that Crane is making in hydropower will allow the company to better control and predict their energy costs in the future."
James Noel, the Manager of Environmental Affairs at Crane and Co.commented on the grant saying, that the company can now proceed with further analysis of the project, with the grant making it more financially feasible.
A total of forty-two similar grants were awarded statewide.
"Crane and Co.'s commitment to finding ways of reducing their environmental impact serves as a model for other companies across the Commonwealth," stated Downing. "MTC's Renewable Energy Trust is making great strides in bolstering the clean energy economy and this funding will help Crane continue their legacy of sustainable practices."
For more information, go to www.mtpc.org/renewableenergy/large_renewables.htm.
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iBerkshires.com
(http://www.iberkshires.com/story/25084/Crane-Co.-Receives-Grant-for-New-Turbine.html)
Crane & Co. Receives Grant for New Turbine
Staff reports - November 08, 2007
DALTON - Crane & Co. is poised to move forward with the development of a hydropower turbine on its Dalton property after receiving a $500,000 grant from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative's Renewable Energy Trust Fund.
"With this grant, we can proceed further with an analysis of the project now that we know it's financially feasible," said James Noel, the manager of environmental affairs at Crane & Co, on Thursday.
The funds will be used to replace the turbines currently in use with more modern and efficient equipment. Additionally, the grant will help fund the design and construction of a hydropower generation facility.
The estimated cost for the entire project is $1.3 million.
Noel said, if plans for the facility are approved by the company, permitting can begin as early as December with hopes to have the new equipment fully operational by late 2009 or early 2010.
"It's really an exciting project," said Noel, who added that future funding would come from a variety of sources.
Rep. Denis E. Guyer, D-Dalton, commended Crane & Co. not only for its newest efforts at promoting renewable energy but also for its continued commitment to eco-friendly practices.
"Crane has a long history of environmental stewardship on the Housatonic River and has been a leader in using renewable energy sources as well as renewable materials for papermaking for over 200 years. It is my hope that the investment that Crane is making in hydropower will allow the company to better control and predict their energy costs in the future," Denis Guyer said.
"It's just another project for us but we could also be part of cutting back on our dependency on fossil fuels and that's exciting," said Noel.
Crane & Co. manufactures the nation's currency paper and fine and specialized stationary.
A total of 42 grants were awarded statewide in Round 4 of the Large Onsite Renewables Initiative grants through the MTC. The aim of these awards is "to expand the production and use of distributed renewable energy technologies in Massachusetts," according to the agency. Approximately $3.75 million was available to applicants in Round 4 for either feasibility studies or design and construction.
For more on MTC's Renewable Energy Trust LORI grants, see www.mtpc.org/renewableenergy/large_renewables.htm.
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2 Tough Questions
Question 1:
If you knew a woman who was pregnant, who had 8 kids already, three who were deaf, two who were blind, one mentally retarded, and she had syphilis, would you recommend that she have an abortion?
Read the next question before looking at the response for this one.
Question 2:
It is time to elect a new world leader, and only your vote counts.
Here are the facts about the three candidates. Who would you vote for?
Candidate A.
Associates with crooked politicians, and consults with astrologist. He's had two mistresses. He also chain smokes and drinks 8 to 10 martinis a day.
Candidate B.
He was kicked out of office twice, sleeps until noon, used opium in
college and drinks a quart of whiskey every evening.
Candidate C
He is a decorated war hero. He's a vegetarian, doesn't smoke, drinks an occasional beer and never cheated on his wife.
Which of these candidates would be our choice?
Decide first... no peeking, then scroll down for the response.
Candidate A is Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Candidate B is Winston Churchill.
Candidate C is Adolph Hitler.
And, by the way, on your answer to the abortion question:
If you said YES, you just killed Beethoven.
Pretty interesting isn't it? Makes a person think before judging someone.
Wait till you see the end of this note! Keep reading..
Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember:
Amateurs...built the ark.
Professionals...built the Titanic
And Finally, can you imagine working for a company that has a little more than 500 employees and has the following statistics:
* 29 have been accused of spousal abuse
* 7 have been arrested for fraud
* 19 have been accused of writing bad checks
* 117 have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least 2 businesses
* 3 have done time for assault
* 71 cannot get a credit card due to bad credit
* 14 have been arrested on drug-related charges
* 8 have been arrested for shoplifting
* 21 are currently defendants in lawsuits
* 84 have been arrested for drunk driving in the last year...
Can you guess which organization this is?
Give up yet?
It is the 535 members of the United States Congress.
The same group that crank out hundreds of new laws each year designed to keep the rest of us in line.
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John Kerry: Pump prices unfair
The senator asks for a probe into the cost of gas after receiving a letter from Mayor John Barrett III
By Scott Stafford, Berkshire Eagle Staff
Saturday, November 17, 2007
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NORTH ADAMS — U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry has responded to concerns about price-gouging from Mayor John Barrett III by calling for a Federal Trade Commission investigation of gas pricing in Western Massachusetts.
"As escalating gas prices place a tremendous burden on households and businesses, we must ensure that our citizens are not subject to unfair prices," Kerry wrote in a letter delivered yesterday to Deborah Majoras, chairwoman of the FTC. "We must ensure that individual stations do not artificially inflate prices for personal gain. In response to concerns from the mayor of North Adams and other western Massachusetts communities, I respectfully request that you initiate an investigation of reported gasoline price gouging in the western part of the state."
Kerry serves as chairman of the Senate's Commerce Subcommittee on Interstate Commerce, Trade and Tourism.
In announcing the request for an investigation, Kerry noted that Barrett's remarks earlier this week on high fuel prices were the basis for his action.
"Thousands of people throughout Western Massachusetts are paying an arm and a leg at the pump," Kerry said. "It's time for the federal government to take charge and investigate why prices have increased so dramatically while oil companies enjoy windfall profits.
"It's not just the possibility of price gouging that's outrageous," he continued. "It's also the blatant inaction in Washington about our long-term energy crisis. We have to get serious about making America energy-independent. This crisis hits people in the wallets, but it also hurts New England's economy as a whole, degrades our environment and even threatens our national security."
In hearing about Kerry's action, Barrett said it was a "good first step" and agreed that the steep rise in fuel prices is a threat to national security.
"If we were attacked by a hostile nation, you know Washington would be taking action," Barrett said.
He noted that when residents are skipping their medication and meals to pay their heating bill, "I'd say your people have some real problems. We're going to hear some horror stories coming out of our neighborhoods this winter because of this."
But the price-gouging is not limited to Western Massachusetts, he said. And it's not limited to the gas stations — it continues up the supply chain.
"The bigger picture has to be the buying of the oil futures contracts," Barrett said. "I think if they investigate that, they'll find just a few are controlling that and driving up the price of oil. So people who have to pay $700 for a tank of home heating oil, and skipping medication to pay for it, are in danger because of pure greed. That's where the government needs to respond. They're as dangerous to this country as anybody."
Kerry said he has heard concerns from other mayors in the region regarding the price of gas.
"I have heard concerns from several mayors in the western part of the state citing significant variations in gasoline prices within their towns and communities," he wrote in his letter to the FTC. "As escalating gas prices place a tremendous burden on households and businesses, we must ensure that our citizens are not subject to unfair prices. We must ensure that individual stations do not artificially inflate prices for personal gain."
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The Boston Globe's Campaign Notebook
John Kerry accepts Swift Boat challenge
November 17, 2007
Senator John F. Kerry, whose 2004 presidential campaign was torpedoed by critics of his Vietnam War record, said yesterday he has personally accepted Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens' offer of $1 million to anyone who can disprove even a single charge of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
In a letter to Pickens, who provided $3 million to bankroll the group during John Kerry's race against President Bush, the Massachusetts Democrat wrote: "While I am prepared to show they lied on allegation after allegation, you have generously offered to pay one million dollars for just one thing that can be proven false."
John Kerry, a Navy veteran and former prosecutor, said he was willing to present his case directly to Pickens and would donate any proceeds to the Paralyzed Veterans of America. Pickens issued his challenge Nov. 6 in Washington, while serving as chairman of a 40th anniversary gala for American Spectator magazine, according to two Internet accounts of the gathering and Kerry, who said he spoke to people who were there.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
--
News Article:
Swift Boat issue becomes crucial to Kerry anew
By Sasha Issenberg, (Boston) Globe Staff
November 21, 2007
WASHINGTON - Senator John F. Kerry, in aggressively pursuing a forum in which to disprove allegations about his Vietnam military service, is drawing new attention to an issue that he was slow to address during his 2004 presidential campaign but that he now contends is vital to his political future.
Questions about his military service reemerged on Nov. 6 when T. Boone Pickens, a Texas financier who helped to fund the original Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign against Kerry during the 2004 presidential election, offered $1 million to anyone who could prove that any of the group's assertions were wrong.
Kerry accepted the challenge last week. Since then, what was shaping up as a gentlemen's duel has devolved into a testy back-and-forth that Pickens described on Monday as "like playing poker," with a series of new demands and countercharges. Kerry yesterday accused Pickens of "parsing and backtracking" on his initial offer and said he is "prepared to prove the lie and marshal all the evidence."
For Kerry, the public showdown with Pickens represents not only a belated engagement with old antagonists, but also an early strike against a Democratic primary opponent who signaled Monday that he welcomes the scrutiny of Kerry's military record initiated by the Swift Boat ad campaign in 2004.
"It goes to his credibility," said Ed O'Reilly, a Gloucester lawyer mounting a challenge to Kerry in the Democratic primary. "It needs to be cleared up."
In the summer of 2004, the independent group aired a series of television ads asserting that Kerry - who had made his decorated Navy service a key part of his appeal in the primary and general-election campaigns - had "not been honest about what happened in Vietnam." Kerry, the ads alleged, had lied to earn combat medals and had unfairly attacked fellow troops as part of his antiwar activism upon his return from Vietnam.
While Kerry refrained from immediately responding to the attacks - damaging his campaign, in the view of many analysts - he became more aggressive after the election about making his case. In 2005, pressed by news organizations including the Globe, Kerry authorized the Navy to release his complete military and medical records. The records appeared to contain nothing to dispute Kerry's accounts of his service.
Yet Kerry continued to pursue the subject even after announcing in January that he would not run for president. Since then, according to an aide, Kerry has assembled a portfolio of other Vietnam-era documents that he expects to become useful during a Senate campaign.
"If you're running for reelection in Massachusetts, it's important to be able to defend yourself," said the aide, David Wade. "If there's a lesson from the last few years, it's that these same people will resurface."
Nonetheless, both of the Republicans challenging Kerry next year said yesterday that Kerry's war record is irrelevant to their campaigns.
"I hope this is never addressed. John Kerry has a congressional record that we need to focus on completely," said Kevin Scott, a former selectman in Wakefield. "If I am the nominee, I would steer this completely away from the Swift Boat issue."
"I do not plan on attacking Kerry's military service or anyone else's who took the oath to defend our country and who was honorably discharged," Jeff Beatty, a national-security consultant and Harwich resident, said in a statement.
Most people in national politics also thought the matter was unlikely to reemerge. On the presidential campaign trail, the term "Swift Boat" has come to be shorthand for a vicious attack. Former president Bill Clinton invoked "that scandalous Swift Boat ad" when cautioning Democrats against the type of attacks his wife has faced recently. Last month, Illinois Senator Barack Obama warned, "When people start to Swift Boat you, you have to respond forcefully, immediately, and truthfully."
But the original dispute lives on for Kerry. After Pickens announced his $1 million offer at a Washington banquet, Kerry declared last week that he wanted to meet in a "mutually agreed upon public forum" to present evidence disproving the Swift Boat group's assertions. Pickens responded by demanding that Kerry release his tapes and videos taken while in the war zone, and his "journal," believed to be a collection of letters Kerry wrote home during the war. Pickens said the new material was necessary to assess the accuracy of the original ads.
Pickens further suggested that Kerry forfeit $1 million of his own money to a charity of Pickens's choice should he be unable to disprove any of the Swift Boat allegations.
Kerry, traveling in South Africa, yesterday accused Pickens in a letter of "parsing and backtracking" on his initial offer. "I am prepared to prove the lie and marshal all the evidence, the question is whether you are prepared to fulfill your obligation," Kerry wrote.
The Swift Boat issue is not the only front where Kerry appears to be taking on unfinished business from 2004. He has been speaking more openly about his faith, beginning with a high-profile speech last fall at Pepperdine University. At a luncheon earlier this month hosted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, Kerry said he regretted not speaking more about the subject in 2004, calling the political uses of religion against him a "wedge process played out in a very open and public and difficult way." And Kerry has also spoken often about the Swift Boat group's attacks - which he considers a major factor in his presidential defeat.
"The fact that Pickens made this public challenge was the fulcrum," Wade said. "Everything is out there, but there was the sense that if T. Boone Pickens makes a public pronouncement, we ought to get the money and give it to some veterans."
Kerry, who has said he would contribute his prize to the Paralyzed Veterans of America, wrote yesterday that "the only thing remaining now is to set the date for our meeting," appearing to ensure that the showdown will occur.
But a Pickens spokesman said yesterday Kerry would have to hand over the wartime materials before proceeding further. "We are certainly open to a meeting after we have reviewed those two items," said Jay Rosser.
One prominent Swift Boat advocate, Jerome Corsi, author of "Unfit for Command," a book on which many of the ads' assertions were based, said he thought the matter wasn't appropriate for state-level politics.
"I'm not interested in entertaining any debates in the Massachusetts Senate race," said Corsi, "unless Kerry pursues this issue with Mr. Pickens and compels me to defend 'Unfit for Command,' which I will do."
As it stands, the man most welcoming of the return to the conflicts of 2004 is O'Reilly, who is attacking Kerry as not opposing the Iraq war strongly enough and says that the issues raised by the Swift Boat ads reflect on Kerry's character.
"I don't want to dwell too much on the past, but he keeps going back 40 years and bringing it up, bringing it up," said O'Reilly. "He keeps talking about it."
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NEWS ARTICLE:
Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Biodiesel company benefits from grant
By Ellen G. Lahr, Berkshire Eagle Staff
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
PITTSFIELD — A biodiesel production company, with plans to convert refined vegetable oil into 50 million gallons of fuel each year, has received a $450,000 grant for engineering and development costs at the Hubbard Avenue industrial property it leases from Crane & Co.
Berkshire Biodiesel's latest grant from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative supplements a $3.06 million award earlier this year from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Transportation. That money is earmarked for railroad track improvements work deemed critical for the project.
The company's president, Garth Klimchuk, said in an e-mail recently that plans for a September 2007 groundbreaking were unrealistic because permitting for the $50 million project is taking longer than expected.
The Dalton Zoning Board of Appeals will meet again Dec. 4 to deliberate on the company's request for permits related to railroad tracks leading to the development site. Other state and local permits are required as well.
At the same time, the company is designing an expanded plan for processing raw material into fuel, securing financing and seeking to hire a project manager, Klimchuk noted.
"We've made excellent progress," he wrote.
Berkshire Biodiesel is one of two projects on the boards for the property.
Energy Answers Corp. already operates there, producing steam for Crane's papermaking operation by burning much of the county's trash.
Crane also would gain more power from another plant being designed for the site by Tamarack Energy Inc. — a subsidiary of a Boston-based engineering firm — which is in the early stages of plans for a $175 million electrical plant that would be fired with recycled wood products from sawmills, construction projects and local timber.
Crane would claim 20 percent of that plant's electricity for its own operation.
That plant is three to four years away from making its first megawatt, but it is a time frame that project manager Matthew Wolfe said is typical for the industry. Despite the time involved, he said, there is little question of its viability and investor appeal.
"There are a lot of reasons why there is more momentum now ... energy cost concerns, national security and gas prices," he said. "And if we sell power to Crane, we help them remain competitive and keep those jobs."
Tamarack Energy would sell its additional electricity to the electrical grid. Some 20 permanent jobs would be created, along with 250 construction-related jobs, Wolfe said.
Berkshire Biodiesel is backed by a New York-based investment firm, NorthWinds Renewables LLC. The company will lease the former Beloit manufacturing property at 448 Hubbard Ave., a 45,000-square-foot facility. About 30 permanent jobs would result.
"We underestimated the amount of time needed to obtain state and local permits, and we decided to expand the original design to allow us to process additional feedstocks, which will allow us to be far more competitive," Klimchuk wrote.
He said engineering and design work should be completed in January, when final state and local permits will be submitted for review. He projected approvals by March. The Pittsfield operation would be the largest such plant in the Northeast.
The prospect of a renewable energy complex, on a single site, is good news for Tyler Fairbank, executive director of the Berkshire Economic Development Corp.
"There are other renewable energy projects in the pipeline, which are potentials, but we now have this energy cluster that's showing real signs of life in the Berkshires," he said. "We're demonstrating how to get it done in the Berkshires. This will be over $200 million in capital investment."
Tamarack Energy's goal is to build a 50-megawatt electrical generation plant, large enough to provide electricity for 44,000 homes. Wolfe said Tamarack's parent company, Haley & Aldrich, has developed a smaller such plant that operates in Fitchburg.
Berkshire Biodiesel would produce fuel for diesel engines, home heating and power-generating companies.
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News Article:
~The Springfield, Massachusetts, Republican~
Child spanking bill taken to woodshed
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
By BEA O'QUINN DEWBERRY
bdewberry@repub.com
A bill to ban spanking in the home should be forced into time out, area lawmakers said, describing the measure as unenforceable and vague.
"This is an incredibly stupid piece of legislation," state Rep. Denis E. Guyer, D-Dalton, said of the bill filed by state Rep. Jay Kaufman, D-Lexington, on behalf of an Arlington nurse. The bill, which prohibits corporal punishment in the home on children under age 18, is scheduled to be debated at a Statehouse hearing today.
If passed, Massachusetts would be the first state in the nation to outlaw corporal punishment.
"I hope it doesn't make it out of committee, let alone on the floor for a vote," said Denis Guyer, the father of a 4-year-old son. "It doesn't define what a spanking is. If my son is playing in a soccer game and he runs off the field and I pat him on his back, is that a spanking or a congratulatory tap?"
As written in the bill, corporal punishment is defined as "the willful infliction of physical pain or injurious or humiliating treatment." The bill precludes the use of corporal punishment to prevent harm or endangerment.
State Rep. Ellen Story, D-Amherst, said the bill is unenforceable. "Are you going to have police officers in everybody's house?" asked Story, a mother and grandmother.
State Sen. Michael R. Knapik, R-Westfield, the father of a 9- and 7-year-old, said parents are best able to determine the use of discipline in the home. He said state laws prohibit any physical abuse, neglect or harm to children.
Countries that currently ban spanking, including Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and 10 others, were described by Knapik as the "nanny nations."
"How do you police something like this without making every parent from Provincetown to Pittsfield paranoid?" Knapik said.
State Rep. Joseph Wagner, D-Chicopee, the father of four ranging from age 5 to 19, said legislating parenting is dangerous territory.
"What's next? Will we then legislate on parents making their children brush their teeth?" Wagner said. "Fundamentally, people understand the difference between right and wrong. This bill raises more questions than it answers."
A similar bill failed in the Legislature in 2005. In 1999, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that parents have the right to spank their children as long as it does not cause serious bodily injury or harm.
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News Article # 2:
WMass not attractive to doctors
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
By MICHAEL McAULIFFE
mmcauliffe@repub.com
AMHERST - Crippling medical school debt, insufficient reimbursements from the government and private insurers, and a mountain of paperwork are all contributing to a shortage of doctors in Western Massachusetts.
That was the message delivered yesterday at a hearing into the shortage of health-care professionals in the region held by the Legislature's Joint Committee on Health Care Finance, held in the Campus Center at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
More than three dozen people attended, and afterward state Rep. Stephen Kulik, D-Worthington, a committee co-chairman, said the information would be presented to the full committee as it crafts legislation, probably to be filed before the end of the year.
"Loan forgiveness is the primary thing we're looking at," said Kulik, adding the committee has yet to arrive at a proposed amount to be forgiven.
Kulik, joined by fellow committee member state Rep. Peter V. Kocot, D-Northampton, and three other Western Massachusetts legislators, heard that medical school graduates owe about $200,000 in loans. Coupled with low reimbursement for Medicaid and Medicare services and from private insurers, the current climate in Massachusetts is not attractive to doctors.
"The majority of the residents who come to train here actually leave the state and go elsewhere," said Stephen R. Shestakofsky, director of state legislation for the Massachusetts Medical Society.
The society issued its annual physician work force study earlier this year, listing severe or critical shortages of primary care doctors and in a number of specialties, including anesthesiology, cardiology, gastroenterology, neurosurgery, psychiatry, urology and vascular surgery.
Dr. Katherine J. Atkinson, a primary care physician in Amherst, said she knows 11 doctors who left primary care practice in the Pioneer Valley in the last two years. Atkinson also said she is so busy she is booking physicals for January 2009, and described as "huge" the amount of paperwork insurance companies require her to fill out.
"It's very hard to attract good, quality people to go into primary care," Atkinson said.
John Larson is responsible for physician recruitment at Baystate Health, the region's health-care giant that includes Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield, and Baystate Mary Lane Hospital in Ware. Larson said the climate to recruit doctors is such that "basically the physicians are phone screening us."
Joining Kulik and Kocot at yesterday's hearing were Democratic Reps. Christopher J. Donelan of Orange, Denis E. Guyer of Dalton, and John W. Scibak of South Hadley.
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Friday, 20 April, 2007
One may ask why I write to the Massachusetts Newspapers, Politicians (who marginalized me), and the People? One of my main answers is that I was victimized by some strong-arm Massachusetts Politicians, especially Andrea F. Nuciforo, Jr. (a.k.a. Luciforo), Carmen C. Massimiano, Jr., and most recently Denis E. Guyer! Luciforo tried to have my father fired from his state job and his son (me) put in jail under false pretenses in the Spring of 1998. Luciforo was going to send me to his Good Old Boy Network buddy Berkshire County Sheriff Carmen C. Massimiano, Jr. Moreover, Luciforo layered so much bullying on me that I could not even go to some of my classes at U Mass Amherst without feeling Luciforo, Stan Rosenberg, and his student interns, retaliations against me for speaking out in dissent against them. Sheriff Massimiano warned me not to write about what they tried to do to me after I moved to New Hampshire -- away from their local control and power brokerings. Most recently, Denis E. Guyer has spread vicious rumors against me all over the Pittsfield area. He has accused me of serious crimes that I responded to in many emails. Denis Guyer told the people of the Pittsfield area that I stalked a Jewish woman from Otis, I belong in a psychiatric institution, and that he is against President Bush's ordering me a hearing in Washington, D.C. for Veterans Disability Benefits, among other hate-filled rumors.
Now, I admittedly have mental illness diagnoses that moved the President of The United States of America, George W. Bush, to order me Veteran Disability Benefits after I protected the sanctity of human life as a Soldier in the U.S. Army. But for the smallness of a few Pittsfield, Massachusetts area politicians, they found ways to even discredit me for my deficiencies and heroism. For Denis Guyer to spread rumors around the Pittsfield area that I should not receive Veterans Benefits because I stalked a Jewish woman from Otis is so wrong on so many levels. Firstly, if I did something wrong, criminal, and the like, Denis Guyer should have handled the issue professionally through the courts. I even volunteered to drive to Massachusetts from New Hampshire to turn myself in if Denis Guyer's vicious rumors against me had merit. Secondly, if Denis Guyer knows I have diagnosed mental illnesses, he should not be trying to play on my vulnerabilities. That is predatory! Thirdly, Denis Guyer has played into Luciforo & Massimiano's hands by diminishing my character at the base character of the terrible machine politicians. Denis Guyer used a half-truth from my past friendship with a Becket woman (who is now married) for his own political gain with no regard for me or my past woman friend. Fourthly, Denis Guyer slandered me, and that is illegal. Moreover, if Denis Guyer tried to provoke me or instigate moblike trouble against me, then Denis Guyer incited violence.
I am too respected in the Pittsfield area for Denis Guyer to have been able to get away with his persecutions against me. But sadly, in other times and areas of my life, bullies like Denis Guyer have been able to overtly get away with bullying me. There were times in schools, college, the Army and workplaces. There were times when I have been so victimized by bullies like Denis Guyer that I have lost passing courses, wages, keeping my job, being able to be promoted, and the like. For some reason, the good element and good people of the Pittsfield area don't allow Luciforo, Massimiano & Guyer to get away with bullying me. For some reason, I have and continue to survive their persecutions and abuses of power.
One of the reasons why I am respected is because I always put human life and safety above my own interests. For me to have moved the President of the U.S.A. to order me a VA hearing means that even the president admires my commitment to human life when I protected human life at the cost of my own mental health and career in the U.S. Army. No matter where I have lived, there were bullies, but there was also me. While I have become a victim of all of these bullies like Denis Guyer out there, there seems to be a respect for me. That must really bother bullies like Denis Guyer! Despite the powerful's sincerest efforts to defeat me, I am not defeated, but respected. Just because I am victim of bullies abusing their power, that does not mean I am a coward. Instead, I am a good man who has proven bullies like Denis Guyer wrong. I have stood tall and protected life and safety even when my own interests were on the line, which is the opposite of what bullies like Denis Guyer, Luciforo & Massimiano have done all of their pathetic lives. My life has meaning, while the bullies lives have only banalities.
Unfortunately, extremism means that some people like me who are mentally ill go to the opposite extreme and become bullies themselves. In the tragic Virginia Tech mass murder massacre by a emotionally disturbed young man, he took extreme measures to right all of the wrongs done to him. This serial killer of 32 innocent lives was the example of a coward and disturbed-like animal. When one goes to extremes, even if he or she was the victim of abuse all of their lives, they have given into their fears. What I mean is that sometime it is better to lose than to win. Sometimes it is the bigger man who walks away from the violence, bullying and abuses of power. In my life, I have had troubles, sadness, anger, pain, heartbreak, and the like, but I have always stayed at my own level of dignity. When Luciforo tried to ruin my dad, jail me, layer bullies against me, I never gave into his level of indecency. When Massimiano let me know he was waiting for my arrival at his house of pain -- county jail -- as a persecuted political prisoner of conscience, made snide remarks when I spoke at local political events, and would wring his hands in power and schadenfreude, I never gave into his level of indency. When Denis E. Guyer spread the most vicious rumors against me all over the Pittsfield area, I never gave into his indency. I always stayed at my own level of decency, and I have always received the respect of the good elements and good people of the Pittsfield area even though I have not lived there for over 3 years now.
In the end, and the reason why I write today, is that unfortunately, bullies like Luciforo, Massimiano & Denis Guyer are to blame for negatively impacting the mentally ill. That does not give an excuse to the extremes victims of bullying and abuses of power go to, such as the recent tragedy at Virginia Tech. What it means is that when one bullies and victimizes another person, then they are pushing that person into a corner with no way out from their fears. It then takes the victim of bullies like Denis Guyer to face their fears, not be a coward to them. But it also takes good people in the Pittsfield area to have had the decency to tell me that Luciforo & Massimiano's persecutions of me included putting me in the county jail under false pretenses, and then telling me after I moved to New Hampshire that Denis Guyer was slandering me by accusing me of serious crimes and inciting hate-filled violence against me. The good elements of society and good people must respect the victims of bullies in order for them to know that persecution is a part of life all of God's children must bears, including our Lord, Jesus Christ. God sides with the persecuted and so must humankind. As a society, we need to have compassion and love for our neighbors, and stand up to fear and those who use it by bullying and abusing their power for their own interests.
Lastly, while Luciforo, Massimiano & Denis Guyer have political power, good jobs, healthcare plans, pensions, and the like, I have the one thing all of these persecutors don't have: RESPECT!
In Truth,
Jonathan A. Melle
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iBerkshires.com
W. MA Delegation sponsors two 'Connect to Health' events
December 05, 2007
Boston - The western Massachusetts legislative delegation is teaming up with the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority to reach directly into our region to provide information about the state’s new health care reform law and enroll local residents.
The Massachusetts health insurance requirements will affect everyone in the state including small business owners. Responding to a great demand for information, the Connector’s Executive Director Jon Kingsdale will be at the two events conducting a small business seminar for all local businesses interested in learning more about their responsibilities as an employer.
“We receive many calls regarding the new health care requirements, not only from individuals, but also from small business owners who want to understand how these new requirements will affect their daily operations. We thought it would be helpful to have those questions addressed,” said Downing. “This will event will be a great opportunity for anyone seeking information or coverage.”
Two “Connect to Health” enrollment events will be held Saturday, December 8, 2007 as follows:
10 a.m. to Noon Berkshire Athenaeum
One Wendell Ave
Pittsfield, MA 01201
2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Greenfield Community College
270 Main Street, Room B19
Greenfield, MA 01301
“Providing access to healthcare for people who do not have it is a major goal of the new healthcare reform law. These outreach sessions in western Massachusetts will provide people with information and the opportunity to actually enroll in a healthcare plan. I am pleased to sponsor and participate in the Connector’s event in Greenfield, and I hope that many of my constituents will take advantage of this opportunity,” said Representative Steve Kulik (D-Worthington).
Massachusetts adults are now required to have health insurance. More than 200,000 have enrolled during the past year.
“This will be a great event both for individuals and small businesses in Berkshire County to find out what plans are available and how the state can help them with their health insurance needs,” said Representative Christopher N. Speranzo (D-Pittsfield).
“We’ve made remarkable progress in a very short period of time, but there is still much work to do,” said Health Connector Executive Director Jon Kingsdale. “We’re extremely grateful to the western Mass delegation for helping us bring this critical opportunity directly to their constituents.”
"As the deadline for the mandate for health care approaches I'm very pleased that the Connector is coming to the Berkshires to help individuals and small businesses get a better understanding of what options are available to them and the related costs." said Representative William “Smitty” Pignatelli (D-Lenox).
Local enrollment experts from Advocacy for Access and Ecu-Health Care will also be on hand to participate in the event.
Adults who do not have health insurance this year will lose their personal exemption worth $219 when they file their next state tax return. Penalties will be significantly higher beginning Jan. 1.
Detailed information on the new health plans is also available on the Health Connector’s website, www.MAhealthconnector.org, or by calling 1-877-MA-ENROLL weekdays.
"I strongly encourage anyone or any business that has yet to register for health insurance to stop by the event," said Representative Denis E. Guyer (D-Dalton).
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2/14/2007
Dear Berkshire Eagle, Rinaldo Del Gallo III, Berkshire Bloggers, News Media, Politicians, & the People:
The reason why the Pittsfield area lacks an optimal level of affordable housing, and the reason why PEDA has no business tenants after about 8 to 9 years, is due to one thing and one thing only: PERVERSE ECONOMIC INCENTIVES. I grew up in Pittsfield and watched the socioeconomic perversities play out every day of my young life. Moreover, I now live in Manchester, NH, and similar perverse incentives are used up here as used in the heart of the Berkshires.
The reason why Pittsfield lacks an optimal level of affordable housing to attract new businesses to the area is because new businesses are not the real resource. Yes, in a perfect and rational economic world, which I have yet see to exist anywhere at anytime in human history, Pittsfield and PEDA would be providing rational incentives to attract new businesses to attract new jobs and grow the shrinking and stagnating local economy. BUT, the real economic resource under the perversities of the Pittsfield Political System are the people in and around the Pittsfield area!
Hypothetically, if I was foolish enough to be a "deadbeat dad" after impregnating a local Pittsfield (area) woman -- or a local Manchester, NH (area) woman for that matter, the respective political system would now own my soul and life. The kicker here is that is the respective political system's perverse incentive. Before I explain why the system is designed to control a "have not" man such as myself, I want to explain the predicament I would be in. (a) I would be debt-ridden by medical bills, child support payments, and the extra major costs of bringing an innocent baby into this cruel world of rich v. poor (and I am POOR!), (b) I would become needy on the political system. I may have to join the U.S. Military, or work 3 part-time jobs, or cut the check by ulterior and maybe even illegal means, such as prostitution, drug dealing, working under the table, and the like. Life would not be pretty for Jonathan A. Melle anymore. (c) Because I would be dependent on the political system, I would have to fall in line with the idiotic politicians that run the community I lived in.
If I was really dependent on the local political system, guys like Denis E. Guyer would slander me, and I would have to fake a smile and look down and sheepishly say "thank you, Mr. Guyer" instead of proudly saying:
"You are an ASSHOLE, Denis E. Guyer; and the only reason why you are successful is because you married a wealthy woman named Allison Crane, and your rumors against me reflect more on your own poor character than my conflicted one. Guyer, you are nothing more than a 'mean-spritited Son of a Bitch' who used people to get ahead in life. The one word I have to describe you is 'Gold-Digger.' You go to Beacon Hill most days of the year as a State Representative from Dalton, Massachusetts, and you are such an idiot that you don't even begin to understand the complex public policy issues before you. You go back to your rich wife -- one of the select Crane Family owners of Crane & Company -- and you don't even understand that, once again, the Boston Pols have screwed over the people you so poorly represent at the State House of Representatives."
The reason why the Pittsfield local political system is designed by perversely incentiving the poor people's dependecy on the local government and not rationally incentiving the attraction and retention of businesses is because of the annual $10's of millions in federally funded and subsidized, state administered and subsidized public monies to Pittsfield for substandard social service programs and public education dollars. Now, if I was one of the "deadbeat dads" dependent on the Pittsfield local political system, I would be nothing more than another epitomy of an input providing the city of Pittsfield the opportunity to point their finger at me to the germane state agency providing Pittsfield with so much public money every year. Pittsfield (or Manchester) would then treat me like crap, but keep me just enough dependent on the system so that they could squeeze every state administered public dollar out of me.
So, I grew up in Pittsfield, and with my germane education (A Master of Public Administration from UMass Amherst, May, 1999), I am able to see through every public policy and political behavior of the Mayors, State Representatives, and the like. But, because I raised and continue to raise these points, all of these politicians pretty much hate me, with first prize going to the sleaziest guy in the Berkshires: Denis E. Guyer! They find point after point after point of Jonathan A. Melle's history of "bad boy" behavior and slander my name all of the Pittsfield area. Why do they do this? Two reasons: (a) to say, "Shut the (expletive) Up!", and (b) to ensure that if I ever moved back to the Pittsfield area, I would not find a job and become dependent of the very same local political system I love to criticize.
The reasons why Pittsfield has not (a) built or even planned for an apparatus for more affordable housing, and (b) attracted nor even planned for an appartus for even one private business tenant for PEDA are because (a) that would be a rational way for a local person to be independent (or not be in the control) of the local political system and become a taxpaying citizen, and (b) PEDA would lose its $10's of millions of GE dollar revenues and assume the liabilities of accommodating even one new private tenant. In short, the city of Pittsfield (similar to the city of Manchester, NH) uses perverse incentives to exploit the needy people in order to receive the multiple millions of federally funded, state administered public dollars so that they are able to provide substandard social service programs and public education to the masses by meeting the minimal regulatory standards and then taking the rest of the financial cut and spending it on keeping the property tax rate artificially lower than it should be and special interest projects that never really assist the common man (woman, or family) to live a better quality of life in the community they worked so hard to invest in or screwed up and ended up being stuck in.
In conclusion, THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE EDITORs and Rinaldo Del Gallo III, the city of Pittsfield, Massachusetts does not want to provide affordable housing to a young workforce because that would conflict with their true intentions: USING PERVERSE ECONOMIC INCENTIVES in order to ANNUALLY RECEIVE the $10's of MILLIONS of DOLLARS in FEDERALLY FUNDED, STATE ADMINISTERED social service programs and public education dollars!
In truth,
Jonathan A. Melle
~Former resident of "The Pittsfield Area" for the 1st 28.5+ years of my life.~
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"Key issue of affordable housing"
A Berkshire Eagle Editorial
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
If Pittsfield and the Berkshires are to attract new business and industry, they must address the lack of affordable housing. Companies will be less inclined to put down roots here if there is a shortage of good, reasonably priced housing stock, and that shortage also makes it difficult to stem the tide of young people from the city and county. The appearance in Pittsfield last week of new housing and economic development secretary Daniel O'Connell is an indicator of the Patrick administration's concern about this and related economic issues confronting the region, and Mr. O'Connell came away with a better understanding of the need to tailor state affordable housing policies to small communities. State funding for housing initiatives has declined by about 50 percent over the past decade and a budget deficit may preclude an increase in the coming fiscal year, but the Legislature's Joint Committee on Housing is considering measures like grants for first-home buyers and incentives for towns that allow more housing in appropriate areas that may address a situation that must be resolved for the state's economy to flourish.
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DENIS GUYER
Born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, July 11, 1966.
Married in 1998 to wife Allison Crane-Guyer. Denis and Allison have a son, Charles David (Charlie), who was born on June 18, 2003.
In 1984 graduated from Pittsfield High School, and having worked many years as a "non traditional" adult student, is currently five classes away from receiving a BA in Management from the Southern Vermont College in Bennington, Vermont.
Denis served for six years in the United States Air Force (1984 - 1990), that included a two-year tour of duty in Europe. Denis was honorably discharged at the rank of sergeant and received numerous awards, medals and honors during the time he served his country.
Denis began working for Crane & Company of Dalton in 1992 as a production worker in Crane’s Pioneer paper mill and is now a purchasing agent for Crane responsible for procurring $3 million a year in goods and services.
He was elected to serve as a Dalton selectman in May 2001. Recently, he served as Chairman of Dalton's five-member Select Board. Dalton has an annual town municipal expense budget of $9 million, a population of 6,800, with approximately 60 municipal employees that are represented by three different bargaining units.
Denis has also served as the Dalton representative for the Housatonic River Restoration (HRR) Governing Council. Denis has vast experience with river and water quality issues. As part of an HRR sub committee, he has reviewed remediation programs and awarded grant proposals. These grants were used to help fund community-based river education programs and projects.
Denis is an appointed member-Dalton Industrial and Development Commission, which is focused on "smart" community growth and economic development initiatives.
As Chairman of the Dalton Website Committee, Denis oversaw the creation of Dalton's first official municipal website.
In 2001-2003, Denis served on the Seven Town Advisory Committee, which is a financial oversight board for the seven towns that make up the Central Berkshire Regional School District.
Denis, Allison and Charlie live at One Haworth Street in Dalton with their two dogs, Byron and Kate and their cat, Emma.
On the Issues: Education
I believe that the foundation of our society is a strong public education system that is well funded and fairly funded for all districts; rich or poor. As the father of a child who will someday be attending public school, I have a vested interest in making sure that our public schools have the resources available to help our children succeed. I do not agree with those on Beacon Hill who believe we should be building new charter schools in rural districts, holding our education professionals accountable to unrealistic goals, while at the same time slashing education funding and education transportation aid for our existing public school districts.
As a candidate, I have already proposed legislation in the Senate that will give our public schools the flexibility they need to save revenue for a rainy day, and I will be putting forth more education initiatives during this campaign that I know will benefit our public education system.
On the Issues: Healthcare
Ever hear of someone holding a benefit dinner for a friend or loved one who needs a life saving operation or an expensive drug? I have, all the time. Ever hear of an HMO going out of business? I haven't either.
I support a single payer health plan.
Like so many of you, I have seen family members who lack adequate health care painstakingly decide between paying the mortgage or paying for their medications and treatments. This should just simply not be. We currently have a health system that is run by the HMO's and it is a dismal failure. In Massachusetts alone we have 600,000 people without any form of health coverage. Some of these folks who do not have health coverage are sitting at home in pain, trying to self diagnose and self treat their symptoms-usually with catastrophic results. Instead of treating the high blood pressure in the doctor's office, we are treating (and paying for) the heart attack in the emergency room. Instead of treating the small pre-cancerous skin lesion in the doctor's office, we are diagnosing and paying to treat advanced skin cancer later on. I think this is a travesty.
Those companies that can afford to provide health insurance for their employees are seeing the costs of their plans going through the roof. Our city and town governments are spending a larger and larger share of our property tax dollars on health plans for municipal employees. Workers are spending their raises not on groceries, but on ever increasing employee payroll deductions to their employer's health plan. Those who do have a good health plan are often finding that the HMO will not cover a drug, a test, or a specialist that their doctor has ordered. This is wrong. I believe that your doctor should determine what is best for you, not some HMO's accountant.
Hospitals are in trouble, doctors and nurses in our emergency rooms are overwhelmed, and people are suffering. The only people who seem to be doing well under the current system are the HMO executives and board members. It is time for a change.
On the Issues: Economic Development
From the fine cutlery of Lamson & Goodnow in Buckland to the fine papers of Crane & Company in Dalton, to the fresh and wonderful products of its many farms, and everything else in between, the Second Berkshire District is one of the most economically diverse districts in Massachusetts.
For the past three years I have actively worked on economic development planning as a Dalton Selectman and member of the Dalton Industrial and Development Commission. I have worked at the local level with business leaders and state agencies to bring economic development to Dalton in the form of a $250,000 Community Development Block Grant. I have worked for twelve years for a private employer and I know that for businesses to be successful, the community the business is located in must be healthy and growing. This means good schools, good roads and bridges, affordable health care, and most importantly, providing housing that working people can afford within the community they work in. All of these things are essential for businesses to be able to attract good workers and grow.
As your State Representative I will work to increase economic development opportunity within the Second Berkshire District by supporting technology initiatives that bring in high speed internet, cable access and cellular coverage for wireless uses. For our many operating farms I will support and work to expand programs such as "Buy Fresh" and "Berkshire Grown" and other programs that support agriculture and eco-tourism within the Second Berkshire District and Western Massachusetts.
This page is only the beginning, over the coming months I will be releasing very specific ideas on how we can, working together, bring positive, long lasting and sustainable economic development to the Second Berkshire District.
On the Issues: Environment
I went back to Ohio
But my pretty countryside
Had been paved down the middle
By a government that had no pride.
- The Pretenders, "My City Was Gone"
Did you know that every single day in Massachusetts we lose an average of 45 acres of our open spaces to development? Does that concern you? It concerns me too.
I grew up in Pittsfield just a short distance from the Housatonic River. My brothers and I spent many days playing near or on its contaminated banks. In my early teen years I participated in the Upper Housatonic River Canoe Races. I learned early in my life that proper environmental stewardship begins by allowing people at a very young age to come into contact with the environment, and making them appreciate that it is their responsibility to protect it. Some of my years in the Air Force were spent monitoring and investigating environmental hazards such as air and groundwater pollution. During my tenure as a member of the Housatonic River Restoration Governing Council (2002-2004) I am proud to have participated in a grant review process that helped fund river education projects for young people. As a Dalton selectman, I worked on and supported the mapping of our town's storm drain system - a known point source of contamination in many communities. I also actively supported Dalton's new (2003) Open Space Bylaw, which encourages developers to help preserve our open spaces, an initiative that is supported by the Audubon Society and other environmental organizations. I spend much of my free time hiking and cross country skiing in western Massachusetts, and I am very protective of the outstanding quality of life our natural environment gives to those of us fortunate to live here. I will fight to protect it.
As a state representative, the people of the Second Berkshire District will always have a strong environmental advocate who will hold all polluters accountable and will always work to preserve and improve our environment. I understand that there are demands on our natural resources that will require leaders who will listen and oftentimes work for common ground between groups. I want to work to pass along to future generations an environment that is cleaner and better protected than it was during my own.
Source: www.guyer2004.com
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www.iberkshires.com/story/25539/IBerkshires-Top-10-for-2007.html
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iBerkshires Top 10 for 2007
By Tammy Daniels - January 01, 2008
Attorney General Martha Coakley was sworn in.
It's that time of year - when the top 10 lists of pretty much everything begin popping up in the media and across the Web.
People love lists. Maybe because it's an easy way to encapsulate a year, a decade, a trend, a profit. A list let's you know with a glance what the majority of people were watching, reading and eating at any given time.
While lists of hard facts - like box office receipts - can't be argued with, those based on subjective review are really just opinions given heft by the use of a numbering system. But those lists are the most fun because they tend to spark debate over what was included -and especially over what was omitted.
Some lists are more democratic - people vote on what should be included and the majority gets to choose. Of course, the voters are usually people who feel invested enough in a topic to bother to voice an opinion on it. Compared to the general population, that's a pretty small sample. It's more like a caucus than an election.
We've scoured the Internet to bring you a sample of the top 10 books, songs, shows and whatnots of the past year. We'll let you know, where possible, how the list was generated.
But we'll start off with our own top 10 - stories and events culled from the iBerkshires archives over the past year. Some events were important to the Berkshires, other stories were popular with our readers. We expect many to differ with our opinion.
1. Politics came out on top as the year began with a dramatic reversal by state Rep. Daniel E. Bosley. The powerful North Adams Democrat had been among the first supporters of Gov. Deval Patrick and was poised to take a leadership role in the newly elected governor's adminstration.
But Bosley's role as economic czar changed radically as Patrick slashed the position's responsibilities. Surrounded by the Berkshire delegation, Bosley announced he'd stay in the House - crushing the aspirations of at least a half-dozen politicos hoping to replace him.
And we can't forget that Boston came to North Adams when native daughter Martha Coakley was sworn in as state attorney general on the Hunter stage at Massachusetts Museum of Art in January.
The hometown celebration for the Drury High graduate included a raft of political stars (including a former and the current lieutenant governor) teachers, bands and others, all presided over by Mayor John Barrett III. Pittsfield native and Supreme Court Assistant Justice Francis X. Spina gave her the oath. And hundreds lined up afterward to shake the new attorney general's hand.
There were a few elections, too, this year. Williamstown voted for an elected Planning Board and added two new faces to the Selectmen, Pittsfield had a hard-fought School Committee race and North Adams replaced one-term Councilor Christopher Tremblay with another newcomer, Lisa Blackmer.
2. Northern Berkshires' Big Three educational and cultural institutions came together in new ways to share the wealth, as it were. Even more intriguing, the two Williamstown icons, the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute and Williams College, made concrete moves to create a more permanent presence in North Adams.
In August, the Clark and Mass MoCA announced that the Clark would take custody of Building 12 to create Clark at Mass MoCA. Clark officials haven't determined exactly how the space will be used, but ideas ranged from off-site exhibits to student work space.
Williams, which partners with the Clark on the college's graduate degree in art history, presented Mass MoCA with a $1.8 million gift to kick-start its regional capital fund, both expressing its faith in the contemporary art museum's fiscal future and sealing its participation in the landmark Sol Lewitt exhibit to be installed at MoCA.
Oh yeah, the Clark also got a very impressive $90 million gift from the Manton Foundation that included a collection of paintings by famed 19th-century British artists.
3. Time Warner Cable's takeover of the bankrupt Adelphia coverage area caused a local brouhaha after it released its lineup earlier this year. The company's basic service dropped Aldephia's classifed channel, which offered a wide range of local postings and simulcast of WNAW, and the area's one Boston station.
But the cable company went up against Barrett and lost.
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THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE: Op-Ed
John Kerry: Finding energy solutions
By John Kerry
Saturday, December 22, 2007
When I toured the Colonial Theatre with Mayor James Ruberto a few months ago, I was amazed at the restoration efforts underway. But this winter, returning the theater to its former glory isn't the only thing on Executive Director David Fleming's mind. As the curtains rise at the Colonial Theatre, so do its monthly energy bills. Fleming has watched as electric and gas costs have soared to over $10,000 a month, almost 10 percent of the theater's total operating costs. Despite creative and sincere efforts to improve energy efficiency, the theater has been forced to spend nearly twice as much as projected.
The Colonial Theatre isn't alone feeling the squeeze of skyrocketing gas and electric bills. In a recent survey of small business owners in Massachusetts, 56 percent of respondents said that they have lost profits due to higher energy costs. Massachusetts and the New England region have some of the highest electricity costs in the nation, according to the Energy Information Administration.
All of Massachusetts is feeling the crunch, but small businesses like the Colonial Theatre and shop owners like George Garivaltis, who owns West Street Wine and Spirits, are getting hit twice over: First, they're forced to pay more to keep the lights on. Meanwhile, their customers feel the same crunch and spend less. Without the massive resources or economies of scale that the biggest corporations enjoy, high energy costs often force small firms to cut employees or even close their doors.
Local communities have taken great initiative working to mitigate these energy costs. Taking the lead to help ease the burden on small and medium sized firms, the Berkshire Chamber of Commerce helped organize the energy consortium for Central Berkshire area businesses. By banding together they'll have the leverage to negotiate lower energy rates and are not as beholden to Big Oil's dictatorship. It's a start, and a model other communities across the Bay State and America can follow for some immediate relief.
But local communities shouldn't be left alone in this struggle — help is on the way from Washington. The president just signed a comprehensive energy bill passed by the Democratic Congress that marks the first significant increase in fuel efficiency standards in 30 years. The bill, which also funds alternative energy research and development, contains key provisions I authored with Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) that empower small businesses. We increase low-interest loan amounts available to small firms to provide up-front help with investing in energy efficient technologies. We direct the federal government to reach out to entrepreneurs about the tools and information available to them and create an energy audit program. And we promote incentives for utility companies to establish affordable financing agreements with small businesses that increase their energy efficiency.
But the energy bill alone isn't all Washington must do. For a long time now, I've been fighting to empower small business owners and provide them with resources to help reduce their energy expenses. By conserving energy and creating incentives to invest in alternative and renewable sources that don't pollute our air and don't depend on foreign oil, not only will our energy costs go down, but we'll create a cleaner, greener country. I introduced legislation that, should fuel prices spike again, would allow heavily fuel-dependent companies to expect help in exchange for their commitment to a plan to become more energy efficient. In addition, we need to start rewarding people for choosing cleaner energy sources. That's why I proposed legislation to grant tax credits for alternatively fueled vehicles, energy efficient homes and commercial buildings.
Our state's legislature did its part by encouraging the use of bio-fuels and alternative energy. But while Massachusetts is ahead of the curve in our response to global warming and the energy crisis, we have miles to go before we can say we've done our all to make sure that small businesses do not fall victim to rising energy costs before the curtain falls for good.
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Sen. John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, is the chairman of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
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"Bridging a cultural divide: Israeli consul general tours county in effort to expand tourism ties"
By Amy Carr, Berkshire Eagle Staff
Thursday, January 10, 2008
PITTSFIELD — To Israel, Berkshire County is opportunity. A chance to learn. A chance to grow. And an opportunity to address cultural and political perception and reality.
In his first official visit to Berkshire County, New England Israeli Consul General Nadav Tamir called the two-day tour that ends today a foundation for the expansion of economic and artistic connections between the two nations.
"Last year, we started a New England Israeli business council," said Tamir, who has visited Jacob's Pillow and Tanglewood with his wife on a number of occasions. "We're trying to help the Israeli economy while helping the U.S. economy, and one of the reasons I came here was to understand how the Berkshires can be part of this. We already know all the arts and culture here can be a part."
State Rep. Denis E. Guyer, D-Dalton, accompanied Tamir during his visit and said he plans to help members of the business council as they continue contact with Jacob's Pillow and other cultural hubs for future cultural connections.
Tamir, in his second year of the Boston-based ambassador role, said Israel stands to benefit from studying an area where tourism bolsters the economy. He spent yesterday visiting a series of businesses and organizations to personally sample the flavor of Berkshire County. Among the stops on his itinerary was a trip to Crane & Co., Hancock Shaker Village and the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires. Tamir also met last night for dinner with the college presidents of Berkshire Community College and Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.
As consul general, Tamir said his main goal is to get to know people and communities and to tell the story of Israel that is not normally told.
"Many people, whether they are supportive or not supportive of us, know Israel only through the lens of conflict," he said. "And we're trying to expose people to the other sides of Israel."
Tamir said the way Americans perceive Israel's religious population is a crack in the lens of reality. According to the consul general, only about 20 percent of Israelis are religious. A lack of separation of church and state, he said, contributes to a disgust of religious practice.
In the same vein, Tamir admitted when he first came to work as a U.S. ambassador in the '90s, he was surprised to learn the depth of American religion and the country's support of Israel.
With President Bush in Israel to discuss a plan for peace in the Middle East yesterday, Tamir said the U.S. effort was an important step in advancing a reorganization of the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians initiated in Annapolis, Md., in November.
"Some of the issues are not easy to solve," he said noting that structuring a plan is a more realistic than enacting peace. "We're cautiously hopeful, but I can't say that we're optimistic."
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To reach Amy Carr: acarr@berkshireeagle.com, (413) 496-6233.
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"Teacher contract raises ire"
By Benning W. De La Mater, Berkshire Eagle Staff
Friday, January 11, 2008
DALTON — Parents want answers.
That was the statement sent to the members of Central Berkshire Regional District School Committee last night at Nessacus Middle School amid stalled contract negotiations between the district and the Central Berkshire Education Association.
Four members of the School Advisory Committee — the parental voice of the district — said students are the ones dealing with negative consequences of the yearlong contract impasse.
Negotiations began in January between the district and the CBEA, which represents 170 teachers and 100 paraprofessionals. Talks stalled as the three-year collective bargaining agreement expired in August, and teachers began the school year working under the terms of their expired contracts.
The CBEA filed for third-party mediation in the fall, and in November, teachers made a unified decision to stop volunteering for extracurricular activities.
"The kids say that they're the ones missing out," said SAC president Lee Watroba. "This is causing distress among the whole community."
Michael Wilson, a senior at Wahconah High School, said "the overall attitude of the students is slipping.
We're losing out."
Amy Gelinas, a Nessacus science teacher, said she has put in at least 1,400 volunteer hours over the past eight years planning field trips and organizing extracurricular activities.
Members of the CBEA said the impasse has to do with high salary increases for administrative employees (numbers that ranged from 3 to 25 percent) set against the low increases for teachers (1.5 to 2 percent). Also, proposed increases in the amount CBEA members will pay for health insurance (5 percent over each of the next three years) would put their salaries at levels below last year's.
"What we're asking for is to not take home less money than we did last year," said CBEA Executive Secretary Joanne Dowling.
School Committee Chairwoman Susan Carroll-Lombardi said the administrative salary bumps were instituted to attract worthy candidates for employment and to get their levels in line with other districts.
School Committee members said they would like to give the teachers huge raises, but are bound by several factors that limit them, including a tight budget. The Chapter 70 state revenue the district receives is now less than it was in 2002, forcing the seven district towns to pay more for education. Energy and health insurance costs are also rising at an alarming rate.
Watroba asked the School Committee what parents can do to help the process.
Carroll-Lombardi said towns must support a school budget that allows the committee to pay the teachers more. She urged parents to call legislators and the governor's office and demand more funding for education.
The next mediation session is scheduled for Jan. 23., 2008
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"Ogonowski to take shot at Senate: After coming up short in a bid for Congress, the Republican seeks Sen. John Kerry's seat"
By Ken Maguire, Associated Press
Sunday, January 13, 2008
BOSTON — Republican Jim Ogonowski, who narrowly lost a congressional race to Niki Tsongas in October, is preparing to challenge U.S. Sen. John Kerry, The Associated Press has learned.
Ogonowski, the brother of an airline pilot killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, said he has been attending Republican events around the state since his 6-percentage-point loss to Tsongas, a Democrat.
"There's nobody in Washington who represents the status quo more than John Kerry," said Ogonowski, who has not officially declared his candidacy.
Kerry, the Democratic nominee for president four years ago, has not faced a serious challenger since he fought off former Republican Gov. William Weld in 1996. The state GOP had no candidate against Kerry in 2002.
David Wade, a spokesman for Kerry, said Kerry is running for re-election this year to continue fights against global climate change and for universal health care, for energy independence and for ending the Iraq war.
"John Kerry brings to public service a lifetime of fighting the tough fights for change and standing up with courage and conviction, and he'll keep doing that in the United States Senate," Wade said.
Ogonowski ran on a platform of energy efficiency and of stopping illegal immigration in his campaign for the seat vacated by Democrat Martin Meehan. He also said that the Iraq war was a mistake, but that he wanted the troops home only after their mission was completed. Emboldened by the results of his first run for office, the Dracut farmer said that Kerry is not out of his league.
"We started a movement," the retired Air Force lieutenant colonel said. "After my campaign ended, I've been very active throughout the state. I want to continue my public service."
Since the election, Ogonowski has attended GOP events in the 5th District as well as in Brookline, Marshfield and Hingham.
Kerry, 64, has $9.5 million in his campaign account, compared with the $65,000 Ogonowski has left over from his congressional run. Ogonowski said he is prepared to raise "a few million dollars."
Ogonowski won 45 percent of the vote to Tsongas' 51 percent, despite being outspent by his better-known opponent. Tsongas is the widow of Sen. Paul Tsongas.
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"Barrett, Guyer Warn of Looming Fiscal Fiasco"
By Jen Thomas - iBerkshires.com - January 16, 2008
NORTH ADAMS - It was Mayor John Barrett III who started the conversation but it was Rep. Denis E. Guyer who finished it.
At Tuesday morning's opening breakfast for Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts' spring semester, the Dalton Democrat addressed the mayor's concerns about a fiscal crisis, even going as far as to suggest considering raising the income tax.
"I may lose my seat for saying this but something needs to be done," Guyer said. "Things don't look good fiscally. I wish I had better news. People like me, we need to have discussions with all of you about how we're going to raise revenue for the state and that conversation needs to include the possibility of raising income tax."
Guyer's comments came on the heels of Barrett's claim that the state's financial situation is the worst he'd ever seen it in his 23 years as mayor and the plight of the struggling cities and towns would most assuredly affect higher education.
"It ain't good - from the administration right on down. It doesn't seem there's a will or a desire to change their tactics," Barrett told the crowd of education and community leaders. "I don't see any light at the end of this tunnel unless there's real change."
"[Former Gov. Mitt] Romney got more done in his first year in office. It was all bad, but he got more done," the mayor added.
Gov. Deval Patrick has proposed a host of initiatives - many bearing high price tags - that are now stalled in the Legislature. While lawmakers are backing a number of his proposals, they've mostly balked at his claims that casino gambling could help solve the state's fiscal woes. And there's a looming budget deficit pegged at $1.3 billion.
In an interview later in the day, Barrett said the key to saving the state from its economic woes is repairing the strained relationship between Patrick and the Legislature. In an address at the Massachusetts Municipal Association's annual meeting last week, Patrick harshly criticized lawmakers for stalling on what he viewed as critical tax proposals.
"You can't bash the legislators. You have to sit down and negotiate with them," said Barrett, who added that continued animosity between the governor and the Legislature would lead to "gridlock."
Barrett and Patrick can agree on one thing, at least. In his Municipal Partnership Act, the governor has advocated allowing municipalities to levy local taxes on lodging and meals, giving cities and towns the choice to explore these ways of increasing their own revenue. A supporter of the optional hotel and motel/meals tax options, Barrett said the additional income would help close the gap that resulted from a loss in state aid and a drop in state Lottery revenues.
"I don't want [the Legislature or the governor] to raise taxes but they should give the communities the opportunity to make that decision," he said.
Saying he wasn't interested in raising the income tax - "I'm not into that gig" - the mayor instead has been promoting a revenue-sharing system that would infuse 40 percent of the state's new revenue back to the municipalities. The "40/10" revenue-sharing system would be phased in over five years and 40 percent of the state's three major tax sources - personal income, corporate income and sales - would go back to cities and towns. Ten percent of those tax revenues would be set aside for other discretionary spending on non-education services.
According to a story by the State House News Service released last week, the plan has stalled as many lawmakers are hesitant to back it in an already-tight fiscal situation, especially considering the possibility of a recession.
The plan helps municipalities by allowing communities to make multiyear budgeting decisions by getting reliable local aid figures from the state early each year, according to the MMA's Executive Director Geoffrey Beckwith, as reported by the State House News Service.
"Fiscal crisis, real or perceived, is going to be hurting cities and towns. You're going to see several communities go into receivership. There's just no state money," said Barrett.
And Guyer understands the problem, though the solution may make him unpopular.
"Until we start having these uncomfortable discussions about raising revenue, it's going to be painful. We're going to continue chasing our tails - chasing our tails downward," he said. "We've avoided this conversation for 16 years. We're sitting here arguing and other states are passing us by."
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Mayor John Barrett III
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Rep. Denis E. Guyer
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"Budget ups local aid: The governor's budget is criticized by some for including more than $400 million in revenue that has not yet been approved"
By Hillary Chabot, Eagle Boston Bureau
Thursday, January 24, 2008
BOSTON — Communities in the Berkshires saw minimal local aid increases in Gov. Deval L. Patrick's $28.2 billion budget filed yesterday, with the bulk of the boost going to education and public safety.
Patrick funneled $6.37 billion into local aid, a 5.12 percent increase over last year. Roughly $400 million counts on revenues from licensing three resort casinos and closing corporate tax loopholes, two initiatives that are far from secure.
"This is a balanced, responsible budget which holds spending in line," Patrick said, adding that spending has continued despite the rocky national fiscal picture.
"This is not the time to stop investing in what works," he said.
One of the largest investments is education, where Patrick increased Chapter 70 funding by $223 million and doubled the funding for the extended learning time grants to $26 million.
Rep. Daniel E. Bosley, D-North Adams, called using casino funding in the budget, "gimmicky."
"I think the stabilization fund is there for when we have rainy days, and we need to do that until we grow the economy," Bosley said.
Rep. Denis Guyer, D-Dalton, lauded Patrick for increasing aid to universal kindergarten and full-day kindergarten, although regional transportation was level-funded.
Lanesborough and Lee raked in the largest bump in local aid, showing a 14.1 and 14.2 percent increase respectively, thanks mainly to the Chapter 70 increases. Lanesborough brought in nearly $159,000 million more in education funding and Lee got nearly $352,000 more.
Pittsfield got $46.5 million in local aid to fund its local budget, North Adams got nearly $20 million, and Great Barrington received $944,000.
Lawmakers and fiscal watchdogs cautioned, however, that the budget is balanced with one-time spending and other funding some challenge as questionable.
"We must look for efficiencies and savings before we ever look to new revenue sources and we must be concerned about placing additional new burdens on our taxpayers and businesses amid this economic uncertainty," said House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, D-Boston, in a statement.
Patrick defended the use of corporate taxes and casino-licensing revenues.
"We have put our ideas on the table. It takes three of us to do this tango, and we look forward to dancing that tango with the Legislature in the months to come," he said.
Without the $124 million in revenues coming from the casino licenses, local aid is severely stunted in Patrick's budget, with only $811 million in lottery money going to cities and towns due to slowing lottery sales.
"The more money we can send back to local communities the better because every dollar takes pressure off the property tax," Guyer said. "Obviously, we hope to do better in the Legislature with our budget."
The budget, the first of three to be released, is a working document that members of Legislature may change as the House of Representatives and the Senate calculate their own priorities.
Patrick also focused on public safety, increasing the Shannon Grant to $15 million from $4 million last year, and handing out $7 million in Youth Violence Prevention Grants, up from $2 million last year.
The budget also maintains funding for health care reform, enough to cover 225,000 additional people on the state-funded Commonwealth Care program. The budget swells spending on the governor's election-year promise to put more police officers on the street, doubling funding to $8 million.
Patrick sought savings from cutting 300 earmarks, although he allotted $150,000 for the Berkshire County Drug Task Force and $400,000 for a teen-pregnancy program.
Michael Widmer, executive director of the business-based Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said the budget is unrealistic because it is balanced on funding that hasn't been passed by the Legislature.
"It's highly unlikely that this funding will be available even if these initiatives pass this year," Widmer said, adding the budget should make more cuts.
Administration and Finance Secretary Leslie Kirwan pushed back, however, calling the proposals realistic and reachable.
"We don't think they are speculative. They're real revenues that could be enacted and available by this year," the budget chief said, challenging lawmakers to find ways of funding the growing fixed costs in other ways.
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Budget highlights
Increase education aid to cities and towns by $223 million;
Increase spending on full-day kindergarten by $15 million;
Include $15 million for anti-gang and gun violence grants;
Include $8 million to hire an additional 100 police officers;
Include $15 million for the state's affordable housing trust fund;
Include $10 million for programs to fight homelessness;
Save $300 million in Medicaid spending;
Save $51 million by requiring state workers pay more for health care;
Cut $40 million by cutting individual lawmakers' pet projects;
Raise $124 million in casino licensing revenues;
Raise $297 million by closing corporate tax 'loopholes.'
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SOURCE: Governor's Office
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Senator John F. Kerry, who endorsed colleague Barack Obama on Jan. 10, has taped a phone message for South Carolina voters debunking untrue rumors about the presidential candidate. (emmanuel dunand/afp/getty images)
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"'Swift-boated' once, Kerry now helms Democrats' armada: Vows to defend colleagues against political smears"
By Bryan Bender, Boston Globe Staff, January 24, 2008
WASHINGTON - Senator John F. Kerry, who believes his failure to respond forcefully to attacks on his military record when he ran for president in 2004 contributed to his defeat, has embraced a new role as chief defender when his Democratic Party colleagues - including presidential candidate Barack Obama - are dogged by smear campaigns.
Since President Bush defeated him four years ago, the junior senator from Massachusetts has come to the defense of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, US Representative John Murtha, and an Iraq war veteran running for Congress. Kerry has aggressively defended them when conservative activists and anonymous detractors targeted them with rumors.
Kerry's latest mission: taking on what he calls the "disgusting lies" on the Internet and in the right-wing media questioning Obama's patriotism and faith. Kerry, who recently endorsed Obama, vowed yesterday to use his unique experience to defend the Democrats from the same kind of "swift boating" tactics that Republican operatives used to help sink his presidential campaign.
"Whoever our nominee is, I will absolutely do whatever is necessary to fight and condemn these smears," Kerry told the Globe yesterday. "We are going to push back and try to hold people accountable. The worst thing you can do is be silent. You have to stay at it. That was [our] mistake [in 2004]. There should have been more dollars spent putting out the truth."
During the 2004 race, a group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth aired television ads saying that Kerry, the Democrats' presidential nominee, had made "exaggerated claims" about his four-month tour of duty as the skipper of a Navy patrol-boat crew in South Vietnam. The group said Kerry - who won several medals while serving in Vietnam but later became an outspoken opponent of the war - made "phony" charges that US troops committed war crimes.
The ads, paid for by leading Republican contributors but not directly linked to the Bush campaign, made headlines and led nightly newscasts. Kerry, according to top aides, deeply regrets that he did not aggressively confront the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth attacks. He said yesterday he is still trying to set the record straight.
But Kerry has also sought to vindicate himself by coming to the aid of fellow Democrats who find themselves in similar predicaments.
In the fall of 2005, for example, Kerry was among the first to defend Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat and decorated former Marine Corps officer, against right-wing attacks following Murtha's vociferous opposition to the Iraq war. Kerry took the Senate floor to defend Murtha, a fellow Vietnam veteran, and took part in grass-roots efforts to highlight Murtha's courageous military service.
A year later, Kerry stood up for Patrick Murphy, an Iraq war veteran trying to unseat Representative Michael Fitzpatrick in the Philadelphia suburbs. Fitzpatrick had enlisted military veterans to attack Murphy's service record; Murphy won the election.
"It disgusts me that a congressman who has never worn the uniform of our country stands there in silence as a veteran home from Iraq has his service disparaged," Kerry wrote at the time in a statement posted on numerous blogs and published in news reports.
Salacious political rumors and whisper campaigns are as old as American politics, but the advent of the Internet has made it more difficult for a candidate to bring them under control.
The falsehoods about Obama are the latest example. A chain e-mail falsely reports that Obama is a Muslim who was indoctrinated as a youth in a radical Islamist academy when his family lived in Indonesia. It also incorrectly alleges he was sworn in as a senator using a Koran and is anti-American for refusing to put his hand over his heart during the Pledge of Allegiance.
Obama is a member of the United Church of Christ in Chicago, used his family's Bible for his Senate swearing-in ceremony, and has led the pledge in the Senate.
Though the rumors have repeatedly been debunked, the e-mail that spread them has reportedly shown up recently on a Republican Party website and has been widely distributed in South Carolina, where Democrats vote in a primary Saturday.
In a taped telephone message, Kerry tells South Carolina voters: "I can assure you, [Obama] lives his Christian faith, and that's the only faith he's ever practiced. So if you get an ugly e-mail with false rumors, do your part to shoot down 'swift boating.' "
But Kerry worries the political smear tactics will only get worse.
"The attacks in 2004 started as an anonymous e-mail campaign," he said in the interview yesterday. "This is a highly developed process by which [Republicans] try to destroy people on a personal level. l think it's cowardly and I dislike it intensely."
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Bryan Bender can be reached at bender@globe.com.
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(Posted by Foon Rhee, deputy national political editor January 25, 2008 12:35 PM)
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Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts is the latest prominent Democrat to hit former President Bill Clinton for his criticisms of Barack Obama.
"I think you had an abuse of the truth, is what happened," Kerry said in an interview today with National Journal On Air. "I mean, being an ex-president does not give you license to abuse the truth, and I think that over the last days it's been over the top. Things have been said about Barack Obama's positions that are just plain untrue."
Kerry, the 2004 Democratic nominee who endorsed Obama earlier this month, was pressed by Linda Douglass of National Journal to elaborate on his remarks about Clinton. "I think there has been an overreach with respect to what Barack Obama has said and when he said it, and I think it's been unfortunate, but I don't think we ought to spend out time there," Kerry replied.
He then went on to praise Obama's plans for reviving the economy and to trumpet Obama's legislative experience.
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www.nationaljournal.com/onair/transcripts/080125_kerry_john.htm
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National Journal's Linda Douglass sat down with John Kerry for "National Journal On Air." This is a transcript of their conversation.
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Q: I'd like to introduce Sen. John Kerry, former Democratic presidential candidate in 2004, United States senator now. Welcome, Sen. Kerry.
Kerry: Good morning, glad to be with you. Thank you.
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Q: So, senator, you have endorsed Barack Obama, and this week, of course, the campaign was absolutely consumed with these charges and counter-charges, and it seemed to many of us that Obama's message about hope and change was pretty much drowned out. What happened, here?
Kerry: Well, I think you had an abuse of the truth, is what happened. I mean, being an ex-president does not give you license to abuse the truth, and I think that over the last days it's been over the top. Things have been said about Barack Obama's positions that are just plain untrue. It was said in Nevada, it's been said about Social Security, it's been said about Yucca Mountain, and it's been said in South Carolina. I think it's very unfortunate, but I think the voters can see through that. When somebody's coming on strong and they are growing, people get a little frantic, and I think people have seen this sort of franticness in the air, if you will.
My sense is, Barack Obama offers a better opportunity to pull America together than any other candidate in the race. If you look at the fact that the governor of Arizona, a red state, Gov. Janet Napolitano, has endorsed Barack Obama, former governor and now senator, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, red state, has endorsed Barack Obama. The two senators from North Dakota and South Dakota, the Democratic senators, have endorsed Barack Obama. Claire McCaskill, the senator from Missouri, Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia, was asked the question, "Can a Democrat carry Virginia?" And his answer was, "the right Democrat," and then he endorsed Barack Obama.
So, I think Barack Obama has the ability to pull the nation together, to offer the kind of inspired leadership that we need to tackle some very serious problems, and to make America stronger in the world. And that's why I'm for him.
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Q: Let's just go back to what you said right at the beginning. So you are saying, then, that former President [Bill] Clinton is the one who has been abusing the truth?
Kerry: I think there has been an overreach with respect to what Barack Obama has said and when he said it, and I think it's been unfortunate, but I don't think we ought to spend our time there. I think people want to focus on what are you doing to do to get my health care, what are you going to do to get my job?
I think that Barack Obama, for instance, has a stimulus plan that is important to the workers of South Carolina and to the rest of the country. Because, first of all, it's smart. It's not going to be a long-term budget increase, it's going to be a temporary one; it's targeted to the middle class; it's targeted to poor families who need the relief. But it also provides money to business investment -- business incentive in order to help create the jobs we need to move the Economy and he focuses also on the sub-prime housing crisis, which I personally believe is one of the single most important components of restoring confidence in the Economy.
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Q: Of course, Hillary Clinton is running a very focused campaign on the economy and now certainly her own stimulus plan was criticized by some but she has former President Clinton's Economic record to run on, how does he push back against that, that's a very powerful asset that she has.
Kerry: Sure it is, but people again need to be able to distinguish. Look, I supported the programs, a lot of things that we did in the 1990s, but I think everyone understands we had a technology boom in the 1990s which was unprecedented, and everybody benefited from that. We made some tough decisions and we ought to be proud of them, about the budget and the deficit. But the fact is, that was not Hillary Clinton making those decisions. It was a different team, at a different time.
In fact, Barack Obama has more legislative experience than either of his two opponents. He served eight years in the Illinois legislature and now several in the United States Senate, in total, he has more legislative years. And if you look back in history, Abraham Lincoln had only two years in the United States Congress, and then he lost. He was sent back to Illinois in shame, ran for the United States Senate, lost his race for the Senate, then was nominated to be the leader of his party. And he became, arguably, our greatest president in history. So I think you have to look at the breadth of experience, and the type of experience.
You know, I look at Barack Obama: He's older than Bill Clinton was Bill Clinton became president. He's older than John Kennedy was, he's older than Teddy Roosevelt was and he has a broad experience and has proven his ability through his campaign to be able to lead and to pull people together. And again, I go back to what I just said -- look at the coalition he is building: Nebraska, Arizona, Virginia, Missouri, North and South Dakota. These are the states where we need to build that kind of new coalition, and I think he's attracting independents and Republicans and Democrats who are fed up with the way things have been. We gotta change.
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Q: Just a couple quick questions, because you made such interesting points here, senator. The consensus seems to be now though that, for whatever reason, Barack Obama is now identified as the "black candidate." How did that happen?
Kerry: Well, if it happened, I'm not sure that that is accurate at all, and I don't necessarily accept it. But to whatever degree that has been injected here, it has been injected, frankly, by the other campaign, and I think it's unfortunate, but I just don't accept that. And I think the people that are supporting him is evidence of that.
I don't look at Barack Obama and see a black candidate. I see an inspiring, young, American United States senator -- that's what I see -- who happens also to be African American. Just as Hillary happens also to be a woman, and just as John Edwards happens also to be a white. So what? What you look at-- I mean, this is the test of this race.
Are we the country we say we are? Are we the country that holds certain truths to be self-evident, words which incidentally were written by a 33-year-old named Thomas Jefferson. You know, are we the country that judges people by the content of their character, not the color of their skin -- words that were written by Martin Luther King when he was about 34 years old.
So the fact is that, to whatever degree that issue has been put in this race, I think this is a moment for Americans to prove it doesn't matter anymore, and we're beyond that. And that's one of the transformative aspects of this candidacy that I find so appealing and so important to the nation and to the world. If we can elect Barack Obama, the message to the world about who we are, what we believe and what the possibilities are in America, are extraordinary.
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Q: Well, very strong case made, certainly, on behalf of your candidate. Thank you so much, Sen. John Kerry. I hope you can join us again.
Kerry: It's a pleasure to be with you. Thank you very much.
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"Local Lawmakers Warn of Education Woes"
By Jen Thomas - iBerkshires.com - January 22, 2008
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Ex-MASC President Joseph Santos, left, and Herbert Abelow, chairman the Southern Berkshire School District, presented Sen. Benjamin Downing with a Legislator of the Year award.
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DALTON - Berkshire County school districts are fighting a losing battle, according to state Sen. Benjamin B. Downing, D-Pittsfield and Rep. Denis E. Guyer, D-Dalton.
"Work in education comes with a lot of grief and not a lot of appreciation. We have to do more for our school districts of all sizes and the one common thread is that we, in state government, need to find more resources to direct to those districts," said Downing during a meeting of county school committees on Monday night at Nessacus Regional Middle School.
Facilitated by the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, the forum gave school officials the opportunity to question their representatives on their legislative priorities concerning education. Amid questions regarding the loss of state funding and fears about dwindling resources, Guyer warned of a tough road ahead.
"We know that money is tight and we know, here in Western Massachusetts, that we are fighting what I think is a losing battle," said Guyer, responding to criticisms of the current educational system that sends more money to schools with increasing enrollment and takes funds away from schools with declining enrollment.
That has helped burgeoning schools in the more urban eastern part of the state while rural schools in the west are being pinched as the population declines.
"As long as we have a system where the majority are rewarded by the current system and the minority are hurt, we're not going to see a lot of change," said Guyer. "Unless the districts in the (Interstate) 495 beltway start losing students precipitously, they won't feel our pain."
Guyer said the Education Reform Act of 1993, which funded schools on a per-pupil basis, does not benefit students in rural communities.
"Our children are suffering because of that reform. Their right to a good, quality education is being infringed upon," he said. "But there aren't enough of us fighting for this argument. We can't just close down schools, whether they have 30 students, 130 students or 330 students."
Losing students to charter schools also funnels money away from needy public schools, said Heather Williams, a Mount Greylock Regional School Committee member.
"If a student goes to a charter school, it takes money away from the district. Yet, when we get a student through school choice, it brings in little money," she said.
In response, Downing said the Legislature should look to find ways to equally distribute funds.
"It is an inequity. Charter to public, public to charter, their education should cost the same," he said. "Right now, we have a system where there are winners and losers instead of a sense of equity."
With Gov. Deval Patrick expected to unveil his budget tomorrow, Downing and Guyer said municipalities shouldn't expect an increase in funding for education. That despite a report released to the state Board of Education on Tuesday that said education spending is not keeping up with inflation.
"There's a $1.3 billion deficit and we have no clear idea what the revenue picture is supposed to look like," said Guyer.
While prospects for the future look bleak, representatives from the Southern Berkshire Education Collaborative (which includes the Berkshire Hills, Southern Berkshire, Lee and Lenox districts) said school districts could "do more with less" if the entire county united to create one Berkshire County Collaborative. Working together could cut costs by helping to create partnerships that allow for sharing resources and services.
Superintendents countywide are still considering the proposal but SBEC officials said they hope to see a collaborative formed this year.
The night also boasted a small awards ceremony for Downing, who was named MASC's Legislator of the Year at the event for his dedicated support to key educational issues. Former MASC President Joseph Santos presented Downing with the award and commended him for his commitment to helping the organization reach its legislative priorities.
"We had four requests - adequate and equitable distribution of Chapter 70 school aid, full funding for local and regional transportation, full funding of the special education circuit breaker and health-care options for everyone - and [Downing] has helped to move us toward all of these goals," said Santos.
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Jim Ogonowski plans to run an aggressive grass-roots campaign
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"Kerry to face GOP challenge: Ogonowski to seek Senate seat"
By Peter Schworm, Boston Globe Staff, January 28, 2008
Vowing to fight illegal immigration, reduce US military presence in Iraq, and wean the nation off oil imports, Republican Jim Ogonowski has announced that he will challenge incumbent Democratic Senator John F. Kerry for his US Senate seat.
A Dracut farmer and retired Air Force officer, Ogonowski said yesterday that he plans to run an aggressive grass-roots campaign stressing national security and the need for political reform to promote the interests of ordinary Americans.
"Every place I go I've been hearing the same thing - we need fundamental change in Washington," he said in a phone interview yesterday. "Washington is not working for the American people. I want to serve the people, not the lobbyists and Washington insiders."
Campaigning as a populist reformer pledging to shake up the status quo, Ogonowski lost his bid for Congress last fall in his first run for political office, but garnered 45 percent of the vote and made the race closer than expected in a heavily Democratic area.
Since his defeat by Democrat Niki Tsongas in a race that drew national attention, Ogonowski has met with state activists and party leaders about a potential candidacy, which he said would build on momentum from his congressional campaign. He said Kerry's advantage as an four-term incumbent and nationally known politician was not insurmountable.
"I've heard the race compared to David and Goliath, but David won," he said. "I'm in this race to win it."
Ogonowski joins Jeff Beatty, a military veteran from Harwich who ran unsuccessfully in 2006 against US Representative William Delahunt. Kerry last faced a serious challenge from Republican Governor William Weld in 1996.
Beatty could not reached for comment yesterday.
Ogonowski formally announced his candidacy to the Lowell Sun, which reported the news yesterday. Earlier this month, Ogonowski announced that he was strongly considering a run.
Then, as he did yesterday, Ogonowski criticized Kerry as a wealthy Washington insider out of touch with the day-to-day concerns of average voters.
"It is clear that Washington is broken and the people of Massachusetts are demanding a new voice that will fight for their interests," he said yesterday. "No one represents the status quo, business as usual mentality in Washington, more than John Kerry."
In a statement, Kerry spokesman David Wade said that "Senator Kerry is running for reelection so he can continue fighting to change Washington. John Kerry brings to public service a lifetime of fighting the tough fights for change and standing up with courage and conviction, and he'll keep doing that in the United States Senate."
Kerry holds a huge financial advantage, with nearly $10 million in his campaign accounts, compared with less than $100,000 in Ogonowski's. But Ogonowski said he was confident he could raise the resources necessary to run a strong campaign.
"This race is going to be about the issues," he said.
A poll of 400 registered voters conducted last spring by Suffolk University and 7News found that 56 percent said it was time to give other candidates a chance.
Ogonowski's announcement left him with one less Republican competitor, as Kevin Scott, a former Wakefield selectman who had registered to run for US Senate in the Republican primary in the fall, said yesterday he would drop out and endorse Ogonowski.
"I had told him that if he decided to run, he'd have my support," Scott said. "He's level-headed, very likeable, and extremely electable. I think he'll do very well."
Frank Talty, a political science professor at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, said Ogonowski faces an uphill climb running against an established incumbent during a presidential election year, which will probably produce heavy turnout.
"Massachusetts in and of itself is a very difficult state to run in a presidential year as a Democrat," he said. "Sheer demographics."
Still, Ogonowski's stance as a citizen legislator holds substantial appeal, he said, and a strong statewide campaign could serve as a springboard for a run for the governor's office in 2010.
Ogonoswki, the brother of an airline pilot killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, said national security would be his top priority and said he supported generous investment in energy efficiency research to promote greater energy independence. In September, Ogonowski sharply criticized the Bush administration for the war in Iraq, saying "the president has completely mishandled the situation."
He said he supports making tax cuts passed during the Bush administration permanent and hopes to rein in pork-barrel spending.
"Anything that puts money back in the hands of hard-working Americans, I'm in favor of," he said. "People I talk to are worried when they come home Friday whether their job will be there Monday."
Ogonowski said he supported tough enforcement of immigration laws and that he opposed allowing undocumented residents to hold driver's licenses or receive in-state tuition at public colleges.
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"Teen driver law may work: Traffic fatalities, speeding declined in 2007, RMV reports"
By Hillary Chabot, Eagle Boston Bureau
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
BOSTON — Dalton driving school instructor Keith Palmer already knows of two Wahconah High School students who had their license suspended under the updated junior operator bill.
While he's glad the new strict bill is limiting speeding citations and fatal crashes, the Arrow Driving School owner also believes the new law is a big burden to drivers under the age of 18.
"Fair or unfair, if it's helping, fine," Palmer said. "But this creates a hardship for certain students. When you have kids on a bus and it takes an hour and 15 minutes to get to school, it's very tough when they lose their license for being 12 miles over the speed limit."
About 3,000 other drivers under the age of 18 had their license suspended between March 31, 2007, and early December, according to preliminary data released by the state Registry of Motor Vehicles.
The law has reduced fatal crashes with teen drivers at the wheel from 27 in 2006 to 17 last year. The number of speeding citations for 16- and 17-year-old drivers has plummeted by about 30 percent, and the number of drag-racing citations dropped by nearly 40 percent.
State Rep. Denis Guyer, D-Dalton, said the numbers are proof the new law is helping teens stay safe.
"If this is saving lives, no one has to apologize for anything," Guyer said. "Typically, the first offense is enough to drive home the point that this is serious and they need to pay attention to the speed limits."
Those numbers also spell success to state Sen. Steve Baddour, D-Methuen, who worked to pass the bill after a series of high-profile fatal crashes involving young drivers.
"Once one teen gets hit (with a license suspension), everyone at that school will know about it," Baddour said. "The amount of education we require has parents and teenagers talking about how serious the law is and how important it is."
Parents must sit in on two hours of driver's education under the updated law, and students must put in double the driving and class time. If classes don't get parents' attention, the cost of license reinstatement — up to $1,000 — often does, said Palmer. "I'm not so sure if putting the monetary burden on families is helpful," Palmer said.
The new law triggers license suspension after one speeding ticket, and teens who are driving with other passengers who aren't relatives in the car or are driving between midnight and 5 a.m. also could have their license suspended.
Those caught speeding must attend two four-hour classes in order to get their license back. The classes already have a 10-week waiting time, according to some driving school owners.
The state has 4.7 million licensed drivers, and 62,000 are junior operators, or drivers under the age of 18.
But for some teens, the lesson still has to be learned, said Guyer, who suggests parents consider the bigger picture if their teen's license is suspended. "Be thankful your child is alive. Be thankful it was a police officer pulling them over and not coming to your door to tell you your child is dead because he or she was speeding," Guyer said.
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Mount Greylock School Union
"Nurse seeks health funds"
By Jessica Willis, Berkshire Eagle Staff
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
LANESBOROUGH — It has funded essentials such as nurses' salaries, CPR classes, cots and new computers.
But at the end of this school year, the eight-year-old school health grant will be gone, and Melissa H. Skidmore, nurse leader of the dissolving Mount Greylock School Union No. 69, is pushing for an increase in funding in the state's 2009 budget to preserve health programs.
She said the increase — from $16.7 million to $20 million — would enable about 40 more districts in the state to receive funding for school nurse services; currently about half of the districts in the state receive such funding.
Skidmore also is hoping to secure a piece of a new, highly competitive $15 million grant by including, on the grant proposal, Williamstown Elementary and Mount Greylock Regional High School, along with two of Skidmore's MGSU schools, Lanesborough Elementary and Hancock Elementary.
More students will be served by the new grouping, and Skidmore said the increase in numbers will appeal to the Department of Public Health, the state agency executing the grant.
"(Originally) we might have been too small for it to make sense to the state," she said.
The school union, originally composed of Lanesborough, New Ashford, Hancock, and Richmond, began its dismantling process earlier in the month. Pending Department of Education approval, Lanesborough will form a new district with Williamstown, and the three remaining MGSU towns will form a new union.
Health programs for two Williamstown private schools, Buxton and Pine Cobble, are also included in the proposal, she said, and the grant proposal is due Feb. 15.
Skidmore, who is a registered nurse and has been school union nurse leader for three years, said her entire salary is paid for by the health services grant, and if funding falls through in fiscal year 2009, she's out of a job.
The new Essential School Health Services grant could bring up to $80,000 in health program funds to the new collaborative. Under the old eight-year grant, the MGSU received annual sums ranging from $86,000, when the grant was secured in 2001, to $58,000 in 2007.
At Lanesborough Elementary yesterday, Skidmore and Rep. Denis Guyer, D-Dalton, visited sixth-grade and third-grade classrooms, and the pair asked the students what they thought about the importance of school health programming.
When asked about an upcoming CPR class, one sixth-grader said he was looking forward to learning the life-saving skill.
"You never know when you might be in a situation where you need to use it," he said.
In the third-grade classroom, Guyer teasingly asked the youngsters if it was correct to use cold water and no soap to wash their hands.
"Nooooo," they wailed in unison.
Back in the nurse's office, Guyer noted that he represents some of the most rural communities in the state — Becket, Hinsdale, Lanesborough, Peru, New Ashford, Hancock, Dalton, and the like, and students from those remote communities often depend on school nurses for their health care.
"If Mom and Dad live 20 minutes north of school and work 20 minutes south, and something should happen to the child, they could lose hours and hours of time getting care for the child," he said. "I know it's vital."
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Seeking Re-Election
"Can't keep them down: Members of the Berkshire County contingent in Boston seem to be up for another run"
By Hillary Chabot, Eagle Boston Bureau
Friday, February 01, 2008
BOSTON — To the Berkshires locals looking to run for state representative or senator, better be ready to face an incumbent.
State Rep. William "Smitty" Pignatelli, D-Lenox, was just one of many who said they will pull their papers for re-election after they become available on Feb. 6 — the day after the state's presidential primary.
"I just had a fundraiser hosted by the governor," said Pignatelli yesterday afternoon. "I love my job as much today as the day I took office."
State Sen. Ben Downing, D-Pittsfield, who won former Sen. Andrea Nuciforo's former seat, also said he is running again.
Downing edged out Democratic challenger Christopher Hodgkins in the 2006 primary and went on to beat Republican Matthew Kinnaman.
He's hoping to get started on his second term if re-elected.
State Rep. Dan Bosley, D-North Adams, and Rep. Christopher Speranzo, D-Pittsfield, plan on running again. They are finishing their 11th and second terms, respectively.
State Rep. Denis Guyer, D-Dalton, also confirmed he will seek election to a third term.
Candidates running for state representative must gather 150 signatures from registered voters in their districts, and those running for senator must gather 300 signatures.
The signatures are due at the local town clerks' office by 5 p.m. on April 29.
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"Brigades poised to spread respective words: County Democrats to stump for Obama, Clinton"
By Benning W. De La Mater, Berkshire Eagle Staff
Friday, February 01, 2008
PITTSFIELD — The new campaign office of the Berkshire Brigades got its first workout last night as roughly 30 Barack Obama supporters discussed strategies for a Super Tuesday offensive.
Members of the Brigades, the countywide organization of Democrats, have rented an office on the first floor of the Cooper Center at 1 Fenn St. for the remainder of the campaign season.
Lee Harrison, chairman of the Brigades, said the space will be a "coordinated campaign office," meaning that supporters of both Obama and Hillary Clinton will be using the office in the coming months.
"For a long time we've wanted a visible location," Harrison said. "We'll be staffing it with volunteers. And it also will be available for any of the local, state and federal candidates. This will be a physical presence for the Democratic party here in the county."
As an organization, the Brigades does not endorse a presidential candidate until one has been selected at the national convention. Harrison said Clinton supporters have planned a similar strategizing session for this weekend.
Obama supporters last night brought lawn signs, placards and buttons for volunteers to pass out across the county.
Michael F. Wilcox, founder of Berkshires for Progressive Change and a Brigades member, detailed some of the work that needs to be completed in the days leading up to Super Tuesday, like phone banking and staffing polling locations.
"Our assignment is to make up for some of the unenlightened districts in the eastern part of the state," he said.
There are roughly 700 "identified" Obama volunteers in the four western counties of the state, and Wilcox said half of them reside in Berkshire County.
He asked those in attendance to donate four hours this weekend to call — on cell phones — Obama supporters and undecided voters to remind them about Tuesday's primary.
He warned them that some of the calls might turn into "persuasion efforts."
Because of the compressed time frame, Wilcox said telephoning was a better use of time than canvassing. He also called for volunteers to help house-bound residents get to the polls.
Attorney Patrick Gable offered space at Martin & Oliveira law offices inside the Clock Tower Building for phone banking, as did state Sen. Benjamin B. Downing, D-Pittsfield, at his 20 Bank Row space.
Rep. Denis Guyer, D-Dalton, made an appearance at the event, and to the crowd's approval, announced that he has thrown his support behind Obama now that John Edwards has dropped out.
"I was with Edwards for reasons that don't matter anymore," he said. "This is the most important election of our lifetime. If the other person on our ticket goes against Mitt Romney or John McCain, I feel that person will lose. The stakes are high."
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To reach Benning W. De La Mater: bdelamater@berkshireeagle.com, (413) 496-6243.
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"Rural Working Group Proposes Green Incentives"
iBerkshires.com - January 30, 2008
BOSTON - A working group focused on rural issues is calling for economic incentives and tax credits for farmers and foresters investing for green technologies.
The suggestion is one of several the group submitted to Gov. Deval Patrick for review on Wednesday.
The Rural Economic Development Working Group is also proposing the state invest more research in its forest produce industry and offer incentives to attract a new generation of farmers and foresters.
State Rep. Denis E. Guyer, D-Dalton, said the suggestions are aimed at aiding the forestry and farming industries and their potential partnership with renewable energy development in Western Massachusetts.
"The potential to link these industries to the biomass energy movement seemed very logical and has a strong potential to be very lucrative," he said.
The statewide group was organized by Guyer last May after the farming and forestry field were hit by rising energy prices that have continue hurt the local industry.
Guyer, whose wide-flung 2nd Berkshire district consists primarily of small rural and hilltowns in Berkshire, Franklin and Hampshire counties, said he was concerned about the future viability of this sector of the local economy and so gathered key players from across the commonwealth to brainstorm ideas.
Their meetings have resulted in a group of initiatives designed to stimulate the forestry and farming economy through green technology and renewable energy. It is expected that the Patrick administration will be releasing its comments on the stimulus package sometime in February.
"I originally called these meetings after receiving feedback from individuals in the forestry industry who were having growing concerns about their business' futures if they could not find an expanded market," said Guyer. "This working group embraced the issue and found a similar need in the farming community."
He said the group has put a lot of hard work into developing a plan that will not only benefit those in the forestry, agriculture and energy communities, but the people of the commonwealth as whole.
"Through this work, we are encouraging the production of clean energy, the conservation of our forest and farmlands and creating jobs to boost our economy." said Guyer.
Participants of the working group include state Environment and Energy Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles, Undersecretary of Energy David Cash, representatives from Economic Development Secretary Daniel O'Connell's office, state Rep. Steven Kulik, D-Worthington, state Rep. Daniel E. Bosley, D-North Adams, state Sen. Stanley Rosenberg, D-Northampton, and state Sen. Benjamin B. Downing, D-Pittsfield, and Dicken Crane, president of the Massachusetts Forestry Association.
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RSVP for the February 13th Event Yet????
In just about a week and a half the Governor will be hosting a party in honor of Representative Guyer at the Olde Forge Tavern in Lanesborough.
Space at the event will be limited and as we are receiving more rsvp's each day, we wanted to send you this reminder. At this point, we are urging you to send your rsvp to voteguyer@gmail.com. If you would like to donate online you can do so through the secure paypal site, via the link below.-
Thanks,
Lauren
Here are the event details:
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Please join Governor Deval Patrick at an event in honor of State Representative Denis Guyer
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When: Wednesday, February 13th 6:30 8:30 pm
Where: "The Olde Forge Restaurant", 125 N. Main Street(U.S.Route 7), Lanesborough, Massachusetts 01237
**Musical Performance by the Justin Allen Trio**
Suggested donation: $500 - $250 - $100 - or other
Space is limited. Please RSVP to VoteGuyer@gmail.com or call Lauren Aquino at 774-230-7389
Use our secure server to make a donation online via the link below.
Checks can be made payable and mailed to "Citizens for Denis Guyer", 55 Norwich Drive, Dalton, MA 01226
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2/4/2008
Dear Denis E. "Golddigger" Guyer:
Wow! You really reel the big boys of Massachusetts into your Western Massachusetts legislative district! First, John Forbes Kerry last Fall. Second and currently, Deval Laurdine Patrick this very Winter!
What is your real goal in choosing a career in Politics, Denis? Do you think you are going to become a Congressman, Governor, U.S. Senator, or the like sometime in the future?
I am going to legally and legitimately stop you, Denis E. Guyer, from climbing the political ladder! You are going to lose your legislative seat in this year's 2008 state government elections. You are my Enemy #1! I HATE YOU more than I dislike "Luciforo"!
In Eternal Opposition!
Jonathan A. Melle
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"Obama Campaign Alive in County"
By Jen Thomas -iBerkshires.com- February 02, 2008
With Super Tuesday fast approaching, last-minute campaigners are out in the Berkshire community in full force, vying for your attention and, more importantly, your vote.
Competing with the newly-formed "Berkshires for Hillary" campaign, a local arm of the campaign for presidential hopeful and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama has scheduled a host of visibility events for the coming days in an effort to the word out to county voters.
According to Tela Zasloff, the Williamstown resident who has taken the helm of the Obama campaign in Northern Berkshires, a core group of 30 volunteers has been working for more than a week to organize the vote-getting effort.
"Our group started at a bagel brunch at my house last Sunday [with] about 25 people attending. We've grown since then and we're made up of Democrats, Independents, some Republicans and formerly nonvoters," Zasloff said.
Working with Michael F. Wilcox, the Western Massachusetts coordinator for the Obama campaign, the Berkshire County group will be working throughout the weekend. Visibility events in Pittsfield, North Adams and Williamstown will continue today and tomorrow, with time set aside for "phonebanking" over the next four days.
Both Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and Williams College will host events to support the Obama campaign on Saturday. Students on the MCLA campus will lead a visibility event in front of Murdock Hall at 1 p.m. and "Why Barack Obama – Why now?" - an informal lecture and free pizza event – will take place at 5 p.m. at Williams' Paresky Center.
"People really want a turnaround from the past, from past administrations, from the way we've been behaving as a nation. That's why Obama's "Change" motto appeals so much, especially to the young," said Zasloff. "He represents real change, and is the best candidate, with his personal qualities and political and life experience, to lead us in that direction."
Major state lawmakers have also voiced their support for the young senator, supporting a man they believe will move the country in a new direction. Joining U.S. Sens. John F. Kerry and Edward M. Kennedy, Gov. Deval Patrick, Berkshire legislators Sen. Benjamin B. Downing and Rep. Denis E. Guyer have endorsed Obama in the final weeks before the primaries.
"I am supporting Senator Obama because I respect his judgment and leadership and I believe that he is the Democratic Party's best choice to win the November election," Guyer said on Friday. Guyer, who originally supported former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, announced his support of Obama earlier this week in a statement.
Events for the next four days throughout the county are as follows:
1. Visibilities:
Saturday, Feb. 2 - noon: Field Park, Williamstown
Saturday, Feb. 2 - 1 p.m.: MCLA
Saturday, Feb. 2 - 5 p.m.: Park Square, Pittsfield
Sunday, Feb. 3 - 11:30 a.m.: Park Square, Pittsfield
Monday, Feb. 4 - noon and 5 p.m.: Park Square, Pittsfield
2. Obama student phone bank at Williams, Friday and Sunday
3. Obama table set up at Williams, Friday and Saturday, Paresky main entrance, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
4. Obama (free) pizza event : Williams College, Paresky Room 220, 5 to 6 p.m., Saturday. Discuss campaign and student sign-up for phone banking.
To help out with the Obama campaign, county captains are available by area.
For north county, contact Tela Zasloff at jzasloff@adelphia.net or 458-4846.
For Pittsfield, Pat Gable will be hosting phone banking on the fifth floor of the Clocktower Building, 75 South Church Street at the following times..
Saturday - 2:30 - 6 p.m.
Sunday - 11 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Monday - 5 - 8:30 p.m.
For Lee and nearby towns, contact Mary Palmer at marpal@verizon.net or 243-3607.
For south county, contact Mary Pat Akers at mpakers@gmail.com or 413-528-5409 or 413-250-4664.
In Great Barrington, David McCarthy will be hosting phonebanking on the third floor of 291 Main Street (follow signs to Martello Investment Management) on Saturday from 1 to 5 p.m.
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Date: Monday, 04 February, 2008
From: "Representative Guyer"
To: "Jonathan A. Melle"
Cc: "Denis E. Guyer"
Subject: Re: Deval Patrick to host Denis Guyer's campaign fund-raiser
My real goal in politics is to raise my profile as much as I can here in Massachusetts then run for Governor of New Hampshire at some point, or maybe even Mayor of Manchester. So I can then represent you! Wouldn't that be great!! Just think about it, you could come out of your house every day and see guyer lawn signs and guyer bumper stickers all over.....popping up everywhere like little weeds...........turn on the tv or radio and you may even see or hear a guyer ad.Open up the newspaper and guess what? The guyer full page ad.
Seriously though, I am long overdue in my thanks to you for raising my profile on the internet. According to my website folks it seems that your postings about me actually drive more traffic back to my website!! Truth is, everytime you post about me it seems, people go to my website to check me out, or they google me. And as you know in this game, well, the more people who see your name the better. So thanks.
I know, it seems pretty strange, and it took me a little while to get my mind around this too, but the truth is you are helping me. I guess the worst thing for any politician to have is no attention, no volume, and you certainly are giving me plenty of that! You know, the old adage about no news being bad news and all that........
And here's the icing on the cake for me:
Someone donated to my campaign after seeing your wild postings about me on your blog and then going to my website to check me out. I was thrilled!! Isn't it great to know that all of your work has actually resulted in me getting MORE campaign funds.
So thanks for the support and PLEASE keep up the work (I wouldn't call it good work but hey, it is pretty caustic and inaccurate stuff about me you are writing, so you'll have to forgive me here).
You are actually helping me and on behalf of myself and my campaign committee, I really do appreciate it! You are making my job much, much easier.
Take care and please keep writing. I need more money.
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2/5/2008
Dear Denis E. Guyer:
You do NOT scare me! You may evoke FEAR in a lot of people with your RACIST, discriminatory, hate-filled, Hitlerian, Neo-Nazi-esque, mean-spirited, vicious, slanderous dirty politics, but not in me!
I have been there Denis. I have been bullied by ASSHOLES like you time in and time out. In all of my life, it has finally occurred to me that people like you don't like people like me because I am a GOOD person. I don't go down to the low levels of people who choose to hurt one another.
When Adolf Hitler rose to political power, like you, Denis Guyer, he rose through a democratic process. Like you, Denis Guyer, Hitler's hatred of Jews and others he chose to bully, gave him MONEY, POWER, and every other earthly desire.
I will STOP YOU, Denis Guyer, before you hurt many people instead of just a few. Last Fall of 2007, you held a campaign fundraiser hosted by U.S. Senator John Forbes Kerry. Next week, you are holding another campaign fundraiser hosted by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick.
Just like Satan, you may have all of the power, money and charisma in the World, but just like Jesus Christ, you will never defeat me or the divine power of LOVE and Goodness. You are my negative or opposite, Denis Guyer. In my life, I have chosen LOVE and Goodness over power, money and charisma. As time goes on, you will see that you are no match for me. Unlike the 1920s and 1930s with Hitler's rise to power, I will STOP you NOW!
It is WAR, Denis E. Guyer! You are on the losing side. You just don't know it yet. Maybe no one will ever know who I was and whom I stopped, but the World will be a better place without your wretched face lying to and hurting humankind.
I WILL STOP YOU, DENIS E. GUYER, EVEN IF IT IS THE LAST THING THAT I EVER WILL DO IN MY LIFE! I HATE YOU! My means of stopping you will be peaceful and nonviolent, legal and legitimate, and out of my love for God and his beautiful creation that I will NEVER let you destroy in your Hitlerian rise to power.
In short, Denis E. Guyer, GO TO HELL! That is where you are headed anyway. When you get there, maybe you will join Hitler in eternity.
In Eternal Opposition!
Jonathan A. Melle
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2/6/2008
Dear Denis E. Guyer:
I wouldn't wish your racist, violent, hate-filled, vicious, mean-spirited...slander and terrible attempts to hurt people on my worst enemy.
Leadership is by actions and words. You are no leader! I will legally & legitimately STOP you! I HATE YOU! You are an ASSHOLE, Denis!
Jonathan Melle
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2/8/2008
Dear Denis E. Guyer:
This is the last email I will ever send you.
I understand that I am supposed to react to all of the dirty politics of Andrea Nuciforo II, and the like. I understand that the rumors you spread about me are to bait me into reacting to the layers of bullying placed upon me since I have been nearly 21-years-old in May of 1996 when I first met "Luciforo" when my dad successfully ran for Berkshire County Commissioner. I understand what I am expected to do with all of this.
I have learned whom not to be in my life of 32.5 years and counting. I am not going to take the bait you and those you have colluded with against me by telling people such terrible things about me. The things you have said have gotten to me and the dirty politics have taken its toll on me. However, my response is to live at my own level of dignity and be myself, not someone else.
I am not a pawn in a chess board. I am not the bait. You have lost!
In eternal silence to you forever more,
Jonathan A. Melle
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"State legislators consider cigarette tax boost"
Posted by jdeburro, February 08, 2008, 22:36PM
By DAN RING, dring@repub.com, The Springfield Republican
BOSTON - Concerned about the costs of the state's health care law, legislators are considering raising the cigarette tax.
Leading legislators said on Friday they are considering raising the $1.51-a-pack tax to pay for the state's near-universal health care initiative.
Tobacco Free Massachusetts, a nonprofit coalition, is proposing to raise the tax by $1 a pack and is planning to launch a campaign this month to back the effort. That increase would raise about $150 million a year.
"I think we have to strongly consider it," Sen. Stephen J. Buoniconti, D-West Springfield, said on Friday. "The reality is the expansion of health care is becoming a budget buster, even more so than before."
Gov. Deval L. Patrick is proposing a $400 million increase in spending for health care programs for the fiscal year that starts July 1.
The increase is needed partly because more people than projected are signing up for subsidized coverage in the state's health care law. Initially, 140,000 were expected to sign up for the state's Commonwealth Care insurance. As of December, 169,000 had signed up, according to The Boston Globe, and an enrollment of 225,000 is expected by June 2009.
The cigarette tax in Massachusetts is ranked No. 15 in the nation. When the tax was increased by 75 cents in 2002, the state briefly had the highest cigarette tax. If it rises by $1, it will be the second highest in the country, following New Jersey at $2.58 a pack.
Patrick said this week he discussed a possible cigarette tax increase with House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, D-Boston, and Senate President Therese Murray, D-Plymouth.
"I want to wait and see what they propose," Patrick said during an appearance on WTKK-FM radio in Boston. "They're working through their thinking on that."
Russet D. Breslau, executive director of Tobacco Free Massachusetts in Framingham, said the cigarette tax currently raises about $420 million a year for the state.
"There is going to be a shortfall," in paying for health care, she said. "This is a real easy way to fix it."
Rep. Todd M. Smola, R-Palmer, said the state should be more creative about paying for programs.
He said it's a bad idea to raise the cigarette tax.
"It's gouging the consumer," Smola said. "It hits people in the pocketbook. I'm not a fan of any tax."
Rep. Daniel E. Bosley, D-North Adams, said he is concerned that people would drive to other states such as New Hampshire to buy cigarettes if the tobacco tax was increased in Massachusetts. Massachusetts has the lowest cigarette tax in New England, except for New Hampshire.
"You don't want to raise it so much you end up sending people over the border," Bosley said. "You'll hit a breaking point where it's easier for people to get cigarettes elsewhere."
Rep. Sean F. Curran, D-Springfield, said a $1-a-pack increase is too steep.
"We have to explore all options," Curran said. "Should we penalize people for smoking when it's our job to look for alternative sources of revenues?"
David R. Guarino, spokesman for the House speaker, said analysts in the House are trying to determine the exact amount of money that will be needed for health care.
Guarino said a cigarette tax could increase state revenues and discourage people from smoking.
"It's something we are looking at," Guarino said. "It's on the table in terms of a possibility down the line."
A report by the World Health Organization on Friday said tobacco is on pace to kill 1 billion people in the 21st century unless governments intervene.
The report urged governments to increase tobacco taxes and prices, ban advertising and help the addicted.
It currently costs about $5.40 for a pack of cigarettes in Massachusetts. A typical pack-a-day smoker would pay an extra $365 a year if the tax went up by $1.
Rep. Rachel Kaprielian, D-Watertown, has a bill to raise the cigarette tax by $1.
Co-sponsors include Reps. John W. Scibak, D-South Hadley; Peter V. Kocot, D-Northampton; Stephen Kulik, D-Worthington; and Denis E. Guyer, D-Dalton.
Rep. Benjamin Swan, D-Springfield, said he could support $1 a pack increase in the cigarette tax.
Swan said a cigarette tax increase is appealing because it could prevent or curb tobacco use, especially among younger people. "It might save lives," he said.
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CIGARETTE TAX
Recent increases in the cigarette tax in Massachusetts:
Voters approve ballot question in 1992 to increase cigarette tax by 25 cents to 51 cents a pack on Jan. 1, 1993.
In 1996, legislators raise the tax by another 25 cents a pack to pay for health care.
In 2002, during a fiscal crisis, legislators increase the tax by 75 cents per pack to $1.51.
The cigarette tax in Massachusetts is now ranked No. 15 in the nation, lowest in New England, except for New Hampshire, which has $1.08 per pack tax.
Source: Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids in Washington
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John Adams Innovation Institute (MTC)
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"Broadband Advocates Testify in Boston"
Staff reports -iBerkshires.com- February 14, 2008
BOSTON - Gov. Deval Patrick and Western Massachusetts legislators are staying true to their promise in trying to deliver broadband service to the 32 unserved communities throughout the state by 2010.
During testimony delivered this morning before the Joint Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditures and State Assets, officials said the approval of the broadband bond bill (An Act Establishing and Funding the Massachusetts Broadband Institute) would stimulate economic devlopment, create jobs and increase property values, tax receipts and business formation.
"The existing lack of service in over a third of Western Massachusetts cannot be ignored any longer. This digital divide slows and deters economic development, threatens public safety and health and restricts creativity in the classroom. The governor has stated many times that the entire commonwealth must be open for business and we truly cannot accomplish this goal without broadband available in all 351 municipalities," said Sen. Benjamin B. Downing, D-Pittsfield, in written testimony to the committee.
The Patrick administration and local lawmakers are looking to create a Broadband Incentive Fund, capitalized by a $25 million general obligation bond and managed by a new division within the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative. According to a statement released by the governor's office on Thursday, the bond authorization will seek public-private partnerships to develop broadband infrastructure.
"The fund will enable the state to direct up to $25 million toward such essential, long-lived broadband infrastructure as conduits, fiber and wireless towers, making it more cost-effective and attractive for private companies to invest additional funds and deliver complete solutions to costumers in regions without broadband access," read the statement.
The text of the bill can be found here.
Downing and Patrick joined Reps. Denis E. Guyer, D-Dalton, Daniel Bosley, D-North Adams, William "Smitty" Pignatelli, D-Lenox, Stephen Kulik, D-Worthington, and members of the governor's administration at the hearing, as Berkshire County residents who traveled by bus to the city listened in.
Of the 32 towns in the state that are unserved by broadband, 22 are in Berkshire, Hampshire or Franklin counties. An additional 63 municipalities are considered underserved, 15 of which are in that same district. Of the 48 communities Downing represents, only 11 have access to broadband service.
"The fact is that most of my constituents do not enjoy the same technological advances taken for granted by their neighbors to the east. This is more than an inconvenience. I submit that Massachusetts' policymakers must take appropriate steps now by passing this legislation in order to ensure that companies will continue to operate, expand and relocate to all regions of our Commonwealth, so their workers will have the family-friendly option of telecommuting, and so students in every school district will have the same broadband resources available to them," said Downing.
This was the only hearing scheduled on the bill, which was announced last fall by the the Berkshire delegation and Patrick administration officials in Becket.
The following is the text of Sen. Downing’s written testimony in support of H. 4311:
Dear Chairman Montigny and Chairman Flynn:
I write to register my strongest support for H. 4311, An Act Establishing and Funding the Massachusetts Broadband Institute , a bond bill filed by Governor Patrick which will have great and vast impacts on my district. I urge the Committee to release this most important proposal with a favorable report as quickly as possible.
Access to high-speed Internet, also known as broadband, is essential infrastructure that has been proven to stimulate economic development, create jobs and increase property values and tax receipts. Yet, today in Massachusetts 32 communities (all but one in western Massachusetts) are completely in the dark, without any access to broadband whatsoever. In my capacity as State Senator of the Berkshire, Hampshire and Franklin District I represent 22 of these unserved towns. An additional 63 municipalities in Massachusetts are considered underserved, with broadband access available in limited areas of the community. I represent 15 of these partially served towns. Out of the 48 wonderful communities in my district only 11 have access to broadband service today.
As the Boston Herald editorialized on January 26th, broadband providers may not have incentive to invest hundreds of thousands to build out their systems in these communities where a few hundred people might use it. They noted their collective surprise to learn that so many communities west of the Hub are without service. I know, with our Blackberry phones and high speed internet service in our offices that it is hard to imagine getting through one day without these luxuries. But the fact is that most of my constituents do not enjoy the same technological advances taken for granted by their neighbors to the east. This is more than an inconvenience. I submit that Massachusetts’ policy-makers must take appropriate steps now by passing this legislation in order to ensure that companies will continue to operate, expand and relocate to all regions of our Commonwealth, so their workers will have the family-friendly option of telecommuting, and so students in every school district will have the same broadband resources available to them.
The existing lack of service in over 1/3 of western Massachusetts cannot be ignored any longer. This digital divide slows and deters economic development, threatens public safety and health, and restricts creativity in the classroom. The Governor has stated many times that the entire Commonwealth must be open for business, and we truly cannot accomplish this goal without broadband available in all 351 municipalities.
H. 4311 creates the Massachusetts Broadband Institute within the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC) to leverage existing resources and expertise to meet an aggressive objective: broadband service for the 32 unserved communities by the year 2010. This will be accomplished by creating the Massachusetts Broadband Incentive Fund, capitalized by the issuance of a $25 million, general-obligation broadband bond. This bond authorization will seek public-private partnerships to develop broadband infrastructure to all corners of the Commonwealth, targeting our currently unserved communities.
There is not a single item of more importance to my district than ensuring broadband service to all Massachusetts cities and towns in an expedited fashion. I applaud the Patrick Administration for putting forth this proposal and making this matter a priority. I suggest that $25 million is a valid investment for the economic prosperity of our Commonwealth. When we reach the goal of full broadband connectivity from Pittsfield to Provincetown and every community in between, our Commonwealth will reap countless academic, public safety and economic benefits.
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"UMass Center Gains $4M for Biotech"
iBerkshires.com - February 13, 2008
LOWELL – Two days after unveiling a $12 million grant program to spur biotechnology research, Gov. Deval Patrick stopped at the University of Massachusetts campus here to give it $4 million for a new research facility.
The funding will help the Massachusetts Medical Device Development Center to establish a new facility in Lowell. Known as M2D2, the center is a partnership between the Lowell and Worcester UMass campuses that works with companies around the state to move innovative medical devices from concept to market.
"I'm delighted to join in announcing this next step in the growth and of the life sciences in Massachusetts," Patrick, who was headed west to a campaign event this evening for Rep. Denis E. Guyer of Dalton, said in a press release. "We are proud to continue our partnership with UMass Lowell and our private partners in developing the innovation infrastructure we need to move new ideas into cures, creating new companies and new jobs along the way."
The funding will come from a bond authorization that has already been approved by the Legislature. The state commitment of $4 million will combine with private, federal and local funds for this project.
The governor is pushing life sciences as an economic driver for the state; the Legislature is expected to take up his $1 billion life science bill in the next few weeks.
M2D2 is a resource for the state's smaller medical device companies, offering inventors and executives affordable and coordinated access to researchers and resources. Project coordinators provide access to UMass-Lowell's extensive expertise and facilities in medical device engineering, product design, prototyping and manufacturing. UMass-Lowell is establishing an on-campus innovation center that will house this life sciences initiative.
"By funding this home for UMass-Lowell's medical device development initiative, the governor is helping to grow the life sciences economy. The governor and I are committed to boosting this sector of the life sciences 'supercluster' – one that can lead to jobs, and new state revenue, quickly," said Sen. Steven C. Panagiotakos, chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee. He was joined by several of the region's State Hose members.
Through M2D2, plastics engineering and medical experts, working with a steering committee of industry veterans and venture capital managers, guide companies through the pipeline from idea to production. M2D2 is directed by UML's Stephen McCarthy, a professor of plastics engineering who holds nine patents and is the founder of the nanotechnology-based company Encapsion, and Dr. Sheila Noone, UMass-Worcester's director of clinical research.
This "benefits Massachusetts citizens by helping develop new medical instruments and products that improve the health and lives of our residents and assisting Massachusetts entrepreneurs as they start and expand companies in our commonwealth, said UMass President Jack M. Wilson. "We sincerely appreciate the support that Governor Patrick and leaders in the Senate and House have shown for the center."
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"Forest land is needed biomass source"
The Berkshire Eagle - Letters
Thursday, February 21, 2008
The Renewable Biofuels Facilitation Act is legislation designed to promote the development and use of cellulosic ethanol derived from woody biomass. The bill before the Legislature would broaden the definition of cellulosic ethanol within the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) to, in effect, correct exclusionary language in that part of the new energy law.
More specifically, H.R. 5236 amends a provision included in The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which included an historic 36 billion gallon RFS. Unfortunately, however, the legislation's definition of renewable biomass prevents almost all private forest land biomass from counting toward the mandate if it is used to manufacture biofuels.
As a member of the Forest Landowners Association, I am deeply disappointed that the Renewable Fuels Standard, passed in the recently signed new energy law, would essentially shut out one of the largest potential sources of feedstock for renewable fuel: forest biomass. In total, forests have the potential to sustainably produce 370 million tons of biomass for energy every year. This is approximately two and one-half times the amount of forest biomass we currently consume in traditional forest products.
This amount of forest biomass could produce 24 billion gallons of ethanol per year, according to very conservative estimates. This could supplement, not replace, existing forest products markets by providing an opportunity to remove low grade trees and improve the growth and quality of the residual stands. This would also increase the incentive for private forest land owners to maintain their land in forest and protect the resource that provide so much public benefit.
Relative to private forests, the RFS definition of wood biomass is ambiguous to the degree that the forestry community is generally perplexed about the meaning/intent of the phasing, which includes terms that are undefined, such as "cleared." The most restrictive interpretations of the provision would prevent 88 percent of private forest lands in the United States from participating in the emerging alternative energy market.
With these restrictions, this Renewable Fuels Standard discourages efforts to reduce wildfire risk, control insects and disease in forests, improve forest health and wildlife habitat, and create market opportunities for family forest owners. A renewable fuels producer would likely look at all these restrictions on forest biomass and decide not to bother with forestry materials. If we are to come anywhere close to meeting the Renewable Fuels Standard statutory mandates, the U. S. must have a substantial amount of forest biomass as a feedstock.
JAMES CRANE
Dalton, Massachusetts
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Jim Ogonowski plans to meet with Republican officials.
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"Ogonowski takes Senate bid to Washington: Dracut farmer to challenge Kerry"
By Andrew Miga, Associated Press, The Boston Globe Online, February 25, 2008
WASHINGTON - Republican Jim Ogonowski is running as a Washington outsider against Senator John Kerry, but he'll be inside the Beltway this week seeking support from national party officials.
Ogonowski, a Dracut hay farmer who narrowly lost a congressional race to Democrat Niki Tsongas last fall, plans to meet with officials at the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which gives money and other assistance to GOP Senate candidates.
"I'm looking for support here in Massachusetts from the voters, but I'd also like to have some outside support," Ogonowski said in a recent telephone interview.
A Kerry spokesman scoffed at Ogonowski's candidacy.
"These Republican Senate candidates should spend their time in Washington lobbying FEMA to declare the Massachusetts GOP a federal disaster area and pushing the Interior Department to declare Massachusetts Republicans an endangered species," David Wade said in a statement.
Ogonowski, 50, faces an uphill fight against Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat and a four-term senator who was the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004. Ogonowski hopes his surprisingly strong showing against Tsongas in a race that drew national attention will help convince GOP leaders he can topple Kerry.
"People tell me it's David versus Goliath," Ogonowski said. "But David won."
NRSC officials said they are impressed with Ogonowski, who lost by 6 percentage points to Tsongas despite being heavily outspent in the race to replace Lowell Democrat Martin Meehan.
Tsongas got a boost from Democratic heavyweights such as Bill Clinton and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who campaigned for her.
"He's got a very compelling story," said NRSC spokeswoman Rebecca Fisher.
"You could not ask for a better candidate in that state. . . . He's not a typical Senate candidate by any means, which is good."
Ogonowski, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who runs his family's farm, is the brother of an airline pilot killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
But Fisher said the NRSC has not made any decisions about funding for the Massachusetts contest.
Ogonowski is vying to be the GOP nominee with Jeffrey Beatty, a Harwich, Mass., businessman. The Republican primary is in September.
Beatty, a former Army Delta Force officer, ran unsuccessfully against Representative William Delahunt, a Massachusetts Democrat, in 2006.
Ron Kaufman, a veteran GOP strategist and a Republican National Committee member from Massachusetts, said Ogonowski will need at least a few million dollars to be a strong challenger.
Kaufman added that Ogonowski must prove he can mount a strong challenge before he can expect any major financial support from the NRSC.
Ogonowski could get a boost if national political trends run in favor of GOP candidates in 2008, Kaufman said.
Kerry has not had a serious challenger since 1996 when he beat Republican William Weld, former governor, in a lively race that drew considerable national attention. The state GOP had no candidate against Kerry in 2002.
Kerry has about $9.5 million in his campaign account, Wade said. That gives Kerry a strong fund-raising advantage as the race unfolds.
Ogonowski, who announced his candidacy last month, would not say how much money he has raised.
"We're going to raise the money that we need to beat John Kerry," he said.
Ogonowski casts Kerry as a wealthy Washington insider who has failed to deliver for Massachusetts and who is out of touch with the concerns of average voters across the state.
"He's more interested in being on the national stage than he is in representing the people of Massachusetts," Ogonowski said.
"You don't see him in the cities and towns across Massachusetts, except in an election year."
The Kerry camp dismissed Ogonowski's charges, citing Kerry's efforts on issues such as helping families avoid foreclosure and his role in winning $13 million in disaster aid for struggling Massachusetts fishermen.
"John Kerry will keep fighting for Massachusetts families," Wade said.
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BroadcastNews: www.broadcastnewsroom.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=319629
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Verizon Investing $200 Million in Massachusetts, FiOS Expansion
(Multichannel News) _ Verizon Communications Inc. will invest $200 million this year in Massachusetts, expanding the deployment of its FiOS video service to 30 new communities and extending broadband connectivity to 23 western communities that currently have no high-speed access.
Donna Cupelo, regional vice president for Massachusetts and Rhode Island, said the company anticipates passing 500,000 million households in 100 communities with FiOS http://www.verizon.com/fios services by the end of the year.
The extension of broadband connectivity via digital-subscriber line service was welcomed by state legislators. A report last year stated that 93 towns, mostly in the western region, have geographically limited or no high-speed options. Legislators are currently debating a bond proposal by Gov. Deval Patrick that would create a $25 million Massachusetts Broadband Institute http://www.masstech.org/broadband/, a nine-man board charged with insuring universal broadband availability. Legislators have stated the institute would not provide broadband but will work with companies that do.
Cupelo said the Verizon initiative is not in partnership with the state, however.
The communities to be upgraded from dial-up only access include Bicket, Blandford, Colrain, Cummington, Florida, Goshen, Hancock, Heath, Leverett, Leyden, Middlefield, Monroe, Montgomery, New Ashford, New Marlborough, Pelham, Plainfield, Rowe, Sandisfield, Tolland, Westhampton, Windsor, and Worthington.
Rep. Denis Guyer (D-Dalton) represents some of the communities in the area, many of which are "second home towns," he said at the Verizon announcement. He said residents there such as lawyers, architects and graphic designers have indicated to him they would expand their businesses near their second homes if they had high-speed access.
Verizon plans to complete cable franchises in Ashland, Bellingham, Billerica, Danvers, Dover, Easton, Grafton, Hanover, Hingham, Hudson, Hull, Kingston, Lakeville, Malden, Marblehead, Mansfield, Maynard, Middleton, Milford, Millbury, North Andover, Northborough, Plymouth, Stoughton, Stow, Sutton, Taunton, Walpole, Westford, and Weston. These are in addition to the 92 communities served today.
One community specifically absent in that list: Boston. Though Verizon has been upgrading its plant in the metropolis, Cupelo said TV deployment is not on the schedule this year. The telecommunications company "is learning as we go" about deployments before it tackles a big city like Boston with its densely packed, multiple dwelling units, the executive said.
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"Fangs bared over ‘rent-a-dog’: Fido-for-hire service facing legislative ban"
By Ellie Oleson CORRESPONDENT, Worcester Telegram & Gazette, (March)-3/5/2008
A company may be barking up the wrong state with its plan to open a dog-rental business in Boston. Legislation has been filed to ban such businesses in Massachusetts.
Marlena Cervantes, 30, of Big Sky, Mont., is the owner of FlexPetz, which she described as “a unique concept for dog lovers who are unable to own a pet, but miss spending time with a dog.”
She said she founded FlexPetz last year and plans to expand internationally this year.
It all began in her native San Diego, where she worked as a behavior specialist with autistic children who did not interact with others until they met her dog.
“Parents were stunned to see their children, who never initiated social contact, initiate play with my dog,” Ms. Cervantes said.
Many of the parents asked that her dog come for visits.
“That’s how I came up with the idea of dog rentals,” Ms. Cervantes said.
Last March she started a pilot program in San Diego, with only word-of-mouth advertising. By June, she had a waiting list of potential clients in San Diego and Los Angeles.
Most interest was from professionals living in metropolitan areas.
“They had the money but not the time to own a pet full time,” Ms. Cervantes said.
There are no brick-and-mortar FlexPetz offices; instead, the operation is run out of existing dog day-care centers.
Clients pay a $299 startup fee, including the first month’s rental in advance, and $49.95 per month, plus an additional fee each time they take out a dog. The clients must make a minimum one-year commitment.
“In New York, they want toy breeds. In California, they want larger animals. We visit shelters and seek out dogs with an appropriate temperament. Many are owner surrenders. We screen for happy, friendly dogs that are very social,” Ms. Cervantes said.
Before a dog is rented, FlexPetz performs a home visit and screens the client, who must sign a PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) form.
“The dogs are never in a kennel. They are in a high-end center, with room for them to run with their pack. They are fed, taken out on walks and remain active and engaged,” Ms. Cervantes said.
She said it is not at all uncommon for clients to become attached to a dog and adopt it.
As the dogs age, they will be placed in homes.
“I assume all responsibility for the dogs and will not euthanize,” Ms. Cervantes said.
She has operations in San Diego, New York and Los Angeles, with waiting lists in Washington, D.C., London and in Boston, where she said more than potential clients have signed up.
“We’ll probably be in Boston by midsummer,” she said.
Maybe not.
State Rep. Paul K. Frost, R-Auburn, and state Sen. Edward M. Augustus Jr., D-Worcester, filed legislation Feb. 21 to ban pet rentals in Massachusetts. Also signing were Sen. Robert A. Antonioni, D-Leominster; Rep. Bradford Hill, R-Ipswich; and Reps. John P. Fresolo, D-Worcester, Stephen R. Canessa, D-New Bedford; Cheryl A. Coakley-Rivera, D-Springfield; Thomas P. Kennedy, D-Brockton; Denis E. Guyer, D-Dalton; Kay S. Khan, D-Newton; Denise Provost, D-Somerville; Jennifer M. Callahan, D-Sutton; and William N. Brownsberger, D-Belmont.
“The legislation is in the House Committee on Rules. It prohibits the business of renting dogs and cats. I have not heard of a legitimate business like this. The MSPCA and dog officers in other towns oppose this business,” Mr. Frost said. Guide dogs and working dogs are exempted. Mr. Frost said he is a dog lover and owner of a chocolate Labrador retriever named Reeses and a golden retriever named Snickers.
“I know what kind of bond there is with a dog. You don’t rent out members of your family,” he said.
“I normally side with the free market, which dictates what is successful, but this is breaking new ground. Concerns are valid. The legislation deserves a public hearing. Let’s give the company a chance to show the benefits of this business, and let’s give a voice to those who have concerns. Are we fostering disposable pets? I’m not sure that fosters responsibility.”
Mr. Frost said he was first contacted on this issue by Auburn Dog Officer Kathleen M. Sabina, who yesterday said she is appalled by the FlexPetz concept.
“I can’t think of a dog that would flourish in that situation. These people want an animal but no responsibility. I’m furious about this. There’s a lot of money to be made exploiting animals,” she said.
She suggested that potential renters instead “help an elderly neighbor with their dog, walk a friend’s dog or volunteer at a shelter. Animals need consistency. Each person expresses love differently. In my mind, this is like rent-a-kid. If you wouldn’t rent your child, don’t rent a dog. We have enough bad dog owners. We don’t need bad dog renters.”
Paul Waldau, director of the Center for Animals and Public Policy at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University in Grafton, said, “I think renting dogs is a sad idea.”
He applauded Ms. Cervantes for working with autistic children, but said of FlezPetz: “This isn’t therapeutic, it’s commercial. The happy, friendly dogs they take from the shelter would seem to be the ones that would be adopted first. We would be appalled if this was done to children.”
Jo Jacques, a certified dog behavior consultant in Salem, said, “Anyone who cares about companion animals is opposed to FlexPetz. If people want to spend time with an animal, shelters are crying out for volunteers.”
FlexPetz also offers customers contact online with virtual pets on “FlexPetz Island,” and has a Canine Ambassador Program, which so far has just one dog, Rupert, a black Afghan, who visits with clients of the upscale Keating Hotel in San Diego.
His handler is FlexPetz employee Michael Pell, who grew up in Holden and Worcester and spent time at his grandfather Fred Watson’s farm in Paxton before moving to California.
“Rupert and I are together 24-7. I’m his chauffeur, sanitary engineer and groomer. We will work together, then we will retire together. He has quite a fan base, and is a wonderful ambassador promoting the hotel,” Mr. Pell said.
“Some people feel FlexPetz is cruel to animals. I absolutely disagree. I wish Rupert could testify. He wouldn’t give up this gig for anything.”
Ray McSoley, owner of Animal Behavior Associates in Westwood, said, “I have no problem with ambassador dogs at hotels, but renting a dog is a four-legged escort service. It devalues all parties. It promotes the whole concept of no commitment. They take the most adoptable dogs out of a shelter, suck all the positive energy out of them for two years, then put them up for adoption. It’s a horrible idea.”
Ms. Cervantes said she would “definitely come to Boston” to speak at any hearing before the Legislature on the dog-rental business.
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"Bill targets size shame: Discrimination seen as harmful"
By Cara Hogan, Eagle Boston Bureau
Thursday, March 06, 2008
BOSTON — The schoolyard reprimand is familiar to adolescents, but if one state lawmaker has his way, the lesson — that jokes about fat and short people hurt more than feelings — would be heeded by more than just children.
In a legislative briefing, Rep. Byron Rushing, D-Boston, detailed his bill to add height and weight to the Massachusetts anti-discrimination laws.
"Discrimination based on height and weight is part of a culture in this country," Rushing said. "It is the only thing, almost, that you can publicly make jokes about and don't have to apologize."
In Massachusetts, if someone claims discrimination at work or in housing, it must be proved to a court that the weight or height is a disability. This method is usually unsuccessful.
Opposition lines up
The bill faces tough opposition. Some legislators worry that the law could lead to excessive legislation against other perceived forms of discrimination.
"There are a lot of things that people could consider discrimination," said Rep. Denis E. Guyer, D-Dalton. "I mean, I don't have much hair on my head, why not baldness or left-handed people? I'd consider myself someone who is height- and weight-challenged, so I'm sympathetic. But at what point do we say enough?"
Rebecca Puhl, director of research at the Yale University Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, presented data showing the harsh discrimination faced by overweight Americans.
"There are significant research studies in the past several years reflecting weight discrimination in the workplace," Puhl said. "It's very common for overweight employees to face inequitable hiring practices and lower salaries than thinner individuals."
Ellen Frankel, the 4-foot-8 author of "Beyond Measure," told the gathering of the trials facing short people.
"Heightism is the discrimination of people of short stature," Frankel said. "In this case, males have a harder time. Men who are 6 feet 2 inches or taller receive 12 percent more for a starting salary than shorter men with the same education and qualifications."
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"Burns lobbies for human rights bill"
By Bonnie Obremski, North Adams Transcript
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
WILLIAMSTOWN -- A Linden Street resident has joined a sta-tewide effort to push a human rights legislation bill that would make it illegal to discriminate ag-ainst a person because of his or her height or weight.
Gail Burns gave a five-minute presentation in Boston on March 25 advocating for the bill, which would add the words "height" and "weight" to the law that says it is illegal to discriminate against a person based on race, color, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, sex, age, criminal record, disability, mental illness, retaliation, sexual harassment, sexual orientation or genetics.
Burns joined the two-dozen people who testified before the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development on Friday. She spoke about an experience she had at an out-of-state hospital that denied her treatment for a non-life threatening illness because doctors said the facility did not have proper equipment to compensate for her larger-than-average size.
"Hospitals routinely upgrade equipment and re-train staff. Refusing to invest in equipment that enables them to care for fat patients is a deliberately discriminatory act. And it is a legal one," Burns wrote in her statement.
The hearing was one step in a lengthy process to pass the bill. The effort has faced opposition from those who believe allowing discrimination enables employers to prevent physically unqualified people to fill a position.
However, Burns believes passing the law would not, for example, result in a tide of tall, overweight people trying to get jobs as racehorse jockeys, she said.
"This bill is about human rights," Burns said. "It would give people like me, who have perceived discrimination, the right to stand up and do something about it."
Democratic State Rep. Byron Rushing is petitioning the bill. Burns said she would like to see more people in Berkshire County begin writing letters to state legislators advocating for making the amendment to state law. If passed, the state will only be the second in the nation to make such an amendment, joining Michigan.
"Locally, we're usually not aware of what's happening in Boston," Burns said.
But, because of her experiences, she said, "For the first time in my life, I am getting involved in politics."
Burns works as the secretary for the First Congregational Church, writes theater reviews and is married with two college-aged sons. She is overweight according to those working in the medical profession, but she said she is otherwise healthy and active.
The hospital that denied her treatment later listened to Burns' concerns and admitted her as a patient for another ailment. But, those measures could not erase the depression she experienced after being turned away the first time, she said.
"The message to fat people is very clear: We are not worth it," she wrote in her statement. "The point of healthcare is health and care, and I was told that I was worthy of neither. I felt disposable and worthless. I plunged into a dark, suicidal depression. One night, watching the evening news, I heard how a murderer, injured by police gunfire, was rushed to the hospital and treated, and I realized that the medical community considered my life of less value than that of a violent criminal."
Visit Burns' Web site, www.gail-sez.org to read her entire statement and to learn how to show support for the legislative bill.
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"Jiminy Peak Owners Start New Energy Venture"
By Jen Thomas, iBerkshires Staff - iBerkshires.com - March 06, 2008
HANCOCK - Inspired by the success of Zephyr, the first and only privately-owned, megawatt-class turbine in the nation for on-site energy usage, Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort owners Brian H. Fairbank and Joseph O'Donnell will embark on a new business venture.
Led by former Berkshire Economic Development Corp. President Tyler Fairbank, the new corporation - Eos Ventures LLC - is being touted as a "renewable energy company providing turnkey renewable on-site power generation solutions to larger-scale energy users."
"We want to provide a one-stop resource for businesses who want to look at sustainability and renewable energy. There are currently a number of large-scale producers who do not have the expertise or the capital and that's where Eos comes in," Tyler Fairbank, the new company's chief executive office and Brian's son, said at a news conference Thursday.
The new business will be housed at Jiminy Peak and will initially operate using only wind energy projects, although biofuels, biomass and other renewable technologies will be part of its long-term plans.
Working in collaboration with Sustainable Energy Development Inc., a wind energy project developer and wind resource specialist based in Ontario, N.Y., Eos already has some projects in the pipeline, though the partners did not divulge any details.
Kevin Schulte, SED's co-founder and the vice president of business development, said he was grateful that Brian Fairbank and O'Donnell had taken a chance on his company when searching for someone to install Zephyr and he was looking forward to a successful enterprise ahead.
"Eos is looking beyond Zephyr and Jiminy Peak. They're looking beyond that and they're looking to expand that model throughout the region," said Schulte, who also explained that SED will be the general contractor for Eos' wind projects.
With the slogan "Alternative Energy. Everyone Knows Why, We Know How," Eos was born from Brian Fairbank's passion for sustainability and environmentally-friendly practices. The natural next step - "This evolved organically and was not force-fed at all," he said - was to develop a corporation that could help others imitate the success of Zephyr, which powers 40 percent of the snow-making at Jiminy Peak.
"More than three years ago, we embarked on a journey and we didn't know where it was going to take us. We took the fork less traveled and boy, has it made all the difference," the elder Fairbank said. "We had no idea we were paving the way for something new and exciting and setting an example for others to follow."
Inspired by Student
Calling Mount Greylock Regional High School graduate Rachel Payne his inspiration for pursuing and promoting green technologies, the Jiminy Peak CEO said he continually questions what he can do to facilitate change.
"I listened to Rachel and was just so moved. She said 'I'm going to see change. There are going to be challenges but there are also going to be opportunities. For the first time, the world is going to be united for a good cause.' It brought to life in me the ability to ask what I can do to make that happen," Fairbank said.
Rep. Denis E. Guyer, D-Dalton, and Sen. Benjamin B. Downing, D-Pittsfield, were on hand at the official announcement on Thursday morning at J.J.'s Lodge to pass on words of encouragement to the budding business.
"If enthusiasm were success, than they would already be successful," said Downing. "We know that there is a desire and a demand to find a way to be more environmentally-friendly, to be more sustainable, to be more green. What businesses often lack is the expertise, the know-how, the knowledge. That is the essence of Eos, to bring that information to them."
Eos, named after the Greek goddess of the dawn, hopes to initially install 10 to 15 megawatts per year in wind power. Zephyr generates 1.5 megawatts, according to Schulte.
Lee Harrison, executive vice president of Berkshire Biodiesel LLC, attended the announcement and said he was "absolutely tickled" to see another progressive-minded company operating in the county.
"The more, the merrier," he said. "The federal government has dropped the ball when it comes to energy efficiency and green technologies and now, the leadership has to come both from Beacon Hill and private businesses like Eos and Berkshire Biodiesel."
While some may still scoff at the need for alternative energy, the movers behind Eos are ready to change the perception about renewable energy, especially wind power.
"With the need for energy, it's simply not a good enough reason anymore to say that you don't want to see wind turbines," said Schulte.
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Tyler Fairbank, left, Brian Fairbank and Kevin Schulte.
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Zephyr [File photo]
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www.capitalnews9.com/content/top_stories/111906/green-thumbs-up-for-new-energy-use/Default.aspx
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"Fairbanks are genuine visionaries"
By Clarence Fanto
The Berkshire Eagle, Op-Ed
Sunday, March 09, 2008
HANCOCK, Massachusetts
More power to the Fairbanks, father and son, and partners in their ambitious new wind-power venture — the development and marketing of turbines such as the $4 million Zephyr that already helps power up their Jiminy Peak resort. The scenically appealing turbine churning atop Jiminy symbolizes the breeze of the future — perhaps a gale — that could provide relief from the crushing burden of energy costs now choking homeowners and businesses.
The bright early-March sun, illuminating Jiminy's ski slopes like a Currier & Ives print, seemed to be a positive omen as media types, politicians and interested observers gathered there Thursday for the launch of EOS — in Greek mythology, the Goddess of the New Dawn. Tyler Fairbank, in his final weeks as president of the Berkshire Economic Development Corporation, is the CEO of EOS Ventures; his father, Brian, half-owner of Jiminy Peak Resort, is a partner and adviser, as is the resort's co-owner, Boston business mogul Joseph O'Donnell.
Brian Fairbank is a genuine visionary, having expanded Jiminy from what was a simple ski slope in 1970 to a massive four-season resort that generates $20 million in annual revenue and rivals the leading ski areas of southern Vermont.
Four years ago, he gambled on wind-turbine energy, a risk that has paid off handsomely.
"We embarked on a journey, and we didn't know where it was going to take us," said Fairbank of the decision to pursue the Zephyr wind project. The turbine supplies most of the power Jiminy needs for snow-making and at least one-third of the resort's total electricity needs. It has helped fuel a statewide demand for similar installations.
Enter Tyler Fairbank, touting Jiminy as "a steward of the environment." Seizing a well-timed opportunity to create a profitable new business while "doing the right thing" in the burgeoning field of renewable energy, the newly crowned CEO described EOS Ventures as a "one-stop resource" for development and management of wind turbines that it will lease to a growing list of eager customers. The new company — in a "strategic relationship" with the Zephyr's developer and general contractor, Sustainable Energy Developments (SED) — will engineer, install, maintain and own the wind turbines; solar photovoltaic, biomass and biofuel projects are expected to come online down the road.
EOS will be based at Jiminy and, at first, will share staff. "This is a business venture with a social conscience," the younger Fairbank declared. "Sustainability and energy independence is the crux of the matter. There's no doubt in my mind ... that EOS will make its mark on the world."
Sustainable Energy will bring projects to EOS, explained Kevin Schulte, a partner in the Ontario, N.Y.-based wind-project company. Schulte formed the company six years ago with his friends and college roommates.
Now, with energy costs helping sink the economy, Schulte has at least 10 wind projects under development across Massachusetts for water companies, communities, schools and private businesses.
"For the first time, we have not only the experience and the energy but, most importantly, the passion behind us to get these projects in the ground," Schulte declared, referring to the "strategic partnership" with EOS.
State Rep. Denis Guyer predicted that new ventures such as EOS would generate jobs and help the nation develop alternative energy sources.
Adding to the political show of support, state Sen. Benjamin B. Downing depicted the new venture as a statewide and national model. He asserted that "the only way we're going to be able to grow jobs in this region ... is to provide energy in a more cost-effective and sustainable manner, and that's exactly what EOS Ventures allows us to do. In an election season, it's no longer, 'It's the economy, stupid.' Now, 'It's the energy, stupid,' because if we don't deal with our energy issues, we're never going to be able to provide the economic opportunity that we can and should here in the Berkshires in a way that attracts employers and builds up the institutions that we already have. "
EOS still must work out a deal with GE Energy to supply the turbines; that division of the corporate behemoth has just announced a new $1 billion deal to supply 750 megawatts of wind turbines to Chicago-based Invenergy Wind, enough to meet the power needs of more than 200,000 North American households beginning in 2010.
Although there is no simple solution for our current woes, this homegrown effort should help harness the massive effort needed for progress toward energy independence.
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"Region silent in education: New appointments draw ire"
By Hillary Chabot, Berkshire Eagle Boston Bureau
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
BOSTON — Despite promises to include Western Massachusetts voices in state government, Gov. Deval L. Patrick yesterday appointed three Board of Education members from east of Worcester.
The appointments were part of several changes Patrick announced in the State Education Department, including the appointment of Paul Reville as new education secretary.
Education and political officials bristled at the regional oversight, which leaves the 11-member education board without a single Western Massachusetts resident.
"This is nothing but a slap in the face to the people of Western Mass. who supported him so strongly," said North Adams Mayor John Barrett III. "He didn't keep his word to the people in Berkshire County, he didn't keep his word to the people in Western Mass., and I'm terribly disappointed."
Rep. Denis Guyer, D-Dalton, plans on sending a strongly worded complaint to Patrick.
"I'm not happy about this," Guyer said. "My fear is that policies, regulations and programs are going to once again have an Eastern Mass. flavor and regional schools in Western Mass won't be thought of when these things are considered."
Patrick appointed Bridgewater State College President Dana Mohler-Faria, Patrick's top education adviser; Gerald Chertavian, CEO of the youth program Year Up; and Efficacy Institute founder Jeffrey Howard to the newly named Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. The last Board of Education member from Western Massachusetts was Henry Thompson, of Springfield, who resigned last year.
Patrick defended his selections to the board, saying he has tried to include the whole state.
Patrick spokesman Cyndi Roy pointed out a Northampton resident sits on the Board of Early Education, and said the governor will have other appointments on the board soon.
The new education secretary, will start on July 1.
Reville would be the first education secretary, a cabinet-level post created by Patrick to encourage a seamless transition from early education to public higher education.
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Casino compromise could be in the works
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Bay State residents now know that three mega resort casinos will not be built in Massachusetts after being voted down by the House. But as Ryan Burgess found out, the gaming debate in the Bay State may not be over.
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www.capitalnews9.com/content/top_stories/112746/casino-compromise-could-be-in-the-works/Default.aspx
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"Casino compromise could be in the works"
Updated: 03/22/2008, 09:06 AM
By: Ryan Burgess, Capital News 9, Albany, NY, covering Berkshire County, Massachusetts
BOSTON, MA. -- "It's almost like being a little pregnant. You can't be. You either have gaming or you don't have gaming," said State Representative Daniel Bosley.
He's one of the Bay State's leading gambling opponents and that's his position on a possible casino compromise.
"If you have a casino or you have slot machines at the racetracks, it's pretty much the same thing. It continues to grow and expand. The only way to prevent that from happening is not to do anything at all," said Bosley.
With the Governor's plan voted down in the House, word is leaking that a potential compromise involving slot machines being installed at the state's preexisting racetracks could be in the works.
"We could be up and running with slot machines in 110 days and with $50 million in licensing fees for each track, immediately there's $200 million there for the Commonwealth," said State Representative David Flynn.
That revenue could help the Commonwealth, but it's a compromise that raises other concerns.
"If we allow slots at racetracks, it makes the likelihood of a Native American casino more likely. It makes the ability for the Native American tribal system to get permission from the National Tribe more likely, rather than less likely," said State Representative Denis Guyer.
A Native American casino is something that even the Governor opposes. But as some in the Senate say, more questions than capital are being raised, while the Commonwealth needs more of the latter.
"We really think it should be one piece of a broader economic development strategy here in Massachusetts," said Senator Marc Pacheco.
One of the states leading slot machine proponents just sent out the shortest press release in State House history. It contained just two words: What now? He says he hopes the answer to that question comes within the next two weeks, when a hearing on slot machines will be held.
It's an answer many in the Bay State are waiting to hear.
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"A House divided? Not necessarily"
By Hillary Chabot, (Berkshire) Eagle Boston Bureau
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
BOSTON — House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi dealt the first blow in the war over casinos, saying Gov. Deval L. Patrick's job estimates were inflated.
Patrick struck back quickly, scolding lawmakers for making up their minds on his plan to legalize three resort casinos before the bill reached the House floor.
State Democrats have fallen on both sides of the high-stakes casino debate over the past few weeks, and even U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano admitted to serving as referee on the issue.
But will the friction weaken the state's majority party?
"There's effectively a two-party system within the state Democratic party itself, a liberal suburban wing and a working-class labor low-income wing," said Jeff Berry, a political professor at Tufts University. "This was an issue which pitted them head to head, and the suburban wing won."
Berry doesn't believe the conflict will have any long-term negative effects on the party, however.
"In a one-party state where the Democrats control 87 percent of the seats, I think this is pretty typical," Berry said.
Rep. Denis Guyer, D-Dalton, says those involved know not to take things personally.
"At end of the day, the speaker and the governor, we're all professionals here," Guyer said. "I don't think it's going to be a long-term thing, and I think a little bit of tension isn't necessarily bad."
The conflict is par for the course in politics, said Rep. Christopher N. Speranzo, D-Pittsfield.
"We're going to have disagreements. The reality is you don't agree with everyone from the same party on many things," Speranzo said.
Patrick argued casinos could bring in $450 million in revenues, which could be used to fix roads and help homeowners with property taxes.
As Patrick and DiMasi traded barbs publicly through the media, rumors swirled about behind-the-scenes dime-dropping, which led to two negative stories about DiMasi.
'Integrity and openness'
Patrick denied whispers that he planted the high-profile stories.
"You know, he has a whole host of excuses," Patrick said. "First of all, those accusations are false, and (DiMasi) knows that. By the way, he's been told that by authoritative sources. And it's irrelevant. Look, there's going to be good days and bad days for everybody in this business in the media, due respect to all of you. It has absolutely nothing to do with the integrity of the process and the openness of the debate."
Massachusetts Republican Party operatives jumped on the friction as proof of internal chaos.
"The casino scuffle just shows how dysfunctional the Democrats are on Beacon Hill," said GOP party spokesman Barney Keller. "They squabble amongst themselves and ignore working class voters who desperately need property tax relief now."
Disproving the myths
Alex Goldstein, spokesman for the Massachusetts Democratic party, said while the conflict was high-profile, there is no lasting damage.
The back-and-forth also disproves the myth that legislation will be automatically rubber-stamped with a Democratic governor in office, said Democratic analyst Michael Shea.
"That is the genius of (the) constitution, the division of power," Shea said. "There are always these conflicts with different egos at play and different agendas and long-term goals. The idea that one-party rule will mean some kind of steamrolling of legislation is, in fact, a fiction created by Republicans."
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Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
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"Disability Pride Day announces schedule"
Community - The Berkshire Eagle
Thursday, March 27, 2008
LANESBOROUGH — The 11th annual Berkshire Disability Pride Day will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 5, at the Berkshire Mall. The 18th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act will also be celebrated.
The event is a day of celebration and education to increase community awareness of the accomplishments of children and adults with diverse abilities. It will showcase the variety of services and opportunities available in Berkshire County. There will be entertainment for the entire family throughout the day and an art show by area artists with disabilities.
Karen Lanier has been selected to serve as the honorary chairperson of this year's Disability Pride Day in recognition of her spirit and dedication to improving the lives of the people around her.
Berkshire Disability Pride Day is free and open to the public. Sign interpreters will be on site. Vendors, sponsors, entertainers and art exhibitors are welcome and encouraged to participate.
Information: Christine Singer at UCP, (413) 442-1562, or Barbara Pastie at BCARC, (413) 499-4241, ext. 230.
The Berkshire Disability Pride Day committee will host the eighth annual legislative breakfast at 7:30 a.m. on Friday, March 28, at the ITAM Lodge in Pittsfield, with a suggested donation for the breakfast of $14.
State Sen. Benjamin B. Downing and state Reps. Daniel E. Bosley, Denis E. Guyer, William "Smitty" Pignatelli and Christopher N. Speranzo will be in attendance to address the concerns of the disabled community.
Advance registration is required for the breakfast by calling Penny Jefferson or Chrystal Kaigle at BCARC, (413) 499-4241.
The 2008 Sprout Disability Film Festival, hosted by the Berkshire County Arc Down Syndrome Support Group, will begin at 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 6, at Images Cinema, 55 Spring St., Williamstown. Tickets are $5.
The Sprout Film Festival shows films about, written by, and performed by people with developmental disabilities. These films are designed to accurately portray the lives of people with disabilities.
The event will be followed by a free catered reception and opening for the "Eye Candy" art show at the Images Gallery. The art show will feature paintings of regional artists including Kelly Gallagher, Louis Vitale Jr. and A.J. Schlesinger. Information: Marie Tiffany Spencer, BCARC, at (413) 499-4241.
Berkshire Disability Pride Day is the brainchild of Pat Sheely, disability advocate and board member of United Cerebral Palsy Association of Berkshire County.
The major sponsor of Berkshire Disability Pride Day is Berkshire Bank.
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The Boston Herald
"Lawmaker wants MBTA to replace dollar coins with bills"
By Associated Press, Thursday, April 3, 2008
A state lawmaker has filed legislation to minimize the number of dollar coins returned when riders buy subway tickets from MBTA vending machines.
Rep. Denis Guyer of Dalton said Thursday he wants the T to return paper money whenever a consumer would get back $5 or more in change. Guyer says the dollar coins fill up a pocket uselessly and the coins are more environmentally damaging than paper currency.
The representative also admits some parochialism in that respect: Crane Paper, the sole supplier of the nation’s currency, is located in his central Massachusetts district. The company employs 1,000 people.
An MBTA spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment.
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"Bill aims to stomp dollar coin"
By Hillary Chabot, Eagle Boston Bureau
Friday, April 04, 2008
BOSTON — Sayonara, Sacagawea.
Citing the bulk and inconvenience of dollar coins, state Rep. Denis E. Guyer, D-Dalton, wants to limit their use at vending machines in the MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority).
"Most people prefer to use the dollar bill over the dollar coin," Guyer said, calling the large coins "the most unpopular and inconvenient form of currency ever devised."
But Guyer has another reason for wanting to limit use of the coins: Crane & Co., the supplier of the paper on which the U.S. Mint prints money, is housed in his hometown of Dalton.
"As the representative where U.S. currency paper is produced, I have a lot of people in the Berkshires that rely on production of the dollar bill," Guyer said.
Currently, consumers who use cash in the subway vending machines get their change in dollar coins no matter how big the amount. Guyer wants to bring back bills if the consumer is getting back $5 or more.
Rep. Kevin Murphy, D-Lowell, agreed with some aspects of the bill, saying a pocketful of dollar coins can be cumbersome.
"I think it's kind of unfair to the consumer," Murphy said. "It may be easier for the MBTA, but it certainly isn't fair to the consumer."
MBTA officials are not buying the changes. The department is bound to use the coins by a law passed in 2005 that requires all federally funded transit systems to dispense dollar coins by January 2008.
Although they are not required to distribute coins only, the machines must be fitted to take and dispense them to comply with the law. To retrofit the machines to include dollar bills would cost millions, said Joe Pesaturo, spokesman for the MBTA.
"To do what is being suggested would be a major software change and would involve significant infrastructure changes. It would also increase daily (maintenance) costs," said Pesaturo, adding that most people use debit or credit cards at the machines.
Although the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing orders a preset number of dollar bills a year — usually about 3.5 billion — the continued use could threaten the dollar, Guyer said.
"The fear is if the public did get used to using coins, it's easier to get rid of the dollar bill," Guyer said. "We spend a lot of time luring new companies to the state. I'm trying to take care of the ones that are already here."
Crane paper employs 1,000 people at its factory, said Vice President Douglas Crane, who supports Guyer's bill.
"I appreciate Denis Guyer's attempt to undue some bad legislation," Crane said, calling the law passed in 2005 "unfortunate."
"I think of the frustration people feel when you go to purchase a train ticket and get a fistful of coins," he said.
Guyer's bill may have a tough time getting minted, however. Laws must be passed before the end of the formal session in July or they can be rejected if only one person objects.
The bill has not been sent to a committee yet.
"I can move things pretty quickly if I want. I'm hoping it has a good chance. There's 1,000 manufacturing jobs on the line," Guyer said.
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Readers' Comments:
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Rep. Denis Guyer, April 4, 2008 -
To answer CJG...YES! This is EXACTLY what the people of the Second Berkshire District elected me to do, to make sure that state agencies like the MBTA do not go out and spend millions of dollars of taxpayer money on ticket machines that work to further the interest of the mining industry at the cost of jobs in Berkshire County. My constituents want me out in Boston fighting for their jobs and if this means voting on economic stimulus packages OR pushing a bill to keep our state agencies from using dollar coins that is my job. I will not apologize for working to protect 1,000 jobs in my district.
To answer GH of Pittsfield; if you read the federal law and then my bill, you will see that it doesn't at all "override" the federal law. The federal law mandates that state transit authorities be able to "dispense" dollar coins. It is very vauge on how they should do this. My bill doesn't stop a transit authority or agency from dispensing, my bill says that if a customer uses anything larger than a $5 bill for a transaction, the machine or cashier must offer change in paper bills.What is going on now at the T stations is a customer uses a $20 to buy a $2 ticket and gets 18 dollar coins in return......now that's a DOH!!
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Rep. Denis Guyer, April 4, 2008 -
Yes, I do bother to post because I know that this is part of my job. Listening to people in order to do my job better is important to me as well as communicating exactly what I am doing with this bill. You all, I assume, post on here because you may be hoping that officials like me may hear you, along with everyone else. I often read these blogs to see what folks are thinking about a particular story, but have never posted, partly because it will usually attract certain types who have little else to do with their life and these detract from what can be a worthwhile discussion about an issue.
My personal life has very little to do with this. I have 1,000 high paying manufacturing jobs in my district that are being undermined by state agencies deciding to blindly redistribute the dollar coin. As the State Rep for most of those 1,000 people, it is my responsibility to stand up and try to stop this. I will not apologize to anyone for defending those jobs, the working people in my district, and all of the smaller companies locally which rely on Crane for their work too.
And, one more thing, I was never in office with Tom Finneran. Speaker Finneran left before I was first elected in 2004. Get you story straight, Bozo.
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Rep. Guyer has this issue backwards. It is the dollar bill that is inconvenient. They take more time to handle and cost taxpayers a half-billion dollars a year to print and reprint bills that wear out in less than two years.
Every other major industrialized country in the world has realized this and have converted their low-denomination bills to coins with great success.
Rep. Guyer is interested solely in saving some jobs at a company in his district, nothing more. But if the dollar bill is eliminated, Crane and Co. would be producing more $2 bills, which would get wider use in conjunction with $1 coins.
Paul Anderson, 4/4/2008
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BEACON HILL ROLL CALL, April 5, 2008
"The United States Mint and its friends in the mining industry and Congress have tried time and again to force the American People to use what is probably the most unpopular and inconvenient form of currency ever devised. The dollar coin is now and always has been wildly unpopular and unlike paper currency is not made from renewable materials, but is actually mined from the earth."
Rep. Denis Guyer (D-Dalton) commenting on his newly-filed legislation that would require all state agencies and transit authorities to provide change to customers only in paper bill form when the change totals five dollars or more. Crane Paper, the nation's sole manufacturer of United States currency paper, is located in Dalton and employs an estimated 1,000 workers.
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"Candidates line up to face Kerry: Junior senator raises visibility in Bay State"
By Matt Viser, (Boston) Globe Staff, April 6, 2008
Republican Jeff Beatty spent his Friday night talking politics over cocktails in Fall River. Democrat Ed O'Reilly has been laying the groundwork for his campaign for more than a year.
And this week, Republican Jim Ogonowski plans to make 36 campaign stops from North Adams to Chatham in an effort to lift his campaign and his adrenaline: 30 of the stops are for coffee.
Six months before the primary, the candidates are all hoping to gain momentum for a Herculean task: unseating John F. Kerry from his US Senate seat.
"There is an extra challenge to going against an incumbent, but not when they haven't delivered," Ogonowski said yesterday in a phone interview. "You don't see him in Massachusetts. He's more interested in being a national figure than a representative of the people of Massachusetts."
Kerry, in his fourth six-year term, has not faced a serious challenge since Governor William F. Weld, a Republican, in 1996, and even fellow Democrats joke about Kerry's absence from Massachusetts. At the Saint Patrick's Day Breakfast last month, Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea Cabral compared him to Halley's Comet, appearing quickly every six years.
But lately his public appearances have seen a noticeable uptick. Over the past week, the junior senator was in Roxbury and Lawrence to talk about home foreclosures, and stopped by the opening ceremony for a Coast Guard command center. Tomorrow he is scheduled to be at a State House hearing on federal immigration raids in New England.
"The senator's served the state very well over the last four terms," said Roger Lau, who was brought on as campaign manager several weeks ago and said to expect "grass-roots, Iowa-style politics - talking to one voter at a time."
"From healthcare to the economy the Massachusetts delegation is at the forefront," he said, "and John Kerry is proud to be a part of that."
Still, few observers are predicting a close fight for the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee. Unseating an incumbent is rare, and Kerry's $9.9 million war chest dwarfs his opponents'.
What attention there has been has focused on a possible Kerry and Ogonowski matchup. But both candidates have challengers to overcome in the September primary before they could meet in November's general election.
O'Reilly, a Gloucester lawyer and former city councilor, voted for Kerry in the 2004 presidential race but is challenging the senator largely on the very issues that plagued Kerry during that quest.
O'Reilly says Kerry did not oppose the Iraq war strongly enough and that spending on the war has diverted money from other areas such as education. In a previous interview with the Globe, O'Reilly also contended that issues raised by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth reflected poorly on Kerry's character, although he said yesterday that after speaking with Kerry, he agreed to drop that issue.
O'Reilly would have to gain support from 15 percent of the delegates at the Massachusetts Democratic Party Convention in June to secure a spot on the ballot.
The Republicans have largely been holding their fire, saving their ammunition for Kerry.
"It's definitely an uphill fight, but it's a winnable fight," said Beatty, a military veteran from Harwich who ran unsuccessfully in 2006 against Representative William D. Delahunt. "We're not getting the representation that we deserve in the Commonwealth."
Beatty said yesterday that his campaign has raised more than $1 million, a large sum that will not be confirmed until campaign finance reports are filed this month.
Ogonowski, the brother of a pilot killed in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, lost the Fifth Congressional District race last fall to Democrat Niki Tsongas by 6 points in his political debut. But he received 45 percent of the vote and made the contest closer than expected in a heavily Democratic area.
The Dracut farmer and retired military officer ran as a populist reformer committed to challenging the status quo and cracking down on illegal immigration.
The candidates are doing whatever they can to distinguish themselves.
O'Reilly notes on his campaign website that he is a former commercial lobsterman.
Beatty has taken to driving around the state in The Beatty Mobile Headquarters, a giant used recreational vehicle plastered with his face, an American flag, and the text, "It's time to replace John Kerry with one of us!"
Ogonowski has a spoof ad on his website called "Mr. Ogonowski Goes to Washington," which shows him walking on Capitol Hill, pointing out the perks senators get - gym access, elevators, and trains for their exclusive use.
"John Kerry has been here for 24 years," Ogonowski says. "He's not going to change Washington; he represents the status quo. He is Washington, D.C."
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Matt Viser can be reached at maviser@globe.com.
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"Ogonowski meets the locals: Dracut resident challenging U.S. Senate incumbent Kerry"
By Derek Gentile, Berkshire Eagle Staff
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
GREAT BARRINGTON — Massachusetts U.S. Senate candidate Jim Ogonowski spent yesterday morning in a half-dozen coffee shops in Berkshire County, meeting voters and trying to convey his philosophy of government.
"What better way to meet people and find out what's on their minds?" he said of what he called his People Before Politics Tour. "It's a laid-back environment. We're just sitting around, talking over coffee."
But, man, that's a lot of coffee.
"Yes, but there's some very good coffee here in Berkshire County," he said yesterday.
Ogonowski, a Republican, is running for the seat that has been held by Democrat John Kerry since 1985. A retired veteran of the U.S. Air Force, Ogonowski lives in Dracut with his family.
In 2007, he was defeated by Democrat Nicola "Niki" Tsongas for a 5th District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. The margin of defeat, 51-46, was closer than many political pundits had expected.
Yesterday, Ogonowski kicked off a weeklong statewide campaign that will criss-cross Massachusetts diners and coffee shops.
From 7 a.m. to about 1 p.m. yesterday, he hit diners and coffee shops in North Adams, Lanesborough, Pittsfield, Lee, Stockbridge, Great Barrington and Sheffield. In the afternoon, he was in diners in West Springfield and Springfield.
"I think people are fed up with Washington," he said yesterday, a few minutes after he visited the Sunrise Diner in Sheffield. "They want change. I honestly believe that 2008 will be a year where many incumbents will be asked to go home by the voters."
One of those incumbents, Ogonowski hopes, will be Kerry, a candidate whom he decries as a Washington insider out of touch with his constituency.
Yesterday, Ogonowski said that many Berkshire County residents expressed concerns to him about reliable access to the Internet, which has been a longtime issue in the county, as well as about national security and the economy — in particular, the energy situation.
"The price of energy is just out of control," he said. "And everyone is affected, not just commuters who drive to work. I run a farm in Dracut, and the cost of energy has impacted me greatly. Because of the increase in gasoline prices, my fertilizer costs have gone up about 70 percent. It's time we had some real leadership to help us gain energy independence."
Ogonowski added that he is not intimidated by running as a Republican in a largely Democratic state.
"Well, let's look at some names: Bill Weld, Paul Cellucci, Mitt Romney," he said, referencing a list of GOP governors. "I think they have proven that Republicans can win in Massachusetts. And I also believe that we will see a Republican governor after this administration's term is up."
Ogonowski was referring to the current governor, Deval L. Patrick.
He added that he enjoyed his stop in Berkshire County, and that he will be coming back to campaign as the year goes on.
"Absolutely," he said. "I really enjoyed it. There are a lot of great people out here, and I enjoyed meeting some of them."
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"House delays $500M tax bill: Lawmakers stall on a package that would raise the cigarette tax"
By Matt Murphy, (Berkshire) Eagle Boston Bureau
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
BOSTON — The House advanced a timely transportation borrowing plan yesterday that included some provisions to replace police traffic details with civilian flagmen, but delayed a vote on a controversial tax package that would raises taxes on corporations and hike the cigarette tax by $1.
Democratic leaders decided to delay a vote on the $500 million tax plan until tomorrow to give members of the House more time to study the issues and hear from business leaders.
Besides the cigarette tax, House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi has proposed closing two corporate tax "loopholes," offset by a sharp reduction in the corporate excise tax.
The $3.5 billion transportation bond bill — approved 114-40 — took on added importance with the start of the construction season and the need to authorize spending for certain projects to leverage federal money.
The House adopted amendments, as proposed by the Senate last week, that would authorize Gov. Deval L. Patrick's administration to draft regulations detailing the type and location of state and local projects where it would be appropriate to use civilian flagmen instead of police detail officers.
Local cities and towns would have the option of adopting the new rules but could not use the regulations to circumvent collective bargaining agreements with police unions.
Proponents of the measure say cities and towns could save $100 million over the next 20 years, a modest but symbolic sum, as cash-strapped communities grapple with tight budgets. Critics of the change, including police unions, have argued that taking police off the street reduces public safety.
Despite the fact that the bill gives the state and local communities no new authority to end police details, Barbara Anderson, executive director of Citizens for Limited Taxation, said she is optimistic.
"I still say the important thing was to take a step, the first step ever to take on the police unions," Anderson said.
The bill also includes a number of cost-saving reforms, such as a revision to the health benefits for Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority retirees that would require them to pay up to 20 percent of their health care coverage — as do all other state employees.
The loophole closings, already adopted by many other states, reflect a compromise with the governor on the issue of corporate taxes, but DiMasi went further than the governor in offering a larger break for smaller businesses in corporate excise taxes.
House Republicans, however, blasted the proposed tax increases as a threat to jobs and businesses that will not generate the revenue projected by Democratic leaders.
"We can put as much lipstick as we want on this bill, but it's still a pig," said House Minority Leader Rep. Brad Jones, R-North Reading.
"We think if you plan on taking in $1.1 billion more, the problem the commonwealth faces is a spending problem, not a revenue one," Jones said.
Opponents of the cigarette tax say smokers will follow cheaper cigarettes across the border to New Hampshire and Rhode Island, where they will spend more money out of state on groceries, gas and lottery tickets.
State Rep. Denis E. Guyer, D-Dalton, said he has heard from only one business owner in his district concerned about the cigarette tax, while many constituents have voiced support for closing corporate tax "loopholes."
"I'm preparing to listen closely to the debate," Guyer said.
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From another Blog: www.life-of-coins.blogspot.com/2008/04/dollar-coin-backlash.html
Dollar coin backlash
State representative Denis E. Guyer, D-Dalton, is trying to limit the use of dollar coins in vending machines in the MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority). His district just happens to contain the company who supplies the paper to print dollar bills. His arguments for this are weak, IMO, and there is one small problem with his bill: it runs counter to the federal law passed in 2005 that requires all federally funded transit systems to dispense dollar coins by January 2008.
It's all about a powerful company trying to get their way to keep us spending too much money for our money. You thought ATM fees were bad: think about the constant churn of worn-out dollar bills that this paper company is so happy to assist the government in replacing every 18 months.
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Audubon's Report Card
"Grading in green: Most of Berkshire delegation receives perfect score on voting"
By Cara Hogan, (Berkshire) Eagle Boston Bureau
Thursday, April 10, 2008
BOSTON — All but one of the state lawmakers from the Berkshire delegation received top marks for their work on environmental issues in the Massachusetts Audubon Society's 23rd annual Legislative Report Card released this week.
"I think it's great that I received 100 percent," said Rep. Denis E. Guyer, D-Dalton, who received a perfect score from the environmental group, which rated legislators on their positions on clean energy and open space conservation.
The Legislative Report Card rates senators and representatives by the roll call votes taken on environmental bills or funding measures, giving 100 percent to supporters of every bill and a lesser percentage for each vote against.
Four of five legislators received 100 percent, with the lowest score of 70 percent.
Guyer's grade reflected his voting history on bills such as hybrid car tax breaks and funding for parks.
"I take environmental issues very seriously as a member of the Committee on Natural Resources," Guyer said. "A lot of my work in the Statehouse is focused on the environment, so I'm very proud of that."
Compared with last year, the Legislature overall showed improvement, receiving an average B-plus grade on environmental votes in 2007. The average House score rose 9.6 percent from the previous year, while the Senate increased 13 percent.
But Jack Clark, the Mass. Audubon director of public policy, said that, although this year was an improvement, it's still not enough.
"They're not voting on many environmental issues," Clark said. "What we have is repeated votes on repeated bills, usually amendments. We're asking the Legislature to take up during the next session an environmental agenda."
Clark said that Massachusetts is not more progressive than other states regarding the legislation that has passed.
"There's a lot more room for improvement," he said. "A lot more environmental votes are necessary."
How they scored
100%
Rep. Denis E. Guyer, D-Dalton
Rep. William 'Smitty' Pignatelli, D-Lenox
Rep. Christopher N. Speranzo, D-Pittsfield
Sen. Benjamin B. Downing, D-Pittsfield
70%
Rep. Daniel E. Bosley, D-North Adams
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Massachusetts
"Two years later, health care law hailed"
By Cara Hogan, Berkshire Eagle Boston Bureau
Friday, April 11, 2008
BOSTON — North Adams resident Jennifer Cohen didn't have dental insurance, but needed her wisdom teeth taken out. After years of worry, she applied for state subsidized insurance from Commonwealth Care.
"I was able to get my wisdom teeth out," Cohen said. "I could have had a lot of complications if I didn't get it done. It saved me."
But even as Gov. Deval L. Patrick and the Legislature celebrated the second anniversary of Massachusetts' universal health insurance law that allowed Cohen to get care, the widely hailed program is threatened by rising health care costs and the falling economy.
In the past two years, 340,000 residents have been added to the ranks of the insured; 176,000 of those have joined Commonwealth Care, the state-subsidized insurance plan for low-income residents. Patrick said the program has exceeded expectations and shows that Massachusetts is making real changes in health care.
"What we've done here is not necessarily the formula for the rest of the country, but at least we are trying," Patrick said at a news conference celebrating the anniversary.
The state predicts there will be 50,000 more applicants for subsidized insurance in the next year, which could place a strain on public funds. The governor's budget allots $869 million for subsidized health insurance, but some legislators predict expenses could rise to as much as $1 billion.
"Making this initiative work is even more important as we face a slowing national economy," Patrick said. "Nothing comes easy. We have to join together to reign in costs."
Rep. Denis E. Guyer, D-Dalton, said though the situation seems tough, there are possible solutions to continue expanding health care.
"The most effective way to control health care costs is getting as many people coverage as we can," he said. "So we're treating high blood pressure in the doctor's office instead of advanced heart disease in the emergency room. Emergency room care is far more expensive than preventative care."
Although Guyer acknowledged concern that greater participation would cost more, he said he believes the state will eventually reap benefits from the program.
"I'm very optimistic that we're providing a model for health care for other states to follow," he said. "It will help us contain the costs of health care in Massachusetts and help attract businesses to move to the state, since we will have lower health care costs."
Senate President Therese Murray has proposed various cost-saving programs such as switching from paper medical records to electronic and strengthening preventive care.
Rep. Patricia Walrath, D-Stow, the chair of the Joint Committee on Health Care Finance, supports Murray's bill and is focused on the need for more primary care physicians to produce lower costs.
"There is a shortage of primary care physicians, and we're looking to subsidize the education of physicians that stay in Massachusetts after graduation," Walrath said.
But Senate Minority Leader Richard R. Tisei, R-Wakefield, is less optimistic. He released a statement saying the Massachusetts experiment has produced "mixed results."
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Reader's Comment:
"leffhill", April 11, 2008 -
From the standpoint of a self-employed individual who does not qualify for state assistance and now must pony up an additional $850 PER MONTH (for something I don't consider necessary), it's real hard for me to see what's so great about this law - which, let's be honest, is not about 'providing care for the people', but is all about making sure that the medical industry and the state are fully compensated.
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Reader's Comment:
"GMHeller" - April 11, 2008
Read between the lines, what Rep. Denis Guyer is saying is that the new health care law is an unmitigated disaster!
"Although Guyer acknowledged concern that greater participation would cost more, he said he believes the state will EVENTUALLY reap benefits from the program.
'I'm very optimistic that we're providing a model for health care FOR OTHER STATES to follow,' he said.'It will help us contain the costs of health care in Massachusetts and help ATTRACT businesses to move to the state, since we will have lower health care costs.'"
So what Guyer is actually saying here is that if other states, especially surrounding states, don't pass similar health care regulations soon -- or as doctors like to say, "STAT!" -- then patient Massachusetts is going to go terminal -- as in DEAD -- because businesses will have no alternative to stay competitive but to move out!
I'm beginning to think maybe some of Mass. expatriate Jonathan Melle's dismal assessments of Mr. Guyer may actually be correct!
SEE: www.guyerwatch.blogspot.com
GMHeller
Monterey,MA
www.berkshireeagle.blogspot.com
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Reader's Comment:
"pat the painter" - April 11, 2008
I wonder if our elected officials had to pay for healthcare out of their own pockets would they hail such a 'mandatory law'?
Amazing how our elected 'Public Servants' can spend other people's hard earned money, when they live well and on the taxpayers money. They flourish while the middle class suffers yet again.
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Reader's Comment:
"Jake" - April 11, 2008
Wouldn't it be nice if we got the same healthcare as our leaders? We get smacked all the time. New tax package passed should really help people move out faster than they planned.
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"Measure Would Allow June Town Meetings"
Staff reports, -iBerkshires.com-, April 10, 2008
BOSTON — There may be a light at the end of the tunnel for towns struggling to meet deadlines during budget season.
Legislation sponsored by Rep. Denis E. Guyer, D-Dalton, and Stephen Kulik, D-Worthington, seeks to allow municipalities to hold town meetings in April, May or June, in an effort to ease the strain of quickly putting together town and school budgets.
On Tuesday, the bill — H1943 — moved to Gov. Deval Patrick's desk for a signature.
"This will take a lot of the anxiety away from local officials who have to scramble to get budgets done," said Guyer on Wednesday.
Guyer said the bill would allow towns to change their charters and move their town meetings later in the year so the funding numbers municipalities receive from the state are more accurate.
"The whole process would be moved up. Typically, by April, towns will have a better idea from the state legislature than they do in February," said Guyer. "It gives your board of selectmen more time."
Town and school officials have often been left in the dark when it comes to state aid, such as Chapter 70 education funding, when they're putting budgets together in February and March. The governor's budget, which usually comes out first, has been the yardstick for determining aid but that doesn't mean the figures will be the same by the time the House and Senate complete their versions.
Estimating that the bill would be signed into law within the next 10 days, Guyer said his experience as a selectman put him in a unique position to understand the challenges that face towns looking to put budgets together on unsure numbers.
Guyer is also a member of the Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government, which heard the bill.
"I represent 21 towns and many had expressed frustration that they did not have sufficient financial information for the upcoming fiscal year to develop budgets that were realistic, said Guyer in a statement released Wednesday. "This bill buys towns a little extra time to put together the best municipal and school budgets possible."
Holding town meetings past the current limit of May could help towns trying to pin down accurate figures but could create a critical time crunch for those with controversial budgets. Municipalities have to have their budgets passed by June 30; the fiscal year starts July 1.
"What if you go to ask for an override and it gets shot down?" wondered Clarksburg Town Administrator Michael Canales, but added "it couldn't hurt to have the option."
On the Senate side, state Sen. Benjamin B. Downing, D-Pittsfield, who represents 48 municipalities, was instrumental in getting the bill pushed through that chamber.
"This is a simple measure that will have significant and lasting impacts on the ability of local officials to create fiscally-sound municipal budgets based on real revenue and Local Aid figures," said Downing.
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Belmont Citizen-Herald - (Lexington, Massachusetts)
(wickedlocal.com), April 11, 2008
Belmont, Mass. - The House approved the state’s biggest tax increase since 2002 late Thursday, adding $1 per pack to the cigarette levy and closing off a handful of corporate tax advantages, while granting a scaled-back tax cut to businesses and a rapidly authored break to financial institutions.
Republicans, numbering 19 in the House, and some fiscally conservative Democrats were no match for the majority, which voted, 131-23, to pass House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi’s plan after 10 pm. DiMasi aides estimated the total increase to the fiscal 2009 bottom line at $392 million.
In a statement, DiMasi hailed “a thoughtful, reasonable plan to help balance our budget for next year by increasing revenues to the Commonwealth and reducing the tax burden on thousands of businesses that drive our economy.”
Many small businesses are expected to benefit from the excise rate reduction, while larger businesses and smokers appeared to shoulder the brunt of the increase.
“Massachusetts once had the nickname Taxachusetts,” said Rep. Donald Humason (R-Westfield) on the House floor. “I wonder if we’re approaching that again.”
The House’s move, after a year’s resistance to Gov. Deval Patrick’s pushes for new revenues, comes as leading officials estimate a budget gap of at least $1.3 billion next fiscal year, and amid broader economic trends analysts say could hurt employment and the capital gains receipts that have helped fuel steady inclines in state spending.
The cigarette tax hike is expected to generate about $175 million next fiscal year, ratcheted up after an unexplained amendment bumped the effective date up six months.
The House voted to reduce the corporate excise rate from 9.5 percent to 8.75 percent next year, and tie future reductions in the rate to economic growth triggers with an eventual floor of 7.5 percent, rather than the 7 percent level called for under the original proposal, said Revenue Committee House chair Rep. John Binienda, who praised DiMasi for his “acquiescence” to rank-and-file concerns.
Binienda said the 9.5 percent rate was the second highest corporate tax rate among the states. The House also approved a cut in the corporate tax rate paid by financial institutions from 10.5 percent to 9 percent, Binienda said.
DiMasi had proposed a reduction from 9.5 percent to 7 percent by fiscal 2011 beginning Jan. 1, significantly more aggressive than Patrick’s initial proposal to reduce it to 8.3 percent over three years beginning in fiscal 2010. DiMasi’s plan, which would have netted no new contributions from businesses by the third year, would have generated $204 million for next fiscal year, while Patrick’s aimed for $297 million.
To earn the bill’s passage, DiMasi had to fend off complaints from both the right and left, with businesses worried about increasing their state contributions and progressives concerned about giving corporate tax breaks both sides citing uncertain economic times. After procedural debates, discussion of the bill’s merits began after 5 pm.
Without explanation on the floor, the House changed the “combined reporting” provision by stripping regulatory discretion from the Department of Revenue and more tightly defining which companies would have to participate. Economic Development and Emerging Technologies Committee chair Rep. Daniel Bosley (D-North Adams), who sponsored the amendment, called DOR “overly aggressive and confrontational,” and said the complicated change appealed to businesses who had been “very nervous” about allowing tax officials too much leeway.
“I don’t think there is a revenue impact,” he said. “It could be either way.”
Binienda said the bill would modernize and simplify the state’s corporate tax code and result in “less cheating” by corporations, blamed by some critics for exploiting loopholes in the tax codes.
Binienda said 25 states currently require the combined reporting method of filing called for under the bill and 45 require the proposed “check the box” method that requires companies that file federally as corporations to file as corporations for tax purposes at the state level.
The House last month rejected Patrick’s plan to install three casinos here. With the House looking for revenues to balance its budget and meet spending demands, DiMasi pursued the cigarette tax increase, went along with Patrick’s Department of Revenue initiatives, and $253 million of the governor’s “savings and reforms,” along with $435 million in drawdowns from current and future reserves and $100 million in cuts. DiMasi said recently the cuts could be more severe. House budget writers are scheduled to release their blueprint next week.
The House budget committee sent the bill to the floor intact except for the removal of $166 million in revenue enforcements and small-scale tax increases through revoked exemptions. House leaders had hoped to tack the $166 million package onto the larger bill, requiring members to cast only one major vote on taxes before the April 29 deadline for legislative candidates to file intentions with the state. That proposal will be part of the budget debate in two weeks.
A lengthy caucus of House Democrats on Thursday revealed the extent of the rank-and-file opposition to DiMasi’s proposed rate cut, after financial institutions had weighed in Tuesday with alarm over facing big losses from the “loophole closings” but not enjoying the rate cut benefits. Senators had also indicated their body was unlikely to go with a 7 percent rate.
“I’m working hard to reduce that tax break, and I’m working hard to keep those corporate tax increases,” Rep. Frank Smizik (D-Brookline), House chair of the Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture, said Thursday morning.
During closed-door deliberations by House leaders, Patrick declined to inject his opinion into the ongoing House debate over the size of an excise rate cut for corporations, beyond telling reporters his plan was “prudent … large enough to be meaningful, but not so large as to be counterproductive and just symbolic.”
The vote on passing the bill came after 10 pm, on the heels of a maiden speech by Rep. Jay Barrows, a Mansfield Republican. That came after a recess of over an hour, while aides assembled the final bill.
The House's early public deliberations were marked by long recesses and occasional visitors. At 12:15 pm. Rep. Paul Donato gaveled the House back in, then recessed immediately again, while Donato promised that paperwork was being assembled that would allow for a "spirited debate."The Senate, which will ultimately have to work out details of any tax bill with the House, adjourned at about 3 pm and won't be back in session again until Monday, when the House returns in an informal session.
Private talks broke at about 3:30 pm Thursday as House Democrats moved a tax hike bill to the floor and turned back GOP attempts to recommit the bill or postpone the debate. During floor debate, House Republicans questioned why the bill lacked a fiscal note and wondered whether it would really cost the state nothing to implement a bill House Minority Leader Bradley Jones said would yield more than $500 million in annualized revenues.They launched into floor speeches in which they blasted the tax hike as harmful to the fragile economy.
"We're about to embark on a very difficult issue," said Rep.Angelo Scaccia, former chairman of the Legislature's now-defunct Taxation Committee. He later added: "We're going to raise revenues here, the exact amount of revenues I don't know."
DiMasi spent much of last year battling Patrick’s tax proposals, but reversed course earlier this year as the state’s fiscal outlook declined. When he announced his budget outline, in February, business lobbying groups hurried to climb aboard, but in recent days grew critical of the package, backed by House Republicans who deemed it a “death knell” to the economy.
The decision to unbundle the $166 million in DOR initiatives appeared to grant DiMasi some more votes. Many members had opposed that component on local concerns. It seeks about $9 million in new sales taxes on aircraft part sales, which members said would hobble small airports. Other pieces call for escalated collection from tax-avoiders.
The cigarette tax increase, with the funds earmarked for state-subsidized health care, provoked much debate. Some lawmakers questioned the regressive nature of adding tax burdens to individuals who are hopelessly addicted to smoking while other shots back that treatment of smokers costs taxpayers dearly in many ways. Representatives from northern districts worried that consumer spending would migrate north of the border bringing purchases on lottery tickets, alcohol, and other convenience store items with them.
Rep. Colleen Garry (D-Dracut), who proposed an amendment striking the cigarette tax portion of the bill, said the increase to $2.51 per pack would slot Massachusetts’s levy as the nation’s second-highest. DiMasi aides said earlier the current rate was among the nation’s lowest.
Rep. Denis Guyer (D-Dalton) said his district bordered three states, but that he had received minimal discouragement to vote for the bill.
Garry’s amendment failed on a 49-103 vote.
The House also agreed to launch a special House commission studying the corporate tax structure.
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"Kerry to face primary battle"
By Jack Dew, Berkshire Eagle Staff
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Ed O'Reilly is an angry Democrat.
Unhappy with Sen. John F. Kerry's 2002 vote to authorize the Iraq, O'Reilly, 54, of Watertown, has launched a long-shot Senate candidacy that could climax at the June 7 Democratic State Convention in Lowell where, with 15 percent of the vote, O'Reilly would secure a spot on the primary ballot, a rare party challenge to an incumbent.
"That (vote) made me look at (Kerry) differently," O'Reilly said during an interview at The Eagle this week. "Where is the moral compass when you vote for war, knowing it's the wrong vote? As a human being, I just don't know how you do that. To me, it's beyond human decency. That's the passion that's in my heart."
In a campaign season that has seen the word "change" become a powerful motto, O'Reilly has company in wanting party leaders ousted. Robert Feuer of Stockbridge is taking aim at incumbent U.S. Rep. John W. Olver, D-Amherst, motivated by what he says is Congress's failure to respond to voters concerns about the war and the Bush administration's abuse of power.
"There has been a lack of accountability, a lack of responsibility and responsiveness," Feuer said yesterday. "It leads me to a feeling that I would like to see every congressman and senator challenged. I feel as if our Congress is in someone else's hands."
Both Feuer and O'Reilly face a difficult task just to get their names on the ballot. Feuer needs 2,000 signatures from registered Democrats by May 6; he said yesterday that he is not certain he will reach that threshold. O'Reilly must convince 15 percent of state Democrats who attend the convention to support him, a difficult task given that many are long-time party members, have likely worked on past Kerry campaigns, and have little interest in seeing a well-known, well-heeled candidate challenged within the party.
North Adams Mayor John Barrett III said O'Reilly "can't win in the primary, and the Democratic Party probably won't give him enough support" to make the ballot. "But if they do, it is going to be an embarrassment to Kerry, and it could rough him up, no matter how strong (O'Reilly) is. It's just not good."
Barrett said he met with O'Reilly earlier this year and told him he doesn't like candidates who run for "symbolic reasons." If you don't have the political means to win, stay home, Barrett said, instead of risking damage to the favorite that would give the Republicans an opening. "You don't want the Republican philosophy in Washington," he said.
Still, O'Reilly said he feels confident that he will get 15 percent of the vote. He has been crisscrossing the state, visiting roughly 85 Democratic committees. "I feel that I've done the homework. The whole strategy in this campaign is the 15 percent first, because if I don't get that, it's all over."
Kerry's campaign could not be reached for comment yesterday. On his Web site, Kerry is highlighting his fight in 2006 for an up or down vote on an amendment to withdraw troops from Iraq by a "date certain." Kerry can also point to his campaign against Bush, during which Kerry strongly criticized the war and urged a change in policy.
O'Reilly, asked what type of delegate he thinks will support him, said it will be those who — like himself — supported Kerry against Bush in 2004. He called them the "best political consumers" who will "look underneath or beyond the political literature and the huff and the puff that comes from the Kerry campaign."
"There are all kinds of reasons why people want change," O'Reilly said. "There is something going on underneath the surface of the Democratic party. People want an alternative to John Kerry, but they don't want a Republican. They want someone to fight for what they believe in."
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"Downing, Guyer Laud Pharmacist's Appointment to Board"
iBerkshires.com - April 24, 2008
DALTON — Dalton resident Stanley B. Walczyk, owner and president of O'Laughlin's Home Care Pharmacy & Medical Equipment, has been appointed by Gov. Deval Patrick to the state Board of Registration in Pharmacy.
"When supporting Stan Walczyk's candidacy for appointment, I knew he’d be a natural fit for the Board," said state Sen. Benjamin B. Downing, D-Pittsfield. "Having a longtime community leader from Berkshire County serving on this important body who understands the importance of providing the best in pharmaceutical care will be a tremendous asset to the people of the commonwealth.'
Walczyk has had a long and successful career in pharmacy. He has served in a leadership capacity on various commissions and boards, including his gubernatorial appointment to the Drug Formulary Commission; serving as president of the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Alumni Association; and his membership to the Massachusetts Pharmacist Association and National Association of Retail Druggists. He has twice been honored by his peers with professional awards through his receipt of the Bowl of Hygea Award in Pharmacy (1984) and the Joseph P. Gagne Award (1992).
"I am very pleased that the governor has appointed Mr. Walczyk to the board. He is a well respected member of the community and very knowledgeable in the pharmacy field," said state Rep. Denis E. Guyer, D-Dalton. "He will bring a great deal of expertise and a strong voice from Berkshire County to the table. I am honored that I was given the opportunity to support his candidacy."
Walczyk said, "It's an honor to be appointed as a member of the Board of Registration in Pharmacy. I look forward to the opportunity to serve the commonwealth and bring the concerns of community pharmacy to the forefront."
The Board of Registration in Pharmacy serves the Department of Public Health to promote, preserve and protect the public health, safety and welfare by fostering the provision of quality pharmaceutical care to the citizens of Massachusetts through the regulation of the practice of pharmacy, the operation of pharmacies, and the distribution of prescription drugs in the public interest.
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"Renewable Energy Grants Awarded to Franklin County Concerns"
iBerkshires.com - April 30, 2008
BOSTON – Two Franklin County organizations have been selected to receive grants from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative's Renewable Energy Trust Fund, under the trust's Large Onsite Renewable Initiative, state Sen. Benjamin B. Downing, D–Pittsfield, and state Reps. Daniel E. Bosley, D-North Adams, and Denis E. Guyer, D–Dalton.
Grant winners Berkshire East Ski Resort of Charlemont and Roberts Brothers Lumber Co. Inc. of Ashfield have been awarded a total of $440,000.
"This is a major infusion of state dollars into our companies which will allow us to advance two innovative local projects," said Downing. "Renewable energy technologies are drivers of the new economy, and once again western Massachusetts is on the forefront, planning to make the best use out of these new technologies."
Bosley said, "I am pleased that MTC is continuing to support the development of renewable, clean energy in the western part of the state. Wind power at ski resorts has been tested in Western Massachusetts and has proven to serve great benefits to the mountain, surrounding communities, and the environment. I applaud Berkshire East for their initiative on this issue."
“I am very pleased to see that MTC had selected Roberts Brothers Lumber Co. for this grant. Robert Brothers is a small business but sees the big picture in the emerging renewable energy field and had developed a project that will convert timber waste into energy to power its sawmill. This is a great initiative and an example for other mills to follow,” said Guyer.
The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, as administrator of the Renewable Energy Trust Fund, uses the Large Onsite Renewables Initiative to expand the production and use of distributed renewable energy technologies in Massachusetts through feasibility study and design and construction grants. MTC seeks to develop a diverse portfolio of renewable energy projects across a variety or locations, technologies, and building types.
Project Descriptions
Berkshire East Ski Resort
Grant Amount: $40,000
Project Description: Berkshire East Ski Resort in Charlemont will perform a feasibility study exploring the addition of a 225kW or 600kW wind turbine at the top of the mountain to produce power for the resort.
The feasibility study will include an in-depth analysis of turbine siting and performance at the facility (including a wind atlas analysis and applications program model of the site), utility derived electric value (onsite vs. to-grid power analysis) an economic analysis, an in-depth review of build ability, an electrical system impact/interconnection analysis, a permitting pathway, a visual assessment, a financing ownership and operations analysis and finally a budgeting capital cost and time-line analysis. The entire study will be performed for a total budget of $79,500 and will be completed by August 2008.
Roberts Brothers Lumber Co.
Grant Amount: $400,000
Project Description: Roberts Brothers Lumber Co. Inc. will install a biomass CHP gasification unit to heat and power its sawmill in Ashfield. The facility services five counties and four states. By converting low-grade timber waste to energy, besides the obvious economic rational, Roberts Brother will be a transportation hub and a wood processing enterprise.
The mill will be a demonstration project for the concept of waste to energy, which may be rolled out to and replicated by other independent mills in Massachusetts. The theme of a "carbon sequestering seedling to energy release" would be a prominently displayed within the facility for possible classroom study.
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"Mixed interest so far for June town meetings"
By John Laidler, (Boston) Globe Correspondent, May 4, 2008
Board of Selectmen chairman David Petersen expects Rowley will take a close look at holding its future annual Town Meetings in June now that the state has given communities that option.
"This time of year is extremely busy, so any extra time we can get to deal with budget issues and get our figures in better shape - particularly state aid" would be welcome, he said.
But Gretchen Wood, town clerk in Manchester, is doubtful her town, which by bylaw now holds its annual meetings the first Monday in April, would want to move them to June.
"I believe we would keep it at what it is, because the further you get into good weather, the harder it is to get people out to Town Meeting," she said.
Across the region, response is mixed to newly adopted legislation offering June town meetings. Local officials said they welcomed having the option, but offered varied takes on whether their towns might use it.
Towns in this region typically hold their annual meetings in April or May. Under the new legislation, signed April 15 by Governor Deval Patrick, towns can move to a June date through a simple bylaw change unless their current dates are set in their charter or a special act, in which case they would need an amendment. The extension also applies to annual town elections, which now can be scheduled in June.
State Representative Denis E. Guyer, a Dalton Democrat and chief sponsor of the bill, said the intent was to give towns that want it more time to finalize their budgets. Communities would have "a more realistic picture of the revenues that are coming back from the state," he said, noting that June meetings would also afford school districts, particularly regional ones, the added time they need to prepare and present their spending plans.
"It's just one more tool we are giving local government officials, I think, to help them craft a more reasonable and accurate budget," Guyer said.
Guyer's only note of caution to towns choosing a June date for their annual meeting is that they will face a tighter deadline in completing their work. The state requires communities to adopt a balanced budget by the start of the fiscal year, July 1. Currently, communities sometimes convene their meetings in April or May and then adjourn until June to complete their business, which state law allows.
Wakefield holds its annual Town Meeting the first Monday in April. Because the date is set by charter, the town would need a charter change to move the date to June. Town Clerk Mary K. Galvin does not believe there is interest in town to move the date.
"I think that everyone is satisfied with the status quo," she said.
Under the special act that created its town manager form of government, Saugus convenes its annual meeting the first Monday in May. To move the meeting to June, the town would need to amend the special act.
But town manager Andrew Bisignani said the Town Meeting, while starting the first Monday in May, typically extends to additional nights in May and June. He said the system works for the town because of the "amount of discussion and deliberation and debate that takes place."
"I don't think there's enough time in the month of June" for the meeting to conduct all its business during that month," he said.
In Rowley, which by town bylaw must hold its annual meeting prior to May 31, town moderator Warren Appell thinks moving the annual meeting to June offers potential benefits to the town.
"There are so many unknowns for everyone," he said of preparing a budget in early spring. "It would make sense to me to put [the Town Meeting date] out as far as possible."
Petersen, the Rowley selectman, cautioned that before moving to a June date, his town would want to coordinate with Newbury and Salisbury, with whom it shares the Triton Regional School District.
In Salisbury, town manager Neil J. Harrington said he expected officials to discuss the new law, but saw no impetus to change the town's current schedule - set by bylaw - of holding its annual meeting the second Tuesday in May.
"At this point, the system here seems to work fine," he said.
In Topsfield, which by bylaw also meets the first Tuesday in May, Finance Committee chairman Mark Lyons considers a change to a June meeting day worth a look. "On the one hand, any time we have the ability to have more concrete information, particularly relating to state revenues, that's helpful," he said "On the other hand, Topsfield as a town is really steeped in tradition."
In Hamilton, which by bylaw meets the first Monday in May, Candace Wheeler, the town administrator, expects discussion of the new option. But she predicts the town will stay with its current meeting date in deference to the Hamilton-Wenham Regional School District, which has pleaded with both towns to hold their annual meetings earlier to allow more time to notify teachers whether or not they will be rehired for the next year.
Stephen Delaney, Georgetown town administrator, thinks a switch to a June meeting would have "negligible benefit" to his town, which by bylaw meets the first Monday in May.
"I don't see any advantage to a June town meeting," he said, noting that by the time of its May meeting, Georgetown usually has a good idea of its state aid figures. "I think May works fine. It gives us a few weeks to prepare for the new fiscal year."
Stephen Davis, Boxford selectmen chairman, senses his town would not be interested in changing to a June meeting date. By bylaw, Boxford now meets the second Tuesday in May.
"The Legislature is going to great lengths to tell us what our funds are going to be in major categories such as roads and schools," he said. "With that information, we can pretty well figure out what we are going to get and what we are going to spend."
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Re: My thoughts on Patrick Fennell & John Forbes Kerry
Patrick Fennell’s view of “the system” is misguided because it rests on the responsibility of the government instead of those who control the government (& “the system”): The Corporate Elite.
An illustrative example of how “the system” works is the recent 28% increase in gas prices during the Fed’s past 7-rate-cuts. As the U.S. Dollar weakens, it takes more of them to import oil. While “the average working stiff” pays more for gasoline, the corporate elite is invested in the foreign oil markets & is receiving record returns on their investments in foreign oil funds.
(Note: “TIME”, May 5, 2008, “The Curious Capitalist”, By Justin Fox, “Double-Taking the Dollar: The greenback wilts as its bosses trumpet its muscularity. Just how strong should the buck be?”: “The dollar has lost 41% of its value against the euro, its main competitor, since Bush took office in 2001.”)
Patrick Fennell would blame the government for higher gas prices without blaming the corporate elite who CONTROLS (or at least manipulates) “the system”, including the government. On the other hand, John Forbes Kerry, would not blame the government in general, but rather he would, while knowing better, wrongly point his elitist & hypocritical finger at the Bush administration & their close ties to “Big Oil.”
While Patrick Fennell is working class, John Forbes Kerry was born into a trust fund worth hundreds of millions of dollars and then married his second wife, who is worth billions. John Forbes Kerry is part of the real system, and he knows it full well, that controls the government. John Forbes Kerry represents power, privilege, elitism, wealth, & ARROGANCE!
While I admire Patrick Fennell’s ideals, he is blind to what John Kerry is all about and stands for. The cruel irony is that democracy is only an ideal and never practiced because “the system” began under SLAVERY and continues under CORPORATE rule. The system is corporate, not democratic! John Kerry, like George Bush, is a front man for the corporate elite, who have indoctrinated & manipulated working class people like my political friend Patrick Fennell.
Interestingly, there was no such concept as “the working class” until after the Industrial Revolution in the mid-Nineteenth Century. The corporate elite invented it to “regulate the poor”. Then in the mid-Twentieth Century, the people imposed legal measures through the dysfunctional tax system to “regulate the corporate elite”. The outcome is early Twenty-First Century “Globalisation” starring multi-national corporations that have taken away many living wage jobs.
As Patrick Fennell blindly blames John Kerry, John Kerry knowing better blames George Bush. The distinct difference between Patrick Fennell & John Kerry is that John Kerry knows better than Patrick Fennell. However, while I consider Patrick Fennell my political friend, John Kerry considers my archenemy in politics, Denis E. Guyer, his political friend. Moreover, John Kerry even hosted a campaign party for his fellow billionaire-family brethren, Denis Guyer, last autumn 2007. While Patrick Fennell & I are both “have-nots”, Denis Guyer, who married heiress Allison Crane, is one with John Kerry’s elitist or “haves” sphere of influence.
In Truth!,
Jonathan A. Melle
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The Boston Herald, Friday, May 2, 2008, Page 16, Letters
“Kerry digs hole”
Sen. John Kerry has a lot of nerve talking about people in the underground economy stealing from taxpayers (“Underground economy hurts all”, April 28).
It was all right for him to miss important votes in 2004 when he was running for president on the taxpayers’ dime, even though he was being paid in full. It is all right for elected pols to accept trips & gifts from lobbyists, get paid huge amounts of money for speeches to special interest groups, go on taxpayer-paid junkets & accept campaign funds that they keep forever tax-free. Pols are allowed to steal, lie & pad their wallets, but everyone else has to toe the line.
Kerry has to set a good example before preaching the law to others.
–Patrick Fennell, Great Barrington
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The Boston Herald, Thursday, May 1, 2008, Page 22, Letters
“Underground of illegals”
Sen. John Kerry needs to choose a position (“Underground economy hurts all”, 4/28). One minute he is criticizing the “underground economy”, the next he is attending rallies in support of illegal immigrants. Who does he think makes up the underground economy? Illegal immigrants do. They take work that would otherwise be done legally & drive down real wages.
Kerry might want to consider this the next time he criticizes the feds for enforcing our laws.
–John Hatcher, Shrewsbury
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"Wall St. fueling high gas prices"
The Berkshire Eagle - Letters
Monday, May 05, 2008
There is a group of speculators on Wall Street that is creating historic gas prices. There is only one reason why this is happening. Greed!
How can such a small group of people be allowed by our government to bring this country to its knees? There is no shortage of oil, yet these people keep bidding higher and higher for a barrel of oil.
One hundred years ago the Rockefeller family had a stranglehold on the economy of this country. It controlled most if not all the oil at that time. The government broke this company up.
Now it is time for action to be taken by our government. Either going into the oil reserves or cutting taxes is not the answer. Too many of our representatives in Washington are in the back pockets of the oil companies. I have never felt so helpless in my life.
If nothing is done soon, everyone in Congress and who is coming up for re-election should be voted out of office. And I mean everyone. Maybe they might get the message then that the American people are fed up with high prices for the necessities of life.
JOSEPH CASELLA
Pittsfield, Massachusetts
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"Rival's ad targets Kerry on local ties: Ogonowski seeks GOP nomination with folksy attack"
By John C. Drake, (Boston) Globe Staff, May 8, 2008
Jim Ogonowski, Republican Senate candidate, began airing a folksy Massachusetts travelogue on cable television yesterday, a cross between a Michael Moore movie and a negative ad targeting Democratic incumbent John F. Kerry.
The campaign spot - with music played on a picked acoustic guitar and labels in hand-drawn lettering - shows Ogonowski, one of two Republicans mounting challenges to Kerry, stopping in at coffee shops and diners around the state.
He sidles up to patrons and asks them whether they have ever seen Kerry in the state. Not surprisingly, every single person quoted in the ad says "no" or, in a variation, "nope.
"Everywhere I go people are telling me they haven't seen John Kerry in Massachusetts," Ogonowski says in the ad, as he sits behind the wheel of his car, tieless and wearing a sport coat.
"John who?" one woman responds.
The ad began running statewide on CNN and FOX News yesterday, said Alicia Preston, an Ogonowski campaign spokeswoman.
She would not disclose how much the campaign is spending on this initial ad purchase, saying she did not want to divulge campaign strategy.
A Kerry campaign spokesman called the ad fiction and provided a list of four dozen official Senate appearances by Kerry at Massachusetts events so far in 2008.
"Fiction like this belongs on HBO, not cable television in Massachusetts," said the spokesman, David Wade.
The spot is the first broadcast salvo in the race, the Ogonowski campaign said. It has another ad posted on YouTube that shows Ogonowski wandering around Washington and pointing out perks enjoyed by senators, like private elevators.
Ogonowski, who lost the Fifth Congressional District race last fall to Democrat Niki Tsongas, and Jeff Beatty, an Army veteran and antiterrorism consultant, are vying for the GOP nomination.
Ogonowski's campaign theme so far has been to poke mischievous fun at Kerry, portraying him as absent, wealthy, and ineffective, with goofy animations and the coffee shop gimmick released yesterday.
Ogonowski said in an interview that Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee and one of the most prominent supporters of presidential candidate Barack Obama, has been too busy operating on the national stage to serve the people of the state.
His website has an animation of Kerry windsurfing along a timeline of his past nine years in the Senate, in which Ogonowski argues that Kerry has passed "no bills of his own that became law."
The animation also features a Heinz ketchup bottle and an image of Kerry's Nantucket mansion, none-too-subtle swipes by the Dracut hay farmer at the wealth of Kerry and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry.
"He's been in Washington 24 years, and he's passed eight pieces of legislation," Ogonowski said. "He lives in Washington, D.C., and has a home there. And as I travel across the state, I ask people if they've ever seen John Kerry around here, and nobody says they've seen him."
Kerry's campaign has released a list of 13 bills the campaign said Kerry has authored and has seen passed since 2001.
Wade cited Kerry's opposition to the Iraq war and work on legislation, including providing eye injury centers for war veterans and disaster assistance for Massachusetts fishermen as issues important to voters.
"That's why people in Massachusetts want to keep him in the Senate fighting for them," Wade said.
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John C. Drake can be reached at jdrake@globe.com.
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"Blind commissioner visits Dalton"
By Amy Carr, Berkshire Eagle Staff
Monday, May 12, 2008
DALTON — In her senior year at Taconic High School, Janet LaBreck never thought she would serve the same Massachusetts post as Helen Keller. But she always dared to dream.
Now, LaBreck is entering her second year as the Massachusetts Commissioner for the Blind, making special appearances like her recent visit to the Berkshire Talking Chronicle to give back to the community and the commonwealth that gave her hope.
"It's nice to get a chance to come back home," said LaBreck, who graduated from Taconic as a blind student in 1978 and still has family in the area. "And today is such an important time to help people with disabilities. When I was growing up here in the Berkshires, there weren't things like (the Berkshire Talking Chronicle) to take advantage of."
Established in 1906, the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind offers a variety of rehabilitation and social services to assist those with visual impairments to become more independent, economically self-sufficient and connected to the community in which they live.
The commission was originally comprised of three men and two women, including Helen Keller, and has grown from modest programming to a diverse range of services such as vocational rehabilitation, low-vision devices to maximize the individual's residual vision, mobility instruction, peer support groups, and assistive devices such as reading lamps, large print calendars, and talking clocks and watches, to improve daily living.
It is also helps to sponsor the Berkshire Talking Chronicle, the support of which Rep. Denis E. Guyer said is key to providing pathways for local children with disabilities.
'Possibilities exist'
"The commissioner being here says to people that anything is possible and that possibilities exist," said Guyer following his radio appearance with LaBreck. "Obviously, she's worked really hard to get where she is, but it's important to show kids that they can be a part of their community and do anything they want to do — even become a state official."
The Chronicle is a not-for-profit radio reading station serves a listening area with over 600 legally blind individuals, including the towns of Adams, North Adams, Cheshire, Dalton, Lanesborough, Lenox, Pittsfield and Richmond. Listeners also include those who are incapable of holding reading material due to disease, injury or allergy to newsprint.
The Chronicle broadcasts on FM radio 104.3 and community television, and presents 24-hour programming focused on news and information content from The Berkshire Eagle and other news sources.
Twelve-year-old Keenan Provencher, like LaBreck, has been advocating for services and inclusiveness for the blind since he learned he was different. Before his on-air interview with LaBreck Thursday, Keenan said he hopes to be as successful as the commissioner someday.
"I started giving speeches to my classmates when I was in second grade — about being blind and Helen Keller and what she did," said the Herberg Middle School student, who aspires to become president of the United States. "I try to tell people that even though I'm different, I can still do things the same. Just in a different way."
Seeking increased funding
The passion from the young man is exactly what LaBreck hopes to show state legislatures as the House considers increased funding for the commission on this year's budget.
"What Keenan confirms for me is that a kid his age with a visual impairment has goals and aspirations just like any other child," LaBreck said. "I knew from a very early age that this is the field I wanted to work in. Knowing and believing that people who are blind can be competitive and that with hard work we can be in a position to give back, it's been a dream of mine."
To reach Amy Carr: acarr@berkshireeagle.com, (413) 496-6233.
On the Web ...
Berkshire Talking Chronicle: (413) 684-0880 or www.berkshiretalkingchronicle.net
Massachusetts Commission for the Blind: (617) 727-5550 or www.mass.gov
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"Israel at age 60"
The Berkshire Eagle - Editorial
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
On May 14, 60 years ago, David Ben Gurion declared the existence of the state of Israel and became its first prime minister. Britain, after decades of battles with Zionists and Arabs in Palestine that caused domestic turmoil at home, threw its hands up and left. The United States and its Cold War enemy the U.S.S.R. recognized the new state but the Arab League declared war, leading to a fight for independence that ended a year later in 1949 with reconciliation with Britain and admittance to the United Nations. Israel entered the world fighting for its existence, and the fight continues today.
It's a much different fight today, of course. Arab nations may still harbor dreams of driving the Jews into the sea but they are not realistic, if they ever were. Israel's Arab enemies are divided against one another, with Hamas and Fatah fighting over control of a Palestinian people so utterly failed by their leadership for 60 years. Sunni Muslims have more to fear from Shiite Muslims, and vice versa, than Israel. Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran menace the Israelis but both have domestic issues of their own. Israel cannot be said to be secure in the midst of this turmoil, but the weaknesses of its enemies does give it a measure of strength.
From its population of roughly 750,000 in 1948, Israel now numbers more than 7 million. In an area of the world where education is disdained or a restricted to a few, Israel hosts renowned colleges and universities. Israel's parliamentary system of government may be notorious for its political machinations but it is a shining symbol of good governance compared to the dictatorships and pseudo-democracies that surround it.
Still, Israel, like its Arab neighbors, faces issues from within. Given the rising Palestinian demographic, can it remain a Jewish state in the decades ahead? Must it retrench, as it did from Gaza in 2005, to maintain its identity, and build walls to keep its enemies out? Will its citizens ever be able to let their guards down and live in peace with their neighbors?
To a large extent, the answers to these questions and more will come from Israel's neighbors. The long debate over whether an Israeli state should exist ended with World War II and the Holocaust. Arab states unable to accept this reality launched wars against Israel and were defeated. Today, a two-state solution is favored by both Israelis and Palestinians, according to polls, but these same Palestinians put Hamas, a militant group dedicated to the destruction of Israel, into power. A belligerent Hamas can menace Israel from Gaza but it will not attain its dream, and a two-state solution is not on the horizon.
Israel has made plenty of mistakes of its own over the years, particularly in the trigger-happy Ariel Sharon era, when every solution to every problem was a military one. The creation after the Six-Day War of 1967 of settlements on occupied land in violation of international law was a disaster for Israel both domestically and in the eyes of the world. Conservative governments failed the nation by encouraging the settlements, liberal governments failed by refusing to confront the far right extremists who built them. Mr. Sharon, in something of a Nixon goes to China move, stood up to the right's expansionist efforts in his final reincarnation as prime minister, but the government has been rudderless since his stroke in 2006.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, embroiled in Sharon-style financial scandals, is currently hosting President Bush for ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary. If Mr. Bush had shown the same enthusiasm for Middle Eastern diplomacy as he did for Middle Eastern war, he may have advanced the cause of peace. His opportunity is gone now, and a new president will soon begin dealings with our ally.
And ally is the operative word. American presidents have had relationships both good and poor with Israel since Harry Truman quickly recognized the new nation in 1948, angering much of the U.S. foreign power establishment in the process, but the countries have maintained their solidarity. Criticism of the actions of Israel's leadership is too often portrayed as the same as criticism of Israel, and by extension of its right to exist, which is as preposterous as the argument that criticism of the Bush administration is anti-American. Democracies and their people will disagree without becoming enemies and enjoy the freedom to do so. Regardless of what lies ahead for Israel, this vibrant and still young democracy can count on the support of its aging but still vibrant ally, the United States.
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"Four Western Mass Regional School Districts Awarded Grants"
iBerkshires.com - May 22, 2008
Boston - State Senator Benjamin B. Downing (D-Pittsfield) and State Representative Denis E. Guyer (D-Dalton) are pleased to announce that several school districts within his Senate district have been approved to receive a total of $47,374 in Transportation Routing Software grants through the Massachusetts Department of Education (DOE).
Rural districts present unique transportation challenges,” said Downing. “These grants will go a long way to help our regional school districts tackle issues of efficiency when deciding how best to transport children to and from school.”
This grant program supports the cost of district-operated transportation routing software and assists districts in organizing their transportation routes to serve approximately 140,000 students in the Commonwealth. The DOE reports that 34 out of 64 proposals were approved for a total of $400,000. Grant awards range from $9,781 to $18,694.
“This grant will allow the Mohawk Trail Regional School District to purchase the software it needs to efficiently map bus routes,” said Guyer. “This will help Mohawk make the most out of their transportation budget.”
List of Local Regional School District Grants:
Mohawk Regional School District, Shelburne Falls: $10,199
Serving the towns of Ashfield, Buckland, Charlemont, Colrain, Hawley, Heath, Plainfield, and Shelburne.
Hampshire Regional School District, Westhampton: $11,725
Serving the towns of Goshen, Chesterfield, Westhampton, Williamsburg, and Southampton.
Farmington River Regional School District, Otis: $11,725
Serving the towns of Otis and Sandisfield.
Gateway Regional School District, Huntington: $13,725
Serving the towns of Blandford, Chester, Huntington, Middlefield, Montgomery, Russell, and Worthington.
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"A banner day for MCLA: Kerry asks graduates to help change the world"
By Jennifer Huberdeau, North Adams Transcript
Monday, May 19, 2008
NORTH ADAMS -- U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry, D-Mass, urged the 370 graduates at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts' 109th commencement exercises on Saturday to raise their voices and be heard, but he had to do so with a raspy voice, which faltered several times.
Kerry charged the graduating seniors to "make this great nation of ours great again."
"We do live in a great country, but somehow, this great nation of ours is stuck in a state of avoidance, of inactivity," he said. "Some of the greatest challenges of our time are staring us in the face, and nothing serious is happening on any of it.
"We are at a time when we are cutting after school programs, but did any of you write to us to say that we don't need those remedial activities for our children? We have a tax system with hundreds of special pages devoted to individuals, but how many of you have your own page? Accountability has been lost in our great system. But the pace of our society does not allow people to go out and be a good citizen."
The senator was one for four people to receive an honorary degree during the ceremony in the Amsler Campus Center, which celebrated the awarding of 332 bachelor's degrees and 38 master's degrees.
Also receiving honorary degrees were retired engineer and college benefactor Arlindo Jorge, who was presented with a doctor of humanities degree; Lola Jaffe, president of the board of the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, who received a doctor of fine arts degree; and longtime area educator and college alumnus Donald Pecor, who was presented with a doctor of pedagogy degree.
Kerry abruptly left the commencement after finishing his speech to rush to the side of U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, who was being taken to Massachusetts General Hospital. Kennedy, who served at the college's commencement speaker in 2006, was hospitalized after suffering a seizure that was first reported as a possible stroke . Kerry missed an event he had been scheduled to host for area Democrats at Taylor's Fine Dining on Holden Street, sending his campaign manager, Roger Lau, in his place.
The senator, who graduated from Yale University in 1966, drew humorous comparisons between the state of the union at the time of his graduation and Saturday's commencement exercises.
"When I graduated, there was an unpopular war being fought, Ted Kennedy was a senator from Massachusetts, we had a president with an all-time low approval rating, and the Rolling Stones were going on tour," he said. "I wish we could say things have changed."
He added, "When I was graduating back in the 1960s, when I was your age, Bob Dylan asked 'How much do I need to know to talk out of turn?' Well, let me tell you something: You know enough to talk out of turn, and it's not out of turn -- it's your turn."
He also spoke of the challenges of globalization, global warming and the growing gap between the rich and the poor.
"In the 1980s, the top 1 percent of income earners took home 8 percent of the total of America's income," Kerry said. "In the 1990s, when we had the tech bubble, the top 1 percent of income earners took home about 16 percent of America's income. Today, because of the institutional unfairness that is legislated and allowed to be put in place, the top 1 percent of income earners in America take home 23 percent of America's income. We wonder why we are struggling, why our neighbors are in foreclosure. We have to make this great nation fair again."
Some of his advice was more immediately achievable.
"Do your parents a favor and delete most of those photos you have on your Facebook pages? Not everything is meant to be seen by the world," Kerry said. "And when you go out tonight, I know you're going to party like crazy and let down your hair, maybe do a few things you've never done before. Just don't post it on YouTube."
He also took a few moments to poke fun at Republicans.
"I applaud your efforts to create sustainability here at MCLA," he said. "It's too bad that George Bush and Dick Cheney can't come here and take classes to learn about global warming and the environment. I talked to the dean of admissions, but he said neither of them had the grades to get in."
Taking a playful swipe at GOP presumptive presidential nominee John McCain, he said, "I did a little research on your speakers at commencements, and I know that last year, Attorney General Martha Coakley was here, and before that, it was my good friend Ted Kennedy. But, I couldn't believe the big name the school got as its first commencement speaker back in 1894 -- John McCain."
Class speaker Jonah J. Slattery, of Pittsfield, who earned a bachelor's degree in English/communications, reminded his peers that their choice to attend a state college did not diminish the quality of the education they received.
"MCLA is a testament that quantity does not trump quality -- that the more you spend on a product does not necessarily mean better service -- that bigger is not better," Slattery said. "MCLA is such an experience because of the impact it has made on each and every one of us in a profound way. We've grown, definitely. We've made friends, lovers and partners. We've gained intellect and the machetes necessary to take on the jungle. But we've gained something a little bit more.
"MCLA is like a microcosm of the real world, and yet it is not blurred by unfamiliar faces, glimmers of the light and dances of shadow ... we are prepared to change the world, due in part to the way the college has changed us. This school has bred some champions, prepared in several immeasurable ways -- ready for any obstacle, challenge or struggle -- because this school has instilled a spirit in us, enriched by knowledge, perseverance and independence."
Ariana Wilder, who spoke on behalf of the master's graduates, asked what each had learned during their time at the school. She offered vignettes of the different experiences teachers and students encounter every day.
"When I think about what I have learned at MCLA, I am struck by a common thread: the need for self reflection and growth to make change," she said. "The success of this program, to my mind, lies in the personal and often intimate connections our professors encouraged us to make with course material. The intensity of these connections provided new insight into how my experiences and biases shape who I am and my approach to education. Equipped with such insight, I am now more conscious of the spoken and unspoken lessons that I teach and learn through my relationships."
Mary K. Grant, MCLA president, noted that the ceremony marked the 25th anniversary of her own graduation from the college. She encouraged the graduates to apply their liberal arts education to the challenges they will face in the coming years.
"This commencement does not deliver you to a perfect world -- if only that were the case," she said. "Our best hope to deal with the challenges of the 21st century rests with you. Take the best parts of a liberal arts education that challenge you to think and to examine the problem from a number of angles and viewpoints. Remain active learners throughout your lives, so that you will be better prepared to make change more easily and with greater optimism."
She added, "Practice the art of listening, of asking questions and remaining open to new ideas. Do not confuse cynicism with critical thinking. Work hard to understand why others may view the world in a different way. You do not have to agree, but you are better equipped if you attempt to understand.
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"BCC 48th Commencement Set For Friday At Tanglewood"
iBerkshires.com - May 21, 2008
Berkshire Community College will hold its 48th Commencement ceremony Friday afternoon, May 30, beginning at 4:30 in Lenox at Tanglewood. During the ceremony, which is open to the public, the college plans to award 308 associate degrees and certificates to 300 students in 25 areas of study.
Massachusetts Department of Higher Education Commissioner Dr. Patricia Plummer will deliver the keynote address (see note following this release). State Senator Benjamin Downing, State Representative William “Smitty” Pignatelli, and Pittsfield Mayor James Ruberto will deliver greetings to the graduating class.
Dr. Frances Feinerman, dean of academic affairs, will introduce the class valedictorian, Laura Saldarini, a 47-year-old elementary school employee who plays the organ in church and a bass guitar in a rock-n-roll band. Michael Bullock, dean of student affairs and enrollment services, will introduce the alumni speaker, Emily Nichols from the Class of 2006, who went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from Emerson College and currently works as an account manager for a public relations firm in Boston.
David Phelps, President of Berkshire Health Systems, will receive the Berkshire Community College President’s Award from BCC President Dr. Paul Raverta, who will also provide opening remarks and conduct the ceremony. Susan Lombard, board chair, will deliver greetings from the BCC board of trustees and confer the degrees.
Members of the Berkshire Highlanders will provide the music for the processional and recessional. The National Anthem will be sung by Berkapella, BCC’s a cappella singing group.
Program advisors will award associate degrees to graduating students in business administration and business careers, business software and computer information systems, criminal justice, engineering and engineering technology, environmental science, fine arts, fire and health science, hospitality administration, human services, liberal arts, and nursing.
Certificates will be awarded in animal care, business software, complementary care, computer information systems programming, culinary arts, early childhood education, human services, physical fitness, and practical nursing.
In addition to traditional-aged students and nontraditional students such as Saldarini, this year’s graduating class includes a student from China, a refugee from Vietnam, a grandmother raising several adopted children, and a blind student who completed two teaching placements during her studies.
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"Diploma is called 'ticket to the future'"
By Jenn Smith, Berkshire Eagle Staff
Saturday, May 31, 2008
LENOX, Massachusetts
Not only was yesterday a great day to hold Berkshire Community College's 48th commencement ceremony at Tanglewood, but as Patricia Plummer noted, "It's a great time to be at Berkshire Community College."
Plummer, outgoing commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, acknowledged BCC's accomplishments over the past year, which she said will help the school and its students prepare for a better future. Among its milestones:
Participating in the first "Berkshire County Goes to College Day," which brought hundreds of sixth-graders to a local college campus.
Co-sponsoring a new education center in downtown Pittsfield with the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.
Becoming the first public community college in the country to receive a grant to establish an Osher Institute of Lifelong Learning program on its campus.
"It is well known that BCC grads are well prepared for further education and work. All of you sitting here today hold in your hands the ticket to your future — and to some extent, the economic future of the commonwealth," said Plummer, who delivered yesterday's commencement address.
This year, the college honored 294 students who collectively earned 302 degrees and certificates in 25 areas of study.
A particular nod was given to the college's expanding nursing program. It had 75 graduates this year, nearly a 20 percent increase from last year.
In addition, BCC President Paul Raverta honored Berkshire Health Systems President David E. Phelps for partnering with the school's nursing program.
State Rep. William "Smitty" Pignatelli also honored the school by spotlighting this year's valedictorian, Laura B. Saldarini.
"She represents the new Berkshire Community College," he said. "I remember the lyrics to a song, 'I'm just a singer in a rock and roll band' — your valedictorian is a singer in a rock and roll band."
Actually, the 47-year-old mother of two plays bass guitar for local band BootLeg, as well as organ for two area churches. She currently serves as the assistant to the principal of Morris Elementary School, but earned a degree yesterday for environmental science.
She spoke of having to update her way of learning things in order to get ahead in life. She advised her fellow graduates that, "As citizens of the world, take every opportunity presented to you to be more rather than have more."
Business administration graduate Rebecca Bliss said that her experience at Berkshire Community College has helped her to be a better-prepared entrepreneur. She hopes to open a tea room and bakery. "I'm ready," she said.
But Bliss added that she wishes she had more opportunities to happily live and work here in the Berkshires.
"I want to be with my peers," she said, "but a lot of my friends have left because they got better job offers elsewhere."
Alumni speaker Emily Nichols (Class of 2006), is a testament to that. And though she said she misses the Berkshires, she now works as an account executive with a small marketing firm in Boston.
But as Nichols noted, though the ideal job may not be found in the area, an ideal education and quality work force training can now be found right here.
"Employers will look at your time at BCC and be impressed, and you should always have pride in this degree," she said. "You will be able to get the job you want, whether it's in Becket or New York City."
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"Officials take tour of Whately woodlot"
Friday, May 23, 2008, By JIM KINNEY, Business writer
The Springfield Massachusetts Republican
WHATELY - Visitors including Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray stood in a shady glen of oak trees on William F. Obear's farm on Webber Road and learned that lumberjacks harvested 43,000 board feet of lumber - that's enough to build three homes - and 50 cords of firewood from these woods in August.
Murray visited Obear's Bear Path Farm to talk over rural issues with locals at the request of state Rep. Denis E. Guyer, D-Dalton, who represents parts of Hampshire and Franklin counties.
Guyer and others lobbied Murray for the state to shift oversight of timber harvesting on privately-owned forest lands from the state Department of Conservation and Recreation to the Department of Agricultural Resources where the industry would be a higher priority.
Guyer said the forestry was put under the Department of Conservation and Recreation in order to protect forests from fires. "It's a crop, like corn or cod," Guyer said.
Selective harvesting left Obear's land looking green.
"This is the worst this woodlot will ever look," said Nathan W. L'Etoile, director of government relations for the Massachusetts Farm Bureau Federation. "It hasn't even gone through a growing cycle yet."
Obear is part of the Massachusetts Woodlands Cooperative in South Deerfield and harvests wood from his land according to international standards of the Forest Stewardship Council. That means not just going in and taking the high-value hardwoods and leaving the pines. Foresters select some mature trees for harvest, but also take smaller, less-valuable trees and trees from species that aren't worth as much money.
This gives the valuable hardwoods room to grow. Mature trees left behind also give off seeds that plant the next generation of hardwoods.
Obear, whose main business is compost, said he earned about $10,000 from August's harvest at a woodlot that is only 35 acres of his 50-acre farm.
"It's a tiny piece of land," Obear said. "But it has been remarkably productive."
There is also a forest left when loggers are done, said Susan M. Campbell, executive director of the Massachusetts Woodlands Cooperative. She pointed to a red oak that is probably 80 years old left standing.
"We like to have our cake and eat it too," she said.
The cooperative has 56 member farms totaling 12,000 acres in the Pioneer Valley and Berkshires. It's wood is certified as a "green" building material or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. Campbell said this makes the co-op's lumber in demand from designers and architects.
Obear said the posts holding up the portico at the newly opened River Valley Market grocery co-op in Northampton came from his land.
The Woodlands Cooperative has received a $183,000 in state grant money including $13,000 this year for marketing efforts, Campbell said.
Murray later toured a sawmill and participated in a round-table with people in the lumber business. He said he'll take what he learned yesterday back to the Statehouse.
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Business writer Jim Kinney can be reached at jkinney@repub.com
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"Crane prepared for bill redesign: The Dalton-based company says it can retool easily if paper money changes sizes"
By Ellen G. Lahr, Berkshire Eagle Staff
Friday, May 23, 2008
DALTON — Crane & Co. stands to strengthen its hold over production of American currency paper with a federal court ruling that U.S paper money discriminates against the blind, said Crane's CEO and president this week.
Charles Kittredge said Crane already has done research into the issue of developing currency paper in different sizes, which is one solution under consideration by the U.S. Treasury Department.
"We feel we can meet their needs, in whatever decision they make," Kittredge said yesterday. "We'd have to do some retooling, but we do it for other governments, so we have the technology and intellectual property to manage that."
"The more complexity that goes into the production of the bank note is to our advantage because it increases the technological barrier" to potential competitors, he added.
Crane is the sole provider of the paper on which U.S. money is printed, which is made from a blend of linen and cotton fibers. The company has invested heavily over the years to hone its technology to meet the demands of the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, its biggest customer.
Crane holds the corner on a market that no other competitor has been able to break into, despite legal challenges; the company has now expanded to Sweden, where it produces paper money for governments around the world.
"There's a lot of technology in the bank notes that preclude other people from getting into the business, because of the know-how we have developed over the years," he said. "It's probably good for Crane to have more complexity to the (paper)."
A federal appeals court ruled this week that American paper money discriminates against the blind because it carries no distinguishing features among denominations.
As yet, the federal agency has not indicated whether it will appeal the court's ruling.
Other possible adaptations to paper currency could include tactile changes to the feel of the paper, with Braille or other raised markings.
The new $5 bills produced by the government include a giant number "5" printed in purple on one side, to aid people with visual impairments. But no adaptations have been made for people who are completely without sight.
The lawsuit was brought by the American Council for the Blind.
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Barack Obama greeted supporters during a Town Hall meeting at B'nai Torah Congregation in Boca Raton, Fla. He said "one of the most painful things" about the campaign has been the hints of a rift between the political interests of Jews and blacks. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/05/23/obama_reaches_out_to_deliver_assurance_to_jewish_voters/
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"Obama reaches out to deliver assurance to Jewish voters"
By Sasha Issenberg, (Boston) Globe Staff, May 23, 2008
BOCA RATON, Fla. - The man in the yarmulke who identified himself as "from Brooklyn to Boca" took several minutes to itemize some of Barack Obama's most controversial associations - the Michigan imam he met on a campaign trip, the Arab-studies professor with whom he has been friendly - before it became clear that he had less of a question than a demand. He wanted a list of the candidate's Jewish, pro-Israel acquaintances.
"Are there people who will vouch for me?" Obama said, trying to rephrase the most combative inquiry he encountered during a town hall meeting at B'nai Torah, a conservative synagogue in Boca Raton. "I have to be very cautious about this, because remember the old stereotype: Someone says, 'I'm not prejudiced because some of my best friends are Jewish.' "
Obama nonetheless started listing names, from a top fund-raiser to a longtime Illinois political mentor, but it quickly became evident that he had come to vouch for himself. Beneath a giant chandelier in a ballroom typically used for bar and bat mitzvah receptions, Obama attested to his "unshakeable commitment" to Israel's security and took issue with President Jimmy Carter's personal diplomacy, declaring "we should only sit down with Hamas if they renounce terror."
Above all, Obama offered a display of his personal familiarity with Jewish culture - recalling a summer-camp counselor who taught him about Zionism, and the role Jewish authors have played in his intellectual formation - as he declared "we will always have a special relationship," appearing for a moment to speak interchangeably about Israel and the American Jewish community.
Obama said "one of the most painful things" about the campaign has been the hints of a rift between the political interests of Jews and blacks, and he promised to be "one of the vehicles by which we can rebuild those bonds." He later compared reports of racist sentiment against him on the part of Jews to the anti-Semitism he has fought in the black community. "That sense of a common kinship of a people who have been uprooted, a people who have been on the outside - that strikes me as the very essence of what we should be fighting for," Obama said.
While Obama has met in small gatherings with Jewish leaders in Cleveland and Philadelphia, this was the first time he did so in a large-scale public forum. South Florida's Jewish population is among the nation's largest and most visible, and one with which he has rarely communicated directly, thanks to his decision to respect the Democratic National Committee's boycott of the state's January primary.
"The who's-who of Boca is here," marveled Nancy Gilbert, an Israel-tour operator whose husband, Mark, is a major Obama fund-raiser. "People in the Jewish community want to be assured that he is not a strong supporter of the state of Israel, but an unequivocal supporter of the state of Israel. Senator Obama's been saying that all along but he hasn't had the chance to have a public forum here."
Tickets to the event were distributed by local rabbis and Jewish groups. An organizer said the crowd of 1,400 included supporters of Hillary Clinton, John McCain, and Obama - the last group recognizable by buttons on their lapels featuring Obama's name spelled with Hebrew characters.
"I come from a dialectical tradition," said David Steinhardt, the congregation's rabbi. "I appreciate an open conversation, the ability to talk to people and disagree with them. There's a lot of rumor and innuendo that can be dispelled with an open conversation."
At one point, Obama responded point by point to fliers he said had been distributed outside the event, with talking points raised by the Republican Jewish Coalition, a national group that greeted Obama's visit with ads in local papers questioning his commitment to Israel.
"It's no surprise that he came to a shul in Florida to work the Jewish community - it's very clear they've got to try to do damage control," said Matt Brooks, the coalition's executive director, using the Yiddish word for synagogue.
Obama has suffered on multiple fronts with Jewish voters, who polls have suggested support him at lower levels than past Democratic nominees. His insistence on greater diplomacy with nations like Iran and Syria have led critics, including McCain and Clinton, to question his foreign-policy acumen, particularly in the Middle East.
At the same time, rumors have persisted about Obama - most prominently, that he is a Muslim and that he is allied with critics of Israel - on the Internet and by word-of-mouth here among retirement-community residents and synagogue-goers.
"The Jewish community here is made up largely of older people - not to suggest they're gullible, but maybe they don't delve into the fine points," said Michael Gora, a lawyer active in county politics who said he had been neutral in the primaries but will support Obama as the nominee.
Obama likened the rumors to money scams that also thrive online. "We don't believe that stuff when it comes over e-mail. Why do we believe that when it comes to me?" Obama said to laughs.
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"Memorial Park ceremony"
Updated: 11/11/2002 04:45 PM
By: Capital News 9 web staff
All those who served and those who gave their lives during war time were remembered Monday at Memorial Park in Pittsfield.
The ceremony was preceded by a parade led by members of local VFW Post 448, Mayor Sara Hathaway, State Senator Andrea Nuciforo and the Pittsfield City Council.
Although the cloudy sky may have suggested otherwise, the rain held off and the spring like temperature brought out a sizeable crowd who gathered at Memorial Park to honor all those who served and those in uniform today.
Tony Pastore, a Pittsfield veteran said, "Yes, I am a veteran. And I submit to you that anyone who is wearing the uniform of the United States Military today is also a veteran."
Veteran of the year 2001, Ted Henderrick, was also honored at the ceremony.
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Pittsfield parade
In memory of those who served and those who gave their lives in war time.
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"Parade, event schedules posted"
City: [Berkshire County, Massachusetts]
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Memorial Day will be observed Monday, and local cities and towns have announced events to mark the day. Memorial Day is set aside to commemorate U.S. men and women who died in military service for their country and was first observed on May 30, 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.
Events are Monday, unless otherwise noted.
Ashley Falls: The parade will begin at 8 a.m. at the village green, proceeding to the cemetery on Clayton Road for the ceremony. At the conclusion of the ceremony, the parade will return to Trinity United Methodist Church on Route 7A for refreshments. Participants include veterans, Sheffield Fire Department, Selectmen, Sheffield Whinnies, local Scout troops, 4-H, clergy from Trinity Church and Greenwoods Community Church, and other groups.
Two antique fire engines will be featured. All members of the military, past and present, are encouraged to participate; uniforms are not required. Youngsters are encouraged to decorate their bikes to ride in the parade. In the event of rain, the parade will be canceled and the ceremony will be held at Trinity Church.
Dalton: The parade, assembling at the Dalton United Methodist Church at 9 a.m., marches down Main Street and culminates in a program at the cemetery dedicated to all military personnel serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.
Main speaker is Francis MacDonald, vice commander of the Massachusetts American Legion. With color guard and firing squad from the Dalton American Legion, with music by the Wahconah Regional High School Band, and with participation from a number of officials and community groups. In the event of rain, ceremonies to be held at Nessacus Middle School on Fox Road at 10 a.m.
Hancock: The town's Memorial Day Parade, potluck picnic and celebration of Hancock Central School's 50th anniversary will be Sunday.
The parade steps off at 11 a.m. A ceremony will follow at the cemetery located on Route 43 next to the Town Hall. Following the ceremony, there will be a potluck picnic at 12:30 p.m. at the Hancock Central School and a big celebration of the school building's 50th anniversary.
Bring a dish to share and your lawn chair. Hamburgers, hotdogs and lemonade will be provided. Outdoor games, picture displays and a short program are planned. State Rep. Denis Guyer will speak; members of the original school building committee will share some memories.
Hinsdale: The town will dedicate the new Main Street bridge the "Hinsdale Veterans Memorial Bridge" in Memorial Day ceremonies. The parade steps off from Maple Street Cemetery at 11:45 a.m. and proceeds to the bridge for the ceremony at noon. Residents are invited to bring a lawn chair and join in honoring veterans.
Lanesborough: Memorial Day will be observed Sunday, May 25, with a parade, a ceremony at Center Cemetery, and a picnic at Town Hall. A brief service will be held on Old State Road across from Berkshire Union Chapel at 1 p.m.
The parade, which will assemble at 1:30 p.m. at Olde Forge Tavern, will begin at 2 p.m., proceeding from the tavern to the cemetery. Amitio V. DiCarlo will be parade marshal.
Department Vice Commander Francis MacDonald of Worcester will speak at the ceremony. George Himmell, commander of American Legion Post 446, will be master of ceremonies. Participants include the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Vietnam Veterans of America, Disabled American Veterans, Italian-American Veterans, the Mount Greylock Regional High School band, North Adams Auxiliary Police, Lanesborough Firefighters, and Boy and Girl Scouts. For the picnic, residents are asked to bring salads, desserts or casseroles to the Town Hall before the parade.
Cold meats and beverages will be provided.
Lee: The parade, forming from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. on Center Street, steps off at 10 a.m. down Main Street to the Fairmont Cemetery, where a program will honor veterans who died in service to the country. The parade's grand marshal is retired Sgt. First Class William R. Basinait, a decorated soldier and member of the Lee VFW 893, which coordinates the ceremonies. In the event of rain, ceremonies to be held at Henry Zukowski Performing Arts Center at Lee High School at 10 a.m.
Lenox: The Memorial Day parade starts at noon from The Church on the Hill and ends at St. Ann's Cemetery. A town picnic will be held at the Lenox Central Fire station immediately following the parade. Veterans wishing to be in the parade should contact Sean Ward, (413) 445-5288.
North Adams: The city's parade begins at 9:30 a.m. at the American Legion Post 125, travels north on American Legion Drive, heads east on Main Street and goes north on Eagle Street to the Veteran's Memorial at the corner of Eagle and Center Streets. Parade participants should gather at the Legion between 8:30 and 9 a.m.; all veterans are welcome to participate in the parade; no group affiliation is necessary.
The Veteran's Memorial program's keynote speaker is state Senator Benjamin B. Downing and James Army, national executive committeeman for the American Legion, and other dignitaries. The program also includes music by
The Drury High School Band, songs, a pledge to the flag, the recitation of the Gettysburg Address, and a firing squad. If it rains, ceremonies will be at the American Legion Hall. Later in the day, veterans are invited to attend an open house at the Greylock Community Club, 548 State Road, beginning at 4 p.m.
Monterey: The annual Memorial Day Ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. at Veterans Memorial Park on the corner of Blue Hill Road and Route 23. Veterans of present or past wars are encouraged to come and attend or participate.
Monterey veterans will raise the flag, play the trumpet and salute with three volleys. Monterey residents will speak at this events. The parade will start in the center of town at 1 p.m. The welcome will be given by Dean Amidon, and the invocation will be given by the Rev. Elizabeth Goodman. Selectmen Wayne Burkhart, Scott Jenssen and Jon Sylbert will place a wreath.
Pittsfield: The Memorial Day parade begins at City Hall at 10 a.m. and proceeds to Pittsfield Cemetery. At the cemetery, the guest speaker is retired Col. Daniel P. Swift, wing commander, Barnes Air National Guard Base, who flew missions in Bosnia, Kosovo and Desert Storm, among others.
Mayor James M. Ruberto will proclaim the week "Military Here at Home" week in Pittsfield. The line of march will include Vietnam Veterans Chapter #65, Barnes Air National Guard Honor Guard, Pittsfield Police Honor Guard, Pittsfield High Marching Band, Taconic High Marching Band, Mary Verdi, Band Boy Scout Troop #20, Cub Scouts, Jim Curry's antique Jeep, Here at Home committee members and Soldiers, and an F15 fighter jet fly-over.
The Pittsfield Veteran's Service Office invites and encourages returning soldiers to march and honor our fallen service members who gave their lives to protect our country.
Richmond: The parade and ceremonies will begin at 8 a.m. at the firehouse.
The parade will proceed from the firehouse north on State Road to Richmond Consolidated School for the ceremony. Marchers include Gov. Deval L. Patrick, the Board of Selectmen and Town Administrator Bruce Garlow, the Volunteer Fire Department, Girl Scouts, Council on Aging, Richmond Consolidated School and other groups. The Richmond School Band under the direction of Joy Mullen and Beth Smith's third grade class will offer special presentations.
Rabbi Ivan Caine will deliver the invocation and Selectmen Chairman Roger W. Manzolini will preside. In the event of rain, all activities will take place in the school.
Williamstown: The parade will assemble at the Richard A. Ruether American Legion Post #152 at 9:30 a.m. The parade will begin at 10 a.m. from Weston Field on Latham Street, proceeding to Field Park. After the ceremony, marchers will reform and return to the American Legion Post.
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"Pittsfield to host Senate energy hearing"
By Scott Stafford, Berkshire Eagle Staff
Monday, May 26, 2008
In Berkshire County, where three paper mills have closed and a water bottling company has balked on plans for a new facility all because of the high cost of power, small and medium-size businesses are reeling.
Local economic development officials are seeing the hills that they must climb to attract new businesses — and retain existing ones — grow ever steeper as Western Massachusetts Electric Company (WMECO) continues to increase its commercial rates for power.
This is the setting that U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry chose for a field hearing of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, during which local business leaders will testify on the cost of energy and the effect it is having on their ability to make a profit and maintain employment levels.
The hearing, titled "The Rising Costs of Energy: Challenges and Opportunities for Small Businesses," will convene Wednesday at 10 a.m. at Berkshire Community College in the Susan B. Anthony Building's cafeteria, 1350 West St., Pittsfield.
"The Berkshires is facing a very tough challenge, as it has for a number of years," Kerry said during a phone interview from his office in Boston. "It's a concern, and the more we can build a record that shows what's happening in different parts of the country with regard to small business, we build a record for legislating and to find what remedies there might be."
Other field hearings held
Kerry said the committee has conducted field hearings in New Orleans, Maine and other locales, depending on the topic. Pittsfield was chosen for this one because the steep rise in the cost of energy has resulted in some acute problems for local businesses.
"This is a huge issue now, and it's growing in its importance because it has such a bottom line impact immediately," Kerry said. "All of a sudden, the products you're delivering cost you more money to produce. It's a real pressure on the economic structure."
He noted that, among all the factors involved in the rising cost of energy, the rapidly increasing worldwide demand may be the most important.
"One of the things we want to do is get committed to clean energies, clean technologies," he said.
He said Congress already has been trying to move the nation to renewable energy sources.
Kerry cited a bill that was passed by the Senate Finance Committee last year that included "major incentives for alternatives and renewables — it would have encouraged people to buy hybrid cars and retrofit their homes, but we got beaten back by the oil industry."
Six witnesses scheduled
There are six witnesses scheduled to testify to the committee so far: state Attorney General Martha Coakley; North Adams Mayor John Barrett III; state Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Ian A. Bowles; Jef Sharp, president and CEO of SunEthanol Inc. in Hadley; Michael Supranowicz, president and CEO of the Berkshire Chamber of Commerce; and David J. Manning, executive vice president of U.S. External Affairs for National Grid.
"I'm going to basically tell them how it has an impact on our economy," Barrett said. "I don't care what anyone says, I think this is a direct result of futures trading in (oil) commodities contracts, and it's been allowed to go on unchecked. And I think there is gouging going on. It's a direct result of greed, and it's been allowed by the federal government."
Barrett said he is very concerned about local residents and businesses and what they'll do to heat their homes next winter.
"The free enterprise system is great, but when it's jeopardizing the country, something has to be done about it," he said. "It is a national crisis, and it will take severe action to make it right."
Supranowicz said that, in New England, the playing field is tilted more and more to other regions of the country because of the cost of energy for small and medium-size businesses.
"From a chamber standpoint, we want to talk about the fact that the electricity costs are way too high in Massachusetts and in the Northeast in general," he said. "It certainly puts our small businesses at a disadvantage. One main reason is competition — it's getting harder and harder to pass these costs on to the customers of these businesses, so they're forced to absorb more, and it's having a real bad impact on their bottom line."
Recent ruling
A recent ruling issued by Coakley's office noted that WMECO poorly communicated a price increase of 55 percent for electricity used by local businesses in early 2007 — a cost increase that had catastrophic impacts on the local paper industry and on others — and noted that the company has requested another 30 percent midyear increase for local businesses.
Supranowicz said the chamber is encouraging all of its members to attend Wednesday's hearing. And although no verbal comments from the audience will be accepted, members of the business community are welcome to submit comments for the record in writing to the committee.
"We encourage them to do so," Kerry said.
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To reach Scott Stafford: sstafford@berkshireeagle.com, (413) 664-4995.
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"Ogonowski falls short on signature deadline"
By Frank Phillips, (Boston) Globe Staff, May 28, 2008
When the deadline for certification passed yesterday, Jim Ogonowski, the Republican leadership's choice to challenge US Senator John F. Kerry, was 82 signatures short of qualifying for the GOP primary ballot, according to the state's central voter registry.
But Ogonowski's campaign aides contend there are enough certified signatures at various town offices around the state not filed yet on the computerized registry to put him across the 10,000 threshold.
Local election clerks were legally required to finish their certifications yesterday. The majority of those clerks have shipped their results to the secretary of state's office via computer, but some may still be submitting the certifications by hand.
Each campaign has until Tuesday, June 3, to deliver final signature papers to the secretary of state's office.
"We are confident that we have the required amount of signatures," said Alicia Preston, Ogonowski's press secretary.
Even if Ogonowski does get the 82 signatures he needs, his fight probably is not over.
Election specialists say he will not have the needed cushion of extra signatures to insulate himself from legal challenges.
Ogonowski's only primary opponent, Jeff Beatty, is expected to challenge the validity of his signatures before the ballot law commission.
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Sen. John F. Kerry, left, and Attorney General Martha Coakley lead a public hearing yesterday at Berkshire Community College on the impact of energy coast on the Berkshires and New England. Kerry will propose a Justice Department fraud task force to investigate energy market manipulation. (Photos by Ben Garver / Berkshire Eagle Staff).
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"Kerry leads assault on energy prices"
By Ellen G. Lahr, Berkshire Eagle Staff
Thursday, May 29, 2008
PITTSFIELD — Sen. John F. Kerry, at a public hearing that underscored the unique impact of energy costs on New England and the Berkshires, yesterday announced he will propose a Justice Department fraud task force to investigate energy market manipulation and corruption.
"With Americans questioning the fairness of record-high oil and gas prices, and the Bush administration's failure to act, we have no choice but to fill the void ourselves," Kerry told an audience of business and political leaders at Berkshire Community College.
Tales of climbing oil and electric costs and the challenges of "efficiency" carried the discussion at yesterday's hearing. Still, Kerry urged that achieving efficiency is the first, and most accessible, weapon in the fight against the unpredictable energy market.
"Congress has received testimony from energy market experts and major oil company executives that the price of oil and gas can no longer be explained or predicted by normal market dynamics or their historic understanding of supply and demand forces," he said.
Kerry, who was joined yesterday by Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, said an Exxon Mobil executive recently told Congress that the price of crude oil should be about $50 to $55 per barrel based on the supply and demand indicators he had observed.
"They're trying to figure out the degree to which speculation distorts the marketplace," Kerry said.
He said it's time for the federal government to step in aggressively, but that Republicans have opposed measures that would interfere with oil company profits.
"If the Enron energy crisis taught us anything, it is that consumers are best protected when energy markets are subject to aggressive oversight and enforcement," Kerry said. "And unless there is a cop on the beat vigilantly policing energy markets ... sophisticated companies can fleece consumer pocketbooks without fear of penalty."
Kerry, chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, took testimony from a lineup of invited witnesses.
Gas prices in the Berkshires have topped $4 per gallon, on par with other regions, but electricity costs are second only to those in Hawaii and are 37 percent above the national average, said Pittsfield Mayor James M. Ruberto.
He told Kerry of a Canadian water bottling company that had invested millions in an old KB Toy warehouse on West Housatonic Street but scrapped its plans after electric rate hikes last year.
The Democratic senator heard from a business owner, alternative energy entrepreneur, chamber of commerce leader, utility company executive and an undersecretary for the state's top energy and environment agency.
Mayor John Barrett III of North Adams told of the bizarre discrepancies in gasoline prices in his city and around the county, and his constituents' anxiety over home heating oil costs looming for next winter.
"People are scared, and they want leadership now, more than ever," said Barrett, noting that heating oil sold for $4.15 per gallon last week, "and what will it be next December?"
He said North Adams residents want to know why the federal government is allowing such unprecedented price hikes to happen.
Barrett noted that presidents Truman, Kennedy and Roosevelt stepped in aggressively to avert their own eras' crises in the railroad, steel industry and banks, respectively.
"All showed leadership in a time of crisis," he said.
Colleen Taylor Reinhard, owner of Taylor's Fine Dining and the Freight Yard Pub in North Adams, said her gas and utility costs have risen 27 percent in the past year and credit card fees are up 14 percent, as customers charge more meals. She said her net income is down 23 percent.
"There is not an area on our profit-and-loss statement that's not affected by this crisis," she said. "I have 50 employees and may have to lay people off. I may have to close one of my restaurants."
Small-business owners often don't have the capital to install more efficient equipment and systems, said Berkshire Chamber of Commerce President Michael Supranowicz. Kerry said the Small Business Administration has low-interest loans for such investments.
Kerry pressed the witnesses on how the government can help, and each asked for leadership. Then he offered a grain of optimism, reminding listeners of the millions being spent by private industry on alternative energy development.
"And I have no doubt there will be a very different energy policy coming out of Washington next January," he said.
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State Electricity Price Rankings:
www.eia.doe.gov/neic/rankings/stateelectricityprice.htm
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"Kerry angling for Cabinet job?"
The Associated Press, Thursday, May 29, 2008
NANTUCKET (AP) — The airplane came to a stop, the door opened and out popped Tony Blair. At the bottom of the stairs to greet the former British prime minister on Saturday was Sen. John F. Kerry, looking every part the diplomat.
Four years after a failed presidential bid and amid a race for a fifth Senate term this fall, Kerry's moves have prompted some questions:
Is the Massachusetts Democrat positioning himself to be secretary of state in a potential Barack Obama administration?
Could a Kerry appointment create not one but two Senate openings in Massachusetts, assuming Sen. Edward M. Kennedy cannot complete his term after being diagnosed last week with brain cancer?
Kerry aides insist he's not angling for the job and point to his long involvement in foreign affairs. It started with his famous testimony as a 27-year-old veteran questioning the Vietnam War before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. It continues today, at age 64, as the No. 3 Democrat on the same panel.
But envisioning him in the post would hardly be a stretch given Obama's chances at securing the Democratic nomination, a general election shaping up as a "change" campaign and Kerry's relationship with the Illinois senator.
Kerry would likely face competition from Sen. Joseph R. Biden of Delaware, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee; Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, a former Peace Corps volunteer who also sits on the panel, and former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota, a top Obama adviser.
"John Kerry would love to end his career as secretary of state. It would be a capstone to a life that has always been devoted to public service, but in particular has been focused on foreign affairs," said Jeffrey Berry, a political science professor at Tufts University.
Kerry aides recoiled at the question, fearful it would renew criticism the senator has his eyes anywhere but on his homestate constituents. An Obama spokesman kept a respectful distance from questions about a potential Cabinet appointment.
"Senator Obama appreciates his close friendship with Senator Kerry, his service to this country and his early support for our campaign. It is obviously far too early to even speculate about the makeup of an Obama administration — as we are still in a nomination fight — but with his depth of expertise, especially on issues of foreign policy, Senator Kerry would be on the short list for anyone's Cabinet," said spokesman Bill Burton.
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"Energy prices and politics"
The Berkshire Eagle - Editorial
Friday, May 30, 2008
A Canadian company that abandoned plans to establish itself in Pittsfield. Restaurants whose declining profit margins may result in job losses. Alternative energy projects stopped in their tracks. These are the results of high energy costs and the destructive energy politics that go hand in hand with those high costs. They are crippling the nation — and the Berkshires, with its fragile economy, is being hit particularly hard.
Senator John Kerry, in his role as chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, came to the right place Wednesday when he hosted a hearing at Berkshire Community College on the impact of high energy costs on small businesses and the small communities they are an important part of economically. Those skyrocketing prices set off a chain of dominoes comprised of everything that fuel costs affect, from food prices to the decisions of CEOs about where they will establish their businesses. Wednesday's hearing made crystal clear the extent of the impact those fuel prices have had on this region.
Tight supplies of crude oil and the weakening dollar play a big role in the rise of gasoline to more than $4 a gallon, but as Senator Kerry observed, the "historic understanding of supply and demand forces" has been knocked awry by this year's unprecedented price hikes. This was obvious to anyone who noted that the $4 a gallon mark for gasoline was reached on Memorial Day weekend, when millions of Americans set off on their first holiday weekend of the summer season. The office of Attorney General Martha Coakley, who attended the hearing, is investigating price gouging by dealers in the state and county, and should crack down hard on the guilty parties.
On a larger scale, oil speculators are playing a part in rising fuel prices, though how large a part is unknown. The senator proposed a Justice Department fraud task force to investigate energy market manipulation and corruption, but we question whether this Justice Department, infested as it is with right-wing political ideologues, would have its heart in such a task. Eight years of Bush White House anti-regulatory policies have had a devastating impact, from Wall Street corruption, to the profiteering of U.S. businesses in Iraq, to energy market manipulation, and the damage will be with us long after the president has mercifully gone back to his ranch in Texas.
Cynical energy politics are holding up congressional extension of renewable energy tax incentives, to the detriment of companies like EOS Ventures, a Berkshire-based business that was part of an 18-megawatt wind farm project in the Midwest that fell apart because of the uncertainty of those tax credits. The Investment Tax Credit and the Production Tax Credit are set to expire December 31, and though the House has voted to extend them, Republican opposition in the Senate has stalled their passage.
Why oppose such a good program? Because the Democratic leadership, seeking to avoid adding to the Bush administration's record budget deficit, wants to pay for them by reducing subsidies to the oil industry. Why continue subsidies for an oil industry stinking of record profits? Because so many congressmen are bought and paid for by the oil industry. The fate of this and so many other good programs may be determined by whether or not Democrats can maintain and extend their slim majority in the Senate.
The Patrick administration and state Legislature are far more environmentally responsible than is Washington, though more must be done to reform a Byzantine regulatory process that "environmentalists" are exploiting to its fullest to hamstring the wind turbine project in North Berkshire. There are limits to what Boston can do, however, and while there are limits to what Washington can achieve, there are virtually no limits to what Washington can prevent, either through action or non-action. This we know, right here in the Berkshires.
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The Boston Globe, Quotes of Notes, May 31, 2008
"Some people think that each time an investigation is launched, it has to lead to a resignation. But I don't share that opinion."-- Prime Minister EHUD OLMERT of Israel, after Defense Minister Ehud Barak and others demanded his resignation during a probe of alleged bribe-taking
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"Berlin wax museum set to include Hitler statue: Curator is urged to rethink decision"
By Patrick McGroarty, Associated Press, June 3, 2008
BERLIN - The city's mayor has expressed concern at Madame Tussauds' plans to include Adolf Hitler among prominent Germans immortalized in wax at its new museum.
Klaus Wowereit has written a letter to the wax museum's curators urging them to consider carefully whether to include the Nazi dictator and, if they still do, to be careful how they present him, mayoral spokesman Guenter Kolodziej said yesterday.
"In the mayor's view, he should not be shown as a cult figure," Kolodziej said.
Madame Tussauds Berlin museum is scheduled to open July 9. It will be located on the Unter den Linden boulevard, close to the German capital's landmark Brandenburg Gate.
Spokeswoman Katrin Srumsdorf said the museum planned to send Wowereit an official response today.
She stressed that curators recognize the issue needs to be treated with sensitivity.
Unlike in London, where a Hitler statue stands along with major world leaders, the wax figure in Berlin will be hunched over a desk in a dimly lit bunker, she said.
"He will appear as an old, broken man, as he might have looked in the days just before he committed suicide," Srumsdorf said.
The Hitler statue will be displayed behind glass, which means visitors will not be able to have their pictures taken with it. The exhibit will be constantly monitored by video cameras.
Madame Tussauds Berlin will feature many prominent Germans, including Chancellor Angela Merkel, former chancellor Helmut Kohl, and scientist Albert Einstein.
The display also will feature Winston Churchill, Britain's prime minister during World War II.
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"Kerry is here to save the day"
The Berkshire Eagle - Letters
Thursday, June 05, 2008
I hope everyone feels better now that Sen. Kerry was in town. He's going to introduce legislation to investigate Big Oil's price gouging. You could see how angry he was.
He doesn't introduce much legislation, so he really must mean it this time. And Congress' record of demanding that Big Oil come up to the Capitol Hill and provide answers, shows how much those efforts have improved our lives.
So sit tight. Everything is going to be better real quick. Sen. Kerry and the rest of Congress are on the case.
BRUCE BARLOW
Pittsfield, Massachusetts
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"Kerry’s not royalty"
By Jim Lawrence, Thursday, June 5, 2008, www.bostonherald.com, Letters to the Editor
Someone needs to remind Sen. John Kerry that he is an elected official (“Kerry aims to thwart rival,” June 3). He does not have a divine right to the office he holds and cannot arbitrarily decide who runs against him. Anyone over the age of 30 with the time and money qualifies as a candidate for Senate, whether he is a lawyer and firefighter like Ed O’Reilly or the average person on the street.
I also find offensive the condescending comment by former party chairman Chester Atkins that O’Reilly is a “nuisance candidate.”
The article further stated that Kerry has run unopposed in primaries since 1984. I would never vote for a candidate who runs unopposed.
Sorry to ruin your summer John, but it’s time to put away the windsail and get to work campaigning.
Jim Lawrence
Boston, Massachusetts
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Article URL: www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/letters/view.bg?articleid=1098613
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"John Kerry aims to thwart challenger"
By Dave Wedge, June 3, 2008, www.bostonherald.com, General Politics
U.S. Sen. John Kerry - wary of a potential political embarrassment - has been calling in favors to top Bay State Democrats in a bid to block a Gloucester lawyer from getting on the ballot to challenge him, the Herald has learned.
Several high-ranking Democrats said the senator has reached out in recent days seeking support and asking for help in preventing attorney Ed O’Reilly from getting the convention votes he needs to force a September primary race against Kerry.
O’Reilly, a former firefighter, needs 15 percent support from the Democratic State Committee at the party’s convention Saturday in Lowell to get on the ballot. He did not return calls yesterday.
Kerry campaign spokesman Roger Lau said: “The senator has been in Massachusetts politics for a long time and he believes what Tip O’Neill said, that all politics is local. You have to ask everyone. You can’t take (support) for granted.”
Insiders say Kerry has drawn the ire of some party officials for backing Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton in the presidential primary race and that some may use Saturday’s convention to exact political payback.
Clinton backers recently showed their clout in intra-party elections, ousting longtime state delegate Margaret Xiafaras, reportedly because she backed Obama.
“In a (presidential) primary race as close as this one has been, it would not surprise me to see people take sides and for there to be hard feelings,” said state Sen. Jack Hart. “I know the Kerry campaign is calling around to all the delegates, which they haven’t done in the past, asking for their support.”
If O’Reilly gets on the ballot, he would be Kerry’s first primary opponent since 1984.
“They want to put him on the ballot,” said one longtime party operative. “They figure it ruins Kerry’s summer by making him have to campaign in the state.”
But state Auditor Joseph DeNucci, a Clinton backer, said Kerry deserves the party’s full support.
“I’m with him,” DeNucci said. “He’s an incumbent. He’s been a good senator. It wouldn’t look too good for the Democratic party to come out against one of its own.”
Former state Democratic Party chairman Chester Atkins added: “John is an important senator, an important partner to Ted Kennedy and an important national voice. To have John distracted by someone who is just a nuisance candidate would be unfortunate.”
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Article URL: www.bostonherald.com/news/national/politics/general/view.bg?articleid=1098214
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"Beatty poses real challenge to Kerry"
The Berkshire Eagle - Letters
Monday, June 09, 2008
The Massachusetts U.S. Senate race, pitting incumbent Democrat John Kerry against Republican rival Jeff Beatty will be the race to watch nation-wide this election season. Massachusetts will truly be in the spotlight this November.
Now that the Republican candidate has been determined, the voters of Massachusetts will have the opportunity to compare the resumes of two contrasting individuals to determine in which direction our commonwealth will head over the next six years in the U.S. Senate. I ask all voters to carefully compare these two men.
Other than his having served in Vietnam and having run unsuccessfully for president, little is known about our junior senator. I know his philosophy is mainstream Democrat, but I have yet to find a meaningful piece of legislation that he has authored and gotten through Congress . The voters of Massachusetts have been significantly under-represented by Mr. Kerry. This being election time, however, I notice he has found his way back to the state recently (and not just to kite-surf). Perhaps he needs to reestablish his residency?
Mr. Beatty brings a passion for public service to this race that is refreshing and inspiring to watch. I find it appealing that he achieved his required 10,000 (and then some) certified nomination signatures without the help or blessing of the Massachusetts Republican Party establishment. It is no secret that the party, as an organization in Massachusetts, has broken down and is in desperate need of introspection to determine if the GOP has a future in this commonwealth, going forward.
Grassroots campaigns take on a life of their own. Mr. Beatty is running such a campaign and poses a real threat to Mr. Kerry's seat in November.
As the two candidates square off, I hope that all voters will seize the opportunity to become active listeners to the messages of these two men. Which one offers real hope for our future, not just as a commonwealth, but also as part of this great collective called the United States? This race will be the bellwether for our nation. In my humble opinion, in this Senate race, as goes Massachusetts, so goes the country.
PATRICIA R. DAVIS
Lanesborough, Massachusetts
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Jeff Beatty
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www.jeffbeatty.com
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Howie Carr
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Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., left, speaks as Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., listens Friday during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington to discuss the environment and climate change.
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"Thanks to rival, Sen. John Kerry set for summer among commoners"
By Howie Carr, Wednesday, June 11, 2008, www.bostonherald.com, Columnists
This is John Forbes Kerry’s worst nightmare: He’s going to have to spend the summer campaigning . . . on the mainland.
Fall River, Chicopee, Haverhill, Lynn, Fitchburg - not a single one of those sweaty cities has any windsurfing worth a damn, not to mention a Ducati motorcycle dealer, damn, but Liveshot is going to spend the next three months pressing the flesh in those wretched burgs, searching in vain for a proper nouvelle cuisine brassiere while enduring the foul breath of the plebeians . . .
Stand by, Sen. Kerry, for an endless schedule of kielbasa festivals, parades, motorcycle rallies, town concerts, fireworks displays, questionnaires from special-interest groups and maybe even, gulp, a televised debate or two. Kerry’s already had to endure a Celtics [team stats] playoff game. Instead of the Inn at Wauwinet, this summer Kerry will be dining at Coney Island Hot Dog in Worcester. Next thing you know, some beer-guzzling peasant in a No. 12 Patriots [team stats] jersey is going to be asking him about . . . baseball.
Lovey, does “Manny Ortiz” still play for the Red Sox [team stats]?
And Liveshot knows who is responsible for this living hell that he now must endure all the way to the primary Sept. 16. It is Ed O’Reilly. The Gloucester lawyer will be on the ballot against him in the Democratic primary.
Ed O’Reilly. How dare this Hibernian parvenu dare to run against John F. Kerry, America’s Gigolo? How dare 22.8 percent of the delegates to the state convention vote for this, this . . . arriviste?
That phrase in the first paragraph, “on the mainland,” that comes from O’Reilly. He used it when I was talking to him the other night. He’s got Kerry’s number all right. He’s a bit of a moonbat, I suppose, but when you get somebody who’s running against Liveshot who’s willing to play the class card, I can overlook a lot.
He knows how to push the buttons that will drive Kerry crazy, which is what is going to wreck Liveshot’s summer. There won’t be much time for Kerry on the Let It Be, just because O’Reilly wouldn’t let it be. Why, O’Reilly is even ready to talk about Naushon Island, the personal preserve of the Forbes family.
“He always says he was raised on the Cape,” O’Reilly says. “Yeah, he was raised on this island, which if you or I take a little skiff across the water and try to land on that island, people are going to come out onto the beach and tell us we’re trespassing.”
O’Reilly says, about five weeks ago, he was leaving a Democratic meeting at the Hudson Portuguese Club when he ran into his opponent arriving. Here is his recollection of the conversation:
O’Reilly: “I guess we’ll be seeing a lot of each other.”
Kerry: “Not for long, I hope.”
Sorry, Liveshot, you lose!
“The bottom line is, he’s arrogant,” O’Reilly says. “The rules don’t apply to him. He announces, there’s a thousand-dollar minimum to attend, if you want to go to the private reception it’s $2,300. Do you know how many people I talk to who say the only place they’ve ever seen him is at the airport? . . . He flies down to Bali to give a speech on global warming - how many gallons of fuel do you think that used, just so he could say he delivered a speech?”
I’m sure O’Reilly is nowhere in the polls right now, but this is a perfect opportunity for mischief - this could become a Massachusetts version of Operation Chaos, the meddling of local Republicans in a Democratic primary, the way Rush Limbaugh tried to keep Hillary Clinton alive through April and May.
“John Kerry,” O’Reilly continued, “will go whichever way the wind blows for his own political advantage.”
I propose a series of 10 pre-primary debates, the first one to be held on, where else, Naushon Island.
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Article URL: www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1100010
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The Boston Globe, Op-Ed, JOAN VENNOCHI
"Kerry's O'Reilly factor"
By Joan Vennochi, June 12, 2008
FOR THE FIRST time in 24 years, Senator John Kerry faces a Democratic primary challenge. For that, he blames Hillary Clinton.
Some of Clinton's Massachusetts supporters are still displeased about Kerry's decision to back Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential campaign. To send him a message, some helped Gloucester lawyer Ed O'Reilly get 22.5 percent of the delegate vote at last Saturday's Democratic Party convention, either by voting present or voting outright for Kerry's opponent.
"I ran Senator Clinton's campaign in Massachusetts," said Roger Lau, who is now Kerry's reelection campaign manager. "I know how much intensity and passion motivated her enormous base of supporters. It's no secret that the passion didn't dissipate . . . Plenty of delegates who have been our friends a long time said openly that Senator Kerry had to answer for his endorsement, and they felt liberated to send a message because Kerry was going to win renomination so handily."
Lau said that O'Reilly wouldn't have made the ballot "were it not for John Kerry's early endorsement" of Obama. O'Reilly said support from unhappy Clinton supporters "was not a huge factor, but it had some bearing."
O'Reilly, who needed 15 percent to secure a spot on the primary ballot, might have grabbed an even higher percentage of the 2,574 ballots cast. But Kerry helped neutralize the threat by meeting with a small group of Clinton supporters the night before the state convention. The group included Deborah Goldberg, an activist and unsuccessful former candidate for lieutenant governor, Boston City Council president Maureen Feeney, and state Representatives Kay Khan and Liz Malia.
The Bay State's junior senator declined one of their requests, to publicly call upon Obama to consider Clinton as his running mate. But, according to one person at the meeting, Kerry told them, "I wouldn't want to be the one to tell Barack Obama what to do. But he must absolutely consider her (Clinton)."
Kerry complied with another request, that he praise Clinton and address the sexism issue. "As historic as this campaign has been, sadly it has also reminded us that sexism and racism are not yet defeated in America, " he said in his convention speech.
Kerry was not alone in backing Obama over Clinton. Senator Edward M. Kennedy and Governor Deval Patrick also endorsed the Illinois senator.
But anger at Kennedy dissolved after he was recently diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. And Patrick's endorsement of Obama is more easily accepted within the context of their longstanding political and personal relationship.
O'Reilly's challenge is more of a political embarrassment than a genuine threat. Still, the ability of a former firefighter and city councilor to earn a spot on the ballot against an incumbent US senator points to dissatisfaction beyond disaffected Clinton backers.
A Kerry campaign official said that "definitely the Hillary Clinton factor" accounts for some of O'Reilly's showing. But, the official, who did not want to be named, acknowledged that "some people, frankly, are not happy with John Kerry."
O'Reilly said that Clinton backers weren't upset simply because Kerry endorsed another candidate, but because "he made the endorsement for his own political ambition. That's where the anger comes from." For that reason, O'Reilly believes he is tapping into a deeper frustration.
Some O'Reilly supporters object to Kerry's vote to authorize the US invasion of Iraq, which they also view as overtly political, when he was positioning himself for his own failed White House run. Some O'Reilly supporters are also critical of Kerry's support for civil unions instead of gay marriage. But above all, said O'Reilly, "people want change."
It's unlikely Massachusetts Democrats will oust a senator who has not had a primary opponent since 1984. But O'Reilly's success speaks to Kerry's somewhat awkward place in Massachusetts politics. Like all politicians, he has a cadre of loyalists who believe in him. But whether it's because he always operated in Kennedy's shadow and by comparison lacks a common touch and core set of principles, he is not beloved and often criticized.
And now, by backing Obama over Clinton, Kerry faces an opponent. That's not the kind of change he wants voters to believe in.
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Joan Vennochi can be reached at vennochi@globe.com.
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"State, nation well-served by Kerry"
The Berkshire Eagle - Letters
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Over the last few days news outlets have opined whether U.S. Senator John F. Kerry is up to the task in the event he becomes the senior senator from Massachusetts. The speculation about Senator Kerry's capacity to serve is unwarranted and, in a way, unfair.
Senator Edward Kennedy is an American original and it is unlikely we will see another Ted Kennedy in our lifetime. While his illness is quite serious, he is a man of unusual fortitude whose will to serve cannot be underestimated. We hope and pray that Ted Kennedy will be our senior senator for some time to come.
John Kerry brings to the Senate his own set of skills, expertise and interests, which have complemented Ted Kennedy's service. Together, these men have served Massachusetts and the country diligently. Over the past couple of years, both of our senators have taken part in important campus and county events.
Senator Kerry has joined us for a Berkshire Compact meeting and just a few weeks ago he served as the MCLA commencement speaker where he called upon the graduates to play a leadership role in shaping the future of our Country. Within a few days of graduation, he was back in the Berkshires to engage with local businesses and community members to find ways to address the enormous challenges we face with rising energy costs and consumption.
During these visits we have worked closely with both Senate staffs as well. Both Kennedy and Kerry have surrounded themselves with a diverse blend of knowledgeable, insightful, hard-working policy people. The staffs of both senators know the Hill, and they know Massachusetts. We are fortunate to have them all working on our behalf.
MARY K. GRANT
North Adams, Massachusetts
The writer is president of the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.
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"Complete confidence in Kerry"
The Berkshire Eagle - Letters
Monday, June 16, 2008
Recently there have been numerous articles regarding the health concerns of Senator Edward Kennedy and the future implications they might have on his senatorial career. Each and every one of us, regardless of our political leanings, needs to keep Kennedy in our thoughts and prayers. Throughout life we will all face challenges that will require encouragement, love and assistance from family members and friends to overcome our frailties. Now is Kennedy's time.
Unfortunately, the political pundits, whose job it is to speculate on situations involving government servants, have already begun to spin their wheels. Questions have surfaced as to whether or not the Massachusetts delegation will be able to sustain the clout that Kennedy brings to the table. In the crosshairs of this give-and-take discussion is the commonwealth's junior senator, John Kerry.
The conventional wisdom is that Kerry will need to ratchet up his game in order to fill the void should Kennedy be forced to step down due to his illness. I hope that this scenario does not transpire!
I feel completely confident in Kerry's ability to craft bills and maneuver through the myriad of idiosyncrasies related to Senate business. During his many years in the Senate, he has become recognized by many as an able and persuasive debater. He is known for writing and sponsoring bills on behalf of working families throughout our country.
I believe Kerry has many qualities which are overlooked. He is a leader, a dedicated family man and he possesses a keen memory which allows him to better understand situations as they arise. However, the one quality which Kerry has that sets him apart from others is his uncanny ability to parse an issue and come to a conclusion between what is right and what is wrong while seeing the impending repercussions from his decision.
Kerry has the utmost admiration for his friend and colleague, Kennedy. They consult often with one another, work well together and most importantly, have become good friends. Presently there is just one thing on Kerry's mind, and that is his deeply felt desire to see Kennedy back in his senate office in Washington D.C.
JOSEPH NOWAK
Adams, Massachusetts
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"Underrated educational success story"
The Berkshire Eagle - Letters
Thursday, June 19, 2008
A challenging pseudo-charter school already exists for Berkshire County — Berkshire Community College. High school students have been availing themselves of college courses there for years.
These courses transfer back for high school graduation credit; but the best part is that parents chip away at long-term college costs. One student did his junior and senior high school years at BCC, graduated from high school and BCC within a month of each other and went into his third year at UMass the following fall.
However, it is no secret that the spectrum of community college students includes those who weren't planning to go to college when they selected their high school programs, so they do college preparatory workat the community college to get to the college level. Community colleges accept the challenge to make everyone a proud and competent college graduate. They have great success accommodating recent high school grads, as well as, less the exception but the rule, the non-traditional students.
Community colleges arean underrated educational success story on many levels. It is analogous to the Taconic and Pittsfield high school models, in particular, where vocational programs benefit amidst the heavy concentration of academic ones.
Let us not fool ourselves, a charter school at an independent facility has huge physical costs. When the student chooses, the per student allotments are shifted from the high school to the charter school. Typically it costs less than $4,000, including books, to be a full-time community college student. In Berkshire County, the home of an "early college"" experiment already, let's get creative with the environment we have been blessed with.
Are there some small creative steps we could take to cause a big benefit? Politics aside, what would be best for our students and community?
ANDREW MILLER
Pittsfield, Massachusetts
The writer is a professor of Mathematics and Engineering at BCC.
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"$3M could help fund Berkshire Mall road repairs"
By Ellen G. Lahr, Berkshire Eagle Staff
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
LANESBOROUGH — The teeth-rattling, shock-busting, brain-jarring Berkshire Mall Drive may soon be a small step closer to long-awaited repair.
The $1.5 billion transportation bond bill passed last week by the House of Representatives included $3 million for the reconstruction of the two-mile road leading from Route 7 to the county's magnet shopping mall, according to the office of state Rep. Denis E. Guyer, D-Dalton.
The transportation bond bill is subject to layers of scrutiny before it reaches the Senate for consideration.
The $3 million, although a hefty sum, is far short of the construction price tag that has mushroomed from about $5 million in 2006 to about $8.6 million now, said Nathaniel Karns, executive director of the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission.
He said the remaining project costs — which still could rise with further delay and rising construction expenses — must be shaken from several sources, including the other state sources, federal funds and Berkshire Mall as well, Karns said.
He said he feels strongly that the mall should contribute to the project because about half the road's traffic is bound for, or from, the mall.
"I don't know if the others involved in this discussion have taken that sort of stance," Karns said.
Mall manager Joseph Scelsi could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Ronald Tinkham, chairman of the Baker Hill Road District — the taxing entity that was created to manage the road after its construction in 1989, said design work for the project is almost finished.
The work has been a collaboration involving MassHighway, which ultimately would put the project out to bid.
"This is an extremely important project for the economic sustainability of the Berkshires," Guyer said. "It will benefit Berkshire Mall and other businesses throughout the county."
Berkshire Mall Road is one of the few east-west roads that, in theory, was built to handle truck traffic traveling between the county's main north-south roads, Routes 7 and 8.
Although the road offers one of the finest westerly views around, it also offers a treacherous pothole and bumpy navigation experience. It has been a steady source of trouble since shortly after its construction in 1989.
Reconstruction efforts were complicated when a Stoneham engineering firm defaulted on its design contract for the work a few years ago. Another engineering firm has since almost completed the work, Tinkham said.
Berkshire Mall has assumed part of the design costs for the road reconstruction project and has paid for patch-up maintenance each year. But the big money must come from public funds, Tinkham said.
"That road is pretty beat up, and we're working diligently with the state to get all the work done so they can go out to bid," he said.
He said there already are plans in place for a detour, in cooperation with the town of Lanesborough, for the six-month period estimated for construction.
Karns had no predictions as to when the balance of funding would come together for the project, or even if the $3 million would make it through the fine-toothed comb of the state's finance reviews.
"The bond bill is just one step in getting access to that money," Karns said. "It's