Boldyga flies solo for 3rd Hampden District debate

Date: 10/17/2014

AGAWAM – Notably conspicuous was the absence of Samuel Di Santi, Democratic candidate for state representative of the 3rd Hampden District – Agawam, Southwick and Granville – from a debate with incumbent Nicholas Boldyga.

The West of the River Chamber of Commerce hosted the event on Oct. 9 at the Roberta G. Doering School at 7:30 p.m. Boldyga took the stage alone and fielded questions from moderator Robert MacDonald, member of the Chamber’s board of directors, as well as Laura Hutchinson of WWLP and Chris Pisano of WGGB. Prior to the debate, MacDonald informed the audience that Di Santi would not be present, but did not specify a reason.

Reminder Publications spoke with Di Santi on Oct. 14.

“Seems this is a hot topic that could have been remedied by the Chamber letting the audience know that I contacted them three days prior to the debate letting them know that I had a family emergency come up and had to decide [between] the debate or my family issue,” Di Santi said. “It’s obvious they had the reason and in good faith should have made it known prior to the debate. Unfortunately, the West of the River Chamber of Commerce is only looking to make me out to be a no show without a valid reason. This leads me to believe that they do not have the Democratic candidates best interests in mind and are one-sided.”

He continued, “I'm sure the audience was perplexed as to why I was not in attendance. My opponent took and was allowed to take his pound of flesh with the media. It’s politics as usual with Nick Boldyga taking a shot across the bow without knowing the facts. Attacking someone who cannot defend themselves is the easy way out.”

The Oct. 9 forum did not include the Lincoln-Douglas portion of the debate since it was not a feasible option without Di Santi. Instead, Boldyga fielded a continuous stream of questions and was allowed to answer within a time restriction of one and a half minute.

In his opening statement, Boldyga said, “I’ve always strived to be an accessible legislator.” He noted that this effort included giving out his home phone number so he can be reached on the weekend.

In response to the first question Boldyga stated that he supported the use of Narcan, a substance that counteracts the effects of an opioid overdose such as heroin, and said it is “imperative” that it be stocked in all police cruisers. He added that he favors the idea of providing rehabilitation services to those arrested for drug charges, rather than merely incarcerating them for their offensives. Boldyga said the goal is to help drug addicts get better.

The second question pertained to the upcoming vote to repeal the casino legislation. “Personally, I don’t gamble and I think the biggest reason I supported the legislation is because it gave the local option to cities and towns and those voters could decide it,” Boldyga said.

“As a legislator, I always respect the voters’ will,” he said, adding that he received many calls from constituents in support of passing the law.

Hutchinson questioned Boldyga about his opinion of Gov. Deval Patrick’s offer to house homeless immigrant children at the Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee and his overall feelings about the state’s immigration policies.

“I was the first to go on the news and actually say the governor should not house people here,” Boldyga said. He commented that there was a “huge discrepancy” with the actual age of those in need of shelter and that there was people in their teens, 20s and 30s as well as gang members that were part of that population. He also cited the fact that there was no way to know if any diseases would be brought into the state with the immigrants, a concern in the forefront of his mind given the current Ebola outbreak.

Boldyga also said that the Commonwealth should verify immigrant “status” of people applying for driver’s license to prevent residents from having to carry passports within their own country.

When asked his main priorities for he next fiscal year, Boldyga said, “I don’t know if I have one number one priority, but I have specifically filed legislation regarding Narcan, drug use [and] I’ve filed legislation specifically for welfare reform for people coming to the welfare system. We have a phenomenal opportunity to identify people with drug addiction issues and we’re not doing it.”

Boldyga, a former police officer, stated that his goal it to “get people healthy and back out into the workforce.”

Pisano asked Boldyga whether he supported the repeal of linking the gas tax, currently at 24 cents, to inflation rates.

“I absolutely do not think that the gas tax should be tied to inflation,” he responded. Boldyga noted that the state already has excess in income, yet the tollbooths have not been removed from the Massachusetts Turnpike. He said elected officials must take the “tough votes” to correct such issues.

He said, “The administration just re-implemented tolls from exits one to six. We have the money now, there was a surplus of $100 million in the state’s budget last year and none of it went to road and bridge repair. Right now in the governor’s administration one-third of the overall Chapter 90 money for much-needed road and bridge repairs, is being held up by his administration. I think that we all agree that potholes are a nuisance. It’s deplorable that the governor has not released $100 million for road and bridge repair.”

When asked what expenditures he considers excessive and in need of reduction, Boldyga said the $800,000 spent yearly on bottled water and the repeal of the Pacheco [business privatization] law, which would save “roughly $100 million a year because it will incentivize partnerships business and government.”

He added, “The other thing that I wouldn’t have done is spend $11 million on the governor’s office extreme makeover project. We probably could’ve scaled that back to something reasonable, but there’s money that could be cut everywhere in the budget. We should be doing are best to make sure the taxpayers dollars are being stretched the furthest.”