Angelides looks past voter fraud toward Sept. 6 primaryDate: 9/4/2012 By Chris Maza
chrism@thereminder.com
GREATER SPRINGFIELD — While a voter registration fraud investigation has left a cloud over the race for state representative for the Second Hampden District, candidate Marie Angelides said she wishes to focus on the serious issues facing residents of Longmeadow, East Longmeadow, Hampden and Monson.
The Longmeadow selectman sat down with Reminder Publications to discuss her candidacy in the Sept. 6 Republican primary between herself and former East Longmeadow Selectman Jack Villamaino, stating that while the investigation has dominated the headlines, "real concerns" face the district and a new voice is needed.
First and foremost, Angelides said, the state representative should be active not only on Beacon Hill, but within the communities of the district.
"The position of state representative is not just to be there for votes on Beacon Hill, but also to help bring solution to towns in the community," she said. "If I become state representative, I will be attending board meetings in all of the towns to really find out what is happening on the ground and what they need from Beacon Hill and let them know what other towns are doing."
Angelides said that jobs remain the biggest issue facing voters and a big reason for the struggles of the constituents is that Massachusetts has not been a business-friendly state.
"I do not believe Massachusetts is very business friendly. A couple of years ago, we were ranked sixth and now we have dropped down to 28th according to CNBC's rankings for top business-friendly states," she said.
Angelides said that a major cause for concern for her is the perception from medium and small business owners she has spoken with that they are not valued in Massachusetts.
"Some of the problems that the state bureaucracy has had for years still exists," she said, explaining that she has been told at several chamber of commerce breakfasts that employers feel they are at a disadvantage in unemployment compensation battles and that continuous changes to paperwork mandates make it difficult to conduct business. "With our attorney general becoming more and more aggressive in actually investigating people who do not follow state mandates and requirements, there is a feeling that the burdens are increasing year by year," she said.
Angelides also said she believed there needs to be more clarity regarding healthcare expenses in order to make employers comfortable enough to begin hiring again.
"Employers want to know how the Obama Affordable Care Act dovetails with what we have now and now [Massachusetts] has just put on a 349-page piece of legislation that got passed in July in 16 hours. No one knows how that will be implemented," she said. "The biggest concerns businesspeople have is they don't know what their costs are going to be and what the burdens are going to be when they hire someone, so there's a hesitancy to hire."
Angelides also recognized unfunded pensions and Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB) were a serious problem facing not only small towns such as the ones in the Second Hampden District, but larger municipalities as well.
"We have to alleviate this issue. This is the undertow that is going to start drowning our small towns and our cities, too," she said, detailing the devastation caused by municipal bankruptcies in Rhode Island that left many workers with less approximately 1/3 of their expected pensions. "That is something we cannot allow in Massachusetts. I know we have a different pension structure here, but we are also facing the escalating retiree health insurance costs and I think we are obligated to stay in front of that and the majority of that has to be done on Beacon Hill."
Angelides said that she believes the district, with the state representative acting as an intermediary, should work toward regionalizing emergency preparedness systems in order to continue to serve residents in times of crisis.
"When I first became a Select Board member, even before the June 1 [2011] tornado, I said the first thing is for a government to protect the citizens and the residents," she said. "I think we saw over the past two years that [emergency management] plans have to be flexible because there are so many ways to face an emergency.
"When it comes to the tornado in Monson, I think East Longmeadow, Longmeadow and Hampden should have had stronger communications with [Monson]. When it came to the October [2011] snowstorm, we should have been able to work together with our resources," she continued.
Angelides added that her recent participation in regional Department of Homeland Security meetings, she learned of several resources available that are not currently utilized that she would encourage towns to take advantage of.
She also said she would encourage regionalization of other services between towns in the district.
"We are all facing the fact that we're small towns that like big town services and in order to make those budgets work without extreme and burdensome taxes, we're going to have to start reaching out and helping each other," Angelides said.
Having a seat at the table for discussions regarding a casino in Western Massachusetts is extremely important to the Second Hampden District, she asserted.
"I think it does directly affect the whole district immediately," Angelides said. "I don't think we have a say in where it is going to be placed, but what we do have a say in is how the towns are going to be able to cope and what resources we are going to be given."
A Springfield casino, she said, could be advantageous.
"We are all tied to Springfield. Springfield is a very important part of our community and it would be a big boost for the fiscal health of Springfield," she said, adding that a South End casino would boost the rejuvenation efforts in a section of the city that was struck by the June 1, 2011 tornado.
She also stated her belief that a casino would put additional strain on local police departments and would increase traffic concerns, especially in Longmeadow.
Transportation planning state-wide, Angelides said, also needs to be re-assessed.
"Millions is being spent on the main rails and setting up the backbone for the system, but if you don't have the feeder systems set up to go into these, it really does nothing for our small towns," she said. "We used to have the feeder systems and until you really start to rebuild those into the main lines, I'm skeptical of pouring millions into the main arteries. We've seen big projects going forward, but I think we need to step back and start looking at the smaller projects."
Angelides also expressed disappointment in the recent EBT reforms in Massachusetts.
"One of the first reforms we need to do is have picture ID on EBT cards," she said. "The reason I say that is I have heard stories of men having multiple EBT cards, my though is that somewhere there is a woman who has had her EBT card taken away. I think to protect the vulnerable in our society, we need to make sure that that EBT card is theirs and no one can take it from them."
Reminder Publications also invited Villamaino to discuss the upcoming election, but received no response.
|
