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Editor's Note: The letter from Marie Angelides, Republican candidate for State Representative in the Second Hampden District, which ran in the Oct. 18 edition of The Reminder, was in rebuttal to the letter from Democratic incumbent, Rep. Brian Ashe, which appears below.
The letter below did not run last week with the Angelides letter because our news department did not receive it by press time.
My Republican opponent for State Representative owes former State Representative Mary Rogeness an apology. Marie Angelides claims, in a recent campaign letter, that Mary's outstanding career as a state representative ended in 2006. She also states that she became dissatisfied with her representative from 2008 until now. Mary's career actually ended at the very beginning of 2009. In fact Mary Rogeness was a member of the House of Representatives when they passed a tax increase for the 2008-2009 fiscal year budget. Perhaps Ms. Angelides would prefer to have the voters believe that a Democrat was their state representative in 2007-2008, since that is when the worst recession in 70 years began. While Mary Rogeness is no more responsible for the great recession than I am, she, like most legislators, had to struggle with declining revenues, rising costs, and budget deficits.
I began my first term as State Representative in January, 2009, and I was part of what many consider to be one of the most productive legislative sessions in recent history. We were confronted with revenue shortfalls, budget deficits and the need for extensive cuts in spending. The 2009-2010 session, however, produced 514 new legislative initiatives. The legislators worked diligently to produce a wide range of bills designed to stimulate the economy and create jobs, improve schools and the lives of families, as well as initiating government reform and the massive reorganization of the State's transportation department, saving the Commonwealth $30 Million.
Bills like anti-bullying legislation, pension reform, small business assistance, municipal relief and more effective financial management controls are only a small sample of what has been achieved. The past two years have been both active and challenging, however much more remains to be accomplished, but we have set the course. Massachusetts is recovering from the recession faster than most states and its unemployment rate, while still unacceptable, is decreasing and lower than the national average.
I have heard from a number of voters in the district about their concern regarding Marie Angelides dismal voting record. According to a story in the The Reminder, Ms. Angelides has missed all of the last 28 town meetings, and voted in only one of 14 local elections since February 2000. In fact according to the Longmeadow town clerks office, Ms. Angelides had only voted in one local election in the past 25 years prior to 2010 and had never attended or voted at a single Town Meeting.According to records at the Secretary of State's office, Ms. Angelides has missed major elections since 1996 including the 2010 special election to fill the vacant U.S. Senate seat now held by Sen. Scott Brown. Her only reason for not voting is she: "was content with the way things were going in our towns, our state, and what our politicians were doing." Ms. Angelides had already admitted that she was not very familiar with the towns of Hampden and Monson. Were you content with politics in your town for the past 25 years?
I believe Marie Angelides owes the voters of the 2nd Hampden District a more credible explanation for not exercising her right to vote. They say that decisions are not made by the majority, they are made by the majority of those who vote. How can the voters of the 2nd Hampden District trust Ms. Angelides to vote for their concerns in Boston if she doesn't vote herself in Longmeadow?
Brian M. Ashe
State Representative
2nd Hampden District
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