Interview with Jeff Ross - Candidate for State Senate

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to talk with Jeff Ross, a Cambridge human rights attorney who is running in the Sept. 11th special election to replace former Senator Jarrett Barrios in the Middlesex, Suffolk and Essex state senate district. Ross is up against Cambridge City Councilor Anthony Galluccio, Chelsea City Councilor Paul Nowicki, and Cambridge attorney Tim Flaherty. I contacted all four candidates, but Ross is the only one so far who responded to my request for an interview.

Ross touted himself as an independent progressive voice for the legislature, one with fewer ties to the political establishment. He noted that environmental problems were among the most important that the district, and that bringing clean energy jobs and technology to the area would be a priority. To that end, he supports Governor Deval Patrick's plan to invest a billion dollars in high-tech and would consider tax incentives for companies looking to set up shop in Massachusetts. That said, he also favors closing corporate tax loopholes.

While Ross does not favor deregulation of the auto insurance industry in the Commonwealth, he would like to see more competition and more companies moving into Massachusetts. He also spoke of the need to fully fund our health care system, particularly our public hospitals, and the expansion of state immunization programs.

One of his more unique suggestions was the idea of setting up issue-based councils of advisors so that the various communities in the district could share information and collaborate on solutions to similar problems.

In addition, Ross noted his support for the Urban Ring and North/South Rail Link projects and favors raising the bond cap for infrastructure repairs. He notes that apathy among youth is a pervasive problem and would like to see more after-school community programs, a Boys and Girls Club in Everett, on demand treatment facilities for substance abuse, CORI reform and job training and development programs. While he told me that he supports merit pay for teachers, he is not in favor of lifting the cap on charter schools until the funding formula can be fixed.

If you're interested in supporting Jeff Ross' campaign, his website can be found at www.ross4senate.org and his campaign email is info@ross4senate.org.

Read the full interview inside
Q: Your website touts you as the progressive Democrat in the race. What makes you the progressive choice, as opposed to the other candidates?

I think being the progressive choice means that I bring a unique combination of real-life experience coupled with legislative writing, drafting, and advocacy. I'm not supported by any special interest groups. I don't owe any political favors, so I will be an independent voice for the will of the people in the legislature. I've also got years of pragmatic consensus-building experience, working on legislative issues and meeting with advocacy groups, and drafting and whatnot. I feel like a progressive democrat is somebody who has fewer ties to the political establishment and who's a consensus builder and who has a unique ability to look at social problems in the course of life and try to figure out how to solve them if it requires a legislative issue or to be involved in unlawful rule-making and to try to stop that, like the Registry of Motor Vehicles in the previous governor's administration.

For me, and for the people I've spoken to in the community, a progressive is somebody whose politics looks forward, who's young, fresh, new, and who tries to realize solutions. And to keep these solutions moving forward, and try to build consensus. So that for me puts the progress in progressive. Also, advocacy on behalf of those who are most at risk for injustice.

Q: You said that you wanted to seek out solutions. What are the most important problems in this district that require solutions?

Well, I think that we're looking at serious environmental problems in the world today and in this district, and I think the solution would be real clean energy solutions like the wind project, which is a real clean energy solution. Once that's built there's little maintenance, no pollution, and long-term effects.

Q: Do you support Cape Wind?

I support Cape Wind, and I think that it's a real clean energy solution, unlike some other alternative energy solutions that may use solar energy, may have short term panel or chemicals in them have, in the long term, it's uncertain how other forms of energy will affect the environment, and I think that Cape Wind is a real clean energy solution, and I like it, and I think that the question is where.

Q: Do you see any opportunities for wind or solar energy in your district?

I do, because off the coast of Charlestown there is. Massachusetts is one of only two states that have an alternative wind project, and it's a wind turbine that will be developed off the shore of Charlestown, and that's right in the district. So I'm excited that we'll have the opportunity to do that, to develop it, and I think that Massachusetts can be a leader in product services and technology worldwide, and something like that will bring interest and investment into Massachusetts, and the technology sector has a great tax base for growing the economy, so I support the governor's interest in investing a billion dollars in technology.

I think that partnerships with technology companies are not something that requires legislative rulemaking, but requires outreach to companies and incentives for companies to come to Massachusetts. I think we're on the verge of an era in politics where we have the opportunity for the government to reflect our shared values and I think that developing technology is around the corner in terms of the future.

Q: What would you do to encourage technology companies to come to Massachusetts in general and in particular, to locate in your district?

If possible, I think that tax incentives can be provided, and I think that building relationships with companies that might be considering moving here. Part of it is tax incentives, which is a state issue. Part of it is reaching out and building relationships with companies and bringing them to Massachusetts and introducing them to people in the community and talking about our intellectual capital base and facilitating those relationships to deepen interest in development in Massachusetts.

Q: Do you have experience doing that sort of thing?

I've spent years reaching out to different communities and trying to build relationships in communities. I worked at the US Embassy, at the training program in 1994 which was developing relationships between US companies and French distributors so that we could help the United States businesses export technology to Europe -- trade shows and making introductions and advocating on behalf of US companies. I've also written articles on export licensing controls to help keep United States businesses from exporting technology by hiring foreign national workers and keep jobs in the United States, and educate the companies about the HR requirements and licensing controls that exist, and as they're amended, so it's something I've been interested in for a long period of time. Also, I think that I could be quite useful in that area in the district.

Q: You mentioned tax incentives, and the governor has proposed closing corporate loopholes. But he's also proposed lowering corporate tax rates in exchange for that, so it would be revenue-neutral. What do you think about that?

I think we need incentives for companies to come to Massachusetts and to create jobs. I think that some of the exemptions, like the telephone company exemption, are arcane, outdated, and the quality of service we're getting in Massachusetts from broadband providers is very low compared to the cost to the state and cost to end users. I think we need to close those loopholes. Now, in terms of getting companies to come to the state and create jobs and help grow our economy, we need to have incentives for those companies to come here.

Q: One group of companies that has wanted to come here for a long time is out-of-state auto insurance companies. Now the issue of auto insurance reform is being revisited. Do you have any thoughts about those reforms?

I think that more companies would provide more competition, in terms of the rates.

Q: So you would be in favor of letting companies set their rates with fewer restrictions than we currently have?

No, because that would mean an increase in rates. I think we could let more companies come in and sell more affordable insurance and compete for services in the community. I think people in the community are feeling overwhelmed with the cost of insurance and rising prices, so I think bringing in more competition in that area. I don't think that we need to lift price restrictions because I think that will let companies charge more and buy each other out. When we're looking at insurance reform we need to be mindful of the end user and people in our communities that are struggling with the cost of insurance.

Q: Of course, the big cost of insurance that people are concerned about is not auto insurance, but health insurance.

We need to fully fund our health care system.

Q: Do you think our state's new health care law is working?

I think it's a good place to start. It needs additional analysis, additional legislation. I think that one of the problems with the way the health care system is set up now is that we have one remaining public health care system in Massachusetts and that's Cambridge Health Alliance. It's in financial jeopardy -- the state owes it $150M and the MassHealth pool is not fully funded, so I support fully funding it.

I think the state has made strides in raising the requirement of poverty up to 300% of the poverty level, because it includes additional families. A family of 4 needs to make $60K a year to participate in the MassHealth program, which I think is good because it will cover more people, but it needs to be funded so that the public hospitals don't bear the burden of absorbing those costs. That puts the whole system in jeopardy and I would be in favor of protecting the system and creating access to health care and preventative care so that people don't end up in the emergency room. I think that we should have immunization programs from children and seniors more readily available.

Part of the problem with the way the law is written now is that companies are penalized $295 for not providing health care to their employees, and $295 sounds like an incentive because the cost of providing health care for employees when you have more than 11 would presumably be higher than $295. It's written so that companies who opt out pay a penalty, and I think that large companies should pay into a pool so that companies that are right on the cusp of being required to cover their employees and are struggling have a pool to draw from so they don't end up closing and so the state doesn't lose jobs.

Q: Does that conflict with what we were talking about earlier -- trying to provide incentives for companies to come here, if we're increasing their costs?

No, that's going to be a cost, but in the larger balance of equity maybe people would locate here and get set up and get access to state resources to set up their business here, so I'm not sure they should get exemptions for health care. They could get exemptions for setup, other tax exemptions. We have to balance out our interest in creating jobs and providing incentives for companies to come here with workers' rights. That would be a question I would focus on as a state senator.

I don't have all the answers. There are going to be new issues that come up all the time. I feel that it's important for a state senator to be able to get communities involved and create dialogue around the issues, and that's a skill that I provide, bringing consensus and building relationships so that people can work together to find solutions. To me, progressive is a nice liberal label, but to me it means getting to the end result.

Q: It seems like a difficult job getting communities together in this district particularly because it's so spread out -- going from Brighton all the way up to Saugus. In fact, I found out the district is in the Massachusetts Common Cause's Gerrymander Hall of Shame because of its shape. Would you support legislation to move redistricting out of the hands of the legislature?

A: I would support the appointment of a council for redistricting. I would also, if elected, create a council of advisors across the district on health care, education, technology, art, human rights...

Q: What would those advisors do?

They would meet and talk about what's going on in their district. There are seven cities and they can learn from each other. Saugus is struggling with their budget, and they have a diverse body of new residents and Everett has taken great time and effort to count and keep accurate records of the new residents that are moving in and what the language needs are, and what special needs are. Because of that, Everett got $4M back this year for some of their education programs, for some of their ESL and special needs work that they need to do. If Saugus reached out to its community that it could benefit in a similar way.

Creating a council of people who share their experiences about what's going in other areas of the district could be enlightening and beneficial for residents and help build a sense of community in a district that's ethnically and economically diverse. I'm very excited about the prospect of working with the challenges that such a spread-out district presents.

Chelsea needs to be brought into transportation planning in a way that's equitable and would help create an infrastructure. I support the Urban Ring project, I think it should be underground and should be done right the first time, it should go to all of the communities and serve them all equally, and that will help develop the economies of all the communities.

Q: You also support the North-South Station rail link. In light of the Big Dig and all the problems we've had with the large public works projects, do you think there's an appetite for more of that in Massachusetts?

I think that the federal government and the state and local governments are struggling right now because the federal money is being drained off the states so I don't think it's a realistic project in the short term. I think it would be optimal, and public works projects create jobs, they create tax revenue, they create economy, they keep people working, they keep people in their homes, so I'm not opposed to public works projects.

We got a lot of federal money that would not have come to Massachusetts, for the Big Dig, that we otherwise wouldn't have gotten. I certainly think that public works projects could be better managed than the Big Dig was. A public works project doesn't have to be poorly run and poorly managed. There was a time in this country when public works projects got us out of the Depression and created some of our greatest assets, the Hoover Dam, etc., so I don't think that public works projects are necessarily the big evil. I think [apathy] and lack of interest in our youth are the big evil out there.

Q: Do you support lifting the state bond cap to pay for infrastructure repairs?

Absolutely. We have an urgent need to repair our roads and bridges, and I think that building infrastructure helps to grow the economy and improve the transportation system. The Tobin Bridge is falling down and residents are worried about crossing the Longfellow. We desperately need to look for revenue to keep our infrastructure. We need to continue to invest in maintaining the infrastructure and not wait until projects are desperately in need of repair because the cost is greatly increased by prolonging investment.

The previous governor's administration talked ad nauseum about maintaining our bridges and our roads, and we're still in the same position that we were, four years later. We need somebody in there who is not divisive, who's going to continue to build relationships and work to build consensus to move things forward.

Q: Earlier you said the great evil was apathy among youth. What can be done about that?

Well, in Everett, they need a Boys and Girls Club, and a place for kids to go recreate with supervision. We need on demand treatment facilities for substance abuse. We need CORI reform and job training and development programs, so that youth are occupied during the summer. In Chelsea, Central Latino recently got $200M slashed from its budget, line-itemed by the governor's office. Those are funds that keep kids involved in community projects, give them something to do, and build a sense of community responsibility and belonging to a community like Chelsea that has a huge problem with gang violence. Slashing those funds -- in summer, we're going to have more kids on the street with working and struggling parents and less to do. We need to have workforce training and development programs, we need to have youth centers and keep kids involved.

Q: What would you like to see the schools themselves do, if anything?

I'd like to see longer school days and stipend incentives for teachers -- merit pay -- to stay after school and get kids involved in science and technology. There's a great program statewide, the Massachusetts Science and Engineering Fair, that's a great opportunity for kids from communities to get involved in something that will help them go to college.

Q: Do you also support raising the cap on charter schools?

I think until we can find funding charter schools without draining public school resources, we should have a moratorium on expanding the charter school system. I've met parents who are very happy who have children in both. Some children don't function well in the public school environment, so I think the charter schools we have are a good alternative, but I don't think that we should be draining resources off our public education system. I'm product of the public education system, my children are in the public school system, and I think that we need to continue to invest in our future and invest in our children.

Q: Lastly, what's your stance on Marshmallow Fluff?

We did a study on my campaign team, with the fluffernutters, and we took a poll, and we all agree that we like fluffernutters and that we value the jobs that the Fluff company creates in the district. Everyone agreed that we should also look at school lunches and make sure that school lunches provide our children with the nutrients they need to succeed.

Q: How can people get involved in your campaign?

They can email us at info@ross4senate.org, or visit our website at www.ross4senate.org.

Interview with Susan Passoni - Candidate for Boston City Council

On Monday evening, I got the chance to talk with Susan Passoni, a resident of Boston's South End who is running for Boston City Council Seat formerly occupied by the late Jimmy Kelly. Since then, Passoni has been endorsed by the Boston Globe. The election will be this Tuesday, May 15th where she will face South Boston resident Bill Linehan.

Passoni told me that she's running for the City Council because she's frustrated by the high cost of living in Boston, the continued rise in crime and the need for continued improvement in the public schools. She noted that she would like to see more police officers on the street, and a return to community policing. She'd also like to see more predictable funding for programs that target at-risk youth.

We chatted at length particularly on various ways the City of Boston could relieve some of the pressure off the property tax. Passoni noted that Boston currently collects 57% of all its revenue from real estate taxes, and 42% of that is borne by residents. She suggested that Boston raise the cap on high-value commercial property and ask large non-profits, particularly universities, to pay their fair share for the services they take advantage of. She was not ready support a potential meals tax in Boston, though she agreed that cities and towns should have the ability to levy these taxes. She noted that her experience in finance makes her particularly suited to make sure Boston is making the most out of the money it collects.

One of her more intriguing ideas was to work with local universities in trying to bolster underperforming schools. In addition, I asked her about the proposed BU Biolab in the South End; she said that she is "not a fan."

If you're interested in supporting Susan Passoni's campaign, you can call her campaign office, which is 617-262-6626, visit her website susanpassoni.com or drop by 59 Dartmouth St in the South End and they'll put you to work.

Read the full interview inside
Q: I'll start with the obvious question: Why are you running for Boston City Council?

It's pretty simple. I ran for this same seat in 2005 and the reason I chose to run then was because I was frustrated by the fact that many of the people that were living in the city of Boston – families, working middle class – were leaving the city because of the high cost of living here in terms of housing, whether they were renters or owners, and the continued rise in crime and the need for continued improvement in our public schools.

I'm running again because, if anything those issues have only worsened. When I ran in 2005 the city of Boston was in the top ten most expensive cities to live in, now it's in the top five. I don't need to tell you what's happened with our murder rate. So, I think we need different solutions, different approaches, better ways to understand the problems and that is something I would like to bring to the table in terms of my background.

Q: Well, let's talk about some of your ideas for some of those solutions. What do you think the city can do to lower the murder rate?

I think first and foremost one of the things we have is our unsolved murder rate is one of the worst in the country. Whether it's bringing in better technology, more police on the street, we need to resolve some of those unsolved murders because many times they're repeat offenders. So that would be one thing. We definitely need to ensure that monies that were committed by the Mayor -- when Commissioner Davis came on board he promised them additional funding -- make sure again that money was spent wisely, bring back more community policing, programs that are targeting our most at-risk youth, a lot of those programs have been cut drastically. We're seeing the consequences of that and so I think we need to focus on bringing back some more funding to these programs so they can have a more positive impact. Also, hiring more police.

So those are some of the things I would ensure that not only the money was spent wisely and effectively, but that it was continually budgeted year after year so that we saw improvement. Just because you throw whatever the number is, five or twenty or thirty million incremental dollars into our public safety budget doesn't necessarily mean that that's going to be the fix-all. So, we need to make sure that the methods we're deploying in terms of trying to bring murder rates down, aggravated assault rates down, that we continue to build on that, and I think that's really key.

Q: Now, in terms of funding, I read a Brian McGrory Column last week where Councilor Sam Yoon introduced the idea of a half-percent sales tax in Boston that would be earmarked specifically for public safety. Is that something you'd be interested in supporting?

It's definitely a step in the right direction, but it's not enough. I don't have the article in front of me, but if I'm not mistaken they were talking about generating maybe $30 million a year in doing so? That's not an insignificant amount of money, but how is that going to be divided? It's one thing to say you're going to give it to public safety, but does that mean it's going to go directly to police? Is it going to go some to fire? Is it going to go to programs I was talking about like some of these youth programs that are very instrumental in bringing down a lot of the youth violence that we've seen in recent years? So, I don't know how it's going to get allocated, that's going to be one thing.

I think we need to look at a bigger picture solution in terms of generating incremental in order to make a huge difference because we're talking about $30 million on a $2 billion budget. I think you need to be looking in the hundreds of millions, especially when you think about all the other areas in the city that we're seeing challenges in. Again, the real estate tax problem we have here.

Q: I think that something that's on the minds of not just everybody in Boston, but also everybody in Massachusetts, is the heavy reliance on that real estate tax. What do you think the city in particular can to take the pressure off of that?

I think there are a variety of things you can do. First and foremost, right now if you look at the city of Boston, it gets about 57% of its revenue from real estate taxes. However, where the real bite comes from, the shift is being borne more and more by the residents. In the past five years the percentage of real estate taxes for residential property has gone from 30% to 42%. In five years. That's a big swing.

I think if you were to talk to residents throughout the district or throughout the city I know in the conversations I've had it is the same thing over and over: "I've had this house in my family for three generations, my kids can't afford to live in this town. It kills me that I can't see them that often, but what's killing me even more is that I'm on a fixed income and I'd love to be able to pass this home onto them, but I'm not sure I can do that." Or, "I bought my apartment in the 1970s in the South End and I thought it was great, but now I'm paying a third of what I paid for the apartment in real estate taxes. I can't afford that anymore." A lot of these people are the fabric of the community. They're really important to embrace and try to make that pressure less intense, because it really has intensified in the last several years.

So one of the things I would look at is if residential rates are going up, that means commercial's going down. The way it's structured in the city of Boston is there's a cap on how high commercial taxes can go. I'm not talking about small businesses, I'm talking about the large, multi-story office towers that we have in the downtown area, etc. These buildings are getting taxed on assessed values that are pretty much 50% of what they would be assessed at whereas residents' taxes are based on roughly 90% of their assessed value. So I think we need to have a better balance there. That's number one.

Number two is that over half our land is occupied by tax-exempt organizations. Collectively, these organizations contribute 1% of revenues. Now, granted it's completely arbitrary payment, it's not required, but the problem with that is that we need to get more in return for the services we provide to these organizations. I recognize that a lot of these institutions are fledgling; they're barely surviving. But for those that are more financially sound --

Q: Some of the larger universities, I don't think anybody's going to argue that they're going out of business any time soon.

Or that they're going to move. Especially if they continue to expand as well. I think if you were to walk around the city of Boston 20 years ago, and left and came back and saw how much these universities have expanded, I think it would be shocking to anyone just in terms of the sheer density that they have commanded in terms of their property.

So I would argue that if these institutions are going to sit on half our land and collectively are only contributing 1% of our revenue, that we need to get more in return for the services we're providing, whether it's emergency medical, fire, police, snow removal, in some cases trash removal. I would be a proponent of pushing that, and having worked in the corporate world and private sector for 20 years, I'm very accustomed to negotiating and dealing with CEOs and COOs and people of that level. That's effectively what it would be like negotiating with the university. That's something that I would really like to work on, to see if we can have a better balance, to get something in return for the land that they're sitting on.

If they can't, if an institution isn't willing to step up to the plate, maybe they could do something in kind. We have a lot of schools in the City of Boston that are not doing well, and if they can take some of these schools under their wing or maybe bring in programs that have been cut, like arts, music, physical education, mentoring programs, special education. As I'm sure you know, a lot of these colleges and universities have fabulous education departments and they have students who would love to practice in an environment. I think it would be a mutually beneficial relationship that we can build, and I would love to see that happen as well.

When you're looking at a university like Harvard University that's got a 30 billion dollar endowment, that's probably generating between $150M+ in interest, and they're contributing $1.5M to the City of Boston a year, I really struggle with that. Especially now that they sit on more land in Boston than they do in Cambridge.

The other issue is, BRA has a number of parcels of land in the city, thousands of acres, that's probably worth, I don't know, maybe $2 billion give or take. If we were to remove those tax waivers, that would probably bring in about $50M+.

Then we have a lot of tax breaks for developers. That's another significant nut. So when you talk about trying to diversify revenues and trying to generate incremental revenues to fund programs and add more funding to our public safety or our public works or whatever the division is, you can't just rely on one thing. You need to have a multifaceted approach to ensure that you have this continual stream, because you can't just rely on one thing, and that's something that I would really try to work hard on because of my finance background.

Q: One other potential source of revenue that I know the Mayor and Governor are pushing, is to allow cities and towns to raise their own meal and hotel taxes. Would you support that if the legislature would allow it?

I would definitely look at it. I don't want to do it to the detriment of our travel and tourism business, but at the same time the real key of that legislation to me is the home rule that exists in Massachusetts. It's effectively legislation that allows municipalities to self-govern. However, there is a complete oxymoron in that because the one thing they're not allowed to do as municipalities is really control their revenue. They're not allowed to underwrite a bond. They're not allowed to raise fees or taxes unless they go back to the state legislature.

To me, I don't know how you can be a self-governing institution, or organization, or municipality, or township, if you don't have the ability to do that. The analogy I always use is, say you have a 12-year old kid and you say, it's time for you to go out on your own and I'm really supportive of that, and they're completely dependent on you for money because they're too young too work, and then you're like, "See ya!" You can't do that. You really need, in order to be able to do the things to make a city thrive, more often than not it requires funding of one sort or another. That, to me, is the most important part of that legislation, breaking that financial stronghold that the Commonwealth has.

Q: You're on the board of the Excel Academy Charter School. Would you like to see more charter schools in Boston?

Personally, I would like to see improvement in our public school system. I really would. I am a huge advocate for education and to me, what's so important about it is that I know what a good education did for me, and the opportunities it provided. I think every child in the City of Boston should have those same opportunities. If you have a good education, it gives you choice. You may not want to go to college. You may not want to go to business school, or graduate school. But at least if you have a really good education, you can make decisions like that. You can say, I'd rather be a tradesman, or I'd rather be a fireman, or maybe I'll get an associates degree. But it gives you choice, and to me that's so powerful. To be able to put that in a child's hands, the sooner we get to them the better.

Like I was saying earlier with some of the universities, if they could step up and work with some of our most challenged schools, where a large percentage of kids are failing the MCAS and we could really turn that around. Again, not that I think the MCAS is the be-all and end-all of measurement, because it's not. Nevertheless, it is a guide. If we could give these kids the ability to pass an exam and give them encouragement and support and involve their parents, it gives them an incredibly powerful effect, I've seen it happen in Excel as an example, and it can be done. Just because these kids don't have the means, it doesn't mean they don't have the minds. I really think we need to focus on what it's going to take to get these schools, to get our kids to have the best education possible. To me that's a priority. And in some communities, unfortunately, you don't have schools.

So in the meantime, as we're working towards improving them, let's do give some parents choice, so their kids have a chance. But I don't think it's one or the other, and that's too often the argument. We have to do it concurrently. We have to work on improving our public schools, making sure they're the best they can be, giving teachers the flexibility and the curriculum so they can have an impact, and getting parental involvement, because that's such a critical part of it as well, and I think you can really see a change.

What I would advocate for is, let's look at best practices. Whether it's a public school, a pilot school, a parochial, a charter, whatever it is, why do these schools succeed? What have they done to ensure that these kids can move on to higher education? And let's apply them to our most challenged schools, to see. Not all of these solutions are going to work, because a lot of it could be cultural, but you know what, at least you're trying to take a different strategy and trying to take what's continuing to be a problem with our achievement gap. That, to me, is very important.

Q: Today was the first day of the Biotech Conference in Boston, and there were protests regarding the BU Level 4 Biolab. Do you have an opinion on the construction of that lab? That would be in your district, if I'm not mistaken.

It's in my neighborhood. It's probably half a mile away from where I live. I've never been a fan. The one thing I am totally, completely supportive of is bringing new businesses to our city. We need an economic revival, and that's how you're going to do it, by bringing business and industry to the city of Boston.

With the Biolevel 4, the concern I have is that first and foremost, it's in a very densely populated area, not to mention the fact that it's abutting a major access in and out of the city. If anything were to happen, and I'm not even talking conspiracy theory, let's just be pragmatic and say it could be 4:00 Friday afternoon in July, and everybody knows what 93 looks like, it is bumper to bumper and moves maybe at 5 or 10 miles an hour, and if you had a situation, let's say like a traffic helicopter could lose control and crash into the biolab, what's going to happen? How do these people get evacuated?

The other issue that I also think is critical is, do we have the right legislation in place for oversight? I know Representative Gloria Fox has underwritten some legislation. I think it's critical that that gets passed, because we don't have the legislation in place that would oversee a facility of that type, because we've never had one before.

In addition to that, my other concern is that our police and our fire and all our other public safety officials, are they well-equipped, well-educated, well-trained, for haz-mat removal, evacuation procedures, the proper uniforms and garments they have to wear to ensure their own safety. These are things that I still don't believe have been fully covered, and that's a concern. If you're going to put something in, these to me are very critical things to get done. What's an alternative evacuation route? If it happens and 93 is jammed, where do people go? Where do they get out, in the South End and lower Roxbury? How does that happen? I don't know, it just seems that we don't have enough options in terms of getting in and out of the city that are big enough, that are going to allow people to get out efficiently, quickly, and with no casualties. That's my concern. I hope that Representative Fox moves forward on her legislation and others will follow in her footsteps.

Q: How can people get involved in your campaign, even though there's not much time left?

We would love help, and they can either call our office, which is 617-262-6626, or they can visit our website, which is susanpassoni.com. There's a link there or they can email us at susan@susanpassoni.com. One of those three ways will either get you in touch with Reuben Kantor or Ed Marin, who works as our field director, and we would love to put you to work. We're at 59 Dartmouth Street in the South End between Warren Avenue and Appleton.

Interview with Dean Niki Tsongas

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to talk with Middlesex Community College Dean Niki Tsongas, widow of former Senator Paul Tsongas and candidate for Congressman Marty Meehan's (D-Lowell) seat in Massachusetts' Fifth District. She counts her work at Middlesex, along with her work on the Arena Commission in Lowell and on the board of Fallon Community Health Plan as giving her a wide and unique range of public sector experience. She notes that the war in Iraq is the most important issue right now to the district and that she favors a withdrawal date, but additionally wants to ensure that the returning troops are cared for adequately when they come home. On education, she supports fully funding both Head Start and No Child Left Behind and expanding the Pell Grant and Stafford Loan programs.

On health care, she favors a Massachusetts-style multi-payer system as the fastest way to get to universal coverage. She would address global climate change by instituting a "cap-and-trade" system to regulate carbon emissions, siting how well that worked in curbing acid rain. In addition, she favors increased funding for research and development of alternative energy. The immigration policy she'd like to see is similar to Senator Ted Kennedy's bill from last year that created an avenue to citizenship for undocumented workers already here, but also took steps to secure the borders, and would make it more difficult for employers to employ undocumented workers.

Dean Tsongas is the fifth candidate for MA-05 that I have spoken with. In March, I posted my interviews with Rep. Jamie Eldridge and David O'Brien (who has since withdrawn his candidacy), and in April I posted interviews with Rep. Barry Finegold and Lowell City Councilor Eileen Donoghue.

To get involved with Niki Tsongas' campaign, you can check out her website, NikiTsongas.com or stop by her campaign office at 26 Market Street in Lowell.

Update: Charley over at BMG posted a response to this interview there which has garnered some interesting comments.

Read excerpts from the full interview inside
Q: Of all the Democratic candidates still in the race, you're the only one with no experience as an elected official. Do you think that will be an impediment if you're elected to Congress?

I believe that my long-term involvement, while not as an elected official but definitely in elective politics as well as virtually everything I've done has been in the public sector, I think those two together give me a unique perspective on the issues of the day.

Q: Of that public sector experience, what was the most important to you and the most valuable to the public?

I don't know that I can isolate one thing. I definitely think my past 9 ½ years at Middlesex Community College, where I've seen up close how important higher education is in this economy that we have, as well as to the long-term ability of an individual to thrive in society. I think I've learned a lot just from being a part of the largest community college in Massachusetts.

That isn't the only thing I've been doing. I've been on the board of the Arena Commission, where we've overseen the construction of two projects that really have been key to the revitalization of an old industrial city. I think that serving on the board of a small health plan has given me an interesting perspective on some of the challenges around health care. In the many nonprofit activities that I've engaged in, it's no one thing in itself. It's really a constellation of work that I've done that I think gives me a different perspective on, as I've said, the issues of the day.

Q: Which issues do you think are top on the minds of the voters of the Fifth District?

It's no surprise that the war in Iraq and the treatment of our veterans are foremost in everybody's mind. I favor setting a date for withdrawal of our troops and seeking a political solution to stabilizing Iraq and the region, but additionally I think caring for our returning veterans is an absolute obligation. These principles really are at the core of my beliefs on Iraq.

You may not know, but I'm a product of the military in that my father was a career military officer. He survived the bombing of Pearl Harbor and went on to serve in the South Pacific, and then was out briefly and went back in, and finally retired as a colonel when I was going to college. As a result I traveled all over the world and went to high school in Japan. I really do feel that we have an obligation to take care of those who are willing to serve on our behalf, whatever we may feel about the war in and of itself.

Q: Just this week, the president vetoed the supplemental war funding budget. What would you hope to see happen at this point?

I applaud Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic Congress for putting this issue front and center with the President. The Congress has to continue to do that. It's clear that tying the supplemental appropriations to it, the timeline is not going to pass, so I think the Democratic leadership is looking at other ways to continue to bring that pressure to bear. While I am in favor of setting a timeline, a firm date for withdrawal, at this point I think John Murtha's proposal to provide the funding on a two-month cycle continues to bring that pressure and the discourse forward.

Q: To go back a little bit, you mentioned your work at Middlesex County Community College. What do you think that has taught you about what the federal government should do in terms of education policy?

I think the federal government has to be very strategic. First of all, we have to come to an agreement that educating our citizenry is key to the long-term competitiveness of this country. It also is important to having a population that is engaged in the civic discourse on the issues of the day. So, on two levels, it's fundamentally important.

Education is traditionally the responsibility of the states and local government, but I think federal government can be very strategic in the use of its funds. I am in favor of fully funding Head Start and expanding that program so that we have access to that kind of early education. I think No Child Left Behind has become a huge burden on local communities, and yet I think it's important to create these benchmarks. I think we have to work to fully fund it so that it isn't such a burden on communities, and yet it is important long-term educationally.

My experience at a community college, where we labor very hard to keep tuition and fees low, is that it's still very difficult for many young people to pay for the cost of higher education. So at the federal level, we really have to expand the Pell Grant and Stafford Loan program. We have to continue to look at ways to upgrade the quality of our education and make sure that we have a system that is accessible to all.

Q: You also mentioned you're on the board of a health plan, is it –

It's Fallon Health Plan, a small health plan based in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Q: What would you like to see Congress do to help lower health care costs for Americans?

First and foremost, my family was the beneficiary of some of the most tremendous health care this country has to offer. It actually gave my husband year of life that he might not otherwise have had, so I have a very strong feeling that we have to have universal health care access for all. I would work in Congress for a system that guarantees a choice of physicians, the kind of excellence that we experienced, affordability -- we were fortunate to have most of those costs covered -- and timeliness of care.

Every other industrialized nation in the world provides that health care for all of its citizens. The crisis is real and growing. Over 47 million are uninsured, and approximately 16 million Americans are underinsured. So for me the issue is, which universal health care system can be put in place most quickly?

Q: What do you think that would be?

At this point, I think it's a multi-payer system, such as we have here in Massachusetts. I think it's great that Massachusetts is the first state in the nation to develop a universal health care plan, which is already being carefully watched by other states as well as at the federal level. The federal system was created so that the states could serve as laboratories, so you could experiment and iron out the kinks and find out what works and what doesn't before you implement a huge plan nationwide, and then it becomes so much more difficult to adjust. So I think we have an important model here, it's very promising, it deserves our attention.

But in the end, the real issue is, we've been talking about this for as long as I can remember. Finally we have an opportunity to do something about it. The real key is, how do we do it quickly, so we're not talking about another ten years? It seems to me that the kind of model Massachusetts is engaged in has the promise of being enacted. All the presidential candidates are talking about similar things as well. Clearly there's a consensus around this kind of system.

In the long run, if we work our way through this and we say, well, it doesn't work, that's another thing, but at least we're on a path and universal health care is in place in this form. Let's just see what happens. So at this point, I think the Massachusetts model deserves our attention. It's interesting to see a lot of proposals coming out of the Senate right now, that are somewhat reflective of our model.

Q: Congressman Meehan is known for championing campaign finance reform. What solutions do you favor, if any, on that issue?

One thing that I really do notice, being in this campaign, even since the presidential election of '92, is how much more important, how much more front and center this whole issue of raising funds has become. It's quite a process. It's clear to me that we have to address campaign finance reform. We've tried so many different things, at this point I'm not clear what the best direction to go is. There is this process in which we have to sort of vet the viability of candidates, so it's not an unimportant thing that we have to get out there and raise some funds. On the other hand, the sheer cost of it is really indefensible. What I would look at is ways to just control the cost of running a viable campaign.

Q: What solutions or ideas do you favor to reduce the amount of energy we use and the amount of carbon emissions we produce?

I think failure to address global warming is one of the great travesties of the Bush administration. Their sheer ignorance of the emerging science on the fact that this was real has put us in a place where we have very little time to address it seriously. So I don't think it's any longer a political issue, I think it's a critical generational issue at this point. Congress has to provide leadership, and we have an opportunity with a Democratic Congress. So, as a member of Congress, I'd work to set limits on greenhouse gas emissions, put an absolute cap on greenhouse gas emissions.

Q: Would that include a trade mechanism also?

Cap and trade, yes. It's proven to be very effective in acid rain, so I think it's a model that works very efficiently. I know that in acid rain, it worked quicker than people thought. That's where I would head. We have to be a real leader in our district in the development of alternative technologies. It's an opportunity in terms of economic development, but it's also a necessity in terms of our need for alternative energy sources. Again, this is an issue we've been talking about for years, and now it's time to do something about it. We have an opportunity with a Democratic Congress and the consensus now that global warming is a fact, not a theory.

Q: What would you like to see happen in your district regarding alternative energy?

I recently signed on -- the Democrats are considering the 'Innovative Agenda' in Washington, which I'm fully supportive of, in fact I recently issued a press release on it. They're looking at lots of different ways, and one of the things is doubling the National Science Foundation funding, but also the small business innovation research program, there's a lot of funding in there for research and development.

As a nation, we have to provide pots of money for companies or universities to access to begin to develop alternative energy sources. There are companies in the district now, I think Ballard is one of them, where this kind of research is going on. As a district we have to be very opportunistic about all of that. A member of Congress can actually play a key role and can monitor it and help direct companies to funding opportunities, and be proactive about all of that. Rather than waiting for people to come to you, you can go out to them.

Q: What do you think America should do in regard to immigration policy?

It's clear we have a problem with undocumented immigrants, but I start with the notion that my husband was a first-generation American. His father came here when he was three years old, so Paul was actually the first in the family to be born here. When you can be a first-generation American and rise to run for President of the United States, it does tell you what a remarkable country this is. No wonder we are a magnet for people who are coming from countries where there is political turmoil, economic turmoil, very few opportunities.

That being said, the era when my husband's family came here, we had an open immigration system. You came through Ellis Island, but that was only to monitor any kind of health issue. We were really fueling an economy here, and we just didn't have the numbers of people here at the time either. Nevertheless, the politics and dynamics of the world still make us a magnet for people who want opportunity.

So, we have a problem, we have to get a handle on it, and the Kennedy bill really does provide some solutions by trying to secure the borders, giving an avenue to citizenship for those who are here, beginning to make it more difficult for employers to employ undocumented workers, some disincentives to doing that. But we have twelve million people here. We have to find a path to citizenship, and at the same time we have to get a handle and discourage the continuation of this kind of situation.

Overall, I think there are about 38 or 39 million foreign-born immigrants here. I think only 12 million of them are undocumented. So, we're always going to be accepting people from other countries. It's the legacy – Look at Lowell, Massachusetts. I went to the Cambodian opera this past weekend. It was fabulous, and actually I was very involved in bringing it to Lowell. And I thought, this is really the opportunity provided by the fact that we are such a diverse nation, and particularly the Fifth Congressional District, is such a diverse district. While we have to take seriously this problem, and I do, I also embrace the sort of opportunities that our diversity provides for us.

Q: If you're elected, it will be some time in October and there's just another year until the next election. If you can accomplish just one thing in that time, what would you like to make sure gets done, either for your district or more generally?

I think any one of us has to be part of the continued voice around bringing the war in Iraq to an end, and just continuing to press that agenda forward because it's coloring our ability to deal with anything else, in terms of the funding that it is absorbing, the energy it is absorbing, our position in the world. So fundamentally, there's that issue. Again, you're one of many in that capacity, but nevertheless I think it's key. Absolutely key.

I do think we have to address global warming. I think it's our responsibility generationally. Can you do it by yourself? No, but you become part of the majority that seriously attempts to address that.

Q: How can people get involved with your campaign?

Our headquarters is at 26 Market Street in Lowell, and our website is NikiTsongas.com. We welcome people just coming in.

I come out of a tradition of a grassroots campaign. My first campaign was with -- this was way before your time -- with Eugene McCarthy, who was the antiwar candidate in the Vietnam War in 1968. I traveled through New Hampshire and all over the States with thousands of students throwing attention to that issue and trying to change the dynamic around the war. I went on to be part of a campaign to reform Middlesex County, which has since been reformed, and every campaign, even our presidential campaign, was very grassroots. I will continue in that tradition. So we will be doing a lot of voter IDing, getting out and meeting as many people as possible. My 24-hour announcement tour is part of that. But the Internet is actually a new way of reaching out to people at a grassroots level, and we will use the Internet to do that.

Q: Anything else you'd like people to know about?

I think the other thing that's really important is all the issues around economic development in the Fifth Congressional District. Marty Meehan has been an activist member of Congress around that, and it has become the tradition of the seat, that apart from all the research and development dollars I talked about that whoever is a member of Congress becomes very engaged with the local communities and working with them as they identify projects that they think are key to their progress and finding ways for the federal government to be supportive to the extent it's possible.

One of the things I've come to appreciate in the course of this campaign is how the position of member of Congress is very unique in that it creates an opportunity to discuss important national and international issues on a very local scale. There's no other position that does that. The Senate tends to be too big, you have too much geography to deal with, and the Presidency takes place at a much higher level. As a Member of Congress, if I'm successful, I'm going to look at ways to continue the discussion. I think most do, but it really has struck me what an opportunity there is. And actually, a necessity, because these issues are so complex, they can't be addressed in two or three sentences. There has to be a discussion around them, and people who want to need to have an opportunity to be heard. This is the level of office at which that can really take place.

Interview With Councilor Eileen Donoghue

This weekend, I had the opportunity to talk with Lowell City Councilor, and former Mayor, Eileen Donoghue, one of six Democratic candidates vying for Congressman Marty Meehan's (D-Lowell) seat in the Fifth District. She points to the economic renewal of the city of Lowell as something she's the most proud of in her public life. She also noted her work on the Lowell School Committee and the small academies that operate within the high school and provide specialized programs to select students. In education, she would like to see No Child Left Behind and special education mandates fully funded on the Federal level. She thinks we should end our involvement in iraq and bring the troops home. She proclaimed her support for a Massachusetts-style plan to get to universal health insurance coverage over a single-payer plan.

In addition, Councilor Donoghue praised Congressman Meehan's work on campaign finance reform. She also advocated incentives for consumers to buy fuel-efficient vehicles and for companies to pursue renewable energy. Though she did say that business leaders she has talked to were against the idea of enacting a meals tax in Lowell, she applauded Governor Deval Patrick for pushing to allow cities to raise other sources of revenue. Donoghue indicated that her priority would be making sure that our returning veterans were being taken care of.

Councilor Donoghue is the fourth candidate for MA-05 that I have spoken with. Last month, I posted my interviews with David O'Brien and Rep. Jamie Eldridge and last week, I posted an interview with Rep. Barry Finegold.

To get involved with Councilor Donoghue's campaign, you can check out her website, EileenDonoghue.com.

Read excerpts from the full interview inside
Q: You've been on the Lowell City Council for 12 years now. What has been your most important achievement there?

During these 12 years -- I served as Mayor for four of them -- when I first got involved, Lowell had been in a bad way, suffering from the economic downturn of the late eighties and early nineties. I think what we've been able to achieve here in Lowell over the past 10-12 years has a lot to do with the economic development initiatives that we have put through in a real meaningful way. There were certain catalysts that really jump-started some of the revitalization of the downtown -- the arena, the ballpark -- all of which were tough sells back then because they were controversial projects.

Once those became a reality and they were a success, what we next went to was how do we revitalize the downtown. I'm proud of what we've been able to do by forming and forging public partnerships: public-public partnerships with the local government and the state in many cases -- the ballpark and the arena are prime examples -- as well as public-private partnerships. I was instrumental in leading the charge on artist live-work space and developing the Ayer Lofts and making certain that that project became a reality. That was a catalyst for millions of dollars in investment by the private sector because we now have about a thousand market-rate units either online or coming online in the near future in the downtown. So, I'm proud of those achievements.

But if I switch gears, when I was Mayor and I chaired the school committee, those years I learned a great deal about the challenges that not only our school district but every school district faces. Through the challenges that an urban district faces in the day of unfunded mandates, we were able to achieve a lot of success even working with minimal dollars.

I'll give you an example. One of them has to do with our high school, which is a great high school but it's one of the biggest in the state. At the time when I chaired the school committee there were about 16,500 students. We had a high school that then was about 36, 3700, now it's just under 4,000, which is a lot of kids by today's standards to have under one roof. What we came up during those years and implemented in a very successful way are academies within the high school. The first one was what's known as the Latin Lyceum academy which is really an exam school similar to Boston Latin, a school within a school. We have a communications academy, we have several academies that have developed so that it gives students an opportunity to go to school, albeit in a very large urban high school, but have a specialized feel and almost a smaller feel, if they choose, in an area that is of interest to them.

So that's been, again, trying to work creatively, come up with ideas that aren't necessarily budget-busters, but improving and working with what you have. I think we, in those years, did a good job. I think the school district has continued to do a good job. We've implemented programs that we are now seeing some of the kids who went through the school and particularly the tenth grade, their MCAS scores, we're seeing real improvement now by doing certain things in the lower grades. All of those things are important.

Q: Would you like to see national grants to encourage that sort of education model, at the federal level?

At the federal level, if I'm the representative in Washington, what I would like to see the federal government do is fulfill their duties to the local governments, both state and local, by funding their mandates, starting with the No Child Left Behind Act. They have really shirked their responsibilities. It was underfunded to begin with, and I remember the superintendent of our district saying, "You know, if they don't fund this, it's going to be just another drain and an administrative nightmare," and that's exactly what happened.

When I was Mayor and chair of the committee, some of the big drain -- and it continues to be -- is the fact that they don't fund special education. It had been funded at one point up to 40% of the budget, again, mandates from the federal government, but now in some areas it's down to 12 or 13%. And the cost is skyrocketing. What I would like to see is the federal government really fund those mandates, and really partner the way they should be doing with us, in every district across the Fifth and across the country, quite frankly.

The other thing I would like to see them do is reinstitute programs like the community school program that they had in effect at one point in time, where we could utilize the resources of the schools to have at least some of these schools open until 9:00 at night. Kids could do homework, computer labs, gym, things that keep them actively engaged in a structured setting. I think those are things that are important to every youngster and to our society in general.

So, those are just some of the ideas that I have that I would be a real strong voice for, I can tell you. Because when you've been on the receiving end, you see firsthand what some of the effects are on the students, on the teachers, when you have these unfunded mandates. That money has to come from somewhere. The resources have to come from somewhere. And unfortunately, it comes out of good-quality programs that kids could benefit from, that get slashed because of these things. I think it's a real serious problem.

Q: When you've been out talking to people, what do you think has been the number one issue of the minds of the voters in the Fifth District?

I think it depends on who you talk to and where you are. Certainly the war in Iraq is a big concern on a number of levels. The war is draining this country, not just financially but emotionally. Everybody I've talked to, I haven't run across one single person who doesn't agree with me and many others that we should end our involvement and bring the troops home from Iraq. When I say it depends on who you are, in some areas, particularly in the cities, there's more of a concern for the economy, jobs, economic development, and in relation to that the impact the war in Iraq is having on us domestically. I think the war in Iraq is an overarching issue.

In Methuen, and in Lawrence yesterday, talking to groups in the Latino community, there's a real concern about jobs, there's a real concern about education and costs of education. We had a very robust discussion about, how do you pay for a college education today? The same opportunities aren't there that were there in the past. So, what can the federal government do? Those are concerns.

The other area, in Hudson I was talking to some people about the health care crisis -- the cost of health care, the cost of prescription drugs, especially for seniors.

Q: What do you think the federal government can do to lower the costs of health care?

I think first of all we have to have coverage for everybody. Looking at the Massachusetts plan, I think it's a good start. That's something we should first do. I sit on the board of one of our local hospitals, Saints Medical Center, and I have seen year in and year out the pressures on the community hospitals from so many different angles. One thing is for sure, the ranks of people coming into the hospital with no insurance is growing. It's unfortunate because we -- when I say we, I mean all of us -- are paying for this health care crisis one way or another, whether it's through the uninsured health care pool which is never enough to pay for what the hospitals really provide, or the hospital is taking it on the