Campaign Issues:

Increased Aid     Improved Education     Boost the Economy     Support Veterans     Water and Sewer Costs

Announcement Speech

INCREASED STATE AID

Gloucester, Rockport and Essex are being penalized in the amount of state funding we are getting, now, when we need it the most.

We have been shortchanged because the state’s formula for distributing financial aid overstates our wealth because of Cape Ann’s high real estate values. In other words, because real estate costs so much on the Cape, too much for our young people to buy here, the state treats us as if we are rich enough not to need as much state aid as other cities. This formula needs to be changed to reflect our real incomes and our real needs. I will work to change that formula so that Cape Ann’s communities get their fair share of state aid for education, public safety and road repairs.

Increasing state aid is the most important thing your next state representative can and must do.

As your State Representative, I’ll work for:

1. - Increased Chapter 70 education funding.
2. - Increased Special Education Reimbursements including Transportation.
3. - Increased School Building Assistance.
4. - Increased Lottery Aid Distribution.
5. - Increased Chapter 90 street repair funding.

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IMPROVED EDUCATION

It’s not so much that our kids are failing in school. We are failing our kids. We are under funding our kids’ schools, laying off their teachers and reducing or eliminating vital programs. We are forcing our teachers to teach to a standardized test that fails to impart the creativity and reasoning skills needed in the real world.

We have to do better. In 1993 the state passed a comprehensive education reform bill intended to be reviewed, revised, and improved by 2003. That did not happen. Instead, we have been cutting school budgets and failing to provide our teachers with the support they need to improve their skills and inspire their students. Yesterday’s reform is not keeping pace with our fast-changing, high-tech world where knowledge is king and critical thinking and reasoning skills are the keys to the kingdom.

We now have to reform the reform bill and recommit ourselves to funding our children’s education.

As your State Representative and a proud graduate of the Gloucester Public Schools, I will:

1. - Advocate for increased Chapter 70 funding from the state with a distribution formula fair to Cape Ann.
2. - Promote wholesale reform of education.
3. - Support greater state funding for Special Education transportation costs, as was originally intended.
4. - Assist communities in getting School Building Assistance funds.
5. - Work with groups such as Stand For Children and PTOs to build regional and state-wide lobbying efforts to make education and education funding reform a priority.

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BOOST THE ECONOMY

When you live at “the end of the line” as we do, you’ve got to try harder if you’re going to boost the economy and grow jobs. Fortunately for us, we have got a lot to work with: economic development, tourism, and Gloucester Harbor are three strong legs on which to build a more vibrant and vital local economy.

Economic Development: Gloucester’s Economic Development and Industrial Corporation has a proven track record for success at the Blackburn and Cape Ann industrial parks. Now it is working with state agencies seeking to locate business parks for growing new-age companies in biotech, life sciences, software and renewable energy. Potential sites have been identified on the Gloucester- Manchester line and bordering Rte 128.

As your State Representative I will:

1. - Seek and support state funding for the necessary infrastructure improvements and a distribution formula fair to Cape Ann.
2. - Collaborate with U.S. Senators Edward Kennedy and John Kerry and U.S. Rep John Tierney for additional federal funding.
3. - Advocate for the required Rte. 128 access which potentially also could serve the Cape Ann Industrial Park. In addition, advocate for establishing a train stop for park employees.

Tourism and the Creative Economy: We’ve got it all on Cape Ann – beaches and boats, art and theater, shopping and antiquing, restaurants and entertainment, harbors and rivers, kayaking and whale watching, museums and historic sites. We need to sell it harder, farther, better, and as the whole package.

As your State Representative I will:

1. - Make sure that Gloucester, Rockport and Essex get their due – in attention and in funding --- in any and all state efforts to boost tourism in Massachusetts.
2. - Support collective efforts in the several communities, especially aimed at lengthening the tourist season.
3. - Work with State Senator Bruce Tarr, the Governor, and the MBTA to fund and improve Rockport’s train station.
4. - Request funding for a visitor’s center in Rockport.

Gloucester Harbor: A jewel, Gloucester Harbor is homeport to our fishing industry. Fishing is our proudest heritage and our oldest economic engine and deserves our unflagging support. Fishing shall remain our highest priority, while at the same time making room for compatible waterfront uses. A mix of appropriate uses will make Gloucester Harbor even better.

As your State Representative and as the daughter of a fisherman, and a fisheries advocate and attorney who has battled the fishing bureaucracy for years I will:

1. - Negotiate with the state for more flexibility for more waterfront commercial and recreational uses within the harbor without compromising our fishing needs.
2. - Advocate on state and federal levels for funding for needed harbor infrastructure improvements.
3. - Continue to support industry efforts to forge fishing regulations that are fair to and safe for our fishermen.

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SUPPORT VETERANS

Our veterans deserve our respect and our gratitude for their service and their sacrifice.

As your State Representative, I will support:

1. - Granting our National Guard members college tuition and fee waivers.
2. - Increasing veterans’ property tax abatements.
3. - Increasing real estate tax exemptions for disabled vets.
4. - Allowing localities to suspend property tax payments of National Guard members and Reservists on active duty.
5. - Establishing a 5-year property tax exemption for war widows and widowers.

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PUSH BACK WATER AND SEWER COSTS

Gloucester’s water and sewer rates are reported to be among the highest in Massachusetts. One reason the bills have skyrocketed is because the state and federal governments have ordered us to make and finance one sewer and water improvement project after another. These orders are called consent decrees and we have no choice but to comply or face having financially devastating fines imposed on us.

Recently, Gloucester Mayor Carolyn Kirk won some relief from the state; it agreed to allow Gloucester more time to comply with mandates at the sewer treatment plant, but we need more help.

As your State Representative, I will:

1. - Propose the state enact an Infrastructure Bond Bill to provide state aid for communities in financing their water and sewer infrastructure needs.
2. - Use my experience of negotiating with state and federal environmental agencies to assist Mayor Kirk in her attempt to further negotiate the consent decrees.
3. - Join the mayor and my colleague, State Senator Bruce Tarr, to advocate for renewed federal assistance.

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February 27th, 2008

 

Announcement Speech:

 

Good Evening…… I want to thank all of you for sharing this night with me. Someone said that it takes a village to raise a child. Let me tell you from this podium, I am looking at the village. Thank you for supporting and inspiring me and serving as role models in building community.

 

I want to thank all of you for that and especially my parents. I thank my mother, Frances, for teaching me that each day should be met with the courage and the faith to defy the impossible, and my father, Joseph, an American citizen by choice. He reminds me that the American Dream shouldn’t be taken for granted.

 

In that same spirit, tonight, I am announcing my candidacy for State Representative for the Fifth Essex District for Gloucester, for Rockport and for Essex. Yes, we are in this race and yes, we are in it to win!

 

I am running to propose a new style of advocacy, one based on energetic leadership and results-oriented experience.
I am running because I am convinced that if we do not chart a new course, we will stay tied to the status quo, strangled by stagnation, resulting in the erosion of our American Dreams.

 

Before making my decision to run, I spoke with a lot of people.

 

I have listened to the young families on Cape Ann. They feel unable to afford a place to raise a family or to find meaningful employment. They are anxious about the financial challenges facing our public school systems and their children’s education.

 

I have listened to our seniors, who come into my law office, who worry each day how they will survive as rising costs of health care and housing erode their fixed incomes. Young and old share these concerns. Opportunities for meaningful jobs, affordable housing and health care and quality education are foremost concerns for all.

 

For more than a decade, I have played a supporting role to the incumbent, Tony Verga, to our state senator, Bruce Tarr, and to our past Mayor John Bell.

 

But I can no longer stay on the sidelines of a race that will determine the future of our community. As Bill Belichick might say: “I want to move us from the red zone to the end zone.”

 

Undoubtedly, The time has come to take a more active role—as your state representative— to implement the strategies I envision, to utilize the contacts I have made, and with bold vision and a fresh perspective, resolve challenges facing Gloucester, Rockport, and Essex.

 

I am running to lead Cape Ann to a higher level:

 

1. - I am running to end discriminatory funding policies that leave our communities in dire straits and rob our children of a superior education.
2. - I am running to amend restrictions that prevent our harbors from reaching their potential as an economic driving force.
3. - I am running to advocate for funding water and sewer projects that currently tax overburdened homeowners.
4. - I am running to foster the arts - both for their economic and cultural value.
5. - I am running to promote policies that bridge the gap for the working poor, allowing them to transition to the middle class.
6. - Most of all, I am running because people are desperate for action.

 

You know who they are:

 

The senior citizen across the street, who lost her husband not too long ago, who you see going out to the mailbox each afternoon in fear that today she will open that water and sewer bill that makes her realize she can no long afford to live in her home;

 

The parents of the little girl and boy, who ride their bikes in the neighborhood, who will probably be our future state rep but only if today they receive a quality education upon which to build; The frustrated waterfront property owner, who wants to develop her commercial property to create jobs and better the community, but whose idea is rejected by state regulators; The artist who knows what we are just coming to realize, that his expressive talent not only stirs our souls but adds to our economy; and Finally, the single mother, who is just as smart and just as responsible as the rest of us, but who stands on the edge of homelessness, because of a broken system that works against her.

 

For these people, this election is more than catchy phrases, slogans and sound bites. It’s about whether they survive and to them I say this: I see your struggle and I want to help. Now, I realize that sympathy and a shared broken heart are not enough. And once elected to office, I will act tirelessly on your behalf. Yours is the voice that needs to be heard!

 

I have every confidence that by working together, we can move ourselves from: stagnation to growth, from dire economic conditions to prosperous times, from falling short to exceeding our expectations.

 

For too long, we have waited for Beacon Hill to solve our problems. We’re done with that. It’s time for us to create an unstoppable, inclusive effort that puts: fairness and equity, creativity and inspiration, and people and community first to achieve that which is just.

 

The challenges confronting our community—our local economy, our schools, our waterfront, our industry and our farms—All of these challenges have all been met with too little, too late.

 

These challenges are larger than any one individual. It will take all of us to resolve them. We know this from experience. It’s the proverbial statement “strength in numbers.”

 

I, too, have learned this first hand. I have had the experience in creating multi-community coalitions to advocate for the fishing industry and for our senior citizens. By doing so, we, as coalitions, were able to pass legislation on Beacon Hill and Capitol Hill.

 

When the legislative process failed us, we did not stop there. We took our issues to the courts. I fought as a member of the legal team that brought our complaints before state and federal judges.

 

This is the type of leadership that I want to bring to Cape Ann as your next State Representative. This is the path we need to travel to achieve our goals.

 

The politics and personalities of the legislature are not new to me. For more than 14 years, I have lived in the political trenches fighting for our community.

 

I have experience working in Congressman Joe Kennedy’s Office, as a legislative aide to State Senator Bruce Tarr, and as the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Fisheries Recovery Commission.

 

I have advocated for our seniors as a board member of SeniorCare,

 

I have worked for literacy as a board member of the Sawyer Free Library,

 

I have fought for the interests of Cape Ann as a community organizer--standing up for our seafood industry as a founder and attorney for the Northeast Seafood Coalition, I have planned and raised money for historical restoration as the organizer of the Holy Family Parish Capital Improvements Project and the Gloucester Fund, I have volunteered for the City of Gloucester as a member of the Combined Sewer and Outflow committee, and I have helped to decide how best to invest federal funds to help our community as a board member of the Cape Ann Commercial Fishermen’s Loan Fund.

 

With degrees in both law and economics, I wanted to help the people of Cape Ann so I established my law practice in Rockport and in Gloucester. I am proud to represent small businessmen and women starting and financing their own businesses; property owners seeking to revitalize their commercial property; families buying their first homes; and, seniors preparing for retirement, everyday citizens in pursuit of their American Dream.

 

As an attorney and as a community activist, I have seen the injustice and the inequity that causes citizens to walk away from government disgusted, disgruntled and hopeless.

 

My friends, it is time for change.

 

It is time for us to improve our tomorrow and to replace frustration with bold energetic leadership

 

Therefore, I ask you to join me in dedicating ourselves to the causes of equity and community, creativity and inspiration, growth and prosperity.

 

I ask you to join me in resolving the challenges that have been holding us back for far too long.

 

I ask for your support and your vote to move our community beyond crisis to the day when: