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Warren Calls for Berkshires to Join Grassroots Campaign |
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By Joe Durwin On: 09:07AM / Monday November 07, 2011 |
Elizabeth Warren during her first trip to the Berkshires in August. The Senate candidate returned last week to begin ramping up a grassroots network. |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Experienced campaign volunteers from around Berkshire County let U.S. Senate hopeful Elizabeth Warren they were ready to get to work last week. But for some, this was their first time getting involved in electoral politics.
"And I said to those people, 'Mine, too.' " Warren quipped in her opening remarks to a packed house at the volunteer sign-up and strategy rally at the Itam Lodge on Thursday.
"I have done one campaign, though. That was to get a Consumer Protection Bureau," she continued, to overwhelming cheers and applause from the room.
Warren first gained national attention when she conceived and made a reality of the new bureau under the Obama administration. She was first tapped by President Obama to lead the fledgling agency on an interim basis, but was passed up for permanent appointment because, many believe, of harsh opposition from Republicans in Congress.
The Harvard professor described the process of advancing the bureau's creation, despite even fiercer opposition from many corporate lobbies. "How do you beat the biggest lobbying force in the world if you have no real lobbying money? You get organized, and that's what we did," she said.
Warren said the same kind of widespread grassroots coalition will be needed in Massachusetts for her to defeat incumbent Scott Brown, the Wrentham Republican who won the 2009 special election following the death of longtime Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.
"What I took away from that is that's how you make real change. You make real change from one person to another, from that person to someone else, and we create in our own wind in our sails," said the Democrat.
Warren, an Oklahoma native who moved to Massachusetts in 1992, told supporters of her upbringing in a struggling middle-class working family. Of graduating from law school at 24, while nine months pregnant.
"I'm the daughter of a maintenance man and I ended up a fancypants professor at Harvard Law School," she joked, adding she is proof of the American dream because "I grew up in an America that invested in me."
That is not necessarily the America workers face today, however. Warren outlined her view on the ways in which economic depression had been allowed to occur again in the United State on a massive scale through the repeal and rollback of many of the bold initiatives that brought it out of the Depression of the 1930s and made it a superpower.
The brief talk was followed by an almost as brief working meeting to begin preparing volunteers. Warren introduced core campaign staffers, including key Deval Patrick campaign coordinator Doug Ruben, who talked with supporters about strategies for approaching next year's Senate campaign.
Warren told supporters at the Itam that her decision to run for Senate was in part because of the warm reception she received on her first visit here, during the campaign's testing-the-water phase.
"Pittsfield, you're a big part of this, too!" Warren proclaimed.
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Caccamo Rally to Get the Vote Out |
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Staff Reports On: 05:42PM / Sunday November 06, 2011 |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Committee to elect Nicholas Caccamo for City Council will host a rally Sunday, Nov. 6, aimed at encouraging younger voters in Pittsfield to hit the polls this Tuesday. The event will take place at Spice Dragon at 291 North St. from 7 to 10 p.m.
The popular Noah Weiss Quartet will provide entertainment, where candidates in all municipal election races are invited to provide information about their campaigns and help instruct voters in the critical 18-35 demographic why they should turn out. This demographic comprises about 7,000 of Pittsfield's 29,000 registered voters, a little less than 25 percent in total.
This event is free and open to the public and all Pittsfield candidates running for office.
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Marchetti Campaign Plans Pancake Fundraiser |
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Marchetti Campaign On: 10:10AM / Saturday October 22, 2011 |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The public is invited to attend a Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser for mayoral candidate Peter Marchetti to be held on Sunday, Oct. 30, from 9 to noon at the Polish Community Club on Linden Street.
Cost for the breakfast is a $7 donation. Kids eat free. Tickets may be purchased at the door, or reserved by calling 413443-1411.
Marchetti is currently in his eighth year on the Pittsfield City Council. He is the vice president, chairman of the council subcommittee on Finance and vice chairman of the Community and Economic Development subcommittee, and serves on the Public Health and Safety Council and as council representative to the Conservation Commission.
Marchetti's five-point plan for Pittsfield includes job creation, education, the arts, neighborhoods, and improved communication. He says he wants to see us write the next chapter in our history by building on the successes of the past and growing optimistically into the future.
He has always been very active in the community, serving with the Morningside Initiative, the board of PCTV, state youth and adult bowling leagues, the Helen Berube Teen Parent Program, the Pittsfield Parade Committee, and many others.
Marchetti Campaign Headquarters if at 766 Tyler St. Campaign volunteers and supporters are welcome to stop in and sign up to help.
For more information, visit the campaign website at www.petemarchetti.com, send an e-mail to pete@petemarchetti.com, or call headquarters at 413-443-1411 or 413-443-1220.
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Bianchi Lays Out His 'Plan For Pittsfield' |
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By Andy McKeever On: 07:13PM / Friday October 21, 2011 |
Dan Bianchi said he wants to review the city's charter and look for ways to restructure it to become more efficient. |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Mayoral hopeful Daniel E. Bianchi's "Plan for Pittsfield" calls on as many citizens as possible to help run the city.
Bianchi laid out his plans to a large crowd at the GEAA on Wednesday, focusing on taxes, city services, education, economic development and job creation, expansion of open government and public safety.
"If you have a difference of opinion, you're marginalized. If you have an idea that doesn't match with the status quo, you are put down for it, you're marginalized," Bianchi said. "We've got to be a lot more open and a lot more inviting to people. I want everyone to be involved. You don't have to have a Ph.D.at the end of your name to serve on a board or a commission."
Bianchi said that if elected, he is committed to filling boards and commissions regular people, creating office hours for residents to just walk in and meet with him, host periodic ward meetings and upgrade the city website for residents to better interact with city government. Those plans are aimed to take the "politics" out of government operations.
"Far, far too often in our history we've seen a government that has been tied up and dominated by politics. It makes the operation of government inefficient," Bianchi said. "We're a 21st-century city with a 19th-century form of government."
Bianchi is calling for formation of a charter review committee to re-examine all aspects of the city's governmental structure, including the role of mayor. To help keep tax increases down, Bianchi is calling for another committee of retired professionals who will review the budget every year and look for ways to be more efficient and for annual re-examination of the roles of retiring employees instead of automatically replacing those positions.
"You can't always reduce things but you can making things better," Bianchi said. "We have an opportunity every year to review positions as people retire. It shouldn't be an automatic 'well, Joe retired, we've got to replace them.'"
Bianchi said he wants to plan the city's capital expenditures years ahead of time so that residents are not surprised by the annual bill. All investments should be handled in a more "scientific way," said the city's former finance administrator.
While Bianchi told the crowd that he believes the city can be managed better, he promised that he will not take office and begin firing department heads or other employees.
"I think with good management there is no need for layoffs, especially in an economy where we've got large numbers of unemployment and underemployment. The last thing I want to do is to be mayor and make it worse," Bianchi said. "There will be plenty of firefighters and, if I have anything to do with it, all the stations will be open, all the guys will be employed. That goes to the police officers, too."
Open government and long-term management strategies will allow the city to invest in education and small businesses, he said.
"I think we are on the verge of redefining ourselves as a community from the old manufacturing to the new community of the 21st century and it's going to be an exciting place to be," Bianchi said. "We've got to do what we can to really encourage the growth of our small businesses in the city ... What I'd like to do is create a pool of dollars that will help small businesses."
The city could not only loan money to small businesses from the free cash account but Bianchi said he would also like to take between $500,000 and $750,000 from the Pittsfield Economic Development Authority and make it available for small business owners. Also to grow economic development, Bianchi said he wants to form a development advisory committee and designate some areas of the city as state-recognized business improvement districts to allow small-business owners to access additional state grants and loans.
While supporting local businesses is one goal, Bianchi said he wants to establish a marketing plan to attract businesses outside of the area — particularly in emerging green technologies.
"We need to always being thinking green. I would like us to be the green city that can actually attract from the green industry," Bianchi said.
Bianchi joked about the number of committees he'd like to form, throwing out an idea for a multi-unit homeowner commission to help examine the state of the city's housing. From code enforcement to light ordinances to even the amount of available affordable housing, the commission would discuss all aspects to improve housing for business that are interested in moving their operations to the city.
Encouraging businesses to move here will also mean improvements in the school system. Bianchi said the "uniqueness" of the schools needs to be emphasized so that students will start staying in Pittsfield schools instead of choosing other schools.
For the re-building of the schools, Bianchi said he supports a two-school system and said he will advocate the state of pay for renovations of both Pittsfield High School and Taconic High School. He said he will also encourage a significant study into vocational education to see if there could be a regional trade school. But whatever school system comes to fruition, Bianchi said he would support a debt-exclusion vote for the renovations.
Bianchi also said the schools need to look at sharing services, particularly with administration and technological support, and stressed shared services across the county.
"We've really got to start thinking beyond just the city of Pittsfield," Bianchi said. "I am confident that we can come up with shared services that will make sense and save money."
Bianchi said he would like to meet with boards of selectmen and find ways to help each other. For example, Bianchi said that both North Adams and Pittsfield have engineering departments and the two cities could find ways to split those costs. Once again, Bianchi called for retired businessmen and engineers to provide their own ideas of how to "streamline" services.
But it is not just the senior sector he wants involved in government; he's also advocating for the the formation of a youth commission that can weigh in on city matters. The young people will not only have a say but he wants them to be voting members on boards and commissions.
Those plans also depend on fighting crime, he said, and he would like to work with Sheriff Thomas Bowler to establish citywide neighborhood watches and establish October as National Crime Prevention Month, which could help the city secure extra grant funding to put more police on the streets, he said.
"There are some things that we need to do. We need to have proper planning and that is why, after talking with many of you, after knocking on doors, I've gathered the opinions of a lot of people and put together with my own... that's how my plan was developed," Bianchi said, add as the meeting ended, "When I prevail, I'm going to have a lot of people ready to work... I'm encouraged with their commitment, not with my campaign, but to the city."
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Council Candidate Bullett Sets Meet & Greet |
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Bullett Campaign On: 09:59PM / Thursday October 13, 2011 |
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — City Council candidate Nancy Bullett will host a meet and greet reception on Sunday, Oct. 16, from 1 to 7 at the Greylock Community Club on State Road.
Bullett, who is running for council for the first time, invites the public to come speak with her.
The afternoon will include hamburgers, hot dogs and chili, volleyball, horseshoes and dancing. Tickets are $10 or $8 for seniors and children.
Reserve tickets by calling 663-7862 or pay at the door.
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U.S. Senate Election
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The state is holding a special election to fill the seat vacated by John F. Kerry, who has been confirmed as U.S. secretary of state.
The special election is scheduled for Tuesday, June 25, from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m.
The nominees, as listed on the ballot, are:
Gabriel E. Gomez, Republican
Edward J. Markey, Democrat
Richard A. Heos, Twelve Visions Party
The last day to register to vote in the election is Wednesday, June 5.
You may vote absentee: if you will be absent from your town or city on election day, have a physical disability that prevents you from voting at the polls or cannot vote at the polls because to religious beliefs.
Absentee ballots are available at town and city clerk offices until noon on June 24.
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Election 2009 Stories
2010 Special Senate Election Results
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