Snowstorm Fails to Delay Sen. Brown's Berkshire Trip
 U.S. Sen. Scott Brown chats on the phone with Mayor Richard Alcombright's mother. |
The state's junior senator was making a swing through Western Massachusetts during a storm of pretty epic proportions, with up to 30 inches of snow predicted for the region. He came to talk public safety, meet with local officials and chow down at Jack's Hot Dog Stand, where he spent $50 treating everyone there to lunch.
"We're from New England and this is a beautiful storm and obviously it's an inconvenience," said the Wrentham Republican on Wednesday at the city's public safety building. "But for us, it's another day and we made a commitment to come out here and visit folks."
The senator met privately with Mayor Richard Alcombright, who introduced him to some of the key players in the city, including Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts President Mary Grant and Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Arts Director Joseph C. Thompson. Brown also chatted with Superintendent of School James Montepare and Council President Ronald Boucher, and shared stories with Veterans Agent David Robbins who, like Brown, serves in the National Guard.
"I basically wanted the senator to know how important education is to the community, and not only that but the arts and cultural side of the community as well," said Alcombright of the brief 25 minutes he had the senator's ear. "I discussed the plight of the city of North Adams. He gets it; he understands it; he sees communities similar to us in the eastern part of the state."
Brown, a former state senator, surged into office last January when he defeated hometown girl Martha Coakley in the special election to replace the late Ted Kennedy. The senator, however, has his own links to the region. His father used to live in Dalton and he recalled visits to the Berkshires and eating hot dogs at Teo's in Pittsfield.
"When you're past Worcestor, people in Boston sometimes forget about you," said Brown. "And I've always felt as a legislator from Wrentham — people sometimes don't even know where Wrentham is — you have to fight to get your fair share."
This is Brown's first official trip through the region and he's hitting a number of spots (with a CBS News "60 Minutes" camera crew in tow); he'd just come from a tour of Crane & Co. in Dalton and will be in Pittsfield most of Thursday.
The new senator said the Washington transition was bumpy — moving in the middle of a storm last year, hiring staff, getting offices and computers set up, etc. — while dealing with the demands of his position and his constituents. "We were behind about three or four months," he said.
Response time has been trimmed to a week or so, although answering snail mail is complicated by security precautions that delay their arrival in his office by weeks. To help connect constituents and keep the west end of the state in the loop, Brown's new regional representative Nick Powers will be based in Springfield and circulate through the area.
But it seems a higher power than the mayor may have put North Adams on the itinerary. Alcombright, a former classmate and strong supporter of Coakley, had sent a letter of congratulation to the new senator, without receiving a reply.
 The senator is in the Berkshires to meet with constituents and local officials. He toured the city's public safety building on Wednesday and will meet with Pittsfield officials on Thursday. |
"He said, 'I got a letter from your mom,'" the mayor laughed. "Mothers are just that much more important ... but I think it speaks to his responsiveness to the people who are out there."
Brown's goal over the next couple days "is trying find out what the needs are and then trying to put the pieces together, to put people in contact with each other to see what's available," he said. "So it's a good learning process for me."
People have told him of their concerns over spending, and the debt, and ensuring their town and region gets its fair share. But No. 1 is jobs: that's what he's been hearing not only here but across the state.
"Jobs, job creation, job stability and when are things going to turn around," said Brown.
Though treading in deep blue territory in the Berkshires, the state's only Republican congressman said he's been greeted warmly. While Saturday's tragic shooting of an Arizona congresswoman has sparked concerns over elected officials' safety, he said he hasn't changed the way he's approached people or his job.
"I think the rhetoric throughout the country should be toned down by everybody," said the senator. "I know when I went to Washington, I tried to bring people together ... you know the name calling, the fingerpointing, that's not how I am.
"I know people are frustrated at times with things, but I would ask them to also just take a deep breathe and reach out to others."
