CMassPolitics.com Interview: Anthony Saboliauskas, 1st Middlesex House District

CMassPolitics.com spoke with Anthony Saboliauskas (D-Pepperell) about his campaign for state representative in the First Middlesex House District.

Tuesday roundup: Haller gives Mahoney a holla

Worcester Magazine reported Monday that Worcester city councilor Barbara Haller has endorsed John Mahoney (D-Worcester) in the six-way Democratic primary for the 13th Worcester House seat. In addition to other attributes, Haller appreciates that "JOHN MAHONEY likes people, babies, and animals. JOHN MAHONEY also likes hard work, public service, and attention to detail."

In his Election.net column today, Shaun Sutner looks at the ethnic and religious backgrounds of the six Democrats, one Republican, and one unenrolled candidate in the race.

Elsewhere around the region...

Second Franklin House District
The four Democrats running for representative debated on WWLP-TV in Springfield.

First Middlesex House District
The Sentinel and Enterprise profiled Jane Morriss (D-Groton), Jesse Reich (D-Ayer), and Tony Saboliauskas (D-Pepperell), the three candidates for the Democratic nomination.

Sixth Worcester House District
The bill sponsored by Rep. Geraldo Alicea (D-Charlton) that bans novelty cigarette lighters was signed by Gov. Deval Patrick and will go into effect in November.

Worcester County Sheriff
William Frisch, former Deputy Sheriff and supporter of Scot Bove (D-Holden) criticized Tom Foley (D-Worcester) in the Telegram, saying Foley "was found to be 100 percent medically disabled and obviously unable to perform the essential function requirements of his position." Foley countered that Mr. Frisch is "uninformed and totally unaware of the pressures that surround the head of the state police in Massachusetts.”

Monday Roundup: Herr slow to report

The Milford Daily News reports that Brian Herr (R-Hopkinton) has missed a couple of campaign finance reporting deadlines in reference to his run for Congress in the Third District:

Republican congressional candidate Brian Herr of Hopkinton has sought more time to file a financial disclosure form due in May but appears to have already missed a final pre-primary deadline.


Herr said yesterday that his campaign needed more time to fill out the forms than initially thought, then misunderstood the rules governing extensions....

U.S. House candidates must file forms listing their incomes, liabilities and certain assets with the chamber clerk within 30 days of hitting the $5,000 mark for fundraising or spending, with May 15 the first day to do so.


Herr hit that mark early on, but the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct can grant extensions of up to 90 days, an accommodation Herr has requested. But the form must still be filed 30 days before the next election; the Sept. 14 primary, however, is less than three weeks away.

The article also looks at the financial statements of the other candidates in the race, if you are inclined to care how much each of them earned last year.
Incumbent Rep. James McGovern (D-Worcester) is the subject of a profile in the Boston Globe, which suggests that he is in one of the toughest campaigns of his career. For his part, McGovern says he will not change his politics because of the political climate:

“Just because Scott Brown won an election doesn’t mean I should change everything I believe in," he said. “It’s no secret that I’m a liberal; I didn’t poll any of this stuff, but I am who I am."

Elsewhere...
 
Worcester County Sheriff
The Worcester Business Journal looks at the fundraising efforts of the major-party candidates for Worcester County Sheriff.
 
Scot Bove (D-Holden) talks to the Telegram about his priorites for the Sheriff's Office, including reducing the Worcester County Jail's budget.
 
First Middlesex House District
Tony Saboliauskas (D-Pepperell) is finding that some voters are confusing him with his son Zach, who ran for the seat in 2008 as an unenrolled 21-year-old.
 
Sixth Worcester House District
The Southbridge Evening News notes that Rep. Geraldo Alicea (D-Charlton) has not yet officially announced his run for re-election. Alicea says that he is running, but is waiting to announce.
 
Twelfth Worcester House District
Rep. Harold Naughton (D-Clinton) touts his record from the recent house session, in a column in The Banner.

Wednesday State House Roundup: Debate days

Now that we are within a month of the primary, debate season has begun. We start in Ayer, where the Ayer Democratic Town Committee hosted a debate between the three Democrats vying for the First Middlesex District nomination. While Jane Moriss (D-Groton), Jesse Reich (D-Ayer), and Tony Saboliauskas (D-Pepperell) agreed on many issues they split over the proposed repeal of the affordable housing law known as 40B. From the Sentinel and Enterprise:

Saboliauskas, the lone supporter of the proposed repeal of the three candidates, said the well-intended law has been abused by developers over and over, failing to generate enough much affordable housing in many communities.

But both Morriss and [Reich] said they would not support a repeal of the law because creation of affordable housing is important.

The law should not go away "until we have reached a point where everyone in the commonwealth has a roof over their head," Morriss said.

13th Worcester House District
Shaun Sutner of the Telegram devotes most of his Tuesday ElectionNet column to the race. On the Republican side, he notes that Paul Franco (R-Worcester) just recently registered as a Republican and pulled a Democratic ballot in eight of the past 10 primaries going back to 1998.

Sutner also reminds readers that the Democratic candidates are debating tonight at Anna Maria College. He points out that two of the three moderators have ties either one of the candidates or the current office holder.

Second Franklin House District
The three candidates for the Democratic nomination faced off last night in Greenfield. Greenfield Community Television will broadcast the debate Friday afternoon at 5:00.

Fifth Worcester House District
Rep. Anne Gobi (D-Spencer) is calling for disclosure forms of government officials to be made available online.

Weekend roundup: I've been everywhere, man

It's awfully difficult for a challenger to dominate the media cycle against an well-financed, high-ranking incumbent, but Tom Wesley (R-Hopedale) managed to do just that Friday in his Second Congressional District race against Rep. Richard Neal (D-Springfield). We'll start with the Telegram, where Wesley was the feature of Friday's candidate profile:

Mr. Wesley explained that these are tough economic times and that people have to be careful with their finances. He quickly added, however, that this election is about more than raising money.

“I see it as my patriotic duty,” he said when asked why he was running. “I'm fighting for unborn generations.” termed a lynchpin election, which means in his opinion the American way of life is at stake and people are angry with what has been happening on Capitol Hill.

In addition, Wesley was all over the radio, appearing on Springfield's WAQY-FM and WHYN-AM. He has also continued videotaping while driving.
 
For his part, Neal has received praise from the unlikeliest of sources. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, has endorsed Neal's bill to provide for automatic enrollment in IRAs for employees of small businesses:

The Automatic IRA is a conservative, market-oriented solution to help address our retirement savings crisis. It would increase the proportion of Americans who can save for retirement at work from 50 percent to 90 percent, make it simple for small business owners to offer IRAs to their employees, and create low-cost accounts that an employee can understand and use without having to be a financial expert.

Neal's proposal has also been endorsed by the more liberal Brookings Institution.

Elsewhere...

Third Congressional District
Rep. James McGovern (D-Worcester) continues to keep the pressure on Congress and the Obama administration over the cut in food stamp aid that was part of the $26 billion jobs bill:

"President Obama pledged to end childhood hunger by 2015," McGovern pointed out. "It's hard to see how you do that while you're cutting food stamps.''

Fifth Congressional District
In the Sentinel, columnist Peter Lucas calls Tom Weaver (R-Westford) "the most qualified candidate you never heard of."

Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Lowell) was in Harvard to tout federal funding for a 220-kilowatt solar power facility at Carlson Orchards.

First Middlesex District
Tony Saboliauskas (D-Pepperell) is part of a group trying to get permission to erect a "Support our Troops" sign on town land in Pepperell.

Second Franklin House District
Earlier this week, David Roulston (D-Greenfield) became the latest candidate to criticize the proposed biomass plant in Greenfield.

Middlesex and Worcester Senate District
The communications director for Sen. Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton) is taking time off during the fall recess to work for the campaign of Ninth District Congressman Stephen Lynch (D-South Boston).

Worcester County Sheriff
Lew Evangelidis (R-Holden) recently visited the Hampden County Sheriff to get some tips on programs for inmates.