This Tuesday I held a press conference with fellow candidate for the State Legislature, Kurt Hayes who is running for State Representative. We addressed the Property Tax override vote that was held that day in Shirley, a town that we both hope to represent.
We talked about how the override vote was one of the tangible products of our broken state government. Kurt mentioned how the town of Shirley would have received almost $700,000 in lottery aid(almost the exact amount sought in the override) had the House of Representatives voted in favor of an amendment to send $450 million back to our cities and towns. Kurt spoke about how he hopes the ballot question in his district, which calls for the local state representative to vote in favor of sending the lottery revenue back (as it was originally designed for!) to the cities and towns.
What I took the time to talk about is how Beacon Hill lawmakers, like my opponent, claim to be in favor of local aid but they never seem to actually fight for it. The statistic and facts I offered to support my case were this: State revenues have grown $9 Billion (40%) since 2002 while local aid has increased by just $100 Million (2.7%). If Beacon Hill Lawmakers like my opponent claim to be in favor of local aid, then why, when given the chance with record revenue, have they not sent more local aid back to the cities and towns? The answer is that for Beacon Hill our communities are not a priority, and that is what I am running to change.
We were joined at the press conference by Massachusetts Republican Party Chair and former United States Congressman Peter Torkildsen, as well as a strong group of supporters despite its timing in the middle of the week and POURING rain!
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