6th Middlesex candidates trying to separate themselves
Even Pam Richardson is at a loss to find substantial and marked differences in the political stances of the three Democrats vying for the 6th Middlesex state rep race. And she’s the incumbent running for re-election.
“To be honest I haven’t taken the time to study either of the candidates in the race, I’ve been concentrating on my campaign,” she said. “I believe that all three candidates are very similar on many of the issues.
“But we’re not the same as far as getting acheter cialis things done on Beacon Hill and that’s where I stand out from the levitra bestellen rest.”
Her opponents, Dawn Harkness and Chris Walsh, cast more issues-based aspersions when distancing themselves from their opponents on Friday.
Harkness cited her environmental advocacy.
Specifically, Harkness pointed to her Town Meeting proposal that resulted in the formation of the Greener Framingham Committee in the spring of 2007.
Among other things, the committee is charged with assessing the energy use, waste, and conservation in town-owned buildings and recommending ways to make Framingham more environmentally friendly. Those moves could also save the town a different kind of green - money.
Specifically the group provided the town information regarding present and potential alternative energy options and conservation methods the town can or could use, like a translucent roof for a new town maintenance garage.
Such information allowed the town to answer a “commonwealth capital” checklist that puts Framingham in a better position for state funding opportunities.
“I’m not afraid to identify and talk about things before they’re popular,” said Harkness.
Her nurturing of that committee, she said, delineates her from Richardson and fellow Town Meeting member Chris Walsh, who is also running for the post.
Citing a plan for a downtown overhaul that Walsh helped draft in the 1990s and mentioned during a debate last week that has yet to materialize, Harkness said, “They haven’t delivered anything like this.”
Of Richardson, Harkness said, “Pam’s approach is playing follow the leader. That’s not leadership.”
Walsh, meanwhile, said he would file legislation to revise a state law commonly referred to as the Dover Amendment. That provision allows projects that meet a certain criteria - such as having an educational or religious use - to skirt local zoning laws.
The vitriolic legal battle that has pitted the town against the South Middlesex Opportunity Council is “a direct consequence of the use of the Dover Amendment in Framingham,” according to Walsh.
SMOC, a human services organization, filed suit last fall against the town, claiming a conspiracy of town officials and residents blocked expansion of its programming.
Last week, SMOC took the town to land court after the Zoning Board of Appeals last month rejected a proposed move of the agency’s headquarters into a manufacturing zone. It cited Dover in its attempt to get the project approved. The ZBA did not think the facility featured a primary an educational use and rejected the Dover thinking. Now, SMOC is appealing that decision, citing a myriad of programs from child care to behavioral health care as being educational.
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Changing Dover, says Walsh, would “return local control and clear guidelines to the development of any facilities that might be needed to help vulnerable residents.”
Walsh suggests neither Harkness nor Richardson will lead on this issue.
“Ms. Richardson is mute, refusing to lend her support to previous legislative efforts on this issue while Ms. Harkness encourages confrontation over collaboration allowing personal passions to supersede public interests,” wrote Walsh in an e-mail.
The state primary is Tuesday, Sept. 16. There are no Republican candidates on the ballot.
(Dan McDonald can be reached at 508-626-4416 or dmcdonal@cnc.com.)
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