TOM DUGGAN'S NOTEBOOK
David
“Where-is-he” Torissi returns
 Like the groundhog each
February, State Representative David
“Where-is-he” Torissi poked his
head out of his hole right on schedule.
But, unlike the groundhog, David
Where-is-he only comes out of his hole
every two years ... at election time. In
the last three months Torissi has come
out of hiding to stand next to Lawrence
Mayor Mike Sullivan at two press
conferences and with Willie Lantigua at
another, always making sure to stand as
close to the master of ceremonies as
possible so that when the press takes
pictures of someone important he will
strategically be positioned to get in the
picture. So, as I do every election year,
let me ask the voters of Lawrence; when
was the last time you saw David “Where-is-he”
Torissi in the City of Lawrence when it
didn’t include a press conference or
a photo op? When was the last time you
saw Where-is-he at a city council meeting
or a neighborhood meeting between
elections? And, when was the last time
Representative Where-is-he actually did
something for the City of Lawrence?
Whisker Walk 2008
Whisker Walk is a fundraiser that
benefits local New England animal
shelters and rescue groups. This
year Whisker Walk will be held on Sunday
June, 8th at the Lancaster Fairground.
Everyone is welcome to join this FREE
event. If you have a dog, bring it! One
Tail at a Time Rescue from Haverhill will
have a booth and will have many people
walking on its behalf. If you would
like to join our team or make a donation,
please email The Valley Patriot’s
Puppy Girl, Kate Whitney at KAHW313
@aol.com. Much needed items such as
newspapers, towels, sheets, collars,
leashes, and paper towels can be donated
at our booth. Gates open at 9 AM
and the walk starts at noon. Hope
to see you there! For more information go
to www.WhiskerWalk.org
Together We Can … And, by
the way, Get Out!
 Governor Deval Patrick sent
out a letter to the voters of Lawrence
last month endorsing State Representative
Willie Lantigua in his bid for
reelection. He then appeared at a
Lantigua fundraiser at Sal’s
Riverwalk where he reportedly endorsed
Lantigua. Two days later, Patrick
attended a fund raiser for my good friend
Marcos Devers at Caesars on Essex Street.
Devers is challenging Lantigua in the
Democrat primary for State Rep. in the
fall. I entered the room of the Devers
event (as a Devers supporter, not as a
member of the press) and started to make
my way towards the front of the room.
Patrick’s “handlers”
immediately demanded that the I leave,
whining that it was the Governor’s
“policy” to exclude the press
from political fund raisers. Can you
imagine? The publicly elected governor
supports a candidate for public office at
a public event but doesn’t think the
press should be able to attend even if
they have a ticket and an invitation from
the candidate.
“We don’t want pictures of the
Governor in any local newspapers from
this event,” one of his aides said.
And it’s no wonder! Apparently Deval
Patrick has just been caught two-timing
Representative Willie Lantigua and former
Mayor Marcos Devers by appearing at both
campaign events and misleading the
supporters from both campaigns as well as
the voters of Lawrence. So which is it
Governor? Who do you really support,
Marcos Devers or Willie Lantigua for
State Representative in Lawrence?
April is Autism Awareness Month
There are many families in the Merrimack
Valley affected by some form of autism.
You can help by participating in the
“Walk Now For Autism” in
Greater Boston on October 19, 2008. For
more information please call 978-688-6655
or email 2boyzz@comcast.net
Georgetown Water Rates to Double?
Three weeks ago the Georgetown Water
Commission met and set new rates that are
said to DOUBLE water bills for Georgetown
residents, effective July 1, 2008. Last
week, they announced the rates to the
Georgetown Finance Advisory Committee. No
rates were handed to the public, nor
visible on the town’s cable TV, but
members noted that the rates would DOUBLE
for town residents. An increase of $160
per year on the base rate was mentioned
(billable at $40 per quarter to
residents). Water Superintendent Glenn
Smith, joined by Water Commissioner
Reidar W. Bomengen, told the Georgetown
Finance Committee of these increased
rates as part of their general
discussions. Only one finance member,
Jack L’Hommedieux questioned the
increase, which comes on the heels of an
announced 4-to-5% raise for most water
department employees. With more than half
the water department budget going to
raises, Mr. L’Hommedieux asked if
any consideration for reductions on the
expense side were explored. He was
visibly less than happy with the lack of
response he received. So now, pony up
Georgetown residents, your water bills
are about to go up dramatically.
Tower Hill Baseball - Lawrence
Sign up now to play baseball or softball
on Tower Hill. Opening day is Saturday
May 3rd at Gagnon Field. For registration
information, or if you are interested in
helping with the 2008 season or the
opening day cookout, please email the
league at towerhilllittleleague
@comcast.net or call the League
President, Mike Curley at 978-681-7576.
Last day to signup is April 14th.
Jimmy V and Nepotism
 I have always liked and
admired Lawrence School Committeeman Jim
Vittorioso from Prospect Hill, but these
days Jimmy seems to have gone a little
overboard. Vittorioso is on what he calls
a “campaign to expose nepotism”
in the Lawrence Public Schools.
Vittorioso rattled off names of several
school department employees who have
family members working in the school
system claiming it is “nepotism,”
but none of the people he publicly
humiliated are in violation of the
nepotism laws. Nepotism is giving
favoritism in hiring and promotions to
immediate family members. Yet none of the
people being “exposed” by Jimmy
V were responsible for hiring or giving
promotions to their relatives. So what’s
going on here? Is it that he just doesn’t
want more than one person from any family
to be working in the Lawrence Public
Schools at one time? I’m not sure
what Jimmy V. is hoping to accomplish
here, but I see nothing wrong with five
members of the same family serving as
firefighters, police officers or public
school employees as long as they are not
being hired BY family members who give
them preference over more qualified
individuals. And, if my friend Jimmy V.
ever does stumble across evidence that
someone in the Lawrence Public School
hired their own family members, I would
hope he would be passing that evidence
along to the Valley Patriot instead of
the Alabama-Eagle or spouting off about
it at a public meeting. Until such
evidence presents itself, however, I
think Jimmy V. should start looking at
the big picture and stop publicly
harassing school employees just because
of who they are related to.
Welcome to New Valley Patriot
Columnist Bill Kelly (Stop Laughing)
 It’s not as if I have
been easy on (now) former North Andover
School Committeeman Bill Kelly in the
last few years. His complacency during
the Al Perry-Harry Harutunian regime was
shameful. His silence on important public
issues was deafening at times and there’s
still that little issue of taking a pay
check after promising not to (though I
understand I am now being blamed for that
one). In short, I’ve called him to
task for numerous issues, so it was quite
the surprise (pleasantly, I must admit)
when I ran into Bill Kelly on Election
Day and he expressed an interest in
writing for the Valley Patriot as a
regular contributor. I do formally accept
Mr. Kelly’s offer to write for the
Valley Patriot. We are interested to hear
what he may have to say about the goings
on of the North Andover School Committee
and the way things really are in our
school system from his perspective. If I
could make a recommendation to Mr. Kelley
for his first column (it’s due March
29th, Bill) I think he should do a post
mortem on the major issues he dealt with
while serving on the committee and answer
some long standing questions people still
have in the community.
Lawrence Needs a Professional
City Manager
You have to hand it to Mark Andrews,
Finance Director for the City of
Lawrence. He hasn’t been on the job
for a year and he has already identified
one of the biggest problems in fixing
Lawrence’s financial crisis:
politics. He has also come up with a
solution … a professional city
manager. And, it seems that Mr. Andrews
has found the perfect candidate to hold
that position … himself! This is an
idea that should be taken very seriously
by the Lawrence City Council and by the
voters of Lawrence. No, I don’t mean
Andrews becoming our city manager (so to
speak), but the idea of having one person
who can run the day to day operations of
the city while the mayor serves as the
city’s CEO. As for Mark Andrews
throwing Mayor Sullivan under the bus (he’s
NOT a team player!) by running to the
Eagle Tribune and setting up the mayor to
be the fall guy and the bumbling idiot.
If he plans it just right, Andrews will
be the city manager with the Trib’s
blessing, Patrick Blanchette (The Trib’s
candidate for mayor in ’09) will be
an impotent mayor who kisses babies and
cuts ribbons, and the city council will
have even less power over city
expenditures than they do now. Who knew
we had such a political genius in Finance
Director Mark Andrews? With this kind of
talent and political insight, maybe
Andrews IS the right guy for the job, or
maybe he should be the next mayor. Just
don’t walk too close to any buses if
he does.
Fire Chiefs lobby for regulation
of chemichal processing in Massachusetts
DANVERS — The Fire Chiefs’
Association of Massachusetts issued a
Call To Action to the state legislature
and Governor Patrick to pass a bill that
would create a system to regulate
chemical processing in Massachusetts.
Speaking at the podium is Concord Fire
Chief Ken Willette, President of the Fire
Chiefs’ Association of
Massachusetts. Willette was joined by
more than 30 fire chiefs across the state
to urge passage of the bill. There is no
systematic oversight of companies which
mix chemicals in Massachusetts, and the
bill would address that. The Fire Chiefs
believe strong regulations on chemical
processing could have helped prevent the
devastating explosion in Danvers in
November, 2006, and a similar explosion
in Leominster the year before
St. Pats Luncheon
Like watching a train wreck that you can
do nothing about, so went the annual
Lawrence St. Patrick’s Day Luncheon
last month. And what a disappointment it
was. It was bad ... really bad. The jokes
were stale, the politicians were boring,
and the audience in attendance was just
plain rude. In contrast to the Methuen
luncheon (run by Mayor Bill Manzi), where
people actually show a little class and
listen to the speakers, the people
attending the Lawrence event seemed
oblivious that there was an event going
on at all.
Speakers could barely hear themselves on
stage over the loud noise of people
talking while one-liner after one-liner
went unheard by 85% of the people in the
room. Last year (and the year before)
David Burke had to take the microphone
several times to scold the audience,
telling people to “shut up” and
“have some common courtesy and
listen.” And though it only worked
for about 4.1 seconds in previous years,
this year he finally gave up and didn’t
even bother to make a plea for decorum.
Despite the poor performance by most of
our local dignitaries, there were a few
standouts this year. Colie Ryan, owner of
the Claddagh Pub, was very funny and
clever, and was one of the few speakers
who got the audience’s attention.
Methuen Mayor Bill Manzi finally stopped
repeating the same jokes from previous
events and had the best line in his top
ten list of reasons why Elliot Spitzer
should be Mayor of Lawrence or Methuen.
NAHS Owed Money
According to State Treasurer Tim Cahill’s
list of abandoned properties the Town of
North Andover, specifically North Andover
High School is listed as the owner of
abandoned properties. Hmm?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
All pictures and
material are
(C) copyright, Valley Patriot, Inc., 2008
|
