My grandfather came to this country from Ireland with very little.  As a butcher in Boston, he put five children through school.  Because we were fortunate enough to live in a community that values education and during a time when the economy rewarded the effort of regular working people, two generations later I was able to attend a good university.  Indebted to a system that rewarded hard work, I chose to pursue a career as a public servant - specifically as an economic development advisor to struggling communities across the US and the globe.

But now, that system is failing us; the promise that ‘if you work hard you will be rewarded’ is slipping away.  Each year, we work harder for less; health care costs, food costs, property taxes, fuel and education costs are all on the rise.  And although I have great respect for anyone that has served in a public capacity, I simply do not believe that our current representative has made the meaningful impact that we need to see on the issues that matter.

I want to do more for us.  From the beginning of this campaign, I have given my full effort to addressing the needs of regular working people. I have used our campaign resources not to send junk mail but to talk to you, my neighbors, about our needs and priorities for the coming years. Through my old-fashioned approach of going door-to-door, I have built a platform that reflects our needs and that can move us forward. 

Our people are hungry for smart ideas.  We share a vision of a government that works for working people.  We’re looking for small grants for residents to start home heating oil cooperatives, assistance to towns looking to upgrade their technology and retrofit their buildings to drive down costs, for reform to outdated affordable housing laws that punish towns yet do nothing to retain a young workforce. I want to give taxpayers a fair deal and audit the nearly $20b in hidden state expenditures. I want to bring the community into our schools by offering tax rebates to local volunteers. I want to get smarter about how we can bring prevention incentives into our state’s health insurance plan and drive down costs.

Above all, we want a government committed to action. With so much pressure on working people, three out of five representatives still hold another job. In 2007 over 700 of the roughly 800 bills passed were ‘non-binding’ measures that did nothing to attack the big problems.  And last year Beacon Hill lobby groups had their most lucrative year ever. 

Here in our district, the voting history of our current representative hasn’t reflected the desires of the people; he’s voted against a circuit-breaker measure that would give struggling seniors some relief on property tax overrides, voted against Cape Wind and against loan counseling for first time mortgage recipients.  Yet while he has voted against a number of bills (nearly always along party lines), he offered only a handful of bills himself during his four years in office. 

Today, we simply cannot have another two years of ‘politics-as-usual’.  Being a representative must mean more than just casting votes. It has to mean working day and night with no other obligations - something only I can offer.  It has to mean publicly refusing the assistance of political action groups and special interest money - something only I have done. And it has to mean engaging with the public about what ideas will move us forward.  Of the two candidates, only I have an ‘issues’ page or any literature with policy stances. 

In my professional work as a development advisor to innovative projects around the globe I have consistently brought multiple stakeholders together to get services to struggling communities in creative, cost-effective ways. Through this position, I will continue that effort.  As an Independent, I have the unique ability to caucus with either party and bring the business acumen of the right to the public ventures of the left.  We need progress but due to the political reality of Massachusetts, my opponent’s Republican affiliation can only unfortunately translate into more failed legislation and lost time for our communities.

By this point, I have knocked on thousands of doors. I have not one but hundreds of reasons why I am running for this office: the tense face of the Plainville senior who mentions that she’s taking only half of her medication because she can’t pay her bills; the frustration of the father struggling to provide health care to his children; the disappointment of regular people who wonder why gas had to get to $4 before our government got serious about renewable energy, or why a bridge had to collapse in the midwest before our representatives began to address crumbling infrastructure, or why it took economic collapse for government to tighten the belt. 

With the right ideas, initiative and new energy, we can meet the challenges of the coming years. If there was ever a time for a fresh approach, it is this year.

Thank you,

Tom Roache

Candidate for State Representative, Norfolk County 9th District