After the rousing speech and some time visiting with friends, family and supporters in the shadows of the historic Boott Mills in Lowell, we headed off on the Tsongas Express – a 24 hour tour of the district on a biodiesel bus. On board, she is joined by supporters, family, reporters – and a bunch of children singing “The Wheels on the Bus.” After a quick pit stop at the Owl Diner for some coffee (the first cups of many) and eggs, we were off!
Today’s trip throughout the district will reflect the issues raised in today’s speech – from visiting a veteran’s clinic and a Head Start program to strolling the banks of the Concord River with environmental advocates to burning the midnight oil with firefighters and other emergency personnel. We are all excited to meet so many people from the district and hear about their experiences. Further, we are curious to see who will be the last one standing at the end of our all-nighter!
Stay tuned for regular updates from the Tsongas express.
Ashley, Katina & Molly Tsongas
I was at the parent meeting today at Project Support, Billerica’s integrated preschool program. I was impressed with your directness and your ability to admit that you didn’t have all the answers, but that you wanted to get out there and help us find them.
Thanks for stopping by on your 24 hours tour. We appreciate your dedication to education, especially education.
I was also excited to hear you are a womens college graduated – as am I, and I think womens college graduates make the best leaders!
Best of luck!
Laura
The first eight hours of the Tsongas Express have been a wonderful opportunity to officially launch my candidacy and to learn more about the concerns and hopes of the residents of the 5th District. The sun has come out, and it is turning out to be a beautiful Tuesday. We’ve been receiving messages from supporters all day, and I am so grateful to everyone who has wished me luck. Give me a call at 978-399-8429, and if I’m on the bus, I might even be able to answer! You can also watch video of some of the events of the day on my website.
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Now, we are entering our ninth hour and have just come from a very informative tour of a community health center in Lawrence. The talented health care professionals at the center demonstrated what can be accomplished with limited resources and commitment to a community – but also the continuing critical need for access to affordable coverage.
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The bus has been winding its way through the district. Prior to this visit, I joined my friends Bill Cox and Dave Hall, as well as Paul’s great aunts Effie and Libby, in Haverhill for a downtown walk, stopping in many locally owned businesses along the way (including a few barbershops and a “microcreamery” where some of the supporters picked up some ice cream cones). The city of Haverhill is beginning to be transformed, with public funds serving as a catalyst to revitalize the downtown, to tap into the city’s resources, including its rich history and dedicated community leaders, and to draw in new residents. This story is similar to that of other gateway cities such as Lowell and Lawrence that have a legacy of industrial innovation but need to tap into new technologies and redevelopment funds to thrive again.
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In Hudson, we have met seniors who expressed concerns shared by many in the district, such as the high cost of prescription drugs and the need for affordable housing for seniors and public transportation. Just as we have a responsibility to future generations, we also have a responsibility to our Greatest Generation. After working their whole lives, they deserve to receive the assistance they need to live decent and fulfilling lives.
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Very appropriately, we saw our first glimpses of the sun on the banks of the Concord River, surrounded by activists working to preserve our natural resources. We agreed that global warming is one of the biggest threats facing our nation and one that this Administration continues to ignore to our peril and its great shame.
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We are off to Methuen where I will be joined by my good friend, Congressman Jim Shannon, for dinner at the very popular Shadi’s. From there, we will be back to Lawrence where I will be opening my campaign office on Essex Street with Marcos Devers, Pedro Payano, and leaders in the Latino community, who I look forward to working with closely over the course of the campaign.
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Please check back later, as we approach midnight on the kick-off tour and usher in the new day with some bluegrass music in Lowell.
It is nearing 3:30 in the morning, and we have just visited with ambulance dispatchers serving communities including Lawrence, Groton, Dunstable, and Dracut. Two very impressive young people were ably shouldering the tremendous responsibility of coordinating response to emergency calls. They also brought us back to an earlier visit with the Greater Lawrence Family Health Center, noting that the Center?s services lessened the burden on emergency responders by providing basic care and thereby ensuring fewer people need ambulance services to be taken to the emergency room.
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Just before this visit, we were reenergized by the rowdy crowd at Live Alive Café, dancing to the very lively tunes of the bluegrass band, Hot Day at the Zoo. Between the music, the midnight snack of organic goodies, and the energy of family, friends and supporters, we are ready to continue the tour.
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But let me update you on the past few hours since my last post. Around 6:00 p.m. in Methuen, I joined my good friend Jim Shannon for dinner at Shadi?s restaurant. Jim was an accomplished Congressman for the Fifth Congressional District and continued the great tradition of leadership in our region. Jim and I have known each other for over thirty years, most recently working together on a foundation established by Marty Meehan to provide educational funding for the children of the victims of the 9/11 tragedy. I was grateful to receive his endorsement for my candidacy.
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Following dinner, we headed to Lawrence where we celebrated the opening of my campaign office on Essex Street. I was so pleased to be joined by Marcos Devers and Pedro Payano, two committed leaders in the city of Lawrence. Though the opening was quite an event, our excitement was tempered by concerns for Alex Jimenez, the soldier from Lawrence who was the victim of an ambush in Iraq and is still missing. His family is in our thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.
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We departed from Lawrence around 8:15 p.m. and made our way to the Washington Park Condos in Andover. I heard about the terrible Shawsheen River flooding that this community has repeatedly experienced. My own condo complex in Lowell was flooded in April. This is a serious problem, one that we need to address at the federal level by combating the threat of global warming, and also at the local level by convening leaders at each level of government to come to agreement on a decisive course of action. I?m so grateful that Dottie Winn brought this group together and glad that she is finally back in her home after so many months of being displaced.
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The birds are chirping, and we are off to meet employees during a shift change at Anheuser-Busch. I hope to blog one more time before we end the 24-hour tour by officially opening our headquarters on Market Street in Lowell at 8 am.
It?s been a wonderful 24 hours and we finally made it back to Lowell for the official opening of my campaign headquarters. Two things this trip once again highlighted: first, that we live in an historic and diverse district, and second, that this district is filled with individuals committed to making their communities a better place to live and work. I met a lot of people from Hudson to Haverhill and if I am elected to Congress, I pledge that I will continue to work with each and every one of them to advance change in our communities, our nation and our world. Thank you to everyone who joined us along the way. And, check out our flickr page over the next few days as we post pictures from the tour!
I would like to know just how much money is WASTED in useless mailings. I have clearly gotten 10 mailings which in my opinion are a waste of my time and mail box space. How about taking that money and put it to some good use. I am a white american woman, viet nam era disabled vetern, on SSDI and I’m try to make a go at my own business to become employed and viable again. Seem according to the state DET it’s about my only chance of becoming employed. But over the last month or two I’ve been rejected, laughed at, told I am not employable, and a number of other thing too rude to mention here. Once again again I feel like I’ve been kick and spit on just like I was when I returned from active duty in 1971.
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You politicians think you know it all and you sit in your high and mighty seat collecting a fat salary making decisions that put people like me further down the food chain. When was the last time Niki Tsongas went to the kitchen and found the only dinner she had in the house was a bowl of cerial. When was the last time she had to pick up coins on the street and hope she found enough to put some gas in her car to get to a doctor appointment. Niki, if you’re elected, how about donating your salery for your entire term to vet shelters, food programs, struggling people. Maybe then when you can’t afford a cup of McDonalds coffee you might think about what 1000’s of your constituents are going through all the time.
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I am sick to death of politicians pontificating on how good things are from their sprawling homesteads when I live in a 400sqft walkup with my tools and materials and barely enough room to work/live. GET REAL!!!!
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K in Hudson
I was sorry to hear of your predicament, but I wonder why your anger is directed to Niki Tsongas. First of all, I have received more mailings from Jamie Eldridge and Barry Finegold (who seems to shout alot), than from Niki Tsongas. Secondly, Ms. Tsongas, as far as I know is not independently wealthy. Eileen Donoghue would seem to be the only candidate who is. You are suggesting that if Ms. Tsongas is elected she should donate her salary. That would be fine if she didn’t need to earn a salary to live, like you and I. Actually, it sounds more like a Mitt Romney gimmick. I don’t think she lives on a “sprawling estate”, but a condo in Lowell. Third, something tells me that they wouldn’t send out the mailings if they did not have some effect. While I can certainly understand your frustration, perhaps channeling it into positive action would make a difference, for yourself and others who are in similar situations. Best Wishes.
Ms. Tsongas, as you know the current holder of the MA-05 seat, Rep Meehan, has been pushing for the repeal of Dont Ask Dont Tell. Today Jimmy Carter has joined other leaders and military professionals with a strong statement for the repeal. Where do you stand on this issue? Can the people of MA-05 count on your to take the baton from Rep Meehan and make equality for LGBT Americans a reality?
August 24, 2007
Massachusetts 5th special election
Filed under: UAFA, Events ? adamf @ 9:10 am
Congressman Marty Meehan recently decided to leave Congress and become the Chancellor of UMASS leaving his Congressional seat up for grabs in the overwhelmingly democratic northern Mass. district.
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The primary for the special election will be held Sept. 5th in the district and as the district is considered safely democratic, the primary will determine, for all intents and purposes, the next Congressperson to represent MA-5th.
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In a recent debate the Uniting American Families Act came up and from an attendee to the event, 4 0f 5 candidates were supportive. If you?d like to hear the debate, and more about the candidates position on the UAFA, tune in Immigration Equality activist Tim Coco?s radio station AT WHAV.NET. The debate will air this saturday at 11a.m. this saturday.
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As a side note, Congressman Meehan was excellent on LGBT issues scoring 100% on HRC?s scorecard for many successive Congresses and was the lead sponsor for the Don?t Ask Don?t Tell bill in Congress for the House. He will be missed. Here?s to hoping his successor is just as good on gay stuff.
Most of the Presidential candidates say they support equal protections through Civil Unions, presumably they believe that Congress should change some laws so that CU’s are recognized by the federal government for tax purposes, social security, etc. Do you think that could be accomplished? It will require modifying DOMA somehow, what’s your position on that?
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Of course here in Massachussetts civil unions would be a step back in rights, but nationally, a real advance. So please respond as someone hoping to make federal laws from 2008 to 2010.
The President’s Council On Bioethics recommended, among other things, that Congress prohibit attempts at conceiving children any way other than joining a man’s sperm and a woman’s egg. Missouri just enacted an “egg and sperm law” in 2006 as part of their stem cell initiative, and the anti-cloning “egg and sperm” part was uncontroversial, supported by all sides.
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Those laws are both designed to stop genetic engineering of people, to prevent a descent down a slippery slope to a “Gattaca” or a “Brave New World” of designer babies. They would also have the effect of prohibiting same-sex conception, which is expected to be done in the next three to five years, despite the extreme risks to the child and the monumentalness of the unprecedented change to commercial manufacture of people from natural conception. There are no laws currently preventing a lab from creating a baby with whatever genetic freaks and tweaks they want to give it, or preventing them from attempting same-sex conception, even though animal experiments have shown a less than one percent success rate. Children need to be protected from being the result of these experiments, and the whole issue needs to be taken under control of Congress while the American people are allowed to consider if genetic engineering should be allowed or if we should preserve natural conception. Our rights to use our own genes and procreate naturally could be at risk if we allow companies to offer “improved” versions of our genes or our spouse’s genes.
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Would you support an egg and sperm law to preserve natural conception and prevent cloned or designer babies and babies born from genetically modified stem-cell derived gametes?
Not sure if I am beating a dead horse on this question. How long has Tsongas lived in Lowell for? 35 years some say , other say she moved back to Lowell from Boston 2 months ago to run for the seat?
We have many qualified candidates who have stayed true to our district and represented respective towns well. I was 100% Tsongas, now I have my doubts.
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Please help,
Tyngsboro resident
Stop making this stuff up. There’s no Tyngsboro, crazy idiot! You’re holding up the stem cell research.
http://www.tyngsboro…