As a state representative write-in candidate for the 22nd Middlesex District last fall, I was critical of incumbent Marc Lombardo for being more interested in grabbing headlines with outlandish partisan politics antics than in championing issues that truly matter to Billerica residents.
Hoping to discover Rep. Lombardo learned to cease ignoring the needs of his constituents – such as filing legislation to fund transportation infrastructure, education and law enforcement projects in Billerica – I contacted his office earlier this month for the list of the bills he filed for the current legislative term.
Two phone calls and two e-mail requests later, this is the verbatim response I received:
Dean,
This is public information listed at malegislature.gov.
-Marc
Such a terse, succinct reply with no background information led me to believe Rep. Lombardo had filed far too many bills to be listed in a return e-mail. But once I logged on to the above website and searched proposed legislation under his name, I realized this was sadly not the case.
Rep. Lombardo currently has a total of 23 bills with his name attached, which is close to average for state reps. However, regrettably only two directly pertain to Billerica issues, including one co-sponsored by Democratic State Sen. Ken Donnelly for an environmental clean-up and other operating costs for the VFW Solomon Post.
Besides the typical national Republican ideology bills regarding taxes, immigration and pro-life issues, the most embarrassing legislation Rep. Lombardo sponsored is the one he’s proposed to change the Massachusetts open meeting law that his buddies on the Board of Selectmen were recently guilty of violating. His recommended amendment to the current law would empower a board chairman to close any public meeting for executive session when he believes negotiations for any third-party service, such as hiring a new town counsel, could be detrimentally affected by discussing in the open forum. So much for transparency in government.
Having thoroughly reviewed Rep. Lombardo’s proposed legislation, such as repealing the state’s mandatory motorcycle helmet requirement and outlawing double utility poles longer than 90 days, I now understand why he must have been hesitant to send them directly to me along with any rationalizations.
For the record, Rep. Lombardo refused to recognize me as a candidate last fall, even balking at a BATV debate, because I was not officially listed on the ballot. And now he’s refused to recognize me as a constituent worthy of an explanation of his sponsored legislation.
Perhaps you will be next Billerica resident who Rep. Lombardo will blatantly dismiss.
Dean Santoro
Treble Cove Road
You ran against him. Then you sent him an email asking if he could do oppo research on himself for you.
…to ask a legislator’s office what bills he has filed unless said legislator has a guilty conscience and is ashamed of his record. A good legislator should be happy to state what bills he has filed and proudly explain way, maybe with a subtle hint of “and you thought I wasn’t any good, didn’t you?”
Given this state’s right of petition, however, if Mr. Santoro has specific legislation he wishes to see filed he should ask Rep. Lombardo to do so.
whenever I want to look at legislation that’s where I go.