Campaign odds and ends: Lights, camera, action!

While I try to keep up with the campaigns, stuff falls through the cracks or gets lost in the Internet. So I took a look around to see what I've been missing over the last week or so. Apparently I've been missing lots of local TV and radio appearances. So here is a roundup of stuff that hasn't been making the roundups...

Second Congressional District

Tom Wesley (R-Hopedale) spoke out about President Obama choosing to film The View instead of making a speech to the Boy Scouts. While the legislature just outlawed texting while driving, apparently videotaping web commercials while driving is still legal. Look out for that truck, Tom!

Second Franklin House District
Greenfield Community Television has posted brief video statements from the five candidates:
Steven Adam (R-Orange)
Denise Andrews (D-Orange)
Lee Chauvette (D-Athol)
David Roulston (D-Greenfield)
Roxanne Wedegartner (D-Greenfield)

First Congressional District
Greenfield Community Television also has a video statement from Bill Gunn (R-Belchertown).

Fifth Congressional District
The Groton Channel has also been hosting some candidates. Jon Golnik (R-Carlisle) made an appearance last week.

Eighth Worcester House District
Rep. George Peterson (R-Grafton) called in to the Jeff Katz Show on WXKS-AM to talk about the sales tax holiday and the end of the legislative session.

Sixth Worcester House District
Peter Durant (R-Spencer) visited with Jane Woodworth of WESO-AM radio. In his current role as Spencer Selectman, Durant and the other members of the board are considering fines for utility companies who do not clean up old utility poles.

12th Worcester House District
Treasurer Tim Cahill recognized Rep. Harold Naughton (D-Clinton) for his leadership in retroactively extending the Welcome Home Bonus for Vietnam Veterans to include veterans who served from 1973-1975.

Challenger James Gettens (R-Sterling) criticized Naughton for voting to streamline the approval of wind energy projects by bypassing local planning boards.

Worcester County Sheriff
Finally, Scot Bove (D-Holden) announced that he has received the endorsements of the Worcester County Superior Officers (Local 275) and the Worcester County Corrections Officers (Local 550).

Challenger has a Tsong for Tsongas

Alright, this probably isn't the biggest story out there today, but it is destined to become a classic. Tom Weaver (R-Westford) has fired off this salvo against Fifth Congressional District Representative Niki Tsongas (D-Lowell):

"When will American's learn..." that politicians who can rewrite classic folk tunes and perform them are the next wave. I'm hoping that Tsongas comes back with a cover of a Joni Mitchell tune as a response.

Or maybe she'll just respond with a press release. That's what the National Republican Congressional Committee has done with Tsongas, attacking her for high unemployment. If you read the release closely, it's clear that it is a generic release and that the words "Niki Tsongas" "Tsongas" and "Massachusetts" can easily be swapped out for, say, "Carol Shea-Porter" "Porter" and "New Hampshire" or any number of other Democrats being targeted by the NRCC.

For her part, Tsongas is touting a $43 million loan guarantee for Beacon Power of Tyngsboro to build a "20 MW flywheel energy storage plant, now under construction in Stephentown, New York."

Earlier today, Jon Golnik (R-Carlisle) was a guest on the Callie Crossley Show on WGBH-FM radio.

Tuesday roundup: Good day to spend in the hammock

Another sleepy August day came and went, with little election news to report around Central Mass. Here's what's new...

Worcester County Sheriff
Lew Evangelidis (R-Holden) spoke in support of James McKenna, a write-in candidate for Attorney General.

First Congressional District
Bill Gunn (R-Belchertown) appeared at a rally in Leominster. DaTechGuy has the video.

Ninth Worcester House District
Rep. George N. Peterson Jr. (R-Grafton) switched his vote on CORI reform from yes to no after a provision to allow for "dangerous hearings for defendants charged with felony firearm offenses" was added to the final bill.

Fifth Congressional District
Both Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Lowell) and challenger Jon Golnik (R-Carlisle) were profiled at Yes We Will Lawrence.

37th Middlesex House District
Sponsores of the bill to allow local communities to more easily set up their own local electrical utilities--including Rep. Jen Benson (D-Lunenburg) are lamenting the legislature's inablity to pass the legislation before the end of the session.

Weekend roundup: Senate stays on 15, dares Governor to take hit

As the State Legislature wound down the session Saturday, the big news was not that the House and Senate both passed the compromise Casino bill, but that the margin in the Senate was again 25-15, two votes shy of a veto-proof majority. So, if the Governor vetoes the bill as he has promised and if Senate President Therese Murray (D-Plymouth) calls a special session to consider the veto, gambling supporters need to get two opposing senators to switch their votes.

Locally, it appears that each of the representatives and senators up for reelection voted the same way they did when the issue came up earlier this session. Interestingly, that included Sen. Harriette Chandler (D-Worcester) who voted for the three casino, two racino proposal despite her insistance last week that she would not vote for a bill that included slot parlors for racetracks. As of this evening, Chandler has not publicly discussed her change of heart.

Elsewhere...

Third Congressional District
Rep. James McGovern (D-Worcester) was vocal in his support for the House bill that strengthens oversight of offshore dirlling. "If you want to apologize for Big Oil, go right ahead, but the American people are not on your side on this one," he said.

Martin Lamb (R-Holliston) unveiled an economic package of tax cuts, including "putting a six-month moratorium on payroll taxes such as Social Security." He could not tell the Attleboro Sun-Chronicle how he would pay for the tax cuts.

Lamb claims he is winning the Facebook primary. According to statistics provided by Lamb and published in the Telegram, Lamb has nearly triple the number of Facebook friends as Brian Herr (D-Hopkinton), his closest competition for the Republican nomination. That and $1.99 will get him a coffee an Dunks.

First Congressional District
The House of Representatives is apparently so upset with HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan that it refused to fund his travel budget. While John Olver (D-Amherst) opposed the measure, he did so tepidly and did not block it from coming out of his committee.

Fifth Congressional District
Jon Golnik (R-Carlisle) has no use for the legal decision striking down parts of Arizona's immigration law.

Sam Meas (R-Haverhill)  took a spin on syndicated radio's The Roger Hedgecock show.

Second Congressional District
Barron's has dubbed the provision Rep. Richard Neal (D-Springfield) has proposed to close tax loopholes for foreign insurance comanies "Hurricane Neal" for it's potential impact on the re-insurance industry.

Middlesex and Worcester Senate District
Sen. Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton) was criticized by Glenn Beck, of all people, for his leadership on the bill to apportion Massachusetts's electoral votes based on the winner of the popular vote.

18th Worcester House District
Shaun Sutner of the Telegram suggests that Rep. Jennifer Callahan (D-Sutton) is operating under a double standard when it comes to lobbying and campaign finance issues.

11th Worcester House District
Matthew Beaton (R-Shrewsbury) was photographed on a golf course with President Geroge H. W. Bush and a Beaton for Representative bumper sticker. This earned a "President Bush throws support behind Beaton" headline from Daily Westborough.

Worcester County Sheriff
The Telegram looks at the four candidates for Sheriff.

Thursday roundup: Tsongas tried to keep Schilling's company in Mass.?

Wednesday was slow with a capital "S", so in keeping with the media's tradition of headlining a Red Sox story when nothing else is going on, we start with former Red Sox hero and current businessman/blowhard Curt Schilling. In a discussion with WEEI Radio about Rhode Island's decision to offer Schilling's video game company 38 Studios a $75 million guarantee to move the business to the Ocean State, Schilling mentioned that he'd only received help from one Massachusetts politician:

Although Schilling “absolutely” wished Massachusetts had offered incentives to keep 38 Studios in the Bay State, only U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas, D-Mass., made a significant effort to explore the possibility, he said.

“We made every effort to make that happen, and it was not going to happen,” he said. Officials in Massachusetts have said the state would never provide as large a guarantee as $75 million to a single company.

I'm not sure what pull Tsongas (D-Lowell) would have since the state would have made the decision, but Schilling's company is located in Maynard for the time being and Maynard is in her Fifth Congressional district, so perhaps she just saw it as good constituent relations.

In a completely unrelated item, challenger Jon Golnik (R-Carlisle) got the Lowell Sun to publish a story about his call for Tsongas to call for House Ways and Means Committee chairman Charlie Rangel to step down:

"Instead of supporting partisan friendships, Nancy Pelosi, Niki Tsongas and the rest of our elected officials in Washington need to stand up for what is right and demand for their colleague's resignation. People are cynical because once again, members of Congress are above the law," Golnik said in a statement....

"If his colleagues feel he is too unethical too keep his money, then he is too unethical to spend ours," Golnik said.

Tsongas probably has less pull with Rangel than she does with some state development authority, but at least Golnik got an article out of it.

Sam Meas (R-Haverhill) came out against the expiration of last decade's deficit-building tax cuts.

Elsewhere....

Middlesex and Worcester Senate District
Rep. Jamie Eldridge told the Lowell Sun that Schilling never asked him for any help. Maynard is part of the Middlesex and Worcester District.

Third Congressional District
Not only has Rep. James McGovern (D-Worcester) been all over the news as a leader of the anti-war effort, he has also drafted a letter (along with Democratic Rep. Jan Schankowsky of Illinois) urging Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to call for investigations of war crimes in Sri Lanka.