Tuesday Roundup: McGuane out of Second Franklin race, Chauvette opposes "biomass plant"

Lots of news coming out of the Second Franklin District today. The most important (and most inevitable) of which is the news that Martin McGuane (D-Greenfield) who pled to a DUI charge last week has pulled out of the race. Michael Henry of Montague Matters read between the lines of the former candidate's announcement:

In a simple press statement, e-mailed Thursday at 7:31 p.m., the 53-year-old candidate was quoted as saying, ‘Due to health issues and personal reasons, I am withdrawing from the race, effective immediately.’

...He might have done a good job if his “health issues” (read: alcoholism) and his personal reasons (read: piss-poor liar) didn’t force him to withdraw.

McGuane is the second candidate to withdraw from the contest this month. Genieveve Fraser (U-Orange) announced on July 7 that she was pulling out because she had "developed photosensitivity and must avoid direct sunlight." In her announcement, Fraser endorsed Roxanne Wedegartner (D-Greenfield).

In policy news, Lee Chauvette (D-Athol) is opposing the construction of what he calls a "biomass plant" in Greenfield. In a strongly worded statement, he wrote:

“People aren’t just worried about the quality of the air, or the 'eyesore'--such as the stack height of such a project; they’re concerned about their health and the health of their kids and community. These concerns have been voiced to me frequently, and not from just Greenfield residents, but residents from Gill, Erving and even Montague and beyond. It’s not enough to say the issue of Biomass in Greenfield is a 'Greenfield' issue, especially when as a candidate to represent the entire District I have an incumbent responsibility to protect the interests of all citizens.”*

In other election news...

Third Congressional District
Rep. James McGovern (D-Worcester) has been making the media rounds in response to the leaking of classified documents related to the war in Afghanistan. He told Chris Matthews on MSNBC:

"...The documents that were released paint a very grim picture and our men and women who are fighting the battle are doing an incredible job,” said Mr. McGovern. “It’s clear they have no reliable partners. They can’t trust the government of Afghanistan because Karzai is corrupt. They can’t trust the Afghan police or the Afghan military because they’re corrupt. Now we have news that the Pakistani intelligence are working to undercut the American men and women we’re putting in harm’s way. This is an outrage.”

Second Congressional District
Rep. Richard Neal (D-Springfield) continues to come under fire from European governments and the reinsurance industry for his proposal to do away with tax deductions for reinsurers based overseas.

Challenger Tom Wesley (R-Hopedale) has posted a new web ad criticizing Neal for...just about everything.

* -- Update 9:40 pm: In the original version of this post, I noted that "The developers of the plant, Co-op Power, defended their proposed plant (they call it biodiesel, not biomass) in a post at Blue Mass. Group." I received an email from the Chauvette campaign explaining that his opposition is to "a 'biomass' plant being proposed in Greenfield by Madera Power under the name of Pioneer Power." I regret the error.

Daily Roundup: McGuane pleads to DUI charge, Richard Neal in Bermuda Triangle

Today's top story again comes from the Second Franklin House District, where candidate Martin A. McGuane (D-Greenfield) has pled to the DUI charges stemming from his arrest over the weekend. From the Springfield Republican:

GREENFIELD - Martin A. McGuane, a candidate for the 2nd Franklin seat in the state House of Representatives, is losing his driver's license for 45 days and must take an alcohol education program after pleading to facts sufficient for a finding of guilty following his arrest early Saturday on alcohol charges.

The case Wednesday was continued without a finding for one year in District Court....

When asked about his political future, McGuane said Wednesday he would release a statement this week.

In other CMass election news today...
 
The big news out of Bermuda is that Congressman Richard Neal (D-Springfield) is coming under fire from Germany's ambassador over his bill to "remove the tax-deductibility of reinsurance premiums paid to a foreign affiliate if the amount exceeds the industry average for third-party reinsurance." Back on Capitol Hill, the representative from the Second District is agressively trying to build support to be named the next Ways and Means Committee Chairman. Bloomberg reports that Neal has donated over $400,000 to the campaigns of fellow Democrats just in the last five months.

Tom Wesley (R-Hopedale), running against Neal, appeared last Friday with Jay Severin. The video of his appearance on the radio show is here.

First Congressional District Rep. John Olver (D-Amherst), blocked a $350 million appropriation for the proposed Transforming Rental Assisstance program from coming out of his House Appropriations Transportation, Housing and Urban Development subcommittee. He told The Hill the proposal should be subject to a full debate and not added to an appropriations bill.

Rep. Paul Kujowski (D-Webster), running for re-election in the Eighth Worcester District, explained his vote to allow developers of wind energy projects to circumvent local planning boards. Rep. Anne Gobi (D-Spencer) discussed why the proposal was bad for voters in her Fifth Worcester District.
 
All four candidates for Worcester County Sheriff are scheduled to attend a Twin City Tea Party candidate forum Monday night in Leominster.
 
The announcement that Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Margaret Marshall is retiring this fall should give a boost to the race between Jennie Caissie (R-Oxford) and Fran Ford (D-Paxton) for Governor's Council. While the council will ratify or reject her replacement before this fall's election, the high-profile appointment should help citizens better understand the role of councilors.