To the Editor:

I am writing to express my support for Ed MacDonald, who is running for the position of state representative from the First Berkshire District. Mr. MacDonald is currently the town administrator in the community of Chester, and as the agent for the Board of Health, I have had the pleasure of working with Ed on many occasions. I have always found him to be professional, friendly and knowledgeable.

In the town of Chester, Ed works for the people. He makes it a point to get to know the residents as individuals. He always looks toward the best interests of the town and works to make those interests become reality. His background in urban planning has proven to be an asset to the town, giving him the knowledge to find ways to create jobs, to help the taxpayers put their money to work in the best, most efficient way, and to get things done correctly.

While Ed will certainly be missed as town administrator, his election to the position of state representative of the 1st Berkshire District will show you what you've been missing in a representative. He will for you and your community – because it's his community too.

Erin Kirchner
Chester
The writer is health agent for the Town of Chester.

To the Editor:

As chairman of the Chester Board of Selectmen, I had the pleasure of getting to know Ed MacDonald and working with him for over the past year. I first met Ed when the Board of Selectmen was in the process of hiring a town administrator last year at a time of chaos in the Town Hall and significant financial deficits due to cuts in local aid. We chose him because of the breadth and depth of his experience in municipal government that would be instrumental in getting our town back on its feet.

The qualities I like most about Ed was his commitment and dedication to our town and its citizens, the valuable help to the selectboard in closing a large budget deficit while maintaining all services in the FY10 budget, and the fact that he is not afraid to "roll up his sleeves" to get the job done!

I know in my heart that, if elected as your state representative, Ed will most certainly bring these same qualities to his district. He will be the kind of representative we need in Boston, dedicated to his constituents and their quality of life but cognizant of the financial difficulties the people and the state face. He will offer viable solutions to our state’s budget woes while working with his Western Mass. peers to ensure that the state’s budget is equitable. Most importantly, he will work tirelessly on your behalf and get the job done!

On Sept. 14, please vote for Ed MacDonald as your Massachusetts state representative!

Michael W. Crochiere
Chester

To the Editor:

I read with interest the letter to the editor by Herman Bishop in the September 2 Transcript concerning the race for Sherriff. While I know that as a retired police officer, Mr. Bishop has a bias towards a fellow officer, I was left wondering if we had watched the same debate. Dan Bosley clearly had the command of the issues and even Mr. Bishop’s candidate  said that he was one of the "best orators ” in the state. I believe that this is an important quality because the next Sheriff has to be a good communicator. He has to persuade others of his vision and plans. He has to negotiate contracts, sell his budget, apply and win grants, and be very clear as to the rules and regulations of the facility with inmates, guards and others. Being one of the best communicators in the state is a big plus.

However, it is not how you say something that is as important as what you say. Since Mr. Bowler didn’t propose any new ideas to meet the challenges of the jail for the third debate in a row, Mr. Bishop is left to be an apologist for his candidate and can only question the details of Dan  Bosley’ s plan.

I find that I disagree with a lot of the interpretations of the debate from the letter. For example, Mr. Bishop wrote that a lot of the programs proposed are already at the jail. Yet Mr. Bosley has demonstrated many times that the services are not there and that more is needed. Again, you have to listen to the details of the plans to understand this. Mr. Bishop criticized Bosley for the budget cut over the past two years. Notwithstanding the fact that we have been in the worst recession in the past 80 years and all programs have been cut, Mr. Bosley has been the only one who has talked about the need to seek other funding sources. He has also proposed ways to cut expenses by using new technologies and changes in the operation. So far Mr. Bowler hasn’t proposed one budgetary change.

Mr. Bishop poses the question of whether  the correctional officers are police because they direct traffic and wear a badge. I hardly think that directing traffic makes you a police officer. The Sheriff doesn’t investigate crime nor do they act as the police department. This is an administrative job.

One final note on the issue of the Sheriff being the top law enforcement officer in the county. I would ask Mr. Bishop this question: If he were a victim of a crime or saw one in progress, would he call the police department or the Sheriff’s office? Anyone who has attended any of the three debates that have been held can only come away with one inescapable conclusion. The only one of the two candidates who is qualified to become the next Sheriff based on their knowledge of the job, their experience in areas that matter, and their ability to think and communicate is Dan Bosley.
 

Wilfred Parmenter
29 Crandall Street
Adams

Daniel E. Bosley addresses the Maple Grove Civic Club as three candidates hoping to replace him, David Bissaillon, left, Edward MacDonald and Gailanne Cardiid look on.

ADAMS, Mass. — The candidates for 1st District and the sheriff's office spent their last formal campaign gathering on Sunday afternoon chasing a few more voters.

Both sheriff's candidates, Thomas N. Bowler and Daniel E. Bosley, and all three representative candidates, Gailanne Cariddi, David Bissaillon and Edward MacDonald, spent just over an hour giving their stump speeches and answering a smattering of questions from the nearly 50 members of the Maple Grove Civic Club.

"For us the race is almost over ...," said Bosley, who spoke first. "This primary on Tuesday is the election. There is no Republican in either of these races, so whoever wins the primary becomes — barring a miracle on the Republican side — the sheriff or state representatives it's extremely important that you get out and make your vote."

Tom Bowler in a pensive pose, top, during the Maple Grove Civic Club candidates' forum. Bosley, left, chats up civic club members afterward.

Tuesday's election will fill two long-occupied and important political positions; Carmen Massimiano has been sheriff for 32 years, Bosley representative for 24. The forum, the last before the election, capped off a series of more formal encounters on local television and radio over the past months.

The candidates stuck to their stump speeches in the short time allowed.

"You know me. I've been your state representative for 24 years," said Bosley, whose district includes Adams. "I've brought more programs, more services, more money back to the 1st Berkshire District than anyone who's ever held this seat."

Bosley stressed his focus on security, rehabilitation and re-entry, saying he'd
laid out a plan to develop new programs, bring adult probation into the House of Correction and find cost savings measures, including solar energy and the possibility of a regional lockup.

Bowler, a 20-year Pittsfield Police detective, pointed to his longtime collaboration with various federal and local law enforcement agencies and said he would work on communication between agencies. He added, "you're not just dealing with the law enforcement aspect, you're dealing with the social service aspect as well with the victims and families."

The main difference between the sheriff candidates has been their philosophical take on the sheriff's office, with Bosley describing it as an administrator position and Bowler as a law enforcement issue. However, both answered similarly when asked about resources and if it was worthwhile to spend time and money on criminals.

"Our job is to rehabilitate those people - they're not all bad, but they've made bad choices," said Bowler. "We need to give these people the opportunity to become good people."

Bosley said it was cost-effective to provide services to help keep inmates from returning, noting it costs about $43,000 to keep someone in the House of Correction. "We need to give them services to keep them out; we can't keep them all out but it saves us money if we give them services ... We need them to take responsibility, to work a 40-hour work week."

Cariddi greets town meeting members Starr and Pat Baker.

MacDonald promised to 'bring home the bacon.'

Bissaillon had a contingent of supporters at the forum.

Budget cuts have made it difficult but Bosley said he would work to find funding. "I think I can squeeze some money out of the state ... but we need to find other sources to generate revenue ourselves."

"I do not have the legislative experience Dan Bosley has in Boston but I do know where Boston is and  have a car and i know how to get there," responded Bowler, though he had previously said he wouldn't hang around at the State House. He pledged to "use every resource I can."

Both MacDonald and Bissaillon are from Adams and Cariddi highlighted her family business connections to the town through some of the former stores, such as Albert's Hardware.

Bissaillon said his experience as president of the Berkshire Chamber of Commerce has given invaluable regional leadership and good professional, working relationship with the area's many businesses, agencies and loal officials. The most important thing he's heard during his campaign, he said, was jobs.

"Berkshire County has an aging work force ... We need to work to make sure our young people stay here," he said, but added it wasn't easy to bring employers here. "We have to take advantage of our strengths. ... We have to make attractive for companies to come here."

MacDonald, a former selectman who is now town manager for Chester, said he has the educational and legislative experience to make a difference in the State House. He said the proof was his efforts in bringing in millions of dollars of grant money for the town both singly and in cooperation with nearby communities.

My town received the second-highest grant in the state," he said. "When I took the position in the town of Chester we were $380,000 in the red last year, we turned that town around and ended up with with $55,000 this year. ... when I go to Boston it'll be to get things done — I'm going to bring home the bacon."

Polls for the primary will be open from 7 to 8 on Tuesday, Sept. 11. Adams voters are reminded that voting will be at the Department of Public Works garage on North Summer Street.

Because this is a primary, those enrolled in parties must vote in their party's primary; those unenrolled may select which party's primary they wish to vote in.

DALTON, Mass. — Dan Valenti, a local columnist and commentator, recently endorsed Tom Szczepaniak for state representative from the 2nd Berkshire District in "Planet Valenti," a column he writes for The Pittsfield Gazette.

In his column, Valenti writes:

If this election is about Szczepaniak's past, he wins. He withstood the anonymous attacks against his wayward youth with honesty and dignity. If anything, his checkered past signals character and integrity. You don't come back from the bottom unless those words mean more to you than bumper-sticker slogans. The indications point to the Mark campaign for sending the media the anonymous stink bombs on his opponent's legal past. Mark denies the charge. Nonetheless, they came from someone. Mark resembles Col. Mustard in the library with the candlestick. Beyond attacking Szczepaniak, Mark has offered voters little except to fetch water for the large public employee unions. Suriner, a Middlefield selectwoman and retired Episcopal priest, is not ready to move out of the lower minors of backwater local politics. Suriner, who would be eaten up in Boston, may use her loss as meditation fodder for evening vespers. The Planet endorses Szczepaniak.