Devin Romanul for State Rep

Yesterday was an historic occasion in which Barack Obama was elected to the Presidency of the United States. Voter turnout was outstanding throughout the country and in Massachusetts we saw turnout well over 80%. On a much more local level, my opponent Mr. Jay Barrows won reelection in the First Bristol District, and I offer him my sincere congratulations. The road ahead is a difficult one, and I wish him luck in governing in such an uneasy time.

I would like to thank those who cast their vote for me, and want to let them know that I will never forget them. Not a day goes by that I do not think about the stories and experiences of the people who I have met, and I will continue to speak out on their behalf. A heartfelt thank you especially goes out to my friends and family who were always there for me and worked so hard with me on this campaign. I never would have been able to do this without all of you.

Finally, In the wake of his election, I urge people to stay as actively involved and remain as keenly aware of our local and national government as they have been in recent months. It is incredibly important that we always keep track of what is going on, hold officials accountable and take charge of the bodies that govern us.

With Election Day less than two weeks away, I am writing to the voters of Mansfield, Foxboro and Norton to ask for their vote in my campaign for state representative.  I will serve as your full time state rep, not split my time and energy between your interests and personal business endeavors.  We have no part time issues in Massachusetts, and simply cannot afford part time leadership.  I will not only fight for long term economic development in the new energy sector but also install cost saving energy programs to more efficiently spend your money.  If elected, I will strive to protect our consumers, enact preventative health measures to combat problem such as childhood obesity, and work to maintain the highest quality public education.

Age has certainly been an issue in this campaign, and one that I would like to address.  While I am 24, I have made the most of every opportunity presented to me in life.  Growing up in Mansfield, I have been deeply involved in the community as an eagle scout as well as teaching children in local theaters.  As I obtained my bachelor’s degree in political science from Trinity College in Hartford, I had the privilege of serving as the college’s student government president where I tackled very serious issues of race, poverty and security in one of the nation’s poorest cities.  I even had the opportunity to teach an undergraduate course on British Politics following my experiences working in the Labor Party headquarters and 10 Downing Street in London.  Over the last 3 years I have managed a state senate campaign as well as a citywide race in Cambridge, while also serving as a legislative aide to Jim Timilty on Beacon Hill.  Most recently I temporarily worked as the coordinator for the interpreter department at Mass Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston before I left to campaign for state representative. 

My opponent’s backers do not seem to realize that my age does not prevent me from working tirelessly, nor does it disqualify me from having to pay rent, gas, food, and college and car loans like everybody else.  For the past year I scrimped and meticulous saved to financially enable myself to show the people of this community what it would be like to have a full time representative.  In this vein, while my opponent’s supporters have mocked my personally knocking on over 6,000 doors, it has been a tremendous experience in learning what people are actually going through and looking for out of state government.  Should we not encourage our public officials to continually and actively listen to their constituents?

My final thoughts to you are this.  I will not let a single day go by where I do not work my heart out for you, looking for ways for the government to operate more efficiently and better invest in our future.  Thank you so very much to all who have welcomed me into your homes and tested my ideas and ideals, and I humbly ask the people of Mansfield, Foxboro and Norton for your vote on November 4th.

~Devin Romanul

This last Wednesday October 22, my opponent Jay Barrows finally agreed to have a debate.  This program was moderated by Bill Gouveia in Norton and is nearly an hour and a half in length.  We covered manyy issues such as the full time nature of the job, health care, sewage, mortgages, question 1, education and cost saving mechanisms.  I feel like I sufficiently spoke about bringing the change we need to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, especially regarding energy savings and being a full time representative.  However, I do not believe that Mr. Barrows answered my questions about voting against the mortgage bill, the education reorganization bill or the Republicans recent dirty campaigning.  Feel free to watch by clicking on the link below!

Romanul-Barrows Debate

Recently I appeared on a local comedy TV show entitled Boston News Net, which is modeled after programs such as the Daily Show or the Colbert Report. It was a successful event until I came under fire from the state Republicans and my opponent, who deemed that appearing on such show was inappropriate for a state representative candidate.

First, John McCain has appeared on the Daily Show and Saturday Night Live multiple times (as has Barack Obama). Sarah Palin most recently made a well-publicized SNL cameo as well. The Republicans definitely did not show opposition to those instances at any point.

Secondly, and much more importantly, they are feebly attempting to make this an issue when people in our community are struggling to pay their mortgages, put food on the table and fill up their gas tank. My opponent and his supporters feigning offense merely distracts from the critical issues at hand, which is tragic during this election year and this economy.

Finally, this morning the Sun Chronicle opinion page staff published this article, which further illustrates my point:

http://www.thesunchronicle.com/articles/2008/10/23/opinion/3829104.txt

One of the more positive trends of this campaign season has been the entrance of several young, or relatively young, candidates. We’ve met a few of them at editorial board interviews that are in part the basis for our election endorsements. I’ve been impressed, and am far from alone on our board in registering that reaction.

They’re bright.

Generally well-informed.

Articulate.

They do some of their thinking “outside the box.” Above all, they are engaged in the political process and care – deeply in important regards – about the challenges facing our state and the local House and Senate districts.

And I’ll be surprised if a one of them wins the endorsement of The Sun Chronicle editorial board.

Puzzled? I hope so. If I didn’t suspect that the editorial page’s endorsement tendencies, coupled with our propensity to urge people to run for office, could be confusing to readers, I would be wasting all this ink.

I’ll try to keep the explanation short. For all the times that this newspaper is accused of a liberal bent, that doesn’t hold up in light of our historical tendencies on endorsements. On that matter, for the decade or so that I’ve been on the board, we tend to be conservative. Not conservative in the political right wing sense, but conservative in the manner of sticking with the tried and true.

At the risk of oversimplifying, this means a challenger in the political arena faces a task akin to someone taking on a champion in the boxing ring: They need to score a knockout blow or something close to it to win the judges over.

Ideology seldom comes into play. It’s hardly a secret, for instance, that the editorial page of this paper staunchly supports the Supreme Judicial Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage. It’s no more of a secret that John Lepper, who is finishing up his last term as Attleboro’s state representative, was a leader in the movement to put a referendum on the ballot to outlaw same-sex marriage. Still, we have endorsed him without reluctance.

And the record shows there have been few exceptions where our endorsement has gone against the incumbent, regardless of the party. Indeed, while we tolerate the digs from a few writers of letters to the editor, over the past decade we have endorsed a higher percentage of eligible Republican candidates than Democrats.

There’s more to a rep or senators job than just voting on this or that motion or bill. There are constituent services to be provided and a constituency to connect with whose views, we recognize, are often different than our own.

We encourage people to run because nobody in politics should get a free ride. That makes for bad government. The hardest-working, most honest, dedicated public servant needs to know that someone is watching. That’s partly what keeps them hard-working, honest and dedicated. And their ideas need to be aired out in public from time to time.

As for discouraging candidates, we hope that’s not the end result. For one thing, it’s arguable how many votes are influenced by our endorsement. For another, history is full of accounts of good public servants who lost early campaigns and came back stronger. And regardless of how the elections turn out on Nov. 4, I am confident that the crop of young candidates making the rounds will land on their feet. People will notice that they are bright, well-informed, articulate and engaged. As hard as it may be to look at the current election cycle through rose-colored glasses, but the youth movement does give one reason to do so.

MARK FLANAGAN (mflanagan@thesunchronicle.com) is Opinion Page editor of The Sun Chronicle. He can be reached at 508-236-0335.