I am not, but the people have spoken and I respect their decision.

It’s apparent the majority in our district believe the current economic of the 2nd Franklin District is one they can live with.

I wish to sincerely thank the many people who supported our campaign.

Bob

We have secured a piece of Herrick’s Tavern for Tuesday night.

Herrick’s Tavern
207 Daniel Shays Highway (Rte. 202), Orange, MA
(978) 544-3902

Say, anytime after 7:30pm-until…
See you there.

NOTHING DONE

Editor, Daily News

I’m David Meehan and I’m an Eagleville/Horton Road flood victim. I just recently watched the debate with Chris Donelan and Bob Parks. It was great, but on one issue. The flooding.

Donelan made a point to where help was trying to get done with us, but all that did was just have these organizations just introduce themselves to us and that’s all. May I correct you, Mr. Donelan, what was done to engineer the flooding nothing? Absolutely nothing. The town just made this whole situation out to be a joke to keep our mouths shut and out of your hair.

After all the flooding and cries for help, three years later there’s nothing done. We are still in the same conditions as we were back then. I can personally say that this is pretty sad to see. What a so-called friendly town can do for these friendly people.

Bob Parks is the only one who seems to care and still recognize this horrible issue, nobody else.

Stop the flow.

David Meehan
Orange

The truth always comes out.

A Democratic incumbent and a Republican frustrated by what he describes as arrogance on Beacon Hill will face off Tuesday for a House seat that represents Orange and Athol.

State Rep. Christopher J. Donelan, D-Orange, and Athol resident Robert E. Parks are seeking election to the 2nd Franklin District, which also covers Erving, Gill, Greenfield and Warwick.

Mr. Donelan, a former police and probation officer who previously served on the Ralph C. Mahar Regional School Committee, has held the position since 2003.

A columnist and executive director of New Media Alliance Television, Mr. Parks, 50, said House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi’s pledge to block the implementation of Question 1, were it to pass, is a perfect example of the “arrogance of power” among legislators.

Now, it’s up to the voters.

Hit with howitzer-powered allegations of corruption and greed, state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson is at the center of a maze of malfeasance and an ever-widening public corruption investigation - and former feds agree she could be the rat who leads prosecutors to an even bigger cheese.

With Mayor Thomas M. Menino, Senate President Therese Murray, City Council President Maureen Feeney and others touched by the tentacles of an 18-month probe into Wilkerson’s alleged abuse of power, it’s “a very distinct possibility” U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan may try and flip her to name alleged co-conspirators with a plea deal as bait.

Obviously public officials accepting bribes is against the law, but offering them is against the law as well. It’s sad to think that Wilkerson could be just the tip of the iceberg, but seeing how lawmakers also rule their districts by fear and intimidation, paying to get them off your back could be illegal, but understandable.

BOSTON (WBZ) ― State Senator Dianne Wilkerson was arrested early Tuesday by the FBI on public corruption charges.

U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan said Wilkerson took $23,500 in bribes between June 2007 and October 2008. He said there were eight payments made during that period in connection with the use of her office.

She was arraigned in federal court Tuesday afternoon and was released on $50,000 bail.

Yes, that’s Senator Wilkerson stuffing money in her bra in a Beacon Hill eatery.

In Massachusetts, a female state representative was threatened by another colleague if she didn’t vote the party line, a state senator was arrested for groping women, and now this, all within the past year.

Democrats running the whole show in Massachusetts. A sign of things to come in Washington?

Residents in Framingham are talking about a new cost to the town courtesy of the local police union, which says officers need to be paid more because they use computers.

“The police department asked us to fund laptops for the cruisers and now that we provided them they’re suing us because we’re making them use them?” asked Rebecca Connolly, a Town Meeting member.

“It’s taking advantage of the goodness of the people and the town to pay you for something you should already know how to do,” Town Meeting member Jim Rizoli said. “Think about it. What police officer today does not know how to use a computer?”

“Police officers have a critical job and they get paid for that,” Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation said. “But these extra creative ways of padding the paycheck really are not appropriate, and undercut the bond with the taxpayers.”

And they wonder why some people are in support of ballot Question 1 which would eliminate the state income tax.

While citizens have to tighten their home budgets, some in government believe we are a piggy bank they can take money out of whenever they want, and insulting our intelligence along the way is something we should be honored to deal with.

As my phone conversations have been numerous over the last few months and I don’t remember the specifics of some of them, there are some things I am quite clear on.

Running for his first elected office, Parks has proudly cited his color. “I’m the only black Republican running for statewide office this year,” he said this week.

I have cited my color in one context and one context only.

During the last month, while the McCain campaign has been throwing certain states under the bus, I’ve been in contact with officials from the campaign requesting a stop by Governor Sarah Palin. I personally don’t believe Massachusetts is a write-off, and as the left has mocked Palin’s small town roots adding she’s probably never seen black people, I thought it would be good for both of us if she came to The Bay State and campaigned for the only black Republican running statewide, who just happens to live in a small town.

That was it.

A Boston native and Navy veteran who dropped out of journalism studies at Suffolk University, Parks does freelance political commentary and videography.

Saying that someone dropped out of school implies slacker.

Half way through my first semester at Boston’s Suffolk University, I was offered a job to work in the press office for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. At 19, I considered it too good an opportunity to pass up. I worked for the BSO for the next two years and then went on to study at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts school.

I understand you can’t include everything in an interview, but some things can’t be left out without giving a reader a totally distorted view, and during a political campaign, more care need be taken.

Live, televised debate between incumbent Christopher Donelan (D) and challenger Bob Parks (R) for the Massachusetts 2nd Franklin State Representative seat. October 23, 2008 at the Orange Armory, Orange, MA.

Bob ~ You landed powerful punches in tonight’s debate, and, overall, captured imaginations in the electorate, I think. And, afterward, you were the one to whom audience members flocked. Seems you just won yourself a number of the incumbent’s votes!

However, some of the local media didn’t see it that way.

”If all is so rosy, there wouldn’t be a lot of complaining,” said Parks, who said he planned to vote for Ballot Question 1 to eliminate the income tax ”to send a message,” in response to stories he hears about government waste. ”It’s purely a message vote,” said Parks, who didn’t name a specific example of waste or corruption that he wants to eliminate.”

Donelan, a 43-year-old former Orange police officer and Franklin County probation officer, responded, ”It’s a dangerous message to send.” He said that forcing a 70-percent cut in the state budget would be ”a catastrophe,” and would threaten essential services.

Parks said that he would favor a moratorium on all new legislation and that he would turn to charitable organizations he believes would help raise money for new school buildings in the six-town legislative district, and that he would “think outside the box” in finding solutions to problems like the lack of public transportation, seeking investors who might want to start their own bus company.

The only tension arose after Parks claimed that as a legislator, he criticized Donelan for doing little to help Orange residents whose homes had flooded for no apparent reason several years go. Donelan recounted meeting with Patridgeville Road residents, together with state and federal officials, and said, ”To say I did nothing is absolutely false.”

I will be heading over to the television station this morning to get a copy of the DVD so I can post the debate online and you can make up your own minds as to who won.

Photos courtesy of Mike Phillips