bostonThe road to
1st Hampden-HampsHire district senate race series
Tim Allen James Chip Harrington Tom Lachiusa Eric Lesser Aaron
Saunders
EDITORS NOTE: As part of our four-part State Primary Senate race
series, the edito-rial board at Turley Publica-tions presented the
Democratic candidates in the 1st Hampden-Hampshire District race
with the following five questions that fo-cus specifically on
public safety. Republican candidate Debra Bo-ronski and Independent
Ameri-can First candidate Michael Franco will appear on the
No-vember ballot with the winner of the Democratic Primary Sept. 9.
The candidates, vying for the seat to be left vacant by Sen. Gale
D. Candaras (D-Wilbraham), were asked to limit their responses to
200 words or less. Their answers appear below. Some answers have
been minimally edited for clarity without altering the intent or
meaning.
Q: What do you believe is the biggest problem hampering the
ability of police to fight crime within the 1st Hampden-Hampshire
District? If elected, what will you do to correct these
prob-lems?
TIM ALLEN
A: I believe that provid-ing the resources to put more police
officers on the streets to combat violent and drug-related crime is
cur-rently our most significant pub-lic safety obstacle. We also
need more intervention in the drug trade, which is increasing crime
not only in our urban areas but increasingly in the suburbs as
well.
During my time on the Springfield City Council, I worked to
establish a regional gun court, which was specifi-cally targeted to
deal with vio-lent crimes involving guns, and I helped pass a pawn
shop or-dinance, which seeks to crack down on the market for stolen
goods.
Safer streets mean improved quality of life for all our
resi-dents and give business leaders the confidence to locate their
companies in our cities.
JAMES CHIP HARRINGTON
A: We have a significant drug and violent crime problem in the
Pioneer
Valley. This is not restricted to our urban areas but has
largely affected every suburban com-munity. Route 91 is a
wonder-ful opportunity for our business community but has become a
drug and gun highway from New York City to Canada.
The number of addicted indi-viduals has skyrocketed in recent
years because of dependency and availability of prescription opiate
painkillers. Since my first speech in the campaign, I have been
talking about the opiate and heroin addiction problem in this
region. As a former correctional officer and current special police
officer, I see this problem first-hand. All levels of government
must play a role in addressing this problem. The federal
gov-ernment must step up its en-forcement at our nations ports
where drugs enter the country. We must have more State Police
patrols on Route 91 to continue the enforcement of drug
traf-fickers. Our Legislature needs to work with the Vermont
Legisla-ture to address the ease in which guns can be purchased and
sold on streets for guns. Treatment for our neighbors struggling
with addiction needs to be more accessible and not treated as a
crime but as the disease it is.
TOM LACHIUSA
A: Fighting crime and solv-ing the problem of crime are
important concerns that I think about every day. At the Hampden
County Sheriffs Department, I have heard all the stories about what
makes indi-viduals choose a life of crime and how effective the
police are. Al-though we do need more police on the street, I think
the police do a good job of finding criminals, chasing them and
catching them. Our police also save the lives of many people at
risk.
The problem is not the po-lice; the problem is not meeting the
economic needs of young adults. The engine that drives criminal
activity is economic in-equality. Most of the shootings and
stabbings that we have been reading about in the paper and seeing
on television are caused by men who are young and poor hoping to
make stacks of money. Finding a way out of a criminal lifestyle is
actually an economic decision if you can call it a deci-sion. A
decision would require more than one option that is at-tractive.
The consequence of few economic options for these young men is that
they have found and developed suburban customers who need to buy
drugs from them. This is trickle-down economics.
ERIC LESSER
A: I will work to reduce the root causes of crime, take on the
heroin epidemic, and advocate for more state help for our police
programs. The root cause of crime in our area is a lack of economic
opportunity I will combat this by improv-ing our job training
programs, education, infrastructure, and attracting more tech
companies and entrepreneurs to our area. Our young people need to
know a bright future is possible if you work hard and follow the
rules.
We also need to do more to combat the heroin epidemic. My plan
for combating heroin includes increasing the share of state money
for drug prevention sent to Western Massachusetts, cracking down on
abuse of pre-scription pain medicines, invest-ing in treatments
that can reduce withdrawal symptoms, and when all else fails,
ensuring that police and other first responders have access to
Narcan, an anti-over-dose drug proven to save lives.
Finally, I will work to en-sure our police have the resourc-es
they need, including funding for innovative policing programs like
the North End Initiative, which reduced crime by more than 60
percent, and the BADGE Initiative in Forest Park. We need to make
sure these effective pro-
grams are supported and repli-cated.
AARON SAUNDERS
A: In my seven years as a member of the Board of Selectmen I
have had the opportunity to speak with police officers from
through-out the region, in every rank from the rookie patrolman to
the chief with decades of experi-ence about this very question. In
nearly every instance the re-sponse is resources. Some of the most
difficult decisions I have had to make as a local official have
been rooted in public safety budgets. As your next state sena-tor,
I will fight for increased local aid so that communities will not
have to rely on increasing prop-erty taxes to adequately fund
public safety. This is just one of the reasons why having
experi-ence in local office is imperative to being an effective
state sena-tor. Without local experience, it is difficult to fully
understand the challenges our public safety agencies face meeting
the expec-tations of residents. I will put my experience to full
use fight-ing for Western Massachusetts.
Q: Bullying and cyber-bullying among school-age children is a
serious problem. Approved legisla-tion, however, puts the onus of
responsibility primarily on school staff. Can and should existing
state laws be amended to include criminal penalties for these young
perpetrators? Please explain.
TIM ALLEN
A: Our children face seri-ous challenges living in todays
technologically complex world. New forms of media, such as
Facebook, Twit-ter, and Instagram, make it in-creasingly difficult
for parents and schools to monitor and regu-late childrens
behavior. I am in favor of raising awareness of the different forms
of bullying and educating our teachers and par-ents to recognize
the warning signs that bullying is occurring and empowering them to
take the necessary steps to address it.
The National Council for
Part 2: Public Safety
Please see SENATE SERIES, on following page
Turley Publications photo by David Miles
Candidates were asked if they favored funding to convert
all-volunteer fire departments, like the Hampden Volunteer Fire
Department, into full-time fully staffed departments.
Community Justice launched Youth Empowering Success, an
anti-bullying program. This is not a government program this is a
grassroots organization with a track record on human rela-tions
issues and innovation in overcoming issues such as bully-ing, and
it deserves our support in encouraging their involvement in more of
our schools.
JAMES CHIP HARRINGTON
A: Cyberbullying is a sig-nificant problem in this day and age
of intensive social media. I would support making our laws tougher
for the most serious cases of bullying. I also understand that
bullying often takes place within a school setting and then carries
over into the cyber world. School staff members do have a
responsibil-ity to report such behavior, but I feel more
responsibility must be expected within a students home.
As far as criminal penal-ties they should face, I would want it
to be more about coun-seling and community service, not putting
someone in jail or prison just to learn how to be a bigger
bully.
In addition, we need to make sure that those who are bullied
feel comfortable coming to the proper authorities either in a
school setting or out of the classroom.
TOM LACHIUSA
A: Although we now have new electronic means of bullying, the
problem is nothing new. The suggestion that criminal penalties
should be ex-panded for school age children sends the message that
parents and teachers/school administra-tors are not in control. All
the teachers I have talked with re-garding criminal charges for
stu-dent activity have been very dis-appointed with the outcome.
The juvenile court process is lengthy, and many schools and parents
can address this issue fast and ef-fectively.
When a parent cannot con-trol a child, who can control them? An
effective process for dealing with this issue can be developed, and
it needs to sup-port teachers and make things difficult for bullies
and anyone who is condoning the behavior. When I was a special
education teacher, we found that students eventually got tired of
the pro-cess that they and their parents had to go through each
time they bullied another student.
ERIC LESSER
A: In certain circumstanc-es, bullying and cyber-bullying is
already eli-gible for prosecution as criminal harassment, under the
Massachu-setts anti-bullying law passed in
2010. This April, a new law was also passed to require bullying
prevention plans of all schools as well as procedures for
collect-ing, maintaining and reporting bullying incident data.
These are positive steps that I support. It is also important to
remember that the majority of bullying and cy-berbullying incidents
still go un-reported, especially those against LGBT students.
As your state senator, I will foster increased public
discus-sion of bullying and cyberbul-lying, and work to ensure that
school staff have the tools they need to conduct mental health
monitoring to prevent incidents whenever possible. And in cer-tain
extreme cases, having crimi-nal penalties available can be an
effective tool for deterring the worst offenders.
It is important for our schools, and our broader culture, to
make clear there is zero toler-ance for bullying and
cyberbul-lying. We also must do a better job of providing support
for vic-tims of bullying and letting them know there are resources
avail-able they do not have to suffer alone.
AARON SAUNDERS
A: There has been justi-fied outrage about bully-ing and its
effects among young people. The Anti-Bully-ing Bill, which I was
proud to work on as Senator Gale Can-daras chief of staff, took
effec-tive and important steps towards combatting this problem.
When the conversation turns to criminal penalties, it is
incum-bent upon every legislator to consider all of the
ramifications, including whether or not it is in our best interest
to give a whole new group of young people a criminal record if
there are other effective ways of addressing the behavior.
For the heinous incidents that we read about in the news from
time to time, I believe in, and fully support the use of ex-isting
criminal harassment, stalk-ing, and assault laws to criminal-ly
prosecute those cases.
We should also keep in mind that bullying does not only occur in
the schools, cyberbully-ing occurs regardless of time or location,
and, too often, in plain sight of many in our community. While the
schools are an impor-tant place to address bullying, it is a
community issue to which we all have a responsibility.
Q: Should communities participate in a re-gional dispatch center
or should dispatch remain lo-calized? Please explain your
answer.
TIM ALLEN
A: A regional dispatch center, such as the one established in
Hingham in 2011, has many operational benefits, such as the
capacity to
process larger volumes of calls during emergencies or multiple
incidents. Those benefits must also be weighed against some-times
considerable increases in operating costs and logistical hurdles
for local communities to ensure access to emergency ser-vices.
I would look forward to a robust discussion of the benefits and
drawbacks a regional dis-patch center would have for our region and
seeking the input of local government and residents.
JAMES CHIP HARRINGTON
A: Although the prospect of a regional dispatch center appears
to have a cost savings to it, I am very con-cerned about a delay in
response times by our emergency person-nel. As a member of the
special police, I have the opportunity to interact with dispatchers
on a regular basis, and I feel a lo-calized dispatch center is very
efficient and offers the quickest response time. Often times when I
am in our dispatch area, a call will come in and literally within
seconds the dispatcher is in con-tact with the officer or
firefighter who is responding. A regional dispatch creates one
additional layer between the call and the responding cruiser,
ambulance or firefighter.
I am open to learning more about this issue, but I do have my
concerns with changing a system that appears to be efficient
al-ready.
TOM LACHIUSA
A: Recently, I was deal-ing with an issue to warn a potential
victim of a violent situation that was devel-oping. Having made
calls like this before, I was clear about the risk. My first
reaction was that the 911 dispatcher understood my concerns. I
asked for police intervention and requested crisis team
involvement, so a prop-er assessment could be done. Sometime later,
I was contacted by the police and eventually by the crisis team to
repeat the in-formation I gave the dispatcher. The at-risk victims
were safe and secure, but what if I was not available for the
additional calls? In situations like this, it is the quality of the
dispatcher, which is critical if the communication chain breaks.
When lives are on the line, error is the variable that needs to be
controlled.
If a regional dispatch center was able to house police, fire and
medical specialists in one loca-tion, it would improve
communi-cation if a major catastrophe like a tornado hit the area
again. Try-ing to coordinate when emergen-cy response teams from
adjacent town are needed might also be easier to communicate. The
dis-patch center is like an emergency command center and having
well trained professional seems like the best idea to me.
ERIC LESSER
A: The creation of regional dispatch centers may help improve
the speed and efficiency of emergency communications, increase
staff-ing for field operations, and im-prove financial and
operational oversight. They also have the potential to save tax
dollars and make dispatching more efficient. However, they may also
change the way the public uses and re-lies on emergency services,
and switching systems can require significant up-front funding and
lengthy planning. For these rea-sons, I would support further
studying this issue, especially looking at the potential for
cost-saving and improving response times, and leave the ultimate
decision to individual cities and towns who know their emergen-cy
service needs the best.
AARON SAUNDERS
A: The decision to par-ticipate in a regional dispatch center
should unequivocally be left to the com-munity. As a selectman in
Lud-low for seven years, I have been skeptical that a regional
dispatch center is in the best public safety interest of my
community. If a city or town feels as though it is in their best
interest, as state senator, I would fully support their decision
and work to help that community towards its goal. I would not
support any effort to force a local community into a regional
dispatch.
It is imperative that our next state senator have experience
holding local elective office if we are to empower our local
com-munities and fight against the Washington and Boston funded
approach to removing local con-trol at every opportunity.
Q: Should first respond-ers be trained in the ad-ministration of
Narcan to treat opiate drug overdose?
TIM ALLEN
A: Yes. Western Massa-chusetts is in the midst of a heroin
crisis, and train-ing first responders in the use of Narcan could
potentially save many lives. Increasing access to substance abuse
treatment would be another important step in combatting the drug
epidemic in Western Massachusetts.
JAMES CHIP HARRINGTON
A: As a trained first re-sponder myself, I do feel that all
first responders should be trained and equipped with Narcan. I have
publicly called for the implementation of Narcan for police
officers in the Pioneer Valley. Currently all ambulances are
equipped with Narcan, but, often times, a police officer is the
first on the scene of a drug overdose.
TOM LACHIUSA
A: If you are discussing police officers, I feel they should be
trained to assist in giving Narcan. Training on how to administer
the medi-cation is not that difficult. The difficult part is
dealing with an angry addict who just lost the high in an instant.
You would think a person who just had his or her life saved would
be thank-ful, not threatening. Safety plan-ning for first
responders needs to be considered in making this kind of
change.
Narcan will save a person for the moment, but having a way to
get these individuals into treatment at that point in time would be
the kind of legislation I would like to see developed. Re-ducing
the number of addicts is a great benefit to the community. We need
to get addicts to break through the wall of denial that keeps them
from sobriety. Re-hab is not a one-size-fits-all ap-proach, but we
need consistent approaches.
I am a rock climber. When I have seen climbers get in dif-ficult
situations that require a rescue team to come in by heli-copter,
the climber has a price to pay. Addicts who get their lives saved
should also have a require-ment to meet DETOX.
ERIC LESSER
A: Yes. I was the first state senate candidate in our district
to formally rec-ommend that Narcan be made more widely accessible
to police officers, school nurses, and other first responders.
Narcan, which costs only $20 per dose, is highly effective and has
already saved thousands of lives. The Quincy Police Department, for
example, has administered Narcan at a 95 percent success rate. Due
largely to this success, Governor Deval Patricks Narcan
distribution program has made this life-sav-ing drug available in
15 cities, including Springfield, and has reversed over 2,000
overdoses across the state.
Of course we must also pair increased access to Narcan with
addiction prevention measures. Narcan is also only one part of a
much broader effort to combat drug use. In April, I published an
op-ed in MassLive recommend-ing four steps to combat the opiate
epidemic. In addition to expanding first responder access to
Narcan, these steps include in-creasing the share of state money
sent to Western Massachusetts for drug treatment programs, cracking
down on the abuse of prescription pain medicines, and investing in
treatments that can reduce withdrawal symptoms and make it easier
for people to get off the drug.
SENATE SERIESfrom previous page
bostonThe road to
1st Hampden-HampsHire district senate race series
Please see SENATE SERIES, on following page
AARON SAUNDERS
A: Yes. Opiate addiction is devastating individuals, families,
and entire com-munities. If we have the oppor-tunity to stop
overdose-related casualties and work to putting addicted
individuals on the road to recovery, then we should fully embrace
that opportunity.
Addressing opiate addiction has been an issue I have worked on
for years both as a selectman in Ludlow and as Sen. Gale Can-daras
chief of staff, especially during her tenure as chair of the Joint
Committee on Mental Health and Substance Abuse. Addiction has been
a serious is-sue long before it became popu-lar in the media.
Working on ad-dressing this problem, before it was commonly in the
headlines, was both one of the most chal-lenging and rewarding
experi-ences of my time working in the State Senate.
Beyond the Narcan issue, I will fully use my experience on
Beacon Hill to continue to fight for smart mental health and
sub-stance abuse policy and funding.
Q: Would you favor fund-ing to convert all-vol-unteer fire
departments into full-time fully staffed de-partments?
TIM ALLEN
A: This type of decision should be one made by local town
governments within their own budget con-straints. As part of the
consider-ation, we should examine if pub-lic safety has been
hampered by the lack of funding for full-time fire departments.
JAMES CHIP HARRINGTON
A: As a former member of the Ludlow Board of Selectmen, I was
and continue to be a proponent of effective fire/paramedic
servic-es. I worked very hard to bring our full-time firefighters
from the EMT Intermediate level to Paramedic level service. It has
made a tremendous difference in the level of care we can provide to
our residents, and it has been cost effective as well. The Board of
Selectmen made that decision on a local level without state funding
assistance.
As a state senator I would support a local municipality that had
a desire to increase their lev-el of fire department service, but I
feel the community would have a financial responsibility. If state
grant funding existed to help support such a move, I would, of
course, work hard to secure funding for the municipality.
TOM LACHIUSA
A: This is really a deci-sion that the state needs to let towns
make. Many towns would not be able to ab-sorb the increased costs
associ-ated with this kind of change. Providing benefits to
full-time workers is most likely the big-gest obstacle in terms of
budgets. Volunteer firemen love what they do and also appreciate
that they are able to continue their other employment choices. All
fire departments spend a consider-able amount of time training, so
we do not hear complaints that suggest that volunteers provide a
service that does not meet a state standard.
If a town wants to make a change, then as a state senator I
would offer what I could to help in the decision-making process. If
the change is due to low num-bers of interested volunteers,
perhaps some help from full-time firefighters in adjacent
cit-ies might fill in the service gap.
A decision like this will also involve contributions to a state
pension system, and trying to move volunteers to full-time can-not
circumvent the established firefighter hiring process. Town
volunteers may have to see their place in the department replaced
by individuals who just moved to town months before.
ERIC LESSER
A: Where public safety demands it, I will work to convert over
to full-time fire departments. I will also work to improve
resources and support for volunteer fire-fighters. Volunteer
firefighters conduct themselves with a high degree of
professionalism and are invaluable public servants. Volunteer
firefighting is also a valuable community function and improves
neighborhood ties. However, on-call and volunteer fire departments
still face signifi-cant challenges recruiting mem-bers, and those
that do volunteer normally must incur the costs of their
application and even their own training. Federal, state and
community grants can help fire departments obtain valuable
equipment, but I will also work to find new ways to fund
expan-sions in fire department staffing in a way that is fiscally
respon-sible.
AARON SAUNDERS
A: Whenever possible I support modernizing and professionalizing
our local public safety institutions. The transition from a
volunteer department to a full-time depart-ment is often a costly
proposition that usually falls squarely on the back of local
budgets. However, this financial barrier should not prevent a
community from mov-ing towards a full-time depart-ment if that is
what it desires. As state senator I would support funding to assist
communities with the transition and start-up costs of a full time
department. Every resident should feel con-fident that in the case
of a fire or other accident, there are trained professionals ready,
willing, and able to assist. Full-time fire de-partments help
increase that con-fidence.
Edited by Editor Paula Killough of the Ludlow Register.
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