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an): flammable Wat - 2006 Imn'aulu
October 20, 2006
The llntoniesteil
Stories by Paul Gauvin
pgauvin@barnstablepatriot.com
3B” BAHNSTABIE STATE RIP.
"I" PATRICK - II [incumrrim
Bills would save energy, protect
guardsmen
When Rep. Matthew Patrick went to Ghana with the
Peace Corps at 25, he taught the impoverished people
there to build brick walls and do other masonry work.
Now, years later, Patrick is instead razing walls in the state
Legislature brick by brick as he and others from the out-
numbered Cape delegation try to achieve equity in a state
school aid formula that has been shortchanging Cape towns,
and in efforts to keep the 102nd Fighter ng at Otis.
“I stay in touch with Mark Forest, (U.S Rep. William
Delahunt’s chief of staff) and they still say there’s a chance
the 102nd can remain on the Cape.” He said moving the
wing is nonsensical and more than likely was a decision
tinged with political retribution.
As to school aid, he gives Sen. Therese Murray “all the
credit” for initiating at least some changes benefiting
Cape towns by placing more weight on median income.
He feels the quest for equity can continue to gain ground
as long as Murray wields power as chair of Senate Ways
and Means or becomes Senate president.
Patrick is a dyed in the wool energy conservationist
and sponsors bills that create efficiency standards for
all sorts of household products. L
One of the bills he’ll be filing for the next session he
is unopposed and therefore already re-elected would
increase the limit of municipal power generation by wind
turbines from 60 kilowatts to 2,000 kilowatts and allow
towns to sell surplus to the power grid. '
He said this is in answer to Cape towns like Orleans,
Barnstable, Falmouth and MMR that want to put up
wind turbines for municipal use.
Another is one involving the use of depleted uranium
in military weapons.
“These byproducts are very dense, more than lead, and
burn through armor. Everything inside a target is inciner-
ated, but a dust residue is left creating an environmental
hazard in the immediate area. My bill calls for educating
National Guardsmen who may be going overseas to the
dangers of these weapons,” and train them to not ignore
protocols for handling them.
Patrick, whose district includes Precincts 5 and 7 in
Barnstable (current session); two precincts in Bourne,
five in Falmouth and three in Mashpee, learned the rudi-
ments of masonry as a young man and worked in that
trade for a while after returning from Ghana.
“After college a lot of my friends went into the insurance
business or were stockbrokers (but)... I saw President
Carter’s mother in a TV ad for the Peace Corps and I
knew that’s what I wanted to do.”
He later became executive director of the non-profit Self—
Rellance Corp. that helps communities become self—reliant
on energy, water and food and served as a Falmouth select-
man from 1995 to 2001, when he became a legislator.
He is a member of Citizens to Protect Waquoit Bay and
the Association for Preservation of Cape Cod, among
other organizations.
He serves on three committees, Education, Telecom-
munications, Utilities and Energy; Economic Development
and Emerging Technologies.
5TH BABHS'I'ABIE STATE HEP.
IE" PERI" H ilucumiun
Unopposed, Perry already plans
December fillngs r
Come the first Wednesday in December, Republican state
Rep. Jeffrey Davis Perry of the 5th Barnstable District
will do what he has been doing for two terms file bills
important to his constituency. He can plan on it because
he is unopposed.
The former policeman and variety store owner will have
the benefit of a summer survey in which 582 respondents
listed education spending as a top priority, a close match
with rising property taxes, and in which 83.1 percent op-
posed state benefits to illegal immigrants, hot-button
issues in his district.
Entering his third two—year term with survey numbers
backing him, Perry will file (in some cases re-file) bills
to change education funding and one to deny state ben-
efits to illegal immigrants, among other bills. The first
Wednesday of December is the first day that bills can be
filed for the next session.
Perry filed an education bill this year. “We did get some
improvements but it was only a one-year leading
him to re-file for the next session seeking a total reform
of Chapter 70 education aid.
“What I learned from the survey is to keep doing what
I’ve been doing on putting forth initiatives.”
Perry, whose district includes Precincts 10, 11 and 12
in Barnstable, one precinct in Bourne, two in Mashpee
and all of Sandwich, said he doesn’t read much into the
fact that he is unopposed.
“There seems to be a general lack of political energy
on the Upper Cape,” he said, which would explain why
so many candidates lack opposition. “Besides, statistics
prove out that it is difficult to beat an incumbent."
Perry said he files more bills than the average legisla-
tor because he is in the minority party. “There are only
21 Republicans among the 160 representatives. We tend
to be more active because there are fewer of us to push
the conservative agenda forward. The Democrats have a
lot of members to spread out filings. (and even at that)
most filings come out of the leadership."
Another reason is that Republicans, being so few in
number, get to serve on more house committees than
Democrat legislators. “We (Republicans) get to serve on
four or five committees, which tends to make us more
involved and to file more bills.”
While some of his Sandwich constituents attempted
to pass a local law that would fine employers who hire
illegal immigrants. Perry said he is “not interested in pe-
nalizing folks. That's the role of the federal government
enforcement and penalties. What my bill will attempt
to do is protect state tax revenues so that state services
benefit people who are obeying the law."
Perry is a graduate of Curry College and has extensive
memberships in district organizations including the Canal
Region chamber of Commerce. Sturgis Charter School
Advisory Committee Big Brothers/Big Sisters Advisory
committee and others.
He’s on the House Committee on Rules. Joint Cornmittees
on Education, Public safety and Homeland Security and the
Committee on Tourism, Arts and Cultural Development.
"WNW" 8. BABNSTIBIE STATE SEN.
“IRES! MIIIIIIAY II llllBllMBElm
Murray uses power of post to
help in school aid equity
When the media refer to State Sen. herese Murray
as “powerful,” they don’t mean she can bench press 300
pounds.
The Plymouth Democrat representing the Plymouth
and Barnstable District that includes Barnstable pre-
cincts 10 through 12, has built her political muscle from
chairing the Senate Ways and Means Committee, an
assignment of considerable import.
“I have the responsibility of authoring and filing all
budget-related bills. In addition to the budget, since most
major policy initiatives include appropriations, bills such
as health care reform are analyzed by my committee and
then submitted for consideration by the full Senate.
“As the senator representing the Plymouth and Barnstable
District, I work closely with our local officials on issues of
concern, and also file the home rule petitions submitted to
me by the respective towns,” Murray said. ._
0n the state’s economic future, Murray warns: “Fro
the information we have seen, the coming fiscal years
will be very tight. We must continue to invest wisely in
our communities and in economic development efforts
to stimulate our economy and try to bolster job growth
and creation."
But for this fiscal year, she said that for the first time in
several years “we were able to loosen our fiscal belt and
pump needed and appropriate funding into local aid and
other necessary areas. In particular, I was able increase
education funding and more significantly. include an
overhaul of the chapter 70 funding formula to provide for
a more acourate assessment of a community‘s needs."
Potential challengers apparently lack the appetite to
take on a legislator who has chaired Ways and Means
since 2003 and performed a high service by adding funds
to Chapter 70 that benefited her district and others.
She also supports Atty. Gen. Tom Reilly’s appeal to
the Supreme Judicial Court of the escalating FAIR ho-
meowner insurance rate increases approved by the state
insurance commissioner “because it was not done within
the law," she said. “Now the consumers are left with un-
precedented increases in home insurance rates."
The appeal alleges that evidence from the insurance
companies was accepted without proper review, that the
AG was not given the chance to cross-examine the insur-
ance industry, that the statutory rate caps that protect
consumers were ignored. and certain information about
market conditions was not considered. as required by
statute. Murray said. “The current appeal could eliminate
the rate increase altogether if successful.” .
Murray also is a co-sponsor of Sen. Robert O'Leary‘s
(Cape and Islands) legislation to establish a fund that
would provide capital to insurance companies in the wake
of a catastrophic event without having to go through a
reinsurance company. lithe bill passes, insurers will pay
a “reasonable” premium into the fund and could pass the
savings to homeowners. “However. this fund. in order to
work. needs to include other New England states and
New York.“ she said.
Murray was first elected to the Senate in 1993 and also
serves on the Senate Committee on Ethics and Rules.
She was educated at Midwest Academy. Northeastern
University and El Camino College.