Candidate Camargo Questions Rep. DiZoglio’s Integrity

Oscar Camargo
Oscar Camargo

14th Essex District State Representative Diana Dizoglio (D) Methuen, has a fight on her hands this year in her bid for re-election with two challengers in the September primary. They are ultra-liberal Democrat activist Phil Decologero, and newcomer Oscar Camargo. Both Democrat challengers are from North Andover. If DiZoglio is successful in fending off the two North Andover challengers, she will face the winner of the Republican primary between North Andover Republican Stan Novak and Selectman Rosemary Smedile.

Democrat challenger, Oscar Camargo, was recently a guest on Tom Duggan’s Paying Attention Radio Program on 980WCAP. This is part of that interview with Tom Duggan and his co-host Paul Murano. The program is produced by Chris Poublon.

Tom Duggan, WCAP radio
Tom Duggan, WCAP radio

TD: Tell the people right at the onset, who you are, a little bit about yourself, and some bio information so they can have a picture in their head of who you are.

OC: Oh sure, no problem. I am a 14-year Army Veteran. I’ve been deployed to Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan with the Mass. National Guard. And really, in many ways, I owe my education to the Army. I’ve been able to earn my Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees. And in fact I actually re-enlisted for an additional three years. Running for office is something I’ve always wanted to do. I feel as though it’s like a natural transition. Public service is something that runs deep into who I am and at this point right now, I’m dealing with the whole situation, pretty much merits throwing my hat into the ring right now.

TD: Did you decide to run because there was something State Representative DiZoglio did that you didn’t like, or was it just a campaign of opportunity where you wanted to run and it didn’t matter who was there?

OC: The thing is, in particular for Diana, I met her several times and I can say I found her really charming but unfortunately, there was one particular thing that really, really irked me, that really made me want to throw my hat into the ring, and now that’s a whole budget and transportation bill, and just taxation in general. She was on your show, not that long ago, back in ‘13. She said she opposed raising taxes. The public record shows otherwise.

TD: You’re running as a Democrat?

OC: That is true.

TD: And you’re talking about not raising taxes?

OC: The thing is I like to consider myself a fiscally conservative Democrat, and I think that’s pretty much just common sense, and when you’re talking about the Valley and where we are and what the community has to face. There’s a big giant issue right there, taxation … Right now, I’m not opposed to the idea, it’s that right now it’s the worst timing possible when you have an economic recovery … which is a recovery, but not growing … and right now, it just makes no sense whatsoever why she did what she did. I know she went on your show and said several times and it made a lot of sense doing x, y, and z, but you know what that means to everyone else? That’s just a bunch of excuses.

TD: You know what I like about Oscar right out of the gate is he listens to our show. That showed if you’re paying attention to a show like this, that means you are plugged in to what’s going on about other stuff.

OC: I figure you’ve got to know what the people think and honestly, that’s why I enjoy not just listening to your show, but going door to door talking to people.

TD: What do you think? Do you think you can beat an incumbent? She is a one term incumbent … and if an incumbent’s going to lose, it’s usually in the first term. Usually after that, they have the job for life if they want it, unless they’re a Dave Torrisi and they completely screw up. Do you really think you have a shot at beating Diana this year?

OC: Yes, I do, and the reason why I think I do is because every two years, public officials at the State House, they have a review by the voters, who pretty much have to understand the fact that, is this person doing what I think they’re supposed to be doing? The fact of the matter is she’s not. For me personally, I go back into the whole Army values, we have values a whole loyalty, duty, respect, honor, integrity, and personal courage, but there’s one particular thing, one value that really gets to me and that’s integrity. Integrity’s doing the right thing, whether someone’s looking or not, and Diana proved she lacked in that capacity when she finally voted in favor of raising those taxes. These taxes put families and small businesses in a tighter bind than they were before.

State Rep. Diana Dizoglio (D) Methuen
State Rep. Diana Dizoglio (D) Methuen

TD: Wow. So you don’t think Diana has any integrity?

OC: You know what? The public record right there shows, and like I said before on your show as well, saying she wasn’t going to do it, but she did it anyway. She was hoping that people wouldn’t pay attention, but guess what, people are.

TD: Give us the phone number or web site for if anyone wants to get in touch with you, they want to help your campaign, they want to make a donation, and on the podcast, we’ll make sure it’s put on the show.

OC: The web site is votecamargo.com and my phone number is 978-494-4408, and once again that’s 978-494-4408 and that’s www.votecamargo.com 

TD: Would you commit to doing a debate with Diana on my show?

OC: Oh, I wouldn’t mind at all. In fact, I would love that.