By: Tom Duggan – November, 2014 State Representative Diana DiZoglio (D-Methuen) handily defeated Rosemary Smedile (R-North Andover), on Election Day by 1,133 votes. Smedile is Chairman of the North Andover Board of Selectmen and does not come up for re-election until 2016. DiZoglio represents Haverhill, Methuen, North Andover and Lawrence. “I’m just glad it’s all […]
CLICK TO LISTEN TO HOUR 1 CLICK TO LISTEN TO HOUR 2 Today Tom and Paul talked with Andover State Rep. Jim Lyons about the corruption in state government. Lyons and Rep. Lombardo are demanding accountability for all those involved in the Massachusetts Department of Probation scandal including Speaker DeLeo and other Reps. (Story to […]
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD HOUR 1 CLICK HERE TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD HOUR 2 Today Tom, State Rep. Lenny Mirra and Phil DeCologero talked about the election results, analyzed the numbers and dissected the raw numbers from Tuesday. TOPICS: The governor’s race, the Rosemary Smedile race against Diana DiZoglio, the Jim Kelcourse race in […]
By: Kathy Runge – October, 2014 Once upon a time, a city council suspended the rules and had a redo vote on the proposed residency requirement. They waited and waited until they had a meeting with the right councilors in attendance. Finally it passed. Since the mayor wouldn’t sign the measure, it had little chance […]
By: Tom Duggan – November 4, 2014 For the second year in a row the alliance between Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera and State Representative Marcos Devers resulted in what Rivera calls “miracle wins” against the once thought unbeatable former Lawrence Mayor Willie Lantigua. “Nobody thought we could beat Lantigua last year and we did. […]
By: Tom Duggan, November 3, 2014 While The Valley Patriot newspaper has a policy against endorsing candidates, each member of our editorial board is free to endorse or make public who we are voting for. Here are my personal picks for the 2014 election season and why. Governor Charlie Baker, Republican As a right […]
CLICK to LISTEN TO OR DOWNLOAD HOUR 1 CLICK to LISTEN TO OR DOWNLOAD HOUR 2 Rosemary Smedile refused to come in for a debate with State Rep Diana DiZoglio so we gave DiZoglio time to talk to the voters about why she should be elected. Congressional candidate Ann Wofford also joined us she is running against […]
This is part II of Valley Patriot publisher Tom Duggan’s interview with Lawrence State Receiver for the Lawrence Public Schools who took over and replaced the school committee nearly three years ago. Jeff Riley interview PART 1 Here DUGGAN: What are your thoughts on the teacher’s union. RILEY: There’s this huge fight in the […]
By: Tom Duggan – October, 2014 14th Essex District State Representative Diana DiZoglio is seeking her second term in the legislature. She says that what she is most proud of is co-sponsoring a bill to put photo ID on EBT (welfare) cards. “It’s really important to have photo ID on EBT cards because it helps […]
By: Ralph Wilbur – October, 2014 Rosemary Smedile is running for state representative from the 14th District including parts of North Andover, Lawrence, Methuen and Bradford. Rosemary graduated from Boston College with honors. Married 33 years with three children, she is a small business owner and has served the North Andover community for 5 years […]
By: Tom Duggan – October, 2014 While many believe former Lawrence Mayor Willie Lantigua is now a bad memory never to return, the fact is the man who ruled Lawrence with an iron fist is now positioned as the front-runner in a three way race for his old seat in the Massachusetts House of […]
Political Deceptions Valley Patriot columnist and member of the Methuen School Committee, DJ Deeb wrote in his column this month that voters should choose Republican candidates in the upcoming state elections. Deeb listed a number of reasons to make his case, but is now issuing a public apology to Democrat State Representative Linda Dean Campbell […]
BOSTON – A Lawrence man was sentenced today in connection with the theft of $230,000 in federal tax refund checks. Wilson Santana, 41, was sentenced today to 21 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $237,277.18 to the U.S. […]
CLICK to LISTEN TO OR DOWNLOAD HOUR 1 CLICK to LISTEN TO OR DOWNLOAD HOUR 2 Today Tom and Christine talked about Massachusetts ballot questions and Tom took the republican party to task for being hyper partisan and deceptively portraying Democrats. Paying Attention is hosted by Valley Patriot Publisher Tom Duggan. Tom’s, Co-host is Paul […]
Former Office Manager of Lawrence Company Charged with Larceny SALEM – The former office manager of a Lawrence company has been indicted in connection with allegedly stealing more than $1.7 million from her employer for her personal use, Attorney General Martha Coakley announced today. Dorothy Giard, age 44, of North Andover, was indicted on Thursday by […]