VALLEY PATRIOT EXCLUSIVE Valley Patriot Staff – March, 2010 According to a report last month by The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, the Obama Administration is blocking an arms deal with Israel. The report states that “Israel’s request for six AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopters was blocked by the Obama Administration in June […]
Lawrence Councilor LaPlante says mayor wrong for only putting city job postings in Spanish Language newspapers By: Tom Duggan, February 2, 2010 Lawrence City Councilor Marc LaPlante took Mayor Willie Lantigua to task Wednesday night for his policy of only posting city jobs in Spanish Language weekly newspapers and not “the daily paper of record. Since […]
PAYING ATTENTION! WITH TOM DUGGAN By: Tom Duggan – February, 2010 Well, it’s been a while since I last wrote a column under this title, but maybe it was worth the wait. Last month’s special election here in Massachusetts was electrifying. But not just here in Massachusetts, all over the country people were energized and […]
CHAOS in LAWRENCE Fiscal Disaster in Lawrence Could Lead to More Money Pouring into The City of Waste By: Tom Duggan – February, 2010 If Governor Deval Patrick has his way, the City of Lawrence will be able to borrow $35 Million to pay for their (to date) $24.5 million deficit. House Bill 4421 […]
Mayor Bill Manzi Attacks Tribune for “misleading reporting” By: Tom Duggan – January, 2010 The Massachusetts Department of Revenue has certified the City of Methuen’s tax rate as voted on by the city council last week. Mayor Bill Manzi told the Valley Patriot that he was excited to be able to send out the property […]
Paying Attention! with Tom Duggan By: Tom Duggan – January, 2010 Being a State Representative in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the easiest job in the world. You don’t have to punch in, you have no immediate supervisor checking your work, there are no assigned hours, no dock in pay for missing work and no […]
Blanchette Pats himself on the back while purposely trying to create budget deficit, state takeover By: Tom Duggan, December, 2009 Under the leadership of Council President Patrick Blanchette, the Lawrence City Council spent the last two years taking “symbolic” budget votes, blaming the Sullivan administration for their own inaction, and refusing to pass […]
PAYING ATTENTION with Tom Duggan – November, 2009 Few people can really understand the magnitude of the changes that are about to occur in the City of Lawrence with the election of State Representative Willie Lantigua (da chief). Not only did Willie win an overwhelming victory on Election Day, but almost every one of […]
By: Tom Duggan – October, 2009 Only half of the ten candidates running for mayor in Lawrence filed their campaign finances reports with Lawrence City clerk Billy Maloney by the September 15th deadline before the primary. By state law, candidates for all municipal offices must record and file a detailed accounting of all money raised and spent on […]
By: Tom Duggan – August, 2009 Last fall, Former Chairman of the North Andover School Committee, Alfred Perry, was arrested and charged with embezzlement, larceny and insurance fraud. The charges stemmed from allegations that he stole money from his business, Internet Insurance Agency. He was arranged in Lawrence District Court and last month there was […]
By: Tom Duggan – July, 2009 An investigation by the Massachusetts office of Campaign and Political Finance may not have issued their report yet on which elected officials benefited from campaign material printed in the Lawrence Public Schools I’m gong to tell you who they right now. At least three members of the Lawrence School Committee (Morris, Larocque and Mejia) benefited from literature printed […]
By: Tom Dugan – July, 2009 You have to hand it to the poverty pimps at Lawrence Community Works, they really know how to pull a fast one. Last month LCW started their sham campaign called “Yes We Will” where they invited every candidate for office to attend an event so they could size up the competition for their […]
Paying Attention! with Tom Duggan By: Tom Duggan – Posted: February 13, 2009 The Lawrence Historical Commission voted Tuesday evening to approve the demolition of two buildings on Merrimack Street in Lawrence owned by Sal Lupol of Salvatore’s Restaurant, at Sal’s Riverwalk Properties, making way for a multi-million dollar development at the site which […]
Slated to Bring 2,000 New Jobs to Lawrence By: Tom Duggan February 2, 2009 The Lawrence Historical Commission voted Tuesday evening to approve the demolition of two buildings on Merrimack Street in Lawrence owned by Sal Lupol of Salvatore’s Restaurant, at Sal’s Riverwalk Properties, making way for a multi-million dollar development at the site […]
Defending the First Amendment and protecting confidential sources PAYING ATTENTION! with Tom Duggan By: Tom Duggan, November, 2008 The most important function a newspaper or media outlet can perform is to serve as a watchdog for the way taxpayer’s dollars are spent in their community and expose information that public officials and those who do […]