Jan. 7, 2015 It’s his last day as Governor of Massachusetts and Deval Patrick is making his ceremonial exit from The State House for the last time. He may not have noticed, but if he had looked up from his cheering supporters on his way out the door he might have recognized Lawrence’s favorite […]
BOZO OF THE YEAR – LENNY DEGNAN – It takes a lot to get bozo of the year but Lenny Degnan, (former Chief of Staff for Lawrence Mayor Willie Lantigua) has managed to do just that. Degnan was convicted of fraud and corruption earlier this year as the result of his role […]
By: Kathy Runge – December, 2014 The election has come and gone, the employee residency requirement has been discussed ad nauseam by the council with more to come, and we’ve had more senseless deaths of young people in Lawrence. The residents of Lawrence can breathe a sigh of relief that William Lantigua isn’t on the […]
CHANNEL 5 DEBATE – Of all the debates this political season, Channel 5’s debate between Charlie Baker and Martha Coakley was by far the worst. It was so awful and apparently biased that I actually had to go back and watch it twice. It was like a train wreck you can’t look away from. […]
By: Tom Duggan – 11/21/14 Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera has fired Rafael Tejeda, (the Lawrence Bilingual Elections Coordinator) after a review of the Lawrence election process by election attorneys at Kopelman and Paige. The municipal law firm released a scathing review of Lawrence’s handling of the election process after reviewing the 2014 elections. Rivera said […]
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 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 […]
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 […]
BOSTON PRESS FAKES POLL NUMBERS IN TIERNEY RACE I declare shenanigans! Before the September 9th primary elections in MA the Boston Globe and the Boston media was so desperate to inflate congressional candidate Seth Moulten’s numbers against John Tierney that they released a bogus poll a week before the election showing Tierney at 47% and […]
SALISBURY FREE CASH? – Why would Town Manager Neil Harrington and Sewer Commissioner/Selectmen transfer $460,000 from the Sewer Enterprise Fund (SEF) – and name it “free cash” when it absolutely is not free cash? On May 19th voters spoke up at Town Meeting saying Salisbury had special “Step 3” Federal Grant conditions in order to […]
By Tom Duggan – August 31, 2014 A social media post by Republican Lawrence City Councilor Roger Twomey is causing controversy after Twomey mislead his supporters to believe that the photo he posted on a social media site Twitter was at a fundraiser for himself. Twomey (R) is in a three-way race with former Lawrence Mayor William […]
By: Tom Duggan – August 8, 2014 LAWRENCE, MA – Lawrence State Representative Marcos Devers (D-Lawrence) says he favors Voter ID and says that as a Dominican he is “offended” when he hears people say that those who support voter ID are “racist”. “I am for Voter ID, it’s a matter of transparency”, Devers says. […]
By: Tom Duggan – July 18, 2014 Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera has begun the process of finding a permanent fire chief to lead the Lawrence Fire Department. Rivera named the members of what he calls his “Fire Chief Search Committee”, and says he has began the first stages of the search process this week. The function […]
Full Video below VIDEO|PHOTOS By: Tom Duggan – June 19, 2014 Lawrence State Representative Marcos Devers, a Democrat, held his official reelection kickoff Thursday night as Salvatore’s Restaurant at Sal’s Riveralk with a cast of who’s who in attendance supporting the two term representative. Candidate for governor Steve Grossman was on hand to support Devers […]