by Karla Miller
This year, voters of the 1st Middlesex district have a clear choice for their next State Senator.
The current incumbent has spent this campaign touting his ability to bring money back to the district to support various programs and projects. That should be expected of any State Senator, to bring back the tax dollars of their constituents back to support their communities. Senator Kennedy has allowed Senate leadership, of which he is a part of, to misuse our tax dollars to support illegal migrants at the expense of our children, businesses, and communities. Several times during this election cycle I have asked Senator Kennedy to debate the issues facing the voters of our district and he has refused my offer.
The other day, Senator Kennedy appeared on “City Life” and was asked “Why not let people keep their own money instead of picking winners and losers?”
His response was “I don’t really have control over giving out money to immigrant families or anyone else.”
You can’t have it both ways Senator. Either you have the power to direct money to projects and programs that you support, or you don’t.
We must have missed his public statements calling for the Governor to end our Sanctuary State policy, or to end the influx of migrants into our state. His silence was deafening when our state budgeted over $1 Billion dollars to address the migrant crisis facing our state, yet our state faces a housing crisis, and has become unaffordable for younger generations to stay here. While bringing money back to the district is great, we as voters should examine what he does to make our state more economically competitive, transparent for citizens, and to promote good government.
As our Senator, he has never supported measures that will help make our state affordable. He opposes support for increasing energy options that will reduce energy costs, such as expansion of natural gas or nuclear power for energy generation. He supported the millionaire’s tax. He supports “green mandates” that reduce consumer choice and make housing more costly.
On state spending, Senator Kennedy doesn’t support budgets that are balanced without new taxes or spending from the rainy-day fund. He doesn’t support requiring a two-thirds majority in the Legislature to increase taxes. He also doesn’t support requiring an economic impact study to be done before voting on new and increased taxes. He is quick to spend our money without looking at how it will affect our wallets.
When it comes to transparency, his record is even worse. He opposes supporting making legislative committee votes public. He opposes extending the open meeting law to the Governor and Legislature. He refuses to reaffirm the State Auditor’s power to audit the legislature.
We as citizens can no longer afford to be paid off with our own tax money. We must send a Senator to Beacon Hill that has faced the challenges of running a business, being a mother, and is tired of a government that is focused on extracting more money rather than providing taxpayers with greater transparency, accountability, and focus on making our state affordable again.
On November 5, Elect Karla Miller and you, the citizens of the 1st Middlesex District will send a Senator that is committed to fiscal responsibility, transparency, and focusing government on providing services to Massachusetts citizens.
(Karla Miller is the Republican candidate in the 1st Middlesex State Senate District)
