A Single Step: A visit from Niki Tsongas
by Liz A
Our harnessing of the sun to provide some of the juice that runs our household has attracted the attention of more than just our neighbors.
Our long-time and well-respected congresscritter, Marty Meehan, has resigned, ostensibly to take a new job but, rumor has it, really to spend more time with his family (what a concept). This has generated a rather heated special election for his seat, including one contender, Niki Tsongas. Ms. Tsongas was the wife of Paul Tsongas, who was once our senator and then presidential aspirant.
Ms. T has already garnered an endorsement from Barney Frank (”an old friend”) and Emily’s list. She’s been speaking out against the war in Iraq and for marriage equality. This week, she announced a theme of energy independence during Independence week. As part of that effort, she and our solar hot water installer (along with three of her staff members and one of his) visited the house for a quick tour of the installation.
The visit was a delight, and she’s just as charming and gracious as I’d hoped. The group stayed about 45 minutes and we talked about alternative energy, CSAs, Ms. Tsongas’ daughter’s environmental work, and how there’s a lot of important work to do in Washington.
In a later phone call, she said that she was inspired by the visit and woke up in the middle of the night thinking about where she could put solar panels on her own house.
You can read more about Ms. Tsongas’ platform on global warming here: http://www.nikitsongas.com/global_warming.php. Her Press Release page (http://www.nikitsongas.com/press/070207.pdf ) says more about the “week of independence” theme.
I recognize that everyone has to make up their own mind about whom to vote for, but thought that this update would be of especial interest to readers of this blog.
– liz
on July 8th, 2007 at 4:28 am
It’s all well and good that Ms. Tsongas is researching alternative energy, but did you grill her on her residency status?*
* For those not from MA, Niki Tsongas lived in Lowell for decades before moving to Charlestown in 2003. She is now being accused of being a carpetbagger and having “turned her back on Lowell”. (Keep in mind, that Charlestown is no more than 30 miles from Lowell.) I am amused by how provincial MA politics can be.
on July 8th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
I first became aware that moving away from Lowell was an issue during a phone survey. I was absolutely shocked that anyone would be upset about it. However, I think NT could have moved to Tewksbury (one town over) for four years and gotten the same reaction. As a side note, when I lived in Lowell, the Tsongas family lived on the same street but “up the hill” (read, in much more elegant circumstances, but still in the same neighborhood). They were very much of a Lowell presence in those days.
IMHO, the carpetbagger accusation is a very real concern in some situations, but it’s hard to make sense of this one. Then again, apparently even some carpetbaggers do a good job for their constituents. (Yes, I’m thinking of two very recent cases, and I’ll just let everyone insert their own favorite images into the story.)