1st Middlesex Candidates’ Choice

LUNENBURG – The Lunenburg Ledger and Tracker’s coverage of the 1st Middlesex District State Representative race between incumbent Margaret Scarsdale and challenger Chris Lyons has been focused on topics and subjects driven by our readers to this point. Just one day out of the election, both candidates got their chance to talk about a campaign topic not covered to this point in the coverage.

The top issue for Lyons not emphasized enough was the declining population of Massachusetts. He says because of the policies enacted by the legislature, being a sanctuary state or magnate state, there is a loss of identity of what it means to be a citizen of Massachusetts.

“What does it mean to be a citizen of Massachusetts,” Lyons said. “Because of these policies people are coming here for reasons other than they want to be a Massachusetts citizen, and want to assimilate and become what we call a citizen of the Commonwealth. I believe we’re losing that, they’re coming here not because they want to become a citizen of Massachusetts, they just want to be in Massachusetts because of the social programs. And that to me is very concerning.”

Lyons says people have some of the highest paying jobs in Massachusetts, but there are also many lower income industries including the restaurant industry which he has built a successful career from. Due to rising inflation, Lyons says we’re losing the middle class in Massachusetts. He notes many people in the prime of their lives, 25 to 45, are leaving the state for better opportunities, and start a business elsewhere, and to raise families elsewhere. Resolving these issues is a central part of Lyons’ campaign.

“We’re losing the middle class,” Lyons said. “We have a ton of people here in Massachusetts that make a great wage, whether it’s in the education system, healthcare system, biotech or things like that we’re people make extraordinary wages. But we also have a large amount of folks who work in the lower end of the spectrum, in the restaurant business, whatever manufacturing might be left, and landscaping. We don’t have a ton manufacturing or middle class jobs, nor do we have ways for people in the lower scales to achieve and move up the ladder to become middle class.”

Scarsdale notes that one of the central parts of her campaign often times doesn’t make the headlines or get the Boston media recognition, but says it’s about the small things of helping a resident in need. Most of the discussion related to politics rarely recognizes the individual constituent service work carried out by all legislators.

A tragedy in Lunenburg fell on Lynn Jordan and John (TJ) Pesenti when a catastrophic surge in electricity in their home resulted in the cessation of their heat and water. Compounding the problem was that Presenti suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2019. Both home insurance and Unitil refused to provide assistance or take responsibility, leaving the burden on the household’s shoulders.

“Negotiating with insurance companies and utility companies is not a part of normal duties for a state representative,” Scarsdale said. “But it was absolutely unconscionable to me that these two people should be held accountable for an electrical surge and the tens of thousands of dollars in damages that surge caused. And so, I got to work, interceding with both UNITIL and insurance to plead the Presenti’s case.”

“I was told “no” multiple times by both entities, but I was not dissuaded,” Scarsdale continued. “I promised Lynn and TJ I would exhaust all possibilities and I continued to press for accountability. Finally, happily, Lynn called me to tell me that their insurance company was waiving the deductible and UNITIL was covering the damages from a ground line to the house causing the surge. Our work has paid off. It would have been easy to give up after the first “no” or the tenth “no” from two corporate behemoths. But I do not give up, because I owe it to every constituent to go the extra mile for them.”

Scarsdale takes just as much pride in her votes in the legislature, as serving constituent needs, she says.