PAYING ATTENTION!<<<<<Back to Archive
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| There is one theme in
the fifth congressional district that resonates
with every conversation about Congressman Marty
Meehan: his promises, and his willful disregard
for them. Several years ago Congressman Meehan
made a promise to the voters. That promise was to
impose a term limits pledge on himself and refuse
to seek a fifth term to congress in the year
2000. Well, here we are. It’s the year 2000. Tomorrow always seems to come a lot quicker than we think it will, doesn’t it? And, now that tomorrow is here there are a few people trying to hold Congressman Meehan accountable for breaking that promise to the voters because he is running for Congress again in a year he swore to you he would never run. The issue of breaking promises is so relevant in the minds of the voters that Lawrence City Councilor Marc LaPlante has adopted the slogan "Keeping Promises" in his bid to get 2,000 signatures on the September 19, 2000 Republican ballot. Rumbo Spoke with Mr. LaPlante about his bid for the Republican nomination, here's what he had to say. (Independent, Republican, and Unenrolled voters who are taking a Republican ballot in the September 19th primary can write in the name of Marc LaPlante) Rumbo: "Tell us about the slogan Keeping promises, Marc. What has the response been like?" Marc LaPlante: "The response is phenomenal we are talking about promises, and the importance of keeping your word in public life. When people approach me and find out I am running against Congressman Meehan the first thing they typically say is ‘isn’t he the guy who promised he was only going to serve 4 terms?’ That’s left a bitter taste in people’s mouths and they are angry and upset. Look, they have every right to be. In this election I am working hard to win in the fall but I know that it would be a lot more difficult if Congressman Meehan had kept his word. I am very encouraged at the response we are getting." Rumbo: "You are running against a machine, an incumbent congressman and not only that your name has to be written in or put on the ballot with stickers on election day. How has it been working against the millions of the Marty Meehan money machine?" Marc LaPlante: "This takes hard work and persistence. We have reached out to all 33 towns and cities in the district, it’s an uphill battle, of course, but we are doing what we need to do. We are doing direct mail with stickers prior to the election, we are targeting people we know have voted in the past, we are targeting the absentee voters, we are reaching out to them all on the day of the election. We will have people at the largest polling places in the district and we will be handing out stickers with signs that say get your LaPlante stickers here. Rumbo: "Tell me what you think about the social security system, There is a possibility that Meehan may not make the primary and you could face Tom Tierney and Social Security is his biggest issue. What do you think of SSI and where do you see it going?" Marc LaPlante: "Today the average senior gets $800 a month in benefits. Quite honestly, for a great number of our seniors, that’s all they get and that’s not a living wage by any stretch of the imagination. It’s horrible for some of our seniors. To me, it is absolutely critical they retire with dignity they shouldn’t have to scrape and save and grovel to make ends meet" Rumbo: " That all sounds good, but break it down and give me specifics." Marc LaPlante: The reform measures I have, have 2 principals. Number one, there should be no decline in senior benefits. Number two, we should take a portion of what today’s workers are putting in social security and let them invest that money in a private investment retirement plan. We make a lot of decisions in our lives about buying houses, cars, the schools we go to, important life decisions. There is no reason why we shouldn’t be able to make our own decisions about where our money should go for retirement. It’s absolutely critical we go forward and do that. We will have a sustainable Social Security System, and invest money using the power of compounding interests. This is important for when the baby boomers and generation x retires." Rumbo: "What about Medicare?" Marc Laplante: "Medicare is going bankrupt in the year 2015 and Washington is doing nothing today to deal with that. In fact, today members of Congress and their staff are part of the F.E.H.B.P. Federal Employees Health Benefit Plan. They are able to choose what kind of insurance coverage they get while they are working. This increases competition in the marketplace, it reduces the cost and makes insurance companies more competitive. This approach would reduce the costs associated with Medicare. This isn’t the answer to all our problems, but we have to come up with innovative ideas to start solving some of the problems we are facing. We have to start now, because if we don’t, we are passing this burden onto the young people of future generations. That just isn’t fair to them and it’s not fair to the voters." Rumbo: "I understand that education is one of your main objectives in this campaign. Where do you stand on vouchers and local control?" Marc LaPlante: "I believe in local control but we are paying an awful lot of money for education. We are in a global economy and marketplace where we are competing internationally. Our children are competing nationally. When we look at the money we are putting in the education system of America we should be doing a lot better for our investment. I am a big supporter for vouchers, school choice and charter schools. We need to see which kind of approaches to apply to our kids in different settings. Our public school system needs to thrive if we are going to compete. I’m do not see American getting the best bang for our buck, so to speak. There has to be accountability, there has to be a plan to train our youngsters for that global economy so that as a nation we can continue to compete around the world. " Rumbo: I recently saw a legitimate poll that said more than 70% of American’s are against partial birth abortions. Where do you stand on the issue? (Partial birth abortions are the extracting of late term babies through the womb, feet first, as the baby’s head is about to exit, a suction tube is inserted and the babies brain is sucked out. According to the AMA there is no legitimate health reasons that would require this specific procedure of late term abortion.) Marc LaPlante: "One of the issues Congress will deal with for certain is partial birth abortions. I am very much against partial birth abortions. There is no medical reason to perform the procedure and this is an area where Congressman Meehan and myself tend to differ, he is in favor of the procedure. We are complete opposites on that issue. Rumbo: "You are not on the Republican ballot, tell the readers how they can nominate Marc LaPlante as their nominee to challenge Mr. Osbaldson, Marty Meehan or Tom Tierney, whomever the democrats choose for the November election." Marc LaPlante: "It is important for the Independents and the Unenrolled voters to understand that they can vote for me on September 19th if they are going to take a Republican ballot. They can call my headquarters at 687-5900 and we will deliver a sticker, or they can write in my name on the ballot where you would normally mark and X or punch a hole next to the candidate of your choice. Lawrence has a different system and so we have to make up special stickers for the Lawrence voters. In Lawrence you have to put the sticker on the inside of the ballot envelope, on the inside sleeve. That obviously makes it more difficult because now we are working with two different kinds of stickers. I think Lawrence is the only city or town that still has that outdated system, but we are working with it the best that we can. I am confident that we will be able to get on the ballot and I am looking forward to the election in November." |