Wednesday, April 10, 2013
"The House bill just doesn't cut it," said Rep. Carl Sciortino. Said Rep. Timothy Toomey, "I could not justify voting no with the threat of fare increases and service cuts looming over the commuters, families, and seniors."
Two of Somerville's state representatives voted against a $500 transportation financing bill Monday; one voted for it. Rep. Carl Sciortino, who also represents parts of Medford, explained why he voted against the bill, saying, "It's clearly inadequate to meet the needs of the commonwealth going forward." "[A transportation bill] is a rare opportunity to make generational investments, and the House bill just doesn't cut it," he said. To put Sciortino's comments in context, the bill passed Monday by the House was at odds with a more ambitious proposal put forth by Gov. Deval Patrick, who called for $1.9 billion in new revenue to fund transportation and education initiatives in the state. Patrick had said he would veto the $500 million bill. …
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
The incumbent state representative from the 26th Middlesex District fended off two challengers to win his 11th term in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
Timothy Toomey, a Cambridge Democrat, won reelection to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in the 26th Middlesex District, which encompasses East Cambridge and East Somerville. Toomey defeated challengers Thomas Vasconcelos, a Republican from Somerville, and Mike Connolly, a Progressive Independent from Cambridge, in Tuesday’s election. With 10 of 13 precincts reporting, Toomey received 8,941 votes, Vasconcelos received 806 and Connolly received 3,218. At a small gathering at Courtside in East Cambridge Tuesday night, Toomey thanked voters "for placing their trust in me." "It's an honor and a privilege to serve," he said, adding, "There's a lot of work to do come January." Speaking earlier Tuesday evening at a gathering at a home …
Friday, November 2, 2012
Candidates for state representative in the 26th Middlesex District debated in Cambridge on Oct. 30. Find video of the debate here.
Candidates for state representative in the 26th Middlesex District—State Rep. Timothy Toomey, Republican Thomas Vasconcelos and Progressive Independent Mike Connolly—debated in Cambridge on Oct. 30. Read about the debate here. Watch it here.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
His opponents called it a gimmick at a Tuesday debate.
The three candidates running for state representative in the 26th Middlesex District, which represents much of East Cambridge and East Somerville, spent significant time Tuesday night debating campaign finances. In particular, State Rep. Timothy Toomey, a Democrat, and Thomas Vasconcelos, a Republican, challenged Progressive Independent Mike Connolly on his "no money" campaign. The debate was held at Cambridge Community Television in Central Square, and it will eventually be broadcast on the Cambridge station and Somerville Community Access Television, in addition to being posted to websites such as Somerville Patch. It was the second debate between the three candidates. A discussion about campaign finances led Toomey and Vasconcelos to …
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Despite Hurricane Sandy and isolated power outages in Cambridge, candidates for state representative in the 26th Middlesex District were still planning to debate Tuesday in Central Square.
A Cambridge debate among candidates for state representative in the 26th Middlesex District was still scheduled to take place Tuesday night, according to the candidates' campaigns. State Rep. Timothy Toomey, a Democrat, and challengers Thomas Vasconcelos, a Republican, and Mike Connolly, a Progressive Independent, will debate at 7 p.m. in front of a live studio audience at Cambridge Community Television in Central Square. Due to Hurricane Sandy, 1658 customers in Cambridge were still without power as of 2:30 p.m. Tuesday. Senate candidates Elizabeth Warren and Sen. Scott Brown, who were also scheduled to debate Tuesday, decided not to debate that night. Tuesday's will be the second televised debate among the 26th Middlesex District …
Thursday, October 25, 2012
A look at some recent coverage of what's become Somerville's most exciting local race in the 2012 election season.
For those of you following the race for state representative in the 26th Middlesex District, which encompasses East Somerville and East Cambridge, you might want to take a look at some recent media coverage. First, Rep. Tim Toomey was on SCATV's "Greater Somerville" and spoke with host Joe Lynch about the campaign, his challengers and the district. You can watch the episode here. Second, The Phoenix (in its new glossy-magazine form) ran a profile of Progressive Independent Mike Connolly, who's running against Toomey. Read it here. Finally, the Boston Herald, via the State House News Service, posted a story about the entertaining Oct. 16 debate, in which Toomey, Connolly and Republican candidate Thomas Vasconcelos sparred over a number of …
Thursday, October 18, 2012
26th Middlesex District State Rep. Timothy Toomey and challengers Michael Connolly and Thomas Vasconcelos sparred during an entertaining debated in Somerville Tuesday. Here's video of the showdown.
If you enjoy an entertaining debate, check out this video of State Rep. Timothy Toomey and his challengers, Mike Connolly, a Progressive Independent, and Thomas Vasconcelos, a Republican, debating in Somerville Tuesday. The debate, for the 26th Middlesex District seat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, was held at SCATV and was moderated by "Greater Somerville" Host Joe Lynch. Watch the debate here. The three candidates discussed a number of issues, including a proposed gas tax to fund public transit, development in East Somerville, charter schools, air pollution in East Somerville, the state debt and constituent services. They also went after each other on topics such as their employment histories, charitable contributions and…
42.37965
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Somerville Community Access Television
90 Union Sq, Somerville, MA
/articles/watch-state-rep-candidates-debate-in-somerville-toomey-connolly-vasconcelos-square-off
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Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Candidates for state representative in the 26th Middlesex District came out swinging at Tuesday night's debate held in Somerville.
Candidates for state representative in the 26th Middlesex District—incumbent Rep. Timothy Toomey, a Democrat, and his challengers, Republican Thomas Vasconcelos and Progressive Independent Mike Connolly—faced off Tuesday night in a lively and at times feisty debate. The three candidates discussed a number of local and state issues, including the idea of implementing a gas tax to fund public transit, development in East Somerville, charter schools, air pollution in East Somerville, the state debt and constituent services. The debate was videotaped at SCATV in Union Square and moderated by Joseph Lynch, host of "Greater Somerville." It will air on that channel and Cambridge Community Television. Somerville Patch will post video of the debate…
42.37965
-71.095579
Somerville Community Access Television
90 Union Sq, Somerville, MA
/articles/state-rep-candidates-spar-during-feisty-debate
1422435
/locations/8023467
Thursday, October 11, 2012
The first debate will be held Oct. 16 at SCATV in Somerville, the second will be on Oct. 30 in Cambridge.
It looks like the three candiates in the race for state representative in the 26th Middlesex District, which encompasses East Cambridge and East Somerville, have agreed on details for two debate that will be held in October. Incumbent State Rep. Timothy Toomey, a Democrat, and his challengers, Republican Thomas Vasconcelos and Independent Mike Connolly, had previously argued about when, where and how debates would take place. The three campaigns had agreed to announce the debates in a joint statement, which caused a further argument when Connolly released a debate schedule Toomey hadn't agreed to. Now, an email sent to members of the media Wednesday afternoon from Toomey's campaign address, but including contact information for all three …
Friday, October 5, 2012
Thomas Vasconcelos, Republican candidate for 26th Middlesex District state representative seat, answers Democratic incumbent Timothy Toomey call for his challengers to release their tax returns.
The headline on this article was corrected on Friday, Oct. 5 at 2:45 p.m. Editor's note: A copy of this letter was provided to Somerville Patch by Thomas Vasconcelos. Read our previous article on state Rep. Timothy Toomey's call for his challengers to release their tax returns. Representative Toomey, I have decided to not release my tax returns. I cannot release copies of my tax returns for all three years (2009-2011) due to the fact that I have only filed taxes for one of those three years. I was a full-time student, taking classes, unemployed, or involved in paid/unpaid internships in 2009, 2010, and 2011. My total salary was under the filing threshold during two out of the last three years. Unless you can give me a logical reason as to …
Joe Beckmann
7:53 am on Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Magic Johnson's $100,000,000 subway station at North Point will bring Tim Toomey much closer to the Governor in the long run, while Dick Cheyney's firm, Halliburton, does the immensely inflated construction after the Governor's over-ride. While it's critical to upgrade and enhance the MBTA, it's also critical that we remain ... critical ... of the political, financial, and transit corruption on … more ›