The press of congressional business kept Congressman John Tierney from keeping a scheduled speaking date with the North Shore Chamber of Commerce Wednesday.
His replacement, Senate Minority Leader-elect Bruce Tarr, took full advantage of the bully pulpit to offer what were decidedly different views from the ones the Salem Democrat would have espoused on issues ranging from immigration to tax cuts.
For instance, while Tierney has expressed decided skepticism over the deal President Obama cut with Republicans to extend the Bush tax cuts and unemployment benefits, Tarr thinks it's a great compromise that will prevent the economy from slipping back into recession.
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A source close to the negotiations says General Electric will not be seeking tax incentives from the state after all to keep manufacturing jobs in Lynn; but will proceed with the retooling of the Riverworks plant on its own dime.
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Salem State University President Patricia Maguire Meservey was effusive in her praise for the region's legislative delegation at Tuesday's groundbreaking for a new library and "learning commons."
She singled out in particular Senate Majority Leader Fred Berry, D-Peabody, who was unable to attend the ceremony, and Reps. John Keenan, D-Salem, and Ted Speliotis, D-Danvers, who was a member of the Education Committee when she first approached the state for funds to replace the old library, which was condemned in 2007.
Other legislators in attendance Tuesday besides Keenan and Speliotis, were Sen. Thomas McGee, D-Lynn; and Reps. Robert Fennell, D-Lynn; Lori Ehrlich, D-Marblehead; and Mary Grant, D-Beverly. Keenan arrived sporting a tie in SSU's colors, orange and blue.
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Speliotis, by the way, points out that his margin of victory in last month's election exceeded — though just barely — that of 2002 when he garnered 51.3 percent of the votes in his race against then Topsfield Selectman Stephen Clark. This year, running against another selectman from his hometown of Danvers, Dan Bennett, Speliotis received 51.4 percent of the votes.
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The naysayers from Lynn have apparently convinced members of the Peabody City Council to take a look at the potential impact on their city of the new Lowe's and Walmart expansion proposed for Salem's Highland Avenue.
At ad-hoc committee comprised of Ward 1 Councilor Barry Osborne and Councilors at large Anne Manning-Martin and Ted Bettencourt, will hold a hearing next week to determine whether the project poses any danger to the city's drinking water supply at Spring Pond.
But Mayor Michael Bonfanti says he's already had Peter Smyrnios, the city's veteran Water Department superintendent, look into those plans and he doesn't see a problem.
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The Peabody Citizen's Tom Grelish takes a pretty good whack at Councilors Rico Mello of Ward 3 and Barry Sinewitz of Ward 6 this week for voting against the tax rate.
Mello routinely votes against both the budget when it comes before the council in the spring, and the tax rate when it is set later in the year. But Grelish rightly points out that neither Mello nor Sinewitz have been particularly anxious to propose the kinds of cuts that might keep spending and property taxes down; then goes on to suggest they might start by giving up their taxpayer-subsidized health insurance plans.
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Efforts by Peabody's Bonfanti and his colleagues to keep the lid on employee salaries and benefits this year are bound to be bolstered by a new Boston Foundation report, which found that every dime and more of state education aid hikes since 2000 were consumed by teacher health insurance premiums.
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Nelson Benton's column on North Shore politics appears every Friday in this space.
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