Involved in the western Massachusetts labor movement for 25 years and a strong believer in social democratic unionism, Lawrence O’Brien is hoping to improve lives, especially those in marginalized populations, as the next representative for the 3rd Hampshire District.
“Broadly, my top priority is the growing wealth and income inequality and failure by the commonwealth to invest in public needs appropriately,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien, 52, a resident of the Pioneer Valley for 35 years, said he is dismayed at the growing income and wealth disparity and sees the opportunity to bring a voice to the discussion about failures to invest in the public good.
O’Brien met his wife, Patricia, while they were undergraduates at the University of Massachusetts and have raised three daughters in Amherst.
He is a history and social studies teacher at Belchertown High School and served on the elected Amherst School Committee. He is a communicant at the Newman Center.
Though he has received no formal endorsements, more than a dozen former students have helped him canvas neighborhoods and distribute materials, and he has also received support from members of the Belchertown Teachers Association.
He was formerly active in the Massachusetts Teachers Association, observing that he spent a lot of time pushing to increase support of public education. “Unions serve an important function for social and economic change,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien said he hopes to revise how charter schools are funded and overseen. “I see them as publicly funded, privately run schools,” O’Brien said. “I’m the only candidate who has said we shouldn’t just vote no on Question 2 (a charter schools ballot question in November), but have time to straighten out the financing piece on that.”
He said he would try to convince the Legislature to accept the recommendations of the Foundation Budget Review Commission. The commission is a panel of legislators, state administrators, educators and business leaders that has examined the appropriate level of funding for K-12 public education.
The social safety net can be improved through passing the fair share act, or millionaire’s tax, in two years, but also by eliminating what he describes as the disastrous state tax cuts, between 1998 and 2002, that have cost the state billions of dollars. Universal education from preschool through what he calls Grade 14 should be an entitlement, necessitated by the modern economy.
“What we need to do as progressives is believe government can be a force for change in the wealth gap, and we need to make the argument that taxes are important for paying for priorities in life,” O’Brien said.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
