Five Things you should know today, September 13, 2012

by: Rob "EaBo Clipper" Eno

Thu Sep 13, 2012 at 07:46:03 AM EDT

Denise Andrews would have you believe she did nothing wrong in relaying false accusations against her Republican opponent Susannah Lee.  She took to Facebook yesterday to do a little damage control.

Some disturbing and false statements and allegations have been made publically by Ms. Lee and Fox News. I will briefly address these so you have an immediate and direct response from me as your State Representative. There are four very concerning statements made or implied by Ms. Lee and Fox News that are false, they are:

-I accused Ms. Lee of using drugs; that is false

-Ms. Lee was forced to take a drug test; that is false

-My actions are politically motivated; that is false

-I acted with intent to slander or defame Ms. Lee; that is false

The police report speaks for itself Ms. Andrews.

2. Brad Jones' phantom doorstop

Brad Jones has weighed in on the ginned up controversy surrounding a Republican State Committee vote tonight to adopt the national Republican Platform.  Jones told the State House News Service the following (via Eagle Tribune):

House Minority Leader Brad Jones of North Reading, a pro-choice Republican, said the national platform may be "more aggressive than my record" on social issues, but has little bearing on how he votes in the Legislature.

"Being a Republican in Massachusetts, I kind of view the platform much like the Democratic Legislature views Republican budgets. It's a nice big thick document that we're going to use as a door jamb and we're going to move on and do what we think we should do," Jones said in Tampa

That's kind of interesting, one would think that from this quote that Brad Jones, as Minority Leader, actually offers an alternative view of governance in a Republican Minority Budget.  That would not be true.  Jones does not offer Minority budgets, at least for the past two years.  The Democratic Party can't treat something that doesn't exist like anything.

The Leadership Institute is conducting training this evening from 5:30 PM to 8:30 PM on Getting out The Vote.  It will be held at the Doubletree Hotel in Westborough.

House Minority Leader Brad Jones of North Reading, a pro-choice Republican, said the national platform may be "more aggressive than my record" on social issues, but has little bearing on how he votes in the Legislature.

"Being a Republican in Massachusetts, I kind of view the platform much like the Democratic Legislature views Republican budgets. It's a nice big thick document that we're going to use as a door jamb and we're going to move on and do what we think we should do," Jones said in Tampa

4. Alan Silvia decleared winner after recount

It is  official, after a lengthy recount, Alan Silvia remains the winner over Bob Deleo's candidate Kevin Aguiar in Fall River.  The final count was a 26 vote win for the conservative Democrat Alan Silvia.

At least eight other members of the Beacon Hill Machine were in attendance as Aguiar lost.  Those were representatives, Mark Cusack, Aaron Michlewitz, Paul Brodeur, Schmidt, Joan Menard, Pat Haddad, Chris Markey, and Sean Garballey.  

File under all the speakers horses and all Mariano's men couldn't put Kevin Aguiar back together again.

5. FLASHBACK: Bialecki says Manufacturing Not Coming Back

State GSP data show that Massachusetts has lost manufacturing jobs at a faster rate than the rest of the nation. Mainly because of high fixed and variable costs including real estate, taxes, and electric rates.  Heavy industry such as paper manufacturing, which is what my degree is in, have been extremely disproportionately hit.  

Today a report is coming out about a small scale, specialized manufacturing renaissance in Massachusetts.  It is helpful though to remember that Greg Bialecki told the Boston Business Journal, in January of this year, that the state shouldn't focus on Manufacturing. That the jobs weren't coming back.

Massachusetts state government has worked to keep high-technology manufacturers like solar, energy and robotics firms in state, but the state is unlikely to rebuild its manufacturing workforce even to pre-recessionary levels, Economic Development Secretary Gregory Bialecki acknowledged in an interview with the Boston Business Journal, Friday.

In fact, the number of manufacturing jobs in the Bay State is likely to decline from this point forward, he said.

"If you promised me that 20 years from now we'd only have the same number of people working in manufacturing as we did today I would take your offer in a second," Bialecki said.

File under Texas made bells and whistles.