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Q&A: Barrett Takes Questions at Williamstown Candidates' Forum
By Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires Staff
07:00PM / Monday, August 21, 2017
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John Barrett III, candidate for 1st Berkshire district, answers questions from the Williamstown Democratic Committee.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — John Barrett III, former mayor of North Adams, put his experience front and center in a recent forum sponsored by the Williamstown Democratic Party Committee.
 
"Thirty years of relationships on both sides of the aisle, which I think is important," Barrett said. "Relationships not only in the House of Representatives and the Senate but also relationships with many that are in the secretariats today. They know who I am, and I do believe they respect me and the work I did with them. It wasn't always easy because we were always seeking more money for our communities."
 
Barrett is one of four Democrats running to fill out the unexpired term of the late 1st Berkshire State Rep. Gailanne Cariddi, D-North Adams. There also is one announced Republican candidate.
 
Barrett on Aug. 2 fielded questions for about an hour in a forum moderated by committee chairman and Williams College political science professor James Mahon and recorded by the town's community access television station, WilliNet.
 
 
iBerkshires.com transcribed those sessions. This is the first in a series of four Q&As sharing the thoughts of the four candidates, who will share the same stage on Sept. 18 in Lanesborough.
 
Opening Statement: I guess I'm running for a couple of reasons.
 
I believe I have an opportunity to make a contribution to an area I've lived in all my life.
 
Also, I have the experience and the relationships that are so important when you represent a district so far removed from Boston.
 
It all started right here in Williamstown, where I grew up … I went to all of the schools all the way up. The only one left is the old Williamstown High School. 
 
I can say this much about growing up in Williamstown and the Berkshires. I always wanted to remain here. This is my home, and this is where I wanted to be, and I made a commitment to public service since day one.
 
I was a member of Democratic State Committee, one of the youngest ever elected and served there for 12 years. I spent eight years on the McCann school board I was mayor of North Adams for 26 years … a love affair I developed with that city and also with the region and what we were able to do.
 
When I took over in '84, we hit rock bottom. Unemployment was at 18 or 19 percent. My first month in office, Sprague Electric announced they were moving their corporate headquarters out.
Adams Printworks in the Town of Adams was closing. By the end of my second year in office, close to 2,000 jobs were lost.
 
At that time, we had to reinvent ourselves. We had to go in a different direction.
 
Putting together the coalition to make that all happen was an amazing feat. And it took 14 years to make that all happen. That's what it was: 14 years from the day [Mass MoCA] was brought to me to the day that it opened its doors. And I don't have to tell you what's happened the last few months with the expansion there.
 
My concern now is: Are we becoming a one-industry community again like we were when Sprague Electric was there? That's a concern because we have to develop small businesses.
 
When Mass MoCA was being developed, we were looking at Hardman Industrial Park, for instance. We moved four businesses in there after Sprague Electric. Cord Master is still there. The former Excelsior company was brought in with a hundred jobs, which grew to 400 jobs. It's now Crane and Company.
 
There was a good balance there. We were doing other things. We were working on our schools. We were improving education for our kids because I also taught 14 years in the elementary school system -- 12 in North Adams. And that's become an important part of my campaign in this race.
 
Thirty years of relationships on both sides of the aisle, which I think is important. Relationships not only in the House of Representatives and the Senate but also relationships with many that are in the secretariats today. They know who I am, and I do believe they respect me and the work I did with them. It wasn't always easy because we were always seeking more money for our communities.
 
After my tenure as mayor, we saw our funding for education changed. It went from being based on the wealth of a community to just a numbers game. And I remember getting into a heated discussion at the time with the Senate president at that time, Therese Murray. I said, 'This is going to kill North Adams. It's going to kill Pittsfield. It's going to kill Adams. And it's also going to have a ripple effect eventually to the smaller communities.'
 
It's not the same thing they promised us when they gave us the Education Reform Act in 1993, which promised us we would be fully funded.
 
At BerkshireWorks, again, I had to do battle with the state government, because they put forth an unemployment system … where they decided they would go to an online system, and that system didn't work well. I had people come in who hadn't gotten their checks in eight to 10 weeks. Grown men and women breaking down.
 
I'm worried about our people here in Northern Berkshire County. I'm worried about our future. I'm worried about our kids. And I'm worried about where they're going. And my commitment to education is as strong as anyone's in this race. And it's a proven record. Even when we were building Mass MoCA, I said, 'Listen, there's only one thing I'm asking for. And that's that we have a Kidspace.' I wanted to make sure the kids of Northern Berkshire are going to benefit from this museum and what's going on here.
 
We were able to sell the story of the Northern Berkshires at the same time The Berkshire Eagle, with different ownership, was beating us up. One hundred, forty-three negative articles. And they told the Legislature, 'Go away.' … We didn't give up. We were tenacious.
 
The two issues I see … One is education, and the second one is workforce development. I think it's a shame what they've done … as far as job training. We are the only county in the state of Massachusetts that has to import people into it to fill the jobs that are open.
 
This administration spent $150 million to bring General Electric into the city of Boston. And I think it's great they're there. I really do. … But we don't have enough money to train our workers? And I've been battling this for 30 years. When Sprague closed … over 50 percent of the workers coming out of there didn't have a high school education.
 
I want to start by commending you for your actions as mayor … If you had a chance to do three or four things to change the state budget, what would you do?
 
Barrett: First off, I'd obviously change the priorities. I don't believe they have their priorities in order.
 
And knowing it's a very tight budget. Candidates get up here and say, 'I'm going to do this, this and this.' A classic example is the $150 million they brought out for General Electric. I'd be at the table saying, 'We've got to change our priorities, for the Western part of the state especially.'
 
The second thing is, we've got to make them understand the problem of broadband. … It's about what I went through in 1990. We didn't have touchtone phones. They had them in Williamstown, but we didn't have them in North Adams. I can't tell you the number of businesses we lost because of not having touchtone phones.
 
We are now facing the same crisis in Berkshire County and North Berkshire if we don't get our broadband up and going. Ask me how we do it, I don't know. That's not my expertise. But I do understand if we don't do it, we're going to fall further and further behind in our ability to attract businesses here. I don't just mean manufacturing, but all types of business. It's a major problem. I don't think they get it down there, I really don't.
 
They're going to have problems in other parts of the state, too. My plan is to reach out to those in Fall River and those down in New Bedford and up in the Brockton area and say, 'Listen, we've got to go in there as a team and try to get things done.'
 
I don't think that will cost a lot of money. I think it's a matter of getting a plan. I also think some heat should be put on the Spectrums of the world, on the Verizons of the world, so that they stop ponying up. They're the first ones at the table when they want something.
 
I think there is a lot [of] workforce development money that is being wasted in how it's being used. It has to be reprogrammed, and that doesn't mean we have to spend more money, but it has to be reprogrammed.
 
I also believe the state somehow, someway has to start living up to some of their commitments. They promised everyone there would be bus transportation and they'd pay for it. What the state has basically done the last 10 to 15 years is they've stolen our lottery money, which belongs to the cities and towns across the state, and used it to balance their budget.
 
I like Charlie Baker, even though he's a Republican, but I do believe he's not making the bold moves that have to be made. I want some vision in that state government.
 
The state's broke, and there is no inclination to raise any taxes. I think they're going to have to look at Air BnBs. I think that's a resource out there. I think … they've got to allow communities to raise the hotel and motel tax so they can raise more money for the communities. And that's not going to hurt anybody. Everyone says, 'The world's going to come to an end.' I haven't seen any decline in people staying here. … That's a lot of money being left on the table.
 
What's your position on a change in state income tax to allow more contribution from wealthy citizens?
 
Barrett: I'm all for that. I'm not in that category. I'm all for it.
 
But at the same time, I was one of those mayors who said the state income tax shouldn't have been going down like it did. When it went down one-tenth of 1 percent, it was costing the average taxpayer $10, but when you do it in the aggregate, it was costing a lot of money to the communities coming back here. It reaches the point where you have to deal with the revenue sources.
 
You know what scares me about it? It's the same as the marijuana thing. Where is that money going to go? I don't trust the state anymore. I don't trust that they're going to keep their word, because they haven't. The lottery money alone, if that was coming back to the cities and towns like it was supposed to — even the miniscule amount that would come back to Williamstown — it would have a big impact.
 
Education is arguably in need of transformation — locally, nationally and internationally. What are some things you've learned about education that you think need to be applied?
 
Barrett: I think the most important thing is they're lacking the funds they need to do the job now. And the local taxpayer cannot afford to fund education the way it needs to be funded. The state needs to go back to the commitment it made in 1993. And if they don't do it, do what happened in 1993. There was a lawsuit, and I forget the name of the lawsuit. They went and they sued to make sure those communities got the money they needed.
 
You ought to see it in Brockton. They took away the money needed to teach the kids English, and 53 percent of the kids, I think, can't even speak English. What's going to happen there?
 
I think there has to be a real commitment to education, the same way they made a rainy day fund, when things were going good, for general expenses. Build a rainy day fund for education and make a commitment to it.
 
And they have to fix the charter school funding. I didn't oppose the charter school as much as I opposed the funding of it. When a kid leaves North Adams and choices to Williamstown, Williamstown gets $5,000. When a kid leaves North Adams and goes to the charter school, $17,000 goes out the door. So if five of those kids go out in a year, that's $85,000. When $85,000 goes out the door, you're not going to run fewer buses, you're not going to have fewer teachers because those five kids could be in five different classes. So I think they've got to start walking the walk. They don't have a commitment to education like they should. They just don't have it.
 
I see it now that I'm on the MCLA board. They don't have the commitment to higher education that they should.
 
It's changing the thinking down there.
 
When you talk about education … I'm worried about the money getting to the kid in the classroom. I think in North Adams eight or nine years ago, we were the first middle school, seventh and eighth grade, to have laptops for our kids. … You know what we did … working with Apple, we got the laptops at that time for a hundred bucks or something -- ridiculously cheap. We've got to get the private sector involved in our educational system.
 
The taxpayer can't keep footing the bill. They can't do it. It's killing them. That's why property taxes have gone up so much, because of the lack of funding. When you're getting the same amount in the North Adams school system -- and I'm sure it's not much different in the Williamstown/Lanesborough situation -- the same amount of money you were getting seven or eight years ago, and you factor in inflation and everything else, they're falling further and further and further behind.
 
The tax bills are continuing to go up and up and up. You're seeing it in Williamstown. They're getting angry out there.
 
You've got to address the situation. And I'll address it. Believe me. This is not a career move for me. I do think it has to be brought up, and pressure has to be put on them.
 
And I can get along with the people. I don't embarrass them. You don't go in there and bang on the table and everything. I go in there, you have a discussion, and you don't go out and talk to the press after. You don't have to go out and build a resume to your home district. You say, 'We've got a problem in North Adams. We've got a problem in Williamstown. We've got a problem in Lanesborough. Help me fix it.'
 
To follow up, how do you feel about school regionalization?
 
Barrett: You know what I learned a long time ago, whenever you hear the word 'regionalization,' it doesn't save you money. It usually costs you more money. … What I would like to see happen is starting to share services. What [the Berkshire Education Task Force is] talking about is 10 years down the road. We can't wait 10 years. We should be sharing superintendents. We should be sharing psychologists, we should be sharing guidance counsellors and all types of things and preparing that process now. You have to build that road to accomplishing consolidation of services more than anything else.
 
Putting school districts together isn't easy. I remember when Russ Carpenter was alive and involved with WilliNet, I battled him forever saying, 'You've got to be part of Northern Berkshire Community TV,' and Russ said, 'No, we want our own in Williamstown.' Right, wrong or indifferent, I wanted them. It worked out in the end, but there's that reluctance, that parochialism that exists, and it's really hard to overcome. But I think you begin by sharing services, sharing superintendents, sharing athletic directors, and that's how you start saving money because it won't cost any more.
 
Do you have any plan for transportation to Boston?
 
Barrett: I remember as someone growing up in Williamstown I had the distinct honor, and I bet I'm the only one still alive who had it as a 5- or 6-year-old kid watching the last Budd Car, I think it was called. It went out at night, it was 10 o'clock at night. And went out with my father, and he said, 'This is history. … This is the last one going out of the community to Boston.'
 
I do think we have to do something. I don't know what the answer is. I know there are all kinds of studies.
 
I would be happy if they could just get a train down to Pittsfield sometimes.
 
The other thing is we used to have bus service all the time. It wasn't that long ago. That was important to the students who wanted to get home, and I think there was a real market for it.
 
I do think that in order to bring bus service back there's got to be some subsidies to do it.
 
Is it important to the economy here? I think it is. And the state has to look at subsidizing some of that because it is a real problem with students and others.
 
I don't see a train coming for a long time. That has to come from the federal government. … I think we should have at least have some kind of bus service.
 
I get nervous when I see the gas prices going up. We're so dependent on gas prices around here.
 
Gailanne Cariddi was a strong advocate for environmental issues. How do you feel about that?
 
Barrett: It's easy for someone to stand up here and say, 'I'm for the restoration of the river, and I'm for this and I'm for that.' I can legitimately say that Judy Grinnell came to my office. … And said this is what I want to do, the river work. You, like me, can remember the dead fish that used to float in the Hoosic River. We sat down and talked, and I said, 'Judy, this is going to take a bazillion dollars and years.' She said, 'I don't care.' I said, 'If you want to take it on, we'll do it.'
 
And we had the first meeting at Mass MoCA, and my administration was there. I'm very supportive of that.
 
The other thing, too, is in North Adams, I started a program years ago of buying land up. We bought a large parcel of land up by Windsor Lake that used to be Camp Decker. We bought all of that property up there so it couldn't be developed. We bought other properties in the city trying to protect the environment.
 
I went through the PCB cleanup with Sprague Electric, and then they became American Annuity and something else. That was horrendous. We pushed them to buy the houses at the bottom of Notch Road. We pushed them to get that done. We also got them to do some cleanup at the transfer station, which used to be the town dump, which we capped.
 
What's in that, I can't tell you, but we've got it so it can't move and ground water doesn't go through it.
 
Other thing that bothered me was we had a high cancer rate in the city, which I think came from the PCBs.
 
I'm not that far off the beaten track not to understand the serious environmental problems.
 
I don't have a lot of problems with [the state's] environmental agenda.
 
You have to admit the river has become a tremendous asset in North Adams. Look at what's going on with the Redwood Motel. In a way, Judy Grinnell's vision is starting to come to fruition. Maybe it's not to where she wanted to get those flood chutes taken care of, but it's paying off.
 
The bike path?
 
Barrett: The bike path, I really don't know a lot about. I started the bike path, but I wanted to see it completed from Adams all the way in. But Williamstown got ahead of the game, I guess, a little bit. … I do think it has to be looked at. I do think there's an interest, possibly, in going on the other side of the road. There was an interest expressed by the developer of the Redwood Motel. That's where, I think, it belongs and it really should be.
 
It will happen, but I do think if the Redwood is interested in that section along there, that will be a great asset there. That's beautiful. They have 12 or 13 million dollars there in that project.
 
It's fascinating what they've done there. I didn't think it was possible, to be honest, but I didn't think Mass MoCA was possible, either.
 
There are four people running for this seat, and three of them are from North Adams/Adams area. Do you see a possibility there might be a split vote and you'll see someone not from our communities win?
 
Barrett: I really don't.
 
I want to win, but that said, one thing it comes down to … With my announcement, they're all talking about education now and they're all talking about workforce development, and if you look at their web pages, you'll see that. I've accomplished that.
 
I don't know how the split is going to fall. I know there will be a low turnout. I don't think the numbers will be high enough where the split will be significant enough to bring in someone from the outside.
 
You have a dispute with Eversource's rate in Pittsfield. You have businesses saying this is really expensive and other people saying we should remove net metering cap …
 
Barrett: I will never take one penny from any lobbyist who works for a utility company or a cable company. They won't have me in the tank.
 
We have now reached the cap as far as net metering goes.
 
They made a deal in legislative session this year saying communities and private people putting up solar would be able to build it and sell it back to the utility company, not at retail but at 60 percent. Then they have the other part of people putting them on their roofs. That has no cap to it, and they get to sell it back at full retail.
 
Somebody brought up the problem …. Right now if Williamstown or the college wanted to build a solar farm, they couldn't do it. I want the cap lifted. I want the electric companies to start being creative about how they're going to do things.
 
They're regulated because they're making money, and we don't believe they should take advantage of the consumers and the businesses. I'm on the side strictly of the consumer and removing it or at least increasing it much higher for the net metering.
 
Gailanne Cariddi was pretty much in favor of a pair of issues brought to her by unions: paid family leave and the $15 an hour minimum wage  not right away but a path toward it. Where do you stand?
 
Barrett: I'm on the path toward it. That has to be increased.
 
I always use the term, 'livable wage,' rather than a 'minimum wage.' A livable wage people can live on. I don't see anyone living on $22,000 a year.
 
Absolutely [on paid family leave]. It's a different world than what I grew up in. The hardest job, I believe there is, other than being a mayor, is raising a kid today. It's a challenge. I think a lot of our problems start because we don't give that kid a chance to grow up with their mother and father around somehow some way.
 
What can be done to address the opioid epidemic?
 
Barrett: I believe that Gov. Baker wanted to put in one provision that the legislature was against, and that was the ability to keep a patient [in treatment] longer. When Narcan is used, that person can leave immediately.
 
I believe that person should be kept there as long as possible to try to get them into a treatment facility.
 
I've seen a lot of abuse whether it's alcohol, drug or whatever, and the only way you're going to deal with it is by treating it.
 
We need a facility in Northern Berkshire. I hope someday we'll see it up at the hospital so we can start treating the addiction problem in the way it should be treated. And it takes a lot longer than a month. It takes a lifetime, probably, to deal with it.
 
I've seen so many people lose their lives, lose their family members because of it, and it doesn't discriminate. It can happen to anybody.
 
And the best way I've found is we should put our resources basically into treatment facilities. If they don't comply with it, they'll have to go in incarceration to be treated, and that's not the best way either, but they do need to be treated.
 
I don't have the answer, and all the experts don't have the answer to it, but we do have to have treatment and education. We had a program years ago, the DARE program. It was great for a while. That was after Ronald Reagan said, 'Just say no.' And it worked. It taught kids self-confidence and how to make right decisions. Maybe we've got to back to education — like my parents tried to do and I'm sure your parents: Scare the hell out of us so we don't do it. But some way to educate them so they understand it.
 
Better treatment facilities, and longer periods of treatment should be required.
 
How do you feel about the marijuana bill?
 
Barrett: I'm a teacher, so I'm not crazy about it, but it's there. And it's the real world.
 
The process of what they're doing … they worked it out well. The legislature did a good job with the governor. It only allows 3 percent for a community, which I don't think is enough, as a tax. I believe it's the second lowest tax in the country, of those who have marijuana. I think the tax should be much higher.
 
I'm not as fearful of it as I was originally and seeing what's happened in other states. But I think they do need to look at … I think communities should be advised, if a shop wants to come to a community, even if they voted for it, they should be allowed to vote on it again knowing what they know now.
 
Beyond that, it's taken care of before I get there, hopefully.
 
Job retraining or training … can you be more specific? I'm wondering about what programs and delivery systems that might work better.
 
Barrett: I believe we should focus … 80 percent of our job training program, in conjunction with vocational school and BCC and MCLA. The biggest thing they're missing is the job program.
 
When I was at BerkshireWorks, we had a program that came in from Hampshire County, the career center down there, and we were the top one in the state in filling these jobs. And what happened was if a business had one or two openings -- Berkshire Gas Co. was one of them, they wanted people to check gas meters -- and it worked out. We paid 90 percent of the salary for a six-month period. That individual, I'm told, is still there, making $28, $29 an hour. The phone company took some people -- teaching them IT stuff, in conjunction with McCann, having the classes there to coincide with what they're doing.
 
What does it do? It saves the businesses, we estimated, over half a million dollars in the time we were doing it because they didn't have to pay that person's wage and train them at the same time. We were paying for the training, and it seemed a lot more efficient, and it seemed to work.
 
They say health care is the biggest need in Berkshire County, but you know what the real health care need is? It's the CNAs [certified nursing assistants]. They're the lowest paid people. The hospital has programs for CNAs, so they can get their certificates. Those people have the hardest jobs in nursing homes and hospitals, and they're getting probably $11.40, $11.50 an hour, and the average time they spend [training] is six months. They can't take it. We have to do something to meet that crisis, too, out there.
 
What we have done in the past is: Let's train a whole bunch of CNAs or a whole group of so-and-sos. We have to get specific. General Dynamics needs engineers. We can't fill that, but we can certainly bring them here so they can keep their plant here if we have good educational systems, an affordable place to live, low crime rates. Those types of things will bring people to live in the Berkshires, which is beautiful, as we know, but there are pockets that aren't. And we can bring those people there.
 
It all dovetails into what we have to do here, and I think it can be done.
 
A lot of legislators become mayors. You don't see a lot of mayors become legislators. There isn't one down there. They're going to hear a different perspective on things if I get there.
 
Are there any improvements you'd like to see made to the health care in Massachusetts? Would you consider going toward universal health care in the state as a model for the country?
 
Barrett: I'd love to see a single-payer system, if that's what you're referring to. It's the simplest and easiest way to go.
 
But I wouldn't touch it with a 10-foot pole right now, and I'll tell you why. When I see Jerry Brown out in California, who is the most progressive government, perhaps, in the continental United States, he was reluctant. They pulled it back because the affordability factor. The numbers weren't jiving.
 
I want to see California do theirs. I think Vermont was looking at it, too.
 
I think it's a money problem more than anything else. It's the best way to go: one single payer, take care of everything. But I think nobody wants to do it with Donald Trump there now and what's going to happen with Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements.
 
Why aren't states talking about partnering with other states. Why aren't we doing it as a region or even partnering with California? I don't understand that.
 
Barrett: I don't either. I think it's going to be federal at some time. We would have never had health care in this state if Mitt Romney wasn't looking at running for president. That's true.
 
There are problems in Massachusetts now. I get a lot of calls still about Mass Health. Mass Health is a problem, and it has to be worked out. I agree with you it makes sense to partner. I don't know all the intricacies of the issue, but I do know it's a monetary problem. When Gerry Brown backs away from it … there has to be a severe problem there.
 
For us to go headfirst, we could bankrupt this state. And with Mass Health now, it's draining. Thirty-percent of the budget is health care in the state.
 
Where do you stand on the question of whether and how local communities coordinate with ICE on what to do about immigration status and people suspected of crimes?
 
Barrett: I think … My grandparents came from Italy, and the other side came from Ireland.
 
The mayor from Melrose, Rob Dolan, is a good friend of mine, and he was on a show, and I called him after, and he said, 'It's a political term, sanctuary cities and all this. We're just going to do what we've always done. We don't have to be a sanctuary city. We don't have to be a safe city. We just have to be a city that respects the rights of everybody.'
 
And that's what we'll continue to do. I think it's going on now. There are police departments who don't want sanctuary cities, and they've gone to their mayors and said, 'This problem has been blown way out of proportion.'
 
I don't think it's right, and I'd never go to create these road blocks for people, but it's a political term more than anything else.
 
You supported Charlie Baker for governor over North Adams' own, Martha Coakley, and now that looks like a good bet. Do you think you'll have problems with other elected stated officials who are Democrats, or do you think Charlie Baker was a good bet, and that will put you in a good spot.
 
Barrett: How many in this room supported an independent for the Democratic party's [presidential] nomination because they thought that individual was the best individual for the job?
 
Someone who was independent until very recently.
 
Barrett: I'll tell you, I have no problem with that. I'm a Democrat, but I felt at that time I saw what Baker did for North Adams when I needed it the most. And I had a sense of loyalty as well as believing he was the most competent individual to hold that office.
 
Ted Kennedy and I used to butt heads like there was no tomorrow. And back in '92, '93, things began to change and we started working together. I learned from him, if you reach across the aisle … His best friend was Orrin Hatch, who was a Republican, and he talked about the stories about he and Orrin Hatch and how they were able to get things done.
 
I know party's important to a lot of people, and it is to me because my fundamental beliefs are in the Democratic Party, and they always will be. And I resent what's going on in Washington and other places. However, I will always act in the best interest of the people that I care about, and I'll continue to do that.
 
I was asked to attend Ted Kennedy's funeral, and there were only two mayors at his funeral, myself and Tom Menino and Richard Daley from Chicago. That said something to me, that I was able to build a relationship.
 
I remember sending John [Kerry] a letter saying, 'Do you think you can spend a little more time in Northern Berkshire than monitoring the elections in the Phillipines because I have an unemployment rate here that is pretty high?' Boom, he was there quick. And we became friends, and we were able to work together and get things done.
 
That's what it's all about. Whether I'm elected or somebody else is elected, they have to work with the people there no matter what party they're from.
 
This was the best experience I had, and this was only in 2012: The Obama campaign recruited me to go out and be a surrogate for them around the country because they knew I had the time. The experience was unbelievable because I went to five or six different states. I was down in Virginia doing interviews and this and that. To do a press conference with the Senate Minority Whip, who was Dick Durbin from Illinois … you go to see the importance of the political operatives who were there. Being a good representative was understanding the politics of things and getting along with others if you want to get anything done.
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