Meanwhile, Kerry taking care of home very well (fascinating meeting with mayors)

Check out this editorial from Salem News:

http://www.salemnews.com/puopinion/local_story_022101959?keyword=topstory+page=1



Check out the whole article. Kerry comes across very well, and he's once again innovative in bringing in people who can testify in committee hearings.

Great article! Cities and towns do need help dealing with the huge federal mandates that place such a burden on local budgets.

I am confused by this article.

http://www.gloucestertimes.com/punews/local_story_057232030.html?keyword=topstory

Kirk won't get a chance to testify to Congress

By Richard Gaines
Staff writer

Mayor Carolyn Kirk won't be allowed to testify before Congress about what federal rules and the federal budget are doing to the city, she found out yesterday from Congressman John Tierney.

The discouraging response to her request to be heard, delivered in a phone call from Tierney, a Salem Democrat, left Kirk flabbergasted and furious. She told the Times she assumed a citizen has a right to speak to City Council and that a similar right to freely petition would apply at every level of government, right up to Congress.

...

Tierney did, however, invite Kirk to submit written testimony. And in a written response to questions from the Times, Tierney's press secretary, Catherine Ribeiro, said the chairman of the House Budget Committee, John Spratt of South Carolina, had decided against having any nonfederal officials testify on the budget. Ribeiro said she was not sure how or if the committee's members could challenge the ruling of the chairman. The Times was unable to reach Spratt last night.

Ribeiro also noted that Tierney last year afforded Kirk, then a member of the School Committee, a chance to submit written views to Congress, "but we later learned that she apparently decided ultimately not to pursue" that approach.

...

In recent weeks, as Tierney and U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., came by her office to congratulate her on her political success and pledge help, Kirk announced to both that she intended to go to Washington this spring to testify about the city's problems and how the federal budget might be shaped to help.

At the end of the meeting with Kerry, Kirk reported the senator agreed to arrange the visit and testimony. But she also said she was surprised by the reaction of Kerry's staff to her proposal. "They said, 'Nobody ever asked before,'" Kirk told the Times.

After the meeting, Kerry agreed with Kirk that the relationship of the people and the federal government is "broken." Kerry added, "It's time for another revolution."

He was referring not to the American Revolution for independence, but to the grassroots revolution of the 1970s, which brought enormous federal appropriations for local needs. The movement launched Kerry's political career and that of many members of the state congressional delegation, including Barney Frank, William Delahunt, Edward Markey and John Olver, from local, county or legislative offices.





Anyway, I can't sample any more of the article. Just read it. I can't figure out what happened or if anyone is being blamed.

http://www.gloucestertimes.com/punews/local_story_057231602.html?keyword=secondarystory

And here is the letter that she will put in the record as a testimony
http://plus.eagletribune.com/content/news/gt/tierney.pdf