Will Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse be able to knock off Massachusetts Congressman Richard Neal in next month’s Democratic primary?
In today’s Congressional Corner, Neal continues his conversation with WAMC’s Alan Chartock.
This interview was recorded August 6.
Alan Chartock: We're here with Richard Neal in the Congressional Corner in the first district of Massachusetts, where I live. Richie Neal is my congressman. And he has always been present at these at these interviews. And we so appreciate it, Richie, and thank you for doing it. Okay, so as Morse says, you share some of the blame for the Holyoke schools going into state receivership.
Representative Richard Neal: He should hire a new consultant in terms of spin, if that's the allegation he's making. So is he suggesting that I'm responsible for the administration of 87 different school districts in Massachusetts? This argument doesn't even stand up under the magnifying glass or critical scrutiny. But he's trying to deflect criticism from the fact that the Holyoke schools have fallen into state receivership while simultaneously he missed half the meetings of the Holyoke school committee as the chairman.
Now let's take a look. Yeah, sure, please go ahead…
Let’s take that a step further. He called me in which we have a date in 2015, and a time, and a witness to ask for a meeting. And he asked me about some of the things he should be doing as mayor. I said to him, the most important thing he could be doing as mayor would be to turn around the Holyoke public school system. And I indicated to him, he said, well, how would I do that? And I said, you should assemble business leaders, union leaders, and citizen groups to say that this is the most important priority of your administration. Not only did he not do that, he didn't even bother going to school committee meetings. He doesn't bother going to meetings of the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority. He missed most of those. Poor people take the bus in the valley and he couldn't find time to go to it and what he did for a couple, we have a witness who said he played candy cash on his phone. His disinterest in attending important responsibilities that come with being the mayor is something I hope is put under the magnifying glass. The school system in Holyoke should be a priority for the mayor. Members of Congress don't run school departments at the local level. I thought that when he said that, I was stunned that that argument will be made. That’s simple spin. He knows that his lack of interest in the Holyoke public schools has paralyzed the system. And the teachers union has endorsed me.
Now, that's interesting, just so we get this straight for the people who are listening, maybe not from the district, Holyoke, which he where he's the mayor is in receivership. What does that mean?
It means that the Holyoke public schools were taken away from him and put in the hands of a state receiver, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. They oversee the public schools. I don't know how anybody can say they're a progressive, when they won't speak up for and defend and advocate for 5,230 students in the Holyoke public schools, one of the poorest districts in Massachusetts. And the fact that he couldn't bother to go to school committee meetings, while the schools were, in my mind, headed toward receivership, and then after receivership, he still didn't go until I started calling attention to his attendance. That's when he finally started. I call attention to that because he keeps heralding himself as this champion of progressive ideas. What's more progressive than standing up for poor children in the Holyoke public schools?
Let me ask you this. When you were mayor, did you attend? I think that's a fair question, Richie. I'm not trying to play gotcha. But did you attend most of the meetings in your school district?
Not only did I, we went back and looked. I missed one meeting of the Springfield City Council in six years. And I attended 99% of the school committee meetings during my five years as mayor because I, like Alex Morse in Holyoke, I was the chairman of the Springfield School Committee. I never in a million years would have said Silvio Conte is responsible for the Holyoke public schools. I would never have said John Olver was responsible for the Holyoke public schools. No member of Congress is responsible for the day to day administration of a public school system in Massachusetts. This is spin, it's fantasy. And it's what consultants have told him to say because they know that he is very vulnerable on this very simple issue. The Holyoke public schools are in receivership due to his lack of knowledge and commitment.
But just to be clear, I want to make sure I got this right. You're saying that the mayor is responsible for overseeing the schools in his own city?
He's chairman of the Holyoke School Committee. That's exactly right.
Okay. Morse claimed that you were absent on the issue of police brutality and you should answer for past problems with the Springfield police when you were Mayor? Is that a fair criticism?
The discipline problems that were brought in Springfield brought removal to any patrol officer that was called off on that basis. But what he's trying to do is to blur the distinction about that youngster in Holyoke that he never had anything to say about as awful police brutality case was brought in. He’s simply responding to advertising that I understand is taking place, calling attention to the fact that again, trying to highlight his progressive credentials, doesn't square with how he has administered the Holyoke Police Department. If there were any discipline problems, they were dealt with by the Springfield Police Commission, and I'm very proud of the way that I would have handled those issues.
Well, how about him? How's he doing over there in terms of his discipline of his beliefs? He claims he's done a lot.
Well, this issue was pretty stubborn. It's out there and I think he's responding to the advertising. And again, it was a youth. This case has never been brought to conclusion. Again, the fact that he appointed the chief of police at Holyoke out to pulls him accountable for that responsibility.
Just following up that Richie. I'm sorry, because I am a little dense here. Tell us a story about that youth.
There is a young man in Holyoke, who was brutalized by the Holyoke police, a police officer, and the case has never been brought to conclusion, because Alex Morse neglected the case. And in my judgment, he's just trying to present a smokescreen, when I can assure the listening audience that any discipline problems in Springfield when I was mayor would have been addressed. The kid was 12 years old, Alan. And he didn't think that this was coming. And he was caught back footed on it. And this is an example of him trying to always shift responsibility. He barely shows up in the mayor's office. As I noted, he doesn't go to PVTA meetings. He doesn't go to school committee meetings. And he's never brought justice to this young man who was brutalized, in an awful case in Holyoke.
So what is this all about? Why is he running for Congress? If he is as deficient as mayor as you indicate?
Well, I think that I can't speak for him. But I know that I think it's in his instance ambition. He’s ever really laid out a case for the difference. And let's be frank, I mean, he can't make it to meetings as the chairman of the Holyoke School Committee, and he's running against the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, whose job is 400 miles away and has a 96% attendance record.
This is the first Congressional Corner since you attended the funeral of John Lewis. Now John Lewis was a friend of yours obviously. He and you spent an awful lot of time together, and he liked you a lot. You know, I asked him about that, but I'm interested in what your reflections on the passing of John Lewis, and his friendship to you were like.
Well, every once in a while, we could say in our lifetime that we served with a great human being, in different capacities. And John Lewis was a grand, great human being. He practiced everything that he preached. He took me to the Edmund Pettus Bridge. We crossed it together. He introduced me to the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church where Martin Luther King had his first responsibilities as a young minister at 26 years old. We visited the site of Rosa Parks getting on the bus and we visited Brown Chapel. And then we went to the Edmund Pettus Bridge. I sat next to John Lewis for 25 years on the House Ways and Means Committee. He offered a full tutorial about Bull Connor, George Wallace, Jim Clark, and many others. To sit at the Ebenezer Baptist Church where Martin Luther King preached and hear three former presidents of the Union States praise John Lewis as an iconic figure, who fundamentally changed America, for me was terribly moving but it wasn't any different as they memorialized him than the John Lewis, I had known through the many acts of kindness that he exhibited every single day. A remarkable life and I must say, that sad that he penned on behalf of me to the Berkshire Eagle just about two weeks before he died, how grateful I am for that as a lasting testimonial to the friendship that I found enduring and endearing.
Will you tell us a little about that testimonial?
Well, he pointed out that he thought that I had done a really good job as a member of Congress. He was a big supporter of mine, getting to the chairmanship. He campaigned on my behalf. He advocated for my reelection, and pointed out that this was a bond that was lasting in nature. And he would go out of his way at meetings, to praise the leadership that I had offered on the Ways and Means Committee and in Congress, bringing forth many issues that not before had actually been brought to bear, including the Pride Act, which was very important, including expansion of the earned income tax credit, the child tax credit, these were all issues that John was very interested in. But I noticed as well, in the last few days, when the President signed the Conservation Act, that that was a good piece of work from John Lewis, and that will offer $9 billion more to our national parks. How extraordinary is that? And it would be consistent with the way I would see longtime legislating. You know, he helped me write the CARES Act, which in the first congressional district of Massachusetts has brought back $1,200,000,000. And that would have been the sort of legislator that John was and that I would like to emulate. He came to Congress about a year before I did in a special election. But the friendship was formed immediately, as we both joined the Ways and Means Committee. And not to forget the fact that John Lewis was not only a great advocate, he was a good legislator. And I think that that's a really important consideration.
Richie Neil, I want to thank you so much for being here today. I know you're in the midst of a campaign and we do appreciate it. You come back the next time. I got lots more for you. Thanks so much for doing it.
Happy to be with you, Alan.
