After eight years in the Massachusetts State Senate, Eric Lesser will leave office next month.
Best known for his advocacy for East-West Passenger Rail, Lesser during his time on Beacon Hill led successful efforts to pass several complex economic development bills and sports betting legislation.
The Longmeadow Democrat did not seek reelection this year, opting instead to run for lieutenant governor, but loosing his party’s nomination to Kim Driscoll.
As he prepares to leave office, Lesser spoke recently with WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill.
Paul Tuthill
Looking back on your time in the state senate, what are some of the more significant accomplishments that you're proud of?
Eric Lesser
Well, first, thanks for the time to chat, Paul. And I really just want to express gratitude to all of my constituents, the people of Western Mass for the trust that they put in me, there's a several things I'm really proud of that we were able to get done a new Student Loan Borrower Bill of Rights, new law that's been on the books now for almost two years helping 800,000 student loan borrowers across the state. I think about the work we did around advanced manufacturing Voc Ed programs, new Voc Ed programs across the region, to help young people get into these really great high paying careers. I think about the work we did around health care, and especially vaccine access during COVID. So really scary time for people. And, of course, the progress we've made on rail, which is in really great position right now. And we're really on the cusp of making some real change there. So it's been a great run. I've really enjoyed it.
Paul Tuthill
Um, you didn't mention sports betting, but that's one of the things that you were also very instrumental in, in passing that legislation to legalize sports betting,
Eric Lesser
Yeah, definitely, I would put sports betting very high up on the list, I'm really thank you for the reminder. I'm really proud of that legislation. It's such a lot of work, as you know, Paul, because you've covered it over several years. And I think that where we ended up with that law, is going to create a really great ecosystem here in Massachusetts, and is going to be really, I think, among the best, if not the best in the whole country.
Paul Tuthill
And you mentioned East West Rail, you're still going to be involved in that in some capacity?
Eric Lesser
I'll be staying on the East West Rail Passenger, passenger service commission, the Western Mass rail Commission, the work there is short term, it's going to be wrapped up by March. That's our requirement and are charged based on the legislation that created the commission. And the goal there is to make a set of recommendations to the legislature about the type of authority that would house and operate the rail link, what's once it's set up?
Paul Tuthill
How much do you think your advocacy for East West Rail brought us to the point we are today? I mean, you obviously we're not the only voice involved here. Congressman Neal has been advocating for this for for some time as well. And he's worked very hard to get federal dollars into the project, which would not happen if the federal government wasn't behind it.
Eric Lesser
No, I think you just answered the question, which is a lot of people have been working on this. I do want to give credit to Mary Hurley, former mayor of Springfield, who first articulated the vision of connecting Springfield and Boston, you know, decades ago, when she was mayor of Springfield, a lot of people have worked on and have pushed for this project. I think one of the contributions I helped make was really changing the debate in state politics, about this project. Now every candidate for governor, every candidate for lieutenant governor, every statewide office holder is asked, you know, do you support west east rail? Will you put your shoulder behind moving this project forward? And I think that that was a really important accomplishment, and has changed the whole way that project is viewed
Paul Tuthill
you in your in your farewell speech on the Senate floor? Talked about the East West economic divide and the risk that the entire state economy faces if it isn't, if it isn't closed? What is that risk to the state economy?
Eric Lesser
Well, the risk is that you're going to have two centers Western Mass and Eastern mass that have significant but different challenges. Western Mass has a lot of very great assets. You know, we have a really high quality of life, we've got a low cost of living, we've got tremendous and high quality, open space, cultural assets. But we don't have that fast growing economy. We don't have enough of those good jobs being created that are going to able to be able to keep our families here and attract more families here. Eastern mass really has the inverse challenge. They have that red hot economy, they have those really good high paying jobs, but they have terrible housing. You can't afford to live there, the prices are skyrocketing. And the traffic and the in the transportation situation is is really very, very damaging. If those two issues are not solved or resolved, then the whole state is going to be poor and will fall behind. People will start to leave they will go to New York, California, Connecticut, Florida, Texas, wherever two other places that are making those investments and are making those changes to make the state more livable. So a project like East West Rail, which is just one example of many ways to connect east and west would help Western Mass get access to those high paying jobs and Eastern mass would give Eastern mass access to that really good quality of life we have in Western Mass.
Paul Tuthill
What else has to happen though, besides the transportation link?
Eric Lesser
Well, the way I kind of view it is its connectivity across off the board, we need connectivity between our regions in Massachusetts and we need better connectivity between our region in the greater Springfield area, and the broader regions all around us, including New York City, Albany, Hartford, and the rest of New England. So that includes obviously the physical connectivity of trains and roads, but also the increasingly important digital connectivity. So things like broadband access, really high quality, high speed broadband to help us become a hybrid and remote working center. It includes things like building partnerships and relationships, a good examples, the clinical trials unit, at Baystate Medical Center, which is a partnership between UMass Medical School, which is based in Worcester, UMass Amherst based in Amherst, and of course, Baystate, which is in Springfield. So as much as we can be thinking about bringing different regions bringing different places and communities together, I think you're going to create a lot more opportunity and you're going to create a lot more opportunities for investment growth.
Paul Tuthill
Back to your work as a state senator, is there is there a local project that perhaps you advocated for on behalf of a constituent that you're that you're most proud of getting accomplished during your time in office?
Eric Lesser
There's many I really appreciate it and and I've really grown deep admiration for the Ludlow cares coalition and Ludlow the makeup Michael J diass. Foundation, the work that they've done on opioid awareness and substance abuse awareness. The work that they've done to support people in recovery has really been inspiring. I've done a lot of work and I take great pride in a close partnership I've had with the Community Music School of Springfield, where we were able to fund their operation ABL program, which helps train special education teachers in the Springfield Public Schools to use music in their special education instruction. I've done a lot of close work with the Boys and Girls Clubs across our state the clubs in Springfield and Chicopee in Ludlow to help them during the pandemic help with emergency meal programs, literacy programs. So there's there's been a lot of great projects. We're going to be opening soon at new dog park and Chicopee. That's been a long running project, we were able to secure some state money to get that done. That's going to be opening on Westover Road, hopefully, hopefully, within the next, you know, year or so and, and, you know, the Ludlow Mills, project and Ludlow the work we've done around development in Springfield and the building out of the advanced manufacturing program at stick it one of the most fulfilling things about this job Paul is driving around, you can kind of see you can see and touch the impact. And that's been a really, really cool feeling.
Paul Tuthill
So what are you going to miss most about not being a state senator?
Eric Lesser
I'll definitely miss the day to day work with the people because you really develop very strong relationships. We have a really tight crew in Western Mass. We have a really great delegation that works collaboratively on a lot, you know, worked very closely with Senator Gomez, Senator Comerford, and Senator villous, Senator Goby, who's just to our east and I'll miss them and I'll miss our constituents I'll miss just the kind of interactions every day with people in this kind of job you know, people share a lot they share their hopes, their dreams, their frustrations, their fears, and I I enjoy those interactions and I learn a lot from them.
Paul Tuthill
What are you not going to miss?
Eric Lesser
I will not miss the pre -dawn drives down the Mass Pike and the post sunset drives drives back that I definitely miss. And as much as I love the Hurly burly of politics sometimes I will be very grateful to not be deep in the in the thick of it and quite that way. So so there's plenty of things that I'm that I'm also excited about about hanging my shoes up on.
Paul Tuthill
Candy Glazer, good friend of yours, longtime Democratic activist joked the other day that she wished she could wear a button that says ‘I don't know what Eric is going to do’ because people apparently are asking her, so I'm going to ask you- what's Eric going to do?
Eric Lesser
No announcement. I do know for sure that I'm not moving. You know, my family is very settled. Of course in Western Mass. My parents live around the corner from us, my kids are all in schools. But I am excited about kind of really immersing myself in a new challenge and in a new set of things so no, no announcements yet. That'll all come in time and I'm definitely also Paul looking for taking a little bit of a vacation with my family after an intense and intense eight years
Paul Tuthill
So you're not going back to Washington?
Eric Lesser
I'm not going to move Yeah, I mean, I may do things or be involved in efforts or programs you know that you know, that you know, that are that are based in Washington or involve Washington, but again, no, nothing definitive yet.
Paul Tuthill
Have you had any conversation with the Hillary Driscoll Transition Team?
Eric Lesser
Nice try on it. I'm not getting into I'm not getting into the details of of what's next.
Paul Tuthill
Just finally, Jake Olivera, will be taking the Senate seat in in January, your successor. I know he doesn't need any advice from you, but what advice would you offer him?
Eric Lesser
Oh, no, he definitely doesn't need my advice. I mean, Jake is is going to be a great state senator. I'm really excited to see what he what he does. With the role. We're friends. We've worked together for a long time. I worked closely with him when he was a state rep worked closely with him when he was on the level of school committee. He's He's a great leader, and I'm really excited for him and I'll be there to support him however he needs.
Paul Tuthill
Anything else you want to say as we close this out?
Eric Lesser
I really just want to say thank you. Thank you, to your listeners, thank you to the people of Western Mass. I really appreciate my constituents for the trust they put in me the last two years and I really appreciate Western Mass for having my back in the Lieutenant Governor's race in such a big way. So just want to say thank you