Shop Talk: Sen. Jennifer Flanagan, D-Leominster
photo/Livia Gershon
Jennifer Flanagan,State Senator.
Sen. Jennifer Flanagan, D-Leominster, has been working in the Massachusetts Legislature since she was 19, first as a legislative aide, then as a state representative from Leominster and now as a state senator representing much of North Central Massachusetts. She also just became assistant vice-chair of the powerful Senate Ways & Means Committee. When the current legislative session started this January, she raised some eyebrows by introducing a casino bill on the very first day. Here she talks about why casino jobs are good jobs, and how business owners can get the state to take action on the issues they care about.
>> You were recently named assistant vice-chair of the Senate Ways & Means Committee. How much does having such a prominent position change your responsibilities and your ability to accomplish things?
Certainly, it’s going to change a lot of what I do from day to day, especially with the travel that’s going to be included when the hearings start to be scheduled. It’s really going to help Central Massachusetts, and especially North Central Massachusetts, to really have someone on the forefront who can move the issues forward.
>> Why did you re-introduce a bill supporting Gov. Deval Patrick’s proposal for resort casinos, despite his stated desire to table the issue for a while?
It’s a jobs bill — not only the construction jobs but the industry jobs that come along with it. There’s a lot of flexibility and there’s a lot of opportunity for advancement in the hospitality and the casino industry. And I think that it’s an issue that we really can’t keep pushing off because it really does suck up a lot of oxygen in the room. There’s always a question in the back of everyone’s mind: Are we or aren’t we going to do casinos? Are we going to have the money from the licensing available to us as part of our revenue, or are we not going to have that?
>> What kind of effect do you think the plan would have on your constituents in North Central Mass., considering there haven’t been any proposals to put a casino in the area?
North Central Massachusetts is really in a good position because even if you talk about Palmer, it’s not too, too far for people here to go west to get good jobs. I think we’re really in a good position, regardless of where a casino ends up, so I’m hoping to get the bill to committee and move it forward.
>> You’ve been involved for years in the effort to improve commuter rail service between Boston and Fitchburg, which is now moving forward. Is it still an issue that your constituents are fired up about?
Fifteen years and counting, and we’re still rolling. It’s never less of a front-burner issue. But I also think the constituents up here know that we’re working very diligently. The train issue is a very big issue for this entire delegation, I just think that I’ve been working on it a little bit longer because I was a staffer when we started.
>> What makes you want to make politics your vocation?
It’s because I separate the public service from the politics. Politics is the game you play. Public service is the job that I do. It started when I worked for YOU Inc. out of Worcester with their teenage girls. At that point I really didn’t like what I saw of the Department of Social Services system. I realized that those girls were going to benefit more from me being on Beacon Hill. So that’s really why I ran — because I wanted to make it better, especially for those kids.
>> What do you say to people who are cynical about the political process?
Certainly there is the cynicism of Beacon Hill as a whole. I say to my constituents, “But you sent me there. I’m up there, too,” and they’ll say, “No, not you.” I think for districts, they like their own representation but they have a problem with the culture of politics. That’s why I really separate the politics from the public service. You don’t want to have to play political games all the time.
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>> What's your advice for business people who want to change things in the state?
A lot of business people, at least from this area, contact our office. It's really communicating with legislators. I'm not really sure if business people think they have to do that. But in reality the legislators are the ones that are creating the laws.
>> What sort of communication from businesses is most useful to you?
Legislators are expected to know a little about many different issues instead of knowing a lot about a few different issues, and that's where businesses can help us, to send us information, write us letters, just have that communication so if we have questions we can call them. Which I do very often. I pick up the phone and call a business owner and say, "What do you think this would do to your business if we passed it?" I get a very frank, straightforward answer from them.
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