The Lowell Sun - Finegold: "No One is Going to Work Harder"

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ANDOVER — State Rep. Barry Finegold has been waiting for this moment for a long time.

Six years ago, when it was thought that U.S. Rep. Marty Meehan might leave Congress to run for governor, Finegold opened a federal campaign account just in case.

His opportunity never came.

But now that Meehan is leaving Washington, Finegold doesn't intend to miss his chance.

"There may be those who say I'm the underdog in this race right now, but I'm going to be the winner on Election Day because of (my) values," Finegold said. "No one is going to work harder in this campaign, and no one is going to work harder in Congress."

Sporting a pink tie picked out by his 3-year-old daughter, Ava, Finegold officially announced his candidacy for Congress yesterday evening outside the Old Town Hall in Andover, where more than 50 supporters, including his wife, Amy, and daughters Ava and Ella, 1, turned out to cheer him on.

The rally marked the fifth of six stops planned for the day as Finegold, 36, embarked on a five-day tour that will bring him to all 29 cities and towns in the 5th Congressional District.

He left Andover for a campaign party at Coyle's Tavern in Dracut, owned by supporter and Dracut Selectman Bob Cox.

Today, he plans to visit Ayer, Littleton, Billerica, Lowell, Chelmsford and Tyngsboro, including a stop at the Lowell Senior Center.

Finegold, an attorney and state representative from Andover, got his start in politics on the Andover Board of Selectmen. He was elected to the Legislature in 1996 and is serving his sixth term representing parts of Andover, Lawrence and Tewksbury.

He is the only candidate running for the seat in the 5th District from Essex County, which includes Andover, Lawrence, Haverhill and Methuen.

"This is something I've always wanted to do, and I'm excited," Finegold said after the rally, shaking hands with supporters. "I'm a kid from the Merrimack Valley, and I know this district."

With an electric motorcycle on his left and a hydrogen fuel cell, manufactured by Billerica and Cambridge-based Nuvera Fuel Cells, on his right, Finegold said the time to take action and fight global warming is now.

"I have been fighting my entire time at the Statehouse to change the way we do business," he said. "If 20 years from now we are wrong about global warming, that's OK. But if Exxon is wrong, we have big problems."

In the Legislature, Finegold helped create the Massachusetts Hydrogen Coalition, an organization dedicated to attracting and retraining green-energy and fuel-cell companies like Nuvera and Lowell-based Ballard Systems to the region.

If elected to Congress, he said he would call for the federal government, the country's largest consumer of fossil fuels, to lead by example with a $100 billion, five-year investment in renewable energy.

Finegold said the money would be used to replace the federal government's 630,000 vehicles with hybrid models, as well as add solar panels and other sources of renewable energy to the more than 400,000 federal office buildings.

Though Finegold drives a Chrysler, his wife drives a Lexus hybrid, and he has switched to energy-saving light bulbs in his home.

Finegold also called for an immediate end to the war in Iraq and a withdrawal of American troops.

"I don't want one more American or one more Iraqi civilian to pay with their lives for President Bush's mistakes," he said.

Finegold supports Sen. Joe Biden's proposal to separate Iraq into three autonomous states for religious Muslim Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds.

Referring to his parents, both schoolteachers, and their hard work to help send him to college with the help of student loans, Finegold said it's important also not to forget working families.

He called for an increase in Pell grants and cuts in the cost of student loans to make college more affordable. He also called for a reworking of the No Child Left Behind Act with more adequate federal funding.

He said companies, big and small, should be required, and given incentives, to provide workers with decent 401k or pension retirement plans.

"The successes I've had in life were never because I was the best positioned, but because I dreamt big, never gave up and worked the hardest," Finegold said.

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