Wicked Local Watertown - Dembrowski Addresses Watertown Republican Town Committee Meeting

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By Jeremy C. Fox

Republican candidate for U.S. Congress Gerry Dembrowski tried to channel dissatisfaction into votes at a recent meeting of the Watertown Republican Town Committee.

Dembrowski, along with state Rep. candidate Jim Dixon, addressed a meeting of about 30 committee members and guests at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post on Arsenal Street on Monday. Each spoke briefly and accepted questions from audience members, several of whom expressed anger at the current administrations both on Beacon Hill and in Washington.

"We really have to take our country back," said committee Chairman Steve Aylward. "It's really gone in the wrong direction."

Dembrowski, a chiropractor from Woburn, seeks to unseat Democratic Rep. Ed Markey, a congressman for 34 years, in the 7th Congressional District of the U.S. House of Representatives. Dembrowski spoke on such meat-and-potatoes issues as jobs and the economy while taking shots at Markey for spending too much time in Washington and too little in his districts.

"We need congressmen who will stand up and fight for the little guy and will not fight for the lobbyists and special interest groups," Dembrowski said."We need a congressman, we need someone who lives in the state -- I heard a snicker -- who lives in the state and who cares about what's going on.Who will listen to the constituents and who will stand up and fight for America?"

Dembrowski said he had walked through Markey's neighborhood the previous Saturday and knocked on his neighbors' doors and found that they didn't even know who he was.

He said Markey was wrong on major issues such as cap-and-trade plans to control pollution by energy providers and the health-care overhaul.

"He's got his hands on every single thing that is wrong with this country," Dembrowski said.

When questioned about the controversial Arizona law requiring anyone suspected of being in the country illegally to provide proof of legal residence, Dembrowski said he supported it.

"I agree with Arizona," he said. "It's about time somebody stood up and did something."

The audience applauded.

Dixon, a Waltham airline pilot, hopes to topple Democratic Rep. Peter Koutoujian, who for 13 years has represented the 10th Middlesex District in the Massachusetts House.

When his turn came, Dixon spoke of a lack of leadership on Beacon Hill and accused Koutoujian of being a party-line voter.

"His voting record is 100 percent with the speaker, and it doesn't matter which speaker," he said. "For example, when DiMasi was the speaker and was against casinos, our incumbent was against casinos. When DeLeo became speaker and he is for casinos, all of a sudden [Koutoujian] is for casinos."

Dixon said one problem is that legislators like Koutoujian remain in the State House for too long, growing complacent and corrupt and depriving the government of new ideas.

"In any 10-year period of time, we have the opportunity to put 1,000 new faces, ideas, perspectives on Beacon Hill," he said. "In the last decade, I would say we've put in less than 100. Our legislature has become infected with this myopic tunnel vision where they only see what they want to see, and so we need to get new blood in there. And that's why I'm running."

Dixon advocated for removing incentives to remain in office for long periods, such as pensions for legislators.

"Somebody asked me, "Well, how much does that cost; how much will that save the government?' I don't care," he said. "If it's a lot, then we need to get rid of it; if it's a little bit, then it's a show of leadership that our legislature, we, on Beacon Hill, are going to lead us out of the recession. We're going to start the ball going."

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