Sen. Brown swings through Pittsfield

PITTSFIELD – United States Senator Scott Brown (R-Mass.) visited The Berkshires during his five-day tour of the state.

Sen. Brown is running for re-election this year against Democratic Party challenger Professor Elizabeth Warren, and he had some sharp words for his opponent during his Pittsfield stop.

Sen. Brown’s cross-state tour began in Provincetown on Aug. 20, after which he visited 12 other communities before arriving in Pittsfield.

The tour focused on highlighting Massachusetts’ businesses and employers.

During Sen. Brown’s Pittsfield visit, he stopped by the Berkshire County Republicans’ newly-created office at 34 North St.

This office was set up entirely using the Berkshire County Republican Association’s own funds, without assistance from the state or national party, although Sen. Brown donated some phones in order for volunteers to make campaign calls.

Sen. Brown fared quite poorly in Berkshire County when he won election to the U.S. Senate over Attorney General Martha Coakley in the 2010 special election to fill deceased United States Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy’s seat.

He got only 30.5 percent of the vote in Berkshire County, his worst performance in the entire state.

“Every extra vote that we get here [in Berkshire County] is gonna help him everywhere else in the state,” said Mike Case, who is running as the Republican candidate for Governor’s Council in the western Massachusetts-based Eighth District this year. “I’ve guaranteed him we’re gonna get more than just Otis this time.”

Otis was the only town in Berkshire County to vote for Sen. Brown in 2010.

He also visited the Pittsfield Veterans Memorial on South Street, Crane and Co. in Dalton and Teo’s Hot Dogs in Pittsfield.

Sen. Brown is no stranger to The Berkshires or Teo’s

Senator Brown’s father lived in Dalton, and he spent his summers as a teenager with him, during which time he acquired a taste for Teo’s signature dogs.

“Virtually every single time I’m in Pittsfield or Dalton and surrounding areas I try to make it here,” said Sen. Brown, who ate five dogs on his Friday visit.

He also made a point to tie Teo’s to the larger themes of his campaign.

“This is a business that…has done it on their own. The government didn’t create these jobs, they did,” said Sen. Brown. “That’s the difference between Prof. Warren and me; she’s looking to demonize our job creators and the people that put in this time and effort and money on the line and I’m not.”

In response to questions from the press, he also addressed Prof. Warren’s claim that he was a part of a Republican agenda that is hostile to women.

“Having a lot of good women in my life, I don’t even know how to respond to that kind of misinformation,” said Sen. Brown.

“I’m the lead Republican on the violence against women act, … I worked very hard to protect the funding for Planned Parenthood, I was very active when I was a state senator on overriding the governor on stem cell research, on protecting emergency contraception rights for women who are raped, … protecting women’s jobs by creating a level of regulatory and tax certainty and not wanting to have jobs crushing taxes and regulations as she’s [Professor Warren’s] been proposing.”

Asked about how important it was for his re-election to improve his numbers in Berkshire County and in Pittsfield, Sen. Brown attributed his weak performance in The Berkshires in 2010 to the short nature of that campaign and the voters’ lack of familiarity with him.

“She [Atty. Gen. Coakley] had already run statewide so she already had a natural advantage,” said Sen. Brown, who pointed to the work he’s done with western Massachusetts businesses and political leaders since his election.

“We’ve (Sen. Brown’s office) been very, very active trying to work to address the western Massachusetts issues,” he said, noting western Massachusetts’ economic challenges and attributing many of them to geography.

“There needs to be an incentive to come out here and incentives to stay here, whether it’s creating a tax incentive or a workforce development incentive.”

Posted by Bera B. Dunau on August 30, 2012. Filed under Community News,News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry