2nd Franklin District candidate Genevieve Fraser Testifies before Department of Public Utilities in Defense of Cape Wind

Fraser Testifies before Department of Public Utilities in Defense of Cape Wind

Genevieve Fraser, a Democratic candidate for state representative for the 2^nd Franklin District, recently testified before the Department of Public Utilities in Boston regarding the Cape Wind project.  Fraser, along with environmental organizations such as the Sierra Club and the Environmental League of Massachusetts, focused on the benefits of Cape Wind versus the true cost of fossil fuels to the environment and public health,

Cape Wind is a 130 wind turbine electrical generation project proposed for Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound, miles from the nearest shore.  It is projected to produce up to 420 megawatts of clean, renewable energy which will provide three quarters of the Cape and Islands electricity needs.

Though off-shore wind turbines are common in parts of Europe, if built, Cape Wind will be America’s first offshore wind farm. 

“Though some regard natural gas with its reduced CO2 content as the gold standard of fuels, they fail to measure its true cost – the environmental catastrophe to aquifers caused by fracking which can be likened to blowing up mountain tops to extract coal, or putting our oceans’ flora and fauna at risk through deep water drilling,” Fraser commented.  “Gas, coal, oil are all fossil fuels that generate global warming and climate change.  Their toxins are dead matter, EXCESS carbon exhumed from biomass created eons ago.  These toxins overload the atmosphere and cannot be successfully recaptured – though we are stressing our forests to the max attempting to do so.”

“Cape Wind, however, offers hope of a cleaner, healthier world.   The ocean’s wind currents, close to a land base, can harness energy that can be captured without destroying forests and farmlands so vitally needed for food and shelter and fiber-based products,” Fraser continued.  “Offshore wind farms harness more frequent and powerful winds than are available to land-based installations and have less visual impact.  By utilizing ocean borne wind energy - working in tandem with solar, geothermal, hydro and sustainably harvested biomass that recaptures its own gasses as it re-grows and regenerates itself as part of the natural cycle of life – we are using natural resources native to the atmosphere to help power our collective global civilizations.” 

“The crisp, pollution-free, off-shore Cape Wind, in conjunction with other renewables, can be harnessed to create bio-based fuels for transport and bio-based non-toxic products and chemicals that will produce jobs within the manufacturing, farming and forestry industry.  This, in turn, will help foster clean air, clean water and soil, as well as flourishing biodiversity amid flora and fauna as an overly mature forest is sustainably harvested and put less at risk for disease and fire,”

Genevieve Fraser is a former aide to retired state Senator Robert D. Wetmore and a recipient of a Massachusetts Environmental Commendation for her work on an Acid Rain awareness campaign.

IN DEFENSE OF CAPE WIND by Genevieve Fraser

Fraser awarded Environmental Commendation

 

IN DEFENSE OF CAPE WIND

by Genevieve Fraser
 

NOTE: to be submitted at a public hearing on May 30, 2012 

to Mark D. Marini, Secretary, Department of Public Utilities
One South Station, 5th Floor, Boston, MA  02110

Docket Reference D.P.U. 12-30

 

It is small comfort to realize if mankind is rendered extinct through continued, wanton use of greenhouse gas emitting fossil fuels, the planet may return to the floral lushness of the proverbial Garden of Paradise MINUS Adam, the perpetrator of his own demise. 

Today, California smog threatens the giant redwoods – smog created from energy production and trucking, diesel freight train corridors, motor vehicle exhausts, solvents, pesticides and other fossil fuel derived compounds, along with fires escalated by sustained winds that ravage unmanaged forest landscapes.  Meanwhile, East Coast cities are also shrouded in a cocoon of air-borne pollutants.  It seems as if the natural world has turned against those who would be its master.

Though some regard natural gas with its reduced CO2 content as the gold standard of fuels, they fail to measure its true cost – the environmental catastrophe to aquifers caused by fracking which can be likened to blowing up mountain tops to extract coal, or putting our oceans’ flora and fauna at risk through deep water drilling.  Gas, coal, oil are all fossil fuels that generate global warming and climate change.  Their toxins are dead matter, EXCESS carbon exhumed from biomass created eons ago.  These toxins overload the atmosphere and cannot be successfully recaptured – though we are stressing our forests to the max attempting to do so.  Yes, even natural gas is a fossil fuel – not part of the living, breathing world.  It too needs to be phased out if we humans are to survive.

Cape Wind, however, offers hope of a cleaner, healthier world.  The ocean’s wind currents, close to a land base, can harness energy that can be captured without destroying forests and farmlands so vitally needed for food and shelter and fiber-based products.  Offshore wind farms harness more frequent and powerful winds than are available to land-based installations and have less visual impact.  By utilizing ocean borne wind energy - working in tandem with solar, geothermal, hydro and sustainably harvested biomass that recaptures its own gasses as it re-grows and regenerates itself as part of the natural cycle of life – we are using natural resources native to the atmosphere to help power our collective global civilizations. 

The crisp, pollution-free, off-shore Cape Wind, in conjunction with other renewables, can be harnessed to create bio-based fuels for transport and bio-based non-toxic products and chemicals that will produce jobs within the manufacturing, farming and forestry industry.  This, in turn, will help foster clean air, clean water and soil, as well as flourishing biodiversity amid flora and fauna as an overly mature forest is sustainably harvested and put less at risk for disease and fire.

But if Massachusetts is to become part of this legacy, it is critical that the Department of Energy Resource’s (DOER) abide by its stated commitment to apply the best possible science for wind, solar and biomass and all other renewables in the face of the opposition to each of these technologies that exists. 

Perhaps someday - through the use of off-shore wind, solar, geothermal, hydro and sustainably harvested biomass and other non-harmful technologies yet to be developed – we can reduce the territorial conflicts among people so often generated by a fight for resources – and come to live in balance and harmony with nature in what future generations may come to regard as a true Paradise.

NOTE: Genevieve Fraser was awarded an MA Environmental Commendation for organizing Acid Rain Awareness Campaigns.

Legislators Exempt from Conflict of Interest Law - Andrews Acted within the Law

Legislators Exempt from Conflict of Interest in Legislative Matters despite  Potential Financial Gain  - 
Andrews Acted within the Law

By Genevieve Fraser

I have received notification from the State Ethics Commission that the case has been closed on the Andrews Conflict of Interest investigation and warrants no further action.  Representative Andrews filed a disclosure regarding her employment with the Swiss-based pharmaceutical giant, Novartis, which exonerates her from conflict of interest as a cosponsor of major drug legislation filed in January 2011.

Though Massachusetts has one of the toughest Conflict of Interest laws in the country, state legislators exempted themselves from penalties.  According to the statute, they can participate in general legislation and home rule legislation even if they have a financial interest in such legislation, but state legislators and constitutional officers must file a disclosure if the matter will substantially affect their financial interests.

Working for a major industry and supporting legislation that benefits them is like being a covert lobbyist. It may be legal, but is it truly ethical? Ethics reform closed and barred the front door, but by allowing an exemption of this magnitude for legislators, they kept the back door wide open and ready for business. 

 

Because of this concern, I contacted Secretary of State Galvin's Office to see if legislator disclosure forms can be made public and put online, just as the Elections Division has made campaign contributor information publicly available online.  I was informed that the Legislature is exempt from the Public Records Disclosure Law, and the Secretary of State does not have jurisdiction.

 

I then contacted the House Clerk's Office in Boston and was informed that you can file a request on a specific legislator and review disclosure records, but these records will not be put online. They can only be accessed in person at the House or Senate Clerk's Office at the State House in Boston. 

If elected to serve as state representative for the 2nd Franklin District, I pledge to file legislation to end the exemption to the Massachusetts Conflict of Interest Law for state legislators and constitutional officers regarding  legislative initiatives.

Fraser Announces “Official” Candidacy for 2nd Franklin District State Representative

Genevieve Fraser, a resident of Orange and former aide to retired state Senator Robert D. Wetmore, is pleased to announce her official candidacy as a Democrat for the 2^nd Franklin District state representative seat.  The district is now comprised of six towns in Franklin County, five in Worcester County and District A in Belchertown, which is in Hampshire County.

“Once you’ve visited the Secretary of State’s Election Division in Boston with a sufficient number of town certified signatures, and they hand you a receipt, you’re in the race,” Fraser said.  “I wish to thank the hundreds of people who signed my nomination papers, including Republican and Green affiliated voters whose signatures could not be certified but whose well-wishes I greatly appreciate.”

“My campaign is based on a promise – to work tirelessly to rebuild a local economy, based on a renewable energy infrastructure, which employs built-in environmental safeguards. All three goals must be achieved if we are to create a secure, healthy and sustainable future for ourselves and generations to come,” Fraser commented.

Fraser has worked as a planner with the Private Industry Council, an environmental technical writer, a member of the staff of Mount Wachusett Community College and currently serves as faculty with the University of Phoenix Online.  She is the recipient of a Massachusetts Environmental Commendation for her work organizing Acid Rain Awareness events and is an author. Her World War II non-fiction novel, “In the Claw of the Tiger” is the true story of Athol native, Porky LaCoste, who survived the Bataan Death March and prisoner-of-war camps in the Philippines and Japan.

FRASER 4 REP NOW OFFICIAL & CONFLICT OF INTEREST UPDATE

Newly created 2nd Franklin District

FRASER 4 REP NOW OFFICIAL  &
CONFLICT OF INTEREST UPDATE

I am now an official candidate!! I filed my SFI - Statement of Financial Interest with the State Ethics Commission and then filed the certified signatures with the Secretary of State's Election Division.  There I ran into US Senate candidate, Marisa DeFranco, who was filing her certified signatures at the next counter.  

While I was at the State Ethics Commission, I requested to speak with the investigator who was handling the complaint I filed against Representative Andrews concerning a possible conflict of interest in cosponsoring drug legislation while working for a major drug company.  I expressed concern that the campaign season had begun, and it wouldn't be fair to allow a cloud to hang over Andrew's candidacy if she were to be ultimately exonerated.  The investigator explained that she hadn't returned my calls because the case involved an ongoing investigation.  

I mentioned my concern that an exemption existed for legislators for general legislation if they had a financial stake as long as they filed a disclosure.  I suggested that the exemption allowed legislators to become defacto lobbyists.  Though the ethics law barred the front door, it allowed the back door to be open and ready for business.  I also suggested that legislation should be filed to close the loop-hole.

The investigator's response was to send me the Commission's Advisory 98-01 on the Conflict of Interest Law and Legislator's Private Employment.  The advisory reads, in part:

"The feature that distinguishes special from general legislation is the "particularity of the scope and purposes of the act's provisions." If a bill provides assistance to all cities, towns and counties as well as to the Commonwealth, the Ethics Commission has concluded that the bill is a matter of general legislation.  In addition, even though the subject matter of a bill may have a special effect upon one or more individual cities or towns, if the main purposes of the bill are to achieve state, regional or general objectives, the bill will not be considered special legislation. In contrast, if the legislation creates an exception or special rule which does not apply to other similarly situated individuals, the legislation will be regarded as special legislation. Legislation that practically affects a single community is regarded as special legislation, even where the act is drafted in more general terms."

"Thus, § 6 does not prohibit a legislator from participating in any general legislation which may affect her financial interest or that of her private employer. However, § 6 does prohibit a legislator from acting on any special legislation, any budget line item or any constituent service, in which the legislator or her private employer has a financial interest."

 In regard to the Representative Andrews case, the matter rests with the State Ethics Commission. 

Genevieve 

Fraser Concedes Andrews May be Exempt from “Particular Matters” in Conflict of Interest Law

Fraser Concedes Andrews May be Exempt from “Particular Matters” in Conflict of Interest Law

Though the State Ethics Commission has failed to contact Genevieve Fraser regarding a filing she initiated several months ago concerning 2^nd Franklin District Representative Denise Andrews, Fraser is willing to concede that Andrews may not be in violation.  Fraser is one of six candidates vying for the newly redistricted 2^nd Franklin District in the fall election.  Both Andrews and Fraser reside in Orange.

At issue is Andrews’ co-sponsorship of legislation which might benefit the pharmaceutical company where she had been working in a management position. In September 2011, Andrews, a freshman legislator, began work in New Jersey for the Swiss-based pharmaceutical giant, Novartis, as a global head of human resources.

“Representative Andrews approached me recently and requested that I release a statement as soon as I hear from the Ethics Commission,” Fraser commented.  “Andrews stated she felt that she had done nothing wrong and had filed a disclosure indicating that she had accepted a position with Novartis.

“As a candidate challenging Andrews in the Democratic primary, I feel it is important to put the matter behind us.  Despite repeated attempts to reach the Ethic Commission, I’ve heard nothing,” Fraser said.  “But as I was filing my Statement of Financial Interest as a candidate, I happened upon summaries that clearly spell out differences between municipal officials – which I am, serving on three town boards in Orange – and state employees, which Andrews is as a state representative.”

“In both instances, under Section 6 of the MA General Laws chapter 268A on self-dealing and nepotism, the law states that participation as a state employee in “particular matters’ in which you, your immediate family, your business organization, or your future employer has a financial interest is prohibited.  However, there appears to be a further clause or exemption that representatives to the General Court fall under,” Fraser explained. 

 

"According to the conflict of interest law, ‘A state employee can participate in general legislation and home rule legislation even if she has a financial interest in such legislation, but state legislators and constitutional officers must file a disclosure if the matter will substantially affect their financial interests,’” Fraser continued.  “If Andrews filed such a disclosure, as she claims she has, she may not be guilty of conflict of interest, and I stand corrected.”

 

"It is interesting that when urged to pass ethics reform, legislators went after municipal officials. And lobbyists must register every minute of face time with legislators. Yet, legislators are exempt. Working for a major industry and supporting legislation that benefits them is like being a covert lobbyist. It may be legal, but is it truly ethical?" Fraser noted.

"Ethics reform closed and barred the front door, but by allowing an exemption of this magnitude for legislators, they kept the back door wide open and ready for business."