By Erin Connolly — 11/04/2011
Tom Conroy has big plans for job growth. The state representative sat down with WEBN for an interview as part of the station’s political coverage of the Massachusetts Senate race.
Conroy had started his run for the U.S. Senate with a 657 mile walk around Massachusetts speaking with the public about their concerns. He noticed the trend was “jobs, jobs, jobs.”
Since then Conroy has come up with a five point jobs plan. It calls for appointing more carpenters, electricians, plumbers, and engineers to work on rebuilding Massachusetts’ roads and railways. “I believe in the President’s jobs program. I want to go even further,” Conroy said, “I’d like to roll out a 300 billion dollar five year plan to rebuild our infrastructure that could create hundreds of thousands of jobs here in Massachusetts.” Infrastructure is the first element to the creation of jobs and boosting the economy.
Along with rebuilding, Conroy put an emphasis on making Massachusetts more “self-funding” through tax credits and the manufacturing of renewable energy. The tax credits would encourage consumers to buy items produced in the United Sates while the renewable energy technology would lessen consumption of foreign resources.
Conroy understands bringing these changes in government to Washington will not be easy. There is frequent disconnect between political parties in the senate, but Conroy is not afraid to stand up for what he believes in. “You need to have the ability to draw lines in the sand,” he said, “and articulate those [values] very clearly and very passionately.” Growing up as a middle child, his whole life has been about compromise. He compares his negotiation tactics to Ted Kennedy and his ability to “reach across the isle” to get business done.
As Conroy has proven with his 657 mile tour, reaching out to the people of Massachusetts has always been important to him. Of Occupy Boston, he said it is a “great movement in the sense that they’re actively engaged citizens. They are giving voice to their own thoughts and emotions and perspectives.” That is the reason he says he is running for the Senate, he wants to give a voice to the people and change Washington for the better.
If Conroy wins the Democratic primary next fall, he would face Republican Senator Scott Brown. Brown had won the election to fulfill the late Ted Kennedy’s seat.