Joe Mullin Kicks Off State Senate Campaign

(EDITOR'S NOTE: The following was submitted by Sue Kennedy.)

Joe Mullin, Democratic candidate for State Senate in the 3^rd Middlesex District hosted his Campaign Kickoff last week at the Weston Golf Club.

Joe has been endorsed for the State Senate by State Reps. Alice Peisch and Kate Hogan.

Rep. Peisch introduced Joe at his Kickoff, and stated that “Joe Mullin has experience in dealing with the needs of everyday people in creating jobs, balancing a budget, and meeting a payroll in running his own small business. He also has unmatched elected and appointed experience in serving in state and local governments,two federal Presidential Administrations, and a significant locally-based non-profit environmental organization”.

“The bottom line is that Joe Mullin has no learning curve to overcome once he is elected, and will hit the ground running on his first day in office. Joe is far and away the best candidate running for this seat, and I am honored to be able to endorse him to replace Susan Fargo as the next State Senator from the Third Middlesex State Senate District”.

Joe Mullin grew up in the nearby mill town of Maynard, where his grandfather was an immigrant and a self-trained carpenter; his mother and father were school-teachers; and where he and his family overcame many struggles. Through hard work, character and ability, Joe earned a scholarship to Harvard College. He was raised with the idea that leadership, at its core, is about service and giving back.

For more than 20 years, since 1990, Joe has shown an ability to navigate complex issues on behalf of all nine communities within the demographically diverse 3rd Middlesex District.

In 1991 he was one of three co-founders of the Third Middlesex Democrats, whose purpose it is to elect Democrats to state office throughout the 3^rd Middlesex State Senate District.

For nine years, beginning in 1985, he ran his own small business, a full-service travel agency, with a total of 5 employees. That experience, including the constant need to overcome problems finding health insurance for small businesses with fewer than ten employees, inspired Joe, above all,  to become a tireless and passionate advocate of a single payer health insurance system---whether that system is to be first instated on the state level, or even on the federal level instead.

Beginning in 1997, Joe Mullin began a new small business endeavor, and he and several partners helped transform the vacant Clock Tower Place, also in nearby Maynard, from an abandoned 19^th Century textile Mill into a vibrant, 21^st Century technology innovation center. In doing so, Joe and his partners helped to create good paying jobs, by attracting more than 100 new companies, along with their 2500 employees, into Clock Tower Place, which they rebranded as “The Metrowest Epicenter of Technology”.

Thus, based on these two small business experiences, Joe now fully knows, first-hand, the challenges facing small business owners in the current economic climate, including an increasing reliance on regressive taxes, and continuing insuperable problems obtaining quality health insurance.

It is for these reasons Joe is a passionate believer in a SINGLE PAYER statewide health insurance system and “An Act To Invest In Our Communities.” Joe is also a passionate believer in examining tax exemptions for corporations and eliminating those which are not justified to balance the budget in these difficult, recessionary times and to preserve effective programs and policies.

At the same time as he has worked to bring to life an abandoned 19^th Century textile mill, Joe has involved himself in charitable, non-profit work. Most notably, he has worked for more than 14 years to protect our rivers and environment as the Chair of the Sudbury/Assabet/Concord Watershed Community Council (SUASCO); and for the last three years to provide healthy meals, to any and all persons unable to afford these meals, as a Member of the Board of Directors of Concord-Maynard Open Table.

Within his home town of Weston, Joe has been especially active in his municipal government and locally-based non-profit endeavors. Joe served a total of 9 years as a an elected Selectman; and also served as Chair of the Housing Needs Committee, Director of Civil Defense, Vice-President of the Historical Society, and Member and Chair of the Registrar of Voters. And he is currently serving in his third term as an elected Trustee of the Weston Public Library.

In addition in Weston, he is serving in his second term as a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Regis College-based Spellman Museum of Stamps and Postal History.

“Joe has done a lot of good, for a lot of people, for a long time.” said Susan Burstein, an incumbent Member of the City of Waltham School Committee.

Tom Barbera, a resident of the City of Waltham, and a long-time member of the Service Employees International Union, added, “There is a compelling reason that Joe Mullin has been endorsed by Local 275 of the Carpenters Union! Joe approaches all issues with intelligence, integrity and dedication. I believe Joe has the broad range of knowledge and experience to be an effective State Senator and will represent ALL of the citizens of our District with care, concern and compassion.