Andre Salles, Patch Staff

<b>Email</b>: andre.salles&#64;patch.com<b><br> Phone</b>:630-414-5670

<b>Facebook</b>: www.facebook.com/montgomerypatch

<b>Twitter</b>: &#64;MontILPatch<b><br> Hometown</b>: Franklin, Massachusetts

<strong>Birthday</strong>: June 5, 1974

<strong>Welcome video</strong>: http://patch.com/A-fysd

<b>Bio </b>

Andre Salles has been a professional writer since 1996. He started his career working for a local music magazine in Portland, Maine, covering musicians of all stripes. For the last five years, he’s been covering the city of Aurora for the Beacon-News. He has won a bunch of awards over the years, and honestly believes journalism is the best job in the world.

Andre was born in 1974, in Franklin, Massachusetts. He’s a graduate of St. Joseph’s College in Maine. He has been a music junkie his entire life, and owns somewhere in the vicinity of 6,000 albums on CD and cassette. He runs a weekly music review blog at www.tm3am.com, and has written music-related features for several national publications. He’s a Red Sox and Patriots fan, but will root for the Bears and White Sox.

Andre has been a comic book publisher, a theater director, and a musician. He can quote movies at you all day, and will, unless you shut him up. He won’t let you buy him anything while he’s working, so don’t even ask. Most importantly, he believes in telling your stories to the best of his ability, and asks that you hold him to it.

<br> <b>Your Beliefs</b><br> At Patch, we promise always to report the facts as objectively as possible and otherwise adhere to the principles of good journalism. However, we also acknowledge that true impartiality is impossible because human beings have beliefs. So in the spirit of simple honesty, our policy is to encourage our editors to reveal their beliefs to the extent they feel comfortable. This disclosure is not a license for you to inject your beliefs into stories or to dictate coverage according to them. In fact, the intent is the opposite: we hope that the knowledge that your beliefs are on the record will cause you to be ever mindful to write, report and edit in a fair, balanced way. And if you ever see evidence that we failed in this mission, please let us know.<br> <br> <b>Politics </b>

I like to describe myself as fiscally conservative and socially liberal. I’ve been a registered Democrat, but plan on not declaring a party when I move to Montgomery. I believe in exercising my right to vote, every time – my father used to refer to voting as “complainer’s rights,” and I think he’s spot on. I’m a listener by trade, so partisan bickering makes me sad. I think a viable third (and fourth, and fifth, etc.) party would improve things immeasurably.

But mainly, when I step to the voting booth, I’m looking to support people who are honest about their beliefs, will listen to others, and are genuinely looking to improve the world in which they live. It doesn’t matter which party they call home. Every seat of government, from Washington to Springfield to your local library district, could use people with those qualities, I think.

<b>Religion</b><br> As a famous Irishman once said, I still haven’t found what I’m looking for. <br> <b><br> Local Hot-Button Issues</b><br> I think Montgomery faces issues similar to those of its neighbors. The economic downturn has hurt everyone, and municipalities will be feeling the effects for years after things rebound. The Village has been proactive, but the downturn has left in its wake many people who can’t find jobs. This is going to be one of the biggest issues facing Montgomery (and the state, and the nation) in the coming years.

I think one of the most fascinating things about Montgomery is the push-and-pull between progress and preservation. The village has seen spectacular population growth in the past 10 years, with new construction popping up everywhere, but has done an admirable job of trying to preserve and celebrate the agricultural past of the community. I’m all for that. If we lose our past, we lose who we are. It’s all about balance.