Bastien Announces Bid to Reclaim 2nd Worcester Rep Seat

Richard Bastien (R-Gardner), announced yesterday that he is running to reclaim the Second Worcester District State Representative seat he held from January 2011 to January 2013. His press release is below.

GARDNER-Former State Representative and current Gardner School Committee Member-Elect Rich Bastien announced today that he is running for election to the seat he once held in the Massachusetts State Legislature.

Despite Rich’s strong record of supporting pro-job growth policies and fighting for the interests of his constituents and his district, he lost his bid for reelection in 2012 in one of the closest races in Massachusetts.

“Jon Zlotnik made a lot of promises he hasn’t kept. He ran ads claiming he would never vote to raise taxes, only to vote less than 8 months later to put into law an over $800 million tax hike that hurts the working people of our district. He even voted into law the raising of our gas taxes every year for the rest of our lives. He’s out of touch with the hard working people of our district” Bastien stated.

“Representative Zlotnik is not part of the solution, he’s part of the problem.”

Bastien, who has been working in the Gardner Public Schools while also working in retail sales part time on nights and weekends, stated that his campaign will focus on three main points; eliminating the gas tax indexing to inflation, addressing the needs of long term unemployed workers through fostering a better economic climate, and a landmark forthcoming proposal that he will unveil next year that will allow Massachusetts residents the ability to attend community colleges tuition and fee free while cutting taxpayer subsidies to private colleges and universities.

“Like a lot of people in my district, I work two jobs and work over 60 hours per week to try to make ends meet. The idea that we give taxpayer money to private universities, like Harvard, in Massachusetts while our own residents struggle to afford public schools and job training is sheer lunacy,” Bastien stated. “I look forward to unveiling in the weeks and months ahead more details about this and other ways we can all pull together to make Massachusetts a better place to live.”