Massachusetts News: An Independent News Source for Massachusetts Politics


Mark Ferguson promises the voters that he will emulate Ronald Reagan if they elect him as a state Representative. One of his priorities will be to lower taxes.			Jim Rappaport(left) shares most of the same views as Mark Ferguson and Ronald Regan. They would like to lower the size of our government and allow us to keep more of our money so that every wife does not need to work and has a choice whether she wishes to do so.

Republican Mark Ferguson, of Holden, does not give up easily. This is the third time he has run for state Representative.

The first time he won in a special election where there was a vacancy. But then it was taken away by 13 votes after a recount three weeks later of opponent Democrat David Bunker's home town. Ferguson had some serious questions about the procedure but could not afford the lawyers to challenge it. "Hanging chads, that sort of thing," he says.

He ran again when Bush ran and got 48.4 percent of the vote. "Nonetheless, I didn't win, but I'm determined, I'm persistent, and I believe I have the right agenda for Massachusetts.

"If you want to understand me, just think of Ronald Reagan. That's me," Ferguson tells MassNews. He gives conservatives a real choice in the 1st Worcester District.

He says he simply has old fashioned values, works hard for a living, and stands up for what is right.

A plumber by trade, Ferguson is in charge of all that's necessary to keep the big boilers and other plumbing functioning at Worcester Polytech. He's a veteran of Holden politics, serving on the Board of Selectmen for six years-two of those years as chairman holding the line on property tax increases. "The only time in the town's history property taxes did not go up two and a half percent," said Ferguson.

Why does he want to be elected?

"I'm itching to get elected because I believe that I am a true representative of the people. Sticking with my basic beliefs, I honestly believe that taxation takes people's, and particularly their families' freedoms away. I believe that Massachusetts, in its excessive taxation, has hurt the family unit. The dollars that we're sending in certainly aren't being spent efficiently and it has to stop.

He is challenging Democratic Rep. David Bunker again. But first, he has to defeat Lewis Evangelidis in the primaries.

Ferguson tells MassNews: "I certainly welcome Evangelidis into the Republican Party, being a Democrat as late as February 16, 2000, when he switched. I am amused that he is running in the Republican primary because he boasts and brags that he worked for Janet Reno and also for Scott Harshbarger. Very few Democrats can boast working for two ultra-liberals like that, but, nonetheless, my opponent can."

The District includes Holden, Hubbardston, Oakham, Princeton, Rutland, Sterling (Precinct 1), and Westminster.

Ferguson discussed with MassNews his views on the issues:

Taxes - Got Over 2000 Signatures for Income Tax Rollback - Endorsed by CLT

"I was proud to have carried the petition to roll back the state income tax, the same question that was on the ballot here in November of 2000 that the voters overwhelmingly approved. I gathered over two thousand signatures to see that that was put on the ballot.

"I'm endorsed by Citizens for Limited Taxation. I've always believed, and I'll say it again, that money is better kept in the hands of people who earned it, empowering their families. It's a freedom that is being taken away. Does anybody out there think that government is giving people their money's worth when it comes to spending?

"Are you getting maximum efficiency of your hard earned tax dollars? I think you'll all agree that the answer is no. Why in the world would you want to give them more of your hard-earned money if you know that the money that you've already given them isn't being spent either wisely or efficiently. It makes no sense at all."

Marriage - Signed Protection of Marriage Amendment - Opponent Absent for Vote

"I signed the petition for the Protection of Marriage Amendment, believing that marriage is between one man and one woman. I believe it's a very simple question. It's a very simple answer. And I think what happened to the people, the hundred and thirty thousand people, that put their names on a petition and the way it was just bastardized for lack of a better word by Birmingham and company, and actually Brian Lees who's a Republican, who motioned to adjourn rather than take the tough vote is absolutely shameful. That's not the way democracy's supposed to work. And it really makes you question, do we have representatives of the people down there?"

"My opponent failed to show for the vote about the Amendment."

Guns - Member of Gun Owners Action League

"I'm a member of the Gun Owners Action League (GOAL). They do great work in protecting our Second Amendment right to own a firearm. I've also been endorsed by them in previous elections, as well as GOPAC, which is the political action league of the National Rifle Association. I'm proud of that.

"I've been steadfast in supporting the Second Amendment. I grew up around firearms all my life from the Boys Club, way back, right here in Worcester at Lincoln square. They taught us three-position shooting with BB guns. They taught us respect for the firearm. I believe in education. That's what you need with fire arms is to educate the people.

"It's not the lawful gun owners that are committing these murders and these shootings that Channel 5, Channel 7 and Channel 4 report as another 'gun murder.' It's absolutely gang-style criminal type activity and I honestly believe that criminals will always, always have guns. It's the law-abiding citizen who may be carrying a firearm that is the best protector at that given point. It's been proven time in and time out. It's absolutely wrong headed that such legislation as Chapter 180 (the 1998 Gun Control Law) - which incidentally never went through a public hearing - actually passed as a law before it was even fully written. That is absolutely wrong.

"There seems to be a big misnomer, whether it's Oprah Winfrey or the different Rosie O'Donnell shows, and I've seen these shows occasionally, that tell America it's somehow the law-abiding citizen that's committing these murders. And it's not the case. It absolutely is not the case. The Second Amendment was put second for a reason. It's because it was that important. It really was. And the beauty of the Second Amendment is that it is short, brief and to the point. So it can't be twisted. Every citizen has the right to carry, period. Unless, of course, they're a convicted felon. If you're a felon of a violent crime, I'm done with you. You forfeited your right. We're not taking another chance.

"Chapter 180, and the legislation thereof that has been amended more times than we can count, should be repealed. We should go through a public hearing process and base our gun laws on fact and on reasoning. Vermont has a law that is very successful that actually encourages gun ownership. The thing with encouraging gun ownership is the bad guy, who is out there, never knows who can defend themselves and who can't. Simply put, if the pilots on September 11th were allowed to carry side arms, there's a good chance that September 11th would have been stopped in its tracks. Imagine a terrorist not knowing which pilot is carrying and which pilot isn't. If you don't want to carry, don't, but the beauty of this is the terrorist or the hijacker doesn't know which pilot has a firearm to protect himself and the human beings on his plane.

"About a month ago there was an incident out in California at LAX Airport where, again, a criminal with a firearm started on a shooting rampage and I believe killed two individuals. A law abiding citizen, who had a fire arm in his possession, put an end to the rampage. That's what I'm talking about."

Small Business - Must Protect It

"I'm a big advocate of small business. Small business supplies roughly two out of every three new jobs that are out there. I'd like to make this state more conducive for small business to operate. Anything that we can do to help them, whether it's to lower the oppressive insurance (unemployment insurance) rate schedule that we're on and return to a Schedule A, would do a lot to help small business. We have one of the highest unemployment insurance rates in the country, which prohibits new job growth. I'd rather see people collect pay checks, rather than unemployment checks."

Abortion - Never Stop Being Pro-Life

"I've always been pro life and I'll never stop being pro-life. I see them as babies. I don't see them as a choice. I believe in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That's what the Constitution says and I believe when the founding fathers defined life they meant life for all. I'm proud to say that my wife and I have a nine-month-old baby boy at home. He's the happiest thing in the world to us. I think we all live through our kids. I also had some ultra-sounds done just as the medical profession dictated.

Nobody can tell me that that's not a life. At two months there was a heartbeat. Everything was alive and well and yes, indeed, that is a human being. Needless to say, somehow in this equation, my being a protector of life, somehow I get labeled an extremist while the other people are killing babies. Go figure. NARAL, the wackoes that want to kill at all costs, heckle me and do everything they can to see to my defeat. Incidentally, once they asked me what I thought of RU486, and when I told them it was a pesticide, they nearly jumped out the windows. Too bad they didn't.

"I think there's a lot that can be done about abortion. I think it comes with education. I think we have made significant gains in what I've been saying right along- preaching abstinence. We've been very, very successful with America's youth, getting them away from this free-love mentality and getting them towards a responsible mindset of thinking.

Abstinence works every time it's tried. I also think the state makes adoption so difficult that honest families, such as myself and my wife, who wanted to adopt, have a hard time doing so. We were absolutely badgered when we inquired about adopting two children that my wife had taught in child-care. They were great kids and we have a wonderful family. I was chairman of the board of selectman. My past is rock solid. We have a beautiful new home and I work at WPI where they would have had free education here. And I would have provided that.

"I love kids and, needless to say, we were basically badgered to the point where my wife was in tears and it just makes it so unreasonable that decent families can't get to the adoption process, or get through the adoption process, like you would expect. You'd expect you'd be welcomed with open arms. Instead I was asked questions about why wouldn't I want to adopt an AIDS baby? Why do I want those kids? So on and so forth.

"God is good and he gave us our own child and we're very happy for that. But adoption is something that is too difficult for decent families to work through to give kids, good kids, a good home and a good start in life. I think that's all that they need is a good home and a good start. I look at DSS and I see their difficulties. It's just a bureaucracy and, I think, people. Again, one of my big roads is coming back to people rather than more government. People will adopt if we make it conducive for them to do so.

"I also look at history. I study history. We've gone from Roe vs. Wade, that was sad enough, to late-term abortion, partial-birth abortion. And somehow society and the church, I don't see them putting up a fight like they should on something like that. We've almost, as a society, accepted partial-birth abortion. I really don't see the outrage over it. There's some out there fighting the fight and I give them a tip of the hat. But it's really gone down the slippery slope of sickness and evil to stem-cell research, cloning. We're almost accepting that. Where's it going to stop? To harvest body parts, that's not too far away. How far will we go on this? How far are we going?"

Health Care - Fighting Universal Health Care

"When we speak about health care, it's absolutely shocking to me that there's approximately six million residents in Massachusetts and approximately one million that are on the public system of health care, be it Medicaid or MassHealth. Do the numbers. For every one person that's out there on the public system of health care, there are five others that are being told to support it. That's got to stop. It's got to stop. We cannot have such numbers as that. Five people having to support one extra person amongst them on top of everything else that's coming down on the working man or working woman.

"I'm also looking at health insurance costs. I honestly believe that government doesn't care about health insurance increases. In fact, I believe that they're welcoming the increases and want the private health insurance or the health care system which we have today to run amuck, so that they can bring in socialized health care. That's why they're doing exactly nothing to combat this."

School Choice - Favors Charter Schools & Vouchers, Not Teachers Union

"I believe in charter schools. I always have. I believe in school choice. I believe parents act in the best interest of their children. They should be able to choose where they want to send their most important asset, their children. And I just honestly believe in charter schools. I go further in belief in vouchers.

"If you do not want to send your child to a school for whatever the reason may be; they don't have enough homework, they're pushing a certain agenda at that school, then you should be able to choose someplace else much like you do your own business at home. If you don't like doing business with a particular insurance company, why should you have to do business with that particular insurance company? I don't believe anybody should have an exclusive franchise on anything. That's why I believe in freedom of choice and I have always believed that parents know what's best for their children, period.

"You know what is a real belly laugh in these elections? It is the rabid MTA, Mass Teachers' Association. In their mailings that they do for their lackey candidates that just support more of the same, they'll send something out that says, 'We've interviewed all of the candidates and we've chosen this person.' even though they never interviewed all the candidates. Somebody needs to ask them have they ever, ever endorsed a Republican?

"What's worse is you've got to look at their oppressive, absolutely oppressive, dues structure, which for the average teacher, they continually cry is living below poverty. They're not afraid to take over $550 a year in union dues. That's a paycheck gone from the same workers that they say are living in poverty. Unbelievable."

Bi-Lingual Ed

"I've been involved with Senator Guy Glodis who's out of Worcester, who's been pushing the reform of bilingual education, which is going to be on the November ballot. I collected a boatload of signatures for him as well to see that that was put on the ballot, because what we're doing is a disservice to our immigrants by taking this slow approach to English.

"It's actually an optional approach if you ask me because it's taking 5, 6, 7 years to even begin to teach some of these individuals English where frankly it's been too easy for some of the immigrants to give up. We need to follow the California model, which is the same model that our ancestors followed, which is rapid immersion. The sooner the immigrants are surrounded by English, especially the younger they are, it's been proven every time that the mind absorbs it that much faster. That's the way to go. So I ask you, why is it that it took 31 years for the state to realize that this program wasn't working? Let's vote for it in November.

"I'm convinced the state legislators can know that something's wrong but their biggest fear is going in and doing the right thing and correcting it. Almost like, if we change it, it's an admission of guilt, that what we did in the first place was wrong. So, instead of doing the right thing and stepping up, we let it fester like we have for the last 31 years.

"Bilingual education isn't done in a mean-spirited kind of way. Many of you business owners know that your employees need to converse in English with the other employees or with your customers. And they may be the best workers in the world. Often they are, but if they aren't able to communicate with your work force or with your patrons, then you can't hire them and that's the disservice that we're doing to these immigrants.

"Make no mistake about it, we've been successful in the aspect of lighting a fire under bilingual education to the point where the legislature and the governor just signed a half-way reform measure that basically, when you look at it, is a sugar pill in the aspect that it doesn't mandate anything. It just basically gives school districts the choice of continuing with the status quo or tweaking it as they see fit, which I think is a half measure. English is not an option. And I'm not against anybody who has two languages, as long as one of them is English, for their own good."

Gay Agenda - It's Out of Control

"I don't believe there should be a rampant, and I do believe it's rampant, absolutely radical gay agenda in our public schools. It is just absolutely out of control. I don't think any parent sends their kids to a public school system to have them indoctrinated into a lifestyle that is questionable at best. It's out of hand. I'd like to see our school systems get back to the basics which are writing, arithmetic, and those type of things, rather than this constant bombardment of this agenda on all sides.

"Frankly as a parent, I wouldn't want my kid being exposed to anything like that. Consequently, I sent my child to St. Peter-Marian, which is a Catholic school in Worcester. That's why I agree with vouchers. If the public schools are going to persist in bringing in controversial, questionable agendas, such as the gay agenda, then that makes my case for vouchers all the easier because I'm not going to sit there and fight it. If that's what they want to offer, then I, as a customer, am going to take my business, which is my child, elsewhere."

DSS - Needs Complete Overhaul

"I think I have a lot more questions of DSS than I do answers. I think there needs to be a complete audit, a complete overhaul. I think they've lost sight of what their true mission is supposed to be. I'm wondering if it's become more bureaucratic in nature. I think their mission was supposed to keep the family unit together as much as possible. I'm seeing too much of taking families apart. I'd really like to take a good, hard look at this organization from the top to the bottom and see what it is we could do to really change it and get it back to focus."

Courts - We Need Conservative Judges

"My biggest disappointment in the courts actually goes to something that many people may not be aware. It works like this. The courts run the country. There's no mistake about it. The courts absolutely run the country because they uphold and administer the laws. People need to understand that. And the joy of winning the governor's office, or the Presidency for that matter, is the appointment of judges. That's a fact. And we've had twelve years of Republican governors. But I ask you to take a look at your courts and tell me, are those conservative judges that you see up there? Because the answer is they're not. Margaret Marshall, is she a conservative judge? Make no mistake about it, friends, the judges that you see, could have been appointed by Mike Dukakis as easily as they were appointed by William Weld, Paul Cellucci or Jane Swift. We need to make sure that the Republican that we elect as governor is going to appoint conservative, well balanced, reasoned judges.

"We think that just by choosing another Republican that we're safe. I think they've failed us. They've failed us abysmally. We're seeing things like Fistgate and whatever else it may be, family courts that aren't being administered in a conservative-minded fashion, in a fair-minded fashion. Keep that in mind, readers."