 1: We need to Address water and infrastructure first before development.How much will 3a development cost your town in infrastructure upgrades? Who will foot the bill? Beacon Hill has done no clear impact studies for 3a and wants you to commit to this before you have an idea of what this will cost. What will be the impact on our infrastructure — roads, utilities load, emergency services, education — if we pass 3a and higher-density development begins? Like 40b projects, 3a takes power out of the hands of towns, yet puts the full burden of these infrastructure upgrades on the towns. 2: mbta 3a is an unfunded mandate.The state should fund towns that vote Yes on 3a. However, our Beacon Hill representatives have made this clear: voting No excludes you from access to grants; voting Yes does NOT entitle you to those grants. 3: Once you hand over control, Beacon Hill can change the rules at any time.This statute was voted in by Beacon Hill in 2020 as a one-pager; it has since grown to 30 pages of guidelines. If our towns hand over control, the State can keep changing their guidelines at any time and we as a town won’t have control over what’s developed in our towns. 4: Don't fear the Threat of losing grants.Beacon Hill uses the threat of losing grants as the means of coercing towns into giving up their sovereign rights. The initial guidelines started with the loss of 4 grants, which has expanded to 14, with the threat of more grants being added to the exclusion list. And here’s the issue: Most of these grants towns do not receive anyway. Towns should provide clear numbers of how much money from these grants the towns have been receiving and what would be the cost of implementing MBTA 3a. 5: Don’t cave to Beacon Hill’s pressure.Several towns have signed onto the Milton town lawsuit against the state and all towns should wait to implement MBTA 3a until after the Milton lawsuit is complete.
There should be no rush in making a change that a town cannot roll back and which will have permanent impact on the towns.
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To all my volunteers, friends, and supporters: THANK YOU for walking through this journey with me!11/14/2024  In this election, we fought a really important fight — for our towns, for our freedoms, for ourselves and the generation to come. The results In the end, we gained about 46% of the votes. I have much to reflect on regarding the race and loss. The results show that in every town I significantly overperformed Trump by 10-20%, and Kassner underperformed Kamala by a similar or greater margin. For example, in Ipswich Kamala received 5974 votes to Trump’s 3176; for my race it was Kassner 5347 to Tashjian 3697. There was similar or greater spreads in all towns, showing we did something that worked. We may not have won the election but we showed Beacon Hill that we care what happens in our towns and we will keep fighting.  Despite the loss there is much to be grateful for. The fact that the Noresco vote failed in Ipswich along with the recent indefinite postponement of MBTA 3A shows that conservative, reasonable and fiscally responsible ideals still exist in a town that votes so staunchly Democratic. We also have much to be grateful for the state levels wins and most importantly President Elect Donald Trump. As with my story of overcoming challenges when I was younger, this election is a story of overcoming challenges. We overcame every obstacle, from the write-in campaign for the primary, to Kassner’s no-show for the candidate forum, to the droves of Warren staff brought in from outside the district to help Kassner’s race. I am stronger, and we are stronger, because of this race. What we cannot do alone we will do together.  The people who stood with me I had the most dedicated group of volunteers in this election who fought hard by my side. In particular, Stephen McWhittier and Duncan McNiel have been with me from the beginning, door knocking every weekend and then some to get the word out about our campaign! We had people stepping up for everything from sign holding to door knocking to calling people to organizing volunteers and meetings and so much more. Each and every town has formed a base of volunteers, homeowners to bear our signs, and communication to start pushing back against this government’s overreaches. I hope this is an opportunity for the RTC’s to be reinvigorated to increase your impact not just for Republican, but for conservative movements to prepare the foot soldiers for the next election season.  I would also like to thank the town RTC’s, especially those in Georgetown, Newbury, Ipswich, and Hamilton. You all picked up a small and loosely organized band and formed it into an incredible team that stood strong and covered every moment of the election day sign holding. At times, your RTC chairs were the only ones holding signs leading up to the election. They embodied our campaign’s values of leadership from the ground up.  I would also like to thank some of our current and former elected Republicans, especially Lenny Mirra, Doug Dawes, Lisa-Marie Cashman, and Michael Scarlata. I would like to thank the people of our towns. So many people stood behind me in many ways, either through volunteering, contacting me, challenging me on policies, or casting their most sacred vote for me. Last but not least, I would like to thank my incredible wife who has supported me through it all.  The way forward So many people have asked what I will do now. First, my wife and I will go on our honeymoon! Beyond that, I will be taking time to reflect and discuss the electoral climate with your RTC chairs and other people I am close to. I am not ruling out a re-run, but I will not commit to it at this time. I will commit to doing my best to keep serving our communities and supporting conservative movements. I will help other candidates, including at the town level. I will help truly balance the budget in Georgetown. I will reach out to some of the individuals I met along the way who need support and provide the support or direction I can, just as you all did for me. Thank you for all your support during this campaign. Your humble servant, Mark Tashjian  Read the full article by Alison Kuznitz on State House News. Mark Tashjian, a Republican running to unseat Democrat Rep. Kristin Kassner in the 2nd Essex District, blasted the incumbent Tuesday for apparently bailing on a candidate forum in Ipswich.
Meanwhile, Kassner says she agreed to participate in a League of Women Voters event that her opponent declined. Tashjian, a business owner and member of the Georgetown Finance Committee, said he still intends to participate in the event hosted by the Ipswich Democrat Town Committee and Republican Town Committee on Wednesday night at Ipswich Town Hall. "Although both campaigns confirmed participation and her team produced fliers, Rep. Kassner decided she will not participate due to a scheduling conflict and she has offered no alternative dates," Tashjian said in a campaign message. "I will still be attending and it is my hope that Kristin will change her mind." Republican Town Committee Chair Dan Kelly, in a letter to the editor published by The Town Common last week, criticized Kassner for pulling out less than two weeks before the forum because of potentially "critical legislation" happening on that date -- as well as her senior campaign advisor Elizabeth Kilcoyne for raising concerns about the debate format and moderators after "having previously agreed" to the terms. "The Ipswich Republican Town Committee believes these excuses are pretextual and reveal a candidate who is purposely evading the only live forum where both candidates will appear," Kelly, who's also advising Tashjian’s campaign, wrote. The House, which for months has been holding sparsely attended informal sessions, is not scheduled to meet Wednesday. Kassner told the News Service she plans to be at the State House on Wednesday for Seafood Day. Kassner, in a statement, said "our campaign has ongoing concerns about the format and lack of impartiality of moderators. It is unfortunate our opponent declined the League of Women Voters forum, which could have given voters the opportunity to hear from both candidates in a fair, impartial setting." Kassner joined the House in February 2023, after a recount showed that she edged former five-term Republican Rep. Lenny Mirra by one vote in the 2022 election. I’m Mark Tashjian, running for State Rep to represent my neighbors in Ipswich, Rowley, Hamilton, Newbury, Topsfield, and my hometown of Georgetown.
When I learned that the Ipswich Democratic and Republican Town Committees planned to host a candidates forum at the Ipswich Town Hall Wednesday, October 16 at 7 p.m., I was excited! What a great way for my opponent Representative Kassner and me to serve our community together in bipartisan unity, giving you the opportunity to meet and evaluate your potential elected officials. Although both campaigns confirmed participation and her team produced fliers, Rep. Kassner decided she will not participate due to a scheduling conflict and she has offered no alternative dates. I will still be attending and it is my hope that Kristin will change her mind. In 2022, when Rep. Kassner ran against my friend Lenny Mirra (and won by one vote), there was no live forum – only one on Zoom. So I was pleased both candidates could appear in a room together to try to earn your votes. Like town meetings of old, where people gathered together in American camaraderie, I wish to make this race real and in person. Too much of our experience with our representatives is behind an impersonal digital screen. To date, I’ve knocked on over 5,000 doors in our towns, and it is a privilege to meet and talk with so many of you personally! Growing up, I was immensely shaped by my father’s 20 years on the school committee in Oakham, the small town in central Massachusetts where I grew up, and I knew many of our former representatives, Democrat and Republican. These politicians were true public servants: they were a constant presence in the community and really cared about our lives. They ran to serve their neighbors, not to serve their parties. I am running to continue this tradition of bi-partisan efforts to champion what is best for our community, including those with minority views who need my voice, and I aim to continue to work to bring our divided towns together. Representative Kassner – it’s still not too late to join me!  Come hear the Candidates for State Representative in the 2nd Essex District speak about themselves, their reasons for running and their plans for addressing the issues they believe are most important for 2nd Essex.
Who: Mark Tashjian (R.) When: Wednesday, October 16, 7-8 PM Where: Ipswich Town Hall, Meeting Room A  Today we remember the tragedy of September 11. We honor the Americans lives that were lost. We honor the police, fire fighters and other caring people who gave their lives to serve and to rescue. We honor the survivors and every American who goes on to live fearlessly despite those who wish to inflict terror.
A Primary Day Victory… Now on to November!A low turnout for the primary election didn’t stop us — we got double the required write-ins! Thank you for your vote! I accepted the nomination at the Secretary of State’s office in Boston on Wednesday, and my name will now be on the ballot in November. Now the real work begins. Stand together for our small townsSociety is a delicate balance of the work we each do to provide for ourselves and our families, and what we do together to create a greater value than what we can do on our own. So even though my competitor in this race has the entirety of the DNC and development lobby funding on her side, I believe we can achieve a great victory for our towns’ rights to choose if we stand together. This race isn’t about parties. It’s about coming together to do what is best for each town’s needs. I believe the people living in the towns of Georgetown, Hamilton, Ipswich, Newbury, Rowley and Topsfield have the vision, intelligence and foresight to decide how our families, schools and towns can improve and flourish. There is no silver bullet answer to any issue, but certainly the solutions we come up with as townspeople who see and experience the needs, bottlenecks and strengths we bring to the town table will be a better place to begin than those at Beacon Hill that are shaped by developers’ profit plans. Get involvedWe need to come together to create value and solutions for our towns, and that begins by coming together now to get someone into office at Beacon Hill who will stand for your right to do so. Here are a few ways you can get involved today.
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