COMMITTEE TO ELECT SHEILA LYONS-ELECTION DAY

COMMITTEE TO ELECT SHEILA LYONS-DEMOCRATIC VALUES

Sheila visiting the Flax Pond reunion in Yarmouth with Patricia Armstrong and Brenna Sullivan

Discussing Small Business issues (Prestige Valet)

Johnston-Gibson Fundraiser for Lyons for Senate

Johnston-Gibson Fundraiser

Johnston-Gibson Fundraiser

Gibson Girls

Nauset Jazz Band

Nauset Jazz Band

Phil Johnston introducing Mary Jane Gibson

Phil Johnston introducing Mary Jane Gibson

State Senate candidate Sheila Lyons has won the support of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, whose president told members in a letter that she “is committed to fighting to create and protect family-sustaining jobs in your district and across the commonwealth…. Her dedication to the community has been proven throughout her years as Barnstable County Commissioner, a member of the Human Services Advisory Council, and Wellfleet Delegate.”

Lyons was endorsed also by the National Association of Social Workers Massachusetts Chapter – Political Action for Candidate Election. “Sheila’s public service and experience as a social worker reflects her commitment to the profession’s values of social and economic justice,” the group’s chair stated in a press release.

In an Aug. 28 straw poll, the Brewster Democratic Committee voted 11 to 3 to support Lyons.

I strongly support Sheila Lyons for state Senate. Sheila has worked for Democratic causes and candidates for 25 years and is well-known and respected by party members. She has served as chairwoman of the Wellfleet Democratic Town Committee and is former vice president of the Cape and Islands Democratic Committee.

Twice Sheila has been elected to positions in county government: in 2006 to the Barnstable Assembly of Delegates and in 2008 to the Barnstable County Commission, where she serves as chairwoman. During this tenure Sheila has worked hard to keep the Cape water supply safe, to protect the shoreline from misguided development and to make the Open Cape Project a reality, resulting in our region receiving over $35 million for the expansion of technological resources.

Sheila’s experience as a social worker has put her in touch with all levels of the community. As our state senator, she will continue to serve as an effective advocate for human services.

Sheila Lyons has the experience and know-how to represent the Cape and the Islands as a full-time state senator. Vote for Sheila Lyons on Sept. 14.

Barbara Bender

Brewster

The Cape and Islands needs Sheila Lyons for our next state senator.

Knowing Sheila has inspired me to become politically active for the first time. In her position as Barnstable County Commissioner, Sheila has proved that she knows how to get things done that benefit the people of the Cape and Islands, and preserve the quality of life that made us all want to settle here in the first place.

In this position she has gained valuable knowledge about the individual concerns of each of our towns. Her skills at bringing diverse groups together, her strong work ethic, her experience with state and federal laws and personnel, her work on behalf of our senior citizens, and her passion for preserving our fragile natural environment make Sheila the best candidate for our next state senator.

I encourage everyone to vote for Sheila Lyons in the Democratic primary Sept. 14, so she can bring all this experience to the state level. Sheila will be our full-time senator.

Sue Keohan

Wellfleet

The recent dueling commentaries by Sheila Lyons and Dan Wolf provide clarity about the differences in the human and political perspectives that each would bring to the Massachusetts Senate, if elected.

Dan Wolf is a tactician and Sheila Lyons is a strategist.

Dan Wolf lays out his record of board and committee experience as a tactic to suggest that his business acumen can put Cape Codders back to work. The tone of his submission was that of a prideful CEO, used to getting things done using top-down tactics.

Sheila Lyons, on the other hand, tells us who she is and why she is that way. She thinks about the Senate strategically. There is an authentic openness in her approach to complexity. She has a public record on file at the Barnstable County commissioners office as evidence.

Both candidates are decent people. One is a “Daddy Warbucks” type and the other a “Sojourner Truth” type. The Senate is a legislative community, unpredictable in its operations and exhausting in its demands on one’s time. We need a senator comfortable operating in that context who will devote full-time service to representing the Cape.

My vote is for Sheila Lyons.

Thomas P. Johnson

Harwich Port

In a recent letter to union members, Robert Haynes, President of the Mass. AFL-CIO stated, “Sheila is committed to fighting to create and protect family-sustaining jobs in your district and across the Commonwealth … She knows that we need to create sustainable, well-paying jobs and will advocate for jobs and economic growth for her district. Sheila’s dedication to her community has been proven throughout her years as Barnstable County Commissioner, a member of the Human Services Advisory Council, and Wellfleet Delegate.”

Ms. Lyons has also been endorsed by the National Association of Government Employees and the National Association of Social Workers.

Genevieve Coyle, Chair of NASW MA PACE said, “Shelia’s public service and experience as a social worker reflects her commitment to the profession’s values of social and economic justice. We know she will bring the vital perspective of her social work colleagues with respect to the well-being of individuals, families, and communities to the State House. NASW MA PACE is proud to endorse Shelia Lyons”.

By MICHAEL C. BAILEY

In 2008, Sheila R. Lyons of Wellfleet was one of five Democrats vying for two seats on the Barnstable County Board of County Commissioners.

Until that year Ms. Lyons’ political profile was relatively low, having barely finished out her first term on the Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates – her first elected office – but an aggressive grass-roots campaign convinced voters she was the right choice for the job.

The field is not as crowded this time around, but Ms. Lyons said she is employing the same philosophy to connect with voters as she vies to succeed Robert A. O’Leary (D – Barnstable) as State Senator of the Cape and Islands District. However, she said, this time around she has the added advantage of already having strong connections throughout the region.

“I know 15 boards of selectmen. I know the issues and the projects that each town is engaged in,” the former social worker said. “Many of these people I already have relationships with.”

As a county commissioner, Ms. Lyons said she also developed a close professional relationship with Sen. O’Leary – himself a former county commissioner – and got a close-up look at the demands of serving on Beacon Hill.

“We’ve worked very closely with Rob’s office,” she said, “so I’ve gotten to understand, really, the role of legislation, how you write it into a bill, and the relationship of this senate seat to the county.”

Ms. Lyons said she began to consider her senate run after Sen. O’Leary announced his plans to run for Congress, “and a lot of people approached me and said, ‘You should run for this,’ and I really hesitated. It was not something I wanted to do…a campaign is not an easy thing to take on.”

It was Ms. Lyons’ daughter Sarah who provided the final push, telling her mother, “I think that you’ve done tremendous work, and this is something you should go for.”

“She’s going to be 18,” Ms. Lyons said, “so her first vote she can ever cast, she can cast for her mom.”

Several of Ms. Lyons’ top topics for the 2010 campaign – economic and job growth, wastewater management, education – are shared by other candidates, but she noted that nearly every issue of concern to Cape Codders fell under the umbrella of one larger challenge: the lack of adequate state support.

“The top priority is to create an understanding on Beacon Hill that Cape Cod and the Islands do not get its fair share of funding,” she said, “whether it’s transportation, housing, tourism, economic development, and particularly our school system. We do not get adequate funding back here…there’s not an understanding of who we are here and what we need.”

Ms. Lyons pointed to the “OpenCape” initiative as an example of what the Cape can do with government support. That project to expand the region’s broadband Internet infrastructure received $32 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding, “and I was in the forefront helping OpenCape over its last hurdles” in obtaining that money, she said.

“That is going to open up opportunities for economic development, and educational opportunities, as well as public safety.” Ms. Lyons said. “I think we haven’t even tapped the potential that has. Infrastructure is going to be key for any development or any progress we’re going to make on the Cape, so we need to get the funding.”

Yet funding from the state has become increasingly precious due to decreases in revenue, and for that reason Ms. Lyons opposed a question on the November ballot seeking to cut the sales tax to three percent.

“We’re starving for revenue, and that whole initiative of cutting [the sales] tax, that’s disastrous,” she said. “There are those who feel that we need to have less taxes, and yet they are the first to go up to Beacon Hill and say we need that revenue stream to support our chambers (of commerce), or to support our initiatives, whatever angle they’re coming from – the money is not there.”

“The state has cut tremendously. I mean, it’s not as though they’re cutting just services,” she said. “Do we want to have unfair tax situations where we’re burdening those that have already little? No. I think it has to be thoughtful, it has to be targeted, and there has to be incentives if people want tax cuts.”

Ms. Lyons said there are areas in which state government could become more efficient, but she did not believe the state budget could withstand any more deep cuts, particularly if voters expected state agencies to retain their current levels of service and avoid further local aid cuts.

Chapter 70 state education aid reductions in the Fiscal Year 2011 budget are another example of the impact of diminishing state revenues, Ms. Lyons said, but even when revenue streams are healthy, the Cape continues to suffer from inequities in the Chapter 70 aid formula.

“The thing with Chapter 70 is that it funds communities based on their property tax, and that in itself is erroneous,” she said, “because property taxes on the Cape do not reflect the people who live here; they reflect the houses that sit here.”

Ms. Lyons said making the necessary charges “will take time” due to the complexity of Chapter 70, and the work involved with convincing districts receiving more aid to agree to making the formula more equitable.

Some funding issues could be addressed through inter-town collaboration, and as an example she referred to one of the most heated topics facing Cape Codders nowadays: wastewater management – a topic Ms. Lyons knows well through her work on the Cape Cod Water Protection Collaborative (she sits on the collaborative’s 17-member governing board).

“This is an issue that our towns are grappling with, and more and more you see there is a call for some sort of regional solution,” she said. “If we keep kicking it down the road, the state will come in, they will over-sewer, we will have too much, and we’ll be paying too much.”

Ms. Lyons said Cape Cod could already serve as an example for the state in how to handle issues on a regional basis, and wanted to make the Cape a model for the green energy industry, as well as for municipally owned renewable power generation.

First, however, she said the region needs to be more aggressive in creating a zoning and regulatory process specifically for wind turbines. “Many of these towns have an opportunity to take advantage of the municipal benefits,” she said, but the lack of a proper process causes projects to fall apart in the later stages – such was the case for a wind turbine project in her town, which fell apart this year following five years of work.

The lack of a process was Ms. Lyons’ primary reason for opposing Cape Wind, which remains a hot-button issue in the campaign even at this late stage in its development. Ms. Lyons conceded that as state senator, she would be unable to do anything to put the brakes on the project, but she could still drive the facility’s benefits toward Cape Codders.

“My job as a county commissioner and as a legislator is to get out of this what we can for the citizens of the Cape and Islands,” meaning jobs, lower electric rates, and the perks of eco-tourism centered on the wind farm, she said.

For more information on Ms. Lyons and her campaign, visit her official website athttp://sheilalyons2010.com.