Isaac Mass
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Isaac James Mass (born 1976) is a Franklin County, Massachusetts politician. A veteran of local government, Mass is currently serving his fourth term on the Greenfield, Massachusetts Town Council as chair of the Ways and Means committee.
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[edit] Background
Mass' humble childhood involved many challenges. He spent years in public and low-income housing, including a homeless shelter in Brockton, Massachusetts. Mass' family moved to Greenfield during his adolescent years, where he grew up in the Oak Courts public housing project (now cooperatively-owned by residents).
Mass was elected to the Greenfield Planning Board shortly after graduating from Greenfield High School. Local officials appointed him to fill out the term of a resigning Precinct 9 Town Councilor. Mass retained the seat after a regularly-scheduled election. He resigned mid-term to in fulfill a Massachusetts Army National Guard peacekeeping deployment in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Asked by a reporter about his future political ambitions, Mass responded that "I do not want to be mayor", an allusion to the new mayoral form of government. He was deployed as part of Operation Joint Forge shortly thereafter.
[edit] Controversy about growth
After his return to Franklin County, Mass co-founded a controversial organization named Citizens for Growth. The bipartisan group supported commercial development projects, long a point of disagreement in Greenfield. Although most of its goals were accomplished, including the opening of a Home Depot, the organization drew the ire of some anti-sprawl activists. Mass defended the importance of new development to controlling property taxes, creating jobs, and improving the quality of life. Specifically, he cited the need to offer less expensive retail alternatives to the elderly, the poor, and those residents on fixed incomes. Opponents questioned whether retail development was the best way to achieve these goals. Despite often being strongly associated as a leader of pro-growth policies, Mass opposed the development of the Myers Farm because of his support for agricultural preservation. He has since expressed support for open space preservation and other aesthetic measures. Mass is no longer a member of CFG due to his election to local office (see below).
As an activist during his school years, Mass appeared in TIME magazine supporting the local siting of a Wal-Mart. Though the measure Mass supported failed, he has continued supporting discount retailers.
[edit] Return to public office
While still in the Army National Guard, Mass launched a campaign for a term on the reformed Town Council. Mass was elected to the new one-year at-large seat created by the new city charter (Greenfield is technically a city, although it uses the title of "Town"). Mass resigned from Citizens for Growth before taking office. As a city-wide public official, he was appointed as the first chairman of the Economic Development Committee. Mass was reelected a year later as the highest vote-getter of all candidates on the ballot. Since Mass' abbreviated one year term was due the introduction of the new charter, his reelection granted him a full three year term. Mass currently serves as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. His familiarity with state and federal officials have made him a frequent medium for intergovernmental communication throughout his fourth term. His policy focuses have been on economic development, fiscal policy, quality of life ordinances, and tax credits for senior citizens. Recently, he proposed a plan to adopt a common curriculum in city schools.
[edit] Seeks new office
Mass broke ranks with most councilors by staying neutral in both of Greenfield's mayoral elections. He is currently a candidate for Franklin County Register of Deeds. The county-wide seat is Mass' first campaign for a partisan office. Mass is popular in Greenfield but his political currency in the rest of Franklin County is untested. His Democratic opponent will emerge from a primary between former Precinct 2 councilor Joseph A. Gochinski ("Joe Gochinski") and write-in candidate H. Peter Wood, the incumbent. Both are former active Republicans who have switched parties within the last decade. Wood switched parties during the summer of 2005, which disqualified him from appearing on the Democratic party primary ballot. The general election is on November 7, 2006.
[edit] Family and Education
Mass holds an A.A. from Greenfield Community College and a B.A. from University of Massachusetts-Amherst, both in American Studies. Mass received the Archibald MacLeish Award for English (named for the late Pulitzer Prize-winning Franklin County resident, Librarian of Congress, and editor of FORTUNE magazine) while at GCC. Once a curator of museums in Massachusetts and New Orleans, Mass is now a licensed real estate agent and partner in a local real estate agency called Ruggeri Real Estate. He and his wife Angela have one adopted daughter, Chelsea.
Mass recuses himself from certain school-related votes because Angela is a mathematics teacher at Greenfield High School.
[edit] External links
H. Peter Wood does not have a campaign web site available for inclusion on this list.
