Rogers Takes Office with Mother by His Side

After a year gap, the 24th Middlesex District now has a representative back in the House.

State Rep. Dave Rogers was sworn in to office Wednesday, Jan. 2, in front of family and friends. Rogers, a first-time candidate who claimed a decisive victory over Independent Jim Gammill and Republican Tomi Olson in November, wrote that it was especially poignant for him to have his mother, Maxine Fitzgerald Rogers, sitting next to him during the ceremony in the House of Representatives Chamber on Beacon Hill. “She just turned 92,” he wrote in an email, "and is an inspiration to our entire family for the way that she held us all together and moving in a positive direction after my dad died young, leaving her with seven children.” Rogers, of Cambridge, wrote that his first day in office was largely a day of “pomp and circumstance.” However…

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State Rep. Candidates' Question: Solving the Most Heard Local Concerns

Part of a series of weekly questions to the candidates for the 24th Middlesex District race.

Each week for the remainder of the campaign, Arlington Patch will be providing a "Question of the Week" to the candidates for the House of Representative's 24th Middlesex District – Jim Gammill, Tomi Olson and Dave Rogers – that will run on Thursday mornings. Below is the question and the candidates' answers. Dave Rogers, Democrat As I've walked across the district, listening to neighbors and hearing their concerns, I've enjoyed discussions covering a diverse range of topics. While countless issues come up, two issues surface more than any others: education and transportation.  Education is any advanced society's most critical investment, particularly now in an ever more competitive and inter-connected world. Belmont draws residents in …

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State Rep. Candidates' Question: Dealing with Unfunded State Pensions

Part of a series of weekly questions to the candidates for the 24th Middlesex District race.

Each week for the remainder of the campaign, Arlington Patch will be providing a "Question of the Week" to the candidates for the House of Representative's 24th Middlesex District – Jim Gammill, Tomi Olson and Dave Rogers – that will run on Thursday mornings. Below is the question and the candidates' answers. Question of the Week Despite having a stable pension system, Massachusetts is confronting up to $17 billion in unfunded state employee pension costs which will be a major burden to taxpayers in the near future. While Gov. Deval Patrick enacted reforms in 2011 that focused on new employees paying more of their own pension and agreed to extend the schedule for fully funding the pension system from 2025 to 2040, any significant savings …

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State Rep. Candidates' Question: What Do You Do On Your First Day?

The first in a series of weekly questions to the state representative candidates in the 24th Middlesex District race.

Each week for the remainder of the campaign, Arlington Patch will be providing a "Question of the Week" to the candidates for the House of Representative's 24th Middlesex District – Jim Gammill, Tomi Olson and Dave Rogers – that will run on Thursday mornings. Below is the question and the candidates' answers. Jim Gammill, Independent    If I'm elected, I'll get to work right away – my first day in office will be my 45th or so day on the job. As the Independent, I'll call for greater transparency and due process in our legislative procedures. I'll work closely with my colleagues who share these concerns. It can be something as simple as changing the internal House rules, or applying the state's open meeting laws to the legislature itself. …

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Jim Gammill Kicks Off Campaign

The Belmont candidate for state rep in the 24th Middlesex District recently launched his independent run to Beacon Hill.

When Independent candidate Jim Gammill needed a few friends to vouch for him at his official kick-off Saturday, Sept. 8, of his campaign for state representative,  well, as Stephen Sondheim wrote in the musical “Company”: “When you have friends like these …” There was the high-profile Democrat who just got back helping prep speakers at the party’s national convention in Charlotte, enough members of the town’s Warrant Committee for a quorum and more Belmont big wigs then you could shake a stick at. Oh, and did I mention the Episcopal Bishop of Massachusetts taking home a Gammill lawn sign? Talk about friends in high places. Amidst balloons, home-made banners, an array of cupcakes provided by his friend and neighbor, Quebrada Baking Company …

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Former Belmont School Committee Member Breaks Down Recent Democratic Primary for State Rep

Belmont resident John Bowe takes a look at how Dave Rogers, a Cambridge attorney, won Thursday's Democratic primary for state representative in the 24th Middlesex District.

The following is from Belmont resident John Bowe, a former Belmont School Committee member. Bowe is a Local Voices writer for Belmont Patch. The state primary is over, but there are still eight weeks of phone calls and post cards yet to come. Margaret Hegarty, Bobby Reardon, and Dave Rogers ran good campaigns for the open State Rep seat. I've always liked sifting through data, looking for trends, and checking anecdotal evidence to explain some of it. So, this is my summary of all that - from looking over per-precinct returns and talking with a few dozen people the past couple months about the candidates. There is some merit to the argument of having someone actually from Belmont in the State House. But then perhaps that's just the narrow …

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Dave Rogers Wins Democratic Primary for State Rep in 24th Middlesex

Arlington and Cambridge voters carried Rogers to victory Thursday. Town/city and individual precinct results below.

Despite losing every precinct in Belmont, Dave Rogers won the Democratic primary for state representative in the 24th Middlesex District Thursday by taking all of the district’s precincts in neutral Arlington and his hometown of Cambridge. Rogers, a 47-year-old attorney and first-time candidate, finished well behind hometown favorite Margaret Hegarty in Belmont. Rogers received 870 or about 30.1 percent of the votes in town, to Hegarty’s 1,472, or 50.9 percent. Belmont’s Bobby Reardon took in the other 544 Belmont votes, or about 18.8 percent of the town’s total. However, the opposite was true in the portions of Arlington and Cambridge up for grabs. In Arlington, Rogers received 920 votes, 58.3 percent, to Hegarty’s 456, 28.9 percent, and …

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STATE PRIMARY RESULTS: Dave Rogers Wins Democratic Primary for State Rep

Rogers took the race over Belmont's Margaret Hegarty and Bobby Reardon behind strong showings in Arlington and his hometown of Cambridge.

This article has been updated. ---------- UPDATE, 8:50 p.m. Belmont Patch reports that Dave Rogers has won the Democratic primary for state representative in the 24th Middlesex District behind strong showings in Arlington and his hometown of Cambridge. The unofficial numbers: Rogers: 2,291 Hegarty: 2,089 Reardon: 914 ---------- UPDATE, 8:30 p.m. Margaret Hegarty took Belmont's first reported precinct (No. 2) 164 to Bobby Reardon's 69, Dave Rogers' 68. More to come ... ---------- Arlington Patch will have the results of the contested Democratic primary for state representative in the 24th Middlesex District on this page as soon as they become available. The district includes Arlington Precincts 2, 4, 8, 10 and 12 (about a quarter of the …

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Letters to the Editor

LETTER: Former State Rep Endorses Margaret Hegarty for Old Seat

Belmont's Anne Paulsen is supporting Margaret Hegarty, a candidate for state representative in the 24th Middlesex District. Hegarty will face fellow Democrats Dave Rogers and Bobby Reardon in the state primary on Thursday, Sept. 6.

The following is a Letter to the Editor from Belmont residents Anne and Fred Paulsen. Anne Paulsen is a former state representative and Belmont selectman and school committee member. We are writing to support Margaret Hegarty for State Representative. Having campaigned door to door with Margaret, we know she will be an effective and enthusiastic advocate for the people of the 24th Middlesex District. She understands local and state issues and has the determination to work vigorously on behalf of the citizens in Belmont, Arlington and Cambridge. Achieving results in the Legislature is not just about your own ideas and goals; it is about building relationships and working with colleagues to fashion sensible  beneficial legislation. Margaret …

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Douglass Davidoff

10:22 am on Thursday, September 6, 2012

I am very excited about the possibilities for Massachusetts with Margaret Hegarty representing our district on Beacon Hill. Here's hoping she wins today in Arlington, Belmont, and Cambridge!   more ›