Berkshires to Vote for President, State Ballot Questions

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:55AM / Tuesday, November 05, 2024Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass.— Voters will hit the polls on Tuesday to elect a new president and state and federal officials and decide ballot questions.

Polls for the general election are open in Massachusetts from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. For Pittsfield, more than 27 percent have chosen to vote early.

City Clerk Michele Benjamin reported Monday that 2,087 people came into City Hall to vote early in person and the city processed 6,539 mail-in ballots for a grand total of 8,338 ballots.

This represents 27.37 percent of the 32,821 registered voters.

Democratic nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris is facing Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump for the presidential seat. Harris selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her vice president, and Trump selected U.S. Senator J.D. Vance.

Also appearing on the presidential ballot are Jill Stein for the Green Party, Chase Oliver for the Libertarian Party, Claudia De La Cruz for the Party for Socialism and Liberation, Randall Terry for the Constitution Party, and Cornel West as an independent.

Berkshire County voters will also choose a U.S. senator, a representative in Congress, a state senator, and representative in the Third Berkshire, and vote "yes" or "no” on five questions.

U.S. Senator

Democrat: Elizabeth Warren (Cambridge)
Republican: John Deaton (Swansea)

Warren was inducted into the U.S. Senate in 2013. She is running for her third six-year term. In the 2023-2024 term, she sits on the Senate Committee on Armed Services, the Community on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, the Committee on Finance, and the Committee on Aging.

Her platform is about consumer protection, equitable economic opportunity, and the social safety net.

Warren's proposed Ultra-Millionaire Tax focused on families with a net worth of more than $50 million, roughly the wealthiest 75,000 households. They would pay a 2 percent tax on every dollar of their net worth above $50 million and a 6 percent tax for every dollar above $1 billion.

Deaton, a trial attorney, describes himself as a "Champion for other underdogs."

In his memoir "Food Stamp Warrior," he outlines the poverty, violence, and abuse that encompassed his upbringing and how he defied the odds, eventually becoming a judge advocate at a Marine Corps Air Station.

Deaton feels Warren's politics are extreme. Relating to immigration, he wants to secure the border, end so-called "catch and release," and reform the asylum process while expanding legal immigration. He was endorsed by the Berkshire County Republican Association after a visit to the Berkshires in August.

Representative in Congress for the First Mass District

Democrat: Richard Neal (Springfield)
Independent: Nadia Milleron (Sheffield)

Richard Neal has served in Congress for 36 years and is running for his 19th term. Originally representative of the Second Mass, he was elected in 2013 to represent the First Mass after redistricting. From 2019 to 2022, he served as the chair of the Committee of Ways and Means, whose jurisdiction includes tax and revenue legislation. He is currently a ranking member. Neal is a supporter of gun safety measures, clean energy, health-care access, immigration, and human rights.

Nadia Milleron is seeking a congressional seat after her 24-year-old daughter, Samya Stumo, was killed in March 2019 when Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed just after takeoff. The aircraft, a Boeing 737 MAX, has been the subject of multiple lawsuits and one had a door panel blowout earlier this year.

She hopes to shield the First Congressional District — and beyond — from corporate interest and has also expressed a need for advocacy for the middle class, increasing social security benefits, single-payer healthcare, and addressing the housing crisis.

Senator for the Berkshire, Hampshire, Franklin, and Hampden Districts

Democrat: Paul Mark (Becket)
Republican: David Rosa (Dighton)

Paul Mark, formerly state representative, is running for his second term in the state Senate. Rosa, a veteran and retiree, has run unsuccessfully in previous elections including for Congress.

Third Berkshire Representative

Democrat: Leigh Davis (Great Barrington,)
Independent: Marybeth Mitts (Lenox)

Leigh Davis is currently serving her second term on the Great Barrington Select Board, is chair of the housing subcommittee, sits on the Lake Mansfield Improvement Task Force and Community Preservation Committee, and serves as the Select Board liaison to the W.E.B. Du Bois Legacy Committee.

Her focus is on affordable housing and adequate public transportation, education and health care, addressing the climate crisis, and honoring veterans and seniors, among other issues.

Marybeth Mitts says "delivered real results" in her town's local government and is running on her record. She has decades of experience working in the military and the federal government and served on the Lenox Select Board, School Committee, and the Affordable Housing Trust.

She is running on sustainable growth and innovation, enhancing housing, greater mental health services and workforce development.

Unopposed

Running unopposed in the general election are John Barrett III (North Adams) for representative in the First Berkshire; Tricia Farley-Bouvier (Pittsfield) for representative in the Second Berkshire; Tara Jacobs (North Adams) for Governor's Council in the 8th District; Lisa A. Denault-Viale (Windsor) for Berkshire County clerk of courts; Patsy Harris (Hinsdale) for Central Berkshire register of deeds and Maria Ziemba (Adams) for Northern Berkshire register of deeds.

Questions

Questions 2 and 5 have generated the most conversation, dealing with the state-required MCAS exam and hours wages for tipped workers.

Question 1: Should the state auditor have the authority to audit the Legislature?

Question 2: Should the state eliminate the requirement that a student pass the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) tests (or other statewide or district-wide assessments) in mathematics, science and technology, and English to receive a high school diploma?

Question 3: Should Transportation Network Drivers have the right to form unions to collectively bargain with Transportation Network Companies to create negotiated recommendations concerning wages, benefits, and terms and conditions of work?

Question 4: Should persons aged 21 and older be able to grow, possess, and use certain natural psychedelic substances in certain circumstances?

Question 5: Should the minimum hourly wage an employer must pay a tipped worker increase over five years on the following schedule:?
• To 64 percent of the state minimum wage on January 1, 2025;
• To 73 percent of the state minimum wage on January 1, 2026;
• To 82 percent of the state minimum wage on January 1, 2027;
• To 91 percent of the state minimum wage on January 1, 2028; and
• To 100 percent of the state minimum wage on January 1, 2029.

Tags: election 2024,

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BRTA Focuses on a New Run Schedule

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
01:26PM / Wednesday, April 29, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Regional Transit Authority is still working on maintaining its run schedules after dropping the route realignment proposal.

Last Thursday's meeting was Administrator Kathleen Lambert's first official meeting taking over the reins; retiring director Robert Malnati stayed during a transition period that ended last month.

Lambert is trying to create a schedule that will lessen cancellations. There was a two-hour meeting the week before with the drivers union to negotiate run bids and Lambert is working with the new operating company Keolis, which is taking over from Transdev.

The board spoke about anonymous emails from drivers, which Lambert said she has not seen. iBerkshires was not able to see those letters, but has received some.

"They were lengthy emails from someone describing themselves as concerning BRTA employee, and there was a signed letter from a whole group of employees basically stating their concerns. So, you know, to me, it was a set of whistleblowers, and that, what my understanding is that this really triggers a need for some type of process to review the merits of these whistleblowers, not going to call them accusations, but basically expressions of concern," said member Stephen Bannon.

A letter iBerkshires received spoke of unhappy drivers who were considering quitting because of decisions being made without "input from frontline staff," frustration and falling morale, and the removal of the former general manager shortly after Lambert came in.

Lambert said it's difficult to navigate a new change. She also noted many drivers don't want to do Saturday runs and it has been hard negotiating with drivers on the new runs.

"I would like you all to keep in mind that the process of change is super difficult. Transdev has been here for 20 years, and some of these drivers have never known any other operating company, the way some of the operations have been handled has been archaic," she said. "So getting folks up to speed on how a modern transit system works is going to be painful for them. So I don't want to say that I'm unsympathetic, because I am sympathetic, but I am trying to coax people along with a system that's going to seem very strange to them."

The board spoke about better communication between them and Lambert, citing cooperation will be best moving forward.

"There's just a lot of stuff in the air right now, and there are a lot of fires to put out to make this a coordinated effort. And if we don't keep our communications open and be straightforward, then you get blindsided about how you know the input that you could get from us about your position, and how you know what's going on in your direction, and we get blindsided. And I think that we have to make sure that this is a collaboration," said member Sherry Youngkin.

"Both sides have responsibilities, because in the long run, this advisory board is going to have to make decisions as to how we brought forward and if we've gone forward in a fair and helpful way. And I think that's hopefully what everybody is looking for also."

Transdev and Keolis held a three-day recruiting event interviewing almost 40 candidates and offering jobs to eight, but only three stayed on to start training. Lambert said it was disappointing but she will keep trying to retain more people.

In her first report to the board, she noted that ridership dipped a little over 10 percent, but still remains higher than last year, adding that was because of cancellations of services because of the lack of drivers.

Like the last meeting, some of the advisory board members were torn over the start of the Link413 service, worried that the start of the service took drivers away and the numbers of riders are low.

Lambert, however, said the ridership has doubled from last month.

"As I've spoken before, we have, generally, a six-month adoption for brand-new service before you can really go in and evaluate, are you being successful based on the grant that my predecessor wrote along with the team for PBTA and RTA, we are ahead of schedule, which is pretty good, so I'm hoping that will continue to improve," she said.

Member Renee Wood said the board never approved the service, adding the only thing she could find in the minutes was a vote to accept the equipment. She said it was supposed to be put on the agenda to discuss.

"The Link413 service has been three years in the making. It's been a grant that was accepted and has been working with our partners, PVTA and FRTA, to put into place. So I don't have the entire history of how that process worked, but it's been three years in the making, and did we not understand that once we accept that grant that we were going to put in new service?" Lambert said.

The board discussed if Title VI, the Civil Rights Act, was followed with an accurate review and accurate amount of time for public comment period on the service changes and if its attorney should review if the grant conditions were properly followed.

Lambert said changes had the 60-day comment period included in the proposed route realignment packet, giving the opportunity for the community to respond to that as well but will look into the legality of the situation with their attorney.

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