POINT OF VIEW
MANCHESTER, NH – Manchester Alderman Pat Long held a launch party for his NH State Senate campaign on Wednesday July 24 at Stark Brewing. It was a well attended event with plenty of food and drink, and a lot of smiles.
Long is running to replace retiring senator Lou D’Allesandro in NH Senate District 20, which consists of Manchester wards 2, 3, 4, 10, 11 & 12.
His invitation read in part, “Let’s gather with friends—old and new—to chat about our community’s future over good food and good company.“
Constituents started showing up shortly after 5 p.m. and the room gradually filled up. Food came from the kitchen and pretty soon the bartender was quite busy. Just as I ordered a beer, Mike Farley behind me ordered a martini (which he preferred stirred, not shaken). In short order, we both had our drinks.
Sipping my beer I could see the room filled with office holders and candidates at the state and city level — state reps, school board members, etc. – plus representatives of the myriad organizations that play vital roles in the proper functioning of a city and a state.
Soon the program got under way. First to speak was D’Allesandro.
“How do you measure the quality of an individual who’s going to represent you?
(1) They’ve got to be there
(2) They have to deliver for you, and
(3) When you need something they are there to address that need.
“That’s fundamental, and if you can’t get that done, then you get out of this business. Pat’s been able to do this over and over and over again,” D’Allesandro said. “Right now I want you to have more Pat Long, and I want to introduce the next state senator from district 20, the honorable Pat Long.”
Then Pat rose and spoke.
“Early I learned from Senator D’Allesandro that everybody is at his eye level. People with plenty of money and a lot of investment in the city and the state, he sees them at eye level and he speaks to them at eye level. More importantly, people that are in the street also are seen at eye level. There’s nobody above or below. And that’s how I try to approach my work in the statehouse,” Long said.
“I also learned from Lou the value of speaking with constituents. He would get a group of constituents together on an issue for which he was trying to figure out his vote. And he would listen to them all, and they were all different, but it gave him good informed decisions. That’s something I commit to continuing as I move forward,” Long said.
“So Lou, I want to thank you for years of your unprecedented service. And as you all know if you ever collaborated with Lou, I have to say thank you to his wife Pat for all the moral support and for allowing NH & the city of Manchester to borrow her husband for all these years,” Long said.
“Here’s another thing I learned from Lou…. Once I was at an event where Lou was speaking and he thanked his wife, then he came and sat down next to me and he said, ‘Pat, always thank your wife.’ So with that said I want to thank my beloved Karen,” he added.
“So let me give you my short bio… when I was 3 years old, there were six of us picked up with my mother, we were waking the streets of Manchester. We were brought to Catholic Charities, and they brought us to St. Peter’s orphanage. My mother was brought to the county farm. She was homeless, and she would walk every Sunday from the county farm to St. Peter’s orphanage to pick us up and we would walk to Victory Park and hang out there all day,” recalled Long.
“I didn’t realize that I was in training and being educated at 3 years old dealing with people that were living on the streets and unhoused. And then at 50 years old I became an alderman & found myself dealing with people that are living on the streets and unhoused. So it’s an educational process. And this district just fits in with that walk that I took every Sunday with my family,” he said.
“I’m committed and I’m driven to represent this district. I firmly believe that every member of the community needs an ear and somebody who will advocate for them. I believe that’s the only way a community builds strength, when every member of that community is listened to. I’m committed to continuing that,” Long said.
Then Pat thanked everyone for attending, and we all went back to our drinks and food, feeling more energized than when we arrived.
Editor’s Note: The author’s insights are his own. However, his wife is a member of Pat Long’s campaign team and they are both supporters.