Naughton makes second bid
By Gabriel Leiner/ Staff Writer
Friday, September 1, 2006 - Updated: 09:25 AM EST
With state primaries set for Sept. 19, three Democratic state rep candidates will compete for a chance to run against Republican Fredrick "Jay" Barrows in the Nov. 7 election.
All three Democrats in the Bristol County First District primary, Matthew Donovan, Paul Freeney and Claire Naughton come from Foxboro.
"I believe the experience that I have living in town as long as I have, and giving to the district as much as I have, I have much more to give than (my opponents)," said Naughton. "All those years of being a teacher and being a leader in so many different organizations, I won’t be afraid to get up and speak, and I don’t take ’no’ for an answer."
Naughton, who has attended all the meetings related to the new mall complex to be built at Gillette Stadium, as well town meetings in Norton and Mansfield, said she has become very familiar with the local political landscape.
This primary will be Naughton’s second bid for the Bristol County First District seat.
In a special primary this February to replace Michael Coppola (R-Mansfield) who passed away while in office, the 61-year-old Naughton sought the representative seat for the remaining tenure.
Now, Naughton said she is running for the same reason as before, to serve the district.
A graduate of Michigan State University, Naughton has also been active in the preservation of the historic Carpenter family home on Rte. 140 in Foxboro, which was successfully moved rather than taken down to make room for a parking lot.
Twenty-eight year-old Paul Feeney will also contend for the seat in the Sept. 19 primary.
"I decided in April that going forward I wanted to run to listen to our district," said Feeney. "I felt like people didn’t really have a choice after (Michael Coppola’s wife) Virginia Coppola took this (State Representative) seat, but now they do. I sat down, thought about it, and decided it was my aspiration to run and give people a choice."
Feeney, a graduate of Umass-Boston, said he was motivated to run for state representative after serving as State Senator James Timilty’s chief of staff during all of 2005.
"During that year I took off I really realized the value of public service," said Feeney, who took a leave of absence from his post as a Verizon technician to work with Timilty. "It really showed me the bread an butter of politics in a sense."
Feeney said he first involved in politics as a teenager when he lived in Boston and would participate in city steering committee meetings, and also has experience as a union leader of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
Based on his experiences, Feeney said he realized the importance of elected officials and has decided to run for this representative seat in order to listen to his constituents.
Currently, Feeney said over a dozen different unions, including the three local IBEW chapters support his campaign.
This weekend, Feeney said he plans to knock on doors, make calls and send out literature about his campaign in Mansfield and Foxboro, and plans to stop in Norton Sept. 2.
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