2 candidates for House clash

State Representative Mark Falzone and Debra Panetta exchanged pointed criticisms last week as their Democratic primary contest for representative from the Ninth Essex District headed for a finale.

Falzone, a two-term incumbent, and Panetta, both of Saugus, are vying for their party's nomination in Tuesday's balloting. The winner will face Michael Motzkin, a Wakefield Republican, in the final election in the district, which includes most of Saugus and parts of Lynnfield, Wakefield, and Lynn.

A former computer consultant, Falzone has been a Saugus Town Meeting member and chairman of the Democratic Town Committee.

Panetta, 42, is a Town Meeting member, and a board member and former president of Saugus Action Volunteers for the Environment. She is a member of the Saugus Tree Committee, and of panels overseeing the creation of a community development plan for Saugus and addressing the town's housing needs. She also is active with the Lynnhurst Elementary School PTO.

With her husband, Mark, Panetta owns a Lynnfield business that develops and manages real estate. She also is a financial consultant for Liberty Mutual Insurance Co., and formerly worked as a senior financial officer for the John Hancock Life Insurance Co.

Falzone said he offers a record of "real reform" on Beacon Hill, citing his support for legislation last year that closed corporate loopholes and to his efforts in support of maintaining the state program that eases the cost of prescription drugs for seniors.

He also said it was because of his amendment that the House restored funding last year to an account that covers first-time payments by the state to communities for school building projects. He said that helped ensure Saugus received state funds to build a new Veterans Memorial School.

But Panetta promised as state representative to be "involved with local issues" and contended that Falzone has not done so.

"I haven't seen Mark Falzone at one Saugus Town Meeting in the four years since he was elected," she said. "I think that's unacceptable. How do you feel the pulse of the community and hear their voice if you're not out there?"

"I'm very active in the community," Falzone responded, noting that he comes into contact with "hundreds of people a week" who contact his office and speaks on a daily basis to community leaders. "It's the job of a Town Meeting member to attend every Town Meeting. It's the job of a legislator to attend each session of the Legislature," he added.

Panetta also said she "best represents the working family."

"I'm a mother of two children. I know what it's like when we have overcrowded classrooms. . . . I also have two parents struggling to pay for their prescription drug medications."

Falzone, alluding to some of his recent endorsements, responded, "People have a choice between electing someone from a working-class background who has been endorsed by the AFL-CIO and who has the support of educators, who has the support of nurses, who has the support of environmental groups, versus my opponent who is a real estate developer and works for an insurance company."

Panetta said her real estate business is a small one. "You see 90 percent of the growth within Massachusetts in small businesses. I don't see that as a negative."

She said that in her consulting practice, she helps insurance companies follow "legislative rules and regulations."

"I'm very proud of what I do and I'm proud of my background," she said, adding that while Falzone "gets endorsements from special interest groups, I'm more concerned with the individual."

"Any real Democrat would not call these 'special interest groups,' Falzone said of the labor and other groups that back him. "These are our neighbors, these are our friends, these are our residents of the Ninth Essex District."

On another issue, Panetta noted that there are no Saugus schools on the list of 420 schools across the state awaiting funds for school building projects. (The Veterans Memorial project has already received funding.) She said Falzone should have done more to get Saugus on the list.

But Falzone said Saugus has no schools on the list because the town has no plan to build new schools.

"I'm very disappointed that my opponent has chosen to run a negative campaign and this is a prime example of the distortion she has resorted to," he said.

Panetta said her campaign has not been negative at all.

"My whole campaign has been 100 percent about the issues and the people of the Ninth Essex District," she said.