Thread: Immigration is town issue, says top vote-getter

By Lisa Kocian, Globe Staff | April 10, 2005
Topics: Campaigns, Illegal Immigration, Laws, jobs, Americans
The top vote-getter in the selectmen's race says he will focus on balancing the town's budget and revitalizing its downtown area. But Dennis Giombetti, who won 3,236 votes in last week's election, says he also thinks that Framingham should take a look at illegal immigration.

Read the latest headlines about illegal immigration.

Giombetti and former state representative John Stasik, who garnered 2,467 votes, were the two winners in a field of six candidates.

Illegal immigration started off as a fringe issue, the main focus of the campaign of candidate Jim Rizoli. Rizoli, who called illegal immigration the biggest problem in town, came in fourth, with 959 votes.

Giombetti, 55, a manager for a high technology firm, said last week that the town, which has seen an influx of immigrants from Brazil, should study how many illegal immigrants live in town and how they affect services such as schools and public safety.

''There are a lot of things being said, but there aren't a lot of facts," he said.

Once reality is separated from myth, the town could work with the state and federal governments to figure out how to best address the issue, said Giombetti, who worked at the State House as a legislative aide in the 1980s.

Stasik, a 62-year-old retired teacher who spent two terms in the Legislature, approached the topic more cautiously.

''I would be more interested in having a general discussion about how everybody feels about this issue," he said. ''Before we started [a study], I would want to have a pretty good sense of why we're doing it and what would be the consequences of what we find out."

Stasik is expected to side often with the current liberal majority on the board, which tends to support more affordable housing and social services in town and is politically in tune with Town Manager George P. King Jr.

Giombetti, on the other hand, could be more of a wild card. He has agreed on some issues with Selectwoman Ginger Esty, the outspoken dissenter on the board.

''I see him as more conservative and a consensus builder," said Esty, who hopes for some support from Giombetti.

She was also hopeful that she and Stasik would see eye to eye on some issues, pointing out that they have agreed in the past on how to tackle transportation woes and that she supported him in his first run for Planning Board and his two campaigns for the Legislature.

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Once reality is separated from myth, the town could work with the state and federal governments to figure out how to best address the issue, said Giombetti, who worked at the State House as a legislative aide in the 1980s.

Actually it is rather simple. Either you are here legally or you are not. This is not rocket science.
The best way to address the issue is to deport the illegals.