Suntron Opens in Methuen

Posted on October 6, 2010 by billmanzi

Yesterday I attended the ribbon cutting for Suntron, a company that has opened a manufacturing facility in Methuen at Griffin Brook Park. It is great news for Methuen, with the firm slated to add 100 manufacturing jobs at that facility. I was joined by Lt. Governor Tim Murray, Rep. Niki Tsongas, and State Reps Linda Dean Campbell and Barbara L’Italien for the ceremony. Adding jobs should be priority one for all, and manufacturing jobs are especially desirable. Thank you to Suntron for investing business capital in Methuen, and thank you to Governor Patrick and Rep. Tsongas for their help as well. The press release from Suntron is below.

Suntron Corporation Announces Northeast Facility Grand Opening Event
9/30/2010 12:00:00 AM
Methuen, MA – September 30, 2010 – Suntron Corporation, a leader in the area of integrated Electronics Manufacturing Solutions (EMS) and Commercial Off-The Shelf (COTS) technology, with facilities across the US and in Mexico, will cut the ribbon at its new manufacturing site in
Methuen, MA at 1:00 PM, October 05, 2010.

This new facility is the culmination of months of effort to combine the work previously done in two separate sites, into a larger, newer, state of the art facility. “The move to combine our northeast services under one roof clearly demonstrates Suntron’s commitment to the region and to our customers,” Roger White, VP and General Manager of the Eastern Region, stated. “We have expanded our box build manufacturing footprint and with significant capital investment, we are expanding our circuit card capacity and capabilities. I look forward to introducing everyone to the exciting new facility.”

Mike Churchill, VP of Operations for Suntron, commented on the teamwork needed to put this together. “We had amazing cooperation from so many local people and organizations, including our team of realtors from Colliers Meredith and Grew, the City of Methuen, the local Merrimack Chamber of Commerce, and the Massachusetts Business Development and Business Services groups. Their total support and guidance allowed us to accomplish our objectives in a very timely manner and we look forward to introducing everyone to our exciting new facility.”

The grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony will be hosted by Ed Wheeler, President and CEO of Suntron. Lt. Governor Timothy P. Murray, Congresswoman Niki Tsongas, Mayor William M. Manzi, III and Joe Bevilacqua, President and CEO of the Merrimack Chamber of Commerce will all participate at the event. Factory tours will begin immediately following the ceremony.

For further information on this event and the day’s agenda, please visit http://www.suntroncorp.com.

About Suntron Corporation:
Suntron delivers complete manufacturing services and solutions to support the entire life cycle of complex products in the medical, aerospace & defense, Industrial, Networking & telecommunications, and semiconductor capital equipment market segments. Headquartered in Phoenix, Suntron operates four full-service manufacturing facilities and two quick-turn facilities in North America. Suntron’s services include engineering services, printed circuit card assembly, box build, large scale and complex system integration, COTS and test.

Suntron Grand Opening

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The Connecticut Senate Race

Posted on October 5, 2010 by billmanzi

One of the more interesting Senate races in the country is going on in Connecticut, where Republican Linda McMahon is locked in a close struggle with State Attorney General Dick Blumenthal. Blumenthal started this race as a prohibitive favorite, and has been backsliding ever since. Blumenthal has been plagued by having (on multiple occasions) misrepresented his military record. McMahon, the owner of the WWE, is carpet bombing Blumenthal on the issue, releasing a new ad that directly calls him on the his distortion. In the last debate Blumenthal was forced to apologize to the voters when confronted on the issue by McMahon. McMahon’s campaign is also making hay out of Blumenthal’s response to a question, during that same debate, on how to create a job. His answer was an embarrassment. It is posted below.

Blumenthal’s large lead has now evaporated, and in a very blue state Linda McMahon has pulled within five points in the most recent Rasmussen survey. Blumenthal leads that race, with leaners included, by a 50% to 45% margin. Quinnipiac has it even closer, with McMahon pulling within 3 points. This should have been an easy victory for the Democrats. Instead the nominee doesn’t know that jobs are created by the private sector, and has repeatedly lied about his military service. McMahon has been an exceedingly disciplined candidate, staying on message and on target. Yes she has the advantage of wealth, but we have seen some pretty terrible wealthy candidates. She has a chance, and she can thank Dick Blumenthal for opening what should have been a closed door.

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I Am Not a Witch- Follow the Tea

Posted on October 5, 2010 by billmanzi

As part of our continuing effort to “follow the tea” today we look at the Delaware Senate Race, with Democrat Chris Coons leading Tea Party favorite Christine O’Donnell by 15 points, 54% to 39% in a recent Fox News survey. That same survey asked about a hypothetical race between Democrat Coons and defeated Republican Mike Castle and it showed Castle with a 15 point lead over Coons. This was a race that the Dems had written off, figuring that they did not have a candidate that could beat Castle. Looks like they were right. But the Republican primary voters took care of that for them. If Republican lose control of the Senate by one vote then the O’Donnell nomination may come back into sharper focus. Maybe Karl Rove had this one right. O’Donnell’s new ad, where she denies being a “witch” is below. Great stuff.

de_topline

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Rahm for Mayor Part 2

Posted on October 4, 2010 by billmanzi

Just cannot help myself. Rahm is jumping into the fray in Chicago quickly, with a website and you tube channel already established and a listening tour set to begin. Rahm is sucking all of the oxygen out of the room already while other potential candidates watch and stew at the media assault. Good start to his first week on the campaign trail. Read the Chicago Sun Times story here. The Washington Post story is here.

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The President on Clean Energy

Posted on October 2, 2010 by billmanzi

President Obama spent his weekly address talking about renewable energy and the jobs that come with that growing industry. American jobs for American workers, in an area that is vital to the future of the United States in so many different ways. The President is on the right track here, despite the naysayers. And for those who advocate for only utilizing the source of power that is the cheapest today that attitude will leave us in the grips of a dependence on foreign oil that endangers the national security interests of this country, now and especially in the future. As China leaps ahead of us in this field we are being positioned to convert to renewables, and then purchase all of the tools to do that from China. From the New York Times:

These efforts to dominate renewable energy technologies raise the prospect that the West may someday trade its dependence on oil from the Mideast for a reliance on solar panels, wind turbines and other gear manufactured in China.

“Most of the energy equipment will carry a brass plate, ‘Made in China,’ ” said K. K. Chan, the chief executive of Nature Elements Capital, a private equity fund in Beijing that focuses on renewable energy.

The President has this one right, and Republican pledges to halt critical American investment in this field has to be considered as maybe the most destructive policy plank in their playbook.

Read the New York Times story here.

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Cahill Press Conference

Posted on October 2, 2010 by billmanzi

Tim Cahill, responding to the defection of his running mate to Charlie Baker, yesterday held a press conference to announce he is staying in the race. Cahill put on a brave face, and painted the defection as an “insider deal” engineered by the Republican Party. Cahill said he is staying in the race to give Massachusetts voters a choice, and to represent middle class voters. The Herald wrote an editorial calling on Cahill to get out in some pretty tough terms.

Too bad Cahill’s own ego won’t let him see that this is over, that his faux populist campaign failed to fool anyone.

He could still end this all with a little dignity and pride – and he should.

Ouch. Howie Carr was not very kind either.

Which is all the Cahill candidacy always has been – a careless trifle. An ego trip by a legend in his own mind. Tim, I beseech you, call Deval, ask your boss to let you drop out. You’ve held up your end of the deal as long as you could. It’s getting really embarrassing.

Not a good couple of days for Tim Cahill. And it has gotten as good as its going to get for him in this race.

Read the Herald editorial here.

The Howie Carr column here.

The Herald political analysis of the impacts.

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Methuen Receives Federal COPS Grant

Posted on October 1, 2010 by billmanzi

Below is the press release from Congresswoman Niki Tsongas on the great news that Methuen was one of five communities in Massachusetts to receive federal money to hire or retain police officers. My thanks to former Chief Kathi Lavigne, who oversaw the development and filing of this very competitive grant. I am very grateful to Congresswoman Tsongas, who has worked time and again to deliver federal resources to Methuen.

METHUEN, MA – October 1, 2010 – Congresswoman Niki Tsongas announced today that the City of Methuen has received one of the very competitive federal Community Oriented Policing (COPS) grants from the Department of Justice in the amount of $744,724 that can be used to hire or retain four police officers in Methuen.“Methuen like many too many of our communities has had to make serious cutbacks in order to balance the budget,” said Congresswoman Niki Tsongas. “These federal funds will help the City keep police officers on the street during this difficult economic time. Public safety is critical for all our communities and I will continue to work with cities and towns in the Merrimack Valley to ensure that they have access to federal funds for this purpose.”

“I would like to thank Congresswoman Tsongas and the federal government for providing Methuen with this important grant,” said Methuen Mayor Bill Manzi. “Public safety is of great importance to me and this grant will insure that we have enough officers protecting our city even in these difficult financial times.”The federal funds will provide 100 percent of the approved salary and benefits for entry level officer positions over a three year period. The funds can be put towards full-time sworn officer positions (including filling existing unfunded vacancies) or for rehired officers who have been laid off, or are scheduled to be laid off on a future date, as a result of budget cuts. Congresswoman Tsongas is a strong proponent of the COPS program because of the overwhelming evidence in her district, and across the country, illustrating that it is a program that works and is worthy of receiving federal support. “COPS has been and continues to be a critical means by which the federal government can provide desperately needed resources to local law enforcement, hiring new police officers, purchasing new technologies, hiring school resource officers to protect our children at school, and building better relationships between law enforcement and our communities,” Tsongas added.

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Rahm for Mayor

Posted on October 1, 2010 by billmanzi

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel announced that he was leaving the job of White House Chief of Staff to run for Mayor of Chicago. While some have downplayed his chances Rahm is relentless, and is one of the top political operatives in the country. While a Congressman he would routinely rack up pretty big margins in his victories, and I expect him to be formidable in this race. Chicago is a bare knuckles type of environment, which should suit Rahm fine. Today’s New York Times had a great story on the pros and cons of his candidacy. Read that here. Does this mean that he has to give up profanity?

http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1

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Another Blow for Cahill

Posted on October 1, 2010 by billmanzi

Tim Cahill’s running mate Paul Loscocco announced today that he was pulling out of the Lt. Governor’s race, dealing another big blow to the Cahill candidacy. Cahill is doing a presser today at 2:00 p.m. Loscocco’s statement is below: From the State House News Service.

“I ran to have a spirited debate on the issues and to advocate for new ways to create jobs, lower taxes, protect personal freedoms, and fight for the principles of Ronald Reagan who inspired me to become a Republican as a young man. The primary between the Independent ticket and Republican ticket in the hearts and minds of the voters who want a change from Governor Patrick is now over.

“Charlie Baker and Richard Tisei have prevailed over Tim Cahill and me. I cannot sit idly by as my friends and supporters cast their votes for my ticket, knowing that the best chance to defeat Governor Patrick is with Charlie Baker. I cannot and will not let my ego get in the way of doing what is right for Massachusetts. So while this is a tough decision for me today personally, it is the right decision to put the future of our state ahead of my own self-interest. Charlie Baker has the experience that can help Massachusetts head in a new direction and I’m pleased to endorse him today.

“This election is an opportunity to put Massachusetts back on track towards economic recovery. I urge voters who want new leadership on Beacon Hill to join me in voting for Charlie Baker and Richard Tisei on Election Day.”

http://www.statehousenews.com/video/10-10-01loscocco/player-viral.swf

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Nick Clegg on Morning Joe

Posted on October 1, 2010 by billmanzi

The Deputy Prime Minister of Great Britain visiting Joe and Mika on Morning Joe. While Washington dithers the British, after an election produced no one party with a ruling majority, now have a government with a Conservative Prime Minister and a Liberal Democrat (Mr. Clegg) as Deputy. The governing coalition has produced an austerity program designed to reduce the British governments staggering debt load. This coalition has forced both Conservative and L.D. to support measures unpopular with their bases, and actually govern like adults. What a novel concept. Doing things that are in the national interest, and actually reading and understanding numbers and policy and long term implications of the same. He said he was not reading the new Tony Blair book. Good interview.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640

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