一、见面会准备阶段
Middlesex第十五选区(Lexington和部分Woburn)今年将进行州众议员选举。众议员Jay Kaufman在这个职位上为社区服务了24年，直到去年11月宣布今年底任期满后退休。可以预见，现在几位候选人无论谁胜出，也将会象Jay一样长期服务于该职位。
当选议员将代表莱镇居民参与麻州立法，反映莱镇居民的诉求和在很多方面影响莱镇事务。考虑到其重要性，CALex联系了参选这个职位的所有五位候选人，准备为他们组办一次华人社区的见面会，让乡亲们有机会了解各个候选人和他们的理念，尽可能做到理性投票和助选。
无论谁最后当选，大家参加这个见面会可以增进和候选人相互了解，同时展现莱镇华人参与地区政务的热情和力量，促使他们更愿意倾听莱镇华人的声音。另外，没有当选的候选人也会在其他地方担任重要职位，这样的见面会是跟他们建立正面关系的良好开端。
候选人信息，按姓排序：
Michelle Ciccolo
http://www.michelleciccolo.com/
https://mobile.twitter.com/mciccolo
Michelle Ciccolo is the Vice-Chair of the Lexington Board of Selectman. She has a background in local government, including serving as the President of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council.
Matthew Cohen
https://www.cohenforstaterep.com/
https://mobile.twitter.com/Cohen4StateRep
Matthew Cohen is an instructor at Northeastern University, where he just received his PhD in Political Science. He previously worked as the Research Director for the legislature’s Committee on Mental Health and Substance Use.
Joe Lahiff
https://www.joelahiff.com/
https://mobile.twitter.com/josephglahiff
Joseph “Joe” Lahiff is the Director of Asset Management for NuPath, a Woburn organization that works with members of the community with disabilities. He is a retired Lexington police officer and the former school resource officer for Lexington High School.
Mary Ann Stewart
https://maryannstewart.org/
https://mobile.twitter.com/MAStewartMA
Mary Ann Stewart is currently the Parent Representative on the statewide Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. She is actively involved with the Raise Up Coalition and has served on the Lexington School Committee.
William Sweeney
https://www.instagram.com/sweeney4staterep/
https://www.facebook.com/sweeney4staterep/
https://twitter.com/Sweeney4Rep
William Sweeney has worked on Capitol Hill and Beacon Hill for former Representative Larkin and for the last 22 years he has worked in the private sector in healthcare technology.
二、见面会报道
莱克星顿华裔联盟(CALex)于6月9日上午9-12点在Lexington Community Center 举行了Middlesex 第十五选区州议员所有候选人见面会，五位候选人都亲自到场与参加的上百名群众见面会谈。
服务于莱克星顿拨款委员会的社区活动代表Helen Yang主持了本次会议。
莱盟副主席在会上先做了CALex组织的介绍：莱克星顿华裔联盟(CALex)是马萨诸塞州莱克星顿镇新成立的一个地方非盈利的华人组织。它以维护华人权益，鼓励参政议政，服务社区为使命，以平等、民主、透明的方式来管理组织的运作。成立以来积极参与和组织了很多华人社区的活动，如举办提供debt exclusion背景知识的讲座，与镇议员就反细分举办见面会、组织参加H3361听证会，CALex春晚，准备和组织CALex爱国者日镇游行，举办了学校义工分享介绍会等等活动。
见面会先是15分钟自由交流，同时享用可口丰富早餐。然后是两个小时的debate，最后半小时自由交流时间。debate时间，五个候选人分别就教育、麻州新细分研究Bill H4408 , 种族配额，州税、交通、大麻和庇护州近十个华人关注话题进行发言。与会者和候选人互动良好，很多人无论候选人还是听众会后都夸会议举办得很好！非常informative! 各个环节都细致到位，从签到登记，会场布置、食物安排，debate问答设计，掐表计时，摄影录像… 主持人也是亲切大方，功课做足，非常专业！
整个见面会充分体现了Lexington华人关心和参与社区建设积极性，通过交流和未来的议员拉近了关系，为维护社区华人利益作出自己的努力, 也通过表达华人关注的问题从而影响候选人的态度。譬如说, 对华人关注的bill H4408，
见面会视频：
问题和问答时间列表：
00:50
CALex introduction.
3:50
Meeting format introduction.
5:30
Candidate self introduction and opening statement.
21:00
1. Why are you running for this position?
31:00
2. What are the issues you most care about? If you were elected, what initiative would you take on? Why do you think you are uniquely qualified to take it on?
41:30
3. Now we have MA Bill H4408 as a re-drafted version of H3361 to continue evaluating data disaggregation for Asian Americans and Latinos (see Census-2020 here).
(3a) What’s your opinion about H4408 and, more broadly, data-disaggregation based on race and ethnicity in general?
(3b) Are you concerned that such bills would threaten the equal rights of certain groups of People of Color?
51:00
4. What are your favorite things to do outside of work? How would you celebrate if you were elected? How would you expect your daily life and family life change if you were elected?
1:00:00
5. There have been a lot of discussion about racial disparity such that a race is under-represented or over-represented in different socioeconomic context such as college admissions, school discipline and in the criminal justice system. Racial disparities could be a result of many factors, such as discrimination, cultural preferences when it comes to making choices, as well as other factors.
(5a) What does racial equality mean to you? Equal opportunity or equal results?
(5b) What would you do, as a state representative, to address racial disparities?
1:11:15
6. What are your thoughts on tax burden as well as public transportation?
1:22:00
7. What are your thoughts on the balance between protecting the environment and economic development?
8. What would you do to improve the education system?
9. What’s your opinion on recreational marijuana sale?
10. What’s your opinion on undocumented immigrants and sanctuary city? http://www.wbur.org/news/2018/05/24/mass-senate-safe-communities-amendment
1:33:20
Candidate closing statement.