LAWRENCE LACKS LIZ LOVE
‘She represents everything I stand against’
Some Lawrence residents are not sold on U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s presidential platform in the wake of her flashy visit to the city on Saturday where she officially announced her candidacy.
Anthony Silva, owner of Lightship Liquors on South Union Street, said Warren’s choice to make her announcement in Lawrence wasn’t a good one.
“She doesn’t understand people here. She may have been trying to appeal to the smaller guy,” said Silva.
“Policies that people like her perpetuate don’t help the city,” said Silva. “She’s anti-business and I’m a business owner. She represents everything I stand against.”
Lawrence residents like Alan Joseph, Nelson Rivera and Rafael Chala didn’t even know who Warren was despite her recent visit.
“I really don’t know much about her to tell you the truth. I don’t know, but a lot of politicians offer things they don’t deliver on,” said Joseph.
“I don’t know her. Seems like she has good character though,” Rivera said in Spanish.
“I don’t know who that is,” Chala said in Spanish when showed a photo of Warren.
During Saturday’s speech, Warren came out swinging against the ultra-wealthy, pledging to stick it to billionaires and give power to working-class families.
“Millions of American families are also struggling to survive in a system that has been rigged by the wealthy and the well-connected,” Warren said.
As reported in the Herald, Warren and her husband Bruce Mann’s combined net worth falls between $4.6 million and $11 million, a fact that shocked Lawrence natives and Warren sup- porters Karen and Frank Brown.
“Wow. Oh my. $11 million, wow, that’s a lot,” said Frank.
“Yeah, everyone here is low-income,” said Karen.
But some residents who attended Warren’s event on Saturday were recharged with new, supportive energy for the senator.
“She’s a good candidate, she fights for us,” said Milagros Dominguez, who was in attendance on Saturday.
“I think she is the one that most represents us because she knows us and this is a Latino community and she know Latinos,” said Dominguez.
Lawrence City Councilor Jeovanny Rodriguez echoed Dominguez, calling Warren a “familiar face” in the community.
“A lot of the people that work for her are from Lawrence, like minorities are part of her staff, Latinos are part of her staff. … She actually looks at the disparities as a real issue,” said Rodriguez.
William Gonzalez, a barber at Diamond Cutz Barber Shop on South Union Street, said he was “proud” to have Warren visit the city.
“She’s good and people say good things about her especially with what happened with the gas explosions, I think she did a good job,” said Gonzalez.