Tim Madden is tired of the negativity he has detected in parts of the race for state representative.
“If everyone had been running a positive campaign it would be fun, I feel like there’s been a bit of negativity,” he said, “I’ve been painted as a Republican.”
Mr. Madden is an unenrolled candidate who finished second behind Dan Larkosh as a write-in candidate in the Democratic primary.
Still, he soon zeroed in on what he sees as a key weakness in one opponent’s position on the Steamship Authority.
“It’s one of the primary reasons I’m still in the race,” he said, “I can’t underscore enough how [Mr. Larkosh’s] position made me nervous. Once a bill is up at the state house, anything can happen to it.”
Mr. Madden is firmly against two recently pending boat line bills, including one that would place the SSA under control of the state department of transportation. He was part of a two-Island committee that traveled to the state house to speak against the transportation bill last year.
Acknowledging the fact that party affiliation has played a role in the race, Mr. Madden said location within the district may be more important.
“Everyone’s talking about the Rs and the Ds but it’s really more about the Ns the Fs and the MVs,” he said, referring to Nantucket, Falmouth and the Vineyard.
And he said the differences between the Vineyard and Nantucket are largely insubstantial in the final analysis.
“The differences are more about football than politics. People are hoping the Island Cup will stay on the Vineyard, and I’m sorry to say it will,” he said, adding with a smile: “I made a promise to [Tisbury selectman] Denys Wortman that if I win I’ll wear purple at the Island Cup game this year.”
Mr. Madden originally came to Nantucket from Charleston, S.C., as a housepainter in 1972. He later married a Nantucket native. And he said he was inspired by the local political process he saw at work at annual town meetings.
Asked what separates him from other candidates, Mr. Madden cites his decade of experience as Nantucket’s legislative liaison, and his work as a selectman, an alternate moderator and on various town boards.
“You can’t disregard my experience. Not to say a freshman legislator couldn’t be effective in there. Though I would be a freshman myself — I’m still going to be in the attic or the basement,” he said, adding:
“I have a track record. As a selectman you see the same issues, just smaller. But to some extent you’re much more in the firing line. The experience is valuable, and I haven’t just been showing up.”
He said the remoteness of his residence will not prove a handicap — he also rents an apartment in Falmouth where he intends to stay during the week, if he is elected.
He said a state representative needs to be pragmatic at the state house.
“It’s being realistic about what you and the towns want to pursue. I rarely go into a meeting with my mind made up. There are a lot of bright people, especially in this community,” he said. “Sometimes the quick answer is the wrong answer.”
Mr. Madden said he plans to keep his final week of campaigning simple.
“I’ll be getting my face in front of people as much as possible,” he said. “I’m sure we’ll look at this with 20-20 hindsight about what we should have been doing.”
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