Attorney Who Hates Taxes Challenges Torrissi in N. Andover & Lawrence

MassNews Staff
September 2002 Print Edition

Paula Porten tells MassNews that she "will work with Mitt Romney to get all the recent tax hikes repealed."

An attorney and local activist, she views Torrisi as an insider, too tied to the Democrat leadership to serve the needs of the people in the district.

About taxes, Porten is adamant. "I hate taxes," is her initial response to questions on the subject. She tells MassNews that she will "work with Mitt Romney to get all the recent tax hikes repealed." She is the only candidate in her district to have signed the anti-tax pledge of Citizens for Limited Taxation.

She calls the recent repeal of the capital gains tax break "disgraceful," insisting that it will only hurt investors and ultimately harm the state's economy. She says the same about the repeal of the income tax deduction for charitable giving. She explains, "When people have more money in their pockets, particularly when their taxes are low, then they give more. They've taken that away, and in doing so they've hurt charities."

A self-described supporter of the Second Amendment, Porten believes that citizens have a right to bear arms. "The government should not infringe upon that right," she says.

While opposed to partial birth abortion and other issues about abortion, she does feel that women have a right to choose whether or not to have an abortion. She explains that a woman has a right to have an abortion right up until the moment of viability. "If medicine can establish that viability begins at conception, then I'll be pro-life," she says.

She does support the need for parental consent and waiting periods before a woman can have an abortion. She tells MassNews, "I find it ironic that the woman's rights movement is against parental consent. For any other kind of surgery, no matter how small, you need consent. Let's be consistent." While holding the belief that a woman should have the right to choose, Porten says that she is against any taxpayer funding of abortions.

Since her district includes Lawrence, a heavily Spanish-populated city, Porten believes that it is important to pass the bilingual education amendment sponsored by Ron Unz. This amendment, similar to the one which has proven successful in California, would revamp bilingual education and force children to learn to function in English sooner. She said, "The compromise passed by the legislature is a weak compromise; we need a major overhaul."

She supports vouchers for education. Given the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to allow vouchers, she said that she would work in the state legislature to "get our state constitution to allow for the employment of vouchers."

The recent legislative recess of the Constitutional Convention without dealing with the Protection of Marriage Amendment offended Porten. She called the action "a disgrace to democracy," and "a slap in the face to the citizens of Massachusetts." She said that Tom Birmingham was responsible for a "travesty, when he turned his back on 130,000 citizens who signed petitions" to get that initiative on the ballot.

Asked why she is running in this race, Porten replied, "I am running for state rep because the people of North Andover and Lawrence deserve a voice that will represent them and not an echo of tax and spend Speaker Finneran."

Porten is a mother of two children, both of whom attend public schools in North Andover. A graduate of Northeastern University and the Massachusetts School of Law, she is employed in the Tarshi Law Office in Lawrence. She is a member of the North Andover Finance Committee, the North Andover Republican Town Committee and a board member of the non-profit group Advocacy for Massachusetts Elders.

14th Essex County district includes Lawrence Precincts 1 and 3 in District A and Precincts 2 and 3 in District E; and Precincts 1-6 in North Andover. The district is split almost evenly between Lawrence, with 20,412 constituents, and North Andover, with 20,424.