InFocus featuring State Representative Shirley Arriaga

From the 22 News Plus Studio, this is 22 News In Focus with Patrick Berry. Hello everyone and welcome to this edition of In Focus. I am your host Patrick Berry. We're here in the 22 News Plus Studios at the big station here in Chicopee. I'm checking off another one of our local state legislators. Sitting across the desk from me this morning is the Massachusetts State Representative from the 8th Hamden District, Shirley Ariaga. Ms. Ariaga, thank you so very much for joining me today. I appreciate your time. Pleasure to be here, sir. So I'm going to ask you, first of all, don't ever call me sir. All right, all right. Sir was my dad, okay? I'm Patrick. So I'm going to ask you the same question I ask every elected official when they get in that seat. Why? Why did you seek elected office specifically in this day and age where there's so much animosity among people, people to their legislators, legislators amongst each other? Why would you put yourself through that? Why would you seek elected office and put yourself in that position? Well, Patrick, thank you so much for that question. I ask myself that every day. Everybody can see that answer. It is definitely a difficult, challenging thing to want to do, and never mind actually do and continue to do it. The story is long, but I'll keep it short and brief. When I was in the fourth grade, we had career day. And they said, what are you going to do when you grow up? And I had to think about it. And I wanted to have the right answer. I didn't want to say a doctor or a singer like everybody else or a firefighter. No, that's great. But I wanted to give a true answer. So I wanted to ponder on it a little bit. So I went home and thought about it. And my brother said, what are you doing? I said, I'm doing homework. What's the homework? I got to pick what I want to do when I grow up. My brother said, well, I said, I want to be a lawyer. I said, okay, why do you want to be a lawyer? He's like, I want to practice law. I go, yeah, I remember that. We had a day in civics. You help people. You write the laws. Well, lawyers practice law. And I'm like, yeah, I remember government class. That was a day they came in and they chatted about it. So I said, well, okay, I want to do that. I want to help people. But I'm torn. I'm torn. I'm fourth grader. I'm torn because I also want to help animals. So I had to choose, do I become a vet or do I become a politician in the future? And I'm in the fourth grade. And this was an easy question for kids. But for me, it was- I think that's the hardest question for kids. It was, I need to decide this now, right? So I pondered about it for a little bit. And then I said, well, I guess I can go into government where I can write the laws to help people and help animals alike. Okay. And that's how I came up with, I will one day go into politics. I knew that it was going to be a long road and I would have to graduate high school, college. I made a plan to go to the military to serve the country. And eventually when I'm like 50 or 60, I would run for office. So that's the origin of my wanting to do it. Things accelerated a lot faster than you expected. Absolutely. So fast forward, I graduated high school here in Chicopee. I went to all public schools. I enlisted in the military. Not for high school. Chicopee High. Pays for fried. I went into the military after obtaining my associate from SECC. I couldn't continue to go to school full-time and try to live and have a livable life, right? Things were expensive then and they're expensive now. So I enlisted in the military and I served for 10 years out of Westover Air Force Reserve Base here out of the 337 Airlift Squadron, the C5 Galaxy. And 2020 came and I needed to re-enlist or separate and I separated. And I decided to stay home where I could actually be present and pay attention to what's going on in my community with my friends and my family. But most importantly, my daughter who was six years old has asthma and has an immune deficiency. So I said I didn't want to be abroad. I'm getting a phone call that my little one caught COVID. So I decided to separate from the military July 2020. And I started to remember all the issues that are here locally because now I had a little bit additional time. And I said, well, I can sit here and complain about it or I could do something about it. And I'm a solution driven person. So I'm going to do something about it. And I decided to run a last minute campaign against the city council here and I ran for at-large. I nearly succeeded. I lost by one percent, which I thought was so close. I thought it was a victory for someone who I wasn't in politics. I had no one coaching me or helping me. It's just me and my little one knocking on people's doors during COVID. That was interesting and telling them, hey, I'm a stranger, but can I have a second of your time? I ran and I felt empowered and I also felt I wasn't alone. My community wanted to change and they seem eager for that. A few months later, I'm teaching at Chicopee High School and leader Wagner decides to step away from politics and was not seeking reelection. So the question came about who will run for his seat and represent the 8th Hampton District. And I said, oh, the fellows that I ran against for city council or who else, right? So I said, I have to do it even though I was exhausted mentally for my community. Otherwise I'd be doing a disservice. So I ran for office in 2022 and I became the vector. It was called an upset victory. I'm not quite sure why I was very happy with the results. And I've been the state representative for four years now. So my follow up question to that is now that you've been representing your district for a number of years at the state house, is, is the role what you thought it would be when you were knocking on doors, introducing yourself or was it, or is it different than what you expected? No, it's pretty much what I imagined it to be. I'm a little bit more driving, right? And then one realizes or expects, but late nights in Boston and driving home. Yes, absolutely. And never making folks happy, right? We cannot make everybody happy. It's kind of like being a parent. So I'm like, all right, so it's like, I'm the mother to all these kids, 60,000 kids here in Chicobee, right? Um, I do what I can in the best interest of my community. And it's not always well perceived or understood at the moment. Um, but I, I, I knew it wasn't going to be easy and I knew that, you know, you're in this position, you can make decisions that are going to be perceived one way or another by folks. So I had that already in my head. Very good. We are up on our first commercial break. Stay with us. We've got plenty more to talk about with representative Arriaga. We're back in just a minute. This is 22 news in focus with Patrick Berry. This is 22 news in focus with Patrick Berry. Welcome back again, everyone. This is, uh, today's in focus is focusing on pardon the pun in the, uh, in the, in the language there, but a state representative Shirley Arriaga is across the desk from me today. We're learning more about her, her district or constituents issues and so forth. So, uh, representative Arriaga, thank you for joining me. Appreciate your time. I know you, uh, all of our state representatives, state senators, all of our legislators are very busy. So thank you for giving me some of your time today. Um, we talked about your growth in Chicobee as a human being, and you're leading you into elected office, but I do want to touch a little bit about your time serving our country in the United States air force, because your role in elected office also played a part, not, not a part, but you're, you're, excuse me, let me rephrase it. Your role as, as a, as a member of the United States air force kind of gave you a little flavor of elected office because you work with Richie Neal. That is correct. So you, you were a veterans liaison. Okay. Talk to me about what a veterans liaison is and how you're, you're working with, with representative Neal opened your eyes more to legislative work. So I was 2015 finishing up my bachelor's degree at homes and I need to do an internship. And they said, where do you want to be? What's your career goal? And I said, I want to be a politician, but there's not such thing for me to intern. Like absolutely there is contact your Congressman or your Senator. And I was like, Oh, I didn't know that was an option. So I was able to obtain a internship by the Congressman Richie Neal. And I started immediately helping constituents across the first district in Massachusetts, whether it was healthcare, whether it was evictions, whether it was education loans, whether it was veteran issues, immigration issues, you name it. Those cases, those folks were coming through those doors at all times the entire time. It was a nonstop. So as an intern, I took it upon myself to help those folks. And the Congressman was so gracefully able to say yes to me. He said, if you feel confident that you can talk to these constituents, I will allow it. So I started right away doing so understanding the issues of our communities, our constituents, and that they were at their last straw. When folks come through those doors, they're not there because that's their first option. It is their last option. They lost hopes. Their emotions are through the roof, and they're in desperate need. And they feel like no one has taken the time to listen or even care. So I was able to do that for three and a half years for Congressman Richie Neal. And my focus was veterans. As a veteran myself, I felt very, I don't want to say obligated, but lean to help my veterans and be there for them, ensure that they have their resources and the benefits that they rightfully deserve. And a lot of our veterans, unfortunately, were waiting 15 to 20 years to obtain their benefits. And that is not okay. It's unacceptable. And it really took an act of Congress, a congressional office to contact the veterans office, a pension board, you name it, to say what is going on. We have veterans here who are literally dying, who need medical assistance and care, and they can't afford it. They served their country, they were exposed to Agent Orange, most of the folks that I was helping, and they've been waiting for 15 plus years. It's unacceptable. So that became my focus, my major, if you will, when I was there. And I became the veteran liaison, and I helped many, many veterans. So what did that do for me? It reiterated the fact that I wanted to help folks, and politics and government, if you will, was the way to do so, at least for me. We all have our own way of how and when we want to help folks, and that was my calling. So I just reiterated that. I left Congressman Neal's office to further my education so I can continue to help those, and I went to law school. Very good. So your time as the veterans liaison, one thing I have learned, which Massachusetts, I think, is only one of a couple of states in that every community has a VSO, a veterans service officer. So you must have worked closely with all the VSOs in Representative Neal's district to learn more about the veterans in need and get them the help that they want. Yes, absolutely. So we do have a lot of veterans service officers across the commonwealth. However, not every city and town have one. I thought it was by law they have. There's a lot with that which I'm working on. I've been sitting on the Joint Committee of Veterans Affairs for four years now, and one of my concerns and one of my bills is to ensure and bring some enforcement to that law that, per the statute, is a requirement to have either a full-time or a part-time veterans service officer for a population. And once it exceeds a certain number, off the top of my head, I don't A lot of communities are not doing that. The state reimburses them. 50%, if it's a part-timer, 75% is a full-timer. So it makes sense to want to have a full-timer. The state will pay more for it and less on the city itself. And most importantly, we're helping our veterans, which is my priority. So no, not every single city and town has one. There's a lot of regional ones, and there's a lot of folks who have part-time VSOs who do the best they can with the hours that they can, knowing that the need is large. So they might be in the building or in the office two days a week, trying to file Chapter 115, which is local resources and stipend for veterans in need at the time, and not able to help veterans with other issues, like putting in a claim with the federal government for federal benefits. So they're limited, they're overworked, and we need to do as a community, as a commonwealth. One of my bills that I'm pushing forward, so regarding the VSO, I worked a lot with them. I was able to learn what the process was. I was screening our veterans, saying, you know, put my little checklist here, you qualify, I'm going to connect you to your veteran service officer, and they will hopefully help you. I also did that with a lot of different veteran organizations, especially out in the Springfield area, bilingual veteran services that help veterans, especially homeless veterans, obtain housing and benefits. So I became kind of fluid and fluent in that language of how to navigate the veteran world and resources, and it was really heartfelt work that I was doing. Very good. We are up on our second commercial break, so please stay with us. We're back with more in just a moment. This is 22 News InFocus with Patrick Berry. This is 22 News InFocus with Patrick Berry. Welcome back, everyone, to this edition of InFocus. I'm your host, Patrick Berry. Today, joining me across the desk, representing the 8th Hamden District, which is pretty much all of Chicopee, except for like two little precincts, right? Some of those precincts are like right here where Channel 22 is located. 2B and 4B. There you go. So I represent Shirley Arriaga. So, Ms. Arriaga, thank you so very much for coming in today. I appreciate your time. You are, and I'm going to read my notes here, you're a member of the Future Caucus Innovation Fellowship. Yes, I am. I've never heard of it. Explain what that is, what you do, how that helps others in the state. Okay. So I am a co-chair of the Future Caucus here in Massachusetts. It was called the Millennial Action Plan back in the day. And then we moved into 2015, 2020. It's like, oh, we can't call it Millennial anymore. So they renamed it to Future Caucus. I brought it back. They reached out to me when I first got elected. I thought it was spam. I'm like, what is this future stuff? This sounds like spam, right? Very not realistic. Long story short, it's an organization, a nonprofit organization that aims to help folks, elected officials under the age of 45. What does that mean? And how does that look? They have a federal chapter, and then they expanded to the state to make state chapters because they saw the impact that they had and how much it helped the younger elected officials. So when we're talking about politics, we all kind of know, and even myself as a fourth grader, I thought of politics and I thought of older and gray. I did. I thought you had to be a certain part of your life. It's just what comes to mind for folks. That's a good vision for a fourth grader to have. Absolutely. You might start young, but a lot of folks stay in office. We can look at Congress for that, right? A great example of folks who've been there 20, 30 years, my entire life here. So we understand that a lot of them are older. And with that comes some restrictions and some barriers when it comes to we're in 2026 and our new generations, Generation Alpha and Z and all these meta, what else we have going on now, right? The new generations are different from my generation. They're different from the boomers. They're different from the 50s, right? The Great Depression era, very, very different. What does that mean? We see things a little different. Do you become mentors to up and coming legislators? So we definitely can do that, play a role in that. So we kind of gather together because there's strings and numbers and we see things a little differently. I'll give you an example. One of the things we're doing is, what do we prioritize and what's something that we would like to see as young elected officials? Because the older folks, senior folks might not agree. I'm not saying that they all oppose it, but some might not agree. AI, how does AI play a part in our lives? I love AI. I think it's a tool to be used, to be utilized in addition to what we do, so we could be more effective, especially with time. I'm not saying to replace folks, it's a tool. Some folks are opposed to it. They think we're going to take away jobs because of AI, not really understanding that AI has been around. You look at a manufacturing company, they have a bunch of robots, automated things to help them produce their stuff. So we welcome and understand AI. We want to provide safeguards for it. We understand that it does have a place in our communities and our lives. It does. So just having like-minded folks pushing together for priorities that we agree on. And it seems very simple, and it is. It's just sometimes generational changes differ. So is this sort of a new group in the last decade or so, or has it always been around? It's been around for a while. It went away, I think, 2019. And then, like I said, I brought it back when I got elected in 2022. And we're excited for it. We're working on our priorities as a caucus. And really, I use the future caucus as a space to have younger elected officials have support. Long story short, politics is not a playbook. You go into the state house and you learn how to swim or sink. Simple as that. At least we have a sense of community. We're young. We learned this before you came in. Let me help you. Let me mentor you. Because I want you to succeed. Because when another representative, another senator succeeds, we all succeed because we're working to benefit our communities. I'm not working here just to make myself, I don't know, number one or excel according to others. I'm here to work with others to achieve the mission. Maybe it's my military mentality, but it's a team mentality for me. And if I can help other younger legislators not have to learn things the hard way, I can share my wisdom with them. That's what I'm using the future caucus as, and understanding that our mentality is just a tad different from others. Very good. I want to switch gears now to an idea that you brought up with the state legislature. And I don't know if it was just an idea or legislation actually passed or not, but it was the idea of incarcerated people donating organs to reduce their sentence. Do I have that right? So that bill was not my bill. Oh, it wasn't? Oh, okay. I was mistakenly added to it and I was quickly removed when I found out my name was on it. So I can't really share more information than I know. It was not my bill, but it was. How does that happen when you get your name assigned to something? It happens. Mistakes do happen. But what I do recall from this bill, which I believe was four years ago, it was simply, I don't think it was well-written. That's all right. But it was intended to help incarcerated individuals who have family members who needed a transplant and per law, they can't do that. So I think that was the intent of that. Oh, gotcha, gotcha, yeah. And that's as far as I know. Oh, all right. All right. So let's get off that since it wasn't you. What are some of the biggest issues your constituents are bringing to you that you're fighting for? Energy crisis, affordability, and housing insecurity. All right. So how are you helping solve those issues? Well, I am voicing my opinion to DPU. We need to hold these energy companies- But in Chicopee, you've got a municipal light. We do. We also have Eversource. Okay. Oh, so you have both? Yes, we do. So we have Chicopee Electric, which we won't complain, we got good rates there. However, we still have to heat our homes. And one of those methods is through Eversource gas. And Eversource is very expensive, and I'm pretty sure they made $1.8 billion in profits this past year alone. That's a little excessive for me. And what does that mean? It means our rates have gone up. And I say we because I also pay into my energy bill, just like every single person does. The rates are outrageous. DPU sets the rate. Eversource and National Grid submits their numbers. DPU approves it. Their statute that says it has to be reasonable and justifiable. And I don't think it is. So we are pushing on that. I am very vocal on that, and I have been vocal on it. I sit on Ways and Means Committee, the Joint Committee on Ways and Means. And I actually did ask that question. And right now, as we know, there's several losses going on about their rates. And we need to hold them accountable. If you ask me, and I say it all the time, they have enough profit to utilize those dollars to do the maintenance work that they need, that they're passing on to us, the rate payers. Use some of your profit, pay for that, so you don't have to squeeze us anymore. And that's where I stand on that, and I will continue to advocate for vulnerability in my community and across the Commonwealth. Very good. Our time has come to an end. Rep. Arriaga, I can't thank you enough for joining me today. It was wonderful to meet you. Hopefully you had a good time here, and you'll come back sometime. Of course. Good seeing you. Thank you. Thank you.