Democrat Sen. John Cronin is seeking a third term as state senator for the Worcester & Middlesex District. The district covers the cities of Fitchburg and Leominster and the towns of Clinton, Lancaster, Lunenburg, Ashby, Groton, Shirley Townsend and Westford. He faces a challenge from Republican Nicholas Pirro III, a first-time candidate.
Cronin describes his approach to the job of senator as pragmatic, finding ways to address issues when he sees them, from easing the logjams in hospital emergency rooms to securing funding when torrential rains flooded and washed out Leominster in 2023.
Cronin points to his “really strong record,” and some of the solutions he helped craft to address district problems.
Following the torrential rains of Sept. 11, 2023, Cronin, collaborating with other legislators, tapped the Healey administration for immediate aid. The senator also managed to secure an amendment to the current state budget directing $500,000 to residents who lost personal items, losses not covered by state or federal officials.
“That money will be administered by the United Way,” Cronin said.
The Healey administration allocated $15 million released in two rounds to the communities affected by the September floods; $3.6 million was directed to Leominster. At the governor’s urging, President Joe Biden reversed FEMA's decision against declaring the zone a federal disaster area, qualifying it for aid. That allowed individual homeowners and businesses to submit claims, which were processed to the tune of $10 million.
“I’m very proud,” Cronin said. “It speaks to my effectiveness and ability as a legislator to deliver short-term, emergency aid.”
Cronin’s primary focus has been to create economic opportunities for northern Central Massachusetts residents. He is the Senate chairman of the Gateway Cities caucus in the Legislature — two of the 12 Gateway Cities, Leominster and Fitchburg, are in his district.
“I want to make sure the government is making investments in the cities to ensure a vibrant economic future,” Cronin said. He is an enthusiastic supporter of the Innovation Career Pathways program, a project of the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education that provides work-based opportunities for high school juniors and seniors in certain fields to enable them to find well-paying jobs upon graduation.
When Cronin was first elected, the state put $600,000 into the program; now, it receives $5 million a year.
The senator has also worked to address the crisis in the state’s health care system, particularly mental health care.
“Our emergency rooms are not meant to be a place for people to receive treatment for mental health issues,” Cronin said. Moving care from emergency rooms to community behavioral health centers is a better option, he said.
To that end, legislation he filed requires commercial health insurers to cover the cost of treatment in community behavioral health centers.
“We need to recognize that the health care system in Massachusetts works nothing like any system should,” Cronin said. He believes the state needs a plan to determine where essential resources are located and where they are needed.
His region has recently suffered the loss of the birthing center at UMass Memorial Health Alliance-Clinton Hospital in Leominster last fall as well as the shuttering of the Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer in August.
In August, the state Republican Party “called out” Cronin, questioning in a press release certain expenditures he had reported in his campaign finance reports. The Republicans questioned his payment of $24,000 in rent for office space to Seskin Realty Trust, saying that Cronin is a trustee of the Seskin firm.
The party also questioned his use of campaign funds to pay for membership to the Fay Club, a private social club in Fitchburg. In response, Cronin said he pays $1,500 in dues to the club to ensure he can hold political events in the building.
“It’s also a local institution I want to support,” Cronin said when asked about the relationship.
The senator said he spoke to the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance, and the State Ethics Commission about renting office space in a building he owns for multiple uses — his attorney's office, his campaign headquarters and his district office.
In a letter dated April 14, 2023, Eve Slattery, general counsel of the State Ethics Committee, said the arrangement would “not be a conflict of interest,” under state law. However, the counsel warned him against any crossover tasks between his campaign staff and his legislative staff “during normal working hours.”
He was also told that he had to pay fair market value.
A West Point graduate and combat veteran, Cronin served on active duty for more than five years. He was deployed in Afghanistan for two tours and was honorably discharged in 2018. He ran for office while studying law at Suffolk University, landing the seat handily.
Cronin works as an attorney representing veterans in the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.
Pirro, a businessman and Lunenburg resident , is focusing on what he describes as unchecked spending by the state and the high cost of sheltering migrants seeking to settle in Massachusetts.
“I’ve never run for anything political in my whole life, not even in high school,” Pirro said. “But I have a calling. I decided I had to be there to stand up for common sense. Enough is enough.”
Pirro said he would back a measure to amend the state's 41-year-old right-to-shelter law to include a residency requirement.
“We need to take care of Massachusetts residents first and foremost,” Pirro said.
He also references state mandates that raise costs on small businesses, such as family leave requirements and air quality restrictions.
Pirro runs four companies: Quality Towing, Quality Masonry Supply, Quality Vault Casket and Quality Loam and Sand.
“Most of these are based on the family business; my father started a towing and body work company in 1969,” Pirro said. He went to work for the business after graduating from high school.
At 45 years old, Pirro is married and the father of two — son, Nicholas IV, and daughter, Arianna.
He has had some brushes with the law in the past that have resulted in charges of assault.
“These are life experiences. They are not a factor,” in his fitness to be a state senator today, Pirro said. “I am not a perfect man. I made mistakes when I was younger. But these experiences are in the past in my personal life and I would never do it again.”
According to published reports, one incident involved an altercation at a bar in Fenway Park in 2007; another involved an altercation at a Lunenburg house party in 2004 during which some words exchanged with a responding police officer.
Court records show there have been some legal issues regarding the businesses he runs, principally the towing company.
Pirro said the company was often included in lawsuits filed by the people whose vehicles had been repossessed after they fell behind on car payments. Quality Towing has since left the repossession business.
“We repossessed cars when we received orders. If the bank or lending institution didn’t follow the proper procedures, they would be sued and we would be named as an additional party,” Pirro said. He denied his towing company had a “Wild West” culture.
In 2020 a woman claimed a Quality Towing truck started following her and chased her for 11 miles. Fearing for her safety, she declined to stop and it was only when state police became involved did she learn that her car was slated for repossession. She settled with the lender in a private mediation.
Quality Towing also settled a 2017 case in which the plaintiff said the company had failed to follow state consumer laws pertaining to repossession procedures. The plaintiff said a tow truck operator showed up at her home at 10 p.m. and demanded her keys, telling her the state police had been alerted and she would be arrested if she failed to comply.
A former company employee, described as “unhappy” by Pirro, claimed he had been denied overtime wages for his work. In court papers, the man claimed he was paid on a bounty system — a certain amount for each car he repossessed. According to the documents, the company failed to pay him overtime when he exceeded 40 hours a week.
The attorney who handled the class action theft of wages suit filed by the man said he could not discuss the outcome. Pirro said Quality Towing did not settle or sign a nondisclosure agreement.
Pirro said his experience running small business has afforded him a deep understanding of what it takes to be successful. He has experienced first-hand the state’s labor shortage and the difficulty of finding qualified employees.
As a resident of the area, he would like to see the return of health care services that have been lost. While he has no vision of how to fill the void, he questions why the Healey administration failed to take the same measures to save Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer as it did for other former Steward hospitals in Massachusetts.
“The administration saved the others. Why not save Nashoba Valley?” he said.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Massachusetts Voter Guide: John Cronin vs. Nicholas Pirro for state Senate
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