Top Left Corner #178: NTRVW — Michael Lavery, Candidate for State Rep., Mass. 3rd Dist‪.‬ The Top Left Corner

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And this is Episode #178 of the Top Left Corner. I am your host Jay Velázquez, and I do thank you for tuning in as always. Today is Saturday, November 5, 2022 – at least that’s the day that I hit record on this episode. We have a very special guest on the show, Michael Lavery. He’s been on this show a couple times in the last several years, and we are always happy to have him back a member of the Massachusetts Green-Rainbow party, the Berkshires chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, a very deep thinker, and an all-around great guy. He is running this election to unseat Massachusetts State Representative, William “Smitty” Pignatelli, in the race for Berkshire 3rd district.







I like to have both contestants in the campaign on the show, but I’ve contacted Smitty number of times on different issues, and he’s never responded, so I figure, if he got in touch with me, fine. If he didn’t, fine. And he didn’t. We speak with Michael about some of the issues that have been on his mind for a long time in, including transparency and Beacon Hill the toxins in the water supply, and this time the push to decriminalize or legalize antigens — organic natural substances found in such plants as psilocybin mushrooms and peyote, increasingly of interest to the medical community after showing amazing promise treating major depression, PTSD, and other conditions.







As I mentioned at the top of the interview, Michael is a longtime supporter of the Greylock Glass, even before he ran his first campaign for the Beckett Select Board. I say this in the interest of transparency, because I want people to know who supports us, and be able to judge for themselves if we have an inappropriate bias in any direction. I only had one area of concern going into this interview, which was the question of how he can reconcile his antiwar stance with working for General Dynamics, and I pressed him on it.







Whether or not Michael does manage to defeat Smitty pig Natale on Tuesday, I’m sure that the very fact that he challenged and incumbent Democrat will cause some of his issues of concern to gain more widespread attention. Let’s go down to that interview with Michael livery here on the top of corner







NTRVW: Michael Lavery — Candidate State Rep, Berkshire III District

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Top Left Corner: And five, four, three, two. And with me on the line is Michael Lavery, Selectboard member in Beckett, Massachusetts. Michael, thanks so much for joining us again on the Top Left Corner.







Michael Lavery: Hi, Jason. Thank you for having me.







Top Left Corner: My pleasure. Well, in the in the interest of full disclosure, because we believe in transparency here at The Greylock Glass, Michael, you are a donor. You are a contributor to our continued operations, and we always are grateful for that.







Michael Lavery: Well, I appreciate your honesty and I pride myself on being truthful and transparent. And I also like to support local media that speaks truth to power. So I don’t mind contributing at all. I think it’s a good cause.







Top Left Corner: So yeah, I mean, I say that I would say that whether you were running for office or not,