Bruce Chester

Candidate for State Senate Bruce Chester Interviews with Gardner Magazine

Background: Chester is a 20 year military veteran, educator, and author. He like Jon Zlotnik and 2 others is vying for the Massachusetts State Senate seat made vacant when Ann Gobi took a position in the Healey Administration. We spoke at first about Bruce Chester’s qualifications for the position. We asked Bruce Chester about his views on the issues and he spoke with us on August 3, 2023. Listen on any device. CLICK PLAY.

Chester says this is the 3^rd time he has run against Jon. Chester says he is a better candidate because “John’s only ever done this job, and I have a myriad of experiences, a myriad of situations. It would make more sense for me to be in this position because I’ve been a family man, I still am….I am more reliable because I’ve gone through stuff….I’m not a career politician and have no desire to be.”

We asked Chester for specifics. He stated that in April 2022, Zlotnik voted against suspending the gas tax for 2 months stating, “I would have voted for that, we are in a wealthy state. We should be spending our money better.” He also criticized Zlotnik for voting against increasing the estate tax threshold from one million to two million, stating, “Once people hear the word million, they think, well, that’s a lot of money. When you’re a small business owner, it really isn’t. It’s not really a lot of money.” Chester thinks the sales tax should go back down to 5%. He also believes train service should come back to Gardner.

We asked Bruce Chester about the past 3 years, what’s been wonderful and what hasn’t been great. He praised efforts re Downtown stating, “always great to see that Downtown Gardner is beginning to come alive again….I’m not here to talk badly about the Mayor. As far as negatives, he stated that “one of the investors is kind of cash strapped, and unfortunately that makes it very precarious for people that want to move in to those apartments…” He spoke about renovating existing buildings in Gardner.

On the Bruce Chester for Senate website he states, “ I need your help to bring back family values and prosperity to Central Massachusetts!” so we asked, “What weaknesses do you currently see in this area with respect to family values And how exactly do you propose to strengthen them?” Chester contradicted his own website stating, “Well, it’s not so much family values that are the issue…I as an educator…is very important for us to service our education and I’ll call it the education industry in a positive manner.”

Bruce Chester emphasized during the interview that he is for the lowest taxes possible and stated of Jon Zlotnik, “So let’s make sure we’re not wasting that tax money And unfortunately, my opponent, I don’t, based on his voting record, doesn’t really look at that way. They just tax and tax and tax and tax, and people. People are suffering because of it” So we followed up asking “Well, let’s be specific. How are people suffering as a result of his voting record?” Chester again spoke of the gas tax and of the extra 4% tax on millionaires, and of raising fees on rideshare services. He did not detail any suffering.

Chester spoke of money being spent which shouldn’t be. He spoke of reading in the paper about a City Council member somewhere who hired her son and gave him a big raise, but he didn’t say where. He stated there was an unneeded position created in City government, “an educational auditor or something, I used to know,”, but didn’t provide any details. He also stated that he’s talked to 5000 people and “only 2 people had good things to say about my opponent.” Before the interview, we had explained to Chester that not only is Zlotnik well liked, but our #1 listened to AUDIO in July was an interview with him. Chester made it very clear that he was against building the new Gardner Elementary School and related a story where he says a teacher had to retire because she had trouble making it from one end of the school to the other. He also stated, “I’m not sure this scooter program they installed in the town was necessarily a good idea.” We explained to Chester that no tax dollars were expended as the scooters are a private business regulated by the City and he changed his opinion stating, “So that’s another business that’s in town, and that’s a good thing. So that’s a good thing.”

Bruce Chester said that if people are happy with Jon Zlotnik, then they don’t understand what is going on, “And again, I don’t want to sit here and disparage John, but I’m just looking at the facts of what he’s actually voted on, and if people are happy with that, I’m not sure they really understand whats going on because Im not happy with it”