Anthony Amore, a Swampscott resident, has announced his candidacy for state representative of the Eighth Essex District.
The Republican is vying to unseat State Rep. Lori Ehrlich (D-Marblehead), who has served in the position for almost a decade. The district is comprised of Marblehead, Swampscott and Lynn. The election is scheduled for next November.
Amore, 50, is well-known for his role as director of security and chief investigator at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, where he is charged with the ongoing efforts to recover 13 works of art stolen from the museum in March 1990.
The theft, which remains unsolved, is the largest art heist in world history, with pieces valued at more than $500 million stolen.
“I feel very strongly that Gov. (Charlie) Baker is doing a good job and I feel that he is an ally on Beacon Hill and I want to be that ally for him,” Amore said.
“I believe now is the time to seek a seat in the General Court to help Gov. Baker with his agenda of fiscal accountability and tax relief for working families. He’s done great work to bring accountability and fiscal responsibility to our state government and I want to support his efforts.”
Ehrlich, a Marblehead resident, was first elected to the state legislature during a 2008 special election. She has served five full terms and one partial term — 2018 will mark her 10th year representing the district. She is a certified public accountant, but gave up her accounting practice to serve in elected office full-time.
“I am very proud of the work that I’ve done in my time as a full-time state representative and I look forward to running a campaign based on that record,” Ehrlich said. “Elections are central to a healthy democracy. In the meantime, I’ll just continue to do my job, listen to my constituents and fight for them on Beacon Hill.”
Ehrlich, 54, cited past legislative successes, including her earned income tax credit bill and Good Samaritan bill, which were both passed. She said she has co-sponsored hundreds of bills.
Before he was at the museum, where he has been for 12 years, Amore said he worked with the federal government in agencies that are now considered Homeland Security.
What prompted him to run, Amore said, was the legislative vote from earlier this year, where the state legislature voted themselves a pay raise, which also included raises for judges and other state officials. He said Ehrlich voted herself a 35 percent pay increase.
He said the vote comes at a time when debt is a major problem for “our country, our state and our localities.” Amore said the federal government can push debt down to the states and the states to the cities and towns, but there’s no way for local government to pass the buck.
“I’m really opposed to the pay increase that the legislature voted itself and I really want the people of my district to know I’d be a trustworthy custodian of their tax dollars,” Amore said.
“I think it’s an ongoing struggle for legislators and administrators to make government accountable to the people. I think that we pay a heavy tax burden and people should come to expect good performance in return for its tax dollars,” he said citing areas such as schools, public safety and roads.
Ehrlich said her pay increase is actually about 11 percent and that legislator base pay is based on the state median income.
This past year, she said the base pay was $62,500, which used to be supplemented with an expense allowance of $7,200 and a per diem based on a legislator’s commute to the State House, ranging from a daily rate of $10 to $100 — hers was $18. She said the bill passed eliminated those expense rates and replaced it with a flat expense pay of $15,000.
As vice-chair of the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing, Ehrlich said she had received a stipend of about $7,500, but with her new role as House chair of the Joint Committee on Export Development, she now receives a stipend of $15,000.
“Voting on a bill that raised my own pay was not something I did without great introspection and discussion, especially since we spend so much time working to help people who have fallen on hard times in their own lives,” Ehrlich wrote in a prior statement on her website.
“But at the same time, to argue against it is to devalue our work and would indicate that I do not feel my colleagues are worthy of a raise. My colleagues from both parties are thoughtful, intelligent, well-qualified, and caring individuals and after almost two decades since the last raise, I felt it was time.”
Amore said he is concerned about the opioid crisis, that he’s done work investigating how pharmaceutical companies manipulate doctors into over-prescribing opioids, and thinks he has the experience to help the governor tackle the problem.
He said he also wants to make sure that Massachusetts does not become a sanctuary state. He said he started his career as an immigration officer and that it is important for police departments to cooperate with the federal government — he said rooting out illegal immigration is important for safe communities.
Ehrlich said the discussion around sanctuary states is a complicated policy discussion.
Amore has lived in Swampscott for about 15 years — his two daughters have attended Swampscott Public Schools.
Ehrlich has been a Marblehead resident for 27 years, but previously lived in Lynn and Swampscott. Her two daughters went through Marblehead Public Schools and she has been married for 31 years.