U.S. Rep. Tsongas meets one-on-one to hear citizens’ concerns

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“I want to see if she knows us or not. I heard she may open an office here in Fitchburg. It is very important for her to open one here. I knew her husband and he was an honest man. It is good she picked up her husband’s seat.” 

I want to see if she knows us or not. … It is good she picked up her
husband’s seat. Bashir Mehmud, Chapter President of Ahmadiyya
Muslim Community meets with Tsongas.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: Telegram & Gazette| Excerpts
By Paula J. Owen | January 11, 2013

FITCHBURG —  Kristal R. Cioffi was hopeful her brief meeting with U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas, D-Lowell, could help with her frustrating four-year battle with her mortgage company and that taking the step to talk with her might bring about change for others dealing with the issue down the road.

Ms. Cioffi was among 25 people Wednesday evening waiting patiently for a private, one-on-one session with Ms. Tsongas in an upstairs conference room at the Fitchburg Public Library. Many had never met her — or any other legislator — in person before.

It was the first time Ms. Tsongas and her congressional staff held the Congress on Your Corner program — scheduled in communities across her district several times a month — in Fitchburg. The city — along with several other communities including Ashburnham, Ashby, Clinton, Gardner, Lunenburg, Marlborough, Pepperell, Townsend, Westminster and Winchendon — was added to the 3rd District after the state redrew congressional district lines.
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Bashir U. Mehmud, a native of Pakistan who moved to the U.S. in 1980, said he was eager to introduce Ms. Tsongas to the international organization Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. Mr. Mehmud is president of the Fitchburg chapter that has about 75 members. It was also his first time meeting her.

“I want to see if she knows us or not,” Mr. Mehmud said. “I heard she may open an office here in Fitchburg. It is very important for her to open one here. I knew her husband and he was an honest man. It is good she picked up her husband’s seat.”

Ms. Tsongas said she plans to open an office at Putnam Place in Fitchburg within a month once lease issues are resolved.

“This program gets things started,” Ms. Tsongas said. “I bring in a staff of experts to connect people with to solve problems.”

She also answered a reporter’s questions about gun control and the debt ceiling.

Ms. Tsongas said she believes law-abiding citizens have a constitutional right to own firearms, but laws should reasonably control gun manufacturing, sale and usage of firearms to ensure they are used safely and responsibly. She said she supports reinstating the commonsense ban on high capacity magazines like those used in the Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech and Tucson shootings.

“I support reinstating the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004, and I am a co-sponsor of the Large Capacity Ammunition Feeding Device Act introduced by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.), among other measures,” she said.

The ban would permanently prohibit the transfer, possession or import of high capacity ammunition feeding devices for civilian use, she said.
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Photo: Furqan Q. Mehmud, left, and his father Bashir U. Mehmud, president of the Fitchburg chapter of the international Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, meet with U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas, D-Lowell, right, and June Black, Ms. Tsongas’ constituent services director, during a Congress on Your Corner event on Wednesday. (T&G Staff/PAULA J. OWEN)

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