A third Democratic hopeful seeking a Berkshire County-based state Senate seat has formally announced his candidacy.
Rinaldo Del Gallo III, who is an attorney, is seeking the Senate seat being vacated by Democrat Benjamin Downing of Pittsfield, and faces a three-way Democratic primary on Sept. 8 in the district that includes Ashfield, Conway, Shelburne, Buckland, Charlemont, Hawley, Heath, Rowe and Monroe, along with communities in Berkshire, Hampshire and Hampden counties.
Del Gallo, who describes himself as “a Bernie Sanders progressive,” is the last of the three Democrats to formally announce, and was critical of being left out of a May 11 debate the Hilltown Democratic Coalition held in Goshen, although organizers said it was only for announced candidates. Democrats Adam Hinds of Pittsfield and Andrea Harrington of Richmond took part.
A graduate of George Washington University Law School and Northeastern University, Del Gallo has been spokesman for the Berkshire Fatherhood Coalition since 2002 and has worked on animal rights and environmental issues, including successfully getting adopted a plastic foam ban in Berkshire County and a Pittsfield farm-animal rights ordinance. Del Gallo says we would support a statewide ban on single-use plastic bags and plastic foam products ike Styrofoam.
He has filed a petition in Pittsfield to guarantee the rights of transgendered people and, as a lawyer, wrote a legal opinion that helped prevent time-share housing from being allowed in residential zones in the city.
Del Gallo supports “tuition-free and debt-free” state higher education as well as universal pre-kindergarten, to be sponsored by a millionaire’s tax now being considered as a state constitutional amendment. He also supports decriminalization of marijuana, a $15 minimum wage and labeling of genetically modified organisms.
He has a been an op-ed contributor to the Berkshire Eagle on a wide variety of subject and has written a My Turn column on Styrofoam for The Recorder.
You can reach Richie Davis at
rdavis@recorder.com
or 413-772-0261, ext. 269