Deborah Butler Announces Candidacy for Framingham Board of Selectmen

Editor’s note: The following is a press release. Each candidate for Selectman was allowed to submit an announcement under Framingham Patch’s 2016 election policy.

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Deborah Butler Town Meeting Member and daughter of John O. Butler, the first African American to serve on the Framingham Zoning Board of Appeals from 1965 to 1971, has announced her candidacy for one of the two available seats on the Framingham Board of Selectmen in the March 29 election.

“Applying my education and experience in tax law to benefit Framingham residential taxpayers is the key reason why I am seeking a seat on the Board of Selectmen,” said Butler.

“A vote for Deborah Butler brings the expertise of a trained tax attorney and experience of a former tax enforcement attorney for the City of Philadelphia to the Board of Selectmen. My tax law training will help me drive sound fiscal policy as a selectman” said Butler.

In Fiscal Year 2018 the tax levy will increase a full 2.5 percent. To address the catastrophic impact this could have on Framingham seniors and struggling taxpayers, Butler is leading efforts to bring a senior property tax exemption to Framingham, seeking to bring property tax fairness through a civil action filed in the Massachusetts Superior Court; speaking out against wasteful spending; and opposing construction projects that take commercial operations off the corporate tax rolls.

In addition to her work on behalf of seniors, taxpayers and community groups, Butler, an accredited private attorney with the VA, represents disabled veterans before the VA, military boards of review and federal appeals courts.

“If elected to the Board of Selectmen, I want Framingham to restore its tarnished image as unfriendly to veterans. Too many veterans and widows are reporting stories of poor service from the Department of Veterans Services. After 78 years in Framingham, the Jewish War Veterans will soon be leaving Framingham for Natick. This is unacceptable,” said Butler.

Butler volunteers her expertise for homeless veterans who are cut from services on grounds that Butler believes are unjust.

During the Fall 2015 Special Town Meeting she sponsored two Citizens’ Petitions to protect veterans from being gauged by fees that the Town’s Veteran Officer was charging veterans for file records and to freeze the rental rates military families pay to use Cushing Memorial Chapel.

“On Tuesday March 29, I hope Framingham voters will give me one of the two votes they will cast to fill two vacancies on the Board of Selectmen,” said Butler.

Butler is a graduate of Framingham public schools and holds a Juris Doctorate and Letters in Law – Taxation from Boston University School of Law.

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Photo of Butler submitted to Framingham Patch