Dear Editor:

I am writing in support of the candidacy of James Arena DeRosa for State Representative for the 8th Middlesex District, which Includes Hopkinton and 3 other communities.

I have known James for nearly thirty years. We first met 30 years ago when I was serving as the state senator representing Hopkinton. At the time James was Executive Director of the Northeast Regional Office of the United States Peace Corps, and I was a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer having served in Sierra Leone and, later, as staff in Kenya.

His prior experience as Director of Oxfam, a deeply respected international development organization, positioned him well to step into the Peace Corps role. James was an extremely competent manager, a real visionary and was highly respected by his staff. We have remained friends and colleagues, in a variety of settings, and I have come to know him and his family personally over the years. I find James not only extremely intelligent but possessed of a warm demeaner, an extremely kind heart, an iridescent intellect and boundless energy. These assets led him to be appointed later as Northeast Director of the Department of Agriculture.

His engaging and down-to-earth manner belies his Harvard pedigree and his sense of humor is disarming. As someone who has seen him in both professional roles and in his family setting, I find he has the intellect, skills, demeanor, energy and commitment to be an outstanding state Representative. After twenty years in the Massachusetts Legislature, as both a state Representative and a Senator, I believe I know what it takes to be successful in that setting and James has all the tools, in terms of energy, intellect, experience and personal manner to be an outstanding State Representative. The good people of Hopkinton would be well served by electing him as their next State Representative.

Sen. David P. Magnani (ret.)

Cherry Oca Lane, Framingham, MA