"Medical, business background will help Cape, islands"
My View: By Gail Lese, M.D.

I am running for the state Senate because I am deeply committed to making an important difference for the Cape and islands. As the only physician on Beacon Hill, and with a successful track record in business, I will bring a fresh and innovative perspective to our Legislature and develop solutions that will better our communities.

To accomplish these goals, I ask for your vote on Nov. 2 for the following four reasons:

1.) As a doctor, I have first-hand experience to significantly improve our health-care system: There are 50,000 people, almost one in four of us, without health insurance on the Cape and islands. Prescription drug costs are skyrocketing and seniors living on fixed incomes are having a difficult time making ends meet. This is unacceptable and must be changed. It is unconscionable that 80 percent of the individuals without health insurance are working hard to make a living, yet our current state senator has done nothing to dramatically reduce the number of uninsured on the Cape and islands.

Almost half our $23 billion state budget is spent on health care and human services, yet the system still doesn't work right. I have worked as a physician in emergency rooms and in free clinics for families without health insurance and I know what it is like to look into the face of a child who has not received the medical care they need because they did not have health insurance. With real-world experience as a medical doctor and as a business professional, I will use my background to improve the quality of your health care.

2.) I will use my business experience to better manage our taxpayer dollars: As an experienced business professional, I know what it takes to preserve and protect people's hard-earned income. I take my responsibility to protect people's financial needs extremely seriously.

As a fund manager, my performance was recognized by Business Week as one of the best funds in the United States, which I accomplished within nine months of assuming leadership. I will use my financial background to ensure that every penny of the taxpayers' money is spent wisely and efficiently.

3.) My strong relationship with Gov. Mitt Romney can help bring in more local aid: It is vital that the Cape and islands has a state senator who has a strong and effective relationship with Governor Romney to bring vital community funding back from Beacon Hill.

For example, the Cape had recently been seeking $3.5 million in state funding for the Hyannis Youth and Community Center. This public-private partnership will address pressing societal issues by supporting our children and families and fostering economic development. By working directly with the Governor, I was able to secure full funding for this important project spearheaded and championed by our community leaders.

4.) I support reforming state government and not raising your taxes: Unlike my opponent, who voted for the largest tax increase in Massachusetts history ($1.2 billion), I will not vote to raise your taxes.

Additionally, I will honor the clear will of the citizens of the Cape and islands and work to reduce the state income tax to 5 percent, a measure approved by 70 percent of the voters on the Cape and islands.

I will also work to reform state government. For example, I support merging the Mass Highway Department and the Turnpike Authority, which would have freed up hundreds of millions of dollars. My opponent voted against this common-sense merger, which would eliminate waste and inefficiency. These savings could be used to pay our teachers, invest in our schools, and provide health care to those in need.

I would like to express my deepest appreciation to those I have met along the campaign trail and the many people who are volunteering on my campaign. The Cape and islands can do better on Beacon Hill, and I respectfully ask for your vote.

"Key Senate race brings Romney to Cape"

By Marc Parry
Cape Cod Times (October 22, 2004)

Gov. Mitt Romney campaigned here yesterday to help state Senate candidate Gail Lese in her bid to beat a Democrat whose seat the governor views as one of the most vulnerable in the commonwealth.

Less than two weeks before Election Day, the Republican governor joined Lese...for a hand-pumping jaunt down Main Street. The walk ended in a 10-minute rally on the Village Green.

The race to represent the Cape and Islands district pits Lese, a physician, against incumbent two-term state Sen. Robert O'Leary.

"This is a more vulnerable seat than most," Romney told the Cape Cod Times editorial board yesterday…

Romney praised Lese's experience as a doctor and a former fund manager at Fidelity. He said the first-time candidate has "no ties to special interests."

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“Lese Wins Boston Herald Endorsement”

Reforms win or lose in Senate races . . .
By Boston Herald editorial staff
Friday, October 22, 2004

Among the state Senate challengers who deserve support to add to the pro-reform ranks come January are Gail Bronwyn Lese, a Yarmouth Republican opposing Sen. Robert O'Leary (D-Barnstable) in the Cape and Islands district. Lese, a licensed pediatrician with a Harvard MBA and financial management experience, brings extraordinary credentials to the table, and a real-world grasp of the economic and health care challenges facing working families.

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Gail Lese

Q: Describe a situation where you used your leadership to achieve a significant objective.

A: Working as a young pediatrician in Children's Hospital in Los Angeles, I saw a child whose parents said she had a cold. I knew something wasn't right. It turned out she had been abused by her father, had a life-threatening injury, and I helped save her life. Right after 9/11, working as a mutual fund manager, stocks plunged. I invest for the long term, and by sticking to my principles, my mutual fund was recognized as one of the best in the U.S. based on the return to investors shortly after the terrorist attack.

Q: How do you go about building consensus?

A: The number one thing to do is earn people's trust and respect. Essentially, your word has to mean something and you have to be reliable.

Q: Tell me about a time when your decision went against prevailing opinion and how you handled the opposition.

A: In business, often you have to rely on your instincts. As a financial analyst and mutual fund manager, at one point I thought a stock should be sold, not bought. But it was held by a lot of people in portfolios. I dealt with disagreeing senior analysts by trying to see the situation from their point of view, and speak in a way that yields consensus. It turned out that over time customers lost faith in the company and the stock fell.

Q: How successful was that objective?

A: In the end, I was right in my analysis, and my customers avoided a 70-percent loss in the value of their investment in that stock.

Q: Describe a situation where you had to generate the vision for a group and how you communicated that vision to the group?

A: As a volunteer working with children, I have always wanted to develop plans for prevention. As a physician, it was terrible to take a bullet out of a child. But how do you get children and communities to coalesce to prevent violence against youth? You can't fool kids. They have to trust you. I inspired children to go to school, not to join gangs. It's all about caring about what you do, and that you are the source of caring and concern you say you are. It's about being reliable.

Q: Tell me about a time when you faced conflict on an important issue and how you worked to resolve it.

A: In medicine, often you're faced with conflicting views on diagnosis and treatment. I welcome a debate over what's going on to get the best treatment for a patient. In a medical emergency, you have to get consensus to get everyone working with you and for the patient. And that takes mutual trust and respect, and credit given for teamwork.

Q: Tell me about a situation where you convinced a critical decision-maker to support an initiative.

A: A good example is the Hyannis Youth Center. Gov. Mitt Romney decided to fund the $3.5 million to make this center a reality. I'm proud that I significantly influenced the governor to fully fund the center. Credit also has to be shared with many community leaders and volunteers who have worked long and hard for the center.

Q: What were some of the barriers and how did you gain the decision-maker's support?

A: I had to be persistent and insistent to get to talk to Gov. Romney about the youth center. There are two important issues here. One, it's a tremendous public-private partnership, and I made sure Gov. Romney knew that. The second issue is prevention, to help realize positive results for children, and I talked to him about the tremendous number of children who will benefit from the center.

Q: Many people, politicians, pundits and voters alike say that this is the most important election in a generation. Do you agree or disagree? Why?

A: I think every election is important for the next generation, who you will entrust to lead you for the next several years. Who you pick really means a lot. The person must have a work ethic you trust. You need someone who takes public service extremely seriously, and who cares enough about prevention to serve the best interests of our young people.

Priorities

In order, health care, jobs and the economy.

• Change the state's education funding formula:
  Lese said she wants the formula to be based on family income instead of property values.
• Insuring the uninsured with health care and to ensure people have access to affordable home insurance:
  "I will also work to achieve affordable prescription drug coverage by making drugs affordable here. I can bring leaders of the scientific, medical and drug communities together to bring that about."
• Cut taxes:
  "We need to keep the economy vibrant. I support rolling back our taxes to keep the economy competitive."

Quick take

• Age: 36
• Residence: South Yarmouth
• Personal: Single
• Professional: Campaigning for state senate seat full time
• Education: Harvard Business School, MBA, 1998; Cornell Medical School, M.D., 1993; Lehigh University, bachelor's degree in philosophy and biology, 1989
• Experience: Pediatric residency and private practice in Los Angeles, Calif., 1993-1996; Fidelity Investments fund manager and analyst, 1998 to February 2004; community service work in New York, Los Angeles and Boston

"Politicians Scramble for Credit"
By Kevin Dennehy

“On Friday, Gov. Mitt Romney left intact a $3.5 million appropriation for (the Hyannis Youth & Community Center) in a supplemental budget the Legislature had passed earlier this month. After the Legislature approved the budget, local Democrats feared Romney would veto or reduce the amount of state money earmarked for the project.“

“A source in Romney's administration said Friday that the governor was set to fund the center at only $1 million. But a call from Dr. Gail Lese, the Republican candidate for the Cape and islands seat now held by O'Leary, "changed our mind," the administration source said.”

"The governor and I are both committed to investing in our children and agree that this project sets a good example of how we can best leverage our tax dollars to benefit our community," Lese said.

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“The needle and the damage done”
My View: reader commentary
By Gail Lese, M.D.

“As a physician and a concerned citizen, I applaud the Cape Cod Times for recognizing the need to thoughtfully and meaningfully address the problem of drug addiction in our communities and our state… However, I disagree with Sen. Robert O'Leary's proposed legislation that would make it legal for anyone over the age of 18 to buy hypodermic syringes, needles, or any other instrument adapted for the administration of controlled substances by injection in any pharmacy, over the counter, without a physician's prescription and without any medical care or supervision.

O'Leary's needle-on-demand proposal has several extremely dangerous consequences:

• It eliminates the point of intervention with a human being to offer counseling or education on drug rehabilitation to help someone struggling with drug addiction.
• It eliminates the safeguard against making it significantly easier for people to have access to the injectable mechanism for drugs of abuse like heroin.
• It increases the likelihood that minors, who cannot lawfully drink until the age of 21, will buy, without any supervision, the sole conduit for drug injection.
• Finally, there is no way to ensure the safe disposal of contaminated needles and prevent future harm to others who could become potentially infected with life-threatening diseases like hepatitis or HIV through an accidental needle stick. Used needles would be discarded (or not) at the user's discretion, with significant risk that an abundance of needles would end up in trash collection sites, transfer stations, in our streets, and on our beaches.
• “It is not difficult to envision a scenario in which someone walking the beach accidentally steps on a carelessly discarded needle obscured by the sand. Such accidental needle sticks (even in controlled settings such as hospitals) are a significant public health hazard and a cause of the unintended spread of life-threatening diseases including HIV and hepatitis.”

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“Lese makes Romney’s cut”
By Eric Gershon

“Speaking at a rally for Republican state Senate candidate Gail Lese, Gov. Mitt Romney yesterday said …"I think you'll see me in Gail's district more than once," he said, explaining that he and other party leaders consider her candidacy especially strong. “

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"Elephant Dreams: A Republican Stampede For The State House Is The Democrats' Worst Nightmare"
by Jon Keller

"This time around, the party has recruited candidates who don't fit the old mold. People like Dr. Gail B. Lese, an altruistic 35-year-old poised to take on two-term Cape Cod Senator Robert O'Leary. Lese began her medical career doing volunteer work with the inner-city poor, and became "very pro-MCAS" ... and a Republican herself after a stint tutoring Boston public-school students.

"I really respect the Romney reform message," she says.

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Morningstar Analyst Report
Fidelity Select Food & Agriculture Portfolio
Fund Manager: Gail Lese, M.D.
Morningstar Fund Rating 5 Stars
by Paul Herbert

"Fidelity Select Food & Agriculture Portfolio has been crushing the competition lately."

"It would be unwise to attribute all of the fund's success to being in the right place at the right time: manager Gail Lese has smartly overweighted…citing management's decision to expense stock options..."

"When it comes to picking stocks, manager Gail Lese seeks companies that … have top-quality management."

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Referenced with permission of Morningstar, Inc.

Morningstar Analyst Report
Fidelity Select Food & Agriculture Portfolio
Fund Manager: Gail Lese, M.D.
Morningstar Fund Rating 3 Stars
by Christine Benz

"… This fund has outperformed most peers during the past year. Its 12% one-year return is 40 percentage points ahead of the S&P 500 index's…"

"Manager Gail Lese… seems to have successfully navigated the consumables market. The fund's returns have trumped those of a similarly focused exchange-traded index fund…"

"When it comes to picking stocks manager Gail Lese seeks companies…that have top-quality management."

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Referenced with permission of Morningstar, Inc.

"The Worst May Not Be Over: With Mutual Funds Hit Hard, It's Time To Fine-Tune--Not Bail Out"
by Mara Der Hovanesian

Gail Lese, M.D., Fund Manager
Fidelity Select Food and Agriculture Portfolio

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Referenced with permission of Business Week

Paid for by Lese for State Senate
Copyright 2004