Local pols decry lack of political courtesy

State Rep. Kathi-Anne Reinstein, D-Revere, knows what it’s like to deal with an angry electorate.Her father was mayor of Revere and a state lawmaker and even as a child she knew how tough things could get for a public servant.”When I was 3, someone set my mom’s car on fire and I woke up to my house on fire,” she recalled during an interview Tuesday. “We had bodyguards, so I know what that’s like.”She’s also had to call the State Police while serving in the State House or Revere Police in her local office, when dealing with angry members of the public.”It’s scary and we live in a scary world and people are angry,” she said. “But it’s not going to keep me from doing my job, doing what I think is right.”Her comments come three days after Jared Loughner allegedly shot U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in the head during an incident in Tuscon, Ariz., and shot and killed six people, including a 9-year-old girl and a federal judge.Giffords remains in critical condition.President Barack Obama was scheduled to arrive in Arizona today for a memorial service.Asked if she was personally scared by the killings, Reinstein said, “I have to say it was really disturbing. I was scared that day. The fact that could happen is scary ? but you have to decide are you going to live in your house and never go out, then what’s the point of living.”She’s particularly upset about the killing of the 9-year-old girl, who was attending the event where the shootings occurred.”When I was a little girl my father took me to these kinds of things,” she said. “Here’s this little girl getting involved in the student council and she loses her life.”Like others, Reinstein hopes the killings will inspire a more civil political debate at the local, state and national level.”People can disagree agreeably, we don’t have to agree, but we need to respect each others opinions and that’s the thing that’s getting lost right now,” she said. “And people have to remember that just because you’re an elected official, doesn’t mean you or someone you love isn’t going through the same thing you’re going through.”Growing up in Revere, where “politics is a contact sport,” doesn’t change the way she feels about the need to engage in a more civil political debate.”I hope it’s a wake-up call and I hope that people don’t just act concerned for two weeks and then go back to being venomous,” she said.State Sen. Thomas McGee, D-Lynn, also stressed that the killings highlight the need to end the climate of angry political discourse in the nation.”Nobody knows what caused that individual to do that, but I do think we really need to have a civil debate about the issues we face,” McGee said. “There’s no reason that we can’t have a passionate debate in a civil way and still respect each other.”McGee has never felt threatened personally by a constituent, but he knows how angry and passionate people can feel about the issues.”We’ve had issues where people feel heated and come on very strongly,” McGee said. “Some of the issues we deal with people are very passionate about ? you always get people who are angry and some are very angry on individual issues, it’s not just in Congress, it’s in the state Legislature too.”But he doesn’t think many lawmakers are going to change the way they interact with the people they represent.”The most important part of being an elected office is being accessible to your constituents, that’s not something that you can really change,” McGee said. “It’s important to understand the divergent views that are out there and to be out and available for people to talk to you.”State Rep. Steven Walsh, D-Lynn, agreed with his colleagues about the need to “discuss how to have a public discourse about issues that is constructive, where we can disagree without being disagreeable.”He called the suspected shooter a “sick individual,” who is in a different league than the voters who are angry and feel that the government is not helping them.”People are out of work and they’re hurting and wh