Former state rep Petersen lauded for character, pet causes

Local politicos and friends remembered former state Rep. Douglas Petersen as an early champion of marriage equality, environmentalism and other progressive issues.They also remembered Petersen, who died last week at age 66, as a good, humble and principled man.”He was just a good guy and a good citizen legislator who fought for his constituents and fought based on his moral principles as well,” Essex County Clerk of Courts and former Swampscott Selectman Thomas Driscoll said Sunday. “It’s sad to see; he was way too young to die.”Petersen died July 1, and private funeral services were held over the weekend, according to an obituary from the family.Petersen served from 1991 to 2007 as the democratic state representative for the 8th Essex District, which comprises Marblehead, Swampscott and two precincts in Lynn. Petersen left the Legislature when appointed commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Agriculture by Gov. Deval Patrick in 2007. He resigned from the post in April 2009.During his tenure in the state Legislature, Petersen sponsored or co-sponsored more than 250 bills.”He was a good man with a kind heart,” said state Rep. Lori Ehrlich, D-Marblehead, who was elected to fill Petersen’s seat in 2007. “His legacy in the Legislature includes standing up for equality, good governance, and the environment, often at the peril of his own advancement, and that takes courage.”Longtime Marblehead Democratic Town Committee member Marcia Sweeney especially noted Petersen’s environmental work.”The environment was a prime issue with him, and any advances that the state took on environmental issues, he had a hand in,” Sweeney said.Several people interviewed attributed Petersen’s embrace of these issues, as well as his skills as a legislator, to his early experience as a social worker.”I don’t think he ever lost the social worker in him, which is probably why he got along with so many people and was able to push his agenda the way he did,” Sweeney said.Not that Petersen was able to please everybody.”We clashed on a few things,” admitted Driscoll. “And I always respected his opinion, and we would part on good terms.”Petersen also was roundly criticized in The Daily Item regarding a comment he made at a 2007 Swampscott School Committee meeting.In discussing the disparity in state education funding for Lynn and Swampscott, Petersen said many Swampscott kids would be captains of industry and, therefore, needed Lynn kids to be well educated enough to be good workers.”He caught hell from all of us,” Margaret Somer, Swampscott Democratic Town Committee member, recalled. But she said the gaffe, for which Petersen apologized, was not reflective of the representative’s values.”He was very, very open-minded and collaborative and a lot of fun, he was just a great person,” Somer said. She recalled Petersen would have “telephone listening tours,” where he tried to solicit as many opinions on a policy issue as possible. She also said that his office door was always open to a policy discussion.Richard Feinberg, whose terms on the Swampscott School Committee overlapped with Petersen’s first years in office, said the representative was always receptive.”If I called him, he always, and I mean always, called me within two hours,” Feinberg said. “He called me back and always tried to do what he could to help the school system. ? I thought that he was a very decent person.”