Rep. Jay Kaufman's Public Policy Forum Series

State House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, D-Boston, will be the next guest at Rep. Jay Kaufman’s public policy series, Open House.   It will offer the audience a rare chance to hear directly from the top legislative leader in the 160-member House of Representatives.  DiMasi will discuss the challenges of balancing a $28 billion budget in a recessionary economy.

What will be the impact on local services?  What kind of educational programs might be cut under such a scenario?  How quickly can we turn things around?  How does the Presidential race determine our choices?  The forum, “A Conversation with the Speaker,” will be held Thursday, Oct. 16 at 7:30 PM. at the Depot Building, 13 Depot Square, in Lexington Center.

A lifelong resident of Boston’s North End, DiMasi graduated from Christopher Columbus High School, earned a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Boston College, and a Juris Doctor from Suffolk University Law School.  He served as a Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney before entering private practice and the Legislature.

Open House, Kaufman’s monthly public policy series, was launched in 1995 to provide a forum for discussing the challenges and opportunities facing the Commonwealth. Over its 13 years, the series has addressed issues ranging from reinventing public education to gay marriage, property tax relief to campaign finance reform, the shrinking middle class to stem cell research, the nature of political leadership to the challenges of effecting fundamental change in a democracy.  Open House is produced through a partnership between Kaufman and LexMedia, which records the forums for broadcast in Lexington, Arlington and Woburn.