January 5, 2011 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS, Vol. 157, Pt. 1 131 this provision has been blocked by the federal [From SouthCoastToday.com, Jan. 2, 2011] middle- and working-class students pre- bureaucracy. It is time Congress stood up for MARDEE XIFARAS: SOUTHCOAST WOMAN OF viously disenfranchised in Massachusetts. the American consumer and removed all un- THE YEAR And they convinced them that the most necessary regulations on importing pharma- (By Jack Spillane) cost-effective way to do it was by accepting SNESL’s existing Dartmouth campus as a A bogus study pretending to be an inde- ceuticals. donation. pendent report. Last-minute telephone calls The Prescription Drug Affordability Act also ‘‘If there’s anything we were over the from an incumbent governor twisting arms. protects consumers’ access to affordable med- years, it was determined,’’ said Xifaras. icine by forbidding the federal government The smearing of a small law school’s rep- utation by people on the boards of competing THE STUDENT FACTOR from regulating any Internet sales of FDA-ap- larger schools. Xifaras and the UMass and SNESL boards proved pharmaceuticals by State-licensed And ultimately, the slurring of an entire had one more huge asset: the SNESL stu- pharmacists. region of the state as not having enough of a dents themselves —the primarily working- As I am sure my colleagues are aware, the talent pool to merit a public law school. and middle-class students who had risen up Internet makes pharmaceuticals and other Margaret ‘‘MarDee’’ Xifaras dealt with 25-odd years ago, and with the help of inter- products more affordable and accessible for every conceivable insult and underhanded ested area lawyers, created a fledgling law millions of Americans. However, the federal political tactic when it came to the unsuc- school out of little more than their own government has threatened to destroy this op- cessful 2004–2005 fight to merge the Southern imaginations and desire. New England School of Law with the Univer- tion by imposing unnecessary and unconstitu- After being victimized by the 2005 stealth sity of Massachusetts Dartmouth. But she political campaign, the SNESL Student Bar tional regulations on Web sites that sell phar- did not get down into the gutter with her op- Association hired one of the school’s most maceuticals. Any federal regulations would in- ponents. successful graduates, Lee Blais, and sued evitably drive up prices of pharmaceuticals, Instead, Xifaras, the then-chairman of the Suffolk University, along with a onetime of- thus depriving many consumers of access to SNESL board of trustees, went hack to work ficial of the Romney administration. affordable prescription medications. running the small, private Dartmouth law They sued for nothing less than public cor- In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I urge my col- school in the same determined way that it ruption. leagues to make pharmaceuticals more afford- had operated for more than two decades. They charged that Suffolk and a former She also went to work leading the effort to Romney official turned lobbyist, Charles able and accessible by removing barriers to meticulously document the legal and finan- the importation of pharmaceuticals and pro- Chieppo, had colluded to try to keep the pro- cial case that would make a 2009–2010 effort posed UMass law school from competing with tecting legitimate Internet pharmacies from to absorb the school into UMass Dartmouth a lower-priced public school. needless regulation by cosponsoring the Pre- unassailable. And though the case was never settled, the scription Drug Affordability Act. MarDee Xifaras’ leadership achieved what Board of Higher Education as much as ad- very few SouthCoast political or public offi- f mitted wrongdoing in the merger application cials of any kind have done over the last half process. It agreed to write a ‘‘letter of under- MARDEE XIFARAS: SOUTHCOAST century. She went up against the state’s Bos- standing’’ pledging the state to a fair, rig- WOMAN OF THE YEAR ton-centric power establishment and won. orous and documentable process when, and if And she won hands down. SNESL and UMass ever tried to unite again. For her efforts coordinating the campaign ‘‘They succeeded because of the basic un- HON. BARNEY FRANK to establish a state law school in Massachu- fairness, and violation of due process that OF MASSACHUSETTS setts, a school that has now been located in occurred,’’ Xifaras said. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Southeastern Massachusetts, Margaret D. And because of the tenacity of the students Xifaras is the 2010 Standard-Times Wednesday, January 5, 2011 and their lawyer. SouthCoast Woman of the Year. ‘‘We didn’t allow ourselves to get out-liti- Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, Nominations for the award came from the gated,’’ Xifaras said. the New Bedford Standard Times, an excellent community and members of the newspaper ‘‘Lee Blais, at every turn was doing deposi- staff. Recipients were selected by a news- newspaper, regularly recognizes leaders of the tions, fighting back motions to dismiss, room committee. community that it serves by designating a fighting back motions for dismissal for lack SouthCoast Woman of the Year and a LEARNING LESSONS of standing.’’ SouthCoast Man of the Year. This year’s ‘‘Out of the ’04, ’05 negativity and bad expe- Blais may have been taking the deposi- SouthCoast Woman of the Year is an extraor- rience, came some lessons,’’ Xifaras remem- tions, but it was Xifaras, according to Blais, dinary person, who is a leader in so many bered of that first law school fight. who was the general planning the battle. The impulse of some might have been to ‘‘She’s someone who can plot out a strat- fields of endeavor that I think the Standard sue the private law schools—Suffolk Univer- Times must have been tempted to call her egy and implement a strategy,’’ he said. sity and New England School of Law—that ‘‘She’s one of the most effective leaders I’ve ‘‘Women of the Year.’’ coordinated the effort to prevent UMass ever met.’’ MarDee Xifaras is an able attorney, who from competing with them. Blais also credited Xifaras with having the has been a leader politically, economically, Instead, Xifaras waited for an opportune necessary political skills and vision. educationally, and in civic affairs in general. time when the numbers worked for the es- She understood the politics of the state of Most recently she has been a spearhead in tablishment of a state law school. And then Massachusetts—who could help and who getting the State of Massachusetts to take she coordinated with SNESL Dean Robert couldn’t, what would work and what Ward and UMass Dartmouth Chancellor Jean over the Southern New England Law School, wouldn’t, he said. MacCormack to devise a new financing plan Further, she understood the great ration- creating for the first time in Massachusetts a under which the state law school would be a state university law school, to the great benefit ale for a public law school itself in Massa- self-sustaining arm of the university, need- chusetts—a school that could focus on the of the population of that area, and I believe to ing no assistance from the government. need for lawyers to devote some segment of the practice of law in Massachusetts, by pro- Both savvy and practical, Xifaras hired their careers to public service. viding a source of socially-conscious grad- O’Neil & Associates, the state’s best-wired ‘‘Her skills, not only in the area of politics, uates for years to come. P.R. firm to help her navigate the state’s no- but in the area of public policy, are just in- MarDee Xifaras is an extraordinary force for toriously provincial political waters. She credible,’’ Blais said. a wide range of good causes, and I am de- also kept an eye on her own governing board, re-documenting for them once again the case THE POLITICAL MAVEN lighted that she has been recognized by the as to why SNESL donating $23.5 million Robert Ward, the longtime dean of SNESL, New Bedford Standard Times, but not sur- worth of its own assets to the state made said Xifaras recommended a key change in prised. I’ve had the benefit of her advice, sense for the school’s development in the approach for the second application. counsel and friendship, as did my late and long run. It would be all about UMass and the need much-missed predecessor, Gary Studds, Xifaras’ skill in coalition-building ulti- for a public law school, and not about ad- whose work in this body benefitted enor- mately helped UMass and SNESL build an dressing SNESL’s need for American Bar As- mously from her input, as has mine. iron-clad case that convinced Secretary of sociation accreditation (a process that usu- ally demands the resources of a larger Mr. Speaker, as an example of what citizen- Education Paul Reville, Commissioner of Higher Education Richard Freeland, and fi- school.) ‘‘That subtle twist is the kind of ship is at its best, at a time when we very nally Gov. Deval Patrick himself that a thing that really good lawyers do,’’ said much need that, I ask that the New Bedford UMass law school was the right thing to do. Ward. ‘‘You look into the dominant nar- Standard Times article about Woman of the In effect, they convinced the powers-that- rative and, you sort of find a way to tell your Year MarDee Xifaras be printed here. be to give access to legal education to story in a way that resonates.’’ VerDate Mar 15 2010 12:11 Jan 09, 2014 Jkt 099102 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 0689 Sfmt 0634 J:\BR_BACKUP\E05JA1.000 E05JA1 WREIER-AVILES on DSK5TPTVN1PROD with BOUND RECORD 132 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS, Vol.