Belmont Independent Challenges Brownsberger

Belmont resident Lalig Musserian has spent her entire adult life in public service by helping, educating and mentoring people.

Now she's like to do that in an official way.

On April 27, Musserian took out nomination papers to run against State Rep. William Brownsberger for the 24th Middlesex District seat in the state House of Representatives that covers Belmont and parts of Cambridge and Arlington.

In only two days, Musserian has 70 percent more than the required signatures to be on the ballot in November. Running as an Independent, she's still organizing her campaign and staff.

"I love to help people and want to kick it up a notch," Musserian said. "I'd like to see that decisions are made the right way."

Musserian, who has lived in Belmont for 11 years with her husband, John, and their two sons, believes there's transparency in town or state government but the decision-making process on specific issues is not always clear.

"I want to know about the discussion and decision that goes into a given issue," she said. "Somewhere along the way, people may know the right thing to do but we have to ask if they are doing it."

Musserian said she often gets irritated with the "politics of politics" and cites Belmont roads as an example. "The roads in this town are atrocious," she said. "If we keep spending money for fixing roads, why not do it right the first time?"  

She believes her professional experience, as a program manager for the Project Management Institute, a worldwide professional organization that brings job growth programs to members has taught her the ways to solve problems are often introduced for a particular problem at a specific point in time.

"When the problem is no longer there, the process of solving it can still be in place," she said. "So we need to take a closer look at analyzing the process of problem solving. I have the knowledge of how to do that with my background in business process reorganizing when things happen in an unplanned way."

Musserian has been thinking of running for the seat about a year. "I always dreamed about pursuing my goal of helping a broader range of people but it was in the 'wings' when my children were younger."

Musserian says, now that her sons are old enough, one is a 15-year-old Belmont High School student and the other a 19-year-old BHS graduate, she can pursue her dream of running for public office.

To date, she said, her public service has been primarily in the Armenian community that includes serving as chairman of the Armenian Sisters Academy of Lexington and working at the Senior Center in Watertown Square.

Musserian and her husband moved from Watertown to Belmont specifically because of what they read about the town's excellent school system.

They have loved their years here and are committed to the town, said Musserian.

"Belmont has everything you could want in a small town," she said. "It's a beautiful and historic town."