Eight members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation have taken a page out of Gov. Deval Patrick's very thin playbook dedicated to helping the fishermen by penning a letter to the wonderfully alliterative Commerce Secretary, Penny Pritzker, urging PP to get off the dime and get the $75 million in fishing disaster aid rolling to the affected areas _ and on a state-by-state basis rather than regionally.

"While we understand and appreciate the efforts made by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) since January to find a compromise proposal to disperse the disaster relief funding to Northeast states, there appear to be fundamental differences that will be difficult to reconcile in a regional solution," said the letter dated April 22. "Further delay in disbursing the federal disaster assistance would impose an unacceptable burden on Massachusetts fishermen and fishing-related businesses that have already been waiting years for help in dealing with the commercial fishery failure."

The letter is signed by Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey, as well as Reps. John Tierney, Stephen F. Lynch, Niki Tsongas, Joseph P. Kennedy, William R. Keating and Katherine M. Clark. Interestingly, the Western Mass. congressional cousins _ Reps. Richard Neal and James McGovern _ were non-signatores, as was Rep. Michael Capuano. I guess they don't eat fish west of Worcester or in the urban canyons of Capuano's district.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times>>