Hey, who’s the young radical in this video interview on Masslive saying, “Capitalism isn’t working for the masses”?

Why, it’s former City Solicitor Pete Fenton.

Fenton was one of several people stopped in downtown Springfield the other day for man-in-the-street interviews about the government shutdown. He spoke about the economic pressures caused by the shutdown and the larger dysfunction that’s landed us where we are. “Government has to work for the masses for it to work,” he said. “Right now, I question whether it is.”

I’ve always liked Fenton; he was one of the few people in the Albano administration who was nice to me—and, more important, he always made sure I received public documents I was looking for when others in City Hall were, shall we say, less forthcoming. So I’m happy to issue him a pardon for indulging in a little name-dropping in his interview, especially given the sass in his comment: “I told Richie [Neal]: You solved the problem in Ireland, now solve the problem in America.”