Goldblatt hired as Brown’s director of constituent services

Westborough - Selectman Lydia Goldblatt, never more than a step or two removed from the Republican political machine in Massachusetts, is working for the United States’ – and the Bay State’s – newest senator, Scott Brown.

Goldblatt, who began working for Brown in mid-February, is the Massachusetts junior senator’s director of constituent services. Her offic e i s on the 24th floor of the John F. Kennedy Federal Building in Boston.

“I’m on the 6 a.m. train to Boston every morning,” Goldblatt said. “It’s great. I’m very excited about working with Scott.”

Goldblatt said this position is very similar to the one she held in 2003 to 2004, when she was part of then-Gov. Mitt Romney’s staff .

“Scott is very aware that folks throughout the commonwealth voted for him and supported him, not just people inside [interstate] 495, or between Worcester and Boston,” Goldblatt said. “Because of that I’ll be dealing with any needs Scott’s constituents have from opening and reading letters to arranging visits for Eagle scouts to connecting supporters with more complex issues with case workers.”

Goldblatt works directly for Beth Lindstrom, Brown’s campaign director during his successful bid for the senate seat occupied by the late Edward Ted Kennedy, before his death last year. Brown made Lindstrom a member of his senate staff shortly after being elected.

The position of director of constituent services is not the first time Brown reached out to Goldblatt to help with his eff ort.

“I got a call from a member of Scott’s campaign staff in August[2009], but I was in the midst of recovering from my Achilles tendon injury,” Goldblatt said, “and I had to tell them I couldn’t help out. After the election I got a call from Beth Myers [a Brown political advisor] who invited me down to Needham. We talked and one thing led to another and it ended up working out.”

Goldblatt and Myers knew each other from their days working together on Romney’s staff , where Myers served as chief of staff . It was during that time that Goldblatt first met Brown.

Goldblatt said her new position with Brown’s political machine will not affect her work with Westborough’s Board of Selectmen, to which Goldblatt was re-elected in May. Her current term runs until 2012.

“It won’t aff ect my work with the board at all,” Goldblatt said. “I made it clear that was my priority and they are very understanding about that. I usually take the 6 a.m. train into to Boston and the 6 p.m. train out, but on days when I have board meetings I take the 5 p.m. train back to Westborough.”

Goldblatt said she began thinking Brown had a chance to win the Jan. 19 special election for Kennedy’s seat in late December. At the time it was estimated Brown – who ran for the seat as a Republican but considers himself an Independent - trailed Martha Coakley, the Democratic nominee for the seat, by 30 percentage points.

“I remember seeing him speak and saying to myself, ‘I hope people see what I see in this guy,’” Goldblatt said.

And just what was it that Goldblatt saw in Brown?

“That he was a breath of fresh air,” Goldblatt said, “that he was an independent thinker, that he was an honorable person that would go to bat for his constituents.”