PM in the News: New Boss — Same or Different Than the Old One?

Issues Committee Chair Jonathan Cohn recently penned an op-ed in CommonWealth about the ascension of Majority Leader Ron Mariano as Speaker of the House. Entitled “Don’t Expect Change for the Better under Mariano, it begins:

All signs point to House Majority Leader Ron Mariano being elected the next speaker of the Massachusetts House.

What does a Mariano speakership mean for a progressive policy agenda in Massachusetts? As Reps. Denise Provost and Jonathan Hecht remind us, he shares the same top-down leadership style as Speaker Bob DeLeo, with an even more conservative ideology.

If we want to get a sense of what a Mariano speakership will be like, it’s useful to look at the process and output of the working groups and task forces he has led. And that doesn’t inspire confidence.

You can read the full piece here.

Jonathan was also quoted on the Speaker change in CommonWealth and The Patriot-Ledger.

Shira Schoenberg, “A Deal-Making Speaker,” CommonWealth, 12/29, 2020:

Jonathan Cohn, issues chair of Progressive Massachusetts, a liberal activist group that has been critical of House leadership, said he believes Mariano was one of the driving forces opposing the passage of the Safe Communities Act, which would restrict state law enforcement officials’ ability to cooperate with federal immigration agents. Cohn said Mariano is “often doing the bidding of industry,” citing as an example a debate over drug pricing policy where Mariano took a pro-pharmaceutical company position. 

Joe DiFazio, “Longtime Quincy Rep. Ron Mariano becomes Massachusetts House speaker,” The Patriot-Ledger, 12/30/2020:

It has long been assumed that the speakership was Mariano’s once DeLeo left office, a conclusion that Johnathan Cohn said is bad for the House. 

“The thing that’s mainly disappointing to me is how it had pretty much all been settled years ago,” said Cohn, co-chairman of the issues committee for Progressive Massachusetts, a liberal activism group. “When it comes to worst-case scenario, it would be that if we end up getting an all-white leadership team that’s even more conservative, and that it becomes even harder to get things through the House, and the House and Senate’s relationship gets worse.”

PM in the News: Two Letters in the Globe

Two PM board members recently had letters to the editor published in the Boston Globe.

Jonathan Cohn, “Mass. should move on Safe Communities Act before session ends,” 12/28/20:

The Globe editorial board is spot-on with its call for ending Bristol County’s 287(g) contract with the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in light of Sheriff Thomas Hodgson’s latest abuses of power (“Time’s up, Sheriff Hodgson,” Dec. 21). Massachusetts is the only state in New England where such contracts exist. Fortunately, we don’t have to wait until the new presidential administration to end them.

A bill called the Safe Communities Act, filed in the Legislature by Representatives Ruth Balser and Liz Miranda and Senator Jamie Eldridge, would end such contracts with ICE and take additional steps to make sure that the rights of our immigrant communities are respected. It was reported out of committee in July, and it deserves a vote before the session runs out.

If we don’t take action soon, Massachusetts will have gone the four years of the Trump administration without passing any new legislation to strengthen the rights of immigrants in our Commonwealth, a sorry reflection of the politics in our so-called deep blue state.

And Mohammed Missouri responded to a misguided column by Globe opinion columnist Joan Venocchi:

Don’t blame the progressives

The 15th Suffolk state representative race was the most hotly contested legislative primary of 2018 (and the most expensive). Voters in the district looked to the State House to find a bold response to the chaos and daily horror show of the Trump administration. They were hoping for bold action to protect immigrants’ rights, ensure a livable planet, and invest in community needs. But despite the high rank of their state representative, Jeffrey Sánchez, they didn’t find that leadership. So they voted him out, as we do in a democracy.

It’s easy to blame progressive activists for any disappointing outcome, as Joan Vennocchi does in her column “With Speaker Mariano, progressives get what they deserve” (Opinion, Dec. 29). But she ignores that Ways and Means chairman Sánchez was himself supporting majority leader Ron Mariano for speaker, and many of Mariano’s supporters pledged to him more than a decade ago (“Long the House’s consummate insider, Ronald Mariano poised to finally lead it,” Page A1, Dec. 27). An alternative outcome, unfortunately, wasn’t in the cards.

Many politicos believe that Mariano’s tenure will be short before he passes it on to someone else. Rather than relitigating old fights, I hope to help build support for a progressive speaker. I invite Joan Vennochi to join me.