CommonWealth: A Secretive Committee Process

PM Issues Committee chairman Jonathan Cohn was quoted in Shira Schoenberg’s new CommonWealth piece on the MA House’s secretive committee process:

Jonathan Cohn, head of the issues committee for the liberal organizing group Progressive Massachusetts, voiced dismay at the lack of transparency and said he has also had mixed experiences – able to get vote totals from some committees, but not from others.

“The problem with the system as it exists is that legislators are able to kill bills giving everyone clean hands afterwards,” Cohn said. “It’s people’s jobs to take votes. They should be willing to defend those votes to their constituents.”

According to Cohn’s research, 26 states make committee votes public on a legislative website.

Boston Globe: Targeting the “Sausage-Making” of Boston Politics

The Boston Globe’s Milton Valencia reported on the efforts to take over ward committees in Boston with diverse and progressive counter-slates:

“People are ready to embrace that Boston has shifted, and let’s make it shift in more ways,” said Rachel Poliner, of the Roslindale and West Roxbury chapter of Progressive Massachusetts. She said the independent growth of the Fresh Slate campaigns in separate neighborhoods shows a citywide desire for change.

Bay State Banner: Taking over Ward Committees

Kenneal Patterson, “Progressives push for takeovers of Boston ward committees,” Bay State Banner (1/29/20)

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When Massachusetts voters head to the polls on Tuesday, March 3, most will have their minds fixated on their presidential candidate of choice. But as fierce as the 12-way race for the party nomination is, many Boston voters will face even more heated battles at the bottom of the ballot, where dozens of candidates are vying for seats on their local ward committees.

“People need to know that the confusion on the rest of the ballot is worth paying attention to,” said Rachel Poliner, an organizer with Progressive West Roxbury and Roslindale, who is part of an effort to diversify the Ward 18 Democratic Committee.

The Hyde Park-based Ward 18 is one of four in Boston where insurgent progressive slates of candidates are seeking to unseat incumbent members in the once-every-four-years committee elections. The other committees are Ward 1 in East Boston, Ward 3 in downtown Boston and Ward 9 in the South End and Roxbury.

Poliner said that in the last presidential primary, 74% of Ward 18 voters left at least some of the ward votes blank, indicating a lack of interest in the contest. She stressed the importance of ward committees, emphasizing their direct connection to neighborhoods across Massachusetts.

“The ward committee can do a lot,” Poliner said. “They’re supposed to be the grassroots of the party.”

Take Action: The MA Senate Votes on Climate Action This Week

This decade — the 2020s — will be the decade in which our collective actions determine whether or not we’ll continue to have an inhabitable planet. And that means we need to start taking action–fast.

Tomorrow, the Massachusetts State Senate will be voting on omnibus climate legislation (for a good overview, read this).

The bill is strong in many ways, but it can be bolder and more equitable.

And that’s where you come in.

Can you call your state senator today in support of the amendments below?

100% Renewable Energy

  • #53 2035 Renewable Portfolio Standard (Eldridge) – Increases the RPS to 100% by 2035 and prevents wood and trash burning from being eligible in the RPS

Environmental Justice

  • #11 Regulations to Protect Low Income Households (Friedman) – Adds in language about low and moderate income protections 
  • #89 Giving Energy Sector Workers a Voice (Feeney) – Adds language to protect workers displaced by advancements in the renewable sector
  • #105 DPU mandate (Chang-Diaz) – Adds “equity” to the DPU’s mission statement
  • #113 Energy efficiency advisory council (Eldridge) – Adds environmental justice and youth representation to the energy efficiency commission 

Equitable Investment in Green Infrastructure

  • #80 Re-investing in greenhouse gas emission reduction, and our communities (Chang-Diaz) – Requires that at least 30% of revenue generated from a market-based mechanism be spent on green infrastructure and at least 40% of that revenue benefit low and moderate income people

Other Amendments that Support the Mass Power Forward Coalition’s Vision

  • #33 Net Zero Stretch Code Improvements (Comerford) – Pushes up the implementation date for the net zero stretch code
  • #54 Inclusion of combustion of fuel in emissions count (Eldridge) – Requires that burning any combustible fuel be counted towards state’s emissions

Take Action:

(1) Find your State Senator’s email address here, and then email them to urge them to support the amendments listed above.

(2) Follow up by calling your State Senator and ask that they support the amendments that you emailed them

Here’s a sample script:

My name is [ first name], and I live in [town/city].   I am with a broad coalition of environmental groups called Mass Power Forward and we’re calling about Senate climate legislation, specifically, S.2477 and amendments that have been filed to that bill. I sent an email to your office with the amendment numbers that achieve our goals of Environmental Justice, 100% clean and renewable energy for all, and creating equitable investments through carbon pricing.  

HuffPost and The Nation Tackle the MA Senate Primary

“Joe Kennedy III Is an Insider, Not an Insurgent” — Maia Hibbett, The Nation (1/23/20)

 “I think [Kennedy] realizes that with more people organizing here—and Massachusetts turning more progressive in the next few years—he would probably not have a shot if he waited,” Missouri said. According to Jonathan Cohn, a chair with the grassroots organizing group Progressive Massachusetts (which is waiting to survey its members before endorsing a candidate), “In his launch video a few months ago, [Kennedy] talked about that rhetoric of urgency, seemed to be evoking an Ayanna Pressley ‘change can’t wait’ mantra, although that hasn’t really been his legislative style.” ….


According to Cohn, “the political goodwill of Kennedy’s last name in many ways neutralizes the incumbent advantage.” It’s likely, too, that it helped drum up a slate of endorsements: Last week, 18 House Democrats announced their support for Kennedy. But endorsements, Cohn said, “only have power if they’re actually put to work.

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“Progressive Leader’s Endorsement Of Kennedy In Senate Primary Rankles Some Activists” — Daniel Marans, HuffPost (1/19/20)

A lot of people in Massachusetts, even if they like primary challenges in general, are irritated with the idea of a very drawn out, expensive primary battle,” said Jonathan Cohn, chair of the elections committee of Progressive Massachusetts, a statewide left-wing group, which has yet to endorse in the Senate race. 

The left’s most specific knock on Kennedy is likely his refusal to join the House’s single-payer health care bill until March 2019. Markey, who is a co-sponsor of Sanders’ Senate bill, has backed single-payer legislation since 2009, when he was in the House.

“I don’t know [Kennedy] as pushing the ball forward on issues and I know on something like single payer there was a lot of organizing that it took to get him to that position,” Cohn said. “The question for Massachusetts voters is: Who is it easier to push?”

CommonWealth: A New Year’s Resolution

PM Issues Committee chair Jonathan Cohn and Act on Mass co-founder Matt Miller penned an editorial for CommonWealth calling on progressive state reps to stand for more roll call votes:

THERE WAS SOMETHING different about the start of this legislative session in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. It wasn’t the composition: Yes, Democrats did manage to flip two seats, but a slightly more overwhelming super-majority isn’t much of a sea change.

It was that Democrats were actually willing to stand up and demand a recorded vote on something.

On January 30, a handful of Democrats committed to demand recorded votes on a series of transparency amendments from Rep. Jon Hecht of Watertown. The content of the amendments would have been noncontroversial to the average voter—giving representatives more time to read bills and amendments, publishing the testimony that interest groups submit on bills, and posting the roll call votes taken behind closed doors in committees online. Simple, right?

Representatives spoke both in favor and against each amendment, and they took a roll call vote. Although the amendments unfortunately went down, the public process is how most people imagine that democracy works: Legislators debate vigorously and then go on record for what they believe in.

But that has become exceedingly rare.

Boston Globe: A Contested Mayoral Campaign?

Milton Valencia, “Will Michelle Wu run for mayor of Boston? And can she win?,” Boston Globe (11/26/2019)

“I get the sense that there’s some bubbling up of energy,” said Rachel Poliner of the Roslindale and West Roxbury chapter of Progressive Massachusetts, which endorsed Wu. She pointed out efforts to organize new slates of progressive-minded candidates for ward committees in Hyde Park and East Boston, to unseat the traditional Democratic establishment.

“If we’re talking about the challenges the city faces and what needs to be done,” she said, “then we need people who think big.”

The Student Opportunity Act is a Win. Let’s Make it Better.

Four years ago this very month, the Foundation Budget Review Commission highlighted how the state has been shortchanging public schools due to an outdated funding formula.

Because of the advocacy of teachers, students, parents, community members, and YOU, that formula will finally get fixed.

The Student Opportunity Act will provide $1.5 billion per year in new school funding to help the students who need it the most.

Tomorrow, when the MA Senate votes on the bill, we have an opportunity to strengthen it so that this once-in-a-generation bill is as strong as possible.

For that to happen, your senator needs to hear from you–to hear that you support the bill’s passage and support the following amendments:

  • #17 (Targeted Improvement Plans), which increases community and educator involvement in school districts’ plans to reduce disparities — and requires charter schools to create such plans as well
  • #19 (Charter Cap Reimbursement), which caps the number of charter schools and charter school seats for any year in which the state fails to fully fund the charter school mitigation account.
  • #27 (Analyze Impact of Proposition 2 1/2), which requires a study of the impact on this regressive tax law on municipalities’ ability to provide a high-quality education to all students
  • #53 (Ensuring Proportional Phase-In), which makes sure that all of the updates get phased in at the same pace so that low-income students don’t get left behind
  • #61 (Charter School Reimbursement Accountability), which requires the Commonwealth to draw funding from charter schools to ensure full reimbursement to public schools
  • #63 (Following Through On Our Commitments), which makes sure that the Legislature fully funds charter reimbursements.

Find your senator’s email and phone number here. And then tell them to support the Student Opportunity Act as well as amendments #17, #19, #27, #53, #61, and #63 so that we can deliver on our promise to all students.

Can we count on you to make that call or send that email?

Let’s Bring Election Day Day Registration to Massachusetts.

VOTE

Today is National Voter Registration Day. It’s also Election Day for cities like Boston, Chelsea, Lawrence, Lowell, and Taunton. 

With our 20-day voter registration cutoff, the last day to register, or update your registration, was all the way back in the beginning of September. By the time that a graduate in a new apartment, a young family seeking more affordable rent or more space, or a retiree looking to downsize may have found out that an election was even happening, they risked being shut out of participation.

That’s neither just nor necessary. 

Other states, including many of our neighbors, have realized this problem and eliminated a registration cutoff altogether. Maine has allowed eligible voters to register on Election Day since 1973. New Hampshire has since 1996. And Connecticut and Vermont eliminated their registration cutoff dates more recently.

Election Day Registration helps leads to more accurate voting rolls, better experiences at the polls, and even increased turnout. It’s a win-win all around. 

Can you call your state legislators today to urge them to support Election Day Registration (S.396 / H.685)?

Look up your state representative and state senator here to find their contact information and find out whether they’re already on board. 

And then make a quick call or send a quick email. Here’s a sample: 

Dear Legislator, 

As voting rights are under attack in other states, we need to strengthen the right to vote here at home. That means making sure that all eligible voters who want to cast a ballot on Election Day are able to participate. 

Massachusetts’s 20-day registration deadline, however, denies thousands of eligible voters the right to vote. It is arbitrary, unjust, and unnecessary, and our neighbors in Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Vermont have already done away with their voter registration deadlines. 

I urge you to support legislation bringing Election Day Registration to Massachusetts (S.396/H.685). 

Thank you, 

[Your name]

Our democracy is strongest when everyone is able and empowered to participate. Let’s make that happen.

“Sexual Harassment Occurs in the State House every single day.”

The #MeToo movement brought national attention to how pervasive sexual assault and sexual harassment are across institutions and industries, but anyone who ever worked or advocated in the Massachusetts State House already knew.

As State Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa (D-Northampton) said in a recent article, “Sexual harassment occurs in the State House every single day.” 

And that needs to change. 

Massachusetts residents deserve a truly representational government, with legislative members and staff representing the full diversity of the Commonwealth. For that to happen, everyone must feel safe and respected at work.

Just as the government should be a model employer, the State House should be a model workplace, setting an example in terms of both rules and norms. 

A first step? Passing An Act promoting equality and respect in the legislature (S.1898 / H.3572), a bill from Rep. Sabadosa and Sen. Becca Rausch which would create an independent commission to investigate and report on complaints of workplace and sexual harassment in the Massachusetts Legislature.

Find your legislator’s email here, and let them know that it’s time to start taking workplace harassment seriously. 

Sabadosa and Rausch also filed a resolution in support of their bill at the Massachusetts Democratic Party convention. If you’re headed to Springfield, make sure to vote yes. 

A toxic culture won’t change on its own, but you can help change it.