PM in the News: State Senate Considers Ending Term Limits for Senate Presidency

Jennifer Smith, “Key lawmaker proposes ending term limits for Senate president,” CommonWealth, February 7, 2023.

Jonathan Cohn, political director for the left-wing grassroots group Progressive Massachusetts, voiced concern that eliminating term limits for the Senate president would be another step moving the Senate closer to the House in the way it does business. 

The past few years have seen “what I would call a House-ification of the Massachusetts Senate,” said Cohn, “operating with a greater concentration of power that we have, in recent years, more attributed to the Massachusetts House, and now possibly embracing its style of governance.”

Boston Globe on Healey & Criminal Justice Reform

Samantha Gross and Matt Stout, “Healey spent her career working in law. But questions remain as to how she’ll navigate criminal justice issues on Beacon Hill.,” Boston Globe, February 5, 2023.

“I am hoping we can get some reform-minded people in there, so we can make the changes that need to happen. The entire system, the entire culture, everything needs to be completely overhauled,” said Caroline Bays, board chair of Progressive Massachusetts. “This is a new job for her, this is a fresh start.”

PM Scorecard in the News

“Healey’s partners in the Legislature skew to the center,” MASSterlist, January 12, 2023.

Left-leaning Democrats have been wandering around the State House in recent days looking for bread crumbs….crumbs that will lead them to a conclusion on whether Gov. Maura Healey will be a progressive champion in the Corner Office, or govern more from the center.

While it’s way too soon to be making judgments on Healey’s progressive bonafides as governor, it’s not too soon to consider who she will be working with and what it might take for her to be successful.

Progressive Massachusetts published its legislative scorecard yesterday grading lawmakers in the House and Senate based on votes they took during the 2021-2022 session.

The results show a decidedly centrist Legislature where – left’s face – the bulk of the decisions about what will and won’t get done on Beacon Hill get made. A plurality in both the House and Senate earned Cs, and more than half of lawmakers in each branch (97 in the House and 22 in the Senate) were given a grade of C or lower.

Only 11 lawmakers in the House and Senate earned As from the group, and of those only six are returning for the new session – Sens. Jamie Eldridge, Patricia Jehlen and Becca Rausch and Reps. Mike Connolly, Dan Sena and Erika Uyterhoeven.

That means Healey is going to have to work with a relatively moderate Legislature. Senate President Karen Spilka was not given a grade because of the infrequency with which she votes, while last session’s Senate Ways and Means Chairman Michael Rodrigues got a B-.

On the House side, Speaker Ron Mariano and his Ways and Means Chairman Aaron Michlewitz both received a C+.

Some of the faces have changed to start this new session, but that’s unlikely to move the needle much.

Progressive Massachusetts policy director Jonathan Cohn noted the “strong dynamic of legislators voting lockstep with the speaker,” which led to 45 House Democrats receiving the same score as the speaker.

“We are looking forward to the new legislative session,” Cohn said. “At the end of the day, legislators decide what votes we can score by what recorded votes they request and what bills they advance. We hope that the return of unified Democratic governance inspires the Democratic majorities to expand their policy ambitions.”

PM in the News: “Healey in the Middle” | Axios

Mike Deehan, “Healey in the Middle,” Axios, November 28, 2022.

“Jonathan Cohn from Progressive Mass. told Axios environmentalists expect Healey to go further than Baker on implementing climate laws already approved by lawmakers…..

  • “I don’t think there has been much clarity on policy issues,” Cohn said.
  • Cohn and other progressives are watching closely at who Healey puts on her transition teams and in her cabinet for hints at how aggressively progressive the new administration will be on issues like education and housing.”

Making sense of the Massachusetts midterms | The Justice

Noah Risley, “Making sense of the Massachusetts midterms,” The Justice, November 15, 2022.

Jonathan Cohn, the policy director at Progressive Mass, a grassroots activism organization, felt Healey had not been “as direct in her policy proposals” as he would have liked. In a Nov. 14 email to the Justice, he elaborated that he was hopeful about the Healey/Driscoll team, and said they care far more about “climate action, reproductive rights, public schools, and public transit than [Governor] Baker does.” Cohn said Baker “tends to get a pass” for right-wing beliefs due to a “boring congeniality” and that he “enables the worst instincts” of the Massachusetts legislature, saying they can “always use the real or imagined threat of a veto as an excuse for inaction.” Cohn hopes that with Healey as Governor, the Legislature will embrace new opportunities to deliver on Democratic priorities. For instance, Cohn said that his organization plans to push for more ambitious legislation to counteract the “inertia” of inaction in the Legislature.  

PM in the News: What to expect when you’re expecting Maura Healey

Adam Reilly, “What to expect when you’re expecting Maura Healey,” WGBH, November 9, 2022.

The anticipatory goodwill has its limits. Jonathan Cohn, the policy director of Progressive Massachusetts, acknowledges that Healey will be (from his vantage point) better than Baker on a number of issues, from abortion rights to the environment to driver’s licenses for unauthorized immigrants. Yet Healey’s unwillingness, on the campaign trail, to speak frankly about where she parts ways with Baker left him perplexed.

“I have found it kind of strange that she doesn’t even go for low-hanging fruit when trying to describe how she would be different than Charlie Baker,” Cohn said.

PM in the News: Immigration Justice Ballot Measure Tests Massachusetts Progressivism

Tisya Mavuram, “Immigration Justice Ballot Measure Tests Massachusetts Progressivism,” The American Prospect, November 2, 2022.

“For many voters, the idea that everybody who is driving should be licensed and insured just makes sense,” Progressive Massachusetts Political Director Jonathan Cohn told the Prospect.

….

Despite these challenges, Cohn remains optimistic about the coalition behind the Yes on 4 campaign. “It’s important to make sure that your legislative campaigns are done in such a way that you build an organizing apparatus to not only win legislation but to protect legislation,” he said. “Passing a bill is the first step.”

PM in the News: “Maura Healey Looks to Have a Lock on the Massachusetts Governorship, But …”

Gabrielle Gurley, “Maura Healey Looks to Have a Lock on the Massachusetts Governorship, But …,” The American Prospect, September 15, 2022, https://prospect.org/politics/maura-healey-looks-to-have-a-lock-on-the-massachusetts-governorship/.

“The way I describe the Massachusetts legislature’s evolution over the past decade is that they have gone from doing things that are actively harmful to things that are woefully insufficient,” says Jonathan Cohn, policy director for Progressive Massachusetts, a statewide political advocacy group. “There is a certain type of conservatism bred out of inertia, risk avoidance, lack of engagement on policy on an individual level and the fact that the most powerful interests militate in favor of the status quo. Not an outright ‘big C’ conservativism like a Republican legislature, but a status quo bias in operation.”

….

“Under a Republican governor power resides within the legislature, they set the agenda: They can ignore whatever the governor asks them to do because, at the end of the day, they can pull together the votes for what they want to do regardless,” says Cohn. “[A] Democratic governor assumes that the legislature should pass the Democratic governor’s priorities, which takes power away from the Speaker and away from the Senate president.”

WBUR on Maura Healy’s Run for Governor — And What Progressives Think

Anthony Brooks, “Maura Healey could be the next governor. Her ties to Mass. begin with a surprising backstory,” WBUR, June 9, 2022.

But a number of progressives say Healey is too conservative on some issues, including criminal justice. For example, they point out that Healey pushed to expand the state’s wire tapping law; she supported no-knock warrants and facial recognition software in some circumstances.

Jonathan Cohn, policy director for the group Progressive Massachusetts, is among those critics. The group has endorsed Chang-Díaz for governor, and Cohn says Healey sides with law enforcement too often and is too comfortable working within the current criminal justice system — instead of fighting to reshape it.

“If inequities are baked into a system and you’re accepting the system as it is, you’ll never fully address them,” Cohn said. “Because she’s largely operating as a law enforcement official.”

Boston Globe: “Mass. Democrats set to gather for convention, hopes high to expand their grip on power this fall”

Matt Stout, “Mass. Democrats set to gather for convention, hopes high to expand their grip on power this fall,” Boston Globe

“The type of voter who pays attention to all of the constitutional offices really early are a subset of a subset. When you have those people, you go in knowing there’s a large pool of people who are undecided,” said Jonathan Cohn, policy director for the group, Progressive Massachusetts. “It ups the stakes.”