April 23, 2023
Re: If Sara Bengualid Goldstein only knew about greed-ball Dan Bosley's inequitable politics
Sara Bengualid Goldstein wrote an op-ed in the MetroWest Daily News publicly advocating for the Massachusetts State Legislature to make funding for free school meals for all students a permanent public policy. But if Sara Bengualid Goldstein only knew about greed-ball Dan Bosley's inequitable politics then she would understand why it is still a temporary policy.
I have studied greed-ball Dan Bosley for decades of my adult life. He is a retired North Adams State Representative who ran for Berkshire County Sheriff to try to double his state pension, but he lost the 2010 election to Tom Bowler. While Dan Bosley retired from Beacon Hill, like most state lawmakers in Boston, Dan Bosley never left Beacon Hill. Dan Bosley, who has residences in both North Adams and Boston, collects his public state pension plus public perks, and on top of that, Dan Bosley earns a 6-figure salary as a registered lobbyist on Beacon Hill.
Dan Bosley supports (voluntary) regressive taxation schemes such as the multibillion-dollar Massachusetts State Lottery and the like because he makes money when the low- to moderate-income common people pay more and more of their limited financial resources in state taxes so that he is able to lobby for millions of dollars in additional tax breaks for the wealthy top 1 percent. When Dan Bosley was a State Rep. many years ago now, he sponsored a secretive rider to state legislation to give big businesses in and around Boston billions of dollars in state tax breaks. While "The Bosley Amendment" failed, it still is the single largest state tax break proposal in the history of state government in Massachusetts.
Dan Bosley is being praised during this rainy "April Showers" Spring weekend for opposing a proposed homeless shelter for around 50 homeless families in Massachusetts that would be in a building on the MCLA campus in North Adams. I seem to stand alone in criticizing Dan Bosley's op-ed in the Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle) rag (newspaper). I believe that the government, including Beacon Hill, should use their limited public funds to Invest in People, while Dan Bosley sees my belief in ending homelessness and hunger as an obstacle to his greedy pursuit of the Almighty Dollar.
Jonathan A. Melle
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"Too many children are hungry. So let's make free school meals permanent"
Sara Bengualid Goldstein, Op-Ed, Special to the MetroWest Daily News, April 23, 2023
On March 26, Gov. Maura Healey tweeted: “Free school meals mean full stomachs, more time in the morning and more money back in the pockets of parents…” Healey’s 2023-24 budget includes funding for free school meals for all students, but the future of free school meals remains precarious.
This is merely a Band-Aid fix; it extends the program for one year without any further commitment. And previous efforts to make this program permanent have been unsuccessful. We can’t pretend that child hunger only occurred during COVID-19, and that the problem will now magically go away. In Massachusetts, 1 in 4 children are hungry. An Act Relative to Universal School Meals aims to make permanent a policy that began in the COVID-19 era — providing free school meals to all Massachusetts children, no matter their family's income. The bill was proposed in the last legislative session and never passed; we can’t allow partisan politics to let this happen again.
Providing food for children should not be controversial. From all perspectives, it’s a good thing. For administrators, it means less work processing paperwork to assess which students qualify for free or reduced-price meals and chasing down overdue charges. For teachers, healthy, well-fed students have better classroom behavior and make for a more productive learning environment. And for parents, free school meals help families save, on average, $1,200 a year.
The benefits to children are critical. Universal free school lunches combat the stigma associated with receiving government-subsidized food and help hungry students feel comfortable eating in the cafeteria. Due to the short-term universal free school meals program, Massachusetts has about 56,000 more children eating lunch each day. Hungry students are impacted in many areas — they have lower math and reading test scores, endure challenges to their emotional well-being, and develop concerning health outcomes.
On its own, the need to feed hungry children should indicate the crucial importance of universal free school meals, but opponents still resist this bill on financial grounds. This pushback is simply not grounded. The positive financial benefits of free school meals vastly outweigh the price tag. The program cost, at $175 million, represents just 0.33% of Massachusetts' budget.
It's natural to worry about an increase in taxes, but this program doesn't do that. Massachusetts has been funding this program since 2020, and we continue to run a surplus. And starting this year, the new millionaire's tax is estimated to provide $1 billion to $2 billion a year in extra tax revenue for transportation and education. That extra money will benefit all of Massachusetts, as it will function as an economic stimulus. Massachusetts can afford free school meals for all without a significant financial burden. The financial counter-argument is weak, at best.
I have described the benefits to school administrators, parents, teachers and students, as well as how this program is proven to be successful and financially viable, so how could a legislator reasonably oppose this bill? Is stopping childhood hunger really that hard to support?
What is holding legislators back is an outdated conservative fear of expanding any government program. While universal school meals, on the surface, might just seem to be expanding the current subsidized school meal system, it just simplifies and betters an already existing school meal distribution process. Viewing this bill as just another liberal attempt to expand services is ridiculous.
Now let’s enter a thought experiment: What if this program was a simple expansion of benefits? Let’s remember what the benefits are: feeding hungry children and helping our school system. These are basic services for a vulnerable population. Come on.
Politicians need to focus on improving the quality of life of their constituents and not simply oppose a bill because it sounds “woke.” Let’s hope that child hunger, if anything, can make legislators forget their liberal-phobia and remember to care for their constituents. Reach out to your representatives to let them know that you support An Act Relative to Universal School Meals and that you count on them to vote yes on this bill.
Sara Bengualid Goldstein, of Waltham, is a student at Brandeis University who is pursuing a degree in inequality and social policy, with a minor in economics. She has spent many years volunteering with school-aged children and has worked with two Waltham organizations that have given her insight into her community.
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"Online lottery"
The Boston Herald, Letter to the Editor, April 24, 2023
It’s bad enough that Massachusetts has legalized sports gambling allowing people to use credit cards and debit cards. But now the idea to allow people to play the lottery is even dumber. Currently you cannot use credit or debit cards to play the lottery in person so why should you be allowed to online?
Paul J. Baranofsky
Waltham
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April 26, 2023
Hello greed-ball Dan Bosley,
Did you see my new blog page whereby I put a picture of lottery tickets above your photo and words surrounding the word GREED below your photo?
I am NOT a Marxist. Karl Marx wrote his Communist essays during an era when there was still Slavery in the U.S.A. Communism during his life meant Communitarianism whereby the workers owned the land, property, farms and factories in the Community that they lived in so that they would not be exploited by the Financial, Corporate and Ruling Elites. Communism did not mean authoritarianism that we have witnessed in Communist countries well after Karl Marx died in the 19th Century. Critics of Karl Marx omit that most of the Founding Fathers owned Slaves, stole land from the Native Americans, and did not write the word Capitalism anywhere in the classical documents that our nation is founded on. All of these people and events took place in a very different time than we now interpret it all. To be clear, Jon Melle, does not support Karl Marx and his Communist writings. Jon Melle does not support that most of the Founding Fathers owned Slaves, stole land from the Native Americans, and lived in an agrarian society that had little to nothing to do with 20th and 21st Century Capitalism. Jon Melle will never support Communist countries because they have killed hundreds of millions of innocent people and Peoples. Jon Melle will never support Fascist countries because they have committed the EVILEST genocides, including the tragic Holocaust, in human history. Jon Melle does not believe that the U.S.A. is a capitalist nation because it was not founded as such and the Financial, Coporate and Ruling Elites all rely on taxpayer-funded bailouts. What does Jon Melle believe? Jon Melle believes that from the beginning of human history to the future end of human history, the system is run by the Iron Rule of Oligarchy, which means that the elites have all of the power, while the rest of us have no choice but to follow the Oligarchs' rule. The Iron Rule of Oligarchy applies to every form of government, institution and group that ever existed in the world. What does a Have Not do about the Iron Rule of Oligarchy? I support public advocacy to help and invest in people, communities and the common good. I oppose greed-balls such as lobbyist Dan Bosley, who writes letters and op-eds that fall in line with the Oligarchs who line his pockets with MONEY, which is all that he cares about!
Jonathan A. Melle
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April 29, 2023
Re: Beacon Hill lawmakers in the House pass a state budget full of tax giveaways for the elites
Hello, Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,
Thank you for this week's political email about Beacon Hill lawmakers in the House passing a state budget full of huge tax giveaways for the elites. Please allow me to explain how Beacon Hill lawmakers do DISSERVICES to the common people. They always raise state taxes and spending, especially via regressive taxation schemes such as the multibillion-dollar state lottery SCAM and tell the common people it is for the children, families, social services, public school districts, local aid and so on, but it is all a ruse. Beacon Hill lawmakers use the time old BAIT and SWITCH routine by using the common people's hard-earned tax dollars, especially from the aforementioned lottery SCAM to giveaway huge tax breaks to the financial, corporate and ruling elites.
While Beacon Hill has registered lobbyists who earn 7-figure salaries to legally bribe the fictional Massachusetts State Representative Sellout Shakedown, greed-ball lobbyist Dan Bosley is Exhibit A in how the state government really operates. Greed-ball lobbyist Dan Bosley collects his public state pension plus perks as a retired North Adams State Representative to Beacon Hill, but greed-ball Dan Bosley never really left Beacon Hill because he is a greedy registered lobbyist who earns a 6-figure salary there (and beyond). Of course, this is the same greed-ball Dan Bosley who writes letters and op-eds to the news media praising the elites, while also criticizing well-intentioned politicians such as former Berkshire County District Attorney Andrea Harrington. Moreover, despite Dan Bosley's corrupt and inequitable public record, Hell would freeze over before Dan Bosley ever wrote a letter or op-ed criticizing himself for being a greed-ball who makes his living off of the state taxpayers of Massachusetts (and beyond). I believe it would be more efficient if state taxpayers in Massachusetts paid their state taxes directly to Dan Bosley because it would cut out the middleman. To be clear, greed-ball Dan Bosley made his living by (voluntary) regressive taxation schemes such as the state lottery SCAM and then giving the common people's tax dollars to the wealthy elites via huge state tax breaks and giveaways.
The only way to stop Speaker Ronny Mariano and greed-ball Dan Bosley is to organize a statewide campaign to oust all of the corrupt career politicians on Beacon Hill. I wish the common people would understand what is really going on in their Massachusetts state government. Beacon Hill lawmakers only do DISSERVICES to the common people, while they inequitably take our tax dollars to enrich themselves and their wealthy campaign donors at the public trough. The recently passed Massachusetts state budget in the House is the latest example of Beacon Hill politics being corrupt, top-down, secretive and inequitable.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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Saturday Scoop, April 29, 2023
Jonathan,
The House passed their version of the FY2024 budget this week, completing another major milestone on its seven month journey to enactment. For something so major, there was really nothing to see; if you tuned into the live stream to watch the budget debate this week (and I hope for your sake that you didn’t), you likely saw an empty chamber. This is because the real “debate” about what to include in the budget was taking place, in real time, behind closed doors.
Ah, really putting that live stream function to use!
Next, the Senate will release and vote on their version of the budget on May 10th. In the meantime, the Senate is expected to vote on the disastrous tax cut bill any day now. Since Healey proposed the cuts, and the House modified and added more, the Senate is our last hope to block these tax cuts for the rich. And by that I of course mean we’re our last hope to get them to block it.
State House Scoop
House passes $56 billion budget in 3 days and almost no debate
The House passed their version of the FY2024 budget this week. Let’s break it down:
What’s in the budget
The budget came in at around $56 billion—on its face, the largest ever budget in MA history. But as our friends and expert number crunchers at Mass Budget explain, $56 billion actually represents a 7.4% spending decrease considering last year’s many supplemental budgets and adjusting for inflation. This means, in all likelihood, that some social services are going to be cut. This is especially gross considering that the House wants to cut taxes for the rich and corporations in the same fell swoop.
As for the substance of the budget, not too much changed from the version drafted by House Ways & Means, which we broke down in an earlier Scoop. In fact, according to Speaker Mariano, this year’s process was “as efficient and stress-free as any budget in the past 32 I've done.” Allow me to translate: “I had near-total control over the content of the budget and nobody dared to push back.”
The budget process: no public input
The budget determines how much we’re funding our schools, our infrastructure, our elections, our rental assistance programs, and so much more, all of which has an enormous impact on our lives. Despite that, the House budget didn’t have a single hearing at which members of the public could testify.
Being as generous to legislative leaders as possible (not that they’ve earned it…), you could argue that the hearing on Governor Healey’s budget proposal served that purpose. But a 6-hour hearing starting at 11AM on a Monday isn’t exactly accessible for working people or those with childcare needs, especially since testifiers aren’t told in advance when they’ll be called on to testify.
In order to testify at all, you have to 1) know that the hearing has been scheduled in the first place and 2) know about it before the sign-up deadline, which is no easy feat. Who would have guessed, looking at the legislative calendar, that this was the one public hearing for the budget?
The budget process: no floor debate
All of this brings us to the floor debate (“debate” here in the loosest sense of the word), which took place over 3 days this week. Despite over 1,500 amendments, there was one roll call vote on an individual amendment–a GOP-backed tax-related amendment that died along party lines. Other than that, the only recorded votes were on seven mega amendments (called “consolidated amendments”) which passed virtually unanimously.
There were originally over 1,500 amendments filed to the budget, including everything from earmarks for local projects to major policy changes. To expedite the process (“expedite” is putting it mildly) the Speaker and Ways & Means chair hole up privately in the Speaker’s lounge to zip them into big consolidated amendments by category. Instead of a lively debate on the floor in front of the public, all the action was happening off-screen, where just a handful of legislators had a seat at the table. Members are expected to vote yes on any consolidated amendment because the contents have leadership’s blessing. After all, you wouldn’t want to be caught “voting off” from what the Speaker wants.
One last thing: when these amendments are “consolidated,” they can also be rewritten or deleted entirely. For example, Consolidated Amendment A might “include” amendments 1, 2, and 3, but if you read the PDF, you see it actually only includes the language of amendments 1 and 3, thus totally erasing amendment 2 from consideration. This is what we call being “consolidated away.” Is there language in the mega amendments that members of the public might object to? Certainly. Were there really positive or even desperately needed amendments that got consolidated away? You betcha. Was any of that up for discussion or debate? Not one bit.
Missed a Scoop or two? You can find a full archive of all past Saturday Scoops on our blog.
Report: more landlords than renters in MA Legislature
The Globe recently released a damning study about the discrepancies between legislative property ownership and that of everyday Bay Staters. They found that the vast majority of the legislature—at least 86% or 170 lawmakers—own their home, compared to 61% of Bay Staters, and a mere 35% of Bostonians. Even more absurd: there are more landlords in the legislature than renters, which could explain why the Legislature has taken zero action on addressing the housing crisis four months into the session. In fact, several major gatekeepers in housing policy are landlords, including House Ways & Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz, and the senate chairs of the Joint Housing Committee, Lydia Edwards and John Keenan. And guess what? State law doesn’t bar legislators from voting on legislation in which they have a financial stake.
Perhaps it's no surprise, then, that policies like rent control face seemingly impossible odds despite their stunning popularity; 65% of likely MA voters support lifting the ban on rent control. The stakes of tackling our housing crisis are climbing higher and higher; evictions are on the rise, shelters are overflowing, rents are surging to record highs, and first-time homeownership has become a mere fantasy for all but the most affluent Bay Staters.
These are the stakes of a healthy democracy; of having a legislature that reflects and truly represents the people they serve. And man oh man are we a far cry from that.
SEE IF YOUR REP IS A LANDLORD >>
CALL YOUR REP IN SUPPORT OF RENT CONTROL >>
Take Action
Tell your senator: no tax cuts for the wealthy
The House recently voted to cut $1.1 billion in taxes, essentially canceling out the new revenue brought in by the Fair Share Amendment which voters passed at the ballot box in November. About half of those cuts are designed to benefit the super-wealthy and corporations. Luckily, it’s not a done deal: this giant tax giveaway still has to be approved by the Senate.
Tell your senator to reject the tax cuts proposed by the Governor and House, and to ensure that revenue from Fair Share is protected:
CONTACT YOUR SENATOR TODAY >>
Get Out The Vote for Robert Orthman for 10th Suffolk Rep
Join Act on Mass endorsee Robert Orthman tomorrow, Sunday April 30th at 2pm in West Roxbury for a Get Out The Vote canvass for the upcoming special election on May 2nd. Join friends and neighbors alike to knock doors, talk to voters and spread the word about Orthman’s progressive platform! No prior experience required.
SIGN UP TO CANVASS >>
Mass-Care Lobby Day
Join our friends at Mass-Care for a lobby day next Thursday, May 4th at the State House for Medicare for All. No previous lobbying experience required to lead - they will train you! Mass-Care will help you and your team plan a successful constituent meeting, from day-of logistics to the details of the bill. On Lobby Day, we’ll meet together at the State House, find our teams, hear from our inspiring lead legislators on lobbying best practices, and then go to legislator meetings!
RSVP FOR THE MASS-CARE LOBBY DAY >>
That's all for now! Enjoy the rest of your weekend, and may all these April showers truly bring May flowers.
Until next time,
Erin Leahy
Executive Director, Act on Mass
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April 29, 2023
Here are fewer words: Vote 'em all out of elected office and put thousands of homeless families very close to Dan Bosley's two residences in North Adams and Boston, please!
Jonathan A. Melle
Postscript: Dan Bosley is a greedy lobbyist who legally bribes corrupt career politicians to use common people's state tax dollars for huge tax breaks and giveaways for the wealthy elites. Dan Bosley uses the government to line his own pockets with MONEY, which is all that Dan Bosley cares about. A Dan Bosley scratch ticket would symbolize everything that Dan Bosley stood for and stands for on Beacon Hill's Statehouse. Dan Bosley is a Greed-ball!
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"Homeless dogs in Massachusetts at an all-time high, shelter officials say"
By Jim Morelli, Boston 25 News, April 30, 2023
HOPKINTON, Mass. — The Covid ‘Gotta get a pet’ boom is long over, and animal shelters know it.
“Right now, especially Massachusetts, is seeing an all-time high for dogs needing a home,” said Emma Wailgum, an adoption counselor at Baypath Humane Society in Hopkinton.
It’s not so much that shelters are stocked with Covid-wave pets given up by owners, it’s more the ancillary effects of the pandemic they’re dealing with.
“A lot of the problems that came from Covid also had to do with vets shutting down and having less appointments,” said Wailgum. “There were less spay and neuter appointments, which led to dogs overpopulating.”
One annual way to try and ease the burden on shelters is National Adopt-A-Shelter Pet Day, which has been held every April 30th for more than 40 years.
Among the candidates for adoption at Baypath Humane Society is JJ, “a big boy,” Wailgum said.
Then there’s Miss Betty, “our senior,” she added.
Winnie and Leo, who endured a long trip to the U.S. to escape a horrific destiny, also need a good home.
“These dogs are from the South Korea meat trade,” said Maddy Berthold, who handles marketing for Baypath. “Our biggest thing with the meat trade dogs is that a lot of them were in cages for years of their lives. So they don’t know people.”
Winnie and Leo seem to be adjusting fine to people, and to American cuisine, with both sniffing out a stack of empty pizza boxes leftover from lunch.
Baypath tries to make adoptions as easy as possible.
“We’re not a rescue that says, ‘You need a fenced-in yard, this and that,’” Wailgum said. “We call it a matchmaking process. We’re gonna kind of see what you can handle, what you are looking for, so that we can try to fit a good personality to your home.”
Because of that process, Baypath -- and several other shelters Boston 25 News contacted -- host prospective pet-owners on an appointment-only basis. This often helps adopters find the dog or cat that seems to be the best fit.
But the relationship doesn’t end there.
“We are a support system for them,” Wailgum said. “We just want them to give the dog a chance.”
Shelter workers and volunteers sometimes see the heartbreaking results of abuse and neglect. But they also witness those healing moments when a pet and person begin to bond.
“Sometimes you’ll just open the door to your car and the dog just shoots right in and you’re like, ‘Yup, they’re gonna be fine,’” said Wailgum.
If you’re interested in setting up an appointment to adopt a cat or dog, visit Baypath Humane Society’s website at www.baypathhumane.org.
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May 3, 2023
U.S. President Joe Biden is spending over $10 trillion federal dollars per fiscal year & The Federal Reserve is always raising interest rates to combat U.S. inflation with low economic growth that is sinking the economy into a recession: 2 + 2 = 5. That means that the Have Nots (Jon Melle)'s of the world are paying very high prices for goods and services, and if Jon Melle needs to borrow money to pay his bills and for his goods and services, then Jon Melle will pay very high financial rates on Jon Melle's debts. How does Jon Melle win in the 2023 economy? For an answer, I asked greedy lobbyist Dan Bosley, who is actually very intelligent about finance and governmental matters. Dan Bosley's advice to Jon Melle is for Jon Melle to play the Massachusetts State Lottery SCAMS so that Jon Melle could win the jackpot(s) and then forget about it all. Jon Melle asked Dan Bosley what is in it for Dan Bosley? Dan Bosley said that the more people play the lottery SCAMS means the more that Dan Bosley is able to lobby the corrupt career politicians on Beacon Hill for huge state tax breaks and giveaways for their wealthy campaign donors, which will increase Dan Bosley's 6-figure lobbyist salary. Jon Melle told Dan Bosley that Dan Bosley's greed and inequitable ways have never changed. Dan Bosley said that so long as Dan Bosley wins, Jon Melle can keep pounding sand.
Jonathan A. Melle
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May 7, 2023
Are you really surprised, blogger Dan Valenti, that North Street is a destination for Social Services agencies, along with 15 empty storefronts, the Juvenile Courthouse, the Pittsfield YMCA, and so on? When I moved out of Pittsfield in the early-Spring of 2004 to move to Southern New Hampshire, I remember that North Street was called "Social Services Alley" for years even back then. It has been over 50 years ago now since North Street had a mix of small businesses, theaters, restaurants and bars. I will turn 48 this Summer 2023, and I remember the last breath of England Brothers and the like on North Street. Transforming downtown Pittsfield from a business district to a social services district should not have happened, but every time there were proposals for economic development - a children's museum, a downtown mall, a new ballpark, a pedestrian small business district, and so on - the Good Old Boys and slum lords shot them down. Inner-city Pittsfield is the home of the underclass, the over 1,000 gang members who live there and all of the unwanted amenities they bring with them, poverty and welfare caseloads, and so on. Homeless people are shitting on the sidewalks. Anyone who is not dependent on social services avoids North Street like they would avoid the plague. Lastly, the state government transplants some of these distressed people and families from other regions to inner-city Pittsfield without fully funding local aid, public education, social services, and the like. Please write to Pittsfield State Representative Tricia Farley-Bouvier and Becket State Senator Paul Mark to request that Boston stop using Pittsfield as its human dumping ground and for Boston to start fully paying for it!
Jonathan A. Melle
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"MCLA will not move forward with plan to put a homeless shelter on campus"
By Sten Spinella, The Berkshire Eagle, May 9, 2023
NORTH ADAMS — The Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts has opted not to put a homeless shelter on campus.
In a letter emailed to the MCLA community on Tuesday, College President James Birge announced that the college would not go forward with the plan after “extensive consideration.”
Since late last year, the college has been discussing an offer to take part in a state-run program that would relocate homeless families to the Berkshire Towers dormitory, which is currently vacant.
Birge said that he has heard both positive and critical feedback since announcing the possibility of the deal, which could’ve landed the college $2.6 million a year.
“I have decided to halt discussions about possibly using Berkshire Towers as a temporary shelter for families,” Birge wrote in the letter. “I deeply admire and respect Governor Healy’s approach and regret that some people made incorrect assumptions related to the college and the use of Berkshire Towers for a long-term lease. Differing and conflicting opinions and thoughts often arise when controversial societal issues are on the table.”
While he supports the state’s initiative to find housing for families, Birge expressed concerns with the length of the long-term lease and “ongoing operational questions and concerns.”
“It is my hope that the consideration of this proposal, although not implemented, will motivate a broader and comprehensive dialogue regarding family housing in the Berkshires,” Birge added.
Birge did not have time for an interview Tuesday afternoon, college spokesperson Bernadette Alden told The Eagle.
“We are disappointed in this outcome,” Karissa Hand, a spokesperson for Gov. Maura Healey, said in an emailed statement to The Eagle. “With our shelter system at capacity due to increasing arrivals to the state and increasing housing costs, we all need communities to play a role in helping to meet our state’s housing needs.”
“Our administration will continue to take an all-hands-on-deck approach to this crisis to ensure we can connect families with shelter and meet our obligations under state law,” Hand added.
The proposed shelter had become a polarizing topic in the Berkshires’ second-largest community. While some students and residents who live near campus supported the idea, others questioned the prolonged lack of transparency from MCLA.
There were also concerns about the impact it would have on enrollment and whether the city had the infrastructure to support dozens of new families. Critics included Mayor Jennifer Macksey, who on Tuesday praised Birge’s decision to halt the plan.
North Adams was not prepared for the shelter, she said. “While I always want to try to help families,” she said, “I think this is the best move at this time for the city and also MCLA — to think about working together to build enrollment and build community.”
Macksey hopes the discussion can move toward how resources for the North Adams community can be increased.
She added that there seemed to be a disconnect between the state and the college, as she spoke to Birge about the project on May 1 and he’d yet to make a decision, but she got the impression from the state that it was moving forward.
The state Department of Housing and Community Development and MCLA began discussing housing homeless families on the school’s campus last November. The lease of the dorm would have likely started this summer.
The plan had called for the dorm to house up to 50 families, some from Western Massachusetts and some who are new to the country.
The lease was expected to be for 18 months.
Northampton-based mental health and human service agency ServiceNet, which was tapped to run the facility at MCLA, did not return a request for comment. A spokesperson for the Department of Housing and Community Development could also not be reached for comment.
State Rep. John Barrett, D-North Adams, who like Macksey has also been a vocal critic of the plan, said he appreciated that Birge listening to the community.
“It was a great threat to our city moving forward, if this project had gone ahead,” he said. “It’s great news for the college, and great news for the city too.”
Barrett said North Adams is already the third-poorest city in the state.
“If we were burdened by something we could not handle, it would cause irreparable harm to the community and, in turn, the college,” he said.
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"New state government makes no sense"
The Greenfield Recorder newspaper, May 9, 2023
Exhibit A — Massachusetts activists pounded a square peg into a round hole to get the “Fair Share” millionaires tax referendum on the ballot. They were so proud and congratulated each other at their respective wine and cheese parties when it passed.
Until someone “cut the cheese” and the state census announced a net loss of 50,000 residents and state revenues for April 2023 down over $2 billion from the same month a year ago. Now, our new governor has a tax cut proposal in 2024 budget. What a mess.
Next up: Gov. Healey and state Department of Energy Resources propose a new 3600MW Cape wind turbine project. Three smaller Cape wind turbine proposals failed. That will not deter our governor, who has decided to triple the megawatts in one giant project. Brilliant!
How will it affect whale migration? How many fish and crustaceans will be killed and displaced in sacrifice? If and when it ever gets built, how many birds will be killed by the spinning blades of the turbines?
The hypocritical environmentalists in this state resemble the three wise monkeys. Utilities cannot build a natural gas pipeline, coal or nuclear facility, but the environmentalist allow 100,000-ton LNG tankers into Boston Harbor so they can continue to charge their EVs, iPhones and home computers.
Remember the “big dig” boondoggle? This state can’t run the MBTA safely. Do you trust them with hundreds of 400-fee tall-wind turbines miles out in the ocean?
Finally, if you’re over 21 you cannot buy menthol cigarettes, but you can place an online sports bet that may give you a heart attack. By the way, you can purchase menthol cannabis.
Does all this make sense to you? Not to me.
Why do you keep electing the same politicians over and over?
Jim Bates
Gill
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Letter: "Disappointment in Local Leadership to secure Shelter Solutions"
iBerkshires.com - Letter to the Editor, May 11, 2023
To the Editor:
I have a pit in my stomach this morning after reading about the decision against making Berkshire Towers a homeless shelter.
I am utterly disappointed by Mayor Macksey, The North Adams City Council, Representative Barrett, and President Birge in your handling of this situation.
You have all aided in the further traumatization of families seeking shelter.
There will never be enough resources to support people who are unhoused until you all make it a priority to support those resources. When someone redevelops an apartment building — no one questions whether we have enough resources available to support tenants moving in. But suddenly when we are talking about unhoused people our hackles rise. You have let assumptions and fears about being homeless take the focal point of your attention. You have allowed "not in my back yard" rhetoric take precedence over suffering families. This approach has directly contributed to keeping those families living on the streets. Are you proud of this?
Rather than push against a solution that came to the table, you all should have helped the community understand why giving people shelter is necessary right now. You know that we are facing a crisis. And that crisis is deepening as a recession nears. You are all prioritizing your comfort over the survival of our neighbors. And for that, you should be ashamed.
Not one person who works professionally in housing services stood against this project. You have completely ignored the insight and guidance of our professional helping community. You all continue to ignore the pleas from Louison House in strategizing housing for unhoused people. They are bursting at the seams and people are being turned away daily.
For the past couple of weeks, I have had a couple come into Savvy Hive. They have been homeless for 9 months because their landlord kicked them out to do renovations. They have not been able to find another apartment. In the middle of the winter when they desperately sought refuge from the snow on an abandoned porch, they were charged with breaking and entering. Is this what our leadership stands for? Our leadership supports the criminalization of homelessness caused by development. Development that you all advocate for?
What strategy is currently in place to develop affordable housing in our community? What strategy is in place to address the ever-growing unhoused population?
To the Healey administration and any leaders who were in support of this project, I deeply commend you. Thank you for taking action on solutions to help our most vulnerable residents access the housing they deserve.
I am not proud to be a North Adams resident today.
Jessica Sweeney
North Adams, Massachusetts
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May 13, 2023
Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,
Thank you for your weekly political email about Beacon Hill politics. I always look forward to reading your witty essays about Boston's corrupt career politicians only doing DISSERVICES against the common people, while they enrich themselves and their wealthy campaign donors at the public trough. Like you, I wish for all of the corrupt career politicians to be voted out of elected office, but it would be too good to happen.
My thoughts about your political email are:
The state budget proposal(s) plans to slash $440 million in taxes for the super-rich and corporations. That will enrich the greedy lobbyists and fill the corrupt career politicians' campaign coffers with a lot of special interest MONEY!
Trickle-down economics to keep Massachusetts “competitive” is Beacon Hill's financial formula to enrich the Financial, Corporate and Ruling Elites at the public trough, while the common people have to pound sand!
Due to the diminishing state revenues, Beacon Hill lawmakers' plan to cut taxes is now in question. Moreover, a recession is being predicted later this year 2023 and into next year 2024.
The Massachusetts State Senate budget proposal did NOT include: The State House’s proposal to reform the regressive tax rebate law known as 62f to return excess tax revenue back to taxpayers equally instead of proportionately, funding to make free school meals permanent, and funding for the long-overdue east-west rail.
The Massachusetts State Senate's budget proposal included some new proposals, including a provision to allow high school students without federal status to qualify for in-state tuition at Massachusetts’ public universities, as well as a proposal addressing healthcare staffing shortages by providing loan repayment for behavioral healthcare workers and covering costs for current community college nursing students.
In closing, my thoughts about your political email are that the corrupt career politicians in Boston are greedy and power-hungry sellouts. At a time in our history when distressed cities and towns, and the struggling families who live in them, need the government to invest in them, the fictional Massachusetts State Representative Sellout Shakedown is doing the exact opposite in order to enrich himself and his wealthy campaign donors at the public trough. Thank you for your ongoing public advocacy, Erin!
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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Saturday (Scoop), May 13, 2023
Re: Saturday Scoop: Senate releases budget + April revenue collapse
We’re in the thick of it now, Jonathan!
And I don’t just mean pollen season.
As the weather heats up, so do the debates on the FY2024 budget and the $1.1 billion tax cut package, nearly half of which is designed to exclusively benefit the wealthy.
How does a Democratic trifecta justify their plans to slash $440 million in taxes for the super rich and corporations? To keep Massachusetts “competitive,” of course.
The argument goes something like this: if we impose higher taxes on wealthy people and businesses than other states, then those businesses and rich people will leave MA and the state will lose the economic benefits that come with them.
Sound familiar? Yep–that’s the basic principle of trickle-down economics, the conservative Reagan-touted and entirely discredited theory that slashing taxes for rich people and corporations benefits the rest of us. Not to mention the premise that wealthy people are fleeing the Bay State has also been entirely debunked.
Don’t get me wrong, people are fleeing Massachusetts, but it’s not the rich. Due to everything from the high costs of housing, childcare, and education, to the unreliable MBTA and internationally infamous traffic, 110,000 people have left MA since the start of Covid.
So when we talk about keeping the Bay State “competitive,” it’s worth asking: competitive for whom?
Is a state with skyrocketing rents and a blanket ban on rent control “competitive” for renters, especially when homeownership is increasingly inaccessible? Is a state with the highest healthcare costs in the country which refuses to even vote on medicare for all “competitive” for working people? Is a state where the gender and racial wage gap has gotten worse over the last decade, and yet will not pass an act preventing wage theft, “competitive” for QTBIPOC folks? Black and Latina women?
State House Scoop
Senate unveils budget proposal, vote expected week of the 24th [of May 2023]
Senate Ways & Means released their proposal for the FY2024 budget this week. Next, the Senate will vote on this proposal, accepting and rejecting hundreds of amendments. Then, the differences between the House and Senate versions will be hammered out in a conference committee. From there, the budget goes back to Healey for signing and line item vetoes. In other words, miles to go before we sleep.
The Senate included some strong new proposals, including a provision to allow high school students without federal status to qualify for in-state tuition at Massachusetts’ public universities–something already done in 23 other states plus D.C. (Here’s a mini not-so-fun fact: this policy died in the legislature way back in 2006. Among the reps who voted it down: now-Speaker Mariano.) The Senate also proposed addressing healthcare staffing shortages by providing loan repayment for behavioral healthcare workers and covering costs for current community college nursing students.
There were also a number of positive measures in the House’s budget that the Senate skipped. Namely, neither Healey’s nor the Senate’s versions included the House’s proposal to reform the regressive tax rebate law known as 62f to return excess tax revenue back to taxpayers equally instead of proportionately. The Senate also snubbed funding to make free school meals permanent, and snubbed funding for the long-overdue east-west rail. Remember–if we actually taxed the wealthy and corporations progressively, we wouldn’t have to choose between loan repayment for healthcare workers and school meals for kids. Speaking of which…
Healey doubles down on tax cuts despite April revenue collapse
With two months left in FY2023, the state budget is suddenly back in flux after a collapse in revenue collection in April. According to the Department of Revenue, the state collected $4.78 billion in taxes last month, down almost a third from this time last year, and 23% below the monthly benchmark projection. Through March, the state was running about $870 million in the black for FY23, but April’s collapse swings the state $703 million in the red, a difference of over a billion dollars.
Such a drastic drop in what is typically the largest collection month of the year is raising alarm bells about the tax cut bill that the Governor and Speaker have been pushing. Frankly, if it wasn’t a good idea to slash taxes for the rich before (and it wasn’t), it's an even worse idea now. Despite that, the Governor has been going on a press tour to assert that this tax dip was anticipated and won’t affect her plan to cut taxes at all. Ironically, one of the reasons Healey cited for the dip was lower revenue from capital gains — one of the very taxes she and the Speaker hope to slash.
Luckily, it’s not all up to Healey; the tax cut bill is now in the hands of the Senate who plans to tackle it after the Budget. Senate President Spilka told the press that she hasn’t ruled anything out, but also “hasn’t ruled anything in”. Let’s nudge her in the right direction, shall we?
CONTACT YOUR SENATOR TODAY >>
Missed a Scoop or two? You can find a full archive of all past Saturday Scoops on our blog.
Take Action
Introducing MAPLE: The Massachusetts Platform for Legislative Engagement
There is no legal obligation for the state legislature to disclose what written testimony they receive, which makes it not only difficult to understand who is informing legislators’ decisions, but also difficult for legislators themselves to access public testimony given on a bill. Enter MAPLE: a new public online database for Bay Staters to submit testimony and increase access to legislative information. With two of our priority bills coming up for a hearing next week, there’s no better time to give MAPLE a try and submit testimony! You can submit testimony at any time, but it’s best to submit it before the hearing occurs. Learn more about MAPLE here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MIf_hVZKl2fQc4QLY7ecm7quAB6MJv-n/view?emci=2581aa8a-3af1-ed11-907c-00224832eb73&emdi=9655818b-95f1-ed11-907c-00224832eb73&ceid=9415806
On Tuesday, [May 16th, 2023], the Joint Committee on Revenue will be hearing testimony on H.2708/S.1925: Close Corporate Loopholes and Create Progressive Revenue Act: Tackling the Corporate Tax Evasion Crisis. Read more about the bill here:
https://actonmass.org/bills/stop-corporate-offshoring/?utm_medium=&emci=2581aa8a-3af1-ed11-907c-00224832eb73&emdi=9655818b-95f1-ed11-907c-00224832eb73&ceid=9415806
TESTIFY: STOP CORPORATE OFFSHORING >>
And on Wednesday, [May 17th, 2023], the Joint Committee on Environment and Natural Resources will hold a hearing on H.872/S.481: An Act establishing a climate change superfund and promoting polluter responsibility. Read more about the bill here:
https://actonmass.org/bills/climate-superfund/?utm_medium=&emci=2581aa8a-3af1-ed11-907c-00224832eb73&emdi=9655818b-95f1-ed11-907c-00224832eb73&ceid=9415806
TESTIFY: POLLUTER RESPONSIBILITY >>
And last, a not-so-fun fact to kick off your weekend
If you’re receiving this Scoop, you likely already know that our legislature is among the least transparent in the country. That’s yesterday’s news. Today’s news? It’s getting worse. According to numbers crunched by MASSterList, there were fewer recorded votes last session with Speaker Mariano at the helm than during former Speaker Robert DeLeo’s tenure. Specifically, last session had a paltry 286 recorded roll-call votes–just 60% of the average number of roll calls in the five legislative sessions prior.
All right, enough of reading your emails--go enjoy the gorgeous weather! It's true that Massachusetts has its share of issues (not limited to the above) but it really is a beautiful place to live, especially in the springtime. Especially if you don't have allergies.
Until next week,
Erin Leahy
Executive Director, Act on Mass
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Letter: "Is this really the spirit of North Adams?"
The Berkshire Eagle, May 13, 2023
To the editor: My state representative thinks that it is "great news" for North Adams and Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts that President James Birge decided not to move forward with the governor's request to temporarily use an empty dormitory as a family homeless shelter. ("MCLA will not move forward with plan to put a homeless shelter on campus," Eagle, May 10.)
That is the reaction I would expect from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis or Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, not a supposedly liberal Democrat from a very blue section of the bluest state.
What Barrett is celebrating as "great news" is the acknowledgement that North Adams is too poor, too under-resourced, too unwilling and too afraid to help 50 to 75 homeless families with school-age children and pregnant women. This might be true. I assume it's the reason MCLA chose, understandably, not to proceed. But it's the exact opposite of anything good, let alone great.
Regardless of the shelter, the xenophobic, anti-homeless, circle-the-wagons rhetoric of the past two months has me wondering if North Adams is really the town I thought I lived in for the past 20 years. However, it does give me insight as to why my fellow residents continue to reinforce the self-defeating stereotypes that keep our city, our schools and our tax base among the weakest in the state.
I'd like to think we are not the city that's been on display since the proposal became public. I fear we are.
Greg Roach, North Adams
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May 13, 2023
Hello Editor(s) of the Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle),
Once again, the Editor(s) of the Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle) criticized a government entity for NOT being transparent with the people and news media. Last time, it was Beacon Hill's corrupt secrecy in all three branches of state government. This time, it is the MCLA President's decision to opt out of using empty dorm rooms to provide shelter for 50 to 75 homeless families. But when it comes to the corrupt EPA and the heavily indebted GE's non-financed settlement to supposedly cleanup the polluted Housatonic River from Pittsfield to Sheffield, Massachusetts, the secret negotiations without community involvement were applauded by the Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle) Editor(s).
When I follow the Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle)'s editorials, the following quote from Animal Farm comes to mind: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others".
Jonathan A. Melle
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Our Opinion: "MCLA leaders have some transparency, communication lessons to learn from shelter plan fiasco"
The Berkshire Eagle, May 13, 2023
MCLA will not move forward with plan to put a homeless shelter on campus
In a letter to the campus community, James Birge explained the decision, which he said was a difficult one.
While it looks like the proposal for a homeless shelter in an empty Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts dorm is now off the table, this saga still holds some hard lessons for MCLA’s leader — if he’s willing to listen.
When it became apparent that the Berkshires’ only four-year public college was considering whether to lease out the now-empty Berkshire Towers to the Department of Housing and Community Development for use as transitional housing for families, many in the Northern Berkshire community had concerns. Most were understandable: How would this affect MCLA’s already strained enrollment and sustainability prospects? What are the expected impacts on downtown North Adams and regional social services? Would this be the best move and the best location for vulnerable families from across the commonwealth?
Adding to these concerns was the fact the college official tasked with making this call seemed poised to make this decision quietly with seemingly little regard for community impact or input. It’s reasonable to wonder whether the community would have known the contours of this decision before it was made if Eagle reporters Sten Spinella and Greta Jochem did not dig the story out of MCLA officials.
That’s a problem — and not just for this particular decision. Given the importance of MCLA to the greater Northern Berkshire’s fabric and future, it’s disconcerting to think that MCLA President James Birge might have simply rammed through such a weighty decision in the dark. The Eagle editorial board did come down for or against the shelter, but we underscored the aforementioned critical questions raised in good faith and urged a transparent public conversation so that 1) community stakeholders could ask questions and learn more and 2) MCLA and state officials might make a more informed decision based on that back and forth.
Instead, President Birge essentially ignored those calls and consistently stonewalled The Eagle’s attempt to learn more about the shelter plan and what it might mean for the college’s future, the surrounding community, the state’s broader anti-homelessness efforts and area service providers.
After deciding against the shelter proposal, President Birge continued to refuse Eagle interview requests. He did have time, however, for an interview on WAMC wherein he seemed to blame everyone but himself for the Berkshire Towers shelter plan bearing more heat than light. He blamed North Adams Mayor Jennifer Macksey and state Rep. John Barrett III for seeding “a level of rancor and vitriol” simply because they raised relevant questions about what their constituents could expect from the shelter plan. He also took a shot at the entire surrounding community with which MCLA has a symbiotic bond by saying he “had a quickened concern about the safety of people that might move into Berkshire Towers, because I was concerned that the community might threaten their safety or be unkind or not very welcoming.”
It apparently didn’t matter to President Birge that many critical questions about the proposal centered on whether the location and the surrounding network of services could aptly serve 50 to 75 vulnerable families — many of whom might need specialized health and education supports — in a small city where residents and human infrastructure are already struggling. If President Birge had listened to the concerns and queries of community members like North Adams social worker Ashley Benson, he could not in good faith dismiss all community pushback to the shelter plan as merely anti-homeless parochialism.
Massachusetts is a right-to-shelter state. As a commonwealth, we must identify humane, sustainable ways to face a worsening homelessness problem. Sometimes those solutions will be expensive or uncomfortable or both. And yes, we need to be able to address bad-faith, classist and indecent invectives against homeless folks and plans to help them. We’ve argued on this page for the creation of homeless shelters even as parochial headwinds opposed them.
But it’s not parochialism to ask what the expected effects are from siting a sizable homeless shelter on a campus already grappling with enrollment and sustainability problems. Perhaps the infusion of state cash from a shelter lease would have ameliorated these issues in the short term, but what about the longer term? MCLA’s future affects North Adams directly and the whole county indirectly. Even if the decision was ultimately President Birge’s, better informing the public and allowing a chance to be heard should have been an essential part of the decision-making process.
State officials should have been more forthcoming, too — did they expect to extend the lease, were there plans for increased state aid for regional human services? The Healey administration expressed disappointment earlier this week that MCLA decided against the shelter plan, but the administration also should be disappointed in their own efforts here. If DHCD is going to pursue a shelter plan with expectedly higher pushback than usual, the run-up should be far more transparent and prepared than this.
It adds insult to injury that the systemic problems facing Berkshire communities — a thinning web of health care providers, lackluster public transportation, public schools in desperate need of augmented rural aid — continue to be overlooked by Beacon Hill decision-makers even as they considered shipping scores of vulnerable families to this underserved corner of the commonwealth. Massachusetts must come together to help relieve the pressure on the state’s shelter system, but the better way to do it is with a thoughtful, sustainable long-term plan.
For anyone worried about public perception of homeless shelter plans, this questionable and opaque approach likely did more harm than good. That damage will be hard to undo, but we hope MCLA will onboard some hard lessons about how to communicate transparently with the Northern Berkshire community it calls home.
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May 19, 2023
Hello, Brenna Ransden, Organizing Director, Act on Mass,
Thank you for your political email about Act on Mass' Sunlight Agenda to restore democratic integrity on Beacon Hill. I support all of the proposed bills that the corrupt and secretive Massachusetts State House and State Senate top-down dictatorial leaders will kill with the complicity of the bureaucratic state legislators who are rewarded for "following orders" with 6-figure state public pay plus perks in their political careers for life.
Beacon Hill lawmakers giveaway tens of billions of dollars in state tax breaks to their wealthy campaign donors that do not exist in most regions of Massachusetts. Beacon Hill lawmakers "Cooks the Books" to enrich themselves and the financial and corporate elites at the public trough. The Sunlight Agenda would show the people and news media all of which that we already know about in Boston's corrupt and secretive State House.
The financial, corporate and rulings elites only do DISSERVICES to the people, families and communities in Massachusetts. They make a mockery out of the millions of HAVE NOTS and the distressed cities and rural areas they live in. Beacon Hill lawmakers use (voluntary) regressive taxation schemes such as the state lottery SCAM to giveaway huge tax breaks to the top one percent of wealthy households and big businesses. Without all of the inequitable (voluntary) regressive taxation schemes, the state would be able to fully fund local aid, public education, and social services without making a mockery of the people, families and distressed communities that are most in need of state aid.
Ideally, the government would have elected officials who embrace the Sunlight Agenda so that the government would invest in people, families and distressed communities. When the government invests in people, the middle-class grows larger because the underclass is able to achieve social mobility to climb out of poverty and into the middle-class. Instead, the elitist snobs in Boston make a mockery out of the commoners with their (voluntary) regressive taxation schemes, corruption and secrecy, to enrich themselves and their wealthy campaign donors at the public trough.
I hope that all of the corrupt career politicians will be voted out of elected office. I support the public advocacy of Act on Mass. Please keep up your work on behalf of the people, families and distressed communities of Massachusetts.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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May 19, 2023
Re: Announcing our Sunlight Agenda to Restore Democratic Integrity on Beacon Hill
Jonathan,
Our fight for democratic integrity on Beacon Hill has become more dire since our founding in 2019. In 2023 alone, we’ve seen the Senate strip away term limits for their president, the House reject a measure to make their committee votes public without a recorded vote, and Governor Healey reject a slew of public records requests, breaking her campaign promise to abide by public records law.
It’s become clear that those in power are more than happy to dig in their heels to preserve the secretive, inaccessible, and unaccountable status quo on Beacon Hill. But we’re not giving up that easily: we just need to use all the tools in our toolbox to fix the broken State House.
That’s why we’re excited to announce that we’re taking our fight beyond just the session rules.
Enter: The Sunlight Agenda!
The Sunlight Agenda is Act on Mass’ legislative agenda to restore democratic integrity on Beacon Hill. We have compiled a package of four bills put forward this session that would address our democracy crisis and improve transparency, accountability, and fairness in the Massachusetts Legislature.
S. 1963: An Act to provide sunlight to state government, filed by Senator Jamie Eldridge would enact a sweeping set of good governance measures, including requiring recorded committee votes to be posted online, requiring at least a week’s notice for hearings, providing for testimony to be made publicly available, and subjecting the Governor’s Office to Public Records Law (PRL)
S. 2064: An Act extending the public records law to the Governor and the Legislature, filed by Senator Becca Rausch, would bring Massachusetts in line with the majority of the country by subjecting both the Governor and the Legislature to PRL.
H. 3121: An Act relative to the open meeting law, filed by Representative Erika Uyterhoeven would subject the Legislature to OML, a policy designed to promote transparency across a number of state-level meetings and to include the general public in the decision-making processes from which the Legislature has exempted itself.
S. 2014: An Act relative to collective bargaining rights for legislative employees, filed by Senator John Keenan, would amend the law to explicitly allow for legislative employees to unionize. Over a year ago, the MA State House Employee Union (MSHEU) announced their successful unionization drive, only for President Spilka to refuse to recognize the union due to claims of ambiguity in existing law.
READ MORE ABOUT THE SUNLIGHT AGENDA >>
Complacent due to a lack of transparency, accountability, and competitive elections, our lawmakers on Beacon Hill favor the whims of the wealthy, well-connected, and corporations over the needs of working Bay Staters. Email your legislators today and ask them to cosponsor the Sunlight Agenda:
EMAIL YOUR LEGISLATORS >>
Stay tuned for updates and more ways to get involved in the campaign for the Sunlight Agenda.
Onward,
Brenna Ransden
Organizing Director, Act on Mass
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Letter: "Crisis of confidence in MCLA leadership"
The Berkshire Eagle, May 19, 2023
To the editor: Through a radio interview, the president of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts stated his reasons for his backing down from his position in supporting homeless people living in the Berkshire Towers on the MCLA campus. ("Five things we learned from MCLA President James Birge's radio interview about why MCLA scrapped its homeless shelter plan," Eagle, May 11.)
I found his No. 1 reason, that he was unsure the North Adams community would be welcoming to homeless people, ludicrous and demeaning to the citizens of North Adams. This major reason demonstrates one behavior of the college's president: He doesn't even know the citizens of the city. It is understandable why he would make such a statement: His annual salary for 2022 was $269,607, and he doesn't identify with lower- and middle-income people in our area or the many families living in poverty. North Adams is the third-poorest city in Massachusetts.
My hypothesis is that the college's president didn't want to have the faculty undertake a no-confidence vote on his leadership. I am certainly not confident in his leadership. He has never taught in a college classroom throughout his professional career. The faculty who interviewed him were not impressed with his credentials; actually, he was their last choice. So, who did appoint him? Regrettably, that question will never be answered.
A positive suggestion for the president: Get out and meet the people. Since my arrival here to teach at North Adams State College in 1970, I was so enamored of the people living here and the beauty of North Berkshire.
I will try to think positive about the future of MCLA under new leadership.
Neil N. McLeod, Clarksburg
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May 20, 2023
Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,
Thank you for your weekly political email about Beacon Hill politics that I always look forward to reading. My response to this week's news out of Boston is that I agree with you that the state government's lawmakers should prioritize investing in people instead of their wealthy campaign donors. But like everything else in one's life, it would be too good to be true because we live in a world full of greed-balls, corrupt-balls, career politician-balls, and the like.
Thank you, Erin, for pointing out that Beacon Hill lawmakers are operating in secrecy and corruption by limiting the number of recorded votes, committee votes, joint committee rules, and so on. Local governments have to operate under the Open Meeting Law, but the three branches of state government in Massachusetts are exempt from transparency rules reforms. When a state lawmaker in Boston speaks out about this issue, he or she faces retribution from the dictatorial leadership.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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Saturday (Scoop), May 20, 2023
Re: Saturday Scoop: Joint committee spat a harbinger of drama to come
Happy Saturday, Jonathan!
We’re currently nestled in the eye of the budget storm; the House debate is over, and the Senate’s will take place this week. In the meantime, Senators have filed over a thousand budget amendments, most of which are earmarks for local projects. As the House did, these amendments will almost certainly be grouped into a handful of mega “consolidated amendments,” rewritten by leadership, which will be approved unanimously. The House budget debate only had a single roll call vote on an amendment other than the near unanimous approval of the 7 consolidated amendments. Not much of a “debate” if you ask me.
The shift of lawmaking from the public eye with speeches, floor debates, and recorded votes on individual issues to a private process held behind closed doors should deeply trouble us.
Time will tell if the Senate budget debate will continue this trend or buck it. Maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ll hold twice as many votes on individual amendments as the House did: two!
State House Scoop
$9 billion needed for public housing repairs: a budget reality check
The House’s budget proposal came in at $56.2 billion. The Senate’s proposal, to be voted on next week, is starting around $55 billion. Claiming that the Bay State has more than enough tax revenue, the House and Governor have proposed about $1 billion in permanent tax cuts alongside the budget. They argue, further, that in order to keep Massachusetts “competitive” (a loaded piece of conservative rhetoric I broke down in the intro to last week’s Scoop), those tax cuts should disproportionately benefit the ultra-rich and corporations.
These are some big, abstract numbers that can be hard to grapple with. To give you a sense of scale: according to experts and advocates, in order to repair the Commonwealth’s 43,000 public housing units to an acceptable condition, we would need $9 billion in the 2024 budget. You read that right: we are nine billion dollars short of what is needed to make our existing public housing acceptable.
Conditions in our public housing are inhumane: children have elevated levels of lead in their blood, there is dangerous dilapidation that has led to serious injuries, and even “a rodent problem so bad a family’s young children sleep in a top bunk because rats scurry across the floor at night.”
Thus far this year, the legislature has allocated a mere $55 million towards capital investments in public housing — just 0.6% of what is needed. Another note for scale: that $55 million is just one eighth of the amount of money they’re giving away in tax cuts explicitly for the rich.
So when we talk about tax cuts, or even level-funding in the budget (i.e. defunding considering inflation), we’re talking about the choice to prioritize making the rich richer over safe living conditions for our most vulnerable populations. Instead of $1 billion in permanent tax cuts, why not invest that in public housing? I’ll do ya one better: what if we taxed the top 1% richest Bay Staters more, not less?
Joint Rules feud exposes inter-chamber power struggle
It’s been four years since Beacon Hill has bothered to pass rules for their Joint Committees — something that they’re required to do at the start of each session. And this year, it’s even worse: not a single joint committee has passed their own operating rules for the session, which were due two months ago. The issue really came to light this week when two separate hearings were convened for the same bills by dueling factions of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy (TUE).
The reason for the double hearing? House co-chair Jeffrey Roy scheduled the Thursday hearing without Senate co-chair Michael Barrett’s approval — a move Barrett says violates the operating rules of the committee. This not only forced constituents to schlep to the State House to testify twice on the same legislation (for some advocates, turning what would normally be a day trip into an overnight stay in Boston), but it also lifted the curtain on growing tensions between House and Senate members of joint committees.
The core tension is this: every joint committee (the issue-based committees that advance or kill bills) has members of both the House and the Senate. And since the Senate has 40 members to the House’s 158, House Reps outnumber Senators on every joint committee. That’s why these committees have been operating not by majority, but by consensus — otherwise, Senators (who each represent more constituents than each Representative) could get shut out of committee process decision-making. Then again, Roy argues that the current system, where Barrett can single handedly block or delay a committee vote on a bill, has slowed the legislative process.
In other words: dramaaaaaaaaaaa
I love messy infighting as much as the next gal, but this public spat between two lawmakers (who apparently occasionally collaborate on their folk music side projects??) has sinister implications. If these chairs can fight over the power to decide which bills come to a vote and when, it shows how much power they have in the first place. And in our humble opinion at Act on Mass, it's rarely a good thing for just a few people have so much power, especially when determining the fate of climate-related legislation.
A 2021 Brown University study found that despite the fact that testimony in legislative committees is nine to one in support of climate action, the vast majority of climate bills die in committee. In contrast, bills that were backed by the utilities lobby were far more likely to advance out of TUE, and eventually pass into law. Brown’s recommendation to actually expedite the committee process and make it truly reflective of the wants of Bay Staters? “Sharply improve transparency.”
More sinister implications: Barrett wasn’t the only Senate co-chair who received pushback from their House counterpart. Four other Senate co-chairs told reporters that they had received seemingly uniform proposals to give House members more power to schedule hearings than Senators, suggesting this didn’t come from Roy and isn't a one-off. Yup—this push to edge out Senate voices in committees is likely coming from the top. It’s almost as if we have a democracy crisis on Beacon Hill. Someone should really do something about that…
That's all for this week! Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Until next time,
Erin Leahy
Executive Director, Act on Mass
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May 22, 2023
I wish to explain the why behind the fictional Massachusetts State Representative Sellout Shakedown's real public record on Beacon Hill. The reason why the Massachusetts Legislature operates in corrupt secrecy and all of the power is in the hands of a few leaders while the rest of the legislature rubber stamps every bill is because of the Almighty Dollar.
Beacon Hill lawmakers giveaway tens of billions of dollars in state tax breaks during every two-year state legislative session. They do so by design. They use every corrupt method in the (cooked) book(s) to enrich themselves and their wealthy financial and corporate campaign donors at the public trough. The worst method is the multibillion-dollar state lottery SCAM, which is nothing more than (voluntary) regressive taxation on the mostly financially illiterate HAVE NOTS to giveaway a percentage of the lottery revenues to the elites in the Boston area, while the rest of the state is being mocked by the rich snobs.
How do I understand this? The answer lies in the city I grew up in: Pittsfield, Massachusetts. When I studied Public Administration at UMass Amherst decades ago, I found out about an economics term called "Perverse Incentives", which means that a firm profits off of producing deleterious societal impacts on a region.
Pittsfield politics operates via Perverse Incentives. For many decades - over 50 years - Pittsfield has been in a downward spiral of losses in population, living wage jobs, middle-class families, and so on. They mostly blame the late GE CEO Jack Welch, who lived in Pittsfield 50 to 60 years ago, for pulling GE out of Pittsfield in the late-1980s, but that is only a diversion from what really happened in Pittsfield politics.
Pittsfield's downtown is sarcastically called "Social Services Alley" because its post-WW2 bustling business district has become a sea of social services agencies (and 15 empty storefronts). Pittsfield's public schools are rated Level 5 by the state, which is the worst possible rating. The people and businesses in Pittsfield are excessively taxed in return for rock bottom results. When a resident raises concerns that the only growth in Pittsfield is in its underclass population, they are met with retribution by the ruling elites because the elites only want their tax revenues.
Similar to Beacon Hill lawmakers, Pittsfield politics uses Perverse Incentives for the Almighty Dollar. Pittsfield politics social services agencies and Level 5 public schools bring in tens of millions of dollars from the federal and state government. If Pittsfield had business growth instead of its huge underclass, the city would receive millions of dollars less in federal and state revenue.
When I lived in Pittsfield, I felt like the political system wanted me - Jon Melle - to fall into their huge underclass population because my misery would add to the revenue sources for the city. I felt like I - Jon Melle - had better odds of winning the state lottery jackpot than finding a living wage job in Pittsfield. Instead of Pittsfield investing in people like me, I felt that Pittsfield was profiting off of people like me.
Pittsfield is one of the most economically unequal metro areas in the state and nation. The ruling, corporate and financial elites all made 6-figure salaries, but the middle-class has become a fairy tale in Pittsfield. One was either doing really well, or one was in or at-risk of falling into the underclass in Pittsfield.
How could this go on for so many decades in Pittsfield? The answer is similar to how Beacon Hill lawmakers have been reduced to being a bunch of sellouts and shakedown artists. It is because the only thing that matters to the elites in the Almighty Dollar. To be clear, the people don't matter to them. What is worse is that the people falling into the underclass means that the elites get to profit off of them as public revenue sources that the elites use a percentage of to enrich themselves at the public trough.
When I lived in Pittsfield as a young man decades ago, I expressed my views about Pittsfield politics and Beacon Hill lawmakers to various people, and the response that I usually received was that "it is the same everywhere you go". Nobody cared about the increasing economic inequality and deleterious societal impacts on the people and community by the state and local government, while the same corrupt career politicians kept being reelected with more and more money and power as the years went on.
When I studied Public Administration all of those many years ago, I learned that the state and local government was supposed to invest in people so that the people would have social mobility to achieve a middle-class family and then they would in turn invest in the community and state that they lived in. I did NOT learn that the state and local government would see people falling into the underclass as a means to gain more and more money and power at their expense.
In closing, I believe that Beacon Hill lawmakers only do DISSERVICES to the people and taxpayers of Massachusetts (and beyond). They use closed door, corruption and secrecy, along with the state lottery and similar SCAMS, to make a mockery of the people and taxpayers. They are only all about the Almighty Dollar, and their public record of giving away a little less than 40 percent of state revenues via state tax breaks to their wealthy campaign donors allows them to enrich the elites and themselves at the public trough.
Jonathan A. Melle
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"Massachusetts Legislature needs more real, public debate on legislation"
By The Boston Globe Editorial Board, May 22, 2023
It’s been years since legislative democracy truly flourished at the State House — and that’s a big loss for the voters of Massachusetts.
But instead of seeking to change that, House and Senate leaders last week were fighting with one another over the arcane rules governing joint committees — an insider dispute if there ever was one.
Several decades ago the chambers of the House and Senate were regularly the centers of passionate, sometimes even raucous, debates about education, the environment, gun safety, juvenile justice, special education, and human services.
It was an era where the sometimes earnest, other times ardent voices of state senators and representatives regularly drew interested observers to the House and Senate visitors’ galleries. And when outcomes were far less predictable. For example, after property-tax-limiting Proposition 2½ passed in 1980, leaving cities and towns starved for revenue, they turned to Beacon Hill. When the next House budget failed to adequately address the municipal revenue shortfall, there was a revolt on the House floor by a coalition of suburban Democratic reformers and Republicans, forcing the spending plan to be withdrawn and reworked.
On the House side, much of 1984 was consumed with a challenge to heavy-handed Speaker Thomas McGee by former majority leader George Keverian, who ran promising rules reform — and who ousted McGee from the speaker’s office in early 1985. Then Senate president William Bulger, a McGee-like but more skilled legislative martinet, faced a similar challenge a decade later. Although Bulger weathered that revolt, he felt compelled to appoint a rules-reform panel, ostensibly to explore ways to open up Senate procedures.
In those days, committee hearings were important policy-development events and sometimes front-page news, as empowered chairmen and chairwomen explored new ideas and approaches. An energetic and knowledgeable committee leader could develop legislation, bring it the floor, push it to passage, and see it signed into law.
A legislative environment that rewarded talent and initiative led to nation-leading laws.
Today, however, all that has faded. The usual State House acoustic is the sound of silence — and that silence is deafening. Where reporters, advocates, and lobbyists once mingled in the hallways during the afternoons and evenings — and sometimes late into the night — as legislators debated, the marble halls are now empty.
These days, virtually everything by way of policy comes from the top down. Power is essentially vested in four offices: that of the Senate president, House speaker, and the two Ways and Means Committee chairmen or chairwomen, who essentially function as the political and policy enforcers in each chamber. Committee leaders get the table scraps, which is what House and Senate members of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy were fighting over last week.
Today, there are three archetypal modes for members of the Legislature: the hard-chargers, the hangers-on, and the perpetually patient understudies. The first get elected, discover that a junior member has very little power or prerogative, and therefore depart for something else after a few frustrating years.
The hangers-on, content to work part-time hours for full-time pay but aware that garnering perks depends on staying in the good graces of leadership, bank their limited ambitions, mute their voices, and concentrate on currying favor.
If a representative or senator is willing to go along to get along, he or she can be assured of a regular allotment of district goodies, delivered in the budget. But make oneself a burr under the saddle and district desires die aborning.
The aspiring understudies try to carve out a meaningful role, but that’s only obtainable by serving long years of unswerving loyalty to leadership. That means always voting the way the two top leaders want and refraining from candid comments about objectionable leadership tactics or actions. As for the partisan opposition, Republicans have been co-opted with comfortable salaries and office perks.
One category of legislator that played a significant role in the past is now much diminished: Reformers, and more specifically, process and rules reformers.
With outspokenness not just frowned upon but punished, there is little pushback on anything. Thus it is that House leadership can announce a major tax cut on Tuesday and pass it on Thursday, with no strenuous objection that that isn’t nearly enough time for members to analyze the effects, let alone get their constituents’ input on the package.
What little debate there is, on budgets or other issues, is largely performative. Any real disagreement takes place in the respective Democratic caucuses, which is to say, behind closed doors.
Why should the public care about any of this? Because as power has flowed upward and rank-and-file legislators have lost any real policy role, constituents have had less opportunity to influence the process. That’s especially true when it comes to individual interactions with lawmakers, but it’s a reality that also obtains when it comes to grass-roots efforts to bring pressure to bear on all legislators. Conversely, lobbyists who have cultivated close ties with the handful of lawmakers who matter have seen their influence increase.
The question, then, is this: How do citizens and rank-and-file lawmakers remedy the current situation? That is, is there a way back to the future?
Yes, but it requires both voters and lawmakers to demand more. Legislative bodies, after all, set their own formal rules and establish or accede to their own norms. At present, both rules and norms surrender too much power to the leaders of the legislative chambers. But what’s been given could and should be taken back — if lawmakers make that, and not internal turf battles, their goal.
Editorials represent the views of the Boston Globe Editorial Board. Follow us on Twitter at @GlobeOpinion.
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May 25, 2023
Re: Governor Maura Healey broke her promise
Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,
In your political email today, you wrote: "Governor Healey rejected a slew of public records requests, breaking her promise to abide by public records law."
The reason why Governor Maura Healey broke her promise is because of the Almighty Dollar. The elites who put in her in her current elected office want Governor Maura Healey to pay them back with the Almighty Dollar. The common people were lied to during and after her 2022 campaign.
In 2023, Governor Maura Healey will sign into state law more (voluntary) regressive taxation schemes in the form of the iLottery SCAM. When the $50 scratch ticket sent on sale in early-February 2023, there was no outcry from Governor Maura Healey and Beacon Hill lawmakers that it stands for everything that is wrong with the state government.
The fictional Massachusetts State Representative Sellout Shakedown is the symbol of Beacon Hill's corrupt career politicians. They rubber stamp the dictatorial State House and State Senate leaders, while they shake anyone and everyone down and then they sellout the common people and the distressed communities they live in to the tune of tens of billions of dollars in state tax breaks to the financial, corporate and ruling elites during every two year legislative session. In return, Rep. Sellout Shakedown gets to be a career politician for life by receiving campaign donations from the top 1 percent of wealthy vested and special interests.
Lastly, as you know all too well, politicians are the worst liars. If one believes the words of a politician, one should paste wings on pigs and expect the winged pigs fly around unicorns.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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May 25, 2023
Re: 3 recent major democracy backslides on Beacon Hill
Jonathan,
Over the course of just a few weeks this past winter, three major democratic backslides happened on Beacon Hill:
The House rejected our amendment to make committee votes public without a recorded vote
The Senate eliminated its long-standing term limit for the Senate President
Governor Healey rejected a slew of public records requests, breaking her promise to abide by public records law.
After these shocking blows to good governance, it couldn’t be more clear: we need to think bigger and fight even harder to save our democracy here in Massachusetts. Are you in?
CHIP IN TO SUSTAIN OUR MOVEMENT >>
In addition to fighting for transparency and accountability during the Rules debates every other year, we need to use every tool at our disposal to fix the broken State House. That’s why we were thrilled to announce our Sunlight Agenda to Restore Democratic Integrity on Beacon Hill!
Running a full legislative advocacy campaign is no small undertaking, and we need your help to fund research, campaign materials, and toolkits to build and sustain our advocacy. Can you make a donation today to support the legislative campaign?
SUPPORT THE SUNLIGHT AGENDA CAMPAIGN >>
Your contribution today funds the fight for the following critical good governance reforms: public committee votes, open meeting law, public records law, and bargaining rights for state house employees.
We deserve a state government that is transparent, accountable to the people, and treats their staff with dignity and respect.
Our mission is to make that a reality, and we can’t do it without you. Thank you for being a critical part of this movement.
GIVE TODAY >>
In solidarity,
Erin Leahy
Executive Director
Act on Mass
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Opinion Columnists | Connaughton: "Follow the money for key to Beacon Hill payroll blackout"
By Mary Z. Connaughton, op-ed, The Boston Herald, May 26, 2023
Article V of the Massachusetts Constitution requires that the branches of government “at all times” be accountable to the people.
But few state governments are less accountable to the people than Massachusetts. The latest evidence came when state senators rejected a proposed amendment to the Senate’s budget plan that would have required the state’s quasi-public agencies to post their payrolls on the state comptroller’s website.
From DCR summer lifeguards to corrections officers, salaries are available online. Why shouldn’t that be the case for employees of the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency? Perhaps the answer can be found in the words of Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester), who sponsored the amendment.
“The quasi-public entities have, in many cases, very highly compensated individuals and many of them … do not share that information with the comptroller’s office,” Tarr told the Boston Herald.
He might have been referring to the fact that quasi-public agencies are often havens for patronage, because they offer salaries much closer to those available in lucrative private-sector jobs. In addition to allowing elected officials to thank supporters with a high-paying job, the gift also usually comes with a substantial pension bump because state retirement benefits are based on employees’ three highest-earning years.
It’s a scenario that gives elected officials an incentive to keep quasi-public agency payrolls opaque, but doing so causes the public to become even more suspicious of government.
And it’s been going on for a long time. In 2013, Massachusetts was one of five states in which the legislature received an “F” for transparency from the Sunlight Foundation, a national, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that advocates for open government.
If you think things have improved in the ensuing decade, think again. The state Legislature continues to exempt itself from the definition of “public body” for the Public Records and Open Meetings laws.
New State Auditor Diana DiZoglio is actually trying to audit the Legislature for the first time in anyone’s memory, but legislators are pushing back. DiZoglio recently claimed the Senate budget proposal essentially level-funding her office was retaliation for attempting to conduct the audit.
Massachusetts also ranks last when it comes to public access to policymakers’ Statements of Financial Interests (SFIs). Those seeking access to SFIs must either visit the State Ethics Commission in person with a photo ID or upload a picture of the ID online. Believe it or not, the Ethics Commission then reports the identity of those seeking the forms to the policymaker in question, which doesn’t exactly incentivize transparency.
Finally, the ranges on the forms policymakers fill out haven’t changed since 1978. So, for example, the top bracket for value of a home is “$100,000+”—not exactly valuable information in 2023.
By rejecting a proposal to make quasi-public payrolls public, state senators again violated the constitutional requirement that the branches of Massachusetts government “at all times” be accountable to the people. It’s a problem that will only get better when we demand it from our public officials.
Mary Z. Connaughton is Director of Government Transparency and Chief Operating Officer at Pioneer Institute in Boston.
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May 26, 2023
Most of the government's money and debt are only numbers on a computer screen. The government is playing financial shell games. Over the past 50 years, most of the income gains went to the top 1 percent of wealthy people and entities, while the middle-class has been systematically decimated by the financial, corporate and ruling elites. The real economic growth is in our nation's huge underclass' misery. Unless one is part of the elites, especially the top 1 percent, it won't make any difference if the government continues to deficit spend for many more years to come.
To illustrate: Joe Biden says that he is proud of his son Hunter's "bad boy behaviors", Kamala Harris called Joe Biden a racist on national TV, but she serves as his loyal Vice President, Ed Markey blows a lot of "HOT AIR", Elizabeth Warren does not live on or near Main Street, U.S.A., Richard Neal lives on K Street, Paul Mark is a big rubber stamp State Senator, Tricia Farley-Bouvier fights for illegal immigrants to have state driver's licenses and for Happy Endings massage parlors, Smitty Pignatelli writes op-eds pointing out the losses in population and living wage jobs in Berkshire County while state and local taxes always increase, John Barrett III called the proposed homeless shelter in North Adams a threat to the community, Linda Tyer lives in a mansion in a Gated Community, the Pittsfield City Council is a forum of retribution, the Pittsfield School Committee symbolizes Level 5 public schools, and North Street has 15 empty storefronts.
What is my point? It is that there is NOBODY in government representing the common people who roll their eyes in disgust at their corrupt career politicians' DISSERVICES.
Jonathan A. Melle
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"Legislature does the people’s work behind closed doors"
Letters to the Editor of the Boston Globe, May 26, 2023
"House leaders made a mockery of the process in ramming through tax package"
Re “It’s time to restore legislative democracy on Beacon Hill”: The Globe’s excellent May 22 editorial correctly cited the example of the tax package House leaders recently rammed through with no notice or debate. However, it neglected to mention several facts that demonstrate just how broken the House is and how that affects the state and its residents.
The tax package was never voted on by the Legislature’s Revenue Committee, making a mockery of the public hearing that committee held on March 28. It contained a tax cut for corporations that was not even on the agenda at that hearing. The tax cut, which would cost the state at least $79 million annually, was not in Governor Maura Healey’s original proposal or any bill or amendment filed by a House member. It came from a Senate bill filed by a Republican and favorable to the Associated Industries of Massachusetts, the lobbying arm of the state’s big businesses.
That tax cut’s inclusion in the tax package shows how House leaders’ complete control of the legislative process gives powerful people a back channel to advance their interests with none of the public scrutiny and participation that democracy demands.
Jonathan Hecht
Watertown
The writer is a former state representative (2009-2021).
"The problem is that short-term wishes stifle efforts at reform"
The Globe’s critique of the consolidation of power in the Legislature nails it. But remedying the situation will require much more than calling for “both voters and lawmakers to demand more.”
It will require a grass-roots movement that makes progress on rules reform a condition for continued support from both voters and fellow lawmakers. The problem is that that’s a tall order for folks who have other business before the Legislature and need incumbent politicians and the leadership’s support to get near-term results on other priorities.
Rand Wilson
Somerville
"Calling on the Fourth Estate to keep a close watch on Beacon Hill"
Thank you for the editorial “It’s time to restore legislative democracy on Beacon Hill.” A close eye on the State House has been sorely lacking for years now. Doing the people’s work behind closed doors is a prime example, but certainly not the only one, of keeping the electorate in the dark. It is up to the Fourth Estate to keep our representatives and senators in line for the benefit of us all.
Jeffrey Ross
Chestnut Hill
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Editorials | Editorial: "Beacon Hill keeps taxpayers in the dark"
By Boston Herald editorial staff | May 25, 2023
Transparency is a four-letter word on Beacon Hill.
The state Legislature’s closed-door dealings are an open secret, as its actions reveal lawmakers prefer doing the people’s business as far away from the people as possible.
This storied secrecy prompted Auditor Diana DiZoglio to launch the first audit of the state Legislature in over a century.
“We hope this will increase transparency, accountability and equity in an area of state government that has been completely ignored. Historically, the Legislature has been a closed-door operation, where committee votes have been hidden from the general public, and legislation has been voted on in the dark of night,” DiZoglio said in a statement.
DiZoglio isn’t alone in aiming a slingshot at Goliath. This week Gloucester state Sen. Bruce Tarr offered an amendment to the upper chamber’s fiscal 2024 spending plan in a bid to increase transparency by requiring every one of the state’s at least 42 public adjacent agencies to post their payroll on the state Comptroller’s website, the Herald reported.
“We speak frequently in this chamber, and rightly so, about the need for increased transparency and one of the areas where transparency is particularly important is around government spending,” he said.
It’s a straightforward ask – as these agencies receive public funding, taxpayers should know where their money is being spent.
Tarr noted that every other government employee in the Commonwealth had their pay information listed on the Comptroller’s website already and so the amendment, if approved, would not be breaking new ground.
“The quasi-public entities have, in many cases, very highly compensated individuals and many of them still do not share that information with the comptroller’s office,” he said.
There’s the rub – if taxpayers learned that their hard-earned money was paying for lofty salaries, the response would not be joyful. The bloated payroll of UMass administrators has few fans in the Bay State.
“This is a matter of consistency, it is a matter of fairness, it is a matter of eliminating an area of secrecy in one field of discussion where we have, in so many cases, eliminated that secrecy, and it’s only fair that we do so here again,” he said.
Them’s fighting words on Beacon Hill, though no one fought with the lawmaker. No one had anything to say against Tarr’s amendment.
Lawmakers simply tanked the idea by voice vote seconds after Tarr pleaded his case.
This may seem like a victory for the status quo, in one sense it is. But Tarr’s amendment, along with DiZoglio’s bid for an audit, point to a welcome resistance to business as usual. Transparency is a topic that should be raised during every re-election campaign for sitting lawmakers, and for newcomers alike, in town halls, debates and meet-and-greets with the candidates.
As Thomas Jefferson famously said, “The government you elect is the government you deserve.”
We deserve better from the leaders on Beacon Hill.
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May 27, 2023
Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,
Thank you for your political email about the corrupt and secretive Beacon Hill's fictional Massachusetts State Representative Sellout Shakedown's proposed fiscal year 2024 state budget that will take effect in a little over one month from now on July 1st, 2023. State taxpayers will collectively pay their fictional State Representative tens of billions of dollars only for Mr. Sellout Shakedown to giveaway many billions of dollars in state tax breaks to his wealthy campaign donors.
If I gave my hard-earned money to an elected official, I would hope that he wouldn't use 40 percent of it to enrich himself and his wealthy campaign donors at the public trough. But that is "business as usual" in big government, including in Boston.
I feel that Rep. Sellout Shakedown makes a mockery of a HAVE NOT such as myself: Jon Melle. He keeps assaulting me with many (voluntary) regressive taxation schemes such as the multibillion-dollar state lottery SCAM, and when I look at my native hometown of Pittsfield (Massachusetts)'s distressed economy and level 5 public schools, I realize that the city I am from is also being mocked by the elitist snobs in Boston's greed, corruption and secrecy.
Whatever happened to the government investing in people instead of profiting off of us?
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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May 27, 2023
Re: Act on Mass' weekly Saturday Scoop: Senate passes budget, sends it to closed-door conference committee
Hi Jonathan,
After reading their latest op-ed about the State House, it’s starting to feel like the Boston Globe Editorial Board is coming for my job:
“Where reporters, advocates, and lobbyists once mingled in the [State House] hallways during the afternoons and evenings — and sometimes late into the night — as legislators debated, the marble halls are now empty.
These days, virtually everything by way of policy comes from the top down. Power is essentially vested in four offices: that of the Senate president, House speaker, and the two Ways and Means Committee chairmen or chairwomen, who essentially function as the political and policy enforcers in each chamber.”
See? It’s not just us!
If you have a few minutes and want to be enraged and enlightened (enlightraged?) I highly recommend giving the piece a read. It serves as a bleak reminder that, for the vast majority of us, our legislators are virtually stripped of their power upon entering the State House (and some shed it quite willingly). And if those who are elected to represent the public don’t have any power, what does that mean for us?
State House Scoop
Senate passes budget, conference committee next
After three days of “deliberation,” the Senate approved its version of the FY 2024 budget on Thursday. The Senate’s version differs from the House in a handful of ways, which will need to be hammered out in the next phase of the budget’s long journey: conference committee.
Conference committees are temporary committees typically made of six legislators—three reps and three senators—appointed by their chamber’s leadership and tasked with making a compromise version of a bill or budget. Conference committees are notoriously opaque; they negotiate entirely behind closed doors and don’t have to offer any explanation for the final version they produce, which can no longer be amended. They also tend to work at a glacial pace. Sometimes, bills will be under conference committee negotiations for months before resurfacing. Hell, sometimes bills never make it out of conference committee at all, like the joint rules last session and likely this one too (but that’s another story). Insofar as our lawmakers are accountable to deadlines (which is not very), the deadline for the conference committee budget report is 7/1 – a deadline that the legislature has not met in years.
Let’s take a look at some of the differences they’ll be hashing out:
Making undocumented high school students eligible for in-state university tuition. This is a no-brainer policy already in place in 23 states. Among those 23 states: New York, Rhode Island, and as Senator Liz Miranda pointed out on the Senate floor, “Texas. Let me say that again — Texas.”
House version: No
Senate version: Yes
Making universal free school meals permanent. No one is disputing whether our state can afford to provide school meals to students, but rather whether to make it a permanent part of the budget or fund it periodically through supplemental spending bills. Let’s take this off the negotiating table so educators and food justice advocates can focus on other priorities and our students can rely on being fed each day.
House version: Yes
Senate version: No
Authorizing online lottery sales. After legalizing online sports betting last year (which is going really, really well by the way), Mr. Speaker is at it again. I love raising new revenue as much as the next gal, but can’t we just have progressive taxes instead of dancing toward an impending public health crisis?
House version: Yes
Senate version: No
Now that the Senate is through with the budget, they’re poised to tackle the giant tax cut package proposed by Governor Healey and passed by the House. To jog your memory: $1.1 billion in tax cuts, $440 million of which are designed to benefit the top 1% richest Bay Staters and mega corporations. That’s $440 million back in the pocket of the ultra wealthy instead of our public schools (an example I’m using today for no particular reason…).
If you haven’t already, email your senator to tell them to stop these tax cuts:
EMAIL YOUR SENATOR ABOUT THE TAX CUT BILL >>
The need to cancel high stakes testing: a deep dive into MCAS
Educators, students, and advocates gathered on the State House steps this past Wednesday to lobby for the THRIVE Act, a bill that would remove the MCAS graduation requirement and end school receivership.
The bill, which was first introduced in 2019, has been sent to study twice despite demonstrated support by the largest teachers unions in the state, who argue the test puts undue pressure on students and does not adequately measure their academic success. MCAS has also come under scrutiny several times on account of racism, most notably in 2019 when 10th graders were asked to write a journal entry from the perspective of a white woman who used derogatory language and was reluctant to help a runaway slave. The question was eventually tossed, but only after students, teachers unions, and school officials spoke up about the traumatic impact the racist question had on Black students.
THRIVE would also end the state receivership program, which allows the state to take control of under-performing schools and strips elected school committee members and school administrators of their ability to make decisions. Lawrence, Holyoke, and Southbridge schools have been under receivership for as long as 12 years. And yet, a Globe analysis of test scores, graduation rates, college enrollment, and a dozen other metrics in those districts found that the state has failed to meet nearly all of its stated goals. In fact, college enrollment declined in all three districts since the state took them over.
According to a poll released this week, there are still severe racial disparities in academic progress. About half of Black and Latino parents surveyed expressed concern for their child’s academic progress this school year compared to just 35% of parents of white students. These numbers shed light on the main failure of our current MCAS and receivership policy: it does not address the existing factors that cause opportunity gaps, namely chronic underinvestment in schools, particularly in communities of color. These gaps won’t close until we adequately fund our public schools.
But hey, what do I know? Apparently we should cut taxes and reduce our ability to fund schools instead. I’m sure it’ll “trickle” back down to us eventually.
Take Action
Email your legislators in support of the THRIVE Act
Tell your elected officials to end the high stakes testing regime and pass the THRIVE Act:
EMAIL YOUR LEGISLATORS >>
SUBMIT TESTIMONY IN SUPPORT OF THRIVE >>
Tell your electeds to cosponsor the Sunlight Agenda
The Sunlight Agenda is Act on Mass’ legislative agenda to restore democratic integrity on Beacon Hill. We have compiled a package of four bills put forward this session that would address our democracy crisis and improve transparency, accountability, and fairness in the State House. Read more about the four bills of the Sunlight Agenda.
ASK YOUR LAWMAKERS TO COSPONSOR THE AGENDA >>
DONATE TO SUPPORT THE CAMPAIGN >>
Healthy Youth Act Lobby Day Tuesday 5/30 10AM
This Tuesday we’re gathering at the State House for the Healthy Youth Act lobby day. An Act relative to healthy youth (S.268/H.544) is a common sense bill that would require any public school that already chooses to teach sex ed to provide a medically accurate, consent-based, and LGBTQ+ inclusive sexual health education. All those joining will be equipped with a script, but also are encouraged to share their own story. Training will be provided.
RSVP FOR THE LOBBY DAY >>
SUBMIT TESTIMONY IN SUPPORT OF THE HYA >>
That's all for this now. Enjoy your holiday weekend!
Until next time,
Erin Leahy
Executive Director, Act on Mass
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"Massachusetts has passed just 10 laws this year, the fewest to open a legislative session in decades. It’s a sign of the times."
By Matt Stout, Boston Globe Staff, May 29, 2023
Five months into the year, Massachusetts lawmakers have touted passing “historic funding” and holding a budget debate that’s never been “smoother.” They can also lay claim to something else, a Globe review found: perhaps the least productive start to a legislative session in at least 40 years.
With major bills still lumbering along and committees haggling over internal rules, just 10 pieces of legislation have passed into law since state lawmakers opened their two-year session in early January. The slow start is likely historic, and, current and former Beacon Hill officials say, reflective of a Democratic-controlled body where power is overly concentrated at the top and where leaders increasingly rely on hulking, omnibus legislation to move important policy.
Most of this year’s laws are relatively minor, such as creating a sick leave bank for a state employee or waiving the age limit for a specific Boston Police officer. Thanks to a legal quirk, one of the most significant changes — the creation of a new housing secretary under Governor Maura Healey — became law even without legislative approval. That type of proposal takes effect within 60 days of the governor filing it, unless the Legislature directly votes it down.
There are also no bills currently on Healey’s desk. That means, absent a burst of post-Memorial Day activity, the number of new laws would be the fewest passed through May in the opening year of the Legislature’s session since at least 1983, according to a Globe review of legislative records. It also is a fraction of the number that became law by June in either Charlie Baker’s or Deval Patrick’s first year as governor, 2015 and 2007, respectively.
“It’s disappointing, but it also doesn’t surprise me in the least,” Jay Kaufman, a Lexington Democrat and former 12-term state representative. “There is no, and has not been for a long time any, sense of urgency.”
Legislative inertia, particularly early in the two-year session, is not novel on Beacon Hill. Just 16 and 15 bills had become law by June in the beginning of the last two legislative sessions, respectively. Over the last decade, roughly 20 bills on average have made it into law by this point in session, according to the Globe analysis.
“I like slow and steady — and getting it right,” said Representative Bud Williams, a Springfield Democrat. The current leaders, he added, are having “a lot of conversation behind closed doors in terms of filing some big stuff.”
“I’m not privy to talk about it,” he added, “but people are working.”
Still, this session is sluggish in other ways. The Massachusetts House hasn’t held a roll call vote — with each member on record — since late April, and it’s scheduled to close the month without holding a single formal session in May. That kind of drought hasn’t happened at any point this decade, the Globe’sreview found.
Disagreement between House and Senate leaders over their internal committee rules has also spilled into the public, turning normally closed-door discussions into a highly unusual public spat. The inter-chamber quarrel has grown so pointed, at least one joint panel — the Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy Committee — temporarily split into two groups, each holding their own hearings on legislation twice in as many weeks.
Other committees have continued to meet together, and the 30-plus joint hearings that have been held or scheduled this month would match, if not exceed, the amount in May from two and four years ago. But it’s unclear if, or how, the ongoing rules dispute could disrupt the flow of bills as lawmakers edge deeper into admittedly “uncharted territory.”
Legislative leaders said that the bickering over rules has not slowed them and noted that the number of laws alone isn’t a complete barometer of their productivity.
“The substance of the work that the House has done so far this session is significant, and directly impacts the lives of residents across the Commonwealth,” House Speaker Ronald Mariano, a Quincy Democrat, said in a statement.
So far this year, both chambers have passed versions of a $56 billion budget proposal, though they still must negotiate a final plan. The House passed a $1 billion plan overhauling the state tax code in April, and the Senate indicated it could unveil its own tax relief package in the coming weeks. But no tax relief measure has yet been sent to Healey’s desk.
The chambers in March passed, and Healey signed, a $389 million supplemental spending bill that, beyond pumping millions into the state’s struggling emergency shelter system, was also packed with 30-plus pages of policy initiatives, including provisions to extend several pandemic-era rules.
“While I am eager to accomplish more this session,” Senate President Karen E. Spilka, an Ashland Democrat, said in a statement, “I am confident that the Senate is on pace to tackle the pressing issues before us in a thoughtful and collaborative way.”
To others, however, the pace and process are reflective of a gradually changing Legislature. Both chambers have increasingly funneled power to its top leaders, a trend that’s included abolishing term limits for the House speaker and, just in recent months, the Senate president, too. That, former and current officials say, has ensured that decision-making on which bills advance for votes stays in the hands of only a few within a 200-seat Legislature.
“No one would confuse the current day Legislature with a New England town meeting or an Athenian hillside,” said Secretary of State William F. Galvin, a former lawmaker and Brighton Democrat. “Individual activity is not encouraged. It’s not encouraged by the membership either.”
The chambers have also increasingly shown a preference for bundling legislation into hulking, omnibus packages as opposed to pursuing smaller, individual bills that may fall under a similar umbrella, such as economic development or environmental legislation.
The approach of bundling bills has its advantages, lawmakers argue, including allowing them to better consider policy proposals in concert with one another. The budget itself is also a popular vehicle for pushing through major policy, particularly if it’s tied to newly allotted money.
“We’re far more aware that things just don’t exist in the silo and unintended consequences do pop up,” said state Representative Patricia Haddad, a Somerset Democrat who’s served in the Legislature since 2001. “Most bills aren’t simple anymore.”
That has other consequences: It can encourage horse-trading, making it difficult for individual lawmakers to oppose a certain policy if it’s sutured to their own priorities within a wider bill.
“And then there’s just less debate, and less of an ability to focus on the particulars of the issue,” said Jonathan Hecht, a Democrat and former Watertown state representative who, along with Kaufman, is now part of a coalition that promotes legislative transparency.
“You want it to be good quality,” he said of legislation. “But particularly in a state that’s dominated by Democrats who believe in using law and using public agencies and public resources to address problems, I don’t think many people would say we don’t have a lot of problems that need to be addressed, big and small.”
Healey, now nearing five months of governor, has not bristled at the pace of bills flowing to her desk. The Cambridge Democrat has spent her early tenure lobbying lawmakers on supporting the wide-ranging tax relief plan she first pushed in January and has celebrated legislative milestones both big and small.
“Our administration looks forward to continued collaboration with our legislative partners to move forward on our shared goals of making Massachusetts more affordable, competitive, and equitable.” said Karissa Hand, a Healey spokeswoman.
Her predecessors at least had more to ink. Baker had signed nearly 30 bills by June of his first year, while 44 bills became law in Patrick’s first few months.
“The idea of passing an individual bill that has a specific [policy] goal, those days have pretty much gone,” Galvin said. “That’s not the way the Legislature functions anymore.”
Matt Stout can be reached at matt.stout@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @mattpstout.
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Please read the following editorial about Beacon Hill lawmakers doing nothing.... but DISSERVICES!
Our View: "Our do-nothing state lawmakers"
The Sun Chronicle, Editorial, May 31, 2023
Remember that old civics lesson, the one about how our government works?
A representative drafts a bill. Committees review the bill, perhaps making changes. All representatives then debate the bill publicly, either approving or denying it. The chief executive signs it into law or vetoes it.
That’s not the way our state government works here in the cradle of American liberty.
Nearly six months into its two-year session, our Legislature simply isn’t approving any bills of substance. The Legislature has passed fewer measures than in any session in the past four decades, a Boston Globe review has found.
When Deval Patrick first became governor in 2007, he signed 44 bills in his first five months in office. In 2015 when Charlie Baker took over as the state’s chief executive, he signed nearly 30 bills by June 1.
So far, Maura Healey has signed just 10 bills in her first few months on Beacon Hill. Among them: Creating a sick leave bank for a single state employee and waiving the age limit for a specific Boston police officer.
And there are no bills on her desk awaiting her signature. But don’t blame the governor. The House hasn’t even held a roll call vote since late April.
We believe this is just another example of the secretive, autocratic way Beacon Hill conducts the public’s business here where Americans first fought for democracy.
As we’ve said here before, Massachusetts holds the shameful and embarrassing distinction as the only state that exempts its executive, legislative and judicial branches from public records and public meeting laws.
That means lawmakers get to meet behind closed doors to decide key policy measures and how to spend more than $1 billion a week in taxpayer funds.
And because Beacon Hill is overwhelmingly dominated by one party, decisions are often made by just a handful of lawmakers on the Democratic leadership team. All major decisions come down to two people: Senate President Karen Spilka and House Speaker Ron Mariano.
Most Democratic lawmakers vote in lockstep with their party’s leadership, despite what some of our local representatives may claim.
Dan Winslow, who formerly represented the King Philip towns on Beacon Hill, once said he and other Republicans were often shocked when they would sit down to vote next to Democratic colleagues who appeared “completely in the dark” about the legislation they were considering.
“All they really needed to know was which way the speaker was going to vote on a given bill,” he told GBH, Boston’s public radio station.
In addition, the Legislature has gravitated two enormous “omnibus” bills in which several pieces of legislation are lumped together in categories such as economic development or health care. These bills are often presented to rank-and-file lawmakers and the public just hours before a scheduled vote, leaving little time for study and debate.
Legislative leaders defend their track record, saying quality is more important than quantity when it comes to decision making. And they say omnibus bills operate better because they ensure smaller measures don’t compete against each other.
But this would not happen if Massachusetts was a two-party state and if the Legislature didn’t have the power to write the rules, allowing a select few to conduct the public’s business in private.
Beacon Hill is giving a new civics lesson, and it is undemocratic, shameful and embarrassing.
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June 1, 2023
Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,
I am a service-connected disabled Veteran. I don't have the means to contribute my money to your public advocacy, but I fully support your work to bring Sunshine to Beacon Hill's Statehouse.
It is unreal that Beacon Hill lawmakers have passed only 10 laws so far this year 2023. They set a record for doing nothing.... but DISSERVICES. The proposed state budget is full of hundreds of millions of dollars in state tax breaks for the wealthy few. Instead of Investing in People, Beacon Hill lawmakers are investing in the financial, corporate and ruling (themselves) elites.
I hope that you will form a statewide coalition to oust all of the corrupt career politicians from elected office in 2024. The political system is undemocratic and a total disgrace!
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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June 1, 2023
Re: Some less than great news
Jonathan,
We have a democracy problem in Massachusetts.
Complacent due to a lack of transparency and accountability, our lawmakers on Beacon Hill favor the whims of the wealthy, well-connected, and corporations over the needs of working Bay Staters.
That’s exactly why Act on Mass was founded: to hold lawmakers accountable to everyday people. Can you chip in to support our work?
CHIP IN TODAY >>
I have some less than great news, Jonathan: our fiscal year ends on June 30th, and we’re way behind our fundraising goals for the year. We need to raise $5,249 in the next month, or $175 a day, to sustain our work at last year’s levels. And with Beacon Hill’s recent democracy backslides, our movement has never been more vital.
We don't have corporate-backing or a super PAC. We need your help to stay in the fight for accountability and transparency on Beacon Hill. You're all we've got.
And I wouldn't have it any other way.
Can you make a gift today to get us across the finish line? Even a small donation, whatever you can spare, goes a long way in our grassroots movement.
DONATE $175 >>
DONATE $50 >>
DONATE $27 >>
DONATE $15 >>
Together, and only together, we can build a Beacon Hill that truly works for the people, not just the wealthy and corporations. Thank you for being a part of this movement.
With gratitude,
Erin Leahy
Executive Director
Act on Mass
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June 1, 2023
In my studies, I found out that the path to wealth has nothing to do with hard work, achievement in one's career or small business, or being a financial genius like Matt Kerwood (sarcasm). Going back centuries, the path to wealth is elite education and marriage into a wealthy family whereby the husband and wife marry their wealthy estates together, which goes on generation after generation - the top 1 percent of wealthy households in the U.S.A.
To illustrate, Bill Weld was born with an $80 million trust fund, his family's legacy at Harvard goes back over 20 generations, and he is a member of Boston Brahmin's exclusive clubs. To illustrate, John Forbes Kerry was born with a trust fund that doubles Bill Weld's trust fund, he attended Yale University, and when he ran against George W. Bush in 2004, they were both members of Yales' Skull and Bones exclusive club, as was the late George H.W. Bush.
When I explain to people that billionaires such as Warren Buffett made most of his money after he turned 60 years old, the reply I receive is that the newer billionaires made most of their money as young adults in places such as China. I understand that times have changed when it comes to attaining great wealth.
What the deputy Superintendent's words mean is that most of us common families will never attain equal economic benefits from public education, but that has been the case for a very long time. For a long time, women and minorities have not attained the equitable income benefits as their white counterparts.
Pittsfield has families living in impoverished neighborhoods that send their children to Pittsfield's Level 5 public schools. This is a prime illustration of systemic inequality by race, gender and class. The last time I checked, over 650 students per academic year opted out of Pittsfield's Level 5 public schools to neighboring public school districts. There is a lot that is wrong with the Pittsfield Public School District. There is a lot that is wrong with our classist system.
Jon Melle
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June 3, 2023
Charles Ivar Kronick, I know that you strongly oppose my views on U.S. history, especially the historical record of most of the Founding Fathers and original U.S. Presidents owning Slaves. During the mid-20th Century, Chairman Mao killed an estimated 81 million innocent people, which maybe more than Hitler's tragic Holocaust (17 million) and Stalin's tragic mass murdering Purges (23 million to over 60 million) combined. None of it is right. When Karl Marx wrote about the brutalities of capitalism in the mid-19th Century, Slavery was legal in the U.S.A. You demonize the CCP and Marxist-based views of public education in capitalist nations, but you omit the ugly side of U.S. history. Public education is a byproduct of the wealthy elites' power in government and socioeconomic control of society. There are many good outcomes from public education, but the systemic socioeconomic and cultural issues are also real. I believe in the Iron Rule of Oligarchy, which applies to every form of government, institution and bureaucracy in human history. Simply put, there a few dominate wolves and many subservient sheep in every human group, organization and elitist institution in society. I do NOT believe that capitalism, socialism, communism, fascism, feminism, egalitarianism, communitarianism, et al, work because the inherit flaw in each and every one of them is always that the Oligarchs will dominate the commoners. To illustrate, over 20 years ago, the U.S. Government invaded Iraq, which has the second largest oil reserves in the world. Last year, Russia invaded Ukraine. It is predicted that in 2 years from now, China will invade Taiwan. Herein, we have three different forms of governments from three different countries, but the Iron Rule of Oligarchy shows that the outcomes are the same with the bigger and powerful countries invading the smaller and powerless countries. The faces and times change, but the Iron Rule of Oligarchy will never change. Public education is a tool in the Oligarchy's war chest against the commoners for the elites to retain their power over the commoners.
Jon Melle
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"In Mass., it's an ongoing debate over tax relief"
The Boston Globe, Letters to the Editor, May 30, 2023
Cries to keep the state competitive overlook data on just who’s leaving
It’s frustrating that the Globe echoes the mantra that Massachusetts needs to keep people from leaving the state by reducing taxes and that it focuses on the alleged loss of high-income people in making its argument (“Reading the tax-relief tea leaves,” Editorial, May 19).
Census microdata, reported in The New York Times, show that the Boston area is unique among large metropolitan areas. The others are losing college graduates. Here, net in-migration of college graduates is rising rapidly while we are losing those without degrees.
Census data, reported by the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, show that Massachusetts has a lower out-migration of high-income people than 40 other states, including New Hampshire and other states with no income tax at all.
A study reported by Boston Business Journal shows that the number of millionaires in Boston has risen 50 percent in the last decade.
Our housing crisis is largely because we have gained so much population. Competition for housing has driven up housing prices. That’s one of the main reasons cited for the loss of low-income essential workers, as multiple Globe articles have reported.
Senator Pat Jehlen
Somerville
The writer, a Democrat, represents the Second Middlesex District.
"Estate tax is pushing people away"
I’m a fiscal conservative, and it is very rare that I agree with a Globe position, but I strongly agree with the May 19 editorial on tax relief. Residents are fleeing the state, and the Senate takes its sweet time doing nothing because it can do that in an essentially one-party state.
Estate taxes make the state noncompetitive with 38 other states that do not have this tax, and they should be eliminated or at least the exemption should be raised to a much higher level. The Legislature needs to take action now to try to stem the population loss.
Harry Johnston
Woburn
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June 4, 2023
Hello blogger Dan Valenti, news media, and the people:
Charles Ivar Kronick posted:
Answer is: class is an indistinct stratification marker. It does not convey permanence such as caste or aristocracy, the distinction from one to another is imprecise (upper middle class vs lower versus rich has no real boundary), it is not necessarily tied to wealth (land rich – cash poor Appalachia), behavior (lottery winners versus old money), or opportunity.
The definition for class, Wikipedia notwithstanding, being the playground of academic laziness, eludes the field of sociology and even the Marxist departments anywhere have yet to define it. It is a useful term for stirring up emotional states and bad legislation such as the ‘Millionaires Tax.’
There are broad models for social stratification, good luck making use of them. Economic analysis tends to be of greater value.
My response: Economics is a study in tradeoffs. When I say this, economists say that they are about ethics, equity and efficiency. But at the end of the day, economics is about ratios whereby one side gets marginally more of a good and/or service and the other side gets marginally less of a good and/or service. Harry Truman famously used to say that he wished he had a one-handed economist to advise him because economic analysis always led to a tradeoff.
Finance and economics are fused together. The problem is that the supply side always wins, while the demand side either treads water or loses. During the 2008 financial crisis, Congress bailed out Wall Street, as well as foreign banks in Europe and Asia, with trillions of U.S. Dollars. No matter what happens, the supply side wins. Over the past 50 years, the common workers' income increased by only $5 per week. Over the past 50 years, the top 1 percent of wealthy households' wealth increased by many billions of dollars.
Sociology tries to make sense of people in society, which includes the underclass who are the millions - billions around the world - of people living in poverty, the working class who are making a whole $5 more in income per week than their grandparents did 50 years ago, the middle class who are our police officer, firefighters, teachers, social workers, and so on, the upper middle class who are our managerial geniuses, and the upper class who are our multimillionaires and billionaires.
My own story is being a man who writes, communicates, post on blogs, and studies the financial, corporate and ruling elites in our current society. Some of the career politicians always block my political emails. Other career politicians never respond to my political emails. Most news media blackout - censors - my writings. Very rarely, my writings are published, except by blogger Dan Valenti. All I - Jon Melle - can do is try to speak out to the elites, but they only want the Almighty Dollar and Power for themselves.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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June 4, 2023
Hello blogger Dan Valenti,
Pittsfield politics’ Ward 2 City Councilor posted on your blog, Planet Valenti, the following information:
It happens here too in Pittsfield. Massachusetts allows towns to seize your property for any tax debt – even debts that you are actually paying off – and they are not required to compensate the owner for the difference in equity.
They take you to court, you rack up court expenses. Then, they agree to drop the case in exchange for your property. You are completely shot and you lose everything. You may watch a lucky buyer come in and get a bargain.
My response: Would Charles Ivar Kronick please back up his claims of the city’s predatory practices of taking a citizen’s home and property to collect a tax debt and a citizen losing everything in the process?
How many citizens has the city done this to? How long has this been taking place in Pittsfield? If this is the case, then Pittsfield’s municipal government is acting in a predatory financial way.
What is Charles Ivar Kronick doing to reform this practice? Is he just complaining about it, or is he trying to remediate the situation?
I believe that Beacon Hill lawmakers are predatory, too, when it comes to all of their (voluntary) regressive taxation schemes that assaults the citizens they serve. They boast about the multibillion-dollar per year state lottery SCAM operation, excise “sin” taxes on alcohol, marijuana, tobacco, all of the fees for government services, casino gambling, underfunded state aid, tens of billions of dollars in state tax breaks every two years for their wealthy campaign donors that don’t exist in most regions of Massachusetts, and so on.
When the government is acting in a predatory way, then the corrupt career politicians are only doing DISSERVICES to the people and taxpayers they supposedly serve. If I were a politician, I would publicly advocate to use public funds to invest in the people, communities, and small businesses instead of voting for secretive and corrupt leaders who are always enriching themselves and their wealthy campaign donors at the public trough.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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June 8, 2023
Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,
Joke: I called my fictional Massachusetts State Representative named Mr. Sellout Shakedown after I read your political email today apprising us all that the State House wants to give away $1.1 billion in permanent tax cuts, which includes $440 million to the top 1 percent of wealthy households and big businesses that do not exist in most regions of the state. But all I was able to do is leave a voice message on his answering machine. Moreover, he never called me back.
Joke: I sent the fictional Massachusetts State Representative Sellout Shakedown a check for $1,000, I wrote him an affirming letter about what a great job he is doing, and I even said that when I see him next, I will drop down to my knees and give him a big wet kiss on his dirty behind, especially if it in front of an audience of people. Amazingly, I received a call back from him, and he said that anytime I want to send him money, tell him how great he is, and kiss his dirty behind, he will talk to me.
Joke: Governor Maura Healey's office called me and gave me a 6-figure no show state job. She told me to write letters to the editors of Massachusetts newspapers about how great all of the Democrats are on Beacon Hill, and in 20 years or so, I will retire with a lucrative state public pension plus perks. I thanked her for the plum state job, and I told her that I will always rubber stamp everything that her administration sends to me.
Joke: Greedy lobbyist Dan Bosley called me. He told me that after I receive my state public pension plus perks, that I should become a registered lobbyist on Beacon Hill just like him. He told me that I would really cash in on Beacon Hill by lobbying for DISSERVICES against the people and taxpayers of Massachusetts that will further enrich the wealthy top 1 percent. I told Dan Bosley that my dream in life is to be just like him so that I can cash in on Massachusetts State Government and beyond. He said to me that is the name of the game.
On July 1st, 2023, the new Massachusetts State Budget will be a win for the fictional Massachusetts State Representative Sellout Shakedown, Governor Maura Healey, and the greed-ball lobbyist named Dan Bosley! But it will be a bad joke on the people and taxpayers of Massachusetts!
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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June 8, 2023
Re: TODAY: take action to hold the State House accountable
Jonathan,
$1.1 billion.
That’s how much the State House wants to give away in permanent tax cuts instead of investing in our communities.
$440 million.
That’s how much of the tax cuts are designed to specifically benefit the ultra-wealthy and corporations—six times more than they plan to spend on capital investments in the crumbling MBTA.
Act on Mass is the movement to make Beacon Hill accountable to the people, not the super wealthy and corporations.
Can you make a donation today to keep our movement going strong?
DONATE >>
Massachusetts voters elected a trifecta and supermajority of Democrats on Beacon Hill to fight for the people, to uplift the lives of marginalized communities, and to strive for equity—not to ram through a GOP-esque series of trickle-down tax cuts for the rich.
This is what a broken democracy looks like.
Will you support our critical mission by making a gift today?
DONATE >>
Sadly, our fundraising this year is still behind what we need to keep pace with our operating expenses. We must raise $3,954 by June 30th to stay in the black. Any gift, even just five bucks, goes a long way to sustaining our work.
Help us meet our goal by making a gift today:
DONATE $100 >>
DONATE $50 >>
DONATE $27 >>
DONATE $5 >>
Without your support, there is no Act on Mass. Without you, there is no movement. Thank you for being in this fight with us.
Together,
Erin Leahy
Executive Director
Act on Mass
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"Mass. lawmakers have two bosses, heed one (hint: it’s not the voters)"
The Boston Globe, Letter to the Editor, June 8, 2023
The article “Lawmakers show little concern over sleepy start” (Page A1, May 30) astutely captured the problem of worsening inertia on Beacon Hill, with few bills, few votes, and almost no debate in the session so far. As the article points out, the over-centralization of power on Beacon Hill is a key culprit.
I often underscore that the State House suffers from a “two bosses” problem. In most jobs, the person who can hire and fire you is the same as the person who controls your pay. But for legislators, we — the public — are the ones who can choose, through our votes, to hire and fire elected officials, and legislative leadership, through committee chairs and other perks, are the ones who control the pay, with a scale that has become even more hierarchical in recent years.
With Massachusetts having the least competitive elections in the country, it’s no surprise which “boss” speaks loudest to legislators, but we all lose out from the lack of urgency around the many crises our state faces, from the growing costs of child care to the affordable housing crisis to a transit system in desperate need of care.
Jonathan Cohn, Boston
The writer is policy director of Progressive Massachusetts.
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June 10, 2023
Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,
Thank you for your political email about the do nothing Massachusetts State Legislature. Thank you for apprising me that their first piece of important legislation in 2023 will be a big fat tax cut bill for the wealthy's top 1 percent that has little to no presence in most regions of the state. While transportation, public education and housing are neglected, Beacon Hill lawmakers are focusing on regressive tax cuts.
The Housing Development Incentive Program (HDIP) is a state program to incentivize housing development in gateway cities, but HDIP is really a market-friendly solution that makes no requirement that new housing be affordable. Consequently, it tends to act more as a catalyst for gentrification and displacement than lowering housing costs for people who need it most. HDIP sounds like a way to throw state dollars at the distressed cities throughout Massachusetts without investing in the working class' hope to access affordable housing. It is always one scam after another scam by the fictional Massachusetts State Representative Sellout Shakedown.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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June 10, 2023
Re: Saturday Scoop: Senate tax bill proposal & climate fight blunders
You know what, Jonathan?
I think this whole “we need to fix the broken State House” message is catching on:
Legislature does the people’s work behind closed doors by Jonathan Hecht, Boston Globe
Sad state of affairs on Beacon Hill by Jerry Berger, Commonwealth Magazine
And perhaps it’s for good reason: as the Globe noted last week, this is the slowest and least productive legislative session in decades. Only 10 bills have been signed into law since the session began in January under the shiny new Democratic trifecta on Beacon Hill.
So these must have been bold progressive priorities that were stymied by having a Republican governor for eight years, right? Right??
Wrong. Most of the bills have been minor, or supplemental spending bills to keep the lights on. And the big bill of the session thus far, which has yet to reach Healey’s desk, is an enormous tax cut package–one of Baker’s priorities from last session.
With a crumbling MBTA, under- and inequitably-funded public schools, and a dangerously dilapidated public housing stock, what does it say about our lawmaker’s priorities that a tax cut bill may be the first major legislation to pass this session?
State House Scoop
Senate releases tax cut bill, omits two of three tax cuts for rich proposed by House
After weeks of anticipation, the Senate released their proposal for the tax cut plan this week. And, Jonathan, I don’t get to say this a lot, so I’m going to savor the moment. Give me a second. *deep breath* Ok, here it goes: it’s better than we expected.
The House’s version proposed a whopping $1.1 billion in permanent tax cuts, with $440 million specifically going to the super-wealthy and corporations. The Senate’s version, on the other hand, costs $590 million total, with $185 million going to the wealthiest Bay Staters.
Hey, I said it was better than expected, I didn’t say it was great!
The House’s version included three glaring tax giveaways to the rich: (1) slashing the short term capital gains tax from 12% to 5% (a boon for wealthy people who play the stock market), (2) a tax cut for multi-state corporations (a policy lobbied for by companies like Citizens Bank, Santander US, BNY Mellon, and Dunkin), and (3) raising the estate tax threshold from $1 million to $2 million (allowing the wealthiest families in Massachusetts to maintain even more inherited wealth instead of investing it in the community).
Of these three regressive tax cuts, the Senate’s version only kept one: the estate tax cut. And let’s be clear: by raising the threshold for this tax on inherited wealth, our lawmakers are deepening the already atrocious racial wealth gap in Massachusetts. That being said, it could have been worse; the fact that the Senate omitted the other two disastrous tax cuts is an enormous victory for progressives and a testament to the grassroots organizing and outreach in the wake of the House vote. If you contacted your senator about this tax cut bill, thank you. If you want to email your senator today and urge them not to cut the estate tax, I wouldn’t mind that either.
The Senate version also includes a number of proposals aimed at addressing the housing crisis in the state, including increasing the cap for the Housing Development Incentive Program (HDIP)—a Deval Patrick-era program to incentivize housing development in gateway cities. It might sound good at first, but HDIP is a market-friendly solution that makes no requirement that new housing be affordable. Consequently, it tends to act more as a catalyst for gentrification and displacement than lowering housing costs for people who need it most.
Lastly, both the House and the Senate versions included modest tax cuts for renters, people with dependents, and other middle-income groups. But a modest tax credit, a year in the future, does not address these immediate needs for our most vulnerable neighbors. And as we always ask when discussing proposals to cut revenue streams: why reduce our capacity to invest in our underserved communities in the first place?
The Senate is slated to debate and vote on this bill on Thursday 6/15. After that, the House and Senate versions will head to a conference committee where a compromise version is hashed out behind closed doors. In other words, it's not over 'till it's over.
Despite 2020 climate commitments, 21 of 30 new schools in MA will use fossil fuels
The Climate Roadmap bill, signed into law in 2020, committed Massachusetts to net-zero emissions by 2050. (This works out to a grim timeline of achieving 100% renewable energy as late as 2090, but that’s another story). But apparently, nobody told The Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA): out of the 30 new schools approved to be built in Massachusetts, 21 will use fossil fuels for energy. That’s 21 new school buildings that will be burning fossil fuels far beyond 2050, or even 2090. Climate activists and municipalities have been sounding the alarm on this for years; in 2021, 100 local officials signed a letter urging the MSBA to require that new school heating and cooling systems be fueled by electric energy, to no avail.
As the Globe points out, new buildings are the low-hanging fruit of the transition to green energy. And if we can’t even pick the low-hanging fruit, what does that mean for the higher-hanging fruit needed to stave off climate crisis? Assuming you can even see the fruit tree through all the wildfire smoke, that is.
Take Action
MA Indigenous Legislative Agenda Lobby Day Thursday 6/15
Join us on Thursday 6/15 for a lobby day hosted by the MA Indigenous Legislative Agenda and United American Indians of New England. We will gather on the State House steps for a rally at 11:30am and then we’ll head inside to ask our legislators to support the Indigenous Legislative Agenda, including bills to prohibit the use of Native American mascots in schools, to establish Indigenous Peoples Day, and to protect Native American heritage.
RSVP FOR THE LOBBY DAY >>
And last, a not-so-fun fact to kick off your weekend
You thought I was done talking about the MSBA, didn’t you? Sadly, I wasn’t: the Boston Globe reported this week that there are vast racial disparities in the funding that school districts receive for construction projects. According to data from the Massachusetts School Building Authority, districts with a majority white student population receive an average of $10,000 per student for school projects, compared to just $6,400 per student in districts with a majority of students of color. In the districts with the highest percentage of white students, often small rural schools, they received about $16,500 per student—about 2.5x the average amount spent on students in majority-Black districts.
That's all for this week! Here's hoping we get at least a few hours of sunshine to soak up this weekend. I know I could use some.
Until next time,
Erin Leahy
Executive Director, Act on Mass
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June 17, 2023
Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,
Usually it is considered inappropriate to moon people, but in this case, I applaud the protestors who mooned the corrupt career politicians on Beacon Hill. A joke: What did the sexually deviant Priest say to his mistress?: Turn the other cheek my dear and I will give you $50.00.
The fiscal year 2024 Massachusetts state budget that will start two weeks from today on July 1st, 2023, will be yet another DISSERVICE to the common people and taxpayers of the Commonwealth. I agree with you that it is outrageous that 30 sellout state senators voted against a mere 20% affordable housing requirement - including Berkshire-based State Senator Paul Mark - for the Housing Development Incentive Program (HDIP). It is wrong on many levels that "in reality, only 2% of HDIP-funded housing has been affordable. Consequently, it tends to act more as a catalyst for gentrification and displacement than lowering housing costs for people who need it most".
NOTE: Berkshire-based State Senator Paul Mark's aforementioned vote on S.2397 Question on the adoption of the amendment 16: NAY vote: Paul W. Mark. On the public record, Paul Mark voted AGAINST affordable housing! Paul Mark has been a corrupt career politician on Beacon Hill since 2011, and his voting record is similar to the fictional Massachusetts State Representative Sellout Shakedown. Speaking of full moons, Paul Mark is a big ASS!
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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June 17, 2023
Re: Saturday Scoop: Senate passes tax cut bill, whiffs on affordable housing
Jonathan,
If you felt things were a little strange on Thursday, perhaps it was because of the full moon.
And by “full moon” I mean the thong-clad Extinction Rebellion protesters who interrupted the Senate tax cut bill debate this week.
Photo courtesy of Senator Jamie Eldridge’s Twitter
Via butt writing, the protesters demanded our legislators “stop passing gas.” In addition to being objectively hysterical, they’re absolutely right: as we discussed in last week’s Scoop, Massachusetts is on pace to achieve 100% renewable energy by 2090. And even worse, our lawmakers aren’t even making choices that align with our inadequate goal; from the Peabody Peaker Plant to a liquified natural gas plant in Charlton, there are numerous fossil fuel infrastructure projects being constructed in the state right now—projects that have every intention of burning fossil fuels for generations to come. Read Extinction Rebellion’s full statement here.
All right, enough cheekiness, let’s dive in.
State House Scoop
Senate passes tax cut bill, differs immensely from House’s version
The Senate passed their version of the big tax cut bill on Thursday, leaving it largely identical to the version proposed by Ways & Means we covered in last week’s Scoop. To save you a click: the Senate’s bill is much, much better than the House’s version, particularly because they opted to skip two of the House's three regressive tax cuts. Unfortunately, the Senate still included the cut on the estate tax, doubling the threshold from $1 million to $2 million.
The differences between the two versions reflect the ongoing debate about how to make Massachusetts “competitive,” and, more importantly, for whom. The House (and Healey) believe that rich people and corporations are fleeing Massachusetts because the taxes are too high—and by leaving, making everyone worse off. Um, Ronald Reagan called, and he wants his tax policy back.
We know that the theory of trickle-down economics is a total myth. And, thanks to reporting and analysis from MassBudget, we know the idea that droves of people are fleeing Massachusetts because of taxes is also a total myth.
Fortunately, Senate President Spilka appears to be less persuaded by this myth of “competitiveness”; she justified her more moderate tax proposal by saying “we need to focus on individuals and working families, at least right now.” If only some scrappy legislative watchdog had been saying that for weeks!
Then again, talk is cheap—unlike housing in Massachusetts. The key feature of the Senate tax bill that purports to reduce cost of living is funding for the Housing Development Incentive Program, or “HDIP.” But in reality, only 2% of HDIP-funded housing has been affordable. Consequently, it tends to act more as a catalyst for gentrification and displacement than lowering housing costs for people who need it most.
Senator Jamie Eldridge filed an amendment to the tax cut bill that would require that at least 20% of HDIP housing be affordable units. This amendment died 30-9. See how your Senator voted (and more fantastic analysis of the debate from our friends at Progressive Mass) here. Why would 30 senators vote against a mere 20% affordable housing requirement, especially when we know that, as-is, HDIP makes the housing crisis worse, not better? Well, there are a lot of ways to answer that question. Here’s one: President Spilka didn’t support it, and senators are loath to break from the pack.
Here’s another: the real estate developer lobby has invested quite a bit in the Legislature, and you don’t invest unless you expect a decent return…
Next steps: Conference Committee
Now, the many differences between the House and Senate versions of the tax bill will be negotiated by a conference committee behind closed doors, with no deadline. And the business lobby has made no secret that they plan to privately lobby the legislators appointed to the conference committee. And we’re not just going to cede the floor to them are we? Email your legislators and tell them to urge the conference committee to not include tax cuts for the rich and corporations in the final version.
FIND YOUR LEGISLATOR’S CONTACT INFO >>
Happy pride! Now give us gay sex ed: A special Scoop item by Brenna
Ah, sexual education — nobody’s favorite topic to talk about, or at least that’s what the co-chair of the Progressive Caucus told me a few weeks back at the Healthy Youth Act Lobby Day when I asked them why this bill has seen such little progress. Despite massive cosponsorship support and the Senate passing the HYA four times, the House has refused to touch the bill with a ten-foot pole. But is the discomfort of legislators an acceptable excuse for over a decade of inaction?
The HYA is a prime example of how democratic dysfunction on Beacon Hill has put undue harm on some of our most vulnerable populations, particularly LGTBQ+ youth. First introduced in 2012 — yes, that’s eleven years ago — HYA would ensure that sex ed curriculum in our public schools is 1) medically accurate; 2) consent-based; and 3) LGBTQ+ affirming. You know, the bare minimum.
Act on Mass recently joined the Healthy Youth Act Coalition to join in the fight to pass HYA this session because our youth — particularly queer youth — deserve to be visible, uplifted, and empowered to have a safe and healthy relationship with sex. We’ll be hosting a Letter to the Editor workshop for the Healthy Youth Act next month, so stay tuned for more info and ways to get involved!
The fight for reparations in Massachusetts
Structural anti-Black racism resulting from centuries of slavery is alive and well in the U.S., and despite our progressive reputation, Massachusetts is far from an exception. WBUR noted just this past week that the average infant mortality rate among Black Bostonians was three times higher than their white counterparts, and Black maternal outcomes are actually getting worse. The next day, Blue Cross Blue Shield released a report on racial health disparities in the Bay State, concluding: “Populations of color in the state are disproportionately affected by housing instability, food insecurity, environmental toxins and stressors, and higher rates of poverty as a result of longstanding systemic racism...”
With Juneteenth on Monday, let’s take a moment to highlight the fight for reparations here in the Bay State. Amherst is poised to be the second town in the country to offer reparations to its Black residents, and could begin disbursing funds as early as 2024. On Beacon Hill, Senator Liz Miranda has filed bills which would create a statewide reparations commission, and establish a reparations fund, respectively, although neither has picked up much steam. We (and all other progressives across the state and country) will be cheering on Amherst as they lead this fight in Massachusetts, and, God willing, set a model for the rest of us to follow.
Enjoying the Saturday Scoop? Help us keep writing it!
Our big fundraising deadline for the fiscal year is June 30th. To everyone who has given to this fundraiser thus far: thank you for making the work we do--like the Saturday Scoop--possible. Unfortunately, we're still about $2,000 behind our goal. If you enjoy the Scoop and want to support it, consider making a gift today! A donation of any size goes a long way to keeping us in the fight for transparency and accountability on Beacon Hill:
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That's all for now! Enjoy your rainy weekend.
Stay cheeky,
Erin Leahy
Executive Director, Act on Mass
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June 21, 2023
Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,
Sarcasm: I called my fictional Massachusetts State Representative Sellout Shakedown the other day and I asked him what he thought about the 30 rubber stamp State Senators - including Becket State Senator Paul Mark - who voted against affordable housing in HDIP last week. I thought he was going to hang up the telephone on me, but instead, he told me that part of selling out and shaking down the people and taxpayers of Massachusetts is throwing the common people a few crumbs from the public trough in Boston. He went onto say that while he is in it for the Almighty Dollar and being in the favorable graces of the House Speaker, he also makes sure that the people and taxpayers have access to affordable housing and other lofty state programs.
Sarcasm: I still told him that he is still a SCAM Artist whose corrupt career in state government politics needs to end as soon as possible. Then, he immediately hung up the telephone on me. I was going to say that I support Erin Leahy at Act on Mass' public advocacy work to bring Sunshine rules reforms, accessibility and democracy to Beacon Hill's corrupt and secretive State House, but I did not get the chance. That is probably why he terminated the telephone call.
Not sarcasm: I thought that the government exists to serve the people and taxpayers, but that would be real democracy instead of all of the phony shell games that we know all too well.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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June 21, 2023
We’re so close, Jonathan!
Our end-of-fiscal year fundraising deadline is June 30th–just nine short days away. We’ve made enormous strides since launching this fundraiser on June 1st–thank you to everyone who has donated thus far! You are the reason Act on Mass can do the work we’re proud to do.
Unfortunately, we’re still shy of raising what we need to operate at last year’s capacity. We’re just $1,436 away from our annual fundraising goal. Can you donate today to help us close the gap?
DONATE TODAY >>
As a people-powered movement, we rely on grassroots donors like you to keep us afloat–and we wouldn’t have it any other way. The average donation during this fundraiser has been $32.85. Whether it goes towards phonebanking software, printing flyers, or running a lobby day for our Sunlight Agenda legislative campaign, 32 bucks goes a long way in an organization like ours.
Match the average donation for this fundraiser and chip in $32.85 today:
DONATE $32.85 >>
DONATE $15 >>
DONATE $5 >>
At Act on Mass, we don’t ask for a penny more than what we need to balance our books, and we invest every dollar into making the State House more accessible and democratic. Even just $5, whatever you can afford at the moment, is deeply felt and appreciated.
CHIP IN ANY AMOUNT >>
With gratitude,
Erin Leahy
Executive Director
Act on Mass
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June 26, 2023
Chris Connell, That - not doing one's job correctly - is how one is rewarded in the government. If the government worked correctly, we wouldn't have to pay for all of the corruption and phony shell games that makes the career politicians and their wealthy backers so much money. The real reason why one "works" for the government is to CASH IN! If someone such as I - Jon Melle - "worked" for the government, and I did my job correctly, the career politicians, greedy lobbyists, and the wealthy backers would fire my ass quicker than a New York minute. However, if someone such as I - Jon Melle - "worked" for the government "incorrectly", I would become a big wheel in machine politics, and I would retire in my 50s with a 6-figure public pension plus perks that would cost taxpayers a couple of million dollars over the next 30 years of my life. I remember 23 years ago when the state's Boston "Big Dig" manager oversaw a $2 billion cost overrun (one of many huge cost overruns, of course), he received a golden parachute that included a couple million dollars, a big public pension plus perks, and probably a ticket to a lucrative position as a consultant or lobbyist. Since then, multiple innocent people have been killed in Boston's "Big Dig', which leaks millions of gallons of dirty water every day and cost state taxpayers' tens of billions of dollars. The state-run Holyoke Soldiers Home's (as well as the Chelsea Soldiers Home's) outbreak(s) of Covid-19 killed around 80-plus Veterans, and state taxpayers shelled out tens of millions of dollars in settlement funds for the victims' families. The state's social services agencies failed many innocent children, including the little girl named Harmony Montgomery who was allegedly murdered by her abusive father, Adam Montgomery, in Manchester, New Hampshire. Beacon Hill lawmakers are sitting on a record amount of surplus state dollars in the billions of dollars, while families, communities and common taxpayers are still in need of tax relief, affordable housing funds (which Becket State Senator Paul Mark recently voted down), and stimulus money. If I were in Governor Maura Healey's shoes, I would be all over these issues, but then again, I would be immediately impeached for doing my job correctly in the government. Why do you think that people dislike and do not trust politicians and their bureaucrats? - Jon Melle
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July 1, 2023
Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,
Thank you for today's political email about Beacon Hill politics that informed me and the general public that the pending fiscal year 2024 Massachusetts state budget is late, that major state legislative decisions are being made in secrecy including, but not limited to, the multibillion-dollar tax cut bill that primarily benefits the top 1 percent of wealthy households and big businesses, that the State Legislature did not meet in formal session during the months of May and June 2023, that so far in 2023 it is the least productive state legislative session in over one decade, that many people spoke out at the prison moratorium bill hearing, that the state is experiencing an affordable housing, as well as a homelessness, crisis with Western Massachusetts facing the most acute impacts of homeless people and/or families struggling to live in their respective community as a houseless person and/or family, and that renters are facing more and more evictions as the year progresses forward in time. The State Senate, including Becket State Senator Paul Mark, recently voted to reject an amendment to require that 20% of HDIP-funded housing be affordable. Tragically, opioid-related deaths hit a record high in Massachusetts in 2022. I learned a lot of sad news about the useless corrupt career politicians in Boston today, but even worse, it is all predictable!
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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July 1, 2023
Re: Saturday Scoop: a historic hearing for prison moratorium bill + housing crisis update
It’s summertime, Jonathan!
And the livin’ is easy.
If you’re a lawmaker on Beacon Hill, that is.
Continuing the slowest and least productive legislative session in the last decade, the Legislature adjourned for the fiscal year without approving the FY2024 budget—missing the 7/1 deadline for the thirteenth time in a row. In fact, the House didn’t hold a single formal session during the months of May or June. Livin’ doesn’t get easier than that!
But remember: just because we’re not seeing any action doesn’t mean legislators aren’t meeting and deliberating on major pieces of legislation—they are. We’re just not invited.
The budget is currently being negotiated in conference committee—a notoriously opaque stage of the already notoriously opaque legislative process. What line items are on the chopping block, which special interests have a seat at the table, and what do they want? We have no clue.
Likewise with the big tax cut bill; the fate of destructive policies like tax cuts for the rich, and progressive, desperately-needed policies like allowing Massachusetts undocumented students to receive in-state tuition hang in the balance, the public utterly in the dark.
Ah, summer in Massachusetts. If only actual sunlight were a disinfectant.
State House Scoop
A historic moment at the prison moratorium bill hearing
Last Tuesday, for the first time in the history of Massachusetts, people experiencing incarceration were allowed to testify in front of the legislature. Yes, the first time. Over two dozen people from MCI Framingham and Souza Baranowski attended the hearing virtually to give testimony, all overwhelmingly against the construction of a new prison.
Following a rally on the State House steps, dozens of people piled into the Gardner Auditorium on Tuesday morning to attend the hearing on the Prison and Jail Construction Moratorium bill (S.1979). The bill would put the brakes on a current state project to build a new $50 million women’s prison, as well as any new major construction, for five years.
Many of the women in MCI Framingham called out the need to fund programming, educational and vocational opportunities, rehabilitative services and healthcare, and decarceration, rather than replace their existing facilities which are largely empty.
"Instead of worrying about stashing the pockets of a construction company, invest the money that we need dearly at Framingham," Jessica Deane testified, from inside MCI Framingham. She underscored the need for funding and support for survivors of domestic violence, so that they can "heal in a meaningful way to be positive and successful returning citizens."
Especially at a time when our public housing is dangerously dilapidated and unlivable, our MBTA is crumbling, and the high quality education and healthcare we pride ourselves on becomes too expensive for everyday Bay Staters, a new prison is the last place Massachusetts should be spending $50 million in taxpayer dollars.
Though the hearing has passed, you can still submit testimony via MAPLE. Use our Testimony Toolkit to help you draft effective testimony, and then submit it online:
SHARE YOUR SUPPORT FOR THE MORATORIUM BILL >>
One last thing: this hearing began at 11:00 AM, and continued into the early evening. Activists had to take a day off work and wait hours to testify, which is of course in addition to countless hours of planning, testimony writing, and training that goes into a successful hearing turnout. All of this time and resources for a bill that already passed the Legislature last session.
If the Legislature had passed this bill days earlier last summer, they would have had time to override Baker’s veto and 1) the prison moratorium would be law, and 2) these activists could be spending this session advocating for any number of other pressing issues.
Beacon Hill’s response to the housing affordability crisis
If you’re a renter or looking to buy a home in Massachusetts, you don’t need me to tell you what you already know: it’s rough out here. Like “maybe I should move out of the state” rough. The median home price in Greater Boston just hit an all time high of $900,000, and Massachusetts just earned the mantle of the third most expensive state to rent a home, behind Hawaii and California. The material impacts on vulnerable Bay Staters? Evictions in Boston are on the rise, and homelessness in Western Massachusetts is at a five-year high, to name just a few.
So let’s check in on what our elected officials are doing to address this crisis. Our Democratic trifecta must be acting swiftly and immediately to curb rent hikes and prevent evictions, right? Right??
Not exactly. Governor Healey just announced a five-year capital investment plan which would put $1.4 billion towards affordable housing development per year. We absolutely need more housing, especially more affordable units, but we need more than just incentives for developers to address the urgency and scale of this crisis. And the Legislature? While debating their tax cut bill, the Senate rejected an amendment to require that 20% of HDIP-funded housing be affordable. This spring, the Legislature needlessly allowed eviction protections to expire. Not to mention the State House (where there are more landlords than there are renters) has been so hostile to tenant protections like rent control that many lawmakers are reluctant to even talk about it.
Bill spotlight: overdose prevention centers pilot program
Overdose prevention centers (“OPCs,” also known as safe consumption sites) are legal facilities where individuals who use drugs can do so under medical supervision to prevent overdoses and the transmission of diseases like hepatitis and HIV. An Act relative to preventing overdose deaths and increasing access to treatment (H.1981/S.1242) would establish a 10-year pilot program for OPCs that municipalities can choose to opt into. The bill has been introduced three sessions in a row now, only to die in Senate Ways and Means, and then get sent to study the following session. Since opioid-related deaths hit a record high in Massachusetts in 2022, it’s no wonder that medical and public health organizations have lined up behind this bill. And several municipalities, including Somerville, are already working to open OPCs, but this legislation is needed to establish the legal and regulatory framework for them to operate. How many overdose deaths could have been prevented if this bill had been passed years ago when it was first filed?
Take Action
Ask your legislators to cosponsor rent stabilization and foreclosure prevention
Building more housing does nothing to help people who are facing eviction and foreclosure right now. Email your legislators to ask them to cosponsor two critical bills: HD.2103 / SD1299 to lift the ban on rent control, and H.942 / S.653 which will require homeowners to meet with lenders to prevent foreclosure.
CALL YOUR LEGISLATORS >>
EMAIL YOUR LEGISLATORS >>
All right, enough news--back to your holiday weekend!
And remember, as the Boston Fire Department once tweeted (and sadly deleted): Fire Works are Illegal in Massachuetts.
Until next time,
Erin Leahy
Executive Director, Act on Mass
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July 1, 2023
No, it doesn't surprise me that tax cuts actually benefit those who pay taxes. However, Beacon Hill lawmakers giveaway many billions of dollars per fiscal year in state tax breaks to their wealthy campaign donors, which means that: (a) the financial, corporate and ruling elites are all enriching themselves at the public trough, (b) the corrupt career politicians in Boston are playing phony financial shell games with taxpayer dollars, (c) they are using (voluntary) regressive taxation schemes such as the inequitable state lottery for their own special interests, (d) they are making the state government a pay to play system instead of an accessible, democratic and equitable system (e) they know that most of the special interests that benefit from lucrative state tax breaks and giveaways do not exist in most regions of the state, especially in mostly Western Massachusetts (f) they are systemically underfunding public education and state aid to local government, (g) they are enabling greedy lobbyists to earn 6-figure and even 7-figure per year salaries by legally bribing the fictional Massachusetts State Representative Sellout Shakedown, (h) they are further financializing the state government instead of seeing the people and taxpayers as one of their most valuable resources, (i) they are not cutting any of their own state public pay plus perks, (j) they are operating in secrecy to serve their dictatorial-like Statehouse leadership instead of holding public hearings on the pending late fiscal year 2024 state budget, (k) they are not addressing the affordable housing, homelessness and eviction crises, (l) they are not addressing the possibility of an economic recession in the tax cut bill, (m) they are not addressing the state's infrastructure needs, (n) they are not passing Sunshine laws and rules reforms for transparency in the three branches of state government.
To be clear, there is NOBODY representing the common person, family and taxpayer in Boston! Instead, Beacon Hill lawmakers are only doing DISSERVICES to the commoners! We should NOT be conditioned to bend over for the corrupt state government in Boston! Instead, we should demand change for the better for the sake of all of the taxpayers, people, families and communities of Massachusetts.
Jonathan A. Melle
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July 3, 2023
The reason why state and local government has failed Pittsfield, Massachusetts, over the past 40 years now is because of "The Iron Rule of Oligarchy", which means that the Oligarchs want all of the money and power, while the rest of us have to pound sand. The corrupt career politicians serve the Oligarchy instead of the people and taxpayers. Beacon Hill lawmakers, the Governor (Maura Healey), and the state court system of injustices all operate in complete secrecy under the state law. Beacon Hill lawmakers give away many billions of dollars in state tax breaks and give aways per fiscal year to their wealthy campaign donors. The flaw in the corrupt career politicians serving the Oligarchy is that most regions of Massachusetts do not benefit from the reverse Robin Hood policies and politics and the 40-year trickledown economics SCAM.
Pittsfield is a prime example of a distressed "Gateway" city that, I believe, is systemically mocked by the elitist snobs in Boston. To illustrate, the multibillion-dollar state lottery SCAM is really a (voluntary) regressive taxation scheme by Boston that targets the underclass, working class and even middle-class residents of Pittsfield (and distressed and very unequal places similar to it). The bigger the lottery's revenues, the more tax breaks will be given out from the wealthy special interests to the fictional Massachusetts State Representative Sellout Shakedown's campaign coffers. Some registered lobbyists on Beacon Hill earn 7-figure per year salaries pushing SCAMS such as growing the state lottery and other regressive taxation schemes for their wealthy big business clients' huge and lucrative state tax breaks and give aways.
Over the past two months of May and June through today, July 3rd, Beacon Hill lawmakers have not held any Formal Sessions. That means there have been zero roll call votes, a late pending fiscal year 2024 state budget, and state taxpayers funding their do-nothing State Representative's extended vacation. To be clear, the corrupt career politicians are only in government for the Almighty Dollar and Power so they may enrich themselves and their wealthy campaign donors at the public trough, while the rest of us have to pound sand.
Jonathan A. Melle
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July 7, 2023
Massachusetts State Representatives had initially considered holding formal sessions Thursday and Friday (July 6th & July 7th, 2023) before opting to continue a 10-week break from large-scale lawmaking. Beacon Hill lawmakers have not held a formal session in the months of May and June and the first week of July 2023. The yet to be voted on fiscal year 2023 Massachusetts state budget is now one week late. It is the last productive session of the Massachusetts State Legislature in over one decade. Beacon Hill lawmakers are sitting on billions upon billions of surplus state dollars without passing tax relief legislation.
Beacon Hill lawmakers are useless. Beacon Hill lawmakers do nothing, while taxpayers have to pay for their 6-figure state public pay plus perks. Beacon Hill lawmakers only do DISSERVICES to the common people and distressed communities in Massachusetts. Please support new political candidates who will change Beacon Hill politics for the better because the current secretive and corrupt political system of state government in Boston is broken.
Please vote out all of the corrupt career politicians on Beacon Hill, including the Berkshire delegation: Becket State Senator Paul Mark who recently voted against affordable housing because he is a banal rubber stamp for State Senate President Karen Spilka, Lenox State Rep. Smitty Pignatelli who has been in Boston for over 2 decades now and wrongly voted for 2 convicted Felons named Tom Finneran and Sal DiMasi for Speaker of the State House (prior to the 2 aforementioned disgraced politicians becoming Convicted Felons), Pittsfield State Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier who said that she will only "work" for the decriminalization of sex workers while Pittsfield is struggling with Level 5 public schools and always being in the top 10 cities in Massachusetts for violent crime year-in and year-out, and North Adams State Rep. John Barrett III who has been in elected office longer than many of us have been alive similar to Joe Biden's over 50 years in the Swamp, and he recently coldly called would-be homeless families that were to be housed in North Adams' empty college dorms "a threat" to the community. Paul Mark, Smitty Pignatelli, Tricia Farley-Bouver, and John Barrett III are all failures in leadership!
Jonathan A. Melle
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July 8, 2023
Please read the news article, below, that says that the Massachusetts State Government is still awash in cash. It states that: "The Stabilization Fund has a balance of $7.22 billion, the state Executive Office of Administration and Finance said — a historically high level of reserves for the state that is equal to nearly 14 percent of fiscal year 2023 budgeted spending."
Beacon Hill lawmakers have over $7 billion in surplus state cash, but they still have not passed tax relief legislation. As blogger Dan Valenti always writes, the over $7 billion in surplus state cash belongs in the pockets of hard-working families such as the fictional Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski family of Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
Jonathan A. Melle
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"Massachusetts Will Make Much Smaller Rainy Day Fund Deposit — But State Government Still Awash In Cash"
By Colin Young, State House News Service | July 7, 2023
The state’s sizeable rainy day fund will be infused with hundreds of millions of dollars once the books are closed on fiscal year 2023, but the deposit is expected to be “substantially less” than the $1.5 billion initially expected.
The smaller-than-expected deposit is “driven by lower than originally anticipated capital gains tax collections,” officials wrote in the June 20 official statement of Bay State finances that also put investors and others on notice of the change. The shortfall in capital gains revenue contributed to the nosedive that state tax collections took in April, missing Healey administration expectations by $1.435 billion (or 23.1 percent) and falling $2.163 billion (or 31.2 percent) short of the mark from the same month a year earlier.
The consensus revenue estimate that the Healey administration updated in January forecast $2.934 billion in capital gains collections for fiscal year 2023 (which runs from July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024), which would result in a $1.53 billion deposit to the Stabilization Fund based on the law that requires 90 percent of capital gains revenue above a certain threshold (just more than $1.403 billion in fiscal year 2023) be deposited into that account.
But in the first 11 months of fiscal year 2023 (through May 31), the state had brought in just $2.065 billion in capital gains collections, according to a letter obtained by State House News Service that the Massachusetts Department of Revenue sent state comptroller William McNamara last week. If the fiscal year were to have ended May 31, the rainy day fund deposit would have been $595.2 million, the state Executive Office of Administration and Finance said.
The final deposit, a number that may not be clear until the books are closed this fall, will be equal to $595.2 million plus 90 percent of whatever capital gains revenue the state collected during June 2023. Fiscal year 2023 ended June 30, but it regularly takes state lawmakers months to formally finish the accounting necessary for the state’s comptroller to compile an annual financial report.
The Stabilization Fund has a balance of $7.22 billion, the state Executive Office of Administration and Finance said — a historically high level of reserves for the state that is equal to nearly 14 percent of fiscal year 2023 budgeted spending. The fund’s balance is closer than it has been at any point over the last 20 years to the maximum allowed by law, and state budget managers have also socked away money — including fiscal year 2022’s year-end $4.8 billion surplus — in a Transitional Escrow Fund that former Secretary of Administration and Finance Michael Heffernan said “acts almost as a stabilization fund on top of the Stabilization Fund.”
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"My Turn: Is the Massachusetts Legislature trying to hide something?"
By Penny Schultz, op-ed, The Greenfield (Mass.) Recorder, July 8, 2023
Western Massachusetts doesn’t get a whole lot of attention from the state, so a visit by our new, feisty, change-making State Auditor Diana Dizoglio in Williamsburg was a welcome event for all who attended.
DiZoglio is shaking things up in Massachusetts, as James Pentland’s front page story made clear [“Auditor pushing to scrutinize Legislature,” Recorder, July 1]. At the forum, DiZoglio promised to do a performance audit of the state Legislature, to confirm that the Legislature is following through on the funds they appropriate for themselves — $47 million in the House this fiscal year, an additional $29 million in the Senate, plus $10.7 for joint legislative expenses — a significant sum.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Ronald Mariano has said that he will not cooperate with the audit as he alleges it exceeds the state auditor’s legal authority and violates the separation of powers doctrine.
There is nothing disputable about an audit. State law requires the auditor to do a performance audit of all state agencies every three years. DiZoglio has already conducted audits of the executive branch and the judiciary. The MBTA — infamous for its inefficiencies — will be audited soon.
It was not too long ago that former House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi faced federal public corruption charges, accused of using the power of the speaker’s office to steer multimillion-dollar contracts to a software company for legislative business in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks. DiMasi was found guilty and served prison time.
Legislative audits are routine in other states. They have been performed in Massachusetts in the past. Why would our Legislature be an exception? Is it possible that our current state Legislature is trying to hide something?
In fact, Massachusetts is rated as one of the least transparent states in the country. Bills are crafted behind closed doors, and then submitted for a vote with sometimes less that 24 hours for legislators to review them before voting on them. The way to shine a light on the legislative process is through a performance audit, and Diana DiZoglio knows that. This is what seems to so frighten Speaker Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka.
How can these legislators who run their respective chambers with an iron fist flat out refuse to cooperate with the obligation to submit to an audit? Sadly, the answer is that there is no mechanism in our state to force their cooperation. We are left with the power of our voices to speak out against this cronyism and lack of public input.
I hope people will contact their state legislators, Speaker Mariano, and President Spilka to express their outrage at a legislative process that is so controlled by insider power brokers including Mariano, Spilka and their cohorts.
Penny Schultz lives in Haydenville and is a member of Indivisible Williamsburg.
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July 8, 2023
The week ahead on Beacon Hill could bring the final word on tax relief details, whether Lottery sales will go online, and how to spend a billion new tax dollars on transportation and education. Or the Legislature could just continue processing local alcohol license bills, congratulatory resolutions, and welcoming summertime guests to their air-conditioned chambers. Another late annual budget means it's hurry-up-and-wait time again in July. Gov. Maura Healey hasn't been around much since summer rolled in -- a week in Ireland followed by a week in Rhode Island -- and she is scheduled to be out of state again in the coming days while she waits with everyone else for six lawmakers meeting privately, who are guided by House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka, to agree on an overdue state budget. The National Governors Association is holding its summer meetings Wednesday through Friday in Atlantic City and a Healey spokeswoman said the governor plans to depart for those meetings on Wednesday afternoon. The tax relief debate is largely a repeat of last year's unsuccessful deliberations, House and Senate Democrats remain hung up on a mostly routine annual local road and bridge infrastructure funding bill, and Democrats in the General Court have put Massachusetts among a tiny group of states that haven't been able to produce an annual budget on time. Democrats on the Hill like to point out how well they work with Republicans, but their output over the first half of 2023 is raising questions about how well they can get things done working together. As Gov. Charlie Baker did, Healey offered an interim budget to keep state government from shutting down, and the House and Senate were quick to approve that. It will keep the government funded roughly through July. In the absence of movement on the omnibus bills, and with legislative leaders showing little interest in putting scores of other bills up for debate and votes, a few legislative committees will gavel in hearings next week, where they will explore artificial intelligence, housing affordability, and decarbonization bills, among others. Away from Beacon Hill, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission appears to be closing in on a choice for its next executive director, and across town, stakeholders in the slowly developing offshore wind energy sector will gather for a two-day conference at the Hynes Convention Center.
Credit: "People, Power, and Politics", Alan Earls, Editor of the Franklin Observer, [Alan Earls is a resident of Franklin, Massachusetts. He can be reached at alan.r.earls@gmail.com], July 8th, 2023.
July 9, 2023
Hi There,
Thanks for the correspondence. Just an FYI, all the information on Beacon Hill is produced by State House News Service in Boston. I subscribe to that service, which allows me to reproduce their material with or without credit. In this case, mostly out of haste, I did not credit them. I hope that helps.
Best Regards.
Alan [R. Earls]
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July 9, 2023
Hello blogger Dan Valenti,
Beacon Hill lawmakers' week ahead includes two contradictory public policies. The first policy is the long-awaited, elusive tax relief legislation, while the state government still sits on over $7.22 billion in surplus state cash. The second policy is whether state lottery sales will go online. The lottery is nothing more than a (voluntary) regressive taxation scheme that is a predatory industry that targets the mostly financially illiterate and uneducated underclass, working class and middle-class residents so that the high-income residents won't have to pay as much in state taxes.
Beacon Hill lawmakers in the State House of Representatives have not met in Formal Session in over 10 weeks. The fiscal year 2024 state budget is over one week late now. The Legislature is debating how to spend a billion new tax dollars on transportation and education. That is laughable because Beacon Hill lawmakers give away many billions of dollars in state taxpayer dollars to their wealthy campaign donors so that the financial, corporate and ruling elites may enrich themselves at the public trough while the commoners pound sand. No wonder why some of the registered lobbyists on Beacon Hill earn 7-figure per year salaries by legally bribing the fictional Massachusetts State Representative Sellout Shakedown!
It is also Summer Vacation time for Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey, who went to Ireland for one week, Rhode Island for one week, and she will attend the National Governors Association's summer meeting in Atlantic City, NJ, from Wednesday, July 12th through Friday, July 14th, 2023. She is NOT hard at work fighting for the fictional hard-working Kapanski family of Pittsfield, Massachusetts!
The House and Senate Democrats remain hung up on a mostly routine annual local road and bridge infrastructure funding bill. Joking here: I thought by 2023, we would all be flying in cars by now like in the Back to Future Part 2 movie.
Jonathan A. Melle
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July 9, 2023
Hello blogger Dan Valenti,
While I am an overall proud supporter of Mayor Linda Tyer, I disagree with her administration's secretive management of municipal financial accounts. The Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle), blogger Dan Valenti, citizen activists, and Ward 2 Pittsfield City Councilor Charles Ivar Kronick all spoke out and wrote against Mayor Linda Tyer shutting out the public from her administration's secretive deliberations of how they would spend the city's ARPA funds (aka Biden Buck$) that amounted to over $41 million. Pittsfield politics' nine-day-old fiscal year 2024 municipal operating budget spends over $205.6 million in return for - "a shit sandwich" - Level 5 public schools, Pittsfield always being in the top 10 cities in Massachusetts for violent crime year-in and year-out, the 25-year-old polluted PEDA debacle that has millions of dollars in always increasing unfunded liabilities, around one-hundred million dollars in municipal debts plus over $400 million in OPEB unfunded liabilities, a distressed downtown with 15 empty storefronts in 2023 that is sarcastically called "Social Services Alley" with the surrounding inner-city distressed neighborhoods sarcastically called "The Ring of Poverty", the one political (Democratic) party fighting provincial factions who both report to the same political bosses in Boston, State Rep. Tricia Farley Bouvier saying her only priority in 2023 - 2024 is to decriminalize sex workers, State Senator Paul Mark recently voting against affordable housing legislation, PAC Man Richie Neal only being interested in K Street corporate lobbyist firms that have nothing to do with his mostly rural Western Massachusetts-based Congressional District, the supposed Green New Dealer Ed Markey supporting GE's plan to put a PCBs-filled toxic waste capped leaky landfill inside of a watershed in the polluted Housatonic River in Lee, Massachusetts, that is too close to the October Mountain aquifer, and the NOT living on or anywhere near Main Street USA Elizabeth Warren supporting Joe Biden, who takes in more money from Wall Street and K Street than any other politician in U.S. history.
To be clear: There is NOBODY in today's government representing the fictional Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski hard-working, taxpaying family who lives in Pittsfield, Massachusetts! The government has become a big SCAM that is led by the fictional Massachusetts State Representative Sellout Shakedown who sells out the common people and taxpayers by shaking everyone down for the Almighty Dollar to enrich himself and his wealthy campaign donors at the public trough. On Beacon Hill, some registered lobbyists earn 7-figure salaries, which is outrageous. On K Street, the corporate lobbyist firms in the Swamp recently bragged about their record earnings during the Biden administration's spending binge. Economic inequality is at a 100 year high (which is when one hundred years ago Adolf Hitler began his rise to power in Germany). The middle-class family - the American Dream - of post-WW2 USA has become a 21st Century myth. This has to change NOW! The people and taxpayers must vote out all of the corrupt career politicians in the government and vote in new politicians who will vote to invest in people, communities and the middle-class by voting for affordable housing, universal healthcare insurance, Level 1 public schools, transportation that gets the working class to and from their residences, living wage jobs, realistic pension plans, and economic equity in all public policies.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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July 13, 2023
The Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle)'s editorial praising Governor Maura Healey for visiting North Adams after the extreme weather event that caused millions of dollars in damage to the small city's infrastructure makes valid points. If I was in Governor Maura Healey's position, I would be advocating that the state government use their historically huge Slush Fund of over $7.22 billion to address this immediate issue, among other important issues that the people, taxpayers and communities are facing in mid-2023. The other thing I would say is that the corrupt career politicians on Beacon Hill should stop giving away many billions of dollars in state tax breaks per fiscal year to their wealthy campaign donors. Instead, they should be representing ALL of the people, taxpayers and communities in the respective state legislative districts. While I am glad to see Governor Maura Healey show up in-person all around the state that she leads, I must criticize her for not speaking out about the aforementioned issues. Lastly, whatever happened to Sunshine laws and rules reforms, accessibility for all, and democratic governance in the Massachusetts State Government, Governor Maura Healey and all of the corrupt career politicians in the secretive and top-down State Legislature and State Courts (of injustice, patronage and plums)?
Jonathan A. Melle
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Our Opinion: "Good to see governor in Berkshires, especially in bad times"
The Berkshire Eagle, July 12, 2023
'Governor, we just need help.' Local leaders say recent storm highlights Northern Berkshires' infrastructure crisis
A collection of local dignitaries stood alongside Gov. Maura Healey on Wednesday on the corner of Morgan and State street in North Adams in front of a hole in the road where a manhole culvert failed. “I’m committed to working to try to find ways to make sure we meet the moment and meet the need,” Healey said.
When then-candidate Maura Healey pledged to be a governor for all of Massachusetts — even its western region too often overlooked by Beacon Hill — we suggested a few ways to demonstrate and follow through on that commitment. The simplest suggestion was simply to show up — to meet your Berkshire constituents where they are, to see and hear of their unique strengths and struggles in person.
We’re glad to see Gov. Healey took that tack in the immediate aftermath of torrential rainstorms and flooding that hit particularly hard in Western Massachusetts. On Wednesday, the governor ventured out to some of those hard-hit areas, first stopping in Hampshire County then visiting North Adams, one of multiple Berkshires towns where the flood damage is estimated in millions of dollars. While there, Gov. Healey could see with her own eyes the havoc wrought on countless streets, sidewalks, driveways, front lawns and farm fields. It also meant she was there in person to hear North Adams Mayor Jennifer Macksey say, “Governor, we just need help.”
That matters, even in an era where officials on opposite ends of the state can hop on a video call in seconds.
It seems to matter to Gov. Healey, too: “I hear about these things, I get sent videos, I get sent pictures, I talk on the phone, but there’s nothing quite like seeing it up close and also talking to those impacted by the event.”
Clarksburg faces more than $1 million worth of repairs after the storm while North Adams residents wait for the waters to fully recede
Town hall flooded, roads collapsed, embankments eroded, and now Clarksburg is dealing with the damage. In North Adams, streets are still closed.
We agree. There’s nothing quite like seeing and experiencing for yourself what your constituents are dealing with. We hope that provides added traction for action. Statewide damage must total at least $12.4 million in order to qualify for federal aid, according to the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency. MEMA has not yet determined what the total estimated damage is in dollars, but even if it comes under that threshold some places will still need help — and not just North Adams. Clarksburg suffered an estimated $1 million in damage from the flooding, and while that might not be a significant sum for larger municipalities it is for a small town.
And as Mayor Macksey and Northern Berkshire state Rep. John Barrett III pointed out, extreme weather events and other emergencies not only cause new problems but exacerbate and underscore the old ones, especially in the smaller, rural communities where systemic infrastructure woes have too often festered without much attention paid by Beacon Hill.
Gov. Healey has not yet committed to any specific plan of aid or action yet, saying she wants to let MEMA to more fully get its arms around the situation. Waiting for that assessment is wise, but we hope that the governor’s willingness to show up and see for herself the storm’s aftermath in Western Mass. informs a larger plan not just to assist these communities bounce back from this singular event but help them build back stronger for inevitable future challenges. Unfortunately, climate change is making these events more likely. And even outside of extreme weather events, the infrastructure woes facing smaller, poorer and more rural communities deserve more attention from state leaders in Boston, as a 2021 state auditor’s report thoroughly demonstrated. Aging and crumbling roads and culverts, a sizable amount of dams that need expensive maintenance and repair, struggles with building and upgrading emergency services buildings — all of these things are pressing issues not just in an extreme weather event but every year when small-town local leaders try to balance their budget with infrastructure projects nearly impossible to shoulder on their own.
It’s good to see the governor meet her Berkshire constituents where they’re at, even and perhaps especially in bad times.
We hope that important but largely symbolic gesture translates into the kind of policy that would in fact characterize a gubernatorial administration for all of Massachusetts.
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July 14, 2023
Hello blogger Dan Valenti,
"Millions in funding proposed for North Adams, Clarksburg, Adams, and Colrain to recover from storm-related damages and flooding were scrapped. Torrential downpours...." - Boston Herald news article.
How do you feel about Beacon Hill lawmakers sitting on a historically huge amount of Slush Fund money that totals over $7.22 billion, but yesterday (Thursday, July 13th, 2023), State House lawmakers in Boston scrapped millions of dollars in funding proposed for North Adams, Clarksburg, Adams, and Colrain to recover from millions of dollars in storm-related damages were scrapped?
The same goes for the state's affordable housing crisis, proposed tax relief legislation, the proposed $20 million agricultural disaster relief fund designed to provide direct assistance to farmers, the 2 week late fiscal year 2024 state budget, and so on.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
"Massachusetts House votes to boost market-rate housing program for Gateway Cities"
Chris Van Buskirk, The Boston Herald, July 13, 2023
House lawmakers voted Thursday to boost the annual cap of a housing production program that supporters have hailed as one of the best ways to create market-rate units in Gateway Cities, matching a proposal from their Senate counterparts that was floated earlier this year.
But House Democrats decided to expand the program in a different legislative vehicle than the Senate, using a roughly $700 million spending package released Wednesday to increase the annual cap for the Housing Development Incentive Program’s instead of a tax relief bill locked up in negotiations.
The program provides two tax incentives to developers who decide to undertake new construction or “substantial rehabilitation” of properties for sale or lease as multi-family, market-rate residential housing, according to the state.
The program has already been used to create more than 2,600 units at an average cost of just over $23,000 per unit, and by boosting the annual cap from $10 million to $30 million, an additional 12,500 units could be created over the next 10 years, said Rep. Carole Fiola, a Fall River Democrat.
“Massachusetts cannot continue to thrive if we are losing these individuals to lack of housing and housing costs,” Fiola said. “HDIP is a tool we can use to expand this housing supply. The continuation and expansion of the HDIP program helps the commonwealth’s staggering rental costs and housing supply problem in a cost-efficient fashion.”
Previous expansions to the Housing Incentive Development Program have passed in both chambers but have not reached the governor’s desk. In this version, the House, like the Senate, proposes raising the annual cap to $57 million in fiscal year 2024 and then bringing it down to $30 million moving forward.
Not everyone was on board with the expansion.
Market-rate housing may not be attainable in some Gateway Cities like Worcester or Salem, where affordable units are needed for residents who are finding increasing housing costs difficult to keep up with, said Cambridge Democrat Rep. Mike Connolly.
“Not all of our Gateway Cities are the same. Some of them have the Orange Line such as Malden. Pittsfield or others, very different. So there are concerns that these funds aren’t distributed in an even fashion,” he said.
Fiola pushed back, arguing rents in Gateway Cities would never reach as high as those in Boston — where sky-rocketing prices have forced many low-income residents out of the area.
“When a developer builds, let’s say, in Cambridge or Somerville, they’re getting the rents to support the development costs they’ve put into it,” she said. “In the Gateway Cities, the construction costs are the same but you cannot get the rents that you can get in the Boston metro market. That is precisely why this program was created.”
House budget chief Rep. Aaron Michlewitz said the branch decided to expand the program in the July spending bill because he believes it will move forward “a little quicker” than a tax relief bill being negotiated by the House and Senate.
House lawmakers held open their first formal session in 78 days for most of Thursday, dealing with routine business in the morning before turning to an extended break.
The bulk of the work on the 27 amendments filed to the bill occurred behind closed doors, with lawmakers cobbling together a mega-amendment that dealt with all proposed additions.
Millions in funding proposed for North Adams, Clarksburg, Adams, and Colrain to recover from storm-related damages and flooding were scrapped. Torrential downpours swept through part of New England earlier this week, inundating towns in Vermont and Western Massachusetts.
A $20 million agricultural disaster relief fund designed to provide direct assistance to farmers in Massachusetts who suffered agricultural losses, financial losses, or property damage by an unforeseen event this year was also cast aside.
Another unsuccessful proposal from Winthrop Democrat Rep. Jeffrey Turco would have made available $30 million for municipalities to pay for public safety associated with housing “undocumented aliens,” according to the text of an amendment.
More than 38 state-funded hotels and motels in 28 communities are currently housing families — including newly arrived migrants — that are eligible for emergency assistance.
House Democrats included in the spending bill $180 million in funding for hospitals who were left in a vulnerable state after the pandemic. Michlewitz said the Executive Office of Health and Human Services would be tasked with working with hospitals to get funds in a “timely and efficient manner.”
The legislation also gives the Department of Public Utilities the power to update contracts for a 1,000 megawatt hydro-electric power project that will bring clean energy from Quebec, Canada to Massachusetts.
“The package that is before you today covers a number of different areas that require our immediate and timely attention as we work towards closing the books for FY23,” he said from the House floor earlier in the day.
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"Legislators also decided against including $4 million in funding for storm-related emergency repairs for North Adams, Clarksburg, and Adams. Rep. John Barrett of North Adams filed the amendment to the spending bill." - The Boston Herald, July 14, 2023.
Beacon Hill lawmakers in Boston are still sitting on a record setting over $7.22 billion Slush Fund. In Northern Berkshire County, North Adams, Clarksburg and Adams are dealing with millions of dollars in damages from an extreme weather event described as torrential rainstorms. Instead of using $4 million in state funds to provide emergency aid during this time of need, Beacon Hill lawmakers did nothing to help these communities on the other side of the state.
The government is supposed to serve the people and communities they live in. The government is not supposed to be still sitting on an over $7.22 billion Slush Fund. Beacon Hill lawmakers give away many billions of dollars every fiscal year in state tax breaks to their wealthy campaign donors that do not exist in regions such as mostly rural Western Massachusetts. This should be a story in "The Twilight Zone"!
Jonathan A. Melle
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"More than 1,000 acres of crops destroyed in Massachusetts by storms, floods"
By Chris Van Buskirk, The Boston Herald, July 14, 2023
At least 75 farms were soaked and more than 1,000 acres of crops lost after heavy storms earlier this week in Western Massachusetts, state agriculture officials said Friday morning.
Torrential downpours blanketed much of New England, leading to dangerous flooding in Vermont and Western Massachusetts, where farmers reported widespread damage. Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources Commissioner Ahsley Randle said it is “absolutely heartbreaking” to see the devastation in Massachusetts.
“We have boots on the ground to get an accurate scope of the damage so we can continue working with our local, state, and federal partners in assisting our farmers who continue to face these challenges,” Randle said in a statement. “Despite these recent tragedies, we know our farmers are resilient, and we encourage consumers to continue supporting their local farms that support the communities they serve in so many ways.”
State officials were scheduled to visit farms in Deerfield, Florence, Hadley, Sunderland, and Whately “to complete assessments of impacted farms.” Randle met with 30 farmers in Deerfield, Hadley, Hatfield, and Northampton on Wednesday.
Randle asked farmers to share damage reports with her agency to evaluate the extent of the damage.
“Farmers are encouraged to contact MDAR Deputy Commissioner and Chief of Staff Alisha Bouchard at alisha.bouchard@mass.gov and Director of Produce Safety Michael Botelho at michael.botelho@mass.gov with a report,” the department said.
Flood warnings and watches were in effect Thursday for most of Massachusetts as the National Weather Service predicted more heavy rains.
The flood is another incident of extreme weather impacting farmers this year, the agricultural resources department said. Subzero temperatures in February destroyed crops, including peachers and other pitted fruits.
“Farmers were hit hard again in May when a late frost happened for three days, causing significant losses to blueberry, strawberry, and apple crops,” the agency said. “The results of these disasters threaten the local food system and will have negative repercussions on our local economy.”
A pair of Western Massachusetts state lawmakers unsuccessfully attempted to include millions in disaster relief funding for affected farmers and municipalities in a July spending bill the House passed Thursday.
Rep. Natalie Blais, a Sunderland Democrat, tried to earmark $20 million in the bill for an agricultural disaster relief fund “to provide direct assistance to farmers in the commonwealth who have suffered agricultural losses, financial losses, or property damage caused by an event of force majeure that occurred after Jan. 1, 2023,” the text of her amendment said.
But top House Democrats excluded it from the bill, along with another Blais amendment that would have directed $1 million to the Town of Colrain for storm-related damages on Jacksonville Road.
Legislators also decided against including $4 million in funding for storm-related emergency repairs for North Adams, Clarksburg, and Adams. Rep. John Barrett of North Adams filed the amendment to the spending bill.
Blais said it was impossible to put a definitive monetary cost to the damages associated with the story only two days afterward and with more rain in the forecast. Some farms, like Natural Roots in Conway, have turned to online fundraising to recover from the damages.
“We’ll continue to work with farmers to refine the financial losses and acres impacted in the days and weeks ahead,” Blais told the Herald. “But with climate change, we will continue to see more frequent and intense storm events. Farmers have not only battled drought and floods in recent years but earlier this year, fruit crops were lost due [to] … severe frost events.”
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"Lawmakers, pass Mass. House’s more generous Child and Family Tax Credit"
Letter to the Editor of the Boston Globe, July 13, 2023
Re “The Legislature should stop dithering on tax relief” (Editorial, July 5): As state legislators look to act fast on their long-awaited tax relief package, they must ensure that compromise does not come at the expense of more than 1 million Massachusetts children, dependents, and their families.
Of the many provisions included in the proposed tax relief packages, one that varies significantly between the House and Senate proposals is the benefit level of Governor Maura Healey’s new Child and Family Tax Credit. The House version includes a credit of $600 per eligible dependent phased in over three years, a much more supportive benefit than the Senate’s at $310 per dependent.
Tax credits are proven programs that lift children out of poverty, improve health, and support economic mobility. The temporary expansion of the federal Child Tax Credit in 2021 helped families pay for education and child care and better afford necessities.
In a state with rising housing costs and the most expensive child care in the country, many families struggle to afford basic needs. As lawmakers strive to make the Commonwealth more affordable and competitive, they must prioritize children, adults with disabilities, and their families by including the House version of the Child and Family Tax Credit in the final tax relief package.
Jeremy Rosen, Newtonville
The writer is a graduate student at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University and currently works for Children’s HealthWatch and Strategies for Children in Boston.
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July 16, 2023
Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,
Thank you for your weekly political email about Beacon Hill corrupt and secretive politics. The Massachusetts State House of "Sellouts and Shakedown corrupt career politicians" (Representatives) finally met in formal session for the first time in over 11 weeks on Thursday, July 13th, 2023. The fiscal year 2024 Massachusetts State Budget is now over 2 weeks late. Despite Beacon Hill lawmakers still sitting on their historically huge Slush Fund of over $7.22 billion, they still have not passed so-called "tax relief" legislation. The road and bridge repair legislation, the joint rules legislation, the omnibus gun legislation, and so on, are all still doing nothing in the darkness of secrecy.
The House passed a supplemental spending bill on Thursday, July 13th, 2023. But the dictatorial-like State House Speaker Ronny Mariano “consolidated away” amendments that were filed by several members of the Western Mass delegation requesting emergency funds to respond to the catastrophic flooding in the region earlier this week. Unfortunately, these amendments never even got a vote.
My response to Speaker Ronny Mariano not allowing legislation filed by Western Massachusetts State Representatives to be voted on during the formal session on Thursday, July 13th, 2023, is that is exactly what they did to by dad, Berkshire County Commissioner Bob Melle (1997 - mid-July 2000), when he went to Beacon Hill committees to testify to state lawmakers about their legislation to abolish Berkshire County Government and the state's takeover of county functions in Boston. Back then, Boston's "Big Dig" had recurring multibillion dollar cost overruns, but then Pittsfield State Senator Andrea Francesco Nuciforo Junior and North Adams State Representative Dan Bosley had the nerve to say Berkshire County Government was "inefficient" - what a double standard! For two years, from mid-2000 to mid-2002, Pontoosuc Lake, which sits in both Pittsfield and Lanesborough, was put in a state accounting agency instead of a state environmental agency. During the Spring of 1999, I told Beacon Hill lawmakers that it was "bureaucracy at its worst!"
The State House passed legislation lifting the HDIP's funding cap. HDIP is not really about funding affordable housing. Rather, HDIP is about the gentrification of low to moderate income housing that displace low to moderate income renters and homeowners. There are more property owners than renters in the Massachusetts State Legislature. Over the years, I have read that Beacon Hill lawmakers are only in elected office for the public pay plus perks, that some of them earn (way) more money elsewhere, and that their respective parking space in Boston is like gold to the corrupt career politicians.
To illustrate, if a "Have Not" such as myself - Jon Melle - would ask my fictional Massachusetts State Representative Sellout Shakedown for help finding and retaining a living wage job, he would tell me that if I need additional income, then go play the inequitable lottery SCAM and hope to hit the jackpot.
Beacon Hill lawmakers have been systemically underfunding higher education for several decades. In my higher education studies of old, I learned that for hundreds of years now, the path to wealth is (elite) education and (wealthy) families, not hard work in a blue-collar job, a successful professional career, or saving and/or investing money over several decades of one's income earning years. The top one percent of wealthy families have gone to elite educational institutions and their families have rolled over their assets over many generations. The (shrinking) middle-class families compete and struggle to earn a living in relatively short-term careers compared to the aforementioned intergenerational wealth of compounding gains in income and assets. The biggest growing demographic in the U.S.A. is our nation's huge underclass population, whereby the "Rags to Riches" myth is illustrated by the multibillion-dollar Massachusetts State Lottery (voluntary) regressive taxation SCAM!
Bill Weld is a former Governor of Massachusetts. He inherited an $80 million trust fund from his blue blood Boston Brahmin family. Bill Weld's family has over 20 generations who attended Harvard University. Bill Weld's first wife, Susan Roosevelt, is the granddaughter of U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt.
John Forbes Kerry is a former Massachusetts U.S. Senator. He inherited a trust fund that almost doubled Bill Weld's trust fund from his mother's side of the family. John Kerry attended Yale University. When John Kerry ran against George W. Bush in 2004, it was called the "Skulls and Bones" presidential election. John Kerry went on to be Barack Obama's Secretary of State, and he is currently Joe Biden's Climate Czar (of HOT AIR!). John Kerry's second wife is Theresa Heinz Kerry, who is the billionaire heiress of the Heinz family fortune.
Jon Melle is a Have Not who was born in and grew up in the distressed and economically unequal small city of Pittsfield, Massachusetts that is known for its Level 5 public schools, always being in the top 10 cities in Massachusetts for violent crime year-in and year-out, being GE's toxic waste dump full of capped industrial chemicals called PCBs, its downtown called "Social Services Alley" instead of a business district, and so on and so forth.
Jon Melle has a Master of Public Administration degree (May 1999) from UMass Amherst. Jon Melle is a 100 percent service-connected disabled Veteran who served honorably in the U.S. Army (July 2001). Jon Melle was persecuted by Nuciforo because he had a mean-spirited, vindictive vendetta against my father, Bob, and I since the Spring of 1996 (over 27 years now) when I was only 20 years old back then. Jon Melle was wrongfully indicted on two felony indictments that I was found not guilty of in Manchester, New Hampshire, because a combative cop allegedly illegally used force against me, told two witnesses that he didn't care that I am disabled, and then lied about it all to a New Hampshire Judge and Jury, but Jon Melle was found guilty of two misdemeanors that the State of NH annulled 4 years ago during the Summer of 2019.
Jon Melle turns 48 years old next week, and last week, Jon Melle spent over $3,000.00 on my emotional support dog Chocolate's veterinary care and surgery, but fortunately Jon Melle has pet insurance.
Bill Weld and John Kerry are in the top 1 percent of wealthy families. Jon Melle is a Have Not who has dealt with abusive politicians such as and especially "Luciforo", an abusive police officer, and endless costs that I pay over and over again just to keep my head above water so Jon Melle can sleep at night. To the financial, ruling and corporate elites, Bill Weld and John Kerry are important, while Jon Melle is invisible. Beacon Hill lawmakers and Pittsfield politics used "Perverse Incentives" against Jon Melle when Jon Melle was a young adult to economically exploit Jon Melle to enrich themselves and Bill Weld and John Kerry at the public trough. The more Jon Melle pays for endless costs, the more money the elites make in our era of 100 year high economic inequality.
I believe that sex education in public education is important. I also believe that financial literacy is important. There are many young adults who do not understand their sexuality, and they also do not understand how financial literacy will help them achieve social mobility and live their adult lives in a middle-class lifestyle. I envision a government that uses its limited financial resources to invest in people and the communities they live in so that our nation will rebuild its middle-class in the 21st Century.
"Email your State Legislators NOW and urge them to reject permanent tax breaks for the ultra-rich and large multinational corporations and, instead, use tax dollars to help make Massachusetts more affordable, equitable, and competitive." My response is that some of the thousands of registered lobbyist greed-balls on Beacon Hill earn 7-figure per year salaries by legally bribing Beacon Hill lawmakers to pass huge state tax breaks for the ultra-rich and large multinational corporations. I hope that all of the corrupt career politicians will be voted out of elected office in 2024 so that our state tax dollars will be used for equitable public policies and programs. It would be too good to be true, of course.
I support the Sunlight Agenda! The best thing to do in mid-2023 would be to have a full independent audit of the State House of Representatives and State Senate Chambers on Beacon Hill. I support Rules reforms that always get voted down, especially be Lenox State Representative William "Smitty" Pignatelli over the past two decades (since early-January 2003) and counting forward in time, that would allow for transparency in the secretive state government in Boston.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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Saturday, July 15, 2023
Re: Saturday Scoop: I’m here for the t-shirt
I’m just here for the t-shirt, Jonathan.
or so Ways & Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz quipped at an event on Monday when he was asked by a reporter what the House would be voting on during the formal session three days later.
You heard right – the House finally held their first formal session in over 11 weeks on Thursday. So, what did they rouse the state reps back from their summer doldrums to vote on? Surely it must be the budget, which is already two weeks late. No? Oh, well, then it must be the big tax cut bill that has been in closed-door conference committee negotiations for weeks. Not that either? Nor the road and bridge repair bill that’s been hung up in conference committee, nor the joint rules, nor omnibus gun legislation that the Speaker has promised?
Nope. The House passed a supplemental spending bill on Thursday.
This spending bill was crafted, you guessed it, entirely behind closed doors. And as Rep. Michlewitz helped ensure by dodging reporter questions, the public (and rank and file state reps) only learned what was coming to a vote about 24 hours before the vote took place.
We at Act on Mass have advocated for years to require that bills be made public 72 hours before they come to a vote. This amendment died in 2019 with 103 voting against, 55 in favor. See how your rep voted here. A similar amendment in 2021 to require 48 hours to review a bill also died, this time 119 to just 39. See how your rep voted on that amendment here.
Why doesn’t legislative leadership want to give the public, activists, and even their fellow lawmakers more time to read bills and draft amendments? Because that’s exactly what they don’t want – amendments, debate, scrutiny. You know, democracy.
State House Scoop
House nixes disaster relief for Western Mass, includes funding for harmful housing incentive
The House passed a $693 million supplemental budget bill on Thursday including, among other line items, funding for strained hospitals and recent public employee collective bargaining agreements. Crafted largely by Speaker Mariano and Ways and Means chair Rep. Michlewitz, the bill was revealed to legislators and the public less than 24 hours before the formal session was scheduled to begin.
Despite the tight turnaround, a handful of reps were able to file amendments. Namely, several members of the Western Mass delegation requested emergency funds to respond to the catastrophic flooding in the region earlier this week. Unfortunately, these amendments never even got a vote; they were “consolidated away” by House leadership during private meetings in the Speaker’s lounge. (See a full explanation of the consolidated amendment process here.) Worse, the consolidated amendment they drafted mysteriously included a brand new provision. This provision lifted the cap on HDIP funding – a market-friendly housing program that has been shown to incentivize gentrification more than affordable housing (read more about that here). Only two Democrats had the courage to vote against this consolidated amendment: Reps. Erika Uyterhoeven and Mike Connolly.
It bears repeating: at every turn, House leadership made it intentionally difficult to give input or dissent. For one, this bill didn’t have a hearing. In addition to giving less than 24 hour notice before the vote, the Speaker gave the reps just 17 minutes to read the new consolidated amendment before voting on it. We, as Massachusetts residents, each have one representative in the House tasked with representing our interests. How are they supposed to advocate for us in a piece of legislation they did not get to participate in crafting? Hell, that they hardly got to read?
Bill highlight: The CHERISH Act
In 2014, the Higher Education Finance Commission released a bombshell report showing that public higher education in Massachusetts has been critically underfunded, and is actively being defunded; funding had dropped an astounding 30% since 2001 even as enrollment was rising. This has resulted in higher tuition, staff layoffs, increased “adjunctification” of staff, and a backlog of needed building repairs.
Enter: The CHERISH Act (or, An Act committing to higher education the resources to insure a strong and healthy public higher education system) (H.1260/S.816). This bill, which has been filed in the Legislature in one form or another since 2019, would fully fund Massachusetts public higher education and ensure that public higher education is debt-free for all. Unless we pass CHERISH, higher education will become increasingly inaccessible, especially for people from middle and low-income communities; tuition and fees have risen 52% since 2000. The increase in median household income during that same time? 13%. You do the math.
Luckily, we have reason to be hopeful: the Massachusetts Teachers Association (“MTA”) is considering putting debt-free college on the ballot in 2024. Even more luckily, 81% of registered voters would vote “yes” on a ballot question of the CHERISH Act, according to a recent poll. This is extremely exciting – we may finally make high quality higher education accessible to everyone here in Massachusetts. But this also throws into stark relief the Legislature’s brokenness; we’ve defunded public higher education by 30% over the last two decades, and yet Beacon Hill’s top priority this session has been cutting taxes for the wealthy. 81% of voters support the CHERISH Act, but it died both sessions it was filed in the State House. It’s no wonder the MTA is considering taking matters into their own hands.
Missed a Scoop or two? You can find a full archive of all past Saturday Scoops on our blog.
THANK YOU! We reached our fundraising goal!
WE DID IT. We raised $5,249 from our end-of-fiscal year fundraiser throughout the month of June, meaning Act on Mass began our new fiscal year in the black. To everyone who contributed: thank you. You make our work possible. Because of grassroots donors like you, we’re able to not just sustain but build the movement to hold Beacon Hill accountable to the people. And lord knows we need it.
Take Action
Submit Public Comment for the Healthy Youth Act
24 years after the last time our sex ed curriculum was updated, and 11 years since the Healthy Youth Act, a commonsense bill that would require sex ed to be medically accurate, consent-based, and LGBTQ+ inclusive was introduced, the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) has introduced a new draft sex ed curriculum that is largely in line with its provisions. BESE has now opened up a 60-day public comment period, which means we have until Monday, August 28th to submit comments for improvements to the draft and advocate for approval of the new framework.
READ THE PUBLIC COMMENT TOOLKIT >>
SUBMIT PUBLIC COMMENT >>
Email your electeds opposing ultra-rich tax breaks
Massachusetts needs to prioritize spending to ensure a labor force adequate to our economy’s needs, which requires that families have affordable housing, childcare, educational opportunities, and transportation to make it possible for them to earn a good living. Fill out the form to email your State Legislators NOW and urge them to reject permanent tax breaks for the ultra-rich and large multinational corporations and, instead, use tax dollars to help make Massachusetts more affordable, equitable, and competitive.
EMAIL YOUR STATE LEGISLATOR>>
Tell your electeds to cosponsor the Sunlight Agenda
The Sunlight Agenda is Act on Mass’s legislative agenda to restore democratic integrity on Beacon Hill. We have compiled a package of four bills put forward this session that would address our democracy crisis and improve transparency, accountability, and fairness in the State House. Read more about the four bills of the Sunlight Agenda.
ASK YOUR REP TO CO-SPONSOR THE AGENDA >>
Tuesday 7/25[/2023] @7pm: A Panel Discussion with author David Pepper
We at Act on Mass are thrilled to cosponsor an event held by our friends at Indivisible Mass Coalition where author of Laboratories of Democracy and Saving Democracy David Pepper will be joined by panelists to discuss how to make Massachusetts a more robust democracy. RSVP HERE to Join this event:
RSVP FOR THE EVENT >>
That's all for now! I'll be back in your inbox next week.
Until then, stay cool out there.
Erin Leahy
Executive Director, Act on Mass
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July 19, 2023
Pat: I will tell you what the retired Pittsfield Police Officer named Karen Kalinowsky really wants as the next would-be Mayor of Pittsfield politics. She wants to collect her city public pension plus perks and then double dip into the public trough by increasing her loot by making an additional $115,725 per fiscal year plus perks on top of her city pension. She wants to double her city pension after one or two 4-year terms as Mayor. How do I know this? The answer is that in 2010, then North Adams State Representative Dan Bosley retired from serving in the Boston State House for 24 years. In 2010, Dan Bosley unsuccessfully campaigned against Tom Bowler for the elected state government position of Berkshire County Sheriff, which pays between well over $100,000 to close to $200,000 per fiscal year plus state public perks. Dan Bosley wanted to collect his state pension and take home the loot as a would-be Sheriff, and then he wanted to double or possibly even triple or even quadruple his state pension after serving one to two terms as "The High Sheriff of Nottingham" - more like Boss Hogg. To corrupt career politicians, it is all about their public pay plus perks, including a lucrative city, state or federal public pension for life. Everything else that Karen Kalinowsky is promising is more HOT AIR in Pittsfield politics. She is a FRAUD! I see right through her propaganda and phony political strategy of blaming Mayor Linda Tyer and her 6 rubber stamp City Councilors for everything that is wrong in Pittsfield politics.
Jon Melle
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July 24, 2023
Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,
Thank you for your testimony at the Boston Statehouse on Wednesday, July 26th, 2023, in favor of state legislative bills that reform the corrupt and secretive ways that the fictional Massachusetts State Representative Sellout Shakedown governs behind closed doors. I fully support your public advocacy work on behalf of all of the people, taxpayers, families, communities and news media.
Since he took office in early-January 2003, Lenox State Representative Smitty Pignatelli has always voted against "Sunshine" reform laws in the Massachusetts State House of Representatives. In news interviews, Smitty Pignatelli has said that it is more efficient and effective for the State House leadership he always votes for every two years to control the state legislative agenda behind closed doors. A little over 20 years later, Smitty Pignatelli is still a Lenox State Representative doing nothing but DISSERVICES in Boston.
This past weekend, Smitty Pignatelli published an op-ed in the Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle) decrying the thousands of preventable deaths in Massachusetts due to the opioid epidemic, but his 6 years of sponsoring state legislation to provide medical care to save lives has been ignored. What Smitty Pignatelli did not write is that he voted for the same state legislative leaders who ignore his proposed state legislation, but he himself did indeed cash in with dozens of taxpayer-funded public pay raises plus perks that bought his votes.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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July 24, 2023
Register by 3:00 TODAY to testify in support of the Sunlight Agenda
Showtime, Jonathan!
Two of the four bills in our Sunlight Agenda for Democratic Integrity on Beacon Hill have their committee hearing on Wednesday (7/26) from 1pm - 5pm:
H. 3121: An Act relative to the open meeting law
S. 2064: An Act extending the public records law to the Governor and the Legislature
You can read more about these and the other two bills that make up the Sunlight Agenda here.
We need as many people as possible to testify in support of these two critical good governance bills to move the needle among decision makers. There are two ways to testify:
Testify orally at the hearing on Wednesday
Deadline to register: TODAY at 3:00 PM
You can find full hearing details here, and access the form to register here. You can choose to testify in person at the State House, or virtually. I’ll be there testifying in person, so if you come in person on Wednesday, please say hi :)
SIGN UP TO TESTIFY ORALLY >>
Submit written testimony
Deadline to submit: Wednesday 7/26 at 5:00 PM (i.e. the end of the hearing)
You can submit written testimony through the ingenious new platform MAPLE (Massachusetts Platform for Legislative Engagement). This platform doesn’t just automatically email/submit your testimony to the relevant committee members, it also publishes it online–you know, what we’ve been advocating for the House to do themselves for years.
SUBMIT MAPLE TESTIMONY FOR OPEN MEETING LAW >>
SUBMIT MAPLE TESTIMONY FOR PUBLIC RECORDS LAW >>
If you want to submit written testimony the old fashioned way, that’s ok too! Written testimony can be submitted via email to Jordan Latham at jordan.latham@mahouse.gov or Haley Dillon haley.dillon@masenate.gov.
Not sure what to say in your testimony? We’ve got you covered. Check out our sample testimony for these two bills here:
OPEN MEETING LAW SAMPLE TESTIMONY >>
PUBLIC RECORDS LAW SAMPLE TESTIMONY >>
One last thing: we encourage you to personalize your testimony, especially if you’re testifying orally.
Thank you for being a part of the movement for transparency and accountability on Beacon Hill!
See you on Wednesday,
Erin Leahy
Executive Director
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July 25, 2023
Re: Beacon Hill is sitting on a $7.22 billion surplus Slush Fund, while they neglect Western Massachusetts disaster relief funding
Beacon Hill lawmakers are sitting on a Slush Fund of over $7.22 billion in surplus state cash. A natural disaster occurred in Western Massachusetts. North Adams State Representative John Barrett III's amendment for $4 million for disaster relief funds for Clarksburg, North Adams and Adams to a huge state spending bill was not allowed to even be voted on because State House Speaker Ronny Mariano removed it. Also, Rep. Natalie Blais, D-Sunderland, proposed a $20 million "Agricultural Disaster Relief Fund," but top Democrats omitted it from a mega-amendment package after closed-doors deliberations.
Now, the Massachusetts State Senate is proposing a $20 million grant fund for farmers who are impacted by the flood damage. What happened to Rep. John Barrett's proposal for $4 million for the aforementioned three northern Berkshire County municipalities that were impacted by the flood damage? Where is Rep. Barrett's counterpart: Berkshire-based State Senator Paul Mark, on this needed stated funding for his very large state legislative district? Lastly, given that Beacon Hill lawmakers have a Slush Fund of $7.22 billion, it should have been a no brainer and a lay-up for Beacon Hill lawmakers to pass legislation helping Western Massachusetts municipalities and farmers with millions of dollars in disaster relief funds.
Jonathan A. Melle
Please read the following news article:
"Massachusetts legislators propose $20M grant fund for farmers affected by flood damage"
New England Public Media | By Jill Kaufman, July 25, 2023
Massachusetts senators announced a $20 million supplemental budget bill Monday, to assist farmers impacted by recent severe weather.
Senate President Karen Spilka, D-Ashland, traveled to Hatfield to speak about the bill. Standing alongside a group of farmers in fields near the Connecticut River, she spoke about July’s rains and the flooding that wiped out at least 2,000 acres of crops.
"[The funding] will hopefully make rebuilding a little bit easier for the farms that are picking up the pieces," Spilka said. "It's also a reminder, and I have to mention, because we can't forget about the fact that climate change is upon us."
The $20 million would be distributed as grants through the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, which Spilka said has deep connections within the farming community.
"It's flexible in its timetable and it would allow MDAR to give continued support over the many months to come to help these farms continue to deal with the severe impacts that we may not even know about today,” Spilka said.
The Senate is expected to vote on the measure later this week and Spilka said she hopes House lawmakers will adopt a similar version.
Massachusetts State Sen. Jo Comerford, D- Northampton, organized Monday’s event. She credited farmer Bernie Smiarowski with letting lawmakers know the extent of the crop damage.
"As farmers, we love what we do," Smiarowski said. "For many of us, farming has been a part of our lives for generations... We want to grow our crop, sell it, and hopefully earn enough money to make a decent living."
Many farms are already carrying large amounts of debt, Smiarowski said, like lines of credit, mortgages, equipment and leases. The Senate aid package will assist all of them by providing financial resources without additional debt.
"We hate being in this position — at the mercy of a natural disaster losing all or a portion of our crop this year, unable to pay our bills," Smiarowski said. "The last thing we want is to have to sell a portion of our farm to make ends meet."
During the House's debate on the supplemental budget, Rep. Natalie Blais, D-Sunderland, proposed a similar $20 million "Agricultural Disaster Relief Fund," but top Democrats omitted it from a mega-amendment package after closed-doors deliberations.
The Department of Agricultural Resources estimated last week that at least $15 million worth of crops have been lost due to flooding that affected at least 75 Massachusetts farms.
Governor Maura Healey has visited western Massachusetts on several occasions in July to tour storm damage and meet with affected farmers, though she has not outlined plans to put state dollars toward relief efforts.
Last week, she urged people to contribute to a fundraiser managed by United Way of Central Massachusetts that would support affected farmers.
This story includes reporting from Chris Lisinksi at the State House News Service.
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July 26, 2023
Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,
How did it go today? What did Beacon Hill lawmakers say in response to your testimony advocating for Sunshine laws in the Massachusetts State Government?
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
July 26, 2023
Exciting news, Jonathan!
Two of the bills in our Sunlight Agenda have their committee hearing TODAY (Wednesday 7/26) at 1:00 PM:
H.3121: An Act relative to the open meeting law
S.2064: An Act extending the public records law to the Governor and the Legislature
Take a minute today to submit written testimony in support of these critical pro-transparency, pro-democracy, pro-accountability bills. Find the link to submit testimony, sample testimony, and everything else you need to know here in our Testimony Toolkit:
CHECK OUT OUR TESTIMONY TOOLKIT >>
WATCH THE HEARING LIVE >>
The Massachusetts Legislature is infamously one of the least transparent in the country. It’s one of only 11 legislatures that has exempted itself from Open Meeting Law. It’s one of only 4 that is exempt from Public Records Law. And it’s the only state in the nation where the Judiciary, the Legislature, and the Governor’s office are all exempt from Public Records Law.
Want that to change? So do we. This is your chance to voice your support for these bills on the record in front of the committee which will decide their fate. Let’s put this opportunity to good use.
SUBMIT TESTIMONY >>
Grateful to have you in this movement,
Erin Leahy
Executive Director
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July 29, 2023
Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,
Thank you for this week's political email about the corrupt and secretive and do nothing (but DISSERVICES) Massachusetts State Legislature at the Boston Statehouse on Beacon Hill. On Monday, July 31st, 2023, the corrupt career politicians will finally vote on the month-late fiscal year 2024 Massachusetts State Budget without having any time to review what is in it. The Governor, Maura Healey, will then take a period of time to review the over $56 billion spending plan, and then she will either veto it or sign it into state law.
My thoughts on your political emails are:
"It has been the slowest and least productive [session] in a decade". But the Massachusetts State Lottery (voluntary) regressive taxation SCAM reported its largest profits in over 50 years of financially exploiting the mostly financially illiterate low- to moderate income residents.
"Governor [Maura] Healey has signed 22 bills since her inauguration, almost all of which have been minor local items." But Governor Maura Healey hasn't been using her executive office to publicly advocate for the common people of Massachusetts so what does she really care?
"lawmakers have no fear of losing reelection, they don’t feel urgency to deliver victories to their constituents." The fictional Massachusetts State Representative Sellout Shakedown openly mocks common people such as "Jon Melle" whose native hometown of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, is also systemically mocked by the elitist snobs in Boston!
The rubber stamp State Senators passed a little over one-half billion dollar supplemental budget whereby they killed 29 out of 30 amendments with a voice vote. The House and Senate chambers in Boston are in-fighting over technical procedural issues. The fish rots from its head on down!
The pending gun control bill is being delayed to the fall season of 2023. They should also delay their public pay plus perks over the same time period, but that would be too good to be true.
The State Auditor DiZoglio is hoping suing the Legislature, but she needs the State Attorney General to sign off. She is trying to audit the "cooked books" in the State House and State Senate chambers for the first time in over 100 years.
Senate President Spilka announced a 7.5% wage increase for all Senate staff, but she still won't support their ongoing efforts to unionize. I feel relieved I don't have to be a staff member for the fictional Massachusetts State Representative Sellout Shakedown or his counterpart in the State Senate named Rubber Stamp.
What happened during the public testimony on the Sunlight Agenda bills during the state legislative committee hearing on Wednesday, July 26th, 2023? I support the Sunshine Agenda in the corrupt and secretive state government in Massachusetts.
I support your public advocacy efforts to speak out for the marginalized members of our society. Thank you for caring about people (and animals) that most people and agencies overlook. You, Erin Leahy, are a good person!
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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July 29, 2023
Saturday Scoop: Complacency, infighting, and lethargy, oh my!
We finally have a budget, Jonathan!
Well, sort of: legislative leaders announced Friday afternoon that the House and Senate negotiators have come to an agreement on the final version of the FY2024 budget. Does the final version include permanent free public school meals, debt-free community college, or ensure that undocumented students in MA can receive in-state tuition?
We don’t know. The details of the roughly $56 billion budget are likely to be revealed shortly before coming to a vote on Monday. And not a moment too soon; budget negotiations have been going on for eight weeks, blowing past the deadline by about a month.
Unfortunately, our lawmaker’s shocking lack of urgency isn’t specific to the budget; this session continues to be the slowest and least productive in a decade. Governor Healey has signed 22 bills since her inauguration, almost all of which have been minor local items.
All this leads me to ask: what in the Sacred Cod is going on in there?
“‘There’s a sense of complacency in the Massachusetts Legislature,’ Jonathan Cohn, political director for Progressive Massachusetts, told Playbook. ‘When you have a situation where most of them never face any type of electoral challenge — primary or general — if you don't finish something, you can get the band back together in the next legislative session.'"
Jonathan’s right: if our lawmakers have no fear of losing reelection, they don’t feel urgency to deliver victories to their constituents. Compare lethargic Beacon Hill to the Michigan and Minnesota legislatures who have been putting their newly-secured Democratic trifectas to work by passing a deluge of progressive bills.
Ah, Massachusetts exceptionalism.
State House Scoop
Senate passes supplemental spending bill
On Wednesday the Senate passed a slimmed-down version of a supplemental spending bill the House passed two weeks before. Totaling $513 million, the bill includes funding for hospitals, special education, and recent public collective bargaining agreements. Of the 30 amendments filed, 29 were killed on a voice vote (i.e. there was no vote, leadership just chose the outcome they wanted). The only approved amendment was a technical fix proposed by Senate leadership. Not exactly a riveting exchange of ideas.
And because the Senate used an unusual procedure to bring the bill to a vote, it’s possible that the bill will now have to go back to the House for another vote, rather than to a conference committee, the typical next step. This led to House Speaker Mariano and Senate President Spilka sparring in the press–just one of a number of points of mounting tension between the House and Senate this session, including the lack of compromise on the tax cut bill, the drawn out budget negotiations, the fractured TUE committee drama, and not to mention…
Ominous gun bill punted to fall due to House-Senate dispute
A stated priority of Speaker Mariano’s, an omnibus gun control bill has become a major source of infighting on Beacon Hill, and not for the reasons you’d think; apparently, the House wants the bill to be assigned to the Judiciary Committee, whereas the Senate wants it in the Public Safety Committee. That’s right–they’re delaying a gun control bill that could save lives because they can’t agree on the committee.
Why the stalemate? It might have something to do with, you guessed it, transparency. Or should we say, the lack thereof. According to Politico Playbook, some Democratic reps are concerned that the Speaker will eventually bring the bill to a vote without a public committee hearing: “‘If you want to have greater transparency in government, which everybody wants, the minimal thing we need to do is have a public hearing,’ one Democratic representative, granted anonymity to speak freely about the situation in a chamber where openly bucking leadership can lead to consequences, told Playbook.”
It cannot be overstated how uncontroversial government transparency is as an issue, even among lawmakers. Similarly, it cannot be overstated how scared they are to support it publicly.
Auditor asks Attorney General to take Legislature to court
Months after President Spilka and Speaker Mariano refused to comply with the Auditor’s request to review the Legislature, Auditor DiZoglio has initiated plan B: suing the Legislature. But in order for one state entity to sue another, Attorney General Andrea Campbell needs to sign off, putting the ball squarely in her court. Time will tell if Campbell will greenlight the litigation, but if I know one thing about the MA Legislature, it’s that it could use an audit.
Senate staff renews union push, followed by raise from Spilka
Senate staffers announced their unionization in April of last year in the wake of two devastating reports of state house staff treatment, including accounts of low and unequal wages, poor working conditions, and harassment. Citing ambiguous state law, President Spilka refused to voluntarily recognize the union (which, in a Disney villain-like move, she announced three days before the end of the session last summer, a time during which state house staff were working overtime for no extra pay including a 23-hour long final session).
Senate staffers renewed their efforts on Monday by holding a virtual event on the bill to explicitly allow them to collectively bargain (one of our Sunlight Agenda bills!). And a little star power never hurts; U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley spoke at the event, giving her full-throated support for the union. Just two days later, Spilka announced a 7.5% wage increase for all Senate staff. This raise does not by any means alleviate the need for a union, but it goes to show: powerful people respond to pressure. Or as Rep. Pressley said, “When we fight, when we organize — we win.”
Missed a Scoop or two? You can find a full archive of all past Saturday Scoops on our blog.
Take Action
Testify in support of the Sunlight Agenda!
THANK YOU to everyone who gave written or oral testimony in support of two of our Sunlight Agenda bills during their committee hearing on Wednesday! Having a strong showing at the committee hearing is absolutely essential to build momentum for grassroots-led advocacy. Here are the two bills:
H.3121: An Act relative to the open meeting law
S.2064: An Act extending the public records law to the Governor and the Legislature
If you haven’t already, take a minute today to submit written testimony in support of these pro-transparency bills. Although the formal deadline has passed, you can still submit testimony through MAPLE. This means your testimony won’t be in the “official” record for that bill, but it will be sent to your lawmakers and the committee chairs, ensuring those in charge are feeling the pressure. Plus, by crowdsourcing and publishing testimony online, MAPLE allows us to create our own testimony record for the bill. In other words, if the State House refuses to make testimony public, we’ll do it ourselves!
Find the link to submit testimony, check out sample testimony, and find everything else you need to know here in our Testimony Toolkit:
CHECK OUT OUR TESTIMONY TOOLKIT >>
Last, an actually fun fact to kick off your weekend
When they weren’t squabbling with their colleagues in the House, the Senate unanimously passed some important legislation on Thursday. One bill (S.2425) would make it easier for people to change their gender, including to a gender-neutral option, on birth their certificate–something already available in 16 states plus D.C. The other bill (S.2251) would require the RMV to establish a process through which people without a permanent address (i.e. unhoused Massachusetts residents) can apply for a state ID.
Although modest in their scope and cost, passing these two bills into law would have an enormous impact on some of the most marginalized groups in our community. But remember: they still must be passed by the House before getting to Healey’s desk, and that’s far from a sure thing. Last session the Senate passed similar bills which ended up dying as so many do: in House Ways & Means. Sorry, sorry, I know I said it would be a fun fact, but I couldn't help myself!
That's all for this week! With the Legislature in recess all August, the next month will likely be a slow one on Beacon Hill--just when you thought it couldn't get any slower.
Hoping the start of your August is as relaxing as the Legislature's,
Erin Leahy
Executive Director, Act on Mass
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"Diana DiZoglio should be allowed to audit the legislature's spending, but within limits"
By The Editorial Board, The Boston Globe, July 29, 2023
State Auditor Diana DiZoglio is certainly on target when she says, as she did Wednesday, that people want to know “their officials are not playing games with their taxpayer dollars.”
That should be part of her mandate — and that mandate certainly should include the Legislature, whose leaders continue to insist that they are exempt from the auditor’s investigatory reach. Now DiZoglio, stymied by legislative leaders, has taken her fight to Attorney General Andrea Campbell, urging the AG “to support our effort … to increase transparency, accountability, and equity throughout state government, including the Legislature.”
“Folks are fed up; they’re tired. They want access,” DiZoglio said at a news conference to announce her formal request to the AG. “They want to know that they can trust their elected officials, and it’s nearly impossible to be able to trust elected officials with the tax dollars that you’re giving to the government if those elected officials will not give access to basic information about how those tax dollars are being spent.”
DiZoglio’s aim of shedding light on how taxpayers’ dollars are spent is entirely worthy. But it ought not to be allowed to run afoul of such clear legislative prerogatives as how the House speaker and Senate president select their committee chairs or conduct closed-door party caucuses.
DiZoglio clearly hopes the AG will help fight her battle in court, should it come to that. But there are ways short of a court fight in which the attorney general’s office could use its legal expertise to help the auditor sort through this political thicket without inviting a constitutional battle.
In her letters to legislative leaders, DiZoglio has said her performance audit would include, in addition to hiring policies, “spending and procurement information, information regarding active and pending legislation, the process for appointing committees, the adoption and suspension of legislative rules, and the policies and procedures of the Legislature.”
So it’s no wonder that, as DiZoglio put it, her office has been “stonewalled.”
In a lawyerly 27-page letter to Campbell, DiZoglio has stated her case, including historical precedent for allowing the auditor’s office to audit the House and Senate, some of it dating to 1850 but one instance as current as 2006, all presumably without running afoul of the separation of powers clause.
In an equally lawyerly letter, House counsel James C. Kennedy argues otherwise, noting that DiZoglio’s expansive notion of a performance audit “is indeed the kind of ‘interference by one department with the power of another department’ that the [state] Supreme Judicial Court has held” the separation of powers clause “ ‘scrupulously’ protects against.”
Campbell’s office has promised, “Consistent with our statutory role and responsibility, we will review and respond in due course.”
It would, of course, be helpful to have some legal clarity on the issue more current than a 1931 opinion by then-Attorney General Joseph E. Warner or even the 1994 opinion letter written by then-Assistant Attorney General Peter Sacks. Now a well-regarded Appeals Court judge, Sacks ultimately suggested a legislative remedy to specifically give the auditor authority to audit the Legislature.
House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka have insisted that the Legislature’s annual expenditures of some $80 million are all matters of public record, privately audited and available on the state comptroller’s website. Well, yes — and no. Salaries indeed are listed on the CThru website along with every bill paid by the state treasury for the House, Senate, and joint committees. That includes the three bills submitted this month by the auditing firm of Ernst & Young ($21,515, $27,070, and $21,005), along with a $1,593 bill for goodies for the Senate from Baker’s Best and at least three credit card bills, including one for $4,123 charged to “Joint Legislative operations.”
But there’s likely more the public can and should know about how lawmakers spend tax dollars on their own operations — including staffing levels or whether those legislative per diems are too high. And that would be truly worthy of DiZoglio’s attention. She would be well advised to clarify exactly what it is she needs access to.
It shouldn’t have to take a “we’ll see you in court” moment to do that. In fact, a well-crafted memorandum from the attorney general that provides an on-ramp to increase the transparency of legislative spending and an off-ramp to DiZoglio’s ill-advised expansionist aims would be incredibly useful.
It could also turn this political hot potato Campbell has been handed into a useful teaching moment for the auditor and legislative leaders alike.
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"One-party rule on Beacon Hill has led to dysfunction"
By Amy Carnevale, op-ed, The Boston Globe, July 31, 2023
The Republican Party in Massachusetts has long held the unenviable position of being a super-minority on Beacon Hill. This means Republicans do not hold enough seats to uphold a veto or force much of anything. We get it; we have a lot of work to do after the 2022 election.
What’s different today though is that Democrats not only hold supermajorities in the Legislature, they also hold every other statewide office. On Beacon Hill, this has predictably resulted in the concentration of power in the hands of a few. Increasingly, decisions are being made behind closed doors, not only to the exclusion of Republicans but also leaving out rank-and-file Democrats, the public, and the media who communicate to the public.
The Founding Fathers designed our democratic republic to be based on a system of checks and balances. Our own John Adams, when making the point that democracy should be cherished but yet can still result in abuses of power, wrote, “My opinion is and always has been that absolute Power intoxicates alike Despots, Monarchs, Aristocrats, and Democrats, and Jacobins and Sansculottes.”
The dysfunction on Beacon Hill has reached all-time dismal levels of inaction and discord. The state budget was a month late, joint committees can’t agree on rules for making decisions, and the center left is fighting with the far left. The result is that citizens and communities are being left behind. Likewise, transparency has become an afterthought, with many committee votes not available to the public and conference committee negotiations closed to all but a few power brokers.
Complacency reigns as the new fiscal year ticks forward. The state’s credit rating is one important factor at risk, but so too are the recipients of taxpayer dollars. The Chapter 90 program provides cities and towns with funding for infrastructure and transportation. The budget impasse prevented municipalities from putting these much-needed funds to use during the beginning of this construction season. Many nonprofits receive state government funds, which are also tied up due to the late negotiations, leading to uncertainty.
The delay in enacting tax relief designed to stem the exodus of residents from Massachusetts is particularly concerning for its long-term stability. The Pioneer Institute recently documented the outmigration of residents from the Bay State. In an examination of Internal Revenue Service data, Pioneer found that in 2021, the state lost $4.3 billion in adjusted gross income to other states.
The number of residents leaving the Commonwealth is widely expected to dramatically accelerate due to the voter-approved surtax last November and the ease of remote work in our post-pandemic economy. Given that the top 1 percent of taxpayers typically account for nearly a quarter of all tax receipts, legislative leaders should be sprinting to enact short-term capital gains tax relief. Such relief was first proposed by then-Governor Charlie Baker and more recently was picked up by Governor Maura Healey. But such relief is not happening quickly under one-party rule.
With Democrats no longer accountable to their own membership, much less the public, it is past time we remember the axiom of John Adams warning about the corrupting influence of absolute power. It is clear that absolute power has once again worked against the interest of a government that is accountable and responsive to its citizens. It is now up to residents to chart a better path forward.
The Republican Party in Massachusetts is working to realign and rebuild to once again be a voice for sound fiscal policy and strong leadership. Come November and into 2024, our party is working to present voters with real alternatives to add to our numbers on Beacon Hill. In the meantime, residents should remember that this is our Commonwealth — if we can hold our leaders accountable.
Amy Carnevale is chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party.
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August 5, 2023
Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,
Happy Birthday sometime during this month of August 2023!
The Massachusetts State Legislature passed the fiscal year 2024 state budget one month late with only two state legislators voting against the $56.2 billion spending plan. The budget was presented and voted on within the same day on Monday, July 31st, 2023. The 196 state legislators blindly voted on spending $56.2 billion to run the corrupt and secretive state government that mostly does DISSERVICES against the common people and taxpayers of Massachusetts.
The surtax on above million-dollar income taxpayers may be offset by the Governor, Maura Healey, and the corrupt career politicians on Beacon Hill giving most to all of it away to the top 1 percent of wealthiest households and big businesses.
The online lottery sales, another facet of the Speaker’s push to expand gambling in the state, was not in the aforementioned state budget. All gambling is (voluntary) regressive taxation that allows the fictional Massachusetts State Representative Sellout Shakedown to play Robinhood in Reverse and giveaway huge state tax breaks to their wealthy campaign donors that do not exist in most areas of the state, while lottery tickets are everywhere in the state, of course.
Like you, Erin Leahy, I am a Summer (1975) baby, and during my birthday celebrations, my family and I happened to discuss the state lottery SCAM during dinner. I said that in my economics classes, I found out that economists developed and structured the state lottery to mostly financially illiterate low- to moderate income residents to raise state revenues off of those with the most constrained finances. My Aunt who lives in Manhattan, NYC, replied that she heard the NY State Lottery SCAM called a poor tax. The Massachusetts State Lottery SCAM is in its 51st fiscal year, and in its 50th fiscal year 2023 profits margins hit a record high number. They have no shame in Boston, Albany, NY, and elsewhere!
When I think of the state lottery SCAM, I associate it with the greedy lobbyist from North Adams who also has a residence in Boston: Dan Bosley. He is a retired North Adams State Representative who collects a state pension plus perks, and he is still in the Beacon Hill Statehouse as a greedy lobbyist who collects a 6-figure lobbyist salary that is on top of his public pension plus perks. Many years ago, then Rep. Bosley attached a same day secretive rider to state legislation that would have - if not defeated - given away the single largest state tax breaks in the billions of dollars to the wealthiest big businesses that do not exist in most areas of the state. It is greed-balls such as Dan Bosley who profit from the state lottery SCAM and all other forms of gambling - aka (voluntary) regressive taxation schemes!
It would be nice if the government that is supposed to Serve We the People used their limited financial resources to Invest in We the People instead of playing financial shell games and profiting off of (voluntary) regressive taxation schemes such as the state lottery SCAM, but it would be too good to be true. At the end of the business day, it is only the elites: Financial, Corporate and Ruling Elites and their greedy lobbyists (some of whom earn 7-figure per year lobbyist salaries on Beacon Hill) - who enrich themselves at the public trough, while the rest of us have to pound sand. I am on your side, Erin Leahy as a public advocate for the common people and taxpayers, to reform the corrupt and secretive system of government, especially on Beacon Hill!
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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August 5, 2023
Re: Saturday Scoop: We have a budget! + Updates on the House v. Senate power grab
Happy August, Jonathan!
In addition to it being the best month of the year (and no I am not just saying that because it’s my birth month, and frankly how dare you accuse me of bias) we have another reason to celebrate: the Legislature finally passed the budget! And only a month late!
But hey, in their defense, just because our Legislature is slow doesn’t necessarily mean it’s less produc–
“Massachusetts ranked among the bottom 10 state legislatures for the number of laws enacted in the 2021-2022 session, with 110 total. Just 5.8 percent of bills filed at the State House eventually became law — the fourth lowest rate nationally…” (MASSterlist)
–tive.
Then again, legislation can zip through the process in an instant if the House Speaker or Senate President wants it to. Legislative leaders filed, passed, and sent a bill to the governor’s desk in one fell swoop late Monday night after passing the budget. What was so urgent that lawmakers took such swift, decisive action?
They extended the legal authority to conduct horse racing, which was set to expire the next day.
We happen to have an exclusive photo of the lobbyist behind this horse-focused effort:
(If you haven’t seen the Barbie Movie yet, I apologize for topical reference. Also, what are you waiting for??)
Now, I have nothing against horse racing. I’ve been known to enjoy a mint julep and a fancy hat now and again. If only the Legislature acted with such urgency and compassion when it came to the eviction protections they let expire, or protections for undocumented immigrants they never passed, or worker protections…
Putting aside the $500 million - $1 billion in impending tax cuts, and the fact that the Legislature passed it a whole month late, the budget is actually pretty darn good. The compromise put forth by the conference committee (which, naturally, operates entirely in private) includes many key funding and policy victories we’ve been fighting for, including:
In-state tuition and state financial aid for undocumented students in MA;
$69 million in funding for free universal school meals (which, frustratingly, is coming too late for several districts who have held off on hiring and food orders while this provision was tied up in negotiations);
free and unlimited phone calls for people experiencing incarceration in MA;
$50 million to support free community college by fall 2024;
the creation of two new posts on the MBTA board of directors, one representative for Boston and another representative for the rest of the MBTA service area;
and authorization for pharmacists to dispense birth control without a doctor’s prescription, a change that will make contraceptives much more accessible.
I know, not bad, right?
And one more big thing: Chapter 257 — the COVID-era eviction prevention program that allows renters to stay in their homes while they are awaiting rental assistance — has been revived. This is a crucial protection for renters in Massachusetts, especially considering that evictions in Boston are up 75% from last year and BIPOC communities face evictions at disproportionately high rates, as much as 6x likelier in some cities. While it’s great that this program was brought back, it’s another example of how the Legislature’s lethargy has devastating effects: Chapter 257 expired this March despite calls from housing advocates and renters to make it permanent. Its revival comes after four months of preventable evictions.
Notably missing from the budget was funding for the East-West rail, yet another setback in the decades-long fight to connect Western Mass to the rest of the state’s rail network. Also missing (not that we're shedding tears about it) was authorization for online lottery sales, another facet of the Speaker’s push to expand gambling in the state.
In total, the anticipated $1 billion in revenue from the new Fair Share tax will break down about 52% towards education and 48% towards transportation. In other words, the new tax is doing exactly what it was designed for. Passing Fair Share and securing $1 billion more in funding for transportation and education in the budget is an enormous grassroots victory. Thank you to everyone who made phone calls and knocked doors for Yes on 1, and all who made their voice heard to ensure these funds were invested in the right places. But (and this is a big but) these gains will be essentially canceled out if the Legislature goes forward with spending $1 billion in tax cuts as the House and Governor Healey proposed. With that in mind:
TELL YOUR LEGISLATORS: REJECT TAX CUTS FOR THE RICH >>
House continues joint committee power grab
Joint committees (the issue-based committees that advance or kill bills) have members of both the House and the Senate. Since the Senate has 40 members to the House’s 160, House Reps vastly outnumber Senators on joint committees. That’s why the operation of the committees, i.e. decisions about what bills to vote on and when and when to schedule hearings, has been conducted via consensus, not majority rule. In particular, it’s standard for the two co-chairs (one House chair and one Senate chair) to work cooperatively and make these decisions in tandem. Until this session, that is.
Back in May, we covered the conflict that led to the House/Senate schism in the Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy committee, which has been operating as two factions ever since. Our subject line for that Scoop was “Joint committee infighting a harbinger of drama to come.” Well, Jonathan, it came.
Last Friday, the House chairs of four joint committees brought bills to a vote without discussion with or approval of their Senate co-chairs. When Sen. Rausch, one of the snubbed Senate co-chairs, asked her House counterpart Rep. Cahill why he rushed the bill to a vote without her input, he told her he had a “directive” from “higher-ups in the House.” In other words, from the Speaker.
There are a number of takeaways from this: first, the House and Senate don’t behave like they’re on the same team—they operate more like opponents, each struggling for more power. This is the cause of the pettiness and infighting that is derailing the gun control bill, and keeping other bills that could drastically improve Bay Staters’ lives tied up in committee negotiations for months on end.
Second, none of this is necessarily against the rules. We’re now in the second session in a row without joint rules in place (a direct, if cowardly response to the Act on Mass movement). Worse, none of the joint committees filed their own operating rules, the deadline for which was back in March. Unless explicitly restricted by established rules, the Speaker will further concentrate his and his chamber’s power.
After months in conference committee darkness, Healey signs transportation bill
Municipal workers can finally breathe a sigh of relief; after four months of mysterious conference committee negotiations, Governor Healey signed the transportation funding bill on Friday. Totalling $375 million, this bill includes $200 million in “Chapter 90” funding, i.e. funds that the state distributes to municipalities for local transportation repairs and improvements. What could possibly be so controversial about that as to delay this needed relief by months? The House and Senate couldn’t agree on whether to spend an additional $25 million for grant programs. What was I just saying about pettiness and infighting…?
Take Action
Tell your Legislators to cosponsor the Sunlight Agenda!
If you haven't already, email your lawmakers to ask them to cosponsor our Sunlight Agenda. Already did? Amazing. Now, send the email form (this link) to three friends who also support transparency and accountability on Beacon Hill. That's how we build pressure and momentum:
EMAIL YOUR LEGISLATORS >>
That's all for this week! Enjoy the rest of your weekend. I hope you're able to tap into your Kenergy.
Erin Leahy
Executive Director, Act on Mass
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State House Scoop
A month late, Legislature passes FY2024 budget
$69 million in funding for free universal school meals (which, frustratingly, is coming too late for several districts who have held off on hiring and food orders while this provision was tied up in negotiations);
free and unlimited phone calls for people experiencing incarceration in MA;
$50 million to support free community college by fall 2024;
the creation of two new posts on the MBTA board of directors, one representative for Boston and another representative for the rest of the MBTA service area;
and authorization for pharmacists to dispense birth control without a doctor’s prescription, a change that will make contraceptives much more accessible.
August 6, 2023
Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,
I had a Sunday brunch at my favorite diner in my hometown off Amherst, NH, today (August 6th, 2023); my native hometown is Pittsfield, Massachusetts - which I believe is systemically mocked by the elitist snobs in Boston, especially with the multibillion-dollar state lottery SCAM. The Have Not named "Jon Melle" who is originally from Pittsfield is the perfect illustration of Beacon Hill lawmakers mocking the common people with their financial shell games and (voluntary) regressive taxation schemes such as the Massachusetts State Lottery SCAM.
During my Sunday afternoon brunch, I sat with my elderly friend who is in his early 80s. He and I love to talk about financial issues at the local diner. One of the young bussers of restaurant tables sat down with us. She is going into her senior year of high school next month. She was curious about finance. I wrote her a brief note on a scrap piece of paper. I wrote to her: "Finance is all about compound interest". "The 'Rule of 72': 72/6 percent interest = 12 years of compound interest to double your money." I gave her my note, and I told her that if she holds onto my note over the next 10 years of her young adult life, she will come to understand the crux of finance. I asked her if she knew what I wrote on my note. She said no. My thoughts on financial literacy are that it is so simple to teach young adults in high school, but many adults are financially illiterate throughout part, most or all of their lives.
My story I am writing to you about today leads me to my thoughts on your "Saturday Scoop" political email yesterday. You, Erin Leahy, wrote that the online lottery legislation was not in the one-month late fiscal year 2024 Massachusetts State Budget. What you did not write is that the state lottery is nothing more than (voluntary) regressive taxation. You also did not write that the 50th year of the Massachusetts State Lottery SCAM produced record profits, which state leaders had the nerve to brag about last month. You also did not write that the state lottery inequitably targets the mostly financially illiterate low- to moderate-income financially constrained residents who have no idea what is really going on here. You also did not write that the state lottery is misleading because nationally, it only increases state aid financial numbers by 1 percent on average, while 99 percent of the inequitable state lottery revenues go to the high-income residents and big businesses. You also did not write that on Beacon Hill, the corrupt career politicians represented by the fictional State Representative Sellout Shakedown use the state lottery's inequitable profits to giveaway many millions of dollars in additional state tax breaks to their wealthy campaign donors to enrich themselves, the greedy lobbyist such as state pensioner Dan Bosley, and the financial and corporate elites at the public trough. You also did not write that while most to all of the multimillion-dollar state tax breaks go to the top 1 percent, which does not benefit most areas of the state, especially in mostly rural Western Massachusetts, state lottery tickets are sold everywhere in Massachusetts.
I agree with your public advocacy for Sunshine laws and a would-be equitable and accessible state government in Massachusetts. The state lottery SCAM is the perfect illustration of everything that stands as the exact opposite of your public advocacy work on behalf of all of the people and taxpayers in Massachusetts. Please keep up your good work, Erin Leahy!
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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Gov. Maura Healey signed the fiscal 2024 state budget on Wednesday inside the State House at a press conference inside the State House on Aug. 9, 2023. (Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)
"In-state tuition for undocumented students becomes law under signed FY24 budget"
By Chris Van Buskirk - cvanbuskirk@bostonherald.com - The Boston Herald, August 9, 2023
Gov. Maura Healey signed a $55.9 billion budget Wednesday that provides eligible undocumented students in-state tuition rates at public universities and colleges and offers free meals for students at public and some private schools.
The budget Healey signed largely avoids conflict with proposals approved by the Democratic-led Legislature last month. It also represents the latest spending plan outside of the pandemic since 2021, when lawmakers sent the budget to the governor’s desk in November, and it was signed at the start of December.
House Speaker Ronald Mariano said he was not surprised budget negotiations “went a little long” because of all the factors that were in play, including parallel conversations on tax relief and how to spend new surtax revenue.
“But I’m constantly surprised that everyone seems to have forgotten what was at stake here and what we were trying to accomplish,” the Quincy Democrat told reporters. “And to come up with a document that is this fair, and as transformative as this document is, I think is a real credit to the administration.”
At a press conference at the State House, Healey touted funding for local schools, a program that offers free community college to residents 25 and older, and the use of $1 billion in new revenues from a voter-approved surtax on incomes over $1 million.
“This budget makes our state more affordable, competitive and equitable,” Healey said. “It will make a real and meaningful difference in the lives of people across Massachusetts, lowering their costs, expanding access to opportunity, improving the quality of their life.”
Any student who has attended school in Massachusetts for at least three years is eligible for in-state tuition at state schools like the University of Massachusetts Amherst under language included in the fiscal 2024 budget.
Senate President Karen Spilka said the program offers “tuition equity” to all students, regardless of where they come from.
“This will help build our workforce with students that are here, right here in Massachusetts now, and help these very same students build and reach their dreams,” she said.
In-state tuition for undocumented students brings them “one step closer to achieving the American dream,” said Elizabeth Sweet, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition.
“Expanding eligibility of in-state tuition rates to all residents will prove a huge benefit to the state, as the Commonwealth is currently grappling with declining college enrollment and a dwindling workforce,” Sweet said.
Universal school meals for students apply at any school in Massachusetts that participates in the National School Lunch Program. The fiscal 2024 budget includes $172 million to fund the program.
Healey returned eight policy sections with amendments, including a provision offering no-cost calls for inmates at state and county correctional facilities, which she proposed delaying the start date by five months.
The delay allows administration officials to “get things lined up,” Healey said.
“You know what was good, collective common sense from all involved that we needed a little bit more time to be able to get it done,” the governor said.
Healey vetoed one policy section that would have used $205 million in one-time funding to pay for universal school meals and grants that support early education and care providers’ day-to-day operational and workforce costs.
Healey cut $205 million in net spending to balance the budget in the absence of the one-time funds.
“We took this action because we felt like at this time, it was the right thing to do to not use one-time funding for programs that would have a longer shelf life,” Healey said, adding that cuts were made to programs that were “redundant or where there was otherwise funding available through the administration.”
Healey left intact the Legislature’s plan to spend $1 billion in new revenues from the “Millionaires Tax” or “Fair Share Amendment.”
Lawmakers set aside $524 million for education initiatives including $229 million to allow those 25 and older to obtain a degree or certificate for free through any community college. The rest of the surtax revenue, $477 million, is heading to transportation needs, including improving accessibility at MBTA stations.
Lawmakers are now clear of a major, yearly hurdle — crafting and passing a budget — and attention on Beacon Hill has turned to the status of a tax relief plan held up in private negotiations between a panel of six lawmakers.
With legislators on break until roughly the end of the month, Healey did not say whether she had given top Democrats a deadline by which she would like to see a tax relief compromise.
“Tax relief is something we want to accomplish for purposes of making life more affordable for residents, more competitive for our state,” Healey said. “There are a lot of good ideas already out there and on the table. And this is the work of government and policy making. So I know people will be hard at work in the days and weeks ahead.”
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"Gov. Maura Healey signs $56 billion Massachusetts state budget"
By Matt Stout, Boston Globe Staff, August 9, 2023
Wielding a light veto pen,Governor Maura Healey on Wednesday signed into law a $56 billion state budget that will cover community college tuition for a swath of students, pour hundreds of millions more dollars into the MBTA, and make Massachusetts the eighth state to cover lunch costs for all children in public schools.
In signing the annual budget, Healey’s first since taking office in January, Massachusetts became one of the last states in the country to approve a spending plan for the fiscal year that began 39 days ago. It will hike spending by 7 percent over last fiscal year, and for the first time, distribute at least $1 billion in revenue raised from a new tax on the state’s wealthiest residents.
“Policy-making takes time,” Healey said at a State House news conference alongside Democratic legislative leaders. “This is a budget that got it right.”
Healey’s action will also unlock a host of policy changes. The law includes a program that makes undocumented high schoolers eligible for in-state tuition rates at public colleges or universities in Massachusetts, and another that establishes universal free school meals in public schools using state dollars, making Massachusetts the eighth state in the nation to embrace such a program.
It also adds two seats to the MBTA Board of Directors, including for the first time an appointee by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, and requires the state’s chief medical examiner to personally review and approve all autopsies of children younger than 2 — codifying a measure that had been stripped amid budget negotiations a year ago.
The law sets aside $38 million to cover tuition at community college programs for most students aged 25 or older and for students pursuing degrees in nursing starting this fall. It also dedicates $475 million to Commonwealth Cares for Children, or C3 grants, the first time the state has fully funded the grants for early education and child-care providers without help from the federal government.
Healey made few revisions to the hulking plan. She vetoed more than $200 million in spending, spreading the cuts across a variety of line items. She also vetoed an outside section that would have authorized the state to use the same amount in one-time funding from an escrow account.
She also sent lawmakers back a provision that would make phone calls free for those who are incarcerated in state prisons and jails, saying she supports the concept but wants to delay its implementation by five monthsto Dec. 1.
Healey, who pushed a more limited proposal as part of her budget, wrote in a letter to lawmakers that pushing the date out avoids the need to make retroactive reimbursements, and gives the Department of Correction and local sheriffs time to “manage vendor contracts more effectively” to absorb the added costs. (The budget also includes $20 million for the new no-cost calls program.)
Advocates who have for years pushed to make calls free for those incarcerated and their families said they understood Healey’s appeal for more time and were optimistic the provision would ultimately make it into law. The Legislature had passed similar language a year ago, but it failed after Healey’s predecessor, Charlie Baker, also returned it with an amendment late in the legislative session.
“A lot of us have PTSD from that, but this is very different,” said Bonnie Tenneriello, senior attorney at Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts, noting Healey — unlike Baker — vocally supports the concept. “We’re nowhere near” last year’s situation, she said.
Healey also cut funding for Head Start grants by $1 million, a move that Michelle Haimowitz, the Massachusetts Head Start Association executive director, said leaves the early learning grant program in the lurch. The program, which serves low-income pregnant women and children under 5, receives a mix of state and federal funding to operate.
"Today’s reduction undermines the important work that has begun to properly value and respect the educators serving our youngest learners and would directly hit the wallets of those who are most deserving of more,” Haimowitz said in a statement.
The spending plan is also the first to begin spending $1 billion in projected revenue from the so-called millionaires tax voters approved last fall. The budget lawmakers passed sought to allocate roughly $522 million for education and $477 million for transportation, including $205 million for the MBTA.
Healey, an Arlington Democrat, proposed different contours for spending revenue raised by the surtax on annual income over $1 million. But she left the Democrat-led Legislature’s plan in place, which includes $20 million for a MBTA workforce and safety reserve.
The state has been operating on its second interim spending plan while the budget was in limbo. The Legislature did not reach and pass an agreement until the final day of July, making this year its tardiest performance in delivering a plan in more than two decades — excluding the chaotic first year of the COVID pandemic.
Before Wednesday, Massachusetts was one of just three states, alongside North Carolina and Oregon, that had yet to finalize a fiscal year 2024 budget, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Notably absent amid Wednesday’s celebratory bill signing were updates on potential tax relief. The budget sets aside about $580 million for a future tax code overhaul, though a concrete plan remains tied up in closed-door negotiations among House and Senate leaders with little clarity on when an agreement could emerge.
Senate President Karen E. Spilka argued that the budget itself will also help families while talks continue. “So much of what’s in the budget is a form of relief for individuals and working families,” the Ashland Democrat said.
Other uncertainty hangs over the state’s finances. The Healey administration has yet to release a complete picture of the state’s tax revenue for the fiscal year that ended June 30. The Department of Revenue had said in early June that tax collections then were still lagging the state’s year-to-date projections by at least $583 million.
That raised the prospect the state could be facing an end-of-year budget gap at a time when many other states were enjoying surpluses, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers.
Georgia, for example, finished the year with a roughly $4.8 billion surplus, while Connecticut had hundreds of millions of dollars in surplus dollars even after previously passing the largest tax cut in its history, according to NASBO.
Samantha J. Gross of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
Matt Stout can be reached at matt.stout@globe.com. Follow him @mattpstout.
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August 9th, 2023
Massachusetts' fiscal year 2024 state budget was signed into law by Governor Maura Healey today, which is one month and 9 days past its starting point. The $56 billion state spending plan includes the single largest tax increase - the surtax on incomes over $1 million - in the over 400-year history of Massachusetts. There is no tax relief (yet), while the state's historic surplus "Slush Fund" is over $7.22 billion. Beacon Hill's corrupt career politicians are applauding themselves today for their newest DISSERVICE against the people and taxpayers they supposedly represent in state government. I wish that the people would please vote out all of the secretive and corrupt career politicians in Boston, especially Smitty Pignatelli. Like Smitty, Governor Maura Healey is a DISGRACE!
Jonathan A. Melle
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August 12, 2023
Re: Sarcasm: My lunch with Governor Maura Healey
Hello Brenna Ransden at Act on Mass,
Sarcasm: Last week, out of the blue, I answered a telephone call from Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey. She invited me to lunch. More sarcasm: During lunch, I asked Governor Healey why she vetoed social services, early education and mental health state funding items in the 40-day late Massachusetts fiscal year 2024 state budget. Even more sarcasm: She said that while the state government is sitting on a record cash surplus of over $7.22 billion, and while she is still pushing for hundreds of millions of dollars in state "tax relief" for the top 1 percent of multimillionaires and big businesses, she wants to be seen as the socially liberal, fiscally conservative career politician that enriches the financial, corporate and ruling elites at the public trough.
We all know that the Democratic Party dominated corrupt career politicians in the Massachusetts State Legislature will override most to possibly all of Governor Healey's misguided vetoes. She knows this all too well. She is just playing political games, which will bolster her fundraising numbers with the elites. The corrupt career politicians on Beacon Hill are far sneakier about screwing over the common people and taxpayers than the first elected woman Governor in the over 400-year history of Massachusetts government named Maura Healey.
For example, the Massachusetts State Lottery record profits in its 50th fiscal year that ended on June 30th, 2023, are nothing more than (voluntary) regressive taxation state revenues that systemically mocks and targets Have Nots such as "Jon Melle" and my distressed "rust belt" native hometown: polluted postindustrial Pittsfield, Massachusetts. But greedy registered lobbyist Dan Bosley gets to cash in on the inequitable state lottery profits by getting his wealthy business clients millions of dollars in additional state tax breaks. Dan Bosley also collects his state public pension plus perks, which is on top of his 6-figure lobbyists earnings. Dan Bosley and the elites he serves are the real winners of the state lottery SCAM!
In response to: "If you haven't already, email your lawmakers to ask them to cosponsor our Sunlight Agenda." Sarcasm: I tried to email Lenox State Representative Smitty Pignatelli to please support your Sunlight Agenda in state government. More sarcasm: Smitty Pignatelli said that while he has spent over the past 20.5 years in Boston proudly (yet shamefully) voting down the Sunlight Agenda reforms, he hopes to serve along the fictional Massachusetts State Representative Sellout Shakedown for two more decades, which would be from 2003 to 2045. Even more sarcasm: I told Smitty Pignatelli that would mean more DISSERVICES than all of his countless public pay raises plus perks!
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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August 12, 2023
Re: Act on Mass: Saturday Scoop: Healey's budget vetoes and who they impact most
We meet again Jonathan,
Our regular scooptress Erin is on a birthday vacation (good for her!), which means I get to do all the complaining about Beacon Hill this week (good for me, bad for my therapist!). Well, not all of the complaining; the opinion pages have been sprinkled with criticisms of the democratic dysfunction on Beacon Hill lately:
Letter to the Editor, The Eagle Tribune: “Recently, I used an unexpected moment with House Speaker Mariano to ask for more transparency. His rude response, “We have plenty of transparency, you just don’t know where to look,” blamed me but his words proved my point; I don’t know where to look because the Legislature doesn’t report basic legislative activity to the public.”
Op-Ed by Auditor Diana Dizoglio, Boston Globe: “That our audit [of the legislature] is being met with resistance from Beacon Hill is not an example of how expansionist my vision is — it’s just demonstrative of how opaque the Legislature has become.”
Couldn't have said it better myself.
Now what I can uniquely contribute — as the decidedly Gen Z staffer to Erin’s milleniality — I will be taking editorial liberties to achieve my mission of the most emoji-d Scoop to date. So, without further ado…
ð§ ðĪ ðŦąð️ðŽðī giddyup!
State House Scoop
Healey vetoes early ed funding, youth suicide prevention, sends no-cost calls back to the legislature
Well Jonathan, it is with much dejection that I can finally announce to you, 40 days into the fiscal year, that we are the antepenultimate state in the union to have enacted a budget. Yeehaw, I guess ðĪ ❓
In signing the budget, Healey doled out few vetoes and amendments, largely accepting the bill as reported by the conference committee. But among those few rejections are critical policies and funding that Healey chose to strike.
The Vetoes:
In total, Healey vetoed over $272 million in spending, more than half of which was for MassHealth Fee for Service Payments (cuts to MassHealth are a whole different beast, which we’ll save for another Scoop). She further slashed from the budget:
$1 million in Head Start State Supplemental Grants, a program that serves families earning under the Federal Poverty Line ($27,750 for a family of 4). Head Start provides families with childcare and early education, emergency housing support, and mental health counseling, all for free;
$35 million in salary rate funding for center-based early educators in early ed programs. Head Start educators currently earn $39,520 annually, hardly a livable wage in MA. With low wages, early educator retention has been difficult, and high turnover is contributing to the rising costs and inaccessibility of child care in the state;
$1 million in funds earmarked for Hey Sam, a youth suicide-prevention textline with a 100% success rate at de-escalating conversations among people expressing a high risk of suicide without involving emergency services. Healey’s team described the funding as “duplicative” of other money directed towards suicide prevention. I can’t believe I have to ask this question, but is there any such thing as “duplicative” efforts to prevent suicide, especially when it comes to young people, whose mental health crisis continues to grow worse? Apparently, to the Healey administration, the answer is yes.
The Legislature now has until November 15th (or whenever they want, should they suspend the rules) to take up any veto overrides.
The Amendments:
Although she didn’t outright veto it, Governor Healey sent the provision for free phone calls for incarcerated folks back to the legislature with an amendment, proposing to launch the policy on Dec. 1st of this year, claiming “we needed a little bit more time to be able to get it done.” This amendment would also excuse the state from making retroactive reimbursements to people already paying exorbitant prices to make phone calls, which was the proposal from the conference report.
Because of her amendment, the ball is back in the General Court’s court. With no timeline for the legislature to review the governor’s amendments, this policy is back in limbo indefinitely.
However, the choice between funding too much youth suicide prevention, or giving incarcerated people free phone calls is an artificial one, a political one. Instead of cutting these important services, we could — say it with me *turning the mic to youðĪ* — not make permanent tax cuts for the rich! Can I get a yippee-ki-yay!!! ðĪ
Slimming the budget is a deliberate policy choice, and the fact that Healey’s messaging continues to emphasize the need to pass her tax cuts for the rich is very telling of where her politics lie. So, once again, dear reader, I am asking you to ðĨðĨðĨ
TELL YOUR LEGISLATORS: REJECT TAX CUTS FOR THE RICH >>
An update on the Legislative Audit
We’re still awaiting word from Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office about whether they will greenlight litigation in Auditor DiZoglio’s lawsuit against the legislature. In the meantime, though, DiZoglio has cooked up Plan C: putting the issue on the ballot.
"Taxpayers deserve an audit that is able to be done without resistance from their elected officials. The Legislature has been audited at least 113 times throughout history, demonstrating clear precedent," DiZoglio said in an interview. "[...] Since top legislators seem to be confused about the language of the law, we are asking the people of Massachusetts to help make it crystal clear."
Well, fellow people of Massachusetts, we’ve made the public mandate for increased transparency crystal clear before (remember when 84% of us voted in favor of making committee votes public last year?). Should Campbell deem this ballot question constitutionally valid, which she must decide by September 6th, it seems like we may well get the chance to shine again. ð✨
Take Action
Tell your Legislators to cosponsor the Sunlight Agenda!
If you haven't already, email your lawmakers to ask them to cosponsor our Sunlight Agenda. Already did? Amazing. Now, send the email form (this link) to three friends who also support transparency and accountability on Beacon Hill. The more noise we make, the harder it will be for legislators to ignore us:
EMAIL YOUR LEGISLATORS >>
Submit public comment for new sex ed standards
Help us urge the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) to approve the new draft comprehensive health and physical education framework. The Healthy Youth Act Coalition has put together a toolkit to help you craft your public comment — think of this like testimony you’d submit at a legislative hearing.
We know the opposition is going to be loud — we need everyone who has ever cared about getting better sex and relationship education in our schools to be louder. With your help, we can get a much-needed update to our state’s woefully outdated sex and relationship education standards.
SUBMIT COMMENT FOR NEW HEALTH FRAMEWORK >>
You thought I was letting you off without a not-so-fun fact? You’re mistaken.
According to an Op-Ed in Commonwealth published this week, in the three and a half years since Tom Brady left the Pats, his name appeared in 1,677 stories in the Globe. That’s compared to Ron Mariano’s name appearing in 313, and Karen Spilka’s name in just 279, despite the fact that they are some of the most powerful decision-makers in the state. Though the piece funnels its focus on the Globe, these numbers indicate what is likely an industry-wide trend in the battle for attention. In a rapidly changing media market, the decline of local news coverage has been linked to worse government outcomes. In Massachusetts, this is to the State House’s advantage, as they do the people’s business out of sight of the press and public.
Wow, that got depressing for a minute... ðŦ But despite all this going on, we should still be proud of all the good that’s in this budget as a result of your lobbying and activism. Give yourself a pat on the back Jonathan, and let’s get ready to do it again.
So long, farewell, until we complain again,
Brenna Ransden (she/her) ððĶ
Organizing Director, Act on Mass
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Letter: "Governor should practice what she prescribes"
The Berkshire Eagle, August 15, 2023
To the editor: So our governor wants us residents to take and house migrant families. ("Declaring a state of emergency, Gov. Maura Healey asks residents to host immigrant families as shelter system reaches capacity," Eagle, Aug. 8.)
I think this is a wonderful idea, as long as Gov. Healey, her entire staff and everyone of our state legislators do exactly what she is asking of the rest of us, and it should be required that they out of their own pockets pay for food, education and medical, not the legal taxpayers of the commonwealth. The governor should basically put up or shut up; then maybe her proposal might warrant some merit.
Kevin Maher, Pittsfield
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"Gov. Maura Healey's veto of community action funding called 'a slap in the face'"
By Chris Lisinski, State House News Service, August 22, 2023
BOSTON — For the past decade, the state's 23 community action agencies pressed to secure more dedicated funding from the state, pitching their work as a crucial way to help vulnerable Bay Staters navigate anything from job training to housing insecurity.
And after Gov. Maura Healey this month vetoed the latest $7.7 million tranche of funding from the fiscal 2024 state budget, leaders of those organizations are now sounding the alarm that they will need to rein in antipoverty services.
The Community Action Agency of Somerville will lose about half of its community organizing budget, money that the organization had used to educate renters about their rights, advocate for improved living conditions, and successfully press the city to expand a municipal eviction moratorium during the pandemic.
David Gibbs, the agency's executive director, and Nicole Eigbrett, its director of community organizing, said they might need to lay off staff if they cannot make up the lost state support through private fundraising.
"Losing the staffing is going to be disastrous for the program because organizers kind of multiply their impact through the network of relationships that we can build," Eigbrett said. "If one organizer is capable of educating 10 tenants on their rights, those 10 tenants will be able to reach 10 more neighbors and so on and so forth. The work that we've been doing has both material and intangible impacts."
Community action agencies receive funding from a variety of sources. A bit less than two-thirds of their resources come from the federal government, and roughly a third comes from the state via a variety of pathways, according to Joe Diamond, executive director of the Mass. Association for Community Action, or MASSCAP.
Since fiscal 2021 — the first full spending cycle during the public health emergency — Beacon Hill has included additional money in the annual state budget to provide community action agencies with operational grants.
The money included in the budget served as "the most flexible resource that the community action agencies receive," Diamond said, giving agency leaders bandwidth to invest in better programming as they saw fit.
"It supports our ability to address needs that existed long before COVID and needs that persist today, some of which are exacerbated, like the need for food security," he said. "Our agencies use this resource to help expand their ability to provide more and more food to the people that we serve, to expand their reach geographically, to provide housing assistance. Some agencies have used it to expand and continue mental health services, and certainly to support job readiness across the state."
For many agencies, the funding in the annual state budget was "a significant part of their budgets," Diamond said.
Legislative negotiators agreed to direct another $7.68 million toward that end in their proposed fiscal 2024 budget, but Healey used her veto pen to reduce the line item to zero, writing that "its original purpose was specifically tied to addressing the COVID-19 pandemic."
Administration officials argue that the funding was never meant to be permanent and that they now need to reevaluate emergency-era spending, which surged in many areas to respond to the crisis. They also pointed to other areas of the budget that focus on supporting lower-income families, such as a 27 percent increase to the Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT) program and $25 million in permanent food security infrastructure grants.
"Our administration is proud to have signed a budget that invests in critical programs that support low-income families in Massachusetts," said Healey spokesperson Karissa Hand. "Community action agencies perform important services for our communities, and we will continue to support their mission."
Healey also cut $1 million from another line item offering grants to Head Start programs that some community action agencies such as CAAS run, dropping it down to $16.5 million.
Altogether, Healey cut about $205 million in proposed spending from the $56 billion budget. She also struck an outside section that would have drawn down $205 million in one-time dollars for use in the annual budget. Tax revenues fell short of projections in fiscal 2023, and it's not clear whether Beacon Hill officials will need to tap into the state's significant one-time reserves to close any gap.
But for those on the ground at community action agencies, the official arguments do not entirely add up.
"I don't understand a Democratic governor choosing to make that call," Gibbs said. "If you're going to try to balance the budget, you don't do it on the backs of the people who need it the most. There are plenty of state spending lines that are very helpful to business, that are very helpful to wealthy cities and suburbs. I'm sure the governor could find $200 million there if she needed to. To take it away from programs that are directly supporting people who are in desperate need, who are in poverty, just makes no sense."
Diamond and Gibbs both said a formal campaign to secure the line-item funding for agencies began more than a decade ago, well before the pandemic prompted lawmakers to approve the investment.
"That was the culmination of years of legislative activity. I don't think that it's fair to say that it was just because of COVID, and the programs that we've instituted using that money are not solely in response to COVID," Gibbs said. "Community action has been underfunded in relation to the size of the problem of poverty for decades, and this is funding that allowed us to do things that we should have been doing, could have been doing, for years."
"It just seems very contradictory as well to her mission and aim of ensuring food access and security because those are the very families that our agency and the others across the Massachusetts community action network serve," Eigbrett added. "It really does feel like a slap in the face to our agency and our fellow agencies, who really stepped up during the worst of the pandemic to make sure our lowest-income residents were not simply forgotten."
Community action agency leaders hope they can convince Democrats who control the House and Senate to override Healey's veto and restore their funding.
Legislative leaders have not indicated override plans, and lawmakers are on an extended break from major business that's expected to last into September.
Sen. Patricia Jehlen, a Somerville Democrat, said she was "disappointed to see these changes come from the Governor." The elimination of community action agency operating and outreach funds in the budget will "harm critical programs across the Commonwealth," she said.
"This line item is not a 'COVID-era' item, as indicated in the Governor's veto; Community Action Agencies have been advocating for these programs and funds since well before the pandemic," Jehlen said in a statement. "The needs these funds serve have only worsened since the pandemic, and while the public health emergency is generally viewed to be over, the economic impacts are still ravaging families in need."
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August 26, 2023
Hello greedy lobbyist Dan Bosley,
Please read the news story about the New Hampshire State Lottery SCAM:
"NH Lottery breaks all-time sales record, generating $603 million in total sales in fiscal year 2023"
The Nashua Telegraph, August 24, 2023
CONCORD – The New Hampshire Lottery broke its all-time sales record in Fiscal Year 2023, surpassing $603 million in total sales, marking a 12% or $66.5 million increase from its record high of $536.5 million set the previous year. ....
I have followed your pro-big business political turned greed-ball lobbyist careers for many years now. You are very intelligent about finance and governmental policies, which means that you know that state lotteries are the biggest and most inequitable SCAMS in history. The state lottery is nothing more than (voluntary) regressive taxation that targets the underclass, working class, and the mostly financially illiterate no- to low- to moderate-income residents. It is Robin Hood in reverse!
Greedy lobbyists like yourself like it when Massachusetts and New Hampshire state officials alike have the nerve to brag about their record profits in fiscal year 2023. It allows greedy lobbyists like yourself to legally bribe the corrupt career politicians in state government to give their wealthy clients bigger state tax breaks.
Me - a Have Not known as Jon Melle - believes that state officials are systemically mocking people such as myself, as well as my economically distressed and very unequal native hometown of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, with the state lottery. If I didn't study public administration in graduate school many years ago now, it would all go over my head, of course.
State lawmakers market the state lottery to "Jon Melle" and "Pittsfield" to raise state revenues so that they can enrich themselves and their wealthy campaign donors at the public trough, while "Pittsfield" always receives underfunded state aid for public education and local government services.
The state lottery SCAM is the worst of both worlds for me and Pittsfield alike, while it puts money into your greedy pockets. Sarcasm: Congratulations, greed-ball!
In Truth!
Jonathan A. Melle
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August 27, 2023
In reply to "Gobsig's" post: "The state has found a way to tax stupidity with the lottery": The state lottery stands for everything that is wrong with the state government in Boston.
The government is supposed to have good men and women politicians who serve in elected office to represent the people and taxpayers in the state government. When we pay state taxes, the state officials are supposed to use our limited tax dollars to invest in people, communities, and the efficient, effective and accountable management of state government resources.
The state lottery does the exact opposite of good governance. Instead of treating the people and taxpayers as the state's most valuable resource, the lottery is a SCAM that takes advantage of the people and taxpayers. After fiscal year 2023 ended on June 30th, 2023, state officials had the nerve to brag about the 50th year of the Massachusetts State Lottery posting record revenues and profits.
The state lottery is nothing more than an inequitable scheme to raise (voluntary) regressive taxation revenues from the people and taxpayers who can least afford it. National studies on state lottery SCAMS found that only one percent of lottery funds go to public education and state aid to local government, while 99 percent of the lottery funds go to the top 1 percent of wealthy households and big businesses. The lottery SCAM is a BIG LIE!
Enter greedy lobbyist Dan Bosley who never left Beacon Hill's corrupt and secretive Statehouse in Boston after he retired as a "North Adams" - who also lives in a residence in Boston - State Representative at the end of 2010. It is pro big business turned greed-ball lobbyists such as Dan Bosley who salivate at the lottery's revenues and profits. Why? Because the more people who place "Sucker's Bets" on the state lottery's tickets and games means the more multimillion-dollar state breaks Dan Bosley is able to get for his wealthy clients who he lobbies for in return for his 6-figure lobbyist salary, which is on top of his state public pension plus perks. Moreover, there are super-greedy lobbyists in Boston who earn 7-figure salaries to legally bribe the fictional Massachusetts State Representative Sellout Shakedown.
I am not opposed to gambling, but I do not like that gambling is structured into the state's regressive taxation revenues and profits. I do not like that the state lottery targets "Have Nots" such as "Jon Melle" from "Pittsfield", who are mostly financially illiterate no- to low- to moderate-income people and taxpayers. If I did not have a Master of Public Administration graduate degree from UMass Amherst (May 1999), I would not have studied these types of inequitable public policies and program, which means that it would all have gone way over my head - just like most of the "Have Nots" who live in "Pittsfield".
I believe that greedy lobbyists such as Dan Bosley and the elitist snobs like him in Boston are making a systemic mockery out of Have Nots such as "Jon Melle" from "Pittsfield" with the state lottery, along with all of their other financial and economic shell games that enrich the elites at the public trough, while "We the People" have to pound sand.
Jon Melle
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Our Opinion: "These line-item vetoes spell 'devastating' cuts for critical social programs — and demand a stronger explanation"
The Berkshire Eagle, August 30, 2023
When Gov. Maura Healey signed her first budget earlier this month, she vetoed three line items that would have provided millions of dollars of funding to the state’s community action agencies and Head Start programs.
When Gov. Maura Healey signed the state budget earlier this month, her line-item veto pen struck a nerve with some nonprofits already operating on thin margins as they offer critical services to low-income and working-class Massachusetts families.
At issue are three particular cuts from the state’s fiscal year 2024 budget: $7.7 million in funding that was to go to community action agencies throughout the state, $35 million that was meant to cover salary rate funding for center-based early educators and $1 million in the support for grants to Head Start programs. These cuts would impact child care, early education and anti-poverty services throughout the commonwealth, but Berkshire nonprofit leaders flagged the specific impact they could have on our county’s families.
Many Berkshire families unfortunately know the tall task of finding available and affordable child care services. Berkshire County Head Start Executive Director Brett Random said the organization is already struggling to provide its no-cost services to the low-income children and families who need them due to staffing shortages, leaving “classrooms that we are unable to open causing less access and opportunity to families who need care.”
Berkshire County Head Start currently serves around 200 children — which Ms. Random estimates is about 100 fewer than it could if it were staffed to capacity. The staffing problem partly stems from offered salaries not meeting the needs of quality potential applicants. A supplemental state grant that the Legislature put into the annual spending plan to help mitigate that issue was one of the vetoed spending items
Meanwhile, the governor’s veto of $7.7 million in funding for community action agencies comes at a time when those groups’ missions are expanding rapidly along with climbing food and housing insecurity. One such group in our neck of the woods, Berkshire Community Action Council, offers antipoverty services that reach about 12,000 families a year, from nutritional assistance and winter clothing provisions to home heating aid and school supplies for low-income families. BCAC Executive Director Deborah Leonczyk said news of the veto was not only disappointing but devastating to organization’s budget. Ms. Leonczyk said the chunk of $7.7 million BCAC would have received was eyed for grants to several Berkshire community programs fighting regional food insecurity.
Now, Ms. Leonczyk says she had to cut about $287,000 from BCAC’s budget that would have gone toward (among other things) supporting the Berkshire County Jail and House of Corrections hydroponics program that grows fresh produce for BCAC’s food pantry, Multicultural Bridge’s food program, the Bright Morningstar Kitchen and Wheels for Wellness.
Gov. Healey justified these line-item vetoes by saying she didn’t want to create “inequity across different segments of the child care system” by providing for increase for center-based child care programs and not family child care centers, as well as arguing that the community action agencies funding was specifically tied to the pandemic and therefore worth reevaluating after the COVID emergency has waned. But this justification understates the importance of center-based child care programs for rural, underserved regions like ours that, while less populous, still have families desperately seeking affordable child care options. Further, even if the funding bump for community action agencies was initiated amid COVID, it’s an increase those agencies began asking for years prior to the pandemic — and, as strapped food pantries and a worsening housing crisis unfortunately demonstrate, the needs these agencies are meeting within their communities are not evaporating just because the worst of COVID is in the rearview.
After considerable state revenue growth, tax revenues finally faltering a bit is a good reason for the governor to wield her line-item veto pen as a responsible fiscal scalpel. But “responsible” should be the key word. In the context of the state’s $56 billion spending plan, measures like $1 million to boost Head Start salaries or $7.7 million for local anti-poverty agencies barely amount to drops in the budgetary bucket. We’re all for fiscal responsibility; it’s worth noting that taking these cuts off the table would still leave more than $150 million in line-item budget reductions intact. Why ax these relatively inexpensive but deeply impactful initiatives that will affect food security and child care options for thousands of Massachusetts households facing an affordability crisis that the governor campaigned on addressing?
Gov. Healey needs to come up with a stronger explanation for that question on the minds of community nonprofit leaders in Berkshire County and throughout the commonwealth. Otherwise, this approach appears pennywise and pound foolish, and it would be irresponsible for the Bay State to balance its budget on the backs of the children, the poor and the hungry. If no clearer justification is offered, the Legislature should overturn these specific line-item vetoes when it returns from recess.
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August 30, 2023
Hello Governor Maura Healey,
Your line-item veto budget cuts are inequitable and hurt the most vulnerable people in Massachusetts, but the do-nothing corrupt career politicians in the state Legislature may override your vetoes.
You are the first Governor in over one decade to have signed the fewest bills into state law so far in your first year in the top executive office in the corrupt and secretive Boston Statehouse. You are not a public advocate of the Sunshine Agenda that would bring much need state governance reforms to Beacon Hill. You are a career politician who serves the elites instead of the people and taxpayers. Your arguments about the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic are misguided. The Covid-19 pandemic has caused spikes in social services crises interventions. Homelessness needs to be addressed. Many people are losing access to health insurance. Western Massachusetts newspapers report that the four counties - Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire and Hampden - are experiencing the most severe social services crises. I do not believe that you are qualified to be Governor of Massachusetts, but you can learn from your mistakes like everyone else.
You are a lawyer by profession, but you fail as a public manager. I have a suggestion: Pittsfield Mayor Linda Tyer is one of the most qualified public managers in Massachusetts. Linda Tyer's mayoral term will end in 4 months' time. She did not run for reelection. She has earned praise from state and local officials throughout Massachusetts. She knows all too well what distressed "Gateway Cities" such as Pittsfield and mostly rural regions such as the Berkshires face. Please consider hiring Linda Tyer to work in your administration starting in early-2024. She would complement your legal acumen with her public management acumen. Linda Tyer would work hard every day for you to ensure that the needs of the people and taxpayers are met from Pittsfield to Boston. I hope that you will consider my suggestion, and please know that I believe that you will improve in your executive performance over the course of your 4-year term as the first elected woman Governor of Massachusetts.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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September 16, 2023
Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Massachusetts,
Sarcasm: I had to pull greedy registered lobbyist Dan Bosley away from the fictional Massachusetts State Representative Sellout Shakedown to ask him about your political email about Beacon Hill state government politics today. Dan Bosley told me that I am wasting my time. The fictional State Rep. Sellout Shakedown told me what he thinks of your witty writings about the least....superlative....state legislature in the nation.
I asked Mr. Sellout Shakedown why they haven't met in formal session since the end of July 2023, which is over one-and-one-half months now. He said to me that he serves at the will of dictatorial Speaker Ronny Mariano. I said to him that he sould serve the people and taxpapers. He said that if he actually did what he is supposed to do, then his desk would be moved onto the sidewalk on Mass & Cass whereby the homeless, drug addicts, sex workers, and poor people give the middle finger to the inequitable political system.
I asked Mr. Sellout Shakedown why he always votes down "Sunshine" laws. He told me that I should ask that recurring question to the over 20-year corrupt career politician from Lenox named "Smitty" Pignatelli. I told him that Smitty Pignatelli blocks all of my political emails to him. He told me that I should swallow my pride and tell Smitty how wonderful he is in state and local government. I told him I would only do so if he sold his home in Lenox and purchased a home in Lee next to the proposed toxic waste (leaky) landfill that he supports in his misguided op-eds and letters to the editor(s) of Berkshire County newspapers.
I asked Mr. Sellout Shakedown why the state legislature in Boston is the least effective and productive state legislature in the nation. He said that the only thing that matters to his colleagues and him is the almighty dollar and political power so that he can sit on his fat ass in elected office for life.
Mr. Sellout Shakedown walked me to the Governor's Office whereby we sat down with the first ever elected woman Governor of Massachusetts, Maura Healey. I asked Governor Healey why she doesn't ask Mr. Sellout Shakedown the above questions that I ask him over and over again. She told me that she is pro-environment, and unlike me, she wants to limit HOT AIR emissions in Massachusetts. Then Governor Maura Healey and State Rep. Sellout Shakedown used their karate kicks and booted my big butt out of her executive office.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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Saturday Scoop: Sunlight Agenda hearing next week, MA legislature ranked least effective
Saturday, September 16, 2023
Did you miss us, Jonathan?
We took a few weeks off of the Scoop to focus on our organizing work because, frankly, there wasn’t much legislating happening for this legislative watchdog to watch. Beacon Hill took their typical August recess, holding only informal sessions and punting major business to the fall.
Well, I’m delighted to say that after four leisurely weeks of vacation, lawmakers hit the ground running by passing a handful of long-awaited progressive bills in their first two weeks back!
And if you believe that, I’ve got a bridge over the Charles River I’d like to sell you.
Nope, our fair lawmakers haven’t held a formal session since July 31st. If you’ve been wondering if this is typical behavior for a legislature, it’s not: last week, FiscalNote reported that the Massachusetts Legislature is officially the least effective in the country in 2023.
For those keeping track at home, that’s our third “least” superlative of the fifty state legislatures, alongside least transparent, and least competitive elections. Hmm, I wonder if those could be connected somehow…
But even as the Legislature idles, the other mechanisms of lawmaking are kicking into high gear; last week, Attorney General Campbell approved 34 prospective questions for the 2024 and 2026 ballots. These initiative petitions include (re-)enabling cities and towns to implement rent control, removing the MCAS graduation requirement, granting rideshare drivers (think Uber or Lyft) the right to unionize, and last but not least, explicitly granting the office of the Auditor the right to audit the Legislature, not that they need it or anything. (More on that below!)
But none of these are a done deal; the groups behind each question need to collect 75,000 signatures before the November deadline to ensure they make it on the ballot. And THEN the campaigning begins.
All right, enough intro. There’s work to be done!
Oops, All Take Action!
As the brave Cap’n once said, sometimes all you need are the berries. And in this case, the berries are a metaphor for grassroots political calls to action.
In other words, just because the Legislature isn’t making a lot of news lately doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty to do! With the ballot question signature gathering deadline right around the corner, and high-profile bills getting their committee hearings left and right, this is a make-or-break few months for many key progressive issues. So, Jonathan, refill that coffee cup, and take the next 10 minutes to submit testimony for these crucial bills:
SUNLIGHT AGENDA ACTION: testify in support of State House staff right to unionize
What: Committee Hearing for An Act relative to collective bargaining rights for legislative employees (S.2014/H.3069)
When: Wednesday, 9/20/23 at 1PM
Where: Hearing Room A-1 at the State House (directions) OR virtually here
With reports of underpayment and unequal payment, long hours, racial and gender discrimination and more, State House staff deserve the right to collectively bargain for better work conditions. A staff union contract would help improve democracy on Beacon Hill by increasing retention, removing staff pay as a negotiating tool in the hands of House and Senate leaders, and fostering a more efficient legislature that better serves its constituents. That’s why we’re fighting for this key bill as part of our Sunlight Agenda to restore Democratic Integrity on Beacon Hill!
SIGN UP TO GIVE ORAL TESTIMONY >>
We’ve put together a testimony toolkit for this bill to help you craft your narrative and develop effective testimony. You can also refer to our sample testimony for inspiration, but we strongly recommend you add your own personal spin to it.
If you’re unable to attend the hearing, you are still able to submit written testimony by 5PM on Wednesday, 9/20:
SUBMIT WRITTEN TESTIMONY FOR S.2014 >>
SUBMIT WRITTEN TESTIMONY FOR H.3069 >>
Submit written testimony in support of the Cherish Act
What: Committee Hearing for An Act committing to higher education the resources to insure a strong and healthy public higher education system (H.1260/S.816)
When: Monday, 9/18/23 at 10AM
Where: Gardner Auditorium OR virtually here
Public higher education in Massachusetts has been defunded by 30% over the last two decades. That’s right – not 3%, 30%. This means the cost burden has been shifted onto the students, who have to take on more and more crushing debt in order to earn a degree. The Cherish Act would fully fund public higher education (community colleges, state universities, and the UMass system) in Massachusetts – something we haven’t done since 2001. This bill has been filed in the Legislature two previous sessions, and died both times.
RSVP FOR THE HEARING >>
SUBMIT WRITTEN TESTIMONY >>
For help getting started, you can check out Act on Mass’ official testimony in support of Cherish here, and Higher Ed For All’s testimony template here.
Submit Testimony in support of the Indigenous Legislative Agenda
What: Committee Hearing for An Act to Protect Native American Heritage (H.3248)
When: Monday, 9/18/23 at 10AM
Where: Hearing Room A-1 at the State House (directions) OR virtually here
This bill (H.3248) would ensure that Native American funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony (those of cultural, traditional or historical importance to their heritage) held in governmental, municipal or non-profit collections are not sold for profit.
SUBMIT PRE-WRITTEN TESTIMONY >>
TEMPLATE TO WRITE YOUR OWN TESTIMONY >>
Collect signatures for the ballot question to audit the Legislature
Since the House Speaker and Senate President have refused to comply, Auditor Diana DiZoglio has taken her fight to audit the Legislature to the ballot. But before we can campaign for it or even go vote YES, we need to ensure it makes it to the ballot in the first place. We need to collect 75,000 signatures by November. Sign up to volunteer to collect 50-100 signatures in your community:
SIGN UP TO COLLECT SIGNATURES >>
Help us reach our goal: donate to support the Sunlight Agenda
By campaigning for the four key bills in the Sunlight Agenda, we can fight the anti-democratic hierarchy on Beacon Hill, but we can’t do it without your help. We need to raise $5,000 in the next month to ensure we can run a bold, effective grassroots campaign behind the Sunlight Agenda. We’ve raised over $700–thank you to everyone who has already donated! If you haven’t given yet, can you help us reach our goal by making a donation today?
HELP US REACH OUR GOAL >>
I don't know about you, but all these hearings and ballot questions are getting me excited, energized, and hopeful. There's just something about being a thorn in the Legislature's side that keeps me young.
See you at the hearings next week,
Erin Leahy
Executive Director, Act on Mass
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September 19, 2023
Hello Brenna Ransden at Act on Mass,
Your political email on Monday, 9/18/2023, about a hearing on Wednesday, 9/20 at 1pm, for a bill to guarantee state house staff the right to unionize led me to ask you if you could look into how many (greedy) lobbyists there are on Beacon Hill versus how many state house and state senate staff members there are on Beacon Hill. I wonder how much money does the highest paid (greedy) lobbyist take in versus the highest paid state house and state senate staffer. I wonder what is the median income of the (greedy) lobbyists versus the staffers.
I read that some of the highest paid (greedy) lobbyists on Beacon Hill earn 7-figure salaries. I read that many of the (greedy) lobbyists earn 6-figure salaries. Some of the (greedy) lobbyists such as Dan Bosley collect a state public pension plus perks that is on top of their (greedy) lobbyist salaries. I read that Beacon Hill lawmakers giveaway tens of billions of dollars in state tax breaks to their wealthy campaign donors during every two-year state legislative session. The problem with "pay to play" state government is that there are regions of Massachusetts, such as the beautiful Berkshires, where big banks and insurance companies and the like do not exist.
Beacon Hill lawmakers are all about the almighty dollar and political power so that they can sit on their fat asses in elected office for life. To illustrate, Lenox State Representative Smitty Pignatelli has been in Boston for over 20 years now, and I predict that he will continue to be a corrupt career politician there for another 20 years until the early-to-mid-2040s when he will be in his 80s. Smitty Pignatelli has always voted down Sunshine Laws on Beacon Hill. Smitty Pignatelli voted for Speaker turned convicted Felon Tom Finneran, as well as Speaker turned convicted Felon Sal DiMasi. Smitty Pignatelli has voted for and happily accepted countless public pay raises plus perks. Smitty Pignatelli has enriched himself at the public trough, while doing nothing but DISSERVICES against the people and taxpayers he supposedly represents in Massachusetts State Government.
I support your public advocacy on behalf of the people and taxpayers of Massachusetts, but until your organization ousts corrupt career politicians such as Lenox State Representative Smitty Pignatelli, then nothing will change on Beacon Hill - except for all of the HOT AIR, of course.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
Monday, September 18, 2023
TAKE ACTION: Sunlight Agenda hearing this Wednesday
Dear Jonathan,
This Wednesday at 1pm, the State House is holding a hearing for our Sunlight Agenda bill to guarantee state house staff the right to unionize (S.2014/H.3069). The hearing will take place both virtually and at the State House, in Hearing Room A-1.
Can you join me in signing up to testify before the committee in support of the Massachusetts State House Employees Union (MSHEU) on Wednesday? If you’re able to come to the State House, be sure to say hi — I’ll be the one wearing an Act on Mass sticker!
REGISTER TO GIVE ORAL TESTIMONY >>
If you’re unable to attend the hearing, you are still able to submit written testimony by 5PM on Wednesday, 9/20
SUBMIT WRITTEN TESTIMONY FOR S.2014 >>
SUBMIT WRITTEN TESTIMONY FOR H.3069 >>
CHECK OUT OUR TESTIMONY TOOLKIT >>
With reports of underpayment and unequal payment, long hours, racial and gender discrimination and more, State House staff deserve the right to collectively bargain for better work conditions.
Let’s make our solidarity for the MSHEU loud and clear by testifying in support of S.2014/H.3069.
See you on Beacon Hill,
Brenna Ransden (she/her)
Organizing Director
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September 23, 2023
Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,
Sarcasm: I called up my friend greedy lobbyist Dan Bosley who is as pro-big business as a greed-ball can get. I asked Dan Bosley about your weekly political email today about Beacon Hill's corrupt and secretive state politics. Dan Bosley said that Auditor Diana DiZoglio's proposed audit of the Massachusetts State Legislature hasn't happened in 100 years. I ask him why? Dan Bosley said that similar to the state's "ethics" laws for all state and local employees and officials, the state auditor's office should only go after the proverbial dog catcher and other little guys. I asked Dan Bosley about next week's vote on the long awaited state tax relief bill with no details available to the masses. Dan Bosley said that details are for the Devil, but the tax relief is for the wealthy campaign donors who fill the corrupt career politicians' campaign coffers and other demands with special interest cash. I asked Dan Bosley why state lawmakers haven't met in formal session since the end of July 2023. He said that corrupt career politicians like long vacations, and that they spend 90 percent of their time raising money, eating out at fancy restaurants, and enriching the financial, corporate and ruling elites at the public trough, while the common people pound sand.
Sarcasm: I asked Dan Bosley to sing a song about greed. Dan Bosley sang: I am a greed-ball, I collect my state public pension plus perks, I never left Beacon Hill because I am a greedy lobbyist in Boston and beyond, Erin Leahy is wasting her time running Act on Mass because Beacon Hill is made for greed-balls like me, Dan Bosley, also, Jon Melle is wasting his time writing, emailing and blogging about me and all of the greed-balls like me, Dan Bosley, also, PAC Man Richie Neal in wonderful because he takes in millions of dollars from K Street in the Swamp, I love the state lottery and other (voluntary) regressive taxation schemes because it allows me to lobby the fictional Massachusetts State Representative Sellout Shakedown for additional millions of dollars in state tax breaks for my wealthy business clients in Boston, I am very intelligent about finance and government operations, but I only use my knowledge to pad my own wallet instead of investing in people and communities throughout Massachusetts and beyond, I am Dan Bosley the ultimate greed-ball in Boston.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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September 23, 2023
Re: Saturday Scoop: Mysterious deal on tax bill + Auditor DiZoglio debuts original song
Jonathan,
Do you ever feel so frustrated at the opaque, anti-democratic nature of our state house, that you just don’t have the words to express it?
If the answer is yes, I completely understand. And so does Auditor Diana DiZoglio. Some things, Jonathan, can only adequately be expressed through song:
Auditor DiZoglio debuted “My Voice,” her latest musical plea for democracy and accountability at the state house on Boston Public Radio last week. This was the second of its kind for the Auditor after singing a pro-transparency parody of Katrina and the Waves’ timeless bop Walking On Sunshine at the annual St. Patrick’s day breakfast back in March.
As someone who admittedly is often told they have “theater kid energy,” I must say to our Auditor: I’m right there with you sister.
And when it comes to democracy woes at the State House, there’s plenty to sing about; after three months of no formal sessions and closed-door negotiations, legislative leaders announced late on Thursday that they have reached an agreement on the big tax cut package passed by each chamber earlier this year.
To refresh your memory: the House’s version totaled $1 billion in tax cuts, $440 million of which would exclusively benefit the top 1% and corporations. Specifically, it included three regressive tax cuts: raising the estate tax threshold from $1 million to $2 million, slashing the short term capital gains tax from 12% down to 5%, and a tax cut for large multi-state businesses like Santander Bank and Dunkin' (who, among others, successfully lobbied for this cut). Read our Scoop on the House package here. The Senate’s version, passed two months later, totaled $590 million, $185 million of which exclusively benefits the ultra-wealthy. They only included one of the regressive cuts — the estate tax cut. Read our Scoop on that here.
Now, I know we’ve been giving the Legislature a hard time about not holding a single formal session in 7 weeks, and not to mention being the least effective legislature in the country. But, frankly, I think I liked it better when they were doing nothing — or at least not this.
So, what is in the compromise tax cut package that will be voted on next week? Where did the conference committee (the group of six lawmakers hand-picked by legislative leadership to negotiate this bill behind closed doors) land on issues like short term capital gains and the corporate tax cut?
We have no clue. They haven’t told us.
It’s quite likely we, along with the vast majority of lawmakers, won’t know what’s in the final tax package more than a day before the vote takes place. And which day next week is the vote scheduled for? They haven’t told us that either.
I know, I know. Let it all out. Hell, sing it out.
State House Scoop
Mariano refuses to fund migrant shelters despite warning of 1,000 new families arriving each month
Our legislators have been loath to, well, legislate thus far this session, and once again leadership on Beacon Hill are sitting on their hands in the face of a crisis. For the first time in months, the big three — Senate President Spilka, House Speaker Mariano, and Governor Healey — met to discuss policy and strategy. Sounds vague, I know. And that’s about all reporters could get out of these three after their closed-door meeting last week. One thing we did learn, however, was the reason Healey’s $250 million in migrant shelter funding is being held up: Mariano. *feigned shock* Following the meeting, Mariano shared his reasoning with reporters:
“There’s a lot of questions around the [$250 million] number that needs to be tightened up and we’re dealing with a problem with getting information from people coming in and the organizations that are servicing it. The administration is doing the best that they can do to gather all this information and give us some hard numbers. And it’s not an easy thing to do.”
Gee, thanks for clearing that up! In actuality, the Healey administration’s housing department reports the state should expect around 1,000 families to enter the emergency shelter system each month, including newly-arrived migrants as well as local residents facing housing insecurity.
To give some context: due to an increasing number of migrants coming to the Bay State and the lack of affordable housing stock in Massachusetts, there are over 6,300 unhoused families currently in the state’s emergency shelter system, far exceeding normal capacity. Finding new shelter space for these people (think: hotels, hospitals, army bases) requires funding. And, frankly, we could use an overhaul of this system that simply is not succeeding in housing and supporting vulnerable people; dozens of immigrants arrive at Logan Airport on any given night and sleep at the airport because they haven’t been given anywhere else to go. Some haven’t eaten in days.
But oh, yeah, no rush on that funding, Mr. Speaker. Onward with your corporate tax cuts.
Ballot question highlight: End the MCAS Graduation Requirement
The MCAS (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System) is a standardized test all high schoolers in Massachusetts must pass in order to graduate. Massachusetts is one of just eight states with a standardized test graduation requirement, which disproportionately impacts students with individualized education plans, students who are learning English, and students from marginalized backgrounds. As any educator, student, parent of a student, or person with a pulse knows, standardized tests are not a full and accurate assessment of any student. And when educators are forced to “teach to the test,” they narrow their curriculum, undermining the education system we like to pride ourselves on. And like all standardized tests, the MCAS comes from and perpetuates a legacy of racism and eugenics.
Despite evidence of its harm, the Legislature has killed the bill to cancel the MCAS graduation requirement (the Thrive Act) two sessions in a row. To make matters worse, the Board of Education actually voted to raise the minimum passing score of MCAS last year. And you know it’s bad when MA is to the right of federal guidance on an issue.
Luckily, we have a chance to take matters into our own hands. Led by the Massachusetts Teachers Association, there’s currently an effort to put ending the MCAS graduation requirement on the ballot in 2024. Learn more about the question and the campaign behind it here!
Dozens showed up to testify for legislative staff union, & you can too!
Thank you to everyone who submitted testimony in support of H.2014/H.3069 to ensure the rights of legislative staffers to collectively bargain! With reports of underpayment and unequal payment, long hours, racial and gender discrimination and more, State House staff deserve the right to collectively bargain for better work conditions, and we are so grateful that you added your voice to the record.
You can read Act on Mass’s official testimony here, and refer to our testimony toolkit to develop your own. While the deadline to submit testimony to the official record has passed, you can still share your support for the bill by submitting your testimony on MAPLE, and sharing it with your own elected officials. In fact, please do!
SUBMIT WRITTEN TESTIMONY FOR S.2014 >>
SUBMIT WRITTEN TESTIMONY FOR H.3069 >>
That's all for now. I'll be back in your inbox next week where I'll break down the final tax cut package and what it means for the Bay State. And if any other constitutional officers release a new single in the next week, you can rest assured I'll cover that too.
Yours, musically,
Erin Leahy
Executive Director, Act on Mass
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October 1, 2023
Re: Open letter to Erin Leahy at Act on Mass
Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,
Thank you for your weekly political email explaining that the wealthy households and big businesses in Massachusetts receive most of the state tax relief, while the common households and distressed communities receive the least state tax relief in the state legislation that all but Rep. Mike Connolly and Sen. Jamie Eldridge voted for this past week on Beacon Hill.
Sarcasm: I asked the 193 state lawmakers in Boston why they voted for this scam. Sarcasm: They all spoke in one monotone robotic voice: We live to serve our corporate masters.
Sarcasm: I asked the fictional Massachusetts State Representative Sellout Shakedown why state lawmakers in Boston continue to enrich themselves and the financial, corporate and ruling elites, along with all of the greedy registered lobbyists, at the public trough instead of investing in the common people and distressed communities they supposedly represent on Beacon Hill. Sarcasm: He also spoke to me in the same monotone robotic voice: go pound sand.
Sarcasm: I asked greedy registered lobbyist - and state pensioner - Dan Bosley why the wealthy will receive such huge lucrative state tax breaks. Sarcasm: Greed-ball Dan Bosley told me to buy a Powerball ticket (in nearby Massachusetts) and hope to win $1 billion. Sarcasm: I told Dan Bosley that the Massachusetts State Lottery is really a (voluntary) regressive taxation scheme that exploits the mostly financially illiterate low- to moderate-income residents, as well as systemically mock distressed Gateway Cities such as my native hometown of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Sarcasm: Greedy lobbyist Dan Bosley replied to me that more lottery sales makes him a winner because it allows him to lobby for additional multi-million-dollar state tax breaks for his wealthy big business clients in Boston.
Sarcasm: I asked the over 20-year corrupt career politician from Lenox who prefers to be called Smitty Pignatelli why he voted for the $1 billion tax relief legislation when his mostly rural state legislative district would receive little to no economic benefits from it. Sarcasm: Rep. Smitty Pignatelli said that his over 20-year public record in Boston includes always voting down Sunshine reform rules and laws, voting for hundreds of millions of dollars in state tax breaks for the wealthy households and big businesses, voting for state tax increases on the working class, voting for huge lucrative public pay raises plus perks for himself, voting for two Speakers who later turned out to be Convicted Felons named Tom Finneran and Sal DiMasi, voting for House Speaker Robert DeLeo, voting for the sitting House Speaker Ronny Mariano, and blocking all of my political emails to him.
Sarcasm: I asked Reps. Tricia Farley-Bouvier and John Barrett III, along with Sen. Paul Mark, why they are banal Rubber Stamps for the state leadership in Boston. They told me that Pittsfield, North Adams, and the Berkshire region never counted in Boston, so why would they bother to try to change the political system. Sarcasm: I told them that they are only in it for themselves because they each receive 6-figure public pay plus perks for almost always voting in the favor of the top-down, corrupt and secretive State House Speaker named Ronny Mariano.
NOT Sarcasm: The so-called Fair Share Amendment that put a surtax on incomes over $1 million turned out to be yet another financial shell game by the elitist snobs in Boston who only do DISSERVICES to the common people and distressed communities throughout Massachusetts. Referendums are often political ploys to get voters to support the incumbent corrupt career politicians in state government. Now that most of the corrupt career politicians in Boston were reelected in 2022, this past week, they turned around and voted to undo the spirit of the new so-called Fair Share Amendment state revenues by giving most of it away to the wealthy households and corporations in return for them filling their campaign coffers with special interest money.
In closing, there is nobody representing the common people and distressed communities in Massachusetts (and beyond) because the corrupt political system only serves to benefit the financial, corporate and ruling elites who all enrich themselves at the public trough, while the Have Nots pound sand.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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Sunday, October 1, 2023
Re: Saturday Scoop: Legislature passes $1 bil in tax cuts, virtually undoing Fair Share
Buckle up, Jonathan.
It’s a bleak Scoop today.
Removing any shred of doubt, the Massachusetts Legislature made it clear this week who they are most accountable to: wealthy donors and corporate lobbyists.
The Legislature just passed their long-anticipated tax cut bill, and it’s even worse than I expected. And I’m cynical about the Massachusetts Legislature for a living.
The package totals over $1 billion in permanent tax cuts. Does that number sound familiar? It should — that’s how much new revenue will be generated by the Fair Share Amendment that voters passed last year.
That’s right: voters opted to put a tax on millionaires to raise revenue for public goods, and less than a year later their lawmakers voted to cut the same amount in revenue, essentially undoing it.
And naturally, these tax cuts disproportionately benefit the ultra-wealthy and corporations.
Oh, and our lawmakers passed this bill nearly unanimously.
Let’s get into it.
State House Scoop: Tax Cut Edition
How we got here: democracy play-pretend
If you’ve been reading the Scoop for a while, by now you’re intimately familiar with the fact that much of Beacon Hill’s legislating happens behind closed doors. This bill is no exception. Let’s take a look at how the sausage got made:
November 2022: Fair Share Amendment is passed by the majority of Bay Staters, mandating we raise taxes on the wealthiest residents to invest the $1 billion in new revenue in public education and transportation.
March 2023: Governor Healey files her proposal for the FY24 budget, including $1 billion in permanent tax cuts, about 50% of which would exclusively benefit the state’s wealthiest residents. There was a public hearing held for the Governor’s FY24 budget – this would be the only time the public was granted input on these tax cuts.
April 2023: The House files their version of the tax cut package, decoupling it from the budget, and adding in a new corporate tax break for multi-state corporations. The total cost of the permanent tax cuts is $1.1 billion. There was no public hearing held. It passes the House 150-3.
June 2023: The Senate files their version of the tax cut package with a total of $590 million in permanent tax cuts. There was no public hearing held. It passes the Senate unanimously.
June-September 2023: Leadership appoints six legislators to a conference committee to negotiate a compromise version, entirely behind closed doors. Conference reports are unable to be amended once they are released, meaning these six legislators had the ultimate say on the contents of the bill.
September 2023: The conference report is made public. 24 hours later, the House votes on the package, passing it 155-1. The next day, the Senate voted on the package, passing it 38-1.
This is all to say: this tax cut package, which is being marketed by leadership as the biggest in over a generation, never received direct public input. While the public is restricted to a single hearing to voice their views (if that), lobbyists and special interest groups have ample seats at the table, and it shows. Even most legislators aren't in the room where decisions are being made. Heck, they end up seeing the text of the bill for the first time 24 hours before a vote like the rest of us.
What’s in the bill
Let’s dive into what our lawmakers actually passed into law this week, who it affects, and how. Or as Alec Baldwin says in the iconic Boston-set film The Departed: cui bono? Our friends at WBUR crunched the numbers. Here’s how much different taxpayers stand to save under the new bill:
Renters: $50 per year
Parents: $200 per child per year
Seniors burdened by housing costs: $1,200 per year
Single low-income residents with no children: $56 per year
People with estates worth over $2 million: $99,000
One of these things is not like the other.
When legislative leaders congratulate themselves on passing tax “relief” for families and working people in Massachusetts, they are hoping you don’t look much closer. Because if you do, you see that average people are receiving pennies compared to the giant tax giveaway to the wealthiest people in the state. Beacon Hill is giving parents and renters the equivalent of one trip to Market Basket, and giving wealthy families enough for a down payment on a new house. Or two.
It gets worse. The bill also cuts the short term capital gains tax from 12% to 8.5%. This cut benefits people who regularly play the stock market. Perhaps it’s not surprising then, that the top 1% richest Bay Staters would receive 77% of the benefit from this cut, according to MassBudget. The bottom 80% would only receive 3% of the benefit.
Still not done. The last tax cut in the bill is a corporate tax cut specifically for multi-state businesses. So, cui bono from this one? Let’s take a look at the groups who successfully lobbied for this cut: BNY Mellon, Santander US, Dunkin, and more.
Oh, how I wish I were done. This bill also raises the cap on the Housing Development Incentive Program, or “HDIP.” While it sounds good, only 2% of HDIP-funded housing has been affordable. Consequently, it tends to act more as a catalyst for gentrification and displacement than lowering housing costs for people who need it most.
Let’s end on a high note, shall we? Or at least a less low one. This bad bill does do some good things:
First, it reforms 62f, the Reagan-era tax rebate law that was triggered last year. According to 62f, any tax revenue collected by the state over a certain amount must be returned to the taxpayers in the proportion they paid in. In other words, while middle and low-income folks got $20-$200 checks in the mail around this time last year, wealthy Bay Staters got back $20,000+. The bill passed this week would make those rebates an equal amount for everybody. This is a marked improvement over the status quo, but the Legislature should be getting rid of 62f altogether.
Second, it closes a loophole that would have allowed married couples to evade the new surtax put in place by the Fair Share Amendment. I’m all for closing a loophole and protecting revenue, but you know what else our Legislature could do to protect Fair Share revenue? Not spend exactly as much in permanent tax cuts one year after it was passed.
The stakes of cutting revenue
Cutting taxes seems all well and good until you consider the countless programs, public goods, and basic needs that our state is currently underfunding because they claim we don’t have enough money. Public higher education has been defunded by 30% in the last two decades. Governor Healey is asking for funds from the federal government to secure emergency shelter for the thousands of unhoused migrants arriving in Massachusetts, claiming we can’t afford it on our own. Much of our public housing stock is dangerously dilapidated and in need of immediate repairs to make it habitable.
Our Legislature will say we can't afford it, only to turn around and eliminate $1 billion in annual revenue, disproportionately benefiting the wealthy, one year after voters decided they wanted to raise revenue on the wealthy. I don’t have a quippy way of ending this, I’m just really, really mad.
Why the bill sailed through: leadership’s concentration of power
So, the question of the hour: why did our Democratic supermajority trifecta just line up behind a GOP-friendly trickle-down tax cut package, with only two “no” votes in the entire Legislature? The answer: legislative leaders have incredible power over the membership. Through a system of rewards (good committee assignments, more staff, stipend positions) and punishments (none of those things, plus no funding for your district), members are heavily incentivized to vote in line with the Speaker and President. Some democracy, huh?
Plus, in order to generate unanimity, legislative leaders will strategically bundle a large number of policies, good and bad, together into a single bill. When these mega-bills come to the floor, legislators are forced into an all-or-nothing vote. Progressive lawmakers who voted for the tax cut this past week will likely justify their vote by pointing to the small positive elements of the bill. But by doing so, they play right into leadership’s hand; by voting yes on this bill, progressive legislators are showing leadership that, as long as you sprinkle a few good elements in an otherwise heinous bill, “progressives” will vote for just about anything. Only two legislators out of the entire 200-person body — Rep. Mike Connolly and Sen. Jamie Eldridge — were brave enough to vote against this package. If these are your legislators (or heck, even if they aren't), please take a moment to thank them: Mike.Connolly@mahouse.gov, James.Eldridge@masenate.gov.
Take Action
You’re invited! Spooktacular Costume Party Fall Fundraiser
The Annual Act on Mass Fall Fundraiser is upon us! And it’s spookier than ever. Join us on October 29th in Concord for a festive halloween costume party to show off both your scary side and your support for our movement:
When: Sunday October 29, 2:30-4:30 pm
Where: Harvey Wheeler Community Center, Concord, MA
RSVP FOR THE PARTY >>
While the party is still a few weeks away, the fundraiser begins today. And I have incredible news: through the generosity of a number of individual donors, all donations up to $6250 will be MATCHED. Help us reach our goal of $6250 (=12,500 for Act on Mass!) by making a donation today:
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Canvass for the Legislature Audit ballot question with Auditor Diana DiZoglio!
Act on Mass is proud to be co-hosting an event with Auditor Diana DiZoglio in her hometown of Methuen to collect signatures in support of her critical ballot initiative!
When: Saturday 10/7, 1:00PM
Where: Downtown Methuen, Methuen Day Festival
RSVP FOR THE CANVASS >>
Speaker Mariano and President Spilka have refused to comply with Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s audit of the Legislature. In response, the Auditor and her team have launched a campaign to collect signatures for a ballot question to affirm that the Legislature must comply with an audit – and lord knows they could use it. As stalwart supporters of transparency and accountability for Beacon Hill, it’s critical that we do everything we can to get this vital question on the ballot!
Tough week. So tough, in fact, that it took us an extra day to write the Scoop. (In my defense, there was a lot to say.) But when the going gets tough, the tough get going. And we're a scappy, progressive, grassroots movement – we're as tough as it gets.
So let's get going.
Yours in solidarity,
Erin Leahy
Executive Director, Act on Mass
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October 7, 2023
Re: 20 years of shortchanging local government and public education on state aid led to the first state tax cut in Massachusetts in over 20 years
Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,
Let us put the puzzle pieces together to see the big picture. 20 years ago in 2003, Beacon Hill's corrupt career politicians voted to severely cut state aid to local government and public education. 20 years later in 2023,they passed the first *CORPORATE* tax cut bill in over 20 years. Where did they get all of the money to cut taxes for *CORPORATIONS* to "make Massachusetts competitive again"? Hmm.
In 2023, the SCAM called the Massachusetts State Lottery *(Voluntary Regressive Taxation)* bragged about their record profits. Massachusetts hosts three casinos and now sports betting is legal - more and more voluntary regressive taxation. The state excise taxes on tobacco, alcohol and marijuana bring in a lot more regressive state tax revenues, too. Why do some greedy registered *CORPORATE* lobbyists earn 7-figure salaries on Beacon Hill? Hmm.
The problem with the corrupt, secretive and top-down State House leadership's public policies is that most people, communities and regions of Massachusetts are not part of the top one percent of wealthy households and big businesses who benefit from the *CORPORATE* state tax cuts. Nationally, only 20 percent of the U.S. workforce is employed by corporate America, while 80 percent works for the government, small businesses, not-for-profit agencies, and so on. The corrupt career politicians selling supply-side economic public policies are selling out most of the American People, most of the communities, and most of the regions of the state and nation.
There is nobody representing the common people in big government on the state and federal levels. Over the past 50 years, most of the gains in income went to the top 1 percent of wealthy households and corporations, while the common people of 2023 make an estimated $5 more in weekly income than their working-class grandparents earned 50 years ago. The U.S. Rust Belt is also called the creative economy of low- to moderate-income jobs with little to no security for the working class. The only winners in the 21st Century U.S. economy are the financial, corporate and ruling elites who are all in bed with each other, while the rest of us pound sand.
I support you and your public advocacy organization's goal to open up Beacon Hill to the disinfecting rays of Sunshine Laws. Going on the 20 years theme, for over 20 years now, Lenox State Representative Smitty Pignatelli has always voted down Sunshine Laws, but he always voted for and/or happily accepted public pay raises plus perks for himself. Please work to oust Smitty Pignatelli and all of the corrupt career politicians like him on Beacon Hill to let the Sunshine again in the secretive Boston Statehouse.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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Saturday, October 7, 2023
Re: Saturday Scoop: Rep. Connolly ALSO debuts original song, and no we’re not kidding
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Now, on with the Scoop!
Jonathan,
Well, it’s official. Governor Healey signed the $1 billion tax cut bill on Wednesday, essentially cutting as much in taxes as will be raised by the Fair Share amendment passed by voters in November.
In the days since, Governor Healey, Lieutenant Governor Driscoll, Speaker Mariano and President Spilka have gone on a self-congratulation tour, promoting the bill in the media and at speaking engagements across the state.
To give you an idea of how they’re messaging it: Driscoll tweets “Together, we are moving Massachusetts forward.” An op-ed penned by Mariano and Spilka claims the bill “makes Mass. more affordable.” And Healey tweets, well, take a look for yourself:
Hmm, I wonder why she doesn’t mention the tax cuts for the top 1% and corporations. And, really, Governor. $50 per year is supposed to help renters save up for a down payment? Insulting.
Boston rents are up as much as 23% since just last summer. Let’s get personal for a minute, by way of an example: rent for my room in Somerville (I have two roommates) went up $100/month this year, meaning I’m paying $1,200 more on rent this year than last year. The $50 per year the Governor is touting covers about 4% of my rent increase. And odds are good that my rent will go up again next year. Gee, home ownership, here I come!
The truth is, if Beacon Hill leaders really wanted to help renters, they would support rent control. Which, famously, they don’t.
… Do I feel another song coming on?
Rep. Mike Connolly took a page out of Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s playbook this week and wrote, recorded, and debuted a song about a pressing political issue: the need for rent control.
I have a confession, Jonathan. When I wrote in the 9/23 Scoop that if any other electeds released a new single I would be sure to cover it in the Scoop, I didn’t actually expect that to happen. Well played, Big Mike.
Anyways, I’m just glad there’s finally a trend on Beacon Hill I can get behind. At this rate, we can have a whole album by November 2024.
State House Scoop
Legislature celebrates budget overrides, but capitulates on No Cost Calls
The House and Senate have now both addressed Healey’s budget vetoes and amendments, overriding many of her highly-criticized cuts. Legislators agreed, near-unanimously (as always), that the below funding should stay in the FY24 budget:
✅ $1 million in Head Start State Supplemental Grants
✅ $35 million in salary rate funding for center-based early educators
✅ $1 million in funds earmarked for Hey Sam, a youth suicide-prevention textline
✅ $7.675 million to community action agencies
Yes, Governor Healey really did veto all those things, and a few months later cut $1 billion in taxes. Perhaps the most egregious of Healey’s amendments, the governor also changed the language of the No Cost Calls program in the budget, which mandates that phone calls be free for incarcerated folks. While it was a long time coming, the inclusion of this policy in the budget was one of the only progressive policy victories we’ve seen this session. Healey’s amendment punted the implementation of the program by five months; instead of the cost-free calls starting immediately, plus reimbursements back through July when the budget was passed, incarcerated people and their loved ones would now have to wait until December 1st of this year for free phone calls.
While the House and Senate both voted down this amendment because of a drafting error, they quickly passed their own version of the change, maintaining Healey’s five month delay. That’s right—they went through the process of a veto override, but chose not to reject Healey’s change. And now, incarcerated people and their families will pay the price, literally.
Lawmakers promise movement on shelved gun control bill
Ending a months-long hiatus on the matter, House leaders released a new version of the anticipated gun control bill on Thursday and announced plans to bring it to a vote by the end of the month. Despite being a stated priority for Speaker Mariano, progress on this bill stalled in the spring due to intra-chamber fighting. What was the key disagreement between the House and Senate that set this bill back by months? They couldn’t agree on which committee the bill should be assigned to. And, apparently, they still don’t. House Ways & Means is holding a hearing on this new bill on Tuesday without their Senate counterparts – something in danger of becoming the new normal on Beacon Hill as each chamber struggles for more power over the other.
And yet, they were able to set aside their differences to come together to pass tax cuts for the wealthy. A moving story about overcoming adversity. Really brings a tear to the eye.
Act on Mass endorses the Audit the Legislature Ballot Question
If you’re a habitual Scoop reader, you probably already know that our Legislature is broken. Not only is it among the least transparent in the country, it’s also officially the least effective. By exempting themselves from Public Records Law, Open Meeting Law, and keeping committee activity secret from the public, the Legislature has become remarkably unaccountable to taxpayers and voters.
Enter: Auditor Diana DiZoglio, who initiated a welcome effort to audit the Legislature earlier this year. As you can imagine, Speaker Mariano and President Spilka have both refused to comply, claiming that the Auditor’s office doesn’t have the authority to audit the Legislature—a claim currently tied up in the Attorney General’s office. In the meantime, the Auditor has moved forward with a plan to remove any doubt: a referendum that would ask voters on the 2024 ballot to change the law to explicitly state that the Auditor can audit the Legislature.
If the Auditor’s office is able to pry open the Legislature’s secretive and hierarchical procedures, it would represent a seismic shift in the movement for accountability on Beacon Hill. We don’t get a lot of chances like this one. We need to put everything we’ve got behind this effort. That’s why Act on Mass is formally endorsing this ballot question, and teaming up with the campaign behind it to collect the signatures needed to put it on the ballot.
And with the signature gathering deadline in early November, there’s no time to waste. Join us, the Auditor herself, and the ballot campaign team for a virtual launch event on Zoom this Thursday:
Audit The Legislature Ballot Campaign Kickoff & Training
When: Thursday 10/12 5:15-6:15
Where: Zoom
What: learn how to get plugged in, meet volunteers in your area, and get trained on the best way to collect signatures to get this question on the ballot
REGISTER FOR THE KICKOFF >>
Bill Highlight: Indigenous People’s Day
With Indigenous Peoples Day on Monday, let’s look at the bill that would codify this holiday across the state: An Act Establishing Indigenous Peoples Day (H.3191/S.2027). By celebrating Christopher Columbus with a holiday, we fail to acknowledge the harm he caused Indigenous peoples, including widespread murder and slavery. Massachusetts (named for the Massachusett people!) should have done this a long time ago. Instead, last session the bill was advanced favorably out of the first committee, only to die in the Policy and Scheduling committee.
Take Action
Submit written testimony for these priority progressive bills:
Healthy Youth Act: Hearing Wednesday 10/11
READ THE TESTIMONY TOOLKIT >>
SUBMIT WRITTEN TESTIMONY >>
Racially Inclusive Curriculum: Hearing Wednesday 10/11
SUBMIT WRITTEN TESTIMONY >>
Workplace Psychological Safety: Hearing Tuesday 10/10
READ THE TESTIMONY TOOLKIT >>
SUBMIT WRITTEN TESTIMONY >>
You’re invited! Spooktacular Costume Party Fall Fundraiser
Our month-long Fall Fundraiser will culminate in an in-person event to celebrate & ensure we reach our goal! Join us on October 29th in Concord for a festive halloween costume party to show off both your scary side and your support for our movement:
When: Sunday October 29, 2:30-4:30 pm
Where: Harvey Wheeler Community Center, Concord, MA
RSVP FOR THE PARTY >>
HELP US REACH OUR GOAL >>
That's all for this week! Enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend.
Until next time,
Erin Leahy
Executive Director, Act on Mass
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October 8, 2023
Re: Maura Healey's Latte Limousine Liberals only huddle
Hello Boston Herald Editors,
I will send my letter to the Herald to Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey to let her know that I agree with the Herald that her Latte Limousine Liberals only huddle(s) are anti-democratic. But I also wish to ask the Herald: How is this anything new or different than business as usual in the corrupt, secretive and top-down Boston Statehouse?
My dad, Bob, was a politician in Berkshire County, Massachusetts a generation ago. I witnessed that politicians first raise money and then set public policies and by the time they debate, if that even happens anymore, and vote on a piece of state legislation, it is always a done deal in state government. It is money first, set the public policies second, debate third, if that even happens anymore, of course, and vote fourth.
If I went up to Governor Maura Healey or the fictional Massachusetts State Representative Sellout Shakedown with a check written out to them for no less than $1,000, then they would give me at least one minute of their time to listen to what I have to say to them. If I went up to either of them with only HOT AIR, they would tell me to go pound sand.
Is the Herald really surprised that Governor Maura Healey and the fictional State Rep. Sellout Shakedown are unable to manage the state's migrant crisis, the state's homelessness crisis, the ongoing Mass and Cass crisis, and so on? It is the Latte Limousine Liberals way of only doing DISSERVICES against the common people they supposedly represent in government.
Jonathan A. Melle
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A Boston Globe Editorial: "Healey’s elitism infuriating" - "Gov. Maura Healey needs to be reminded she’s the governor for the entire state — not just Democrats"
By the Boston Herald editorial staff, October 8, 2023
An infuriated Herald reader put it best after reading that Gov. Maura Healey huddled with fellow Democrats over the state’s migrant crisis: “This is ridiculous!”
“Well, that’s nice and very secretive. What are you hiding?” the reader added, alluding to the fact that no Republicans were invited to that huddle.
The governor needs to study the Massachusetts Constitution. The “body politic” (i.e., Governor, Legislature, etc.) must adhere to a solemn “social compact” working toward “the common good.” That’s just in the preamble, so Gov. Healey shouldn’t need to read much further.
It doesn’t say in times of trouble, consult with your party.
Article V (worth reading, governor) states in full: “All power residing originally in the people, and being derived from them, the several magistrates and officers of government, vested with authority, whether legislative, executive, or judicial, are their substitutes and agents, and are at all times accountable to them.”
This means, as we read it and I’m sure thousands of others do too, that Democrats, Republicans, independents, Libertarians, Green Party, Constitution Party all the way to the Pizza Party (go check it out, it’s a political designation) represent the people of this great state.
It is elitist for Gov. Healey to think only her party has the right to brainstorm about coping with the right-to-shelter law here in Massachusetts and the migrants and homeless leaning on that flawed passage.
Gov. Maura Healey, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, House Speaker Ronald Mariano, Senate President Karen Spilka, and members of the state’s congressional delegation — all Democrats — were in on that virtual huddle, as the Herald reported. Aides to U.S. Reps. Seth Moulton and Jake Auchincloss as well as U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey confirmed their attendance.
Both top legislative Republicans — Minority Leaders Sen. Bruce Tarr and Rep. Brad Jones — in Massachusetts confirmed they did not receive an invite.
A source tells the Herald the migrant crisis has hit districts with hotels housing these newcomers very hard. Reps and senators are all trying to adjust while begging for leadership from the Corner Office.
So what does the governor do? She rallies her base. She seeks opinions from her party.
That brand of leadership, where you turn to like-minded supporters, has proven fatal for generations. You need dissenting voices, skeptics, and people who will challenge the status quo.
Not inviting Bruce Tarr and Brad Jones smacks of partisan politics and is precisely why Congress has an approval rating of 19%. Politicians forget they work for the taxpayers.
This is exactly what we feared would happen from electing a Democratic governor here in Massachusetts — one-party rule.
Gov. Healey has asked the state Legislature to approve $250 million in additional funding for the emergency shelter system on top of the $325 million that was included in the fiscal year 2024 budget. Taxpayers are footing this bill.
Gov. Healey needs to realize, as Article VI of the state Constitution says, that she cannot “obtain advantages, or particular and exclusive privileges, distinct from those of the community.”
Or, she will be a one-term governor.
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October 16, 2023
I nominate Daniel E. Bosley for the top lobbyist in 2023 because he is one big ball of GREED!
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe2A3IlNrU5mADAGzuwW1RCF0D9sDnjhyngchv9tELHVV5SZg/viewform
Dan Bosley writes countless letters and op-eds that are published in Western Massachusetts newspapers praising PAC Man Richie Neal, who is the darling of K Street corporate lobbyists, especially INSURANCE companies. Daniel Bosley writes letters and op-eds that opposed North Adams taking in homeless migrant families when they are facing a humanitarian crisis in Massachusetts (and beyond). Dan Bosley wrote a letter that opposed then Berkshire County District Attorney Andrea Harrington's reelection campaign for her restorative justice approach to crime, but Dan Bosley did not include that he voted for Speakers of the Massachusetts State House of Representatives who later became Convicted Felons. When Dan Bosley was a North Adams State Representative many years ago now, he put a secretive rider on a piece of state legislation to give multinational corporations the would-be single largest state tax cut in the history of Massachusetts, but it was quickly defeated. Dan Bosley is a big supporter of the multi-billion dollar (voluntary) regressive taxation scheme called the Massachusetts State Lottery SCAM because the more lottery profits equals the more state tax breaks he is able to lobby for on Beacon Hill for his wealthy big business clients in Boston. Registered greedy lobbyist Dan Bosley deserves the TOP LOBBYIST AWARD for being a symbol of big government being all about the almighty dollar and snobbish and elitist power for life, while the rest of pound sand with a system of big government that we do not want, nor do we deserve.
https://thehill.com/lobbying/4241934-nominations-for-the-hills-2023-top-lobbyists-now-open/
Jonathan A. Melle
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October 16, 2023
Hello Honorable Governor Maura Healey,
I heard you on the radio today speaking about the migrant housing and homelessness crisis in Massachusetts. I commend you for your compassionate leadership. I also wondered why Beacon Hill's corrupt career politicians have done little to nothing all year long in 2023. I also wondered why you have not led on the issue of people, taxpayers, communities, regions, and so on, being neglected by the fictional Massachusetts State Representative Sellout Shakedown and his corrupt, secretive and top-down dictatorial-like State House leadership team in Boston.
You, Governor Maura Healey, seem to go along to get along with do-nothing state lawmakers whose absence of governance leads to these kinds of crises such as the one you addressed to the news media today. If I, would-be Governor Jon Melle, were in your shoes, I would not only shoot basketballs into the hoop like you like to do with the people, but also, I would speak out to the news media to tell state lawmakers to please govern like they are supposed to do. I support you, Governor Maura Healey, but I think that you need to use the bully pulpit to influence state lawmakers to do their jobs and govern.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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October 28, 2023
Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,
Happy Halloween! The do-nothing in 2023 (but DISSERVICES) corrupt career politicians on Beacon Hill will meet in formal session until mid-November, and then it is a very long Happy Thanksgiving holiday taxpayer-funded vacation for the fictional Massachusetts State Representative Sellout Shakedown and his colleagues. It must be nice to be paid lucrative state public pay plus perks and then do-nothing all year with long vacations!
Affordable Housing is a no brainer. The components of a middle-class: Housing and healthy families, Healthcare and Public Health, Education, Living Wage Jobs, realistic pensions, disability programs, financial literacy and security for the Have Nots, Public Safety (safe streets) and welcoming communities, and the financial elites, the corporate elites, and the ruling elites ALL supporting these progressive public policies.
When one views the 1946 Christmas classic movie, "It's a Wonderful Life", one sees how George Bailey's Building and Loans saved Bedford Falls from Pottersville's slumlord greedy banker, Henry Potter. The Have Nots lived in Bailey Park in middle class homes. George Bailey's legacy was to INVEST in PEOPLE and his community. 1946 is 77 years ago, which means that INVESTING in People and Communities is nothing new.
It always bothers me that when career politicians campaign for elected office, they espouse the aforementioned lofty ideals, but when "the rubber hits the road" and one looks closely at their public record, they most oftenly disregard the Have Nots, and instead, they most oftenly vote to enrich the financial, corporate and ruling elites at the public trough, while the common people have to pound sand.
Governor Maura Healey's multi-billion-dollar bond bond bill in the name of Affordable Housing in Massachusetts over the next 5 years will be met by the do-nothing (but DISSERVICES) corrupt career politicians on Beacon Hill, who always vote down Sunshine rules reforms and laws, who vote themselves huge state public pay raises plus perks, and who give away many billions of dollars in state tax breaks per fiscal year to the Boston area big businesses who donate special interest dollars to their campaign coffers. If only "Pigs had wings and fly" would anyone believe that the Governor's lofty bond bill become reality over the next 5 years!
I like to tell a joke, "How do you know when a politician is NOT lying?" I like to give the punchline, "When their lips are NOT moving". Some people like to answer me, "When they are dead."
If the career politicians in Boston were for a strong middle-class, then they would not have the nerve to brag about fiscal year 2023's record breaking profits from the inequitable (voluntary) regressive taxation scheme that we all know and hate called the Massachusetts State Lottery SCAM! They would not operate a shakedown operation in the Boston Statehouse whereby some greedy registered lobbyists earn 7-figure incomes, while most earn 6-figure incomes representing special interests. They would not give House Speaker Ronny Mariano dictatorial-like powers that suppresses accessibility, deliberations, public hearings, and the news media from participating in democracy in the cradle of democracy: The Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Over my life, whenever I communicate with elected officials and bureaucrats, they always answer me that they have to function and work in reality. Well, over the past 50 years, most of our nation's gains in income went to the top one percent of wealthy households, while the common people have received a pay raise of only $5 per week, which is only one new $1 pay raise every decade for the Have Nots. The middle class is becoming a myth due to the financial, corporate and ruling elites' greed.
When is it going to change, Erin Leahy? I believe in your public advocacy causes to try to bring positive changes to Boston's corrupt, secretive and top-down Statehouse. At least you are out there, Erin Leahy, fighting for the 99% of us, the Have Nots. There is nobody representing us, the Have Nots, in the government. The few that speak out are met with RETRIBUTION by the elites. Thank you, Erin Leahy at Act on Mass, for having the courage, strength, compassion and time to give the rest of us a voice in the government.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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October 28, 2023
Re: Saturday Scoop: Right to shelter in jeopardy + Healey's housing bill explained
There's just one day left of our Matching Fall Fundraiser! We need to raise $2,200 before midnight tomorrow to hit our matching fund goal of $7,000. If you haven’t given yet, can you chip in to ensure we close the gap before the deadline?
DONATE >>
Don’t you love a good jump scare, Jonathan?
That part in a scary movie where, after things are eerily quiet and still, something suddenly happens, shocking the audience into spilling their popcorn?
That’s how it feels whenever our Legislature actually passes a bill.
BOO!
And it’s especially shocking when it’s a good bill; the Senate unanimously passed two bills on Thursday that would improve reproductive and sexual healthcare for Bay Staters.
S.2481 would require public schools, shelters, and correctional facilities to supply menstrual products at no cost (a bill the chamber unanimously passed in March of last year, only for it to die in — you guessed it! — House Ways & Means).
The other bill would allow pharmacists to prescribe pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a drug that can prevent HIV transmission from sex. This bill also passed last year, and I hate to beat a dead horse, but you know how this ends: death by House Ways & Means.
I guess that’s another thing the Legislature and horror movies have in common: predictable endings.
State House Scoop
With emergency shelters on the brink of capacity, leaders default on right-to-shelter law
Last week, Governor Healey announced that the state lacks the providers and funding to safely expand the emergency shelter system beyond 7,500 families, a number we expect to hit any day now. The state has been housing folks under right to shelter — the law which mandates that the state provide shelter to any family or pregnant person in Massachusetts who does not have access to housing.
“We are not ending the right to shelter law,” Healey said to reporters last week. “We are being very clear, though, that we are not going to be able to guarantee placement to those who are sent here after the end of this month.”
Translation: I’m not getting rid of the law, I’m just going to have to ignore it. That means anyone who arrives after existing shelters are filled will not be granted their right to shelter.
But even those who are sheltered face myriad safety concerns. Reports from inside the shelters reveal hundreds of health code violations, including nearly 350 at just one Days Inn facility. And steps outside several shelters across the state, white supremacist neo-Nazi groups are harassing families and have been recruiting new members to join.
The crisis is only expected to grow. This week, Climate Chief Melissa Hoffer published a report stating that the region is “projected to receive significant migration [...] as people flee areas suffering from severe heat waves, drought, storms, crop loss, water scarcity and other impacts of climate change.”
Legislative leaders have been making their press rounds, insisting that the state does not have the means to continue to shelter new migrants. But these leaders seem unable to answer the most basic question: what precedent does it set that our government is willing to flagrantly disregard their own law? Or worse, that they’re willing to cut over a billion dollars in taxes which disproportionately benefit the rich, only to turn around and say there’s no money to shelter those in need?
Housing crisis latest: Healey’s housing bond bill
Making good on a major campaign promise 10 months into her term, Governor Healey released a housing bond bill last week which the administration has given a fancy name: The Affordable Homes Act. But before we dive into the details, a bit of context: a bond bill is not a spending bill. Bond bills merely authorize the governor to go into a little bit of debt to make certain infrastructure-adjacent investments within five years. The process goes a little something like this:
Governor proposes the bond bill, which includes a big wish list of possible areas of investment for the next five years. (Gov: can I borrow money to spend it on x, y, and z?)
Legislature passes their (likely stripped down) version of the bill. (Legislature: hmm, we don’t agree with z, but yes you can borrow money to spend it on x and y.)
Now, the Governor knows what investments for the next five years she’s authorized to borrow for. (Gov: ok great, I have 5 years to make x and y happen, if I choose to.)
There tends to be a housing-related bond bill every five years which authorizes investments for the next five. The most recent one, proposed by Governor Baker in 2018, totaled $1.8 billion. Healey’s bill requests a whopping $4.1 billion. It also includes a number of progressive policies that would take effect immediately if passed.
Now, that’s what I like to hear.
Here are some of the bill’s highlights:
ð️ $1.6 billion for improvements to public housing. We at Act on Mass have been a bit of a broken record on this; according to a recent report, our dilapidated public housing stock is in need of $9 billion in repairs. Many units are unlivable, and residents are made to live in unsafe conditions. A $1.6 billion investment is a good start, but it’s just that: a start.
ð️ Allows accessory dwelling units (in-law apartments) to be built in single-family homes, regardless of local zoning laws. ADUs are known as the “low-hanging fruit” of housing production—this is a no-brainer.
ð️ Allows tenants to petition to seal their eviction records. Housing advocates have been fighting for this equity-focused policy for years as eviction records unjustly burden folks seeking housing. Allowing landlords to discriminate based on prior evictions merely serves to perpetuate homelessness and housing instability.
ð️ Last but certainly not least, the bond bill would enable municipalities to impose a real estate transfer fee. This fee (or “tax”) would apply to real estate sales over $1 million (or the county’s median home sales price). The revenue from this fee would go towards investments in affordable housing.
Pretty good, right? But remember: this is far from a done deal. First, it has to go through the Legislature, which has historically been hostile to a number of these policies, including the real estate transfer fee and eviction sealing. Then, Governor Healey has five years (or the end of her term) to spend the funding the Legislature allows, and she may delay investments, or pick and choose. Miles to go before we sleep.
Take Action
LAST PUSH: Matching Fall Fundraiser
We’ve come such a long way since October 1st! Thank you to everyone who has donated to this fundraiser. Together, we’ve raised about $4,800 to sustain our work of holding the State House accountable. With our matching fund, that means Act on Mass is poised to receive $9,600. If we raise the remaining $2,200? Act on Mass receives $14,000.
Ensure we make it across the finish line and don’t leave any matching funds on the table by making a gift today:
GIVE $25 ( = $50 FOR AOM) >>
GIVE $50 ( = $100 FOR AOM) >>
GIVE $100 ( = $200 FOR AOM) >>
TOMORROW: Costume Party Spooktacular!
This month-long Fall Fundraiser will culminate in an in-person event to celebrate our movement! Join us tomorrow in Concord for a festive halloween costume party to show off both your scary side and your support for democracy:
When: Sunday October 29, 2:30-4:30 pm
Where: Harvey Wheeler Community Center, Concord, MA
RSVP FOR THE PARTY >>
That's all for now! I've gotta get back to crafting my costume for tomorrow. I'll let you do the same.
Yours, spookily,
Erin Leahy
Executive Director, Act on Mass
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November 4th, 2023
Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,
In 11 days time, the do-nothing corrupt career politician in the secretive and top-down Boston Statehouse will be going on their over 6-weekslong taxpayer-funded vacation until after the New Year 2024. In 2023, they passed a late state budget, and then they passed a tax cut bill that benefits the wealthiest households and businesses in Massachusetts, along with some crumbs for the Have Nots. In 2024, Beacon Hill lawmakers will meet in Formal Session for the first 7 months of the year, and then they will have the last 5 months of the year off.
The Judge, Debra Squires-Lee, who ruled last Wednesday, 11/1, in favor of Governor Maura Healey's proposal to cap the number of migrant families into the state's emergency shelter system was an early Maura Healey supporter who even hosted a fundraiser for her in 2014. Should the Judge have recused herself and allowed an unbiased Judge to rule on the case? Is the Judge's bias grounds for a legal appeal in this case?
On Friday, 11/3, Attorney General Campbell finally responded to Auditor DiZoglio’s request to sue the Legislature to require them to comply with her audit. The decision was in the favor of the dictatorial-like State House Speaker Ronny Mariano and the Queen of the State Senate Karen Spilka. The decision by the AG's Office was against an audit of the Massachusetts State Legislature's $87 million yearly budget paid for by the fictional Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski working family who lives in Pittsfield - a double whammy! The decision leaves it up to a grassroots referendum on the 2024 election ballot. Campbell was endorsed by both Speaker Mariano and President Spilka during her AG bid last year.
Thank you for the updates, Erin Leahy at Act on Mass. Please keep up your public advocacy work on behalf of the common people who only receive DISSERVICES from the ruling elites in Boston. It illustrates why many people dislike politicians, along with the corporate and financial elites who all enrich themselves at the public trough, while we have to pay taxes and pound sand.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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November 4th, 2023
Saturday Scoop: Migrant crisis & legislature audit receive legal hurdles
Happy November, Jonathan!
I’ve replaced my sundresses with wool sweaters, harvested the last tomatoes from my garden, and am now ending my work day in the dark. All this can only mean one thing: winter is coming.
Or, as they say on Beacon Hill: the holiday recess is coming. Lawmakers have until November 15th to complete any major business for the year until reconvening in January. (Hey, I work on Beacon Hill, sort of—where’s my six weeks of winter break?)
This means there are just two weeks left in the first year of the two-year session, and the only major bill lawmakers have sent to the governor’s desk thus far has been a massive permanent tax cut that disproportionately benefits the wealthy.
And while another year may sound like plenty of time to crank out some bills, the legislative calendar begs to differ; the last five months of the second year of the session (i.e. August through December of 2024) are reserved for informal sessions only, meaning all major business must be wrapped up by the end of July. Plus, budget negotiations will swallow up April through June, conservatively.
All told, this leaves our lawmakers about four months left to pass legislation, like the gun bill passed by the House last month or the long-promised prescription drug pricing and long-term care bills that are kicking around the Senate and House, respectively.
If last session is any indication, legislative leaders (the only ones who can bring a bill to a vote on the floor) will leave most of their to-do list to the last minute in a toxic political cocktail of inter-chamber hardball and incompetence. And when two years’ worth of legislating gets squeezed into two weeks, some good bills get left behind. And who suffers the consequences? The people who would benefit from that policy finally becoming law, and the advocates, who have their movement set back another two years.
State House Scoop
Migrant crisis: updates + blame game
Last week we dove into how our cherished right to shelter law was in jeopardy as Governor Healey announced she would cap the number of migrant families accepted into our emergency shelter system. Lawyers for Civil Rights requested the Superior Court issue a temporary hold to prevent the Healey administration from turning families away, but a Judge ruled Wednesday that the governor has the authority to limit the scope of the right to shelter law because “the Legislature has failed to act.” To be fair, that does sound like them.
So, heads turned back to legislative leaders, who had a whole lot of nothing to say:
House Speaker Mariano: “The House continues to work towards providing emergency assistance funding in the coming weeks. However, it is our understanding that the Administration's decision to institute a cap and waitlist has never been tied to the passage of a supplemental budget." (Translation: not my fault!)
Senate President Spilka: "As the crisis with emergency shelter continues, I am once again joining those asking for help from the federal government to provide much-needed funding, expedited work authorizations, and the resources to establish a congregate site to provide shelter.” (Translation: not my problem!)
House Ways & Means Chair Michlewitz: “Certainly a lot to consider with everything going on in regard to the money for the migrant shelters, and everything related to that…" (Translation: no comment!)
While the Biden administration offered to expedite the work authorization process for incoming migrants, they have rebuffed all requests for federal funding.
Oh, and on a totally unrelated note, State House News Service reported that the judge who decided the case, Debra Squires-Lee, was an early Healey supporter who even hosted a fundraiser for her in 2014.
AG Campbell rejects Auditor’s request to sue Legislature
This is why it pays to have a backup plan, Jonathan. On Friday, Attorney General Campbell finally responded to Auditor DiZoglio’s request to sue the Legislature to require them to comply with her audit. The response? A resounding “nope.” The AG echoed Mariano and Spilka’s claim that the ambiguity in the law means the Auditor cannot audit the Legislature without their consent.
While this decision is disappointing, it’s not entirely surprising; the possibility of Campbell squashing DiZoglio’s attempt to take the Legislature to court was the impetus behind the Auditor’s ballot petition in the first place. And it’s worth noting that Campbell was endorsed by both Speaker Mariano and President Spilka during her AG bid last year. ð
*cracks knuckles* Guess we’ll just have to do this ourselves, won’t we? If you aren’t already, join the hundreds of volunteers across the state who are collecting signatures for the ballot question to make explicit in state law the Auditor’s authority to audit the Legislature—even if they don’t like it. Find everything you need to start collecting in our Signature Collection to Audit the Legislature Guide. And don’t wait—the deadline to get the signature sheets back to campaign headquarters is next week!
Housekeeping: THANK YOU! WE HIT OUR GOAL!
WE DID IT, Jonathan! Or more accurately, YOU did it.
Act on Mass supporters donated to ensure we reached our goal of $7,000 by our fundraiser last Sunday! Because of you all, and our generous matching donors, Act on Mass will receive $14,000 to fund our work. We could not be prouder to be a grassroots-funded movement taking on the concentration of power on Beacon Hill. Thank you for making this possible.
And thank you to everyone who came out to Concord for our Costume Party Spooktacular — and Spooktacular it was! Special thanks to Indivisible Acton Area for hosting the shindig, and to Senator Jamie Eldridge for speaking about the need for transparency and democracy reforms at the State House, and his support for our movement.
And one last thanks to the Senator for being an extremely good sport:
Take Action
Submit testimony for these progressive bills:
Ban Native Mascots (S.245/H.477)
Hearing date: 11/13, 1PM
Location: Room A-1 and virtually
Details here
There are dozens of schools in Massachusetts that currently use Native American mascots, which reinforce racist and dehumanizing stereotypes about Indigenous people. They are known to be socially and emotionally damaging to indigenous youth, who have a suicide rate three times higher than their peers.
In addition to lowering self esteem of Indigenous students, these stereotypical depictions of Native Americans reinforce racist beliefs and attitudes in their non-Native peers. S.245/H.477 would ban the use of Native mascots in our schools. The deadline to sign up for virtual testimony is 3:00 PM on Thursday, November 9th.
REGISTER FOR THE HEARING >>
SUBMIT TESTIMONY FOR S.245 >>
SUBMIT TESTIMONY FOR H.477 >>
Medicare for All (S.0744/H.1239)
Hearing date: 11/14, 10AM
Location: Room A-1 and virtually
Details here
Massachusetts has the second highest healthcare costs in the country, with 16% of residents in medical debt — a concept that doesn’t exist in any other industrialized nation. The for-profit employer-based private insurance system in the U.S. leads to poorer outcomes than countries that have single payer universal healthcare.
This bill, first filed in 1986 and every session since 2011, would establish a publicly-financed single-payer healthcare system in the state of Massachusetts guaranteeing full healthcare coverage, free at the point of service. Despite widespread support, the bill has never even made it out of the first committee. The deadline to register to testify is 4:00 P.M. on Thursday, November 8th.
CHECK OUT THE TESTIMONY TOOLKIT >>
REGISTER FOR THE HEARING >>
TELL MASS-CARE YOU’LL BE THERE >>
That's all for today! Enjoy the rest of your weekend — especially that extra hour of sleep tonight.
Until next time,
Erin Leahy
Executive Director, Act on Mass
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January 28, 2024
The combined amount of federal and state spending in 2023 by lobbyists was $5.6 billion. $4.6 billion in the Swamp plus $1.4 billion in the state capitals throughout the U.S.A. last year in 2023. The numbers were higher in 2022 because it was an election year. The numbers will mostly likely be higher in 2024 because we are in an election year.
I have read about lobbyist firms for years. Some lobbyist firms report tens of millions of dollars in yearly earnings, especially in the Swamp. On Beacon Hill, I have read that some registered lobbyist make 7-figure per year salaries, while many others make 6-figures.
In Western Massachusetts, retired Beacon Hill lawmakers who turned to lobbying include Dan Bosley, Peter Larkin and Stan Rosenberg. These political hacks never left the Boston Statehouse after they retired there with their state public pensions plus perks because they chose to cash in at the public trough as double dipper greed-balls.
https://www.nbcnews.com/investigations/lobbyists-spent-record-42-billion-2023-federal-lawmakers-rcna135943
Please don't get me started on the politically corrupt hacks who went to pot to cash in, including Pittsfield's Pot King who last Summer 2023 purchased a $950,000 mansion in the same elitist Gated Community neighborhood west of Berkshire Community College that the former Pittsfield Mayor, Linda Tyer, lives in with her third husband Cumby's Clairmont. But I wonder how Luciforo's marijuana lawsuit versus the City of Pittsfield is going?
Jon Melle
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Sunday, February 11th, 2024
Happy Valentine's, Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,
Why do I write: "Dan Bosley is a big ball of greed!"?
The answer is because the financial, corporate and ruling elites use our - the Have Nots - money to play their financial shell games, and when they want more, they play us for fools - i.e. the multi-billion-dollar Massachusetts State Lottery SCAM (voluntary) regressive taxation scheme, and when the lose, they use us as their insurance policy to bail them out of their insolvency.
Dan Bosley is a greedy lobbyist in Boston (and beyond) who uses the government's inequitable policies to enrich himself and the elites who pay him big bucks at the public trough. Dan Bosley is a retired North Adams State Representative who collects his state public pension plus perks for life. The more corrupt, inequitable, secretive, top-down,....Beacon Hill lawmakers operate equals the more money in Dan Bosley's pocket.
Governor Maura Healey cut $375 million in state funding from Social Services and other state-funded programs, while she and Beacon Hill lawmakers giveaway billions of dollars per fiscal year in state tax breaks to big businesses in and around Boston that do not exist in many regions of the commonwealth. Distressed cities, such as my native hometown of Pittsfield, relies on state funding for social services programs and other state-funded programs to pass and balance their municipal budgets. Pittsfield experiences the worst of both worlds from Boston because Pittsfield lacks Boston's elitism with big businesses, Harvard University, M.I.T., the Statehouse,....while Boston sends its marginalized residents to Pittsfield to receive social services. Meanwhile, Pittsfield - and municipalities like it - play their own financial shell games with the state, while the state and local taxpayers pay for it all.
When I watch TV - as I am in the Boston news media viewership in Southern New Hampshire - I see the commercials marketing Massachusetts state lottery's new $50 scratch ticket, which is one-year after the first ever Massachusetts state lottery's $50 scratch ticket that marked the Massachusetts state lottery's 50th year in operation. In my opinion, the new $50 scratch ticket stands for everything that is wrong with the Massachusetts State Government. Why? It targets the mostly financially illiterate low- to moderate-income residents who live in distressed cities throughout the commonwealth. Moreover, it systemically mocks distressed cities such as Pittsfield by giving many millions of dollars from the state lottery's profits to Boston area big businesses that makes greedy lobbyists such as Dan Bosley rich.
I have followed Dan Bosley's decades of greed in Boston, and he is very intelligent about financial matters, as well as the management of state government operations. But, I understand all too well the long history of human nature and human behavior, which leads me to write: "Dan Bosley is a big ball of greed!".
Jon Melle
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Saturday, February 10th, 2024
re: Saturday Scoop: Analysis of Joint Rule 10 Day and Healey’s budget
Happy belated Joint Rule 10 Day, Jonathan!
Or, more accurately, our condolences; this is the day when hundreds of bills in the MA Legislature are "sent to study," i.e. killed for the remainder of the session. And since votes in joint committees aren't public, we won't be able to see a breakdown of which committee members voted to send these bills to study, never mind know why.
Ah, democracy!
Here’s the status of some key bills:
Jail and prison construction moratorium: Study Order
Right to strike: Study Order
Overdose prevention centers: Favorable Report
Healthy Youth Act: Favorable Report
The Sunlight Act: Favorable Report (!!!) (Email your senators now!) ☀️
Enabling rent control: Deadline Extension
Raise the age of criminal majority to 21: Deadline Extension
An act to prevent wage theft: Deadline Extension
Cherish Act: Deadline Extension
Noticing a pattern? Many high-profile bills received extensions, which move the committee’s deadline to report out a bill to a date typically in April or May. Extensions might sound like good news, and they are; they allow campaigns to keep fighting for their bills. But they can also have a sinister motive; committees will grant extensions to bills with strong movements behind them in order to quietly send them to study later to generate less negative attention from advocates and press.
But we won’t let that happen, will we?
State House Scoop
Governor Healey releases FY2025 budget proposal amidst revenue downturn
Right on schedule (take notes, Legislature), Governor Healey unveiled her proposal for next year’s budget, kicking off the four month long period known on Beacon Hill as “budget season.” The process goes a little something like this:
The governor files her proposal
House leaders change it to their liking, and file their own version
The House then votes on their budget proposal, wading through the 1,000+ amendments that lawmakers filed to it (or, more likely than not, unanimously vote YES on a number of “consolidated amendments” drafted by leadership... but I’m getting ahead of myself)
With both the Governor’s and the House’s versions to consider, Senate leadership crafts their own proposal
Just like the House, the Senate then amends and votes on their budget
A conference committee with members from the House and the Senate is formed to negotiate a compromise version in secret, which is then unable to be amended further
Yes, Healey’s budget is a starting point, but it also sets the tone for the debate. And I’ll let Senate Ways & Means Chair Michael Rodrigues summarize that tone in three words: “strong fiscal discipline." In other words, Jonathan, more spending cuts in 2025. This is in addition to the devastating 9C budget cuts Healey just made to dozens of social programs in the current (FY2024) budget that we wrote about in the last full Scoop.
Why all these spending cuts? These are due to lower than anticipated tax revenues for seven months in a row PLUS the tax cuts just passed this fall (yup, they knew about the tax revenue dip and chose to cut taxes anyways ðĪŠ). Without the revenue from the Fair Share Amendment, this budget is .5% smaller than last year’s budget adjusted for inflation. And House and Senate leaders are hinting that their budget proposals might cut even more.
If you leave this Scoop with one takeaway, let it be this: thank Cod for the Fair Share Amendment. Because of this new revenue (generated by a 4% surtax on income over $1 million per year), the budget proposal includes free school meals for all public school students and funding to make community college free for some, among other desperately needed investments in education. Fair Share revenue also supports public transportation, but even Fair Share can’t fund the T alone; spokespeople for the MBTA estimate that Healey’s budget still underfunds the T by $93 million.
After all of this, the downturn in revenue, the 9C budget cuts, the shrinking of the budget, you would think maybe, JUST maybe, the Governor would consider raising new revenue to cover these costs? Perhaps increasing taxes on our state’s billionaires or multi-state corporations instead of cutting them??
“No.”
Asked and answered.
Senate passes gun control bill after months of inter-chamber infighting
After much inter-chamber fighting last spring about which committee should house gun legislation, the Senate finally passed their version of the long-awaited gun bill last week. Both versions of the bill would expand existing red flag laws and crack down on ghost guns, which is great. But the devil, and disagreement, is in the details; the Senate version is 94 pages shorter than the House's and includes far fewer specifics.
But the House and Senate differ on more than the content of the bill. In response to the House bill, passed in October, the Senate took an unusual route to “filing” and passing their own version to circumvent the committee dispute. Instead of submitting a bill, assigning it to a joint committee for a hearing, and advancing it through the normal pathways, the Senate opted instead to take up the House bill under an amendment by Senator Creem, which struck the entirety of the House’s language and instead replaced it with their own. After passing 37-3, the bill now goes to a conference committee with three members from each chamber to hash out the differences behind closed doors. They have until July 31st, the end of formal sessions, to produce and pass a compromise.
Teachers strike underscores need for Right to Strike legislation
The Newton School Committee has finally agreed to heed the demands of the Newton Teachers Association following a two-week strike for better pay, cost of living adjustments, and support for students’ mental health, among others. Teachers in Newton have been working without a contract since August. Strikes lasting this long are highly unusual; the past five teachers unions in MA that have gone on strike since 2020 were all awarded a contract within five days or less.
From unlivable wages, to understaffing and overworking, teachers across the state are going to extremes to get the bare minimum. Because it is illegal for public teachers to strike in Massachusetts, the NTA accumulated over $600,000 in fines over the course of the strike in order to reach a fair deal for themselves and their students. This policy is wildly unpopular; recent polling has shown that 2/3rds of Bay Staters support allowing teachers to strike for higher wages and better working conditions. But alas, Joint Rule 10 Day has come and gone, and without so much as a passing glance, the legislature killed the bill to reinstate public educators’ right to strike by “sending it to study.” If teachers cannot credibly threaten to withhold their labor by striking, what chips do they have to bargain for themselves and their communities with?
Our Movement in the News!
Since the Sunlight Act was reported favorably out of committee last month, the bill and our movement for transparency and accountability on Beacon Hill has gotten loads of great press. Check out a few of these below, and don’t be shy about sharing them with your friends! Or legislators ð
Sentinel & Enterprise - Editorial: Transparency Cracks Appear Within Legislature
Berkshire Eagle - Our Opinion: Massachusetts, A State With Woeful Government Transparency Standards, Needs The Sunlight Act
State House News Service via WWLP - Sunlight Act On Move, Targeting Legislature And Governor
GBH - What some State House sunshine could show us
NBC10 Boston (TV interview) - Senate President Karen Spilka speaks about Sunlight Act, says she supports increasing transparency
Take Action
Email your senators in support of the Sunlight Act!
Lead sponsored by transparency champion Senator Jamie Eldridge, this comprehensive legislation includes several transparency reforms, including requiring all recorded committee votes to be posted on the Legislature's website, requiring that committee hearings be scheduled at least a week in advance, making written testimony submitted to committees publicly available, and subjecting the Governor's Office to the state's public records law. The bill has received a favorable report from the Rules Committee, and now sits in Senate Ways & Means - the last hurdle before it can be brought to a vote and passed.
Email your senator today to express your support for the Sunlight Act and urge them to bring it to a vote this session!
EMAIL YOUR SENATOR >>
That's all for today! (I know, have such nerve saying "that's all" at the end of an extremely long email.) Here's what I'll leave you with for the weekend: after Joint Rule 10 Day (and as decisions on extended bills start to trickle in) our focus at Act on Mass becomes twofold: 1) hold the Legislature accountable for killing popular bills, and 2) fight like hell to get the Sunlight Act to a vote and passed in the Senate. Yes, we really believe it's possible. You heard it from President Spilka herself; the Senate is already on record in support of three of the four elements of the bill (excepting public records law for the Governor's Office). And what's a little Public Records Law between friends?
EMAIL YOUR SENATOR ABOUT THE SUNLIGHT ACT >>
Have a great, unseasonably warm weekend!
In solidarity,
Erin Leahy
Executive Director, Act on Mass
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February 18, 2024
"The Myth of Meritocracy versus The Myth of the American Dream"
The myth of meritocracy is evidenced by our nation's ever-growing underclass population. The reality of the U.S.A. is that the financial, corporate and ruling elites all consolidate their power and wealth, while the rest of us pound sand. It is: "The rich get richer, while the poor get poorer". It is called: "It is who you know and who you blow". It is: "I worship the Almighty....Dollar!" It is: "What zip code do you live in?"
Meritocracy my ASS! I could win the lottery jackpot, but I will probably only pay into the lottery's (voluntary) regressive taxation scheme - SCAM! At least I am and will be helping greedy lobbyists such as Dan Bosley get big state tax breaks for his big businesses clients.
The myth of the American Dream belies our nation's class and status bureaucratic system. The age-old question: "What does a person do if she is black?" The sarcastic answer: "She is screwed." The aforementioned elites always give us a few token minorities, but the elites are mostly multi-millionaire and billionaire white men, such as John Forbes Kerry, who is also sarcastically known as the nation's HOT AIR billionaire buffoon.
I view cultural conflict and violence as useless because there is never a good resolution to people endlessly fighting each other over their identities. DEI - or "DIE" - has a dark side like everything else, which is cultural conflict and violence. The U.S. Armed Forces are unable to recruit as many young white men and white women anymore because the military's DEI - or "DIE" - culture puts them in conflict - and sometimes even violence - with the minorities who lead them.
In politics, there are NO adults in the room. They are all childish buffoons. The new media focuses on Donald Trump's inappropriate behavior and language more-so than the rest of them, but at the end of the day, the government is Exhibit A in dysfunction.
Jon Melle
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February 20, 2024
The Founding Fathers knew full well that Slavery was, is and always will be immoral. They wrote about Slavery in their letters. When they went to France and other European non-Slavery countries to win their support and financial backing against the British Empire in the Revolutionary War, they blamed the British Crown for Slavery in the American Colonies.
It is a lie to say that Slavery was an institution because it was always controversial for centuries. When our new nation: The United States of America was born, the Founding Fathers failed to abolish Slavery because they were selfish hypocrites on more levels that today's state lotteries are wrong, which is more levels than the many floors in the Empire State Building.
I am not a supporter of Affirmative Action, Reparations, Socialism and/or Communism because it is also wrong to use the government to correct all of our socioeconomic injustices. Moreover, it uses cultural conflicts and violence to achieve its political ends.
The government is all about money - the Almighty Dollar - and power. To be clear, the government only serves the financial, corporate and ruling elites, while the rest of us common citizens get to vote for career politicians in elections bankrolled by wealthy financial backers.
Given all of these facts, how on Earth would the government be able to change society into a utopia?
What do I - Jon Melle - support? The answer is for the government to invest in people and communities. Housing, Public Education, especially financial literacy, healthcare, public safety, full-time living wage jobs, and so on. Abolish the state lotteries, which are really (voluntary) predatory regressive taxation schemes (SCAMS), and inequitable policies and programs similar to it. Publicly report in the news media about all of the greedy lobbyists such as Dan Bosley and the multi-million-dollar K Street corporate lobbyist firms, explain that Members of U.S. Congress spend most of their time raising money for their campaign coffers instead of governing, etc.
Jon Melle
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February 24, 2024
Act on Mass: Saturday Scoop
Re: Healey proposes online lottery + audit the Legislature updates
Happy election season, Jonathan!
Like store windows filling up with wreaths and candy canes in October, I swear election season starts earlier and earlier every year.
Then again, maybe it’s partially our fault; Act on Mass just opened our application for endorsements – a whole month earlier than last time around so we can maximize our candidate support at the tender beginning of a campaign. We’ll be announcing endorsements on a rolling basis, so as they say, watch this space.
Lest our eyes wander off the sitting legislators as we fantasize about electing new ones, let’s check in: what have our intrepid state legislators been up to this week?
Source: State House News Service
Hey, politics is a dirty job, but somebody’s gotta do it.
As many of you may know, this week was school vacation week here in the Bay State, which always becomes an unofficial vacation for the Legislature (of which there seem to be dozens). The Senate hasn’t met in a formal session in three weeks, but the House is never to be outdone: they haven’t met formally in five. At informal sessions, just a handful of legislative leaders meet to advance small, local matters (sewers in Deerfield, etc.).
Not like we have anything more pressing to do.
State House Scoop
“No” to new taxes, Healey proposes online lottery to raise revenue
January marked the sixth month in a row with lower than expected tax revenue, and February’s not looking much better. As we’ve explained in the last few Scoops, this revenue downturn (not to mention the $1 billion tax cut bill that just went into effect) is resulting in cuts to social services and programs. These cuts affect both the current budget (those horrific 9C cuts announced last month) as well as the newly proposed FY2025 budget.
As Governor Healey made clear in a recent interview, she is not considering new taxes to raise the revenue necessary to stave off budget cuts. But what does seem to be on the table? Authorizing an online lottery, which she included in her budget proposal.
Massachusetts legalized online sports betting just last year (a bill with no momentum for years but suddenly rushed to the top of the to-do list when Speaker Mariano took the gavel). Because of this, gambling addiction experts warn that we may be hurtling towards a public health crisis, especially among young people: “...from Boston to Springfield, treatment clinics are experiencing an influx of young people — some as young as 14 — seeking help for gambling problems.”
Adding an online lottery to the list of online gambling options might be a means to raise revenue – up to an additional $230 million per year, to be exact. But you know what else would raise $230 million per year? Not having cut taxes this past fall. In fact, the “single sales factor” corporate tax cut, the estate tax cut, and the short term capital gains tax cut all together will cost Massachusetts taxpayers $347 million per year.
Our question is this: why would Beacon Hill rather raise new revenue from working class people and put vulnerable adolescents at risk of gambling addiction than by taxing wealthy people and corporations?
Defying orders from leadership, some lawmakers comply with the legislative audit
In an interview with WCVB last weekend, State Auditor Diana DiZoglio gave the public an update on her office’s bid to audit the Legislature. She revealed that despite legislative leaders’ instructions to their members, several lawmakers’ offices have reached out to her to comply with the audit. DiZoglio pledged in the interview that her office would publish those findings, though she did not offer a timeline.
The interview did not reveal which lawmakers were complying, likely because they face severe retaliation for defying leadership’s orders. So if your legislator ends up being one of the ones who is complying with the legislative audit, prepare to give them a HUGE kudos.
But hopefully, eventually, lawmakers won’t have to go rogue to comply with the audit; the ballot petition to enshrine in law the Auditor’s ability to audit the Legislature is very much still alive. After clearing the first hurdle (collecting a cool 75,000 signatures this past fall) the ballot question now sits in the Legislature as a bill. The Legislature can choose to take it up and pass it of their own volition (when Hell freezes over, that is), or kick it back to the campaign which then has to collect an additional 12,000 signatures. And when that happens (check back with us in May) you can bet your bottom dollar we’ll be there to collect them.
Healthy Youth Act likely to pass the Senate next week… for the fifth session in a row
In their first formal session in 4 weeks, the Senate is poised to vote on the Healthy Youth Act next Thursday. If this bill rings a bell, it’s probably because you’ve heard of it at some point in the past 13 years it’s been kicking around the Legislature. Or maybe you saw something in the news about the previous four times this bill has been passed by the Senate. Perhaps you heard that our archaic curriculum was updated by DESE last year for the first time since 1999, and the subsequent call to codify these updated frameworks into law.
For the uninitiated, the Healthy Youth Act is the bill that would require schools in MA that provide sex and relationship education to provide information that is medically accurate, consent-based, and LGBTQ+-inclusive — yes, that’s correct, we don’t currently require any of the above. So why has this bill continued to languish in “deep blue” Massachusetts despite over a decade of advocacy and eight years of being passed by the Senate? It keeps dying by one of the leading causes of death on Beacon Hill: death via House Ways + Means.
Session after session, the Healthy Youth Act has landed in the House Ways + Means committee only to be sent to study, or to go completely untouched by the end of the session. Who are the decision makers responsible? Well, a few noteworthy leaders in the House have long had the power to bring this bill to a vote, namely Ways + Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz (who has had the post since 2019) and current House Speaker (and former Majority Leader) Ron Mariano. Neither of them have indicated support.
With the Senate poised to pass the Healthy Youth Act yet again, it’s imperative that we keep the demand for medically accurate, consent-based, and queer-inclusive sex ed loud and clear. So with that, I invite you to…
CALL YOUR SENATOR IN SUPPORT OF HYA >>
Take Action
Email your senators in support of the Sunlight Act!
Lead sponsored by transparency champion Senator Jamie Eldridge, this comprehensive legislation includes several transparency reforms, including requiring all recorded committee votes to be posted on the Legislature's website, requiring that committee hearings be scheduled at least a week in advance, making written testimony submitted to committees publicly available, and subjecting the Governor's Office to the state's public records law. The bill has received a favorable report from the Rules Committee, and now sits in Senate Ways & Means - the last hurdle before it can be brought to a vote and passed.
Email your senator today to express your support for the Sunlight Act and urge them to bring it to a vote this session!
EMAIL YOUR SENATOR >>
Tell the Legislature: It’s time to move on the Archaic Language Bill
Did you know that Massachusetts General Law is riddled with anti-disability slurs? There’s been a bill to remove the offensive language from state law for over a decade now, and yet it has languished session after session without progress. H.4396 recently received a favorable report from the Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities and then the House Steering, Policy and Scheduling Committee. With this momentum, the bill is closer than it has been in a while to actually crossing the finish line and making it to the Governor’s desk. Contact your legislators today to let them know you support this bill and want to see it passed without further delay!
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE BILL >>
CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATORS >>
Join Act on Mass at the Andover Activist Afternoons on Sunday, March 10th [2024]
Join us at the Greater Andover Indivisible Activist Afternoons on Sunday March 10th for a phone bank in support of the Sunlight Act. We will be meeting from 3-4:30pm at 33 Central Street in Andover. This is a great way to take action and enjoy some quality time with fellow like-minded activists. Hope to see you there!
SIGN UP HERE >>
That's it for this week! For those of you finishing up your vacation week, I hope it was glorious and restful. For those of you not on vacation this past week, I hope you get to take one soon. ð
Until next time,
Erin Leahy
Executive Director, Act on Mass
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February 26, 2024
Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,
I read your latest "Saturday Scoop" political email whereby you pointed out that Governor Maura Healey cut $375 million in state funding to social services and other programs throughout the very economically unequal commonwealth, and that Healey won't raise state taxes, while Healey included her proposal for an online lottery in her proposed fiscal year 2025 Massachusetts State Budget bill.
You asked: Why would Beacon Hill rather raise new revenue from working class people and put vulnerable adolescents at risk of gambling addiction than by taxing wealthy people and corporations?
Answer: To illustrate why the fictional Massachusetts State Representative Sellout Shakedown and greedy lobbyist Dan Bosley support (voluntary) regressive taxation schemes such as the state lottery SCAM is MONEY!
The financial, corporate and ruling elites in Boston all make a lot of MONEY from exploiting the underclass residents of Massachusetts. Most low- to moderate-income residents who play the state lottery and pay other forms of (voluntary) regressive taxes to the state are financially illiterate. It goes over the poor peoples' heads that the lottery is a means for greed-ball Dan Bosley to lobby State Rep. Sellout Shakedown for millions of dollars - collectively billions of dollars per fiscal year - in state tax breaks for Boston area big businesses that do not exist in many areas of the commonwealth.
Unlike the Harvard University educated Attorney Governor Maura Healey, I - Jon Melle - grew up in Pittsfield (Mass.), which is full of social services agencies and sells thousands of lottery tickets everyday. While I have a Master of Public Administration degree from UMass Amherst (May, 1999), I - Jon Melle - have spent the entirety of my a little over 48.5-year-old adult life as a no, low and moderate income man. In graduate school, I studied the state government in Boston, only to have been thrown off of the cliff by the corrupt and greedy political insiders from Pittsfield to Boston.
Governor Maura Healey's financial policies are inequitable and do a DISSERVICES to the PITTSFIELD's and otherwise uneducated Jon Melle's of Massachusetts. But if you are a member of the elites or greedily serve them like Dan Bosley does, then Healey is the best thing to happen to you since the invention of sliced bread with a melting pat of butter on top of your cut of the dough.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
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October 14, 2024
I am NOT a Marxist. In fact, I hate Communism because it has led to the most mass deaths of innocent people and Peoples in human history in the range of hundreds of millions of lost human lives to a so-called utopia of people who are supposed to NOT be greedy, but instead, it led them to be violent. Moreover, Karl Marx wrote and published his philosophies of human nature and behavior, and pseudo-economics in the 19th Century. I was NOT around back then, of course, but it was a brutal era for the marginalized masses.
I do, indeed, know and believe that Capitalism has produced great wealth for a few super wealthy estates and households, but at the cost of it producing a huge underclass population. For over 50 years now, the middle-class has been shrinking in numbers, which means that the super wealthy have received almost all of the net income gains, while the underclass population has substantially grown in numbers, which is an injustice.
There is no real or easy answer to solving the age old problem of GREED. I don't have an answer, nor does anyone else, including the BIG SPENDER Kamala Harris or the BIG BORROWER Donald Trump.
Jonathan A. Melle
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Core to poltical victory: Use core message to frame, unify, commitment and
ReplyDeleteharness environment and allies. Deputise everyone, give them a title and
autonomy. Desire to win rather than credit or money. Blow up corrupt
diplomatic hypocrisy. Concentrate efforts & resources on decisive results
and morale gains were opponents overextended and weakest. Work under
radar. Feed their ego so they mess up. Heart not mind. Ridicule, bait your
opponent. Unknown inspires fear, confusion, retreat. Standard pols protect
their modest gains, won't risk big win, get ego jollies getting others to do
meaningless work. Exhort shouts on street as passing. Throw fliers from
windows. Copier labels at vending and transit eye level. Repeat endlessly,
relentlessly.