Adam Hinds is the most outrageous politician EVER!!!!

June 7, 2021

Adam Hinds' first vote on Beacon Hill was for the 40 percent legislative pay raise bill in early-2017 that cost state taxpayers $18 million.  Adam Hinds' accepted 3 legislative pay raises at the beginning of 2021.  Adam Hinds and his wife bought a $690,000 home in Amherst, Massachusetts, while he rents an apartment in Pittsfield where he serves as the Berkshire based State Senator on Beacon Hill.  Adam Hinds is raising big money to campaign for a statewide political office in 2022.  Adam Hinds is preparing to release a public policy report sometime during this Summer of 2021 on raising state government taxes.  Adam Hinds is going to vote for the surtax on millionaires who live in Massachusetts.

If Adam Hinds wants Beacon Hill to raise taxes on the working class and wealthy who live in Massachusetts, then he should lead by example and vote to cut his own legislative pay and perks by at least 50 percent.  Who is Adam Hinds representing in Boston?  Does he really believe that the people who live in his Berkshire based legislative district support his public record of enriching himself, buying a $690,000 home outside of his legislative district, raising big money to further his political ambitions, releasing a report to hike state taxes, and voting for the surtax on millionaires who live in Massachusetts?  How does any of Adam Hinds votes, choices, and tax hikes have anything to do with the actual people he supposedly represents in Boston?  The answer is that it has nothing whatsoever to do with the people who live in his Western Massachusetts legislative district.  Adam Hinds is the most outrageous politician EVER!!!!

- Jonathan Melle

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"Tax tutorial by Sen. Adam Hinds"

By Bruce Mohl – CommonWealth editor, June 07, 2021

The state is flush with cash right now, but Sen. Adam Hinds of Pittsfield said he doesn’t think that will stop the Legislature this week from passing and sending along to voters a constitutional amendment placing a 4 percent surtax on incomes over $1 million.

Hinds, a leader on Beacon Hill on tax and revenue issues, said on The Codcast that state tax revenues are surging beyond anyone’s expectation and Massachusetts is sitting on $5.3 billion from the federal government. But he said he intends to vote for the so-called millionaire tax this week and he believes most of his colleagues will as well.

“For most of us, I don’t think this unique moment of the revenue picture is changing how we’re looking at that vote,” said the Democratic lawmaker.

Hinds said the federal money is one-time assistance that should only be used for one-time investments; he said the state needs the millionaire tax to provide sustainable sources of revenue for education and transportation. The senator said polling suggests the public strongly supports the idea of taxing incomes over $1 million. “People see the value of this,” he said.

As for the $5.3 billion in federal funds, Hinds said he supports efforts by the Legislature to gain greater control over how it is spent. That responsibility initially rested with Gov. Charlie Baker, but lawmakers are moving legislation to take control of the money. Hinds said it made sense to give Baker more authority during the pandemic, but with society slowly returning to normal it makes sense for the Legislature to assert its authority. “At a certain point we need to right the balance,” he said.

Hinds said he expects the Legislature will take testimony over how the money should be spent and then allocate it in some form of budget-like process. He said his priorities would be using the money to capitalize a public bank, to close the digital divide, and to expand child care.

A public bank would be owned by the state of Massachusetts and prioritize access to the banking system (loans, checking accounts, etc.) and public policy (affordable housing, renewable energy) over profits. North Dakota has had a public bank for more than 100 years, but few other states or municipalities have followed its lead, although the idea has gained steam in recent years.

Hinds also wants to prioritize closing the digital divide, but not for the reasons one might expect from a lawmaker representing rural western Massachusetts.  “I’ve personally always viewed this as a rural versus urban dynamic,” he said. “But we’ve really found that 21 percent of Massachusetts [residents don’t] have a hard line into their home and 93 percent of those are in our downtowns and urban areas. It’s not an infrastructure problem; it’s a poverty issue.”

Hind is also a member of the state’s Tax Expenditure Review Commission, established by the Legislature to periodically review the state’s 200 or so tax breaks and determine whether their cost in terms of foregone tax revenue justifies their cost. He won approval during the Senate’s budget debate of language eliminating three obscure tax credits that have rarely been used. He also supported a more controversial Senate provision paring back the cost of the film tax credit.

The House and Senate budgets take very different approaches to the film tax credit. The House voted unanimously to eliminate the sunset date and make permanent the existing film tax credit, which offers those shooting movies, TV series, and commercials tax credits equal to 25 percent of what they spend in Massachusetts. The Senate extended the sunset date of the film tax credit another four years, required productions to spend more money in Massachusetts, and capped salaries eligible for the tax credit at $1 million. The two approaches must now be reconciled by a small conference committee of House and Senate lawmakers. 

Backers of the House position say the Senate proposal would kill the emerging film industry in Massachusetts, while Hinds stakes out middle ground on the issue. While the Tax Expenditure Review Commission said the estimated cost per job of $100,000 was too high, Hinds said that cost estimate from the Department of Revenue is outdated and doesn’t take into account the growth of streaming series that stay in the state longer and spend a lot more money.

Hinds said he saw the economic benefits firsthand when the series Dexter filmed in his district, but he said it makes sense to promote more spending in Massachusetts while capping spending on big-name film stars and directors. 

“We all agree that what is happening in the Massachusetts film industry is exciting. No one wants to curtail that development,” he said. But he also thinks some of the Senate measures make sense. “I think there are some elements of this that should stick,” he said.

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This week on the Codcast, we talk with Senator Adam Hinds of Pittsfield about the so-called millionaire tax. Listen to the full interview.

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"State lawmakers send 'millionaire tax' question to voters"

By Steve LeBlanc - Associated Press - June 9, 2021

BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts lawmakers voted Wednesday to put the fate of a proposed “millionaire tax” constitutional amendment in the hands of voters on next year’s ballot.

The proposal passed on a 159-41 vote in a joint session of the Legislature, guaranteeing it a place on the November 2022 ballot.

In 2019, lawmakers approved the same measure by a 146-48 vote during a joint session of the Democratic-controlled Legislature. Two votes by two separate sittings of the Legislature is needed to advance a proposed constitutional amendment to the ballot.

Supporters of the measure say the proposed 4% surtax on the portion of an individual’s annual income that exceeds $1 million would generate about $2 billion in annual revenue to be used for education and transportation. The $1 million threshold would be adjusted each year to reflect cost-of-living increases.

The vote likely marks the start of pitched battle for the hearts and minds of voters over the next year and a half, with supporters arguing the tax is needed to help pay for critical investments while opponents say the measure will cost jobs and push some of Massachusetts’ wealthiest citizens to flee the state.

The state’s constitution currently requires all income be taxed at uniform rates. An earlier, similar effort to raise taxes on about 20,000 of the state’s wealthiest residents was knocked off the 2018 ballot after a legal challenge by several business-backed organizations.

The Supreme Judicial Court threw out that version of the millionaire tax, ruling it violated restrictions placed on citizen initiatives by combining taxes and spending in a single ballot question.

Because the current proposal — though identically worded — was initiated by legislators rather than through voter petitions, legal experts have said it’s unlikely to face the same legal roadblock.

The proposal is being pushed by Raise Up Massachusetts, a coalition of labor unions, community organizations, and religious groups. They welcomed Wednesday's vote.

“Right now, our economy is working great for those at the very top, but it’s not working for the rest of us," the group said in a statement. “The Fair Share Amendment simply asks individuals with incomes above a million dollars in a single year to pay a little more to improve our public schools and colleges, and to upgrade our roads, bridges, and public transportation.”

Christopher Carlozzi, Massachusetts state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, said the change could hurt some small businesses.

“Those business owners who spent a lifetime building their business, providing jobs, paying taxes, participating in their communities, will be penalized with higher taxes when they sell their business to retire,” he said in a statement. “This means more of a small business owners’ money will go into state coffers rather than spent on their golden years."

The business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation had urged lawmakers to hold off on voting on the initiative until 2022 to give themselves more time to consider the state’s revolving economic circumstances, weigh the potential negative effects of the change, and get a better sense of federal tax law changes under consideration by Congress.

Some opponents of the measure have also challenged the revenue prediction of about $1.9 billion projected by the Department of Revenue six years ago, saying the measure would likely bring in just over 1.2 billion in new taxes at first, while also threatening jobs.

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"Amherst ‘homestead’ alone will not disqualify Hinds from running for re-election"

By Danny Jin, The Berkshire Eagle, June 10, 2021

While Adam Hinds has bought a home outside of the district he represents in the state Senate, his “declaration of homestead” in Amherst would not necessarily disqualify him from seeking re-election.

Hinds said that despite purchasing the $690,000 Amherst home, he and his wife, Alicia Mireles Christoff, an associate professor of English at Amherst College, plan to continue spending the majority of their time at the Pittsfield apartment he has rented for seven years.

Hinds viewed the declaration of homestead “as part of the normal process of purchasing a property,” he said, and did not anticipate any effect on his ability to run for reelection in November 2022 should he choose to do so.

“We just decided that given [Christoff’s] place of work and a new child, buying a place that’s closer to her and closer to Boston was a solution that we found workable,” Hinds said. “We did feel that Amherst would be a place where we could stay midweek, and having a second location as needed was valuable ... to balance our multiple needs.”

 

A declaration of homestead serves mainly as protection against bankruptcy, according to a member of Hinds’ staff.

In general, individuals determine their residence by registering to vote in a city or town where they reside, a spokesperson for Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin’s office said. But, any registered voter in that city or town could challenge the registration if there is reasonable evidence that the registration is not legal.

Were a challenge to be lodged, a board — in the case of Pittsfield, the Office of the Registrar of Voters — would hold a hearing and examine evidence from each side. A declaration of homestead at a different residence may be presented as evidence, but, on its own, the declaration would not determine residence where the homestead is declared, the spokesperson said.

If the board determines that someone is unlawfully registered to vote, the individual would be stricken from the voter list, calling into question the individual’s ability to run for office.

 

While Hinds is not yet a candidate, candidacies can also be challenged before the state’s Ballot Law Commission.

In 2018, a candidate for district attorney in Plymouth County was removed from the ballot after the commission found that he did not live in Plymouth as he claimed when registering to vote. John Bradley Jr., who ultimately lost after running a write-in campaign, lived in Boston when he registered, and while he was in the process of renting an apartment in Plymouth, he had yet to move into or sleep there. One of his opponent’s supporters challenged the candidacy.

Former state Sen. Stanley Rosenberg, D-Amherst, who represented the Hampshire, Franklin and Worcester district from 1991 to 2018, won reelection six times after declaring a homestead at a Boston condominium, rather than at an Amherst home.

In 2002, candidate for governor Mitt Romney defeated a challenge to his candidacy. While Romney had lived for three years in Utah for a temporary position and had filed taxes for those years with Utah as his primary residence, the commission unanimously ruled that Romney met the constitutional requirement for seven years of residence in Massachusetts prior to an election.

Hinds said in a statement that he is considering whether to pursue re-election to his position as senator for the Berkshire, Hampshire, Franklin and Hampden District or to run for a statewide position. His office has not yet considered how residency requirements may affect his ability to run for reelection because he has not decided whether to do so, and an election is still more than a year away, a staff member said.

 

The Berkshire, Hampshire, Franklin and Hampden District includes the Franklin County towns of Ashfield, Conway, Shelburne, Buckland, Hawley, Charlemont, Heath, Rowe and Monroe. - The [Greenfield] Recorder

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June 18, 2021

I loved your weekend column, blogger Dan Valenti.  I love the Berkshire delegations nicknames, too.  Adams Hinds is known as "Chrome Dome", who purchased a $690,000 home in Amherst, Massachusetts, which is outside of his State Senate legislative district.  Could the average Western Massachusetts resident spend nearly $700,000 on a new home?  Adam Hinds votes to raise state taxes on Beacon Hill, but he also votes himself huge legislative pay raises, too.  Tricia Farley Bouvier is "Trippy Country Buffet" because she defends the Berkshire Museum selling off tens of millions of dollars in historic artwork, but got upset that the Old Country Buffet in Pittsfield (Massachusetts) closed its doors.  Pittsfield Representative Trippy Country Buffet represents Pittsfield on Beacon Hill, but sent her own children to upper class Lenox public schools.  She also publishes op-eds from Boston to Pittsfield arguing to raise state taxes, especially on the wealthy, while voting herself huge legislative pay raises.  William Smitty Pignatelli is "Smitten" with being a 2-decade-long and counting career politician in Boston.  Pignatelli voted for two Speakers (Tom Finneran and Sal DiMasi) of the Boston State House who are now convicted Felons!  Pignatelli openly supports and votes for closed door state government that shuts out the people he supposedly represents from knowing about Beacon Hill legislative business negotiations.  Of course, Pignatelli voted himself huge pay raises like the rest of the corrupt Salons in Boston.  Paul Mark is "Paul Marx" because he only wants big government for his own personal benefit.  Of course, "Paul Marx" voted himself huge legislative pay raises like the rest of the parasites in Boston.  John Barrett III is known as "the Mayor", and he tells it like it is about state government budgets, public finances, taxes, and the flawed public education funding formula that screws low to moderate income public school districts in Massachusetts out of millions of dollars in state education funding dollars.  Barrett is the only state delegate to Boston who did not vote himself a huge legislative pay raise, but that may only be because he wasn't in office yet in early-2017 like the rest of them.  Barrett knows what it is like to be shafted by Boston's top down politicians and bureaucrats, but my dad says that he fights the good fights on Beacon Hill.  Let us not forget about Western Massachusetts Congressional delegates!  1,000-year-long U.S. House of Representative Richard Neal is known as "the PAC Man" because he is too closely connected to K Street corporate lobbyist groups, especially in the financial sector, who donate millions of dollars into his campaign coffers every year for the past 1,000 years!  Then there is U.S. Senator Ed Markey, who really lives in an upper class suburb in Chevy Chase, Maryland where he blows a lot of hot air about saving the world from global warming and the utopian $100 trillion Green New Deal that will never happen down in the Swamp in our lifetimes.  Then there is U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren or "the Professor", who has been on both sides of the Haves versus the Have Nots class warfare phony debate where the billionaires always win no matter what happens in the U.S. economy, while the rest of us fall farther behind while hoping to win the proverbial lottery jackpot.  Then there is Vice President Kamala Harris, who is called "Chameleon Harris" because she changes her political positions more that Mitt Romney and John Kerry combined.  She called Joe Biden a racist to his face on national TV, but now she is his loyal Vice President.  Then there is President Joe Biden, who spends trillions of U.S. taxpayers like it is Monopoly money, while inflation is at decades high (1992 for core inflation, and 2008 for overall inflation).  Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden published a book this year of 2021 where he wrote that he used to smoke crack cocaine every 15 minutes and would drown himself in alcohol while spending his money on strippers and sex workers.  Hunter Biden has at least 5 children by at least 3 women.  Hunter Biden is being investigated for money laundering from his past business dealings with adversarial countries that include both Russia and China when his old man was the Vice President under President Barack Obama.  The Biden "Crime" Family are all worth tens of millions of dollars each, but no one really knows how they all became so fabulously wealthy.  I don't believe the Biden "Crime" Family worries about rising inflation, and/or Hunter Biden's published book detailing all of his "bad boy behaviors" that put millions of dollars more into his bank account.

- Jonathan Melle

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"Sports betting, relief spending await lawmakers"

By Christian M. Wade, Massachusetts Statehouse Reporter, September 6, 2021

BOSTON — State lawmakers are returning from a month-long recess to consider how to spend $5.3 billion in federal pandemic relief funds and deal with a backlog of legislation left on the table before the summer break.

This week, the Legislature's Joint Ways and Means Committee will resume public hearings on spending American Rescue Plan Act funds received by the state.

Gov. Charlie Baker wants to put $2.9 billion of the windfall toward housing, job training and environmental priorities including climate change resiliency and water and sewer infrastructure upgrades.

The committee has held several virtual hearings on Baker's proposals but haven't taken action. Another hearing will be held on Thursday, which will focus on economic development and transportation spending plans.

Baker administration officials say there is a urgent need to get some of that money out on the street, especially as hundreds of thousands of jobless workers lose federal benefits.

They're also pressuring lawmakers to move quickly on the environmental spending, citing the recent excessive heat, storms and flooding linked to climate change.

"We’re going to be dealing with more storms and storm severity, and we really need to get real about this stuff," Baker told WBZ’s Jon Keller. "I would obviously like to see the Legislature move quickly on this. It’s disappointing to me."

Another issue on Beacon Hill's fall agenda is legalized sports gaming, with more than a dozen similar proposals being considered by lawmakers.

One proposal, filed by Sen. Brendan Crighton, D-Lynn, would authorize sports betting at racetracks and casinos and by mobile platforms such as DraftKings while establishing a system to tax and regulate the industry.

He said the state is losing big money to New Hampshire and other Northeast states that have legalized sports wagering.

"We're leaving money on the table, and it's going to the black market and other states," Crighton said.

In New Hampshire, which legalized sports betting in 2019, wagers surpassed $520 million in the previous fiscal year and more than 56,000 users have registered, according to the state Lottery.

More than half of those bets were placed by Massachusetts residents, the lottery said.

The effort has broad support from legislative leaders and Baker, who filed his own sports wagering proposals in the previous session.

Meanwhile, lawmakers are expected to resume work on redrawing the state's political maps after the federal government released 2020 city and town census figures.

The release of the data from the 2020 census is more than four months late due to delays caused by the pandemic.

Massachusetts’ population increased 7.9% from 2010 to 2020, to just over 7 million, making it the 15th most populous state in the nation and ensuring that it will keep all nine of its existing seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

But the boundaries for those districts, along with state legislative and local voting precincts, will need to be reconfigured to ensure equal representation.

A legislative committee that has been holding public hearings on the redistricting process will be responsible for drawing up the new maps.

Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites.

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September 11, 2021

Harvard Politics reports on Beacon Hill's mockery of democracy.

https://harvardpolitics.com/local-organizing-massachusetts/

Critical Mass: Local Organizing in the Fight for a Progressive Massachusetts - Harvard Political Review (harvardpolitics.com)

The de facto one political party ruled by the old guard has a monopoly in state government in Boston.  Progressives are trying to change Beacon Hill's systemic power grab over the people and taxpayers of Massachusetts by using community engagement.  However, Beacon Hill lawmakers face little competitive opposition at election time, and they rule by retaliation against anyone who speaks out and/or opposes the incumbent career politicians.  If citizens, activist groups and taxpayers want to be treated favorably in Boston, then they have to fall in line with Beacon Hill's top down power structure.  In my experience with Beacon Hill lawmakers, when my dad, a former Berkshire County Commissioner, and myself dissented against their iron grip on political power, we both faced years of retribution, including state "ethics" complaints (if one works for the Massachusetts state or local government), taking away one's job and blacklisting one from future employment, spreading vicious rumors against one to the community, making false, one-sided and unfair allegations against one to the police, conspiratorially having people in their political network bully and threaten one without leaving behind the politician's own fingerprints/DNA, never receiving a written response to one's letters to the politicians, having politicians and people block one's emails and social media postings, and having the news media shut one out from publishing your political letters.  My opinion of Massachusetts state government is that it only does DISSERVICES against the people and taxpayers, unless, of course, one is politically-connected and fills the Democratic Party's campaign coffers with a lot of money.  But at least Elizabeth Warren says she fights for Main Street over Wall Street (with little to no success), and Ed Markey of Chevy Chase Maryland promises to save the world from global warming (with all of his hot air in the U.S. Senate chamber).

Jonathan A. Melle

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September 15, 2021

Beacon Hill is sitting on around $5 billion in unspent Biden Buck$, along with a large surplus from fiscal year 2021, in which tax collections exceeded expectations by about $5 billion.  Let's do the math.  Around $5 billion in unspent Biden Buck$ and about a $5 billion fiscal year 2021 state budget surplus equals around $10 billion in unspent state funds that should belong in the pockets of the proverbial Mary Jane and Joe Kapan$ki family.  Why is Beacon Hill sitting on around $10 billion unspent state government dollars?  Where will all of this large amount of public money go to when it will be spent by Massachusetts state lawmakers?  The government makes no sense sometimes!  Spending Biden Buck$ is NOT rocket science!  Spend it on roads and bridges, spend it on transportation, spend it on public education, spend it on water and sewage plants, spend it on hospitals, spend it on government agencies and not-for-profits who help people and families, spend it on small businesses who were impacted during the Covid-19 pandemic, spend it on communities who need the funds for police and fire, spend it on public housing and affordable housing, and so on.  Please don't leave all of the billions of unspent dollars in the bank, Beacon Hill lawmakers, because that is yet another disservice against the people and taxpayers of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Jonathan Melle

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"More than 90 percent of Massachusetts ARPA money not allocated"

By Colin A. Young, State House News Service, September 15, 2021

BOSTON (SHNS) – As of July 31, when Beacon Hill broke for the summer recess from which it is now emerging, Massachusetts had allocated a little more than $194 million of the $5.3 billion in federal money the state received in May with another $186 million planned to be implemented by January, according to a state report.

In terms of actual spending, Massachusetts provided $109 million of the Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund money to make four communities that were shortchanged by a federal formula whole and expended $47,750 of the $10 million allocated for the VaxMillions lottery giveaway.

None of the $75 million put aside for a temporary emergency sick leave program had been spent, though the report said a transfer was made in June to a dedicated sick leave fund. The figures are contained in a recovery plan performance report that the U.S. Treasury required of states, highlighting the state’s use of and proposals for spending American Rescue Plan Act money in comprehensive detail.

The report breaks the $3.195 billion in approved or proposed spending down into three phases: the $194.1 million approved already, the $186 million Gov. Charlie Baker has committed from the $200 million at his disposal and the $2.9 billion spending plan Baker has been promoting for months.

The Legislature is reviewing Baker’s ideas for spending $2.9 billion relatively quickly and has another $2 billion of ARPA money in the bank, most of which much be allocated by 2024 and spent by 2026. Lawmakers also have a large surplus from fiscal year 2021, in which tax collections exceeded expectations by about $5 billion, to spend or save. That surplus was generated with help from the aid to individuals and communities that the federal government provided and the increase in economic activity when the Massachusetts economy reopened.

Between fiscal year 2019 — the last budget year not influenced by the pandemic — and fiscal 2021, Massachusetts tax collections have soared $4.4 billion or 14.9 percent, the state detailed in an appendix to its report to the U.S. Treasury.

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September 28, 2021

Boston-based state Lawmakers are still sitting on a sum total of $10 billion in cash in federal stimulus funds and last fiscal year's state budget surplus funds, while other states have already spent most of their Biden Buck$.  It isn't rocket science.  Public education, Infrastructure: roads and bridges, high speed internet, water and sewer plants, public building and land maintenance, and the like, police and fire, local aid, small business aid, hospitals and community health centers, including mental health and helping homeless people and families find public or subsidized affordable housing, Veterans and the disabled, and so on.  However, when Beacon Hill state Lawmakers get around to spending the $10 billion, I doubt the people, municipalities and capital projects that need the money the most will ever see even one state government dollar in financial support.  After all, Beacon Hill state Lawmakers only do DISSERVICES to the people and taxpayers of Massachusetts, while always enriching themselves and their politically-connected well off cronies at the public trough.  Where will the $10 billion go to when it ever gets spent by Boston's state Lawmakers?  That is what I really want to know in the coming months and years!

Jonathan A. Melle

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"‘Clock ticking’ on $4.9B in ARPA funding as Massachusetts spending lags"

By Erin Tiernan, The Boston Herald, September 29, 2021

First of two parts.

Massachusetts is sitting on a pile of federal coronavirus relief dollars totaling nearly $4.9 billion and watchdogs say the “clock is ticking” as state after state puts their money to use and Beacon Hill lawmakers continue to sit on their hands.

“We want to see something happen over the next month or so,” said Doug Howgate, executive vice president at Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. “Taking action to spend the (relief) dollars this year, I think, is really important.”

Massachusetts is in the bottom 20 when it comes to doling out the federal relief dollars, a Herald review has found.

In May, the feds doled out $195.3 billion in direct, unrestricted funds to state governments as part of President Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act. The package included billions more for capital projects and local aid.

The money is the latest in a series of coronavirus relief bills designed to lessen the economic pressure of the pandemic, but this latest aid package has been seen as an opportunity to restore, rebuild and recover from the pandemic that has shaken up nearly all aspects of life for 19 months.

States have until 2024 to allocate the cash and until the end of 2026 to spend it, but 33 states have already earmarked money or started spending in an effort to address pressing needs exacerbated by the pandemic.

Seven states — California, Indiana, Maine, Montana, Oregon, New York and Connecticut — have already allocated more than 90% of the fund they received.

Seventeen states have either taken no action or information on disbursement of ARPA funds was not yet available.

Gov. Charlie Baker allocated $394 million of the nearly $5.3 billion given to Massachusetts before the Democrat-led state Legislature seized control of the remaining billions in June.

Budget watchdogs this summer during the first of six legislative hearings on ARPA spending said they supported lawmakers’ take-it-slow approach to doling out the one-time funds, but Howgate admitted the “clock is ticking” as the year winds to a close and Massachusetts has spent less than 8% of its available funds.

Those hearings are slated to wrap up in the coming weeks with the next hearing planned for 11 a.m. Friday, when lawmakers will hear about requests for investment education, social equity, safety net and families.

Baker, a Republican has pitched a $2.9 billion spending plan and has been pushing lawmakers to act fast.

Howgate said it’s up to lawmakers to strike the balance between plotting investments for “transformational” change and “getting money out the door in a timely manner.”

“We want to make sure this money helps people as soon as possible,” Howgate said.

Speaker of the House Ronald Mariano, D-Quincy, earlier this month said it is his “hope” that lawmakers would agree to where and how the ARPA money should be spent by Thanksgiving.

Greg Sullivan, research director at the right-leaning Pioneer Institute and a former state lawmaker, said there’s is a laundry list of immediate needs facing Bay State taxpayers including a $40 billion unfunded pension liability, more than $5 billion in ballooning maintenance needs at state colleges and universities, a multi-billion unemployment trust fund deficit....

“The Legislature should stop taking requests from across the political spectrum, get down to business and pay for things we already owe,” the former state inspector general said. “They should use this money to pay for bills already incurred and left unpaid.”

The ARPA money isn’t the only cash Massachusetts officials are sitting on. Lawmakers have another $5 billion in surplus tax collections from 2021 they must decide to spend or save.

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"Budget watchdogs identify ‘immediate’ needs as state sits on mountain of coronavirus aid, surplus dollars"

By Erin Tiernan | etiernan@bostonherald.com | Boston Herald | September 29, 2021

Three months after state lawmakers began debating how best to spend nearly $5.3 billion in federal coronavirus aid, budget watchdogs are urging “immediate” spending in some key areas in a new report.

“The challenge to lawmakers in deciding how to maximize the use of the (fiscal recovery) funds is striking the right balance between immediate investments that will maintain the momentum of the economic recovery with more transformational efforts that make systemic change,” the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation report points out.

The 10-page document outlines four “vital recovery priorities” — pandemic recovery, barriers to prosperity, workforce and infrastructure — that budget watchdogs say need “immediate investment.”

The MTF recommendations line up in several instances with those of Gov. Charlie Baker.

The Republican governor has been pushing his own plan that would immediately invest $2.9 billion of the remaining cash. The plan includes a billion-dollar investment in housing and homeownership opportunities and nearly a half a billion in workforce development, which are listed among the MTF recommendations.

High on the list is addressing the state’s massive unemployment trust fund deficit. Many states are moving to plug their stressed unemployment insurance accounts with American Rescue Plan dollars after 18 months of unprecedented unemployment benefit payouts to the nation’s jobless drained their unemployment funds.

Massachusetts borrowed $2.3 billion from the feds to keep up with payments amid the pandemic — money that will be repaid through unemployment insurance rate hikes on employers over the next 20 years unless the Legislature acts.

Greg Sullivan, research director for the Pioneer Institute, said it’s unfair to leave small businesses “on the hook” to pay for the “mountain of debt” racked up after the government shut workplaces down.

“It’s a crisis and nobody’s talking about it,” Sullivan said.

Baker has also proposed spending $1 billion of the state’s roughly $5 billion budget surplus from the previous fiscal year to cover some of the unemployment debt.

MTF President Eileen McAnneny praised the Legislature’s take-it-slow approach to developing a spending plan during the first hearing.

The Wednesday report highlights the need to address areas of immediate concern while also setting aside funds for developing “transformative initiatives” that could reshape Massachusetts society.

A Herald review of how states are spending ARPA dollars revealed Massachusetts is in the bottom 20 in terms of cash committed so far, with less than 8% of $5.3 billion allocated to the state spent.

State Rep. Aaron Michlewitz, D-Boston, said the large surplus of about $5 billion thanks to excess tax revenue collections in the last fiscal year “have given us some pause to be able to think about this [ARPA plan] a little more deeply.”

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Letter: "Consider landlords left in the lurch in ARPA spending"

The Berkshire Eagle, October 1, 2021

To the editor: We read the recent editorial on Pittsfield's American Rescue Plan Act spending concerns and have concerns of our own.

There has been no talk of compensating the mortgage-holders or landlords who've been left holding the bag for all the unpaid housing expenses caused by the moratorium, I've recently received a letter from state Sen. Adam Hinds, saying that the state is looking into it. Have our local ARPA money stewards been in communication with him? Who's going to pay for all this free housing?

The city is always talking about affordable housing. What does anyone think this moratorium is going to do to the availability of affordable housing? Who in their right mind would not want to raise their rental fees to pay for these losses? For that matter, who would want to even continue to offer rental homes at all, knowing that our governments could force them to provide free housing?

The article talks of spending the money in a way that will best benefit the community. Housing is one of those issues. And the constitutional right of the landlords is on the line.

Jon Macht, Pittsfield

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Letter: "Northern Berkshire is facing inequity of health care access"

The Berkshire Eagle, October 8, 2021

To the editor: Of the many inequities that Americans face, easy access to good quality hospital care is one of them.

Since North Adams Regional Hospital's precipitous closing in 2011, North Berkshire has gone without a full-service hospital. Berkshire Health North provides only an emergency room and out-patient services.

Perhaps state Sen. Adam Hinds, in his role as chair of a committee charged with "reimagining Massachusetts," can help his constituents in North Berkshire get the full-service hospital that they desperately need. ("Adam Hinds-led committee releases first report, highlighting longstanding inequalities, pandemic-driven trends," Eagle, Oct. 5.) Hinds sees his committee's role as "a rare opportunity" to "address ... longstanding inequalities."

As is stands, South County, serving a smaller population base than North County, has access to Fairview Hospital in Great Barrington, and Berkshire residents living in the county's center can visit Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield. Both, of course, are full-service hospitals with in-patient services.

In 2014, Stroudwater Associates, commissioned by the state to determine North County's health care needs, concluded that "inpatient services" were needed for this "medically vulnerable population." Seven years later, that need is even greater.

Hopefully, Sen. Hinds will use his committee chair's position to advocate for making Berkshire Health North a full-service hospital. That would resonate with the words on his website, to bring about "a health care system that serves and treats all of our communities equitably."

Maynard Seider, Philadelphia

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October 20, 2021

Hello Patrick Fennell,

What is wrong with this picture on Beacon Hill?  State lawmakers are sitting on a whopping $10 billion in cash, but Boston lawmakers including Chrome Dome Adam Hinds want to raise excise taxes on alcohol and sugary soft drinks.  Why?  They obviously do not need the money.  In the news article, below, it says that neighboring New Hampshire does not have excise taxes on alcohol and sugary beverages, and they market lower prices to Massachusetts consumers.  None of this makes sense to me.  I am wondering about your thoughts about it all.

Best wishes,

Jonathan Melle

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"Massachusetts lawmakers considering doubling alcohol tax, adding sugary beverage tax"

By Will Katcher masslive.com - October 20, 2021

Alcohol and sugary drinks in Massachusetts could carry a heavier price tag if two proposed bills are passed.

Rep. Kay Khan, a Newton Democrat, is hoping to double the state’s excise tax on alcohol and create a new tax on beverages high in sugar. The taxes, she said, could net $435 million in revenue to fund public health programs, including some for substance abuse.

Massachusetts currently taxes alcohol at different rates depending on its strength, variety and volume. Wine, for example, is taxed at a lower rate than a 40% alcohol by volume rum. But the bill, if passed, would double all alcohol excise taxes across the board.

Excise taxes are charged to the producer of the product. They are considered an indirect tax on customers, since a manufacturer will tend to cover the increased cost by raising the price of the product.

The alcohol bill would change tax rates that Sen. Adam Hinds, the co-chair of the Committee on Revenue, said have not been raised in decades, WHDH reported. While the bill does not address the state sales tax, Hinds said that taxing alcohol at the same 6.25% rate as other products could earn the state $120 million in new revenue.

In 2010, voters rejected a sales tax on alcohol after the state’s general sales tax was raised from 5% to 6.25%.

By doubling the excise tax, Khan said the state would take in $67 million more in revenue that could be used for substance abuse programs, WHDH said.

The bill would create a “substance abuse health protection fund” to direct money from taxes into necessary programs.

The Massachusetts Package Stores Association has rejected the idea, WHDH said, saying it would drive people to purchase alcohol from out of state, either by ordering online or driving to New Hampshire, which does not tax alcohol.

Rob Mellion, executive director of the MPSA, said New Hampshire already markets to Massachusetts customers on its lower costs.

“When you raise the excise tax, you’ve just given them a new campaign,” he said. The sugar beverage bill would tax drinks in a tiered structure depending on their volume and sugar content.

It would add taxes up to 3% per ounce to drinks with more than 7.5 grams of sugar.

The tax, Khan said, could raise $368 million for public health, nutrition programs and drinking water improvements in schools, WHDH said.

“$368 million is a lot of money that could be poured into better health services,” she said.

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December 18, 2021

Erin Leahy at Act on Mass wrote that the new Massachusetts state legislative district maps are tantamount to an “incumbency protection plan”, according to Secretary of State Bill Galvin, (which maps drawn by incumbents tend to be!).

Erin also wrote about #EggGate2022.  She wrote that 90% of eggs currently being sold in Massachusetts will become illegal to sell as of January 1, [2022], leading to a massive egg shortage unless the legislature takes action.  She informed us that Beacon Hill lawmakers had 5 whole years to change and implement the voter-passed referendum to require livestock to have larger living spaces into law, and that since 2016, the state law became outdated because industry standards have changed since then, and it would be devastating if enforced. 

Erin reminded us that Beacon Hill lawmakers are still on their 7-week-long taxpayer-funded vacation, but Beacon Hill lawmakers are still holding state committee hearings.  I, Jonathan Melle, personally think that the following sentence is ridiculous: After the passage of the Climate Roadmap bill at the beginning of this session, Massachusetts is currently on pace to convert to 100% renewable energy by 2090.  The reason why I believe that is ridiculous is because 2090 is a little over 68 years from now.

Erin then wrote about Beacon Hill lawmakers' chicanery.  She explained that the State House and State Senate voted in February to make more votes publicly available for the Joint Rules from Conference Committee, but the Boston state lawmakers never acted on it, and the final version has been in a conference committee for the past 9 months.  Committees have a deadline of 2/2 to take action on their bills. If we don’t have the new rules in place before then, we won’t get to see the committee votes after all.

Lastly, Erin explained that the Speaker of the Massachusetts State House of Representatives, Ronny Mariano, controls Beacon Hill State Representatives' staff allocation.  This gives Ronny Mariano a lot of power of his State Representatives because having more staff means a representative has more capacity to respond to constituents and be a more prolific legislator.  Some State Representatives only get one legislative staff member, while other State Representatives get an entire team of staffers.

Source: Erin [Leahy] at Act on Mass [political email] - Re: Saturday Scoop: Illegal eggs, “red tape,” & misplaced blame - December 18, 2021

Massachusetts state government's rainy day fund clocked in at $4.6 billion in fiscal 2021, a huge jump from $3.5 billion the prior year.

My response to excessive state and local Slush Funds is that after 3 to 5 percent of the state and local respective budgets, the state and local cash should be given back to the state and local taxpayers.  In theory, the state and local government is supposed to serve the people and taxpayers, not the other way around!

"Mass. rainy day fund hits highest level ever", By Shira Schoenberg – CommonWealth reporter, December 16, 2021

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January 15, 2022

Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,

Thank you for your weekly political email about Beacon Hill politics.  It turns my stomach to think that during a pandemic, Beacon Hill lawmakers have extended their 7-week-long taxpayer-funded vacation to over 9-weeks-long.  It is very sad that Massachusetts has a large homeless population.  Beacon Hill MIA lawmakers are literally sitting on billions of dollars in state cash.  Why don't they stop their lengthy vacation and go back to so-called "work" to spend some of their billions of dollars to help all of the homeless people during the very cold Winter months of January and February of 2022?  It is interesting to read that Beacon Hill lawmakers and the Governor, Charlie Baker, have contempt for each other.  One would think that they would put it aside and work together to meet the needs of the people during the pandemic.  It is all about money and power for the ruling elite.  Lastly, I feel bad for the plight of the State House staff who are overworked and underpaid, but it somehow fits with the theme of your political emails about Beacon Hill politics.  Please keep up the good work!

Best wishes,

Jonathan A. Melle

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January 15, 2022

Jonathan,

You know that feeling when you come back from a vacation and immediately need another vacation? Well, our state reps seem to. The House still hasn’t held a formal session since returning from holiday recess, meaning the chamber has now gone 9 weeks without any recorded votes or major business.

January - the Monday of months, am I right?

State House Scoop

Committee hearing on rent control

With 51.3% of the vote, rent control was banned statewide in 1994 by a real estate-funded ballot initiative. Since then, rent, property prices, and cost of living in Massachusetts have skyrocketed, displacing countless individuals and entire communities. This debate comes at a critical time; 25,000 eviction notices were filed in Massachusetts since the pandemic began, and homelessness rates continue to rise.

The Tenant Protection Act (H.1378), filed by lead sponsors Rep. Mike Connolly and Rep. Nika Elugardo, would remove the ban on rent control, giving municipalities the option to decide. It’s noteworthy that voters in Boston, Brookline, and Cambridge, the three municipalities in the state that did have rent control up until 1994, voted overwhelmingly against the ban.

Speaker Mariano’s Offshore Wind legislation is on its way

A bill aimed at boosting the development of Massachusetts’ offshore wind industry gained significant ground in the House this week as it passed the committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy. This bill has long been a top priority for House Speaker Ron Mariano. What does it look like when a bill is a big priority for the House Speaker but not the Senate President? According to vote details obtained by Commonwealth Mag, the committee vote broke down like this:

Senate Votes: 1 yes, 1 no, 4 abstentions

House Votes: 10 yes, 0 no, 1 abstentions

Senate passed two bills on Thursday, unanimously

Providing state IDs for homeless Individuals (S.2612) - Not being able to obtain a driver's license or equivalent state-issued identification card is a major barrier for the homeless community. If passed, this bill would require the RMV to provide a path for individuals without a permanent residential address to receive state-issued identification, and waive the usual fees. The Senate passed this bill last session as well, only for it to die in the House. 

Adoption expansion (S.2616) - Under current Massachusetts law, family members are prohibited from adopting siblings, aunts or uncles. This bill would eliminate this prohibition, minimizing the risk of family separation during the adoption process.

Legislators push Baker on Covid response

Frustrated by the executive branch’s laissez-faire response to the current omicron-induced infection spike, the Joint Committee on COVID-19 and Emergency Preparedness met this past week with some special guests: Governor Baker and Health and Human Services Secretary Sudders. After 75 minutes of questioning and criticism, the executives refused to budge on key issues like a statewide indoor mask mandate or remote learning. If you have time on your hands and enjoy watching public officials debate policy while full of thinly-veiled contempt, I highly recommend you watch the hearing here.

Of course, with their veto-proof supermajority the legislature could take immediate legislative action to address many of these policy disagreements with the Governor. 

Take Action

Email your rep about rent control

Make your voice heard about this critical issue by emailing your rep and senator encouraging them to cosponsor the Tenant Protection Act, or thanking them if they already do!

CONTACT YOUR REP >>

SEE WHERE YOUR REP STANDS ON RENT CONTROL >>

REMINDER: 5 Years and $50 Million: Why A Prison and Jail Construction Moratorium Makes Sense for Massachusetts

Thursday 1/20 at 7:00PM, Zoom Forum

We at Act on Mass are proud to be partnering with National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, Families for Justice as Healing, and a number of other incredible organizations to bring you a virtual panel discussion on S.2030/H.1905, An Act Establishing A [5-year] Jail and Prison Construction Moratorium. Our panel of legislators, activists and experts will discuss the bill and what it would mean for Massachusetts to invest $50 million into communities, instead of incarceration.

REGISTER FOR THE FORUM >>

And last, a not-so-fun-fact to kick off your weekend

Although we give a lot of air time to the Speaker and his power, there are many interrelated structural ills at play in our state house. One major issue is the treatment of state house staff: "According to a 2020 pay equity survey, fifty percent of legislative staffers reported being unable to support themselves financially. Seventeen percent reported being food insecure. Many reported working sixty-hour weeks for an annual salary of $30,000 — less than half the base salary of legislators," (Democracy in Decline citing Commonwealth). 

And actually last, a small hopeful fact with which to also to kick off your weekend

Covid cases are still on the rise and smashing records here in Massachusetts, but those following the wastewater data saw a reason to be hopeful this week: for the first time in weeks, researchers saw a decrease (and a sharp one at that!) in the covid levels in the wastewater of greater Boston, hopefully indicating the beginning of the end of omicron. Hang in there!

Stay warm out there, friend, and happy Martin Luther King Jr weekend!

Erin Leahy

Executive Director, Act on Mass

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"Here's what your lawmakers say their priorities are as the Legislature enters a busy stretch"

By Danny Jin, The Berkshire Eagle, January 29, 2022

With the kickoff of the annual budget process and the deadline to act on bills fast approaching, the Massachusetts Legislature has entered what lawmakers consider to be one of its busiest stretches.

Gov. Charlie Baker filed his budget recommendation on Wednesday for the fiscal year that begins July 1, [2022], and House leaders will release their own budget proposal this spring. Representatives can offer amendments during debate over the House plan, and senators can do the same when their branch takes up its own document.

At the end of the process, a small group of lawmakers will meet to work out the differences between the House and Senate documents before the bodies vote to send a final version to Baker.

Also on the horizon is the Feb. 2 [2022] deadline for most legislative committees to act on bills. Committees can either report bills favorably, extend their deadline or send them to study, essentially ruling those bills out for the session.

While lawmakers are calling colleagues in a final push to pursue favorable reports on bills, they also are beginning to identify priorities for the budget process. K-12 school aid, for instance, is a common goal among Berkshire County lawmakers.

Here are what your representatives say they’re working on.

State Sen. Adam Hinds, D-Pittsfield

In the budget process, Hinds has his eye on increasing funding for rural schools and reimbursements for state-owned land.

The state, which does not pay property taxes, has failed to provide adequate reimbursements to cities and towns for the land it owns, and the line item for rural schools has not brought as much funding as lawmakers wanted, Hinds said. Hinds co-chairs a rural schools commission, which he said will release recommendations related to funding for transportation, special education and other areas in those districts during this budget process.

“I think now that we have the evidence, we’re seeing I think a consensus that we need a different approach for those schools,” he said.

Locally, he plans to seek funding for the Berkshire Innovation Center and bike trails, including the proposed “adventure trail” between Williamstown and North Adams. While the Berkshire Flyer passenger rail service between Pittsfield and New York City already has funding for one year of operation, Hinds will seek funding to extend the pilot to two years.

Hinds said he is focusing on advancing two climate-related bills. One would increase tax incentives for people to preserve trees for carbon sequestration on private-owned land. The other would promote usage of electric vehicles by expanding rebates and requiring that any vehicle purchased after 2030 to be an electric vehicle.

While Baker has said that he wants Massachusetts to move entirely to electric vehicles by 2035, there is no law on the books that mandates that.

State Rep. John Barrett III, D-North Adams

Barrett will focus on education funding. While he praised a 2019 law that was intended to bolster funding for lower-income districts, he said the formula still leaves districts that he represents with insufficient funds.

“I’ve also got to make sure that school districts like Hoosac Valley, North Adams, Northern Berkshire get a fair allotment of financial assistance,” he said. “When this ARPA money goes away in these next years, it falls on the backs of the property tax and communities to continue adequately funding the schools.”

Beyond education, Barrett is looking at making investments in broadband and on-the-job training that he said can give the local economy a boost.

Of the bills that Barrett filed, “the big one” is a bill that would split the largest state agency/to split the Executive Office of Health and Human Services into two smaller bodies, he said. The largest agency in state government, EOHHS oversees 12 agencies, two soldiers’ homes and the MassHealth program.

“It’s no reflection on whoever the secretary is, but it’s just much, much too large when it’s 56 percent of the state budget,” Barrett said. “We saw where the lapses were in the nursing homes and veterans’ homes.”

State Rep. Paul Mark, D-Peru

Mark said he already has received requests from cities and towns to pursue an increase in state aid to municipal governments. The Baker administration number of $1.2 billion is a 2.7 percent increase from the previous budget.

Other priorities include higher education funding, K-12 education funding for small towns and COVID-19 relief funding for local departments of health, Mark said.

Most of Mark’s work on legislation comes in his role as vice chairman of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy.

“Offshore wind has been the big thing on the House side, trying to make sure that the way offshore wind happens creates the most jobs, provides the most benefit to the people and doesn’t increase electric costs,” he said.

Another top goal in the committee is to advance green financing bills, Mark said, whether it is his own proposal for a “green bank” or another option. A majority of the 140 state representatives, including Mark, have indicated support for a bill known as the Green Future Act, which would generate revenue for green investments by expanding carbon pricing and establishing a borrowing program.

Mark added that he hopes that increasing higher education funding through the budget could serve as a “down payment” for the Cherish Act, a bill that he and colleagues filed to set a minimum funding level for higher education and freeze tuition and fees for five years.

State Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier, D-Pittsfield

Farley-Bouvier listed early education and housing as two priorities for funding in the budget.

“In the Berkshires and in Pittsfield we want to be able to provide good-quality workforce housing, specifically to attract young people to work at General Dynamics and many opportunities there are to work here, and we need to be able to have affordable housing,” she said. “A particular focus of mine is permanent supportive housing, and then of course sheltering, so we need to have that full range.”

In early education, Farley-Bouvier said increased state reimbursements can help to ensure workers are “paid as the professionals they are.”

Her bill to make driver’s licenses available to residents regardless of immigration status has been extended beyond the Feb. 2 deadline, Farley-Bouvier said.

The three bills she now is focusing on advancing by the deadline are proposals to require tipped employees to be paid the state minimum wage, to establish an independent foster care review office and to change public meeting law so that remote participation counts toward a quorum for meetings of statewide bodies.

“We know that tipped workers live in poverty, and the percentage of tipped workers living in poverty is much greater than the rest of the population,” Farley-Bouvier said, adding that dependence on tips has led workers in the hospitality industry to endure sexual harassment from customers.

State Rep. William “Smitty” Pignatelli, D-Lenox

Pignatelli sees workforce development as a top concern in the budget, and he also may revisit some of the same local funding amendments he has filed previously.

Lawmakers approved the $50,000 that Pignatelli sought for Great Barrington-based Community Access to the Arts in the fiscal year 2021 budget, and he said he believes it is “important that we continue to try and help the disabled community, especially during COVID.”

Pignatelli included a $100,000 amendment for a first-time homebuyers program for southern Berkshire County in a recent spending bill, and he said he would consider similar strategies to address rising housing costs through a budget amendment.

While he said that he expects more complex bills to get extensions past the Feb. 2 deadline, Pignatelli said he is working to advance his proposals to establish a homeless bill of rights and to create a midlevel dental therapy practitioner.

“We’re going to run the clock out, there’s no question about that,” he said.

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February 28, 2022

Shitty & Chrome Dome are too busy voting for and happily accepting all of their countless state legislative pay raises and other public perks to be bothered to respond to the brown toxic water coming from the taps in Housatonic (Great Barrington) Massachusetts.  It must be difficult to do nothing all day all year long and get paid 6-figure public salaries plus public perks, while the people they supposedly represent in Boston get shafted by Smitty Pignatelli & Adam Hinds.  I get too upset by politics, so I am going to sign off now to calm myself and be in a healthy mental health mood.

Jonathan A. Melle

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March 19, 2022

Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,

Thank you for your weekly Saturday Scoop political emails about Beacon Hill politics.  My response to this week's (3/19/2022) political email is that the Massachusetts State Legislature does many DISSERVICES to the people and taxpayers of Massachusetts.  Public Education is underfunded by the state government by billions of dollars per year.  It has been that way for many years/decades.  Public Education in Massachusetts means great inequality is public school districts from the wealthy suburbs around Boston to the Level 5 public schools in Pittsfield for many years now.  The best way to further public education is to keep the career politicians as far away from public education as legally possible, including the state administered federal funding of public education by staying on top of the issue and calling out state lawmakers for always systemically underfunding public education in Massachusetts.

Last Spring of 2021, the Boston Globe published a news article that said that Beacon Hill gives away $17.8 billion per year in state tax breaks to their politically connected big businesses via the greedy registered lobbyist such as retired State Representative Daniel Bosley, who collects his state pension(s) and other public perks on top of his 6-figure lobbyist salary.  The state budget is less than $50 billion per fiscal year in Massachusetts.  That means that for one dollar that the state spends, Beacon Hill is giving their politically connected big businesses somewhere around 35-cents in state tax breaks.  To put it another way, the people and taxpayers only receive somewhere around 65-cents back on their tax dollars.  Then there is all of the state's voluntary regressive tax schemes, such as the state lottery and casino gambling, along with the so-called sin taxes on alcohol, marijuana and tobacco, and so on.  The state takes in billions of dollars from regressive taxation.  That means that the people and taxpayers may receive around 50-cents back on their tax dollars from Beacon Hill lawmakers.

It goes over the heads of a lot of financially illiterate and uneducated people and taxpayers, but my hope is for advocacy groups such as Act on Mass to let the people and taxpayers know that Beacon Hill is doing many DISSERVICES against them.  Please tell Beacon Hill's career politicians to please STOP taking advantage of the people and taxpayers that they are supposed to be representing in Massachusetts State Government.

Best wishes,

Jonathan A. Melle

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Saturday, March 19, 2022

Jonathan,

A 75 degree day, buds emerging on trees, and the beautiful if incessant birdsong outside my window can only mean one thing: spring has sprung in the beautiful Bay State. And our legislators are celebrating the Equinox in the traditional Pagan manner: digging in their heels on their competing legislative priorities.

It’s a long Scoop today, so let’s dive right in.

State House Scoop

Report finds MA is underfunding early education by $1.5 billion

A special commission on early education found that early childhood education is overly expensive and inaccessible for many Bay Staters. The report details the need to expand childcare centers and increase funding to alleviate the financial burden faced in particular by low-income families. Recommendations in the report, totaling $1.5 billion in increased funding and services, include expanding eligibility for childcare subsidies and increasing workforce pay. 

The Senate hinted at the beginning of this session they hoped to take up legislation related to childcare and early education. Let’s hope they do, swiftly, and that it looks as much like universal pre-k as possible. Whether the House has any interest in such a bill is another question entirely.

Baker hopes to expand access to mental, primary health care

On Tuesday, Governor Baker introduced a healthcare bill intended to address some lasting impacts of covid. The plan would increase the healthcare sector’s investment in primary and mental health care, which currently only make up 15% of healthcare spending. For those of you keeping track, this marks three competing healthcare reform initiatives this session, alongside Spilka’s prescription drug cost bill and Mariano’s community hospital bill.

Judiciary Committee questions Baker admin’s dedication to criminal justice reform 

In a nine-page letter, the chair of the House’s Judiciary Committee Rep. Michael Day criticized the Baker administration for their refusal to implement several elements of the 2018 and 2020 criminal justice reform laws. Specifically, Day cites the administration’s failure to test sexual assault kits in a timely manner, the Department of Correction’s workaround to continue prolonged periods of solitary confinement, and a regulation on the books permitting the use of choke holds despite their illegality. Or as Day aptly puts it, “some disturbing instances of noncompliance.” 

House passes bill banning discrimination based on natural hairstyles

In a piece of good news from the State House, the House unanimously passed a bill on Thursday prohibiting discrimination based on “natural and protective hairstyles such as braids, locks, twists, Bantu knots and other formations." The bill originated in a case in Malden where two Black students were regularly punished for their braid extensions until the Attorney General stepped in. 

House passes resolution to expedite resettlement of Ukrainian refugees in MA

In a bipartisan effort, Speaker Mariano and Minority Leader Jones spearheaded a resolution that called on both the governor and federal government to provide “expedited consideration” for Ukrainians seeking refuge in Massachusetts. 

Take Action

Join IMC and Act on Mass for a Conversation with Author David Pepper Tuesday 3/29 @ 7:00

We’re thrilled to be co-hosting Indivisible Mass Coalition’s statewide call with guest speaker David Pepper, the author of Laboratories of Autocracy: A Wake Up Call From Behind the Lines. 

RSVP HERE >>

And last, a not-so-fun fact to kick off your weekend brought to us by David Pepper:

“…it’s anonymous, often corrupt politicians in statehouses across the country who pose the greatest dangers to American democracy. Amid all the chaos, these statehouses are hard at work, every day, hacking away at core principles and protections of our democratic system. And they’re getting more audacious every year.

Why do these statehouses seem so impossible to stop? Because more than most appreciate, in state after state, they no longer operate as functioning democratic institutions. And without basic democracy at the state level, all the incentives are warped—these politicians are rewarded for attacks on democracy and actions that sacrifice public outcomes for private profiteering.” (David Pepper, Laboratories of Autocracy)

Thank you for making it through this long edition of the Scoop!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend,

Erin Leahy

Executive Director, Act on Mass

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"Northampton forum to feature Democratic candidates for governor, lieutenant governor"

By Brian Steele, Staff Writer, The Daily Hampshire Gazette, 3/23/2022

NORTHAMPTON — The Northampton Democratic City Committee and Northampton Open Media will host a “meet the candidates” forum next month to allow voters to hear from a candidate for governor and five hopefuls for lieutenant governor.

The in-person forum is scheduled for Tuesday, April 12, at 6:30 p.m. in the Northampton High School auditorium, 380 Elm St. The public is invited and attendees do not have to live in Northampton.

State Sen. Sonia Chang-Díaz, D-Boston, a candidate for governor, will participate, while Attorney General Maura Healey’s gubernatorial campaign said the candidate could not attend due to a scheduling conflict, organizers said.

The participating lieutenant governor candidates are Bret Bero, a business educator and the former owner of ECHO Industries in Orange; Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll; state Rep. Tami Gouveia, D-Acton; state Sen. Adam Hinds, D-Pittsfield; and state Sen. Eric Lesser, D-Longmeadow.

 

Elizabeth Silver, chairperson of the Democratic city committee, said “we have a very activist population here in the Valley” and the event is expected to be well-attended.

“I think the candidates are equally interested and anxious to show up,” she said, in part because it will give some candidates new exposure to western Massachusetts and its voters.

This year’s local Democratic caucuses were held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Silver said several candidates asked if they could attend or send short video messages. Silver said the Northampton Democratic City Committee decided to organize an in-person event so voters could “get a more in-depth perspective on their positions on issues.”

The moderator is former Northampton Mayor Clare Higgins, and the candidates will be questioned by a panel including New England Public Media senior reporter and Smith College professor Nancy Cohen, Daily Hampshire Gazette Executive Editor Dan Crowley and Bill Newman, local ACLU chapter director and WHMP radio host.

Attendees are asked to wear masks and will be required to show proof of vaccination against COVID-19 at the door. Northampton Open Media will offer a livestream on YouTube (https://bit.ly/3LnMDVF).

 

The public is invited to submit questions about any issue for consideration by the panelists.

“Everything is on the table,” Silver said. “That’s why we wanted to do it this way.”

Email questions to northamptondemscitycomm@gmail.com no later than April 5.

Republicans Geoff Diehl and Chris Doughty are running for their party’s nomination for governor.

Brian Steele can be reached at bsteele@gazettenet.com.

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March 23, 2022

The Boston Globe last Spring of 2021 reported that the corrupt Beacon Hill lawmakers give their politically connected big business big campaign donors in Massachusetts $17.8 billion in state tax breaks per year.  Don't you see that the proposed state surtax on millionaires' earnings pales in comparison to the $17.8 billion per year in state tax breaks for big businesses?  It is nothing more than a disingenuous political stunt to make the wealthy pay more of their earnings in state taxes during a gubernatorial election year!

Jonathan A. Melle

My question about it is that the Boston Globe last Spring of 2021 reported that Beacon Hill lawmakers give their politically connected big businesses in Massachusetts $17.8 billion in state tax breaks per year.  Doesn't the proposed surtax on Massachusetts millionaires pale in comparison to the $17.8 billion per year in the aforementioned state tax breaks?  It all seems more like a disingenuous political stunt than making the wealthy pay more of their earnings in state taxes!

Jonathan A. Melle

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"Here’s who voted for and against the gas tax suspension amendment"

By Amy Sokolow, The Boston Herald, March 24, 2022

The state Senate rejected an amendment to suspend the state’s gas tax through Labor Day, with 29 voting against the measure, and 11 supporting it. Here’s how the senators voted:

The amendment was introduced by state Sen. Ryan Fattman, R-Sutton, and championed by Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester. They were supported by fellow Republican Sen. Patrick O’Connor, R-Weymouth, and Democratic Sens. Paul Feeney of Foxboro, Barry Finegold of Andover, Anne Gobi of Spencer, Mark Montigny of New Bedford, Michael Moore of Millbury, Marc Pacheco of Taunton, Walter Timilty of Milton and John Velis, D-Westfield.

Many of those who voted in favor of suspending the gas tax are from districts bordering states that have considered suspending the gas tax themselves, including Connecticut and New Hampshire.

Those who voted against the suspension are all Democrats: Michael Barrett of Lexington, Hariette Chandler of Worcester, Sonia Chang-Díaz of Jamaica Plain, Jo Comerford of Northampton, Sal DiDomenico of Everett, Diana DiZoglio of Methuen, Adam Gomez of Springfield, Adam Hinds of Pittsfield, Ed Kennedy of Lowell, Eric Lesser of Longmeadow, Jason Lewis of Winchester, Joan Lovely of Salem, Susan Moran of Falmouth, Michael Rush of Boston, Senate President Karen Spilka of Ashland, William Brownsberger of Belmont, Michael Brady of Brockton, Brendan Crighton of Lynn, John Cronin of Lunenberg, Julian Cyr of Truro, Lydia Edwards of Boston, Jamie Eldridge of Acton, Patricia Jehlen of Somerville, John Keenan of Quincy, Cynthia Stone Creem of Newton, Becca Rausch of Needham, Nick Collins, D-Boston, and Cindy Friedman of Arlington.

Chang-Díaz is running for governor, DiZoglio is running for auditor, and Hinds and Lesser are running for lieutenant governor.

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Massachusetts State Senator Adam Hinds (D-Pittsfield) - Chair, Revenue

“Senator Hinds supports online and in-person sports betting in MA.”

Source: Politics: Survey: At least 60 percent of Massachusetts senators support legalized sports betting, The Springfield Republican (MassLive), March 25, 2022

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"Beacon Hill's financial shell games should end"

By Jonathan A. Melle, March 26, 2022

According to a March 26, 2022, op-ed by Charles Chieppo in the Boston Herald: The proposed state surtax on earnings of over $1 million per year would be the largest tax hike in the over 400-year history of Massachusetts.  The Tax Foundation said that Massachusetts ranks 49th in the country when it comes to the cost of doing business.  Since 1993, population loss by AGI in Massachusetts cost the state nearly $1 billion per year.  Over 70% of the wealth and state revenue in Massachusetts went to New Hampshire and Florida combined.  Last Spring of 2021, the Boston Globe published a news article that Beacon Hill's career politicians give away $17.8 billion per year to their politically connected big business campaign donors, which will increase if the state surtax on millionaires becomes state law.  That financial figure dwarfs the amount of money - estimated to be around $2 billion per year - that the proposed state surtax on earnings of over $1 million per year in Massachusetts would bring into state government coffers.  The voters in Massachusetts will vote on the state constitutional amendment to put a surtax on earnings of over $1 million per year on election day in November 2022, which is also when voters will elect a new Governor of Massachusetts.  I believe that the referendum is nothing more than a political stunt during an election year to help elect a Democratic Party nominated candidate for Governor of Massachusetts.  If Beacon Hill lawmakers really wanted progressive taxation, then they would not be giving away around 35% of the annual state budget to their politically connected big business campaign donors.  I hate it when career politicians act like they want to fund worthy public projects and services by raising state taxes when their public record proves the opposite.  The clear message from the Salons on Beacon Hill is that if you are wealthy and donate to their campaign coffers, then your politically connected big business will get huge state tax breaks, but if you a proverbial outsider, then you have to pay for Beacon Hill's financial shell games that enrich the career politicians and their politically connected backers at the public trough.  When will it ever end?

Jonathan A. Melle

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March 26, 2022

It is called the career politicians' financial shell games with our tax dollars!  They all get rich at the public trough, while we pay for their lies and false promises to fully fund public education and other worthy public projects and services.  After they retire with their public pensions and perks, they go right back to the government as 6-figure greedy registered lobbyists, or millionaire marijuana businessmen.  My best friend told me at our lunch together a couple of weekends ago to never trust a career politician, but they lie and make such false promises that I want to believe that they are not all about the Almighty Dollar and power.  I also want to believe in the Afterlife, that I will win the Powerball lottery jackpot, and that my beloved nearly 14-year-old dog will live at least 6 more years with me.

Jonathan A. Melle

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March 27, 2022

Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,

Thank you for your weekly "Saturday Scoop" political email about Beacon Hill politics.  I always look forward to reading what you write about the career politicians in Boston.  My response to you about the eviction crisis, which impacts People of Color at higher rates than white people and families, is that Beacon Hill lawmakers are still sitting on billions of state surplus dollars and Biden Buck$ (without a 5-year ARPA state spending plan).  I believe it is wrong to see families, especially children, be at risk of homelessness, while state lawmakers are doing nothing with the billions of dollars in state cash.  The state lawmakers' staff are underpaid and overworked, while the state lawmakers do nothing and getting paid 6-figure public pay and perks.  Again, it is wrong (on many levels).  Please let me know what happens with the $1.6 billion spending bill.  Where will all of the state tax dollars (really) go to?  Thank you for sharing the good news on the progress in public transportation.  Thank you for sharing the news about the protests about the new power plant in Peabody.  Please let us all know how the Conversation with Author David Pepper went.  I support your referendum campaign for transparency in the secretive and unaccountable Massachusetts State Government.  I agree with you that Massachusetts should not be among the few State Legislatures in the country without an independent research bureau.  Do they contract out the work to UMass and/or other institutions?  Lastly, I agree with that Beacon Hill's top-down legislative leadership has a corporate-friendly agenda instead of the career politicians fully funding public education, programs and services.  Please keep up your good work fighting for the people and taxpayers of Massachusetts.

Best wishes,

Jonathan A. Melle

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March 26, 2022

Jonathan,

When was the last time a report commissioned to study an issue in Massachusetts came back with good news? I don’t know, but it certainly wasn’t this week. 

Reports of this kind are incredibly useful to describe people’s lived experiences in concrete terms, and plot a pathway for policy solutions. But reports mean nothing if they don’t inspire real, material change. And more often than not, they don't.

Let's get into it.

State House Scoop

Report finds eviction moratorium lapse disproportionately affects communities of color

A pandemic-era moratorium on evictions in Massachusetts ended in October 2020, despite outcry from activists and constituents to extend it. A recent report found that residents of color were far more likely to be evicted after the moratorium lapsed than white residents: 30 evictions were filed per 1,000 renters in non-white neighborhoods, whereas predominantly white neighborhoods saw only 18.5 per 1,000. Other groups most likely to face eviction include Immigrants and single mothers. Children’s Health Watch commented: “we have seen that even up to five years after an eviction, we'll see higher rates of maternal depression, higher rates of children being in fair or poor health, having developmental delays, and even having higher rates of being hospitalized.” Meanwhile, bills to extend the moratorium and end the ban on rent control haven’t even come to a vote in the legislature.

Report found severe issues with staff pay and treatment in Senate

An 2021 independent review of salary practices for the state senate staffers found systemic issues ranging from hiring practices to underpayment. Receiving a salary of $32,000, former senate staffer Maia Raynor explains her struggle to make ends meet during her time in the state house. As of 2018, all pay raises in the senate have to be approved by the Senate President. According to all 14 staffers interviewed for this article (an absolute must-read), this has led to a toxic dynamic where staffers' needs get sidelined. As Raynor explains, “senators who got a meeting with leadership had to choose between asking for more pay [for their staff] or asking for support for their priority bills.”

Senate passes $1.6 billion spending bill, likely off to conference committee

On Thursday the Senate passed their version of the supplemental spending bill passed by the House earlier this month. Earmarks include $700 for Covid relief, funding for infrastructure repairs, and $10 million towards resettlement of Ukrainian refugees. The Senate’s version splits from the house by including language to divest the state’s pension funds from Russian companies. This and any other differences will likely be ironed out in a conference committee.

Union Square Green Line Station Opened

The long-awaited Green Line Extension opened its first station on Monday in Somerville’s Union Square. 20 years in the making, the occasion represented renewed investment into and expansion of the state’s transit system. Hopefully the GLX isn’t the only expansion on the horizon; during her speech at the ribbon cutting ceremony, Senator Elizabeth Warren voiced her support for building an East-West rail that would connect Boston, Worcester, and Springfield. Do you feel that, Massachusetts? That’s the Mass Pike shaking in its boots!

Environmentalist’s hunger strike ends after 8th day

The hunger strike launched by local climate activists in protest of a new power plant in Peabody ended this week. The group was successful in generating press, support, and attention from legislators. Read their final statement and learn more on Facebook at #FastingforaFuture.

Take Action

Join IMC and Act on Mass for a Conversation with Author David Pepper Tuesday 3/29 @ 7:00

We’re thrilled to be co-hosting Indivisible Mass Coalition’s statewide call with guest speaker David Pepper, the author of Laboratories of Autocracy: A Wake Up Call From Behind the Lines. 

RSVP HERE >>

Last chance to help us reach our goal: Fund our Ballot Question Campaign!

With April just days away, we’re getting ready to officially launch our non-binding Ballot Question Campaign! Our goal is to get our transparency question on the ballot in as many districts across the commonwealth as possible. Unfortunately we’re still behind our goal of raising $4,800 by the end of March to fully fund out campaign. Can you chip in today to ensure we can run the most widespread and effective campaign possible?

DONATE TODAY >>

And last, a not-so-fun fact to kick off your weekend

The Massachusetts Legislature is one of the only state houses in the country without an independent legislative research bureau. One such bureau was established in 1954 to assist legislators and staff with research, but was cut in the early 1990s. A different but similar bureau was established in the 1970s, but this, too, was cut in the early 2000’s. Without this critical resource, constituents and rank-and-file legislators are less able to draft high-quality legislation and counter leadership’s top-down corporate-friendly legislative agenda.

That's all for this week!

Until next time,

Erin Leahy

Executive Director, Act on Mass

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March 31, 2022

Re: It pays well to be politically connected in the corrupt Commonwealth

No wonder why there are three candidates - Incumbent Andrea Harrington, and challengers Tim Shugrue and Robert Sullivan - running for Berkshire County District Attorney.  The winner will earn more public pay and perks than Governor Charlie Baker.  It must be nice to be politically connected and powerful in the corrupt Commonwealth of Massachusetts!

State's payroll costs on sharp incline | News | eagletribune.com

https://www.eagletribune.com/news/states-payroll-costs-on-sharp-incline/article_0348da56-b0fd-11ec-85c5-cbbb5f990b82.html 

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April 9, 2022

Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,

I always look forward to reading your political emails about Beacon Hill politics.  Thank you for sending me the Saturday Scoop political email informing us all about the competing bills in conference committee concerning the VOTES Act to renew vote-by-mail and early voting, while the State Senate chamber voted for same day voter registration (SDR), but the State House chamber removed the provision that disproportionately negatively impacts hundreds of thousands of people of color disenfranchised voters; State Senate President Karen Spilka, who is a labor lawyer, has not yet responded to State Senate staffers' efforts to unionize, despite a great majority of the workers' accounts of low and unequal wages, poor working conditions, and harassment; the State Senate chamber's new $250 million broader climate change bill that - once again - competes with the State House bill that focuses on offshore wind; Governor Charlie Baker's administration's response to their alleged and criticized executive inaction on criminal justice reforms that read like admissions of ineffective public management; your advocacy organization's 34 Priority Districts for your non-binding ballot question campaign to give people a voice on public committee votes that are not reported to the public, but would to instruct their State Rep to make all committee votes public; 

My responses to your political email are that all of the eligible people have a legal right to vote in elections, and it is downright wrong for the State House of Representatives to take away - in part or in whole - that fundamental right to participate in democracy; moreover, the State House of Representatives should ensure that the hundreds of thousands of minority voters will no be disenfranchised of their right to vote in elections by supporting SDR instead of blocking SDR; the corrupt career politicians on Beacon Hill should allow their staffers to unionize, and the state lawmakers should so-called "work" more than three days a week (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) for only a few hours each day, and they should not be taking 5 months off of so-called "work" from August through December of 2022, while being paid their 6-figure public pay and perks for doing nothing but mostly being rubber stamps for Speaker Ronny Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka; the competing Climate Change bills should not be costing state taxpayers $250 million that would hurt the state's struggling working class more than any other demographic group; moreover, energy prices in Massachusetts are already higher than most other states, but the corrupt career politicians in Boston will probably make it even more economically and financially painful for the struggling working class families, Governor Charlie Baker's alleged and criticized inaction on criminal justice reforms shows - once again - that he is all about the Almighty Dollar instead of investing in the actual people who live in Massachusetts; and lastly, I believe that the do nothing Beacon Hill lawmakers are very wrong to always block transparency rules reform measures in state government, and that your organization's ballot initiative to instruct the useless State Representatives to make their committee votes public is a worthy cause.

Best wishes,

Jonathan A. Melle

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April 9, 2022

Jonathan,

Flowers are in bloom, buds are popping up on every tree in sight, and most exciting of all – spring municipal elections are just around the corner. But what would normally be a run of the mill election has become a high stakes deadline: these will be the first elections since protections lapsed for vote-by-mail and early voting. 

As you might recall, the Senate’s proposed version of the VOTES Act includes vote-by-mail, early voting, and Same Day Voter Registration. The House’s version removed Same Day Voter Registration before passing it. (With a bizarre and dramatic maneuver on the House floor, they voted to “study” the policy instead of passing it.)

The VOTES Act is now in the hands of a conference committee who is tasked with ironing out the differences between Senate and House versions. Or should I say, the one glaring difference.

This conference committee met for the first time on Thursday to go to battle over Same Day or Election Day voter registration – a reform that would enfranchise between 200,000 - 500,000 Massachusetts voters, disproportionately people of color.

You might be asking yourself: who would want to prevent that? Well, someone who worries it might hurt their chances of reelection, that’s who. And this person just so happens to be appointed by the Speaker to that very conference committee. Funny how that works.

State House Scoop

State Senate staffers push to unionize

Earlier this week, state senate staffers announced their intent to unionize. If successful, they would become the second unionized legislative staff in the country, after Oregon. The unionization push comes in the wake of two devastating reports of state house staff treatment, both of which include accounts of low and unequal wages, poor working conditions, and harassment.

The fate of the union rests in the hands of Senate President Spilka, who has the option of voluntarily recognizing the union, or fighting it. Complicating matters, if the union is not recognized by the senate president, legislative action may be required to formalize the union. The Senate President is currently solely in charge of senate staff pay – a power that would be complicated by a union. While Spilka has often touted her background as a labor lawyer and voiced her support for other unionization efforts, she has not yet responded to the State House Staff union’s request for recognition.

Senate unveils new climate bill, alternative to Mariano’s offshore wind legislation

After the House passed Speaker Mariano’s priority offshore wind bill, Senate President Spilka noted her preference for a broader climate bill. (When she’s right, she’s right!) Making good on her word, Spilka introduced on Thursday a $250 million climate bill focused on electrifying the Bay State’s transportation and buildings. The Senate is poised to vote on the bill as early as next week. I don’t know what negotiations between the House and Senate will look like over their respective climate bills, but I do know we desperately need our legislature to listen to climate activists and scientists, not utility companies. 

Baker admin responds to criticisms of criminal justice reform inaction

The Judiciary Committee’s pointed criticisms of the Baker administration’s commitment to criminal justice reform, or lack thereof, “is not supported by the facts,” according to a Baker official. In their 11-page response to Rep. Michael Day’s scathing letter, Public Safety Secretary Reidy asserts that they have been doing everything in their power to implement the changes required by recent legislation. 

Scattered among the disputed claims are statements that read more like, well, admissions. For example, Day criticized the administration for keeping incarcerated individuals in their cells for 21.5 hours a day to avoid protections required by law for individuals confined for 22 hours. In response, Reidy said that was true of 1,361 individuals in the past 15 months.

Take Action

April 30th & May 1st: Join our Weekend of Action for our ballot question initiative!

Last week, we announced our 34 Priority Districts for our ballot question campaign to give people a voice on public committee votes! We’ll be asking voters in key districts — leadership, contested races, and underrepresented communities — if they want to instruct their State Rep to make all committee votes public. 

Here’s how to get involved:

Sign Up: Fill out this form to be looped into all things ballot question.

Share: Share the campaign flyer with your network — send it to your neighbors, friends, groups and organizations and spread the word to get more people involved

Weekend of Action: Sign up for our Weekend of Action on April 30th and May 1st for our signature gathering extravaganza! Only the first three campaigns to return their signatures will get a spot on the ballot, so the first weekend is critical.

Start your own district team: Even if your district isn’t on the priority list, we still have all the tools and support you need to get this question on your ballot too! Fill out this form and let us know if you’re interested in starting your own district team.

SIGN UP FOR THE WEEKEND OF ACTION >>

And last, a not-so-fun fact to kick off your weekend: State House staff unionization edition

According to a survey of House and Senate staffers conducted in 2021, only 10% of employees felt they were fairly paid for their work. 88.6% said they lived with relatives or had a second job in order to make ends meet. 82.8% said they had never had a routine salary or performance review.

Sitting by my window in Somerville I experienced at least three types of weather while just writing this Scoop – that’s how you know it’s spring in New England. (Either that or I’ve been writing for longer than I thought…)

Until next time,

Erin Leahy

Executive Director, Act on Mass

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April 15, 2022

Chrome Dome Adam Hinds wants you to drive an electric car by voting for a $250 million climate pork bill in Boston.

Sen. Adam Hinds: Driving electric vehicle growth in Mass (gazettenet.com)

https://www.gazettenet.com/Guest-columnist-Sen-Adam-Hinds-45957833

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Sen. Adam Hinds: "Driving electric vehicle growth in Mass"

Op-ed by Sen. Adam Hinds, The Daily Hampshire Gazette, 4/15/2022

I spend a lot of time on the road, driving back and forth between western Massachusetts and Boston. I’ve noticed a steady uptick in Teslas on the Mass Pike — no surprise since the California company dominates the U.S. electric vehicle (EV) market with nearly 80% of new EV registrations.

U.S. and overseas manufacturers are now playing catch-up with Tesla. Consumers want electric vehicles for their performance and reduced climate impact, and the industry is responding.

General Motors has pledged to eliminate tailpipe emissions for all new vehicles by 2035 and last week announced a partnership with Honda to sell EVs for under $30,000 beginning in 2027. Ford announced last fall that it is investing billions of dollars in new EV and battery plants in Kentucky and Tennessee. Even Ford’s classic F-150 truck now has an electric version and sales are strong.

News that the auto industry has pledged half a trillion dollars in the next five years to remodel and build new factories, train employees and modernize vehicle software is as exciting as it is critical.

The auto industry’s move away from gasoline can’t come soon enough given escalating climate change impacts. But state and federal government must be part of an orderly transition as well, by bringing costs down for buyers with sizable rebates for new and used EVs and by building out public charging infrastructure to address “range anxiety” and so you don’t need a driveway to own an EV.

This week my Senate colleagues and I passed the “Drive Act,” a series of steps to mitigate climate change as part of our state plan to reach our net-zero emission goal by 2050. With 40% of Massachusetts carbon emissions coming from our transportation sector that is one focus of the bill, including a proposal I introduced that would require all new cars sold in the state to be zero-emission after 2035.

California and New York have taken the lead on decarbonizing the transportation sector. In 2020, California banned the sale of new, gas-powered passenger cars and trucks by 2035. The state committed to spend $10 billion to reach its goals, which includes building 250,000 public electric vehicle chargers and 200 hydrogen fueling stations. In 2021, New York followed suit, passing a law that requires new passenger cars and trucks to be zero-emission by 2035. All new medium and heavy-duty trucks sold in New York by 2045 are to be zero-emission. New York committed more than $1 billion to reach its goals.

The Biden administration announced a plan last summer for half of all new cars to be zero-emission by 2030 and tougher fuel efficiency and emissions standards. The president even recently invoked the Defense Production Act for EV battery production.

It’s time for Massachusetts to act with the same urgency. The Senate bill increases minimum EV rebates to $3,500, adds another $1,000 rebate if a combustion engine vehicle is traded in, and more for low-income individuals. It also makes used EV vehicles eligible for rebates. We would invest $50 million in new EV charging stations. For public transit riders, the bill also requires the MBTA to purchase and lease zero-emission busses by 2028.

The zero-emission mandates in California, New York, and the one proposed here in Massachusetts send a signal to automakers across the globe that the U.S. is getting serious about electrifying its cars and trucks. Automakers can be confident there will be demand for EVs at all price points, not just at the luxury level. That helps expand production and reduce ticket prices. At the same time, I expect early adopters of EVs to trade in and up, which will expand the used EV market and drive down prices.

Putting EVs on Massachusetts’ roads is only part of the Senate’s new 250-million-dollar plan to mitigate climate warming. The Senate bill would decrease the amount of electricity generated with fossil fuels by investing in our clean energy infrastructure, updating the offshore wind procurement process, and by supporting advances in solar power. The bill prevents biomass facilities from receiving the state’s clean energy incentives and increases Department of Public Utility scrutiny on natural gas projects. My amendment to accelerate energy storage development was also adopted.

In the construction sector, the Senate legislation would create a demonstration project that would allow 10 municipalities to restrict the use of fossil fuels in new construction. The bill limits Mass Save funds being used for fossil fuel equipment beginning in 2025.

The U.S. and Massachusetts have a long way to go to meet the climate targets we’ve set for ourselves. Regardless, 2022 could, and should, be a turning point for electric vehicles and their integration into our lives. We’re at a historical inflection point and we can barely envision the transportation industry of tomorrow. But with so much at stake Massachusetts must do its part to embrace this necessary turn.

Adam Hinds is state senator for the Berkshire, Hampshire, Franklin & Hampden District.

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April 16, 2022

Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Mass, and Patrick Fennell, respectively,

First to Erin Leahy: My response to your weekly political email about Beacon Hill politics is that the $50 billion state budget proposal by the Massachusetts State House of Representatives' Ways and Means Committee is yet another pork barrel bill that will give the vested and special interests everything they want, while the common people and struggling working class families will continue to pound sand.  The Massachusetts State Senate's Climate bill is really a $250 million pork barrel bill that won't make a dent in rising temperatures and sea levels.  The average working-class family is unable to purchase Hybrid and/or electric-powered vehicles, while used and new gas fueled cars are at the most expensive price levels in the history of the automobile.  The Bos-Wash corridor mainly benefits the financial and ruling elites, which means that if you are not already wealthy and politically connected, Beacon Hill lawmakers and the Swamp lawmakers only do DISSERVICES to common people such as you me.  Please know that these corrupt career politicians say and write lofty words, but at the end of the day, their words are only more hot air!

Second to Patrick Fennell: Chrome Dome Adam Hinds married a high society woman who is a college Professor at the prestigious Amherst College, which is a sister college to the prestigious Williams College.  After Chrome Dome Adam Hinds got married, he and his wealthy wife bought a $690,000 home in Amherst, Massachusetts, which is represented by Jo Comerford in the State Senate in Boston.  Chrome Dome Adam Hinds' lofty op-ed in the Daily Hampshire Gazette about his vote in favor of the State Senate Climate bill and providing government tax incentives for working class families to purchase electric cars was both disingenuous and elitist.  The climate bill(s) on Beacon Hill are really pork barrel bills.  The cost of Hybrid and electric-powered cars are much higher than gas fueled cars, which are at their highest price levels in U.S. history.  Chrome Dome Adam Hinds is now a millionaire, John Kerry is a billionaire, Joe Biden is worth tens of millions of dollars (probably hundreds of millions of dollars), which means they are all DISCONNECTED from the economic and financial realities of common people such as you and me.

Best wishes,

Jonathan A. Melle

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Jonathan,

House Ways & Means released their draft of the 2023 budget on Wednesday, totaling around $50 billion. This marks the official start of the magical time of year known as budget season. It's basically our legislators' Super Bowl: it’s all they’ll be talking about for the next month, everyone wants a piece of the action, but ultimately only two men get to call the plays.

Luckily, this draft budget allocates a lot of money towards terribly underfunded human services such as education and housing programs. It also includes one major policy victory: eliminating fees associated with phone calls made to incarcerated individuals, i.e. “no cost calls.” This is huge. 

I know, I’m as surprised as you are!

But it’s not over ‘till it’s over. We still have over a thousand amendments to get through (1,521 as of the writing of this Scoop), backroom deal shenanigans to watch out for, and a floor debate starting 4/25. Stay tuned for updates, analysis, and calls to action.

State House Scoop

House’s budget emphasizes childcare and early education

Massachusetts families spend 30 percent more on childcare than rent, which is particularly shocking when you remember how much they’re spending on rent (not that this Somerville resident knows anything about that). Apparently inspired to act following the release of a report on childcare needs in the state, Speaker Mariano and House Ways & Means Chair Michlewitz announced this week their intention to focus much of the budget on this sector. Specifically, the budget allocates $70 million towards rate increases for childcare workers. 

Boosting childcare worker pay is a great place to start; the average salary for childcare workers in Massachusetts is around $30,000/year. But this proposal is still miles away from the $1.5 billion investment called for in the report, and lightyears away from addressing the burdensome cost of childcare. Let’s hope this funding is meant to be in addition to, but not in lieu of the Common Start bill – the legislation backed by progressive advocates to make early education publicly funded like K-12 schooling.

What else is in the budget: rapid fire round

Free school meals for another year

Fully funds K-12 public schools according to the requirements of the Student Opportunity Act

$653 million for the UMass system

$337 million for community colleges

$853 million for housing programs, including $140 million for rental assistance

$37.5 million for loan forgiveness for workers in several human services positions

$11.2 million for residential reentry programs

Some other good stuff, probably

Some bad stuff, probably

(Forgive me, it's over 250 pages and I'm a slow reader)

Senate passes clean energy bill, shoots down jobs & environmental justice amendment

The Senate passed a clean energy bill (S.2819) on Thursday focused on reducing emissions from transportation and construction. Before it was passed along party lines (37-3), the Senate waded through dozens of amendments over the course of almost 12 hours. One heavily debated amendment from Sen. Pacheco (based on his Building Justice with Jobs Act) would have made a plan to retrofit homes in Massachusetts, making them more energy efficient, prioritizing environmental justice communities, and creating thousands of union jobs to do so. Despite support from across the climate advocacy movement, this amendment was rejected 11 - 28. See how your rep voted here.

Take Action

BALLOT QUESTION WEEKEND OF ACTION - April 30th & May 1st

The countdown is on: only 10 days until signature sheets are available, and only two weeks until our signature collection blitz Weekend of Action! Help us ensure voters get a voice on transparency in November by volunteering to collect signatures in your area.

SIGN UP FOR THE WEEKEND OF ACTION >>

Signature gathering is easy! Most people on the street will be happy to sign to get something on the ballot (especially something that 90% of Bay Staters support.) Learn more about The People's House campaign and our Ballot Question strategy at actonmass.org/the-campaign.

That’s it for now folks! If you’re celebrating this weekend, stay safe and enjoy. And whether you’re celebrating or not, I hope you get to spend some sunny days with some loved ones.

Until next time,

Erin Leahy

Executive Director, Act on Mass

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On Saturday, April 16, 2022, 08:54:32 AM EDT, Patrick Fennell wrote:

The next time Adam Hinds does something positive for his district will be the FIRST TIME. Remember he was AWOL during the Pandemic.

Patrick Fennell

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Letter: "Some obvious issues with Berkshire Flyer plan"

The Berkshire Eagle, April 30, 2022

To the editor: I am someone who divides my summer time between New York City and the Berkshires, so I certainly have skin in this game. ("Long-sought NYC-Pittsfield rail link will get its test this summer with Berkshire Flyer," Eagle, April 26.)

I recognize that this was and is a tough problem to solve — i.e., making it easy/easier for New Yorkers to enjoy the many things the Berkshires have to offer without requiring them to drive up and back. And it's possible that my profound disappointment and pessimism about Amtrak's plan will turn out to be off-base.

It seems to me, however, that up and down the plan's line mistakes were made — obvious ones. Ones that the principal competitor, the Peter Pan Bus line, would have written in if they wanted to see the plan discontinued after the planned two-year experiment.

One size seldom fits all, and less now than 10, 20 or 50 years ago. Who exactly does Amtrak et al. expect will board around 3 p.m. Friday and look to return to NYC 3 p.m. Sunday? Working people? Dubious. People with mobility issues? Even less likely.

Yes, I'm sure there might be some theater buffs who could — or could they? — take in three shows in Pittsfield and Lenox, but a good new route simply must have a shot at getting lots of repeat riders. This one looks DOA on that count.

There's no mention of Berkshire Regional Transit Authority "upping its game." If people arriving in Pittsfield could easily and inexpensively get to and from the other Berkshire towns, that might give this experiment some tiny chance to prove viable. In its absence, someone will calculate that Massachusetts is spending $200 a head to (maybe) augment tourism.

Anyone objective looking at a number like that will ask, "What were they thinking?" Airlines are using buses these days because they save time and money. Either the Hudson line or the Wassaic one (as was done previously) with a smooth bus connection to the Berkshires was and is the better way. Millions of NYC visitors get from its airports to center city via a "two-step." Looks to me like "no transfer needed" led to a "solution" that will never make it out of the transit ICU.

Peter Sohn, Otis

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"Western Mass. delegation largely in support of safe injection sites"

By Dusty Christensen, Staff Writer, The Daily Hampshire Gazette, 5/6/2022

NORTHAMPTON — When it comes to setting up sites where people can use drugs safely to avoid overdoses, opinion polling seems to show a split among Massachusetts residents. A 2019 poll from WBUR showed 50% of state residents approved of opening supervised consumption sites, compared with 43% who opposed the idea.

Many of the Pioneer Valley’s elected officials on Beacon Hill are strong supporters of the idea, however. Of the elected officials representing residents in the Gazette’s coverage area of Hampshire County and Holyoke, nearly all endorsed the idea in recent interviews.

“Western Mass is ready for this,” was how state Rep. Daniel Carey, D-Easthampton, put it.

Several bills related to safe consumption sites are currently pending before the state Legislature’s Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery, including one that would create a 10-year pilot program for two such sites in the state. During hearings in front of the committee, Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa, D-Northampton, and Rep. Mindy Domb, D-Amherst, both testified in favor of the sites.

“I’ve supported them for more than a decade,” said Domb, who visited a safe consumption site in Vancouver in the early 2000s and said she was “incredibly impressed. Most people will relapse again and again on their way to recovery, she said, and so in the in between should work to support keeping them alive and healthy. “The research shows that these programs do not initiate or promote drug use, they don’t increase crime … It helps people engage with treatment and the bonus is they help prevent unintentional opioid overdoses.”

Of course, many drugs are still illegal under federal law and under the Trump administration, the Department of Justice sued a nonprofit in Philadelphia that was trying to open a safe consumption site, sometimes called supervised injection sites or overdose prevention centers. Under President Joe Biden, though, the Justice Department has suggested that its “evaluating” the facilities and talking about “appropriate guardrails” with regulators.

Sabadosa, who is “extremely supportive” of safe consumption sites, said that instead of debating whether a site is going to be allowed or not, municipalities that want to host a safe consumption site should move forward with it. She cited the steps Somerville officials have taken, moving closer than any other community in the state to opening a site.

“I think if cities and towns want to do it and the federal government isn’t going to raid these places … they should do that, they should lead,” Sabadosa said. And she said many leaders in her district are supportive of the idea. “I think that our community is primed to do this, it’s just going to be a question of boldness and political will.”

“Like so many other things, western Massachusetts is leading the commonwealth,” said state Rep. Natalie Blais, D-Sunderland, who supports such sites. 

There are still plenty of people who balk at the idea of safe consumption sites, though. In 2019, the then U.S. attorney for Massachusetts — Andrew Lelling, a Trump appointee — wrote an op-ed in The Boston Globe declaring that the sites “aren’t safe or legal.” He questioned the research behind the sites’ efficacy, claiming that they lead to more crime and amount to “giving up” and declaring defeat in the battle to reduce opioid use.

“This is a philosophical contest about how Americans should confront a social crisis,” Lelling wrote. “Injection sites normalize intravenous drug abuse, encourage a horrible addiction, and let down the people who suffer from it. Promoters of these sites offer addicts little but failure — medical safety at the time of injection but, overall, mere complicity in a nightmarish cycle of addiction leading to death.”

Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni is another opponent of safe consumption sites, according to James Leydon, the communication’s director for Gulluni’s office.

“He is not in favor of injection sites,” Leydon said in an email Friday. 

Others in law enforcement in the region feel differently, however. “After I visited a safe consumption site in Toronto it really confirmed how it saves lives and helps people get treatment in the long run,” Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan said. “Unless we keep them from overdosing, they’re not going to be there for treatment down the road.”

Sullivan stressed that one of the biggest factors contributing to overdose deaths is people using opioids alone. He rejected arguments that the sites lead to more crime or drug use.

“I think law enforcement understands that doesn’t happen,” he said. “Study after study has shown it doesn’t increase crime … It’s just like a medical facility.”

But those are concerns that some lawmakers say they’ve heard. State Sen. John Velis, D-Westfield, who is a vice chair of the Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery and himself in recovery from alcohol addiction, described safe consumption sites as “one of the most polarizing topics out there.”

Velis spoke highly of the research behind the sites and the harm-reduction approach to public health, saying what he hears from people in that field is that such sites are an “astronomical” success when it comes to saving lives. But said he wants to go on a “fact-finding mission” to a site before coming to a definitive conclusion.

“It’s not lost on me what a lot of other people say – that it’s rewarding bad behavior, why are we doing this, it’s a nuisance to neighborhoods,” Velis said. “I’m going to ask the neighbors in these areas, ‘Tell me what impact this has had on your neighborhood.”

Earlier this year at an event at Tapestry Health, state Rep. Pat Duffy, D-Holyoke, told the Gazette that she supports the legislation now in committee on Beacon Hill as part of the harm-reduction strategy of “meeting people where they are.” In a statement, state Sen. Eric Lesser, D-Longmeadow, said he has also supported legislative efforts for safe consumption site pilot programs, saying it’s “important for us to employ tools that will reduce overdoses and guide individuals towards treatment in a way that is safe and effective.”

“It just makes sense in the way needle exchanges make sense, in the way fentanyl test strips make sense,” said state Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton. “We have to meet people where they are, we have to give them the tools they need, we have to support them along their journey and we have to help them keep themselves safe.”

State Sen. Adam Hinds, D-Pittsfield, previously worked in community-based intervention programs related to substance-use disorder. He said he saw firsthand the importance of harm reduction and “finding any way to ensure people are exposed to the option of recovery and how you work through that.” Asked why the state hasn’t yet moved to support the creation of the sites, he said that addiction is still very stigmatized.

“There’s misunderstanding of what this means as a tool for folks who are experiencing addiction,” he said.

Dusty Christensen can be reached at dchristensen@gazettenet.com.

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"Huff Templeton of Williamstown jumps into the race for Adam Hinds' state Senate seat"

By Scott Stafford, The Berkshire Eagle, May 11, 2022

WILLIAMSTOWN — Huff Templeton is running for the state Senate seat held by state Sen. Adams Hinds, who is running for lieutenant governor of the Bay State. State Rep. Paul Mark, D-Peru, is also running for Hinds’ seat.

Templeton says he doesn’t have anything against either one of them, but felt like the time was right to give Senate service a try.

“I think Adam Hinds has done a great job,” he said. “But he’s got other priorities right now.”

Templeton will face off against Mark during the state’s Democratic primary Sept. 6 [2022]. Templeton has worked as a small business manager in different settings and as a community activist in Williamstown. He served on the former Williamstown Elementary School Committee for about a year in 2010.

At the time, he tried to help the school overcome a challenge in meeting state-mandated standards for students with special needs. He serves on the Williamstown Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee and believes the town faces a lack of truly affordable housing in town.

“When I’m talking to people who have two jobs and putting up with rent hikes, people are feeling the effects of that all the time,” Templeton said. “It’s problematic. People who work in town should be able to live in town.”

One issue that should be at the top of everyone’s list is a ruling that could overturn Roe v. Wade.

“We need to mobilize locally to oppose overturning Roe,” Templeton said. “It’s time for all-hands-on-deck. We need to protect the right to abortion, and make sure that in any case, Massachusetts should be a safe haven for those seeking the medical procedure.”

On other issues, he said the state should step in to favor outdoor growing of marijuana, because cultivation indoors is more intensive and expensive. It would increase revenue to the towns, and it would increase the supply for local stores.

“It shouldn’t be up to the towns to solve this problem,” Templeton said. “Western Mass. could take advantage of this opportunity. The state should step in.”

As for solar power, Templeton said that there should be a way to set up solar panels without clear-cutting trees to make the room.

But solar panels should not be mandated, rather solar energy should be incentivized, he added.

“Solar power is certainly part of the equation,” Templeton said.

And he doesn’t have a high opinion of Gov. Charlie Baker administration.

“Having a Republican in the corner office waters down the progressive streak in Massachusetts,” he said. “I think we need a Democrat in the corner office.”

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"U.S. Sen. Markey endorses Paul Mark for state Senate"

The Greenfield Recorder: Political Notebook, May 12, 2022

Pittsfield — U.S. Sen. Ed Markey has announced his endorsement of state Rep. Paul Mark’s candidacy for state Senate to represent the Berkshire, Hampden, Franklin and Hampshire District in conjunction with Mark’s qualification with the Secretary of State’s Office to appear on the Democratic primary ballot in September.

“I am proud to support Paul Mark’s candidacy for state Senate,” Markey said in a press release. “It is so important to have effective and progressive legislators like Paul in the state government who not only understand the issues, but have the background and track record on tackling the climate emergency, standing up for working families and labor unions, and with the U.S. Supreme Court’s attack on Roe v. Wade, we need leaders like Paul who will stand up to protect women’s right to choose.”

“I am honored to officially have the support of Sen. Ed Markey,” Mark said in the release. “Sen. Markey has consistently been a champion for the Berkshires and for all of western Massachusetts both in terms of bringing resources back and fighting for the issues we care about.

“This campaign is about being a bold and effective voice for western Mass,” Mark continued. “I will be a senator that you know and that shows up consistently.”

Markey’s endorsement adds to Mark’s growing list of endorsers including state Reps. Tricia Farley-Bouvier, D-Pittsfield, William “Smitty” Pignatelli, D-Lenox, John Barrett III, D-North Adams, Lindsay Sabadosa, D-Northampton, Natalie Blais, D-Sunderland, and former state Rep. Steve Kulik, D-Worthington, as well as many labor and activist groups.

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May 14, 2022

Hello Patrick Fennell,

I honor you as an American Veteran who served our country honorably, like myself and many other American Veterans.  I agree with you that the corrupt career politicians in Boston should NOT be still sitting on many billions of dollars in state cash, while they rejected ALL of the tax relief proposals so far this year of 2022.  Like you wrote, the Solons should be using at least part of their financial cash windfall to help out small businesses, working Americans, legal immigrants, elderly disabled or veterans, but Hell would freeze over before Beacon Hill lawmakers would give a damn about the people and taxpayers they supposedly serve.  At least Hunter Biden wrote and published a tell all book in 2021 about all of his "bad boy behavior" illicit activities with alcohol, drugs, strippers and sex workers.  Beacon Hill lawmakers like secrecy instead of being Joe Biden's middle aged, spoiled brat son.  When Boston gets around to spending their billions upon billions of dollars in state cash, I would like to know where all of the money went to.  Lastly, I understand that the Swamp is the most corrupt government in our country, and that local governments always screw over the honest taxpayers.

Best wishes,

Jonathan A. Melle

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May 14, 2022

Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,

Thank you for your weekly "Saturday Scoop" political email about Beacon Hill politics.  My responses are that it must be nice for the corrupt career politicians in Boston to have 5 months of taxpayer-funded vacation from August 1st, 2022, to December 31, 2022.  I wonder if there is any other job that gives someone 5 months of paid vacation?  Over the next 2.5 months, Beacon Hill lawmakers have to pass the fiscal year 2023 Massachusetts state budget, along with a number of bills, which I understand will mostly be voted on in the last minutes of July 31st, 2022.  Once again, the public is completely shut out of all of the corrupt sausage making in Boston.  The Massachusetts State Senate proposed a $49.68 billion fiscal year state budget with NO tax relief measures included, despite the state Legislature still sitting on many billions of dollars in surplus state cash.  Why am I not surprised?  In November, Massachusetts voters will be voting on adding a surtax on incomes of over $1 million per year, which is estimated to bring in an additional $1.3 billion in state revenues per fiscal year.  The argument in favor of the shakedown scheme is that public education and transportation are systemically underfunded.  The argument against it is that it will punish small businesses and private investment ventures.  I ask why do this when Beacon Hill lawmakers always giveaway a little less than $18 billion per fiscal year in state tax breaks to Boston area big businesses so that the Financial, Corporate and Ruling Elites can all enrich themselves at the public trough?  I hope you and your travel group have a wonderful time in Venice and Rome, Italy.  I will miss your weekly update next Saturday, May 21st, 2022.  Please keep up your good work for the people and taxpayers of Massachusetts, unlike Governor Charlie Faker and all of the corrupt career politicians in Boston.

Best wishes,

Jonathan A. Melle

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Saturday, May 14th, 2022

Happy scorcher, Jonathan!

I hope you are keeping well-hydrated, staying cool, and lugging all your fans and/or AC units up from the basement with relative ease. 

But while we relax with a frozen margarita, our legislators need to be hitting the pavement. This sudden summer throws into sharp relief just how soon the end of the legislative session (July 31st) will be upon us.

There’s still a lot to do in the next two months and change. In addition to finalizing the budget, there are a number of enormous bills that have been passed by both chambers that remain held up in conference committees. These include the sports betting bill, a green energy bill, and perhaps most notably the VOTES Act, where same day or Election Day voter registration hangs in suspense. 

If you wanted to testify before one of these powerful committees to make your voice heard, you’d be out of luck. Want to merely sit in and observe one of their meetings? Sorry. Well, I’m sure that once they release the final version of the bill you could probably get your hands on a report on the changes they made. Oh wait, you can’t get that either. 

Well at the very least I bet they give legislators and the public more than just 24 hours to read the new version of the bill before it comes to a vote on the floor…

State House Scoop

Senate releases budget proposal

The Senate Ways & Means committee released their version of the 2023 budget on Tuesday, totaling $49.68 billion. Their proposal breaks from the House budget by keeping it strictly fiscal; they did not include language banning child marriage or eliminating fees associated with phone calls to incarcerated individuals, both of which were in the House’s version. And while the Senate also omitted Governor Baker’s proposed tax cuts from their budget, Senate President Karen Spilka indicated that she intends to pass tax cut legislation independent of the budget later this summer.

Fair Share Amendment launches campaign

Also known as the “millionaire’s tax,” the Fair Share Amendment is a progressive revenue measure that would tax income over $1 million by an extra 4%. If you make up to or exactly $1,000,000 in a year, first of all, please consider donating to Act on Mass. (I’m kidding! Mostly.) But more importantly, the Fair Share Amendment would not raise your taxes. Even this modest tax on a tiny fraction of Massachusetts households is estimated to generate $1.3 billion per year, which would be used to fund education and transportation. Voters will have a chance to vote on the measure at the ballot box in November. 

Act on Mass has proudly signed on as a supporter of the Fair Share campaign. We’re in desperate need of progressive revenue here in Massachusetts; despite the nickname “Taxachusetts,” we’ve actually been cutting taxes more drastically than almost any other state in the country. And during a time when reports are coming out left and right detailing just how underfunded our transit and education systems are, it’s critical that we do everything we can to ensure Fair Share becomes a reality.

Housekeeping

There will be no Saturday Scoop next week (5/21) because I will be on vacation. In the meantime, if you have any travel tips for Italy (Rome and Venice, specifically) feel free to send them my way :)

Take Action

The People’s House Ballot Question Campaign: Collect Signatures Near You!

Exciting news: we’ve revamped our volunteer sign-up system for our ongoing ballot question campaign. You can find shifts in towns near you and sign yourself up through our beautiful event webpage. Sign up for a 2-hour signature collection shift in your area:

FIND A SHIFT NEAR YOU >>

Fair Share for Massachusetts - Campaign Launch Week

We'll be hitting the doors and talking to voters about how the Fair Share Amendment could transform our communities - from well-resourced and affordable public education to safe roads and bridges and reliable public transportation. Join an event near you to get connected, get trained, and help us spread the word about YES on Fair Share this November!

VOLUNTEER >>

AAPI Heritage Month Celebration and Rally: tomorrow (Sunday) at 10:45AM, Boston Common

Join the Coalition for Antiracism in Education, or CARE, and supporters in Boston Common tomorrow for a rally celebrating AAPI Heritage Month, and showing solidarity of all ethnic communities across the state in support of anti-racism and equity. This event will feature speakers, performances, and a unity walk around the common.

That's it for today. I'll be back in your inboxes in two weeks, hopefully slightly tanned and full of pasta.

Until then,

Erin Leahy

Executive Director, Act on Mass

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May 31, 2022

Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,

Thank you for your political email this evening.  I support your advocacy organization's work gathering signatures to ask voters if they would like to know how their Massachusetts State Representative voted on bills that impact the lives of the taxpayers and people of the Commonwealth.  There is too much secrecy on Beacon Hill.  The corrupt career politicians there and beyond are only interested in the Almighty Dollar and political power to enrich themselves at the public trough.  My dad, who was a politician in Western Massachusetts over two decades ago now and I had dinner at the local hot dog stand tonight (Tuesday, 31May2022).  I told my dad that Beacon Hill lawmakers are still sitting on billions upon billions of surplus state cash plus $2.3 billion in Biden Bucks, but they have not voted on even one single tax cut, such as tax relief for Senior Citizens, Veterans, commuters, and so on.  They could give a few billion dollars to the local governments and public-school districts to lower the local property tax rate, and then they could decide what to do with the rest of their billions of dollars in state cash at a later date.  But Beacon Hill lawmakers don't care about the people and taxpayers they serve.  My dad's sarcastic reply to me tonight was that they want to spend it on their fancy lobster and steak dinners.  I had a good laugh with my dad as we digested our hot dogs on our ride back home tonight.

Best wishes,

Jonathan Melle

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Jonathan,

When we launched our ballot question campaign exactly one month ago, targeting an ambitious 34 state house districts, we didn’t know what to expect.

How will strangers in supermarket parking lots respond to our campaign? Would voters, 6,800 of them to be exact, be willing to sign their name to get our non-binding question on their ballots in November?

After a full month of collecting thousands (thousands!) of signatures across the Commonwealth, the answer is clear: the people of Massachusetts believe they deserve to know how their state rep votes. In fact, they’re shocked to learn that it’s not always the case, and even more shocked to learn that their rep voted to keep it that way.

We’re halfway through our push to ensure voters will have a voice on transparency in November, but we need your help to keep us going. Can you donate today to ensure we’re able to hold the State House accountable in November?

CHIP IN $50 >>

CHIP IN $27 >>

CHIP IN $10 >>

Tonight is also a crucial end-of-month deadline, and we’re $731 behind our fundraising needs to keep us afloat this month. Will you keep Act on Mass in the black by giving what you can before midnight tonight? 

DONATE TODAY >>

No matter how small, every contribution is huge to us. And with a little money and a lot of people power, we can move mountains--even Beacon Hill.

Grateful for all you do, and for keeping the movement alive.

Erin Leahy

Executive Director

Act on Mass

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June 4, 2022

Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,

Thank you for your weekly political email about the corrupt career politicians on Beacon Hill.  I always look forward to reading your political emails about Boston's secretive state lawmakers doing DISSERVICES against the people and taxpayers of Massachusetts.  My response to your political email today is that everything you wrote about today will be secretly decided by the dictatorial, top-down Boston State House leadership at the final few minutes of the legislative session that will officially end at midnight on July 31st, 2022.  At 12:01 am on August 1st, 2022, the Salons will begin their 5-month long taxpayer-funded vacation that will last until 12:01 am on January 1st, 2023. When the Salons go back to so-called "work" early next year of 2023, they will, once again, all receive up to 3 legislative pay raises plus public perks that are worth over 6-figures each multiplied by 200 political hacks.  Meanwhile, Beacon Hill lawmakers are still sitting on billions upon billions of state surplus cash plus $2.3 billion in state cash called "Biden Bucks".  Despite all of the state's excess billions of dollars in state cash, the Salons have yet to pass even one form of tax relief that would have helped Senior Citizens, Veterans, the Disabled and their families, working class commuters who are paying for nearly $5 per gallon gasoline, and so on.  Where will the billions upon billions of dollars in state surplus cash plus the $2.3 billion in the state's "Biden Bucks" go?  No one knows!  Outgoing Governor Charlie Baker wants almost all of it to go to supply side economics tax cuts for his fellow corporate friends and supporters, despite the fact that Boston area big businesses already receive nearly $18 billion in tax breaks per fiscal year from Beacon Hill lawmakers.  The proposed Massachusetts fiscal year 2023 state budget is nearly $50 billion.  What will state taxpayers get in return for all of their tax dollars?  The answer is more of the same DISSERVICES from their corrupt career politicians in Boston.  I agree with you about Medicare for All.  I believe that universal healthcare is a Human Right for all.  The greedy insurance industry is blocking it at the state and Swamp levels.  I disagree with you about Massachusetts legally giving state Driver's Licenses to undocumented immigrants.  I believe that the law should be Equal Justice Under Law for everyone.  It is wrong to reward undocumented immigrants who are not complying with state and federal laws.  There should be an alternative legal path for undocumented immigrants to be eligible for privileges such as state Driver's Licenses.  I am neutral about the proposed 5-year prison moratorium.  As a person who is a service-connected disabled Veteran due to my mental health condition, I view incarceration as the new psychiatric institutionalization of people with mental illnesses.  Society is supposed to humanely treat people who have symptoms connected to mental health conditions instead of punitively punishing them.  Mass incarceration is wrong because it is the opposite of the government investing in the people and the communities that they live in.  I agree with you about the proposed no cost for incarcerated individuals to call their loved ones from behind bars.  I would support them doing supervised work in the community to earn privileges such as no cost phone calls to their loved ones.  I agree with you about banning child marriages in Massachusetts and beyond.  A woman is not fully ready for pregnancy and giving birth until she is 20 years old.  Schools and community resources should educate young adults about sexual health and reproduction.  Sadly, many young adults learn about sex through the media and some via online porn, which means they don't know much at all about it.  On Beacon Hill, I was told that it is the state taxpayers who pay for sexual harassment claims made against state lawmakers, who already screw them over on many levels.  I hope the 3 candidates your public advocacy organization endorsed will fight for the much need State House reforms that always get shot down year after year in Boston.  I support the "March For Our Lives" for gun reform causes in Massachusetts and beyond next Saturday, June 11th, 2022, at 12-noon at the Boston Common.  The gun reform issue is Exhibit A in state and Swamp corrupt career politicians failing us over many years.  The Republican Party's pro-life propaganda is seen as hypocrisy, as more innocent children were gunned down than police officers so far this ongoing year of 2022.  How can the Republican Party say they will overturn the Roe v Wade limited abortion rights laws when they do nothing to stop the carnage of gun violence?  Politicians are the biggest phonies and liars out there, and the Republican Party's defense of the indefensible gun violence is the biggest illustration of why we don't trust any of them.  Meanwhile, we will go on paying for 41-year high U.S. inflation, local, state and federal taxes for the corrupt career politicians to enrich themselves at the public trough, and watch them do nothing about gun violence, economic inequality, and tax relief for low to moderate income people and taxpayers.

Best wishes,

Jonathan A. Melle

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June 4, 2022

Hi Jonathan,

It’s been a while! 

While I was snacking on cicchetti and drinking Aperol spritzes, our legislators were busy chipping away at their pile of bills to get through before the end of the session. And I couldn’t have asked for better news to come home to: the five year prison moratorium passed in the House! More on that below.

Also below, be sure to check out our first round of candidate endorsements for State Rep! And then run, don’t walk to their websites to volunteer. We need to do everything we can to elect candidates who are dedicated to their constituents, and will be stalwarts of the movement for state house reform. We only get this opportunity every two years. Let’s use it.

State House Scoop

House unanimously passes 5 year prison moratorium as part of bond bill

In a major victory for criminal justice reform advocates, House Ways & Means included prison moratorium bill language in the sure-to-pass bond bill which sailed through the House on Thursday 5/19. The language specifies that there can be no construction or expansion of correctional facilities in Massachusetts for five years, stopping plans to build a new $50 million women’s prison if signed into law. The fate of this bill now rests in the hands of the Senate which has less than two months to bring it to a vote.

Baker vetoes drivers licenses for undocumented immigrants

Governor Baker vetoed the Work and Family Mobility Act on Friday 5/27, one day after it passed both chambers with a veto-proof margin. While the veto is frustrating, it’s far from surprising; Baker had long voiced concerns about undocumented individuals using their driver’s licenses to illegally vote (a notion that the Secretary of State diplomatically called a “red herring” and Senator Chang-Diaz plainly called “fear mongering”). Both chambers plan to override the veto. 

MA Medicare for All bill sent to study for seventh session in a row

What to say? Despite the fact that Massachusetts residents overwhelmingly support implementing single payer healthcare in the state, the State House sent the bill to study this past week, again. The committee’s deadline to vote on the bill had been extended from February (remember “Joint Rule 10 day”) to June–a common tactic used by leadership to bury the news when popular bills get killed by being “sent to study.”

Senate finishes budget, next step is conference committee

The Senate passed their version of the 2023 budget last week, which now goes to a conference committee where members of the House and Senate will hash out the differences. Only after the conference committee releases the final budget will we know if some of the major policies in the House version, such as banning child marriage and no cost calls for loved ones of incarcerated individuals, will be included in the final version.

*Endorsement Alert*

We at Act on Mass are absolutely over the moon to announce our first round of endorsements for State Representative. It’s no easy task to find candidates who are down the line progressives, have shown they are dedicated to serving their communities, AND are willing to fight the status quo at the State House. Another thing these candidates all have in common? They can win. They just need our help to do it.

VOLUNTEER FOR RAUL >>

VOLUNTEER FOR VIVIAN >>

VOLUNTEER FOR JACK >>

Stay tuned for our subsequent rounds of endorsement later this spring and summer.

Take Action

Get the Prison Moratorium across the finish line

While it passed the House, prison moratorium language still has to be taken up and passed by the Senate in order to land on the governor’s desk. Here what you can do right now to ensure that happens:

CONTACT YOUR SENATOR >>

PHONEBANK OR CANVASS FOR #NoNewWomensPrison >>

March for our Lives Boston: June 11th, 12:00PM, Boston Common

In light of the tragedy at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, TX, March For Our Lives is demanding action by returning to our roots -- it’s time for another March For Our Lives. Since we last marched for gun violence prevention in 2018, we passed lifesaving legislation in states across the country. It’s time to hit the streets once again.

RSVP FOR THE MARCH >>

VOLUNTEER >>

That was a hefty Scoop! If I didn't know any better, I'd say it was shaping up to be a busy summer. Relax and soak up the remaining bits of springtime while you still can.

Until next time,

Erin Leahy

Executive Director, Act on Mass

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June 8, 2022

Hello blogger Dan Valenti,

I enjoyed reading your blog post about the Berkshire state legislative delegation - Chrome Dome Adam Hinds, Trippy Country Buffet, Shitty Pigpen, Paul Marxism, and the Career Mayor - all voting to give undocumented immigrants MA Driver's Licenses.  The Berkshire state legislative delegation to Boston does nothing but DISSERVICES to the people and taxpayers who live in Western Massachusetts.  They are 5 de facto part-time partisan political hacks in Boston who each "earn" 6-figure public pay and perks.  Berkshire County has many homeless, low income and moderate-income people and families, while Boston is still sitting on billions upon billions of dollars in state surplus cash plus $2.3 billion in "Biden Bucks" without any new tax relief for the people and taxpayers who need it the most.  When I was a then young man living in the beautiful Berkshires 2 decades ago, I felt that I had better odds winning the state lottery (voluntary regressive taxation) than finding a full-time living wage job.  Those were horrible odds, but what else did I expect from an economically unequal region that never invests in their most valuable resource: the people and taxpayers who live there.  It was difficult for me back then to read the Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle) writing glowing praise for the one political (Democrat) party rule in Massachusetts, while the people and taxpayers suffered from Boston's political corruption.  Nothing has changed in 20 years!  Predictable Pittsfield politics never changes.  I read that in North Adams, John Barrett III allegedly harasses people who don't follow his so-called dictatorial orders, but he did speak up for my dad many years ago during Nuciforo's state "ethics" persecution and retribution of my dad.  Chrome Dome Adam Hinds quickly left Pittsfield for a $690,000 home in Amherst (MA) after he married a wealthy high society woman who is a professor at Amherst College.  Mayor Linda Tyer quickly moved to Pittsfield's elitist Gated Community after she married multimillionaire CPA Barry Clairmont.  Former Mayor Jimmy Ruberto always lived in Naples, Florida, even when he served as Mayor of Pittsfield for 8 long years of his Rolodex of population and job loss along with Pittsfield's high local taxes, violent crime and failing public schools.  I wish the "Rust Belt", Urban, Suburban, and Rural America all had politicians who invested in the people instead of voting to give undocumented immigrants state Driver's Licenses so they can support and illegally vote for Democratic Party lawmakers who reward lawbreakers who supposedly drive to work, as well as commit crimes, sell drugs, and put additional strain on the social safety net.

Best wishes,

Jonathan A. Melle

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Our Opinion: "Hinds' derailed LG campaign underscores uphill battle of seeking statewide office from Western Mass."

The Berkshire Eagle, June 8, 2022

WORCESTER — The state senator representing Berkshire County lost his bid this weekend to win to right to compete for the post of lieutenant governor.

State Sen. Adam Hinds’ campaign for lieutenant governor began last October in Pittsfield, but it ended over the weekend in Worcester.

Sen. Hinds received 12.4 percent of the delegate vote at the Democrats’ state convention, falling just short of the 15 percent needed to secure a spot on the ballot for September’s primary.

In the race to see who will win the No. 2 seat in the state’s executive branch, what little Berkshire County representation there was has dropped to none.

It’s a tough break for Sen. Hinds, who passed up a reelection bid for the county’s only state Senate seat to run for LG. It also underscores the uphill battle facing experienced, capable candidates from Western Massachusetts and particularly the Berkshires who seek statewide office.

Before winning election to the state Senate in 2016, Sen. Hinds served on U.S. Rep. John Olver’s 2000 reelection team and John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign, spent nearly a decade working for the United Nations, and held leadership positions in a couple notable Berkshire nonprofits. That a candidate of that caliber can’t even keep his name in the mix for the lieutenant gubernatorial primary is a sad political reality for our overlooked and underserved region and anyone from it who would seek to bring leadership and vision to an elected statewide position.

The Democratic primary for lieutenant governor will still feature one name from the greater Western Mass. region: state Sen. Eric Lesser, D-Longmeadow. Still, while Sen. Lesser surpassed the 15 percent delegate threshold at the Democratic convention, his 21 percent was the lowest of the three candidates to make the cut; Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll topped the LG field with 41 percent of delegates, securing the state party’s endorsement.

Based on the results of the Democratic convention, it appears that Sen. Lesser will be the only candidate from west of I-495 who will appear on the Democratic primary ballot for any major statewide contest — governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general or state auditor. The Republican primary ballot does not appear to be significantly more geographically representative, either.

While Western Massachusetts’ population is smaller than that of the other half of the state, we aren’t nonexistent. The commonwealth has plenty of constituents in our neck of the woods who often feel unseen and unrepresented by the decision-making on Beacon Hill. The Democratic state convention’s outcome at least partly speaks to why, and that regional inequity will worsen in the near future when redistricting reduces the number Berkshire seats on Beacon Hill and further dilutes the county’s state Senate representation, not to mention the eastward expansion of Massachusetts’ 1st congressional district.

After much speculation and wait, state Sen. Adam Hinds on Wednesday officially announced his bid for lieutenant governor.

When Sen. Hinds announced his run for lieutenant governor, we welcomed the chance for a statewide race to bring some visibility to the issues most affecting Berkshire County residents and Western Massachusetts in general. His candidacy did not survive the convention, but the priorities on which he ran — expanding housing access, addressing economic inequality, improving public transportation — still resonate deeply here in the Berkshires and throughout the commonwealth.

Sen. Hinds ran for lieutenant governor because he has much of substance to say about these important matters, and while it was cut short, we appreciate that his issues-oriented campaign focused on the things impacting his constituents. We need more of that — in Boston, D.C. and everywhere in between.

Whatever Sen. Hinds’ next move is, we wish him luck and hope he continues speaking up on these issues and what we can do about them.

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June 11, 2022

Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,

Thank you for your weekly political email letter about Beacon Hill State House politics.  I wish to explain to you something you probably already know all too well.  While Massachusetts is a one political party state, there are many Democrats - past, present and future - in Boston who only say they are Democrats to get elected and be in the favor of Boston's political elites for their own political gain.  In my native hometown of Pittsfield, former State Representative Peter Larkin, D - Pittsfield, served GE's corporate interests for many years and sided with Boston's financial corporate interests instead of the people he represented in my native distressed postindustrial city.  Former State Senator Andrea Nuciforo, Jr. (D - Pittsfield) was - and still is - a fiscal conservative in Boston, which got him in trouble and ended his political career many years ago.  Peter Larkin is now a greedy registered Beacon Hill lobbyist.  Nuciforo is a corporate financial Attorney in Boston, as well as a March of 2017 cofounder of Berkshire Roots, which is his multimillion-dollar marijuana business in Pittsfield and East Boston.  Deval Patrick, similar to Nuciforo, is a corporate financial Attorney, who enacted casino gambling, which is a fiscal conservative's dream of making billions of dollars via (voluntary) regressive taxation.  Just because a corrupt politician says that he or she is a Democrat doesn't mean that they aren't conservative.  Corrupt career politicians' first priority is getting their cut of the taxpayers' loot to enrich themselves at the public trough, while proverbial little old ladies struggle to pay for their food, medicine and housing.  We the People are the Ruling Elites' ATMs and Insurance Policies to cash in when they need money to cover their financial losses.  Beacon Hill lawmakers are still sitting on billions upon billions of dollars in surplus state cash plus $2.3 billion in "Biden Bucks".  If these so-called Democrats on Beacon Hill really gave a damn about us common people, then they would have voted for middle class tax relief and additional state aid to local governments and public-school districts by now, but they have done little to nothing with the huge amount of surplus public dollars.

I agree with you that Beacon Hill lawmakers are wrong to omit SDR, which is same day voting registration, out of their election reform bill that is in conference committee, and probably won't be voted on until the final minutes of July 31st, 2022, similar to many other bills in Boston.  I agree with you that it is wrong that 92 out of 160 State Representatives have no opposition, and 16 State Senators have no opposition in the November 2022 state government election.  I believe it is due to retribution by the corrupt career politicians.  When a candidate runs against an Incumbent and loses almost all of the time, they and their supporters face retribution for opposing the Incumbent.  Massachusetts is not supposed to be a big fiefdom with 351 mini-fiefdoms (cities and towns), but the Almighty Dollar and political power always comes first, while democracy and public advocacy always comes last in Boston and beyond.

Once again, I disagree with you about Beacon Hill lawmakers passing a law giving undocumented immigrants state Driver's Licenses.  We are supposed to have Equal Justice Under Law, not laws that contradict other laws that reward people who are living in our country illegally with Driver's Licenses.  Why were there no public hearings on Beacon Hill in 2022 on this issue?  What if there are increased fatal and serious automobile accidents due to this newly passed law?  What if there is increased voting fraud due to this newly passed law?  What if the undocumented immigrants provide false documents to hide their past and true identities?  What if all of the people who are here legally face increased violent crime and drug dealer crimes due to this newly passed law?  Why weren't these issues and questions answered by Beacon Hill lawmakers?

I agree with you about the proposed law to outlaw revenge porn.  I agree with you about the proposed marijuana reforms.  I am frustrated about it because the marijuana reforms were supposed to happen years ago, but the politically connected marijuana businessmen benefited instead of the ex-convicts, minorities and Veterans.  I agree with you that we should continue to demand political action to stop the epidemic of gun violence in our country.  Sadly, the Swamp's biggest business is guns, along with butter, which means Swamp money for Wall Street that finds its way to K Street which finds its way to said to be billionaire insider stock trader Speaker Nancy Pelosi and company.  I agree with your ballot question campaign to ask voters if they want Sunshine laws and rules reforms on Beacon Hill, along with universal healthcare, which is a Human Right for ALL.

If you, Erin Leahy, ran for Governor of Massachusetts or higher, you would have my support in politics.  Your public advocacy is an inspiration for me to write political emails, blog, and tell off all of the corrupt career politicians and greedy registered lobbyists that they only do DISSERVICES against the people and taxpayers in order to enrich themselves at the public trough.

Best wishes,

Jonathan A. Melle

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June 11, 2022

Jonathan,

ACs are blasting, my tomato plants are blossoming, and I’m suddenly painfully aware of how many weekends there are until September (thirteen), so you know what that means: it’s summertime.

And this summer is election season in Massachusetts. Since signature deadlines have come and gone, I’ve been thinking a lot about incumbency. In particular, the fact that 92 representatives and 16 senators face no challengers this year. This means that most Massachusetts voters will only have one choice at the ballot box for one if not both of their state legislators. 

Not exactly democracy in action.

And even in the districts where incumbents face a challenger, the odds are stacked against them; it is incumbents who make the rules, after all. 

Speaking of which…

State House Scoop

Same-day registration removed from final version of VOTES Act

The conference committee tasked with reconciling the House and Senate versions of the VOTES Act, the suite of voting reforms passed by each chamber earlier this year, released their compromise version of the bill this week. The good news: it makes vote-by-mail and early voting permanent, and includes protections for jail-based voting. The bad and deeply frustrating news: Same Day Voter Registration, included in the Senate version but removed from the House’s version by House Leadership, is not in the final version of the bill. Instead, they opted to move up the deadline to register before an election from 20 days to 10.

Let’s be clear about what we just lost: Same Day Registration (SDR) is estimated to increase voter turnout by an average of 10%, and as high as 17% for voters of color. That’s conservatively 300,000 would-be re-enfranchised voters. 21 states and most of New England have adopted this policy. Bills for SDR have been filed in the MA House for 15 years, consistently passing in the Senate and dying in the House. Why in the world would Massachusetts, Democratic stronghold, be striking down voting access? Maybe because not everyone wants more people to vote.  

Senate & House override Baker’s veto of Work & Family Mobility Act

In the culmination of decades of advocacy and activism led by the immigrant community, a bill to allow undocumented individuals to obtain drivers licenses in Massachusetts passed into law this week after both chambers successfully overrode the governor’s veto. As of July of next year, immigrants without federal status will be able to drive their children to school without fear of deportation. As we celebrate this massive victory, we must also recognize the 20 years of activism it took to pass this critical legislation; MA should have been the first state to take this step, not the 16th.

In other news

The House passed a few promising bills in the last few weeks:

Outlawing revenge porn. Following 48 other states, the House voted unanimously to outlaw “revenge porn” - the practice of sharing someone’s sexually explicit images without their consent. This is a huge win for survivors of this increasingly common form of harassment.  The bill now heads to the Senate for approval.

Marijuana industry reform. Answering demands from activists and marijuana industry workers, the House passed a bill of equity-focused reforms for the industry. Namely, the bill would use revenue from marijuana taxes towards increasing opportunities for individuals impacted by criminalization of marijuana. As a similar bill passed the Senate in April, the bills now head to conference committee.

Take Action

*TIME AND LOCATION CHANGE* March For Our Lives TODAY @ Columbus Park, 3:00-5:00 PM

In light of the tragedy at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, TX, March For Our Lives is demanding action by returning to our roots -- it’s time for another March For Our Lives. Since we last marched for gun violence prevention in 2018, we passed lifesaving legislation in states across the country. It’s time to hit the streets once again.

RSVP >>

Ballot Question Campaign: FINAL STRETCH

We have less than a month left to gather all the signatures we need to get our transparency ballot question and Mass-Care’s single payer healthcare question on the ballot. We can pull this off, but we’re falling behind. We need everyone to chip in an hour or two of their time this month so we can give millions of Bay Staters a voice on these issues in November. 

Join us at a signature collecting event near you!

SIGN UP FOR A 2HR SHIFT >>

That's all for now! Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Until next time,

Erin Leahy

Executive Director, Act on Mass

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June 15, 2022

When does a Massachusetts Sheriff retire?

The day they are elected

Patrick Fennell

My response: Speaker Nancy Pelosi is said to be a billionaire from her legal insider trading Pentagon filled stock portfolio.  A lot of Swamp politicians are a lot wealthier than they say they are on paper.  They pick on Putin's corrupt group of billionaires in Russia's Oligarchy without telling us the truth of how they all got to be so wealthy in the Swamp.

The Massachusetts state offices such as D.A., Sheriff, State Representatives, State Senators, and so on are similar to someone like you or me winning the state lottery jackpot.  These corrupt career politicians make millions of dollars over their corrupt careers serving the people of Massachusetts - more like doing DISSERVICES against us while making us pay them a lot of money for proverbially stealing our hard-earned tax dollars.  Andrea Harrington versus Tim Shugrue will see one of them winning the proverbial state lottery jackpot.  Alf Barbalunga versus Tom Bowler will see both of them winning the proverbial state lottery jackpot.  Chrome Dome Adam Hinds recently married into a wealthy family, and when his term as State Senator ends soon, he will have a plum political job lined up for him in 2023.  Shitty Pigpen is marking his 20th year in Boston, and it would take us all day to count all of his public pay raises and perks he happily voted for and accepted for himself since early-2003.  John Barrett III is marking just about as many years in state and local political office as Joe Biden has been in the Swamp.  Trippy Country Buffet writes op-ed articles from Boston to Pittsfield arguing for state tax increases, but she never offers to lead by example by cutting her own public pay and perks.  Paul Marxism is a good state Socialist who votes in favor of his political bosses in Boston and their politically connected labor unions.

Best wishes,

Jonathan A. Melle

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Howie Carr: "Democrats spark an exodus of wealth from Massachusetts"

The people who work for a living have already largely bailed out

By Howie Carr [howard.carr@medianewsgroup.com], op-ed, The Boston Herald, June 15, 2022

One-quarter of the Massachusetts population is considering leaving the state?

Surely that number can’t possibly be true. It’s got to be a lot higher percentage than that.

This survey was commissioned by the Fiscal Alliance Foundation (FAF) of 750 registered voters in the state. It was conducted earlier this month.

“The poll asked voters if they are considering or have made plans to leave Massachusetts to reside somewhere else and nearly 1 in 4 voters responded that they are.”

Granted, the FAF is a conservative group, opposed to the so-called millionaires’ tax which will be on the statewide ballot in November. But I still believe the pollsters are lowballing the number of people who want out of this benighted Commonwealth.

When it comes to trending in the wrong direction, Massachusetts traditionally fights way above its weight class. During the Panic, under the abysmal leadership of Gov. Charlie Baker, the state was at times simultaneously number one in the nation in unemployment and number three in the death rate.

But an even better gauge of just how quickly Massachusetts is failing is the annual survey by Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of the migration of taxpayers and what the Wall Street Journal calls “aggregate adjusted gross income between states.”

Remember, this is only about taxpayers, that is, people who work for a living, who produce the goods and services consumed by the non-working classes, i.e., Democrats.

Massachusetts currently ranks 15th in population among the 50 states. But according to the latest IRS statistics, from 2020, it ranked fourth in the exodus of wealth — $2.6 billion vanished.

The only three states that shed more wealth than Massachusetts were New York ($19.5 billion gone), California ($17.8 billion) and Illinois ($8.5 billion).

See what I mean about Massachusetts fighting above its weight class?

We are getting poorer faster than a lot of the bigger states, like New Jersey (down $2.3 billion), Ohio ($1.4 billion) and Pennsylvania ($1.2 billion).

As to which states working people are fleeing to, you can probably guess. (Hint: they don’t have state income taxes.)

For the record, Florida gained $23.7 billion in wealth, with Texas taking in an extra $6.3 billion. In all, four of the top 10 fastest-growing-in-income states have … no state income taxes.

Coincidence? Isn’t it an accepted fact that whatever you tax, you get less of? And conversely, that whatever you subsidize, you get more of?

In Massachusetts, the current plan is to tax working people, and to subsidize those who don’t work – especially illegal immigrants.

Guess what we’re going to get less of, and more of.

The FAF survey was primarily designed to measure the status of the referendum question to impose a graduated income tax on the state. The hackerama has long dreamed of jacking up the income tax rate from 5% to 9%, but only on “millionaires,” wink wink nudge nudge.

Of course, if this folly becomes law, the “millionaires” will either flee or get under the threshold. Within a couple of years, everyone making over, say, $40,000 a year will be a millionaire, at least for tax purposes.

That’s what’s happened everywhere this grift has ever been run. You could look it up.

Which is why the six previous attempts to beggar the working classes on behalf of the non-working classes have flopped so spectacularly since 1962 — five times at the ballot box and once in the courts.

It should fail again this year, given the catastrophe that is the Biden administration. It’s looking like a red-wave year, but in Massachusetts anyway, there’s a problem with that GOP scenario.

The people who work for a living have already largely bailed out of Massachusetts. That’s what those statistics from the IRS prove. This soak-the-working-classes tax scam will just accelerate the exodus.

I haven’t seen Massachusetts voters this surly since 1990, when the Republicans swept offices few even knew existed. The only difference this year is that so many of the blue collars and small-business owners who fueled that insurrection in 1990 have since voted with their feet.

They’re in Florida, or somewhere else where you don’t have a target on your back if you have a real job. Thank goodness for the new technology of apps and Internet streaming — my audience can still listen to my radio show in Florida or Texas. And they do.

First they departed Boston. Then they left the state. Those who have remained behind, or drifted in are, in ever higher percentages, hacks, trust-funders, illegal aliens or some combination thereof. If they “work” at all, it’s at nonprofits,or in some such similar parasitical, paper-shuffling, income-redistributing bureaucracies.

As the Wall Street Journal noted in its editorial about “The Great Pandemic Wealth Migration:”

“When states lose taxpayers, they lose tax revenue that supports public services. Democrats in liberal states try to compensate by raising taxes, which drives away more people.”

Which is what the “millionaires tax” would do. It would finally finish off Massachusetts.

But that’s what the state’s payroll patriots want. That’s why they’re all in for drivers’ licenses for illegals.

Don’t you know, the undocumented Democrats need those licenses, so they can drive from their free public housing to the supermarkets where they load up on supplies with their free EBT cards and their WIC certificates, after which they head over to the free health clinic for some free health care with their EBT cards, before going to the courthouse to meet with their free translators and free public defenders, and then maybe off to the dentist’s office in the afternoon for some free dental care.

That’s life in the “gateway cities.” The problem with gates, though, is that you can open them to get in … or get out.

One out of four taxpayers want out? I’m going to say a lot more than 25% of the taxpayers in Massachusetts can’t wait to leave this Third World flophouse that the Democrats are turning the state into.

Readers' Comments:

Don't forget Fidelity moved out and now Raytheon is following, but as long as the EBT cards are still paid for each month by the same suckers who continue to vote in the check writers, nothing will change except property values and expected inheritances.

-&-

The democrats vison - half the state working for the government the other half collecting a check from the government

-&-

Right Howie what a dump. Only the MOST educated state, top 3 lowest poverty rate, second most vaccinated state and most restrictive gun laws. Safe travels Howie, hope you enjoy Mississippi.

-&-

By the way, according to U.S. News, Massachusetts ranks number one for business.

-&-

Massachusetts ranks 27th in state income taxes and 21st in total tax burden, so it's average.

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June 18, 2022

Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,

I read your two political emails this past week about Beacon Hill politics.  Your "Saturday Scoop" political letter said that there is only 6 weeks left in the state legislative session before state lawmakers go off on their 5 monthslong taxpayer-funded vacation from August 1st, 2022 to December 31st, 2022.  While there has been a few bills passed recently, there are a lot of bills that have not been passed yet with only 6 weeks to go.  Beacon Hill lawmakers will use the July 31st deadline to pass watered down bills into state laws without transparency, debate and public input.  Beacon Hill lawmakers believe that open and democratic governance is the enemy of efficiency, but we know better than that.

Your Wednesday political letter explained that the week prior, two incredibly popular pieces of legislation were quietly killed on Beacon Hill: MA Medicare for All, and Same Day Voter Registration.  You hit the proverbial nail on its head when you wrote that corporate money and career interests have taken precedence over the will of the voters.

Do you understand why the ruling elites are in bed with the financial and corporate elites? The answer is that they all enrich themselves at the public trough.  Power:Money::Money:Power.  Speaker Nancy Pelosi is said to be a billionaire.  Wall Street Investment Banks were bailed out with trillions of federal tax dollars in 2008 - 2009, which was the last time the federal minimum wage was raised to a paltry $7.25 per hour.  Beacon Hill lawmakers give Boston area big businesses a little less than $18 billion per fiscal year in state tax breaks, while they voted to have the people vote on a referendum this November of 2022 to place a surtax on personal incomes above $1 million per year, while Boston is still sitting on a little less than $7 billion in surplus state cash plus $2.3 billion in "Biden Bucks".  Cities and Townships have multimillion dollar Slush Funds for the benefit of their politically connected vested and special interests, while the local people and taxpayers receive substandard public services and overpriced public school districts in return for their hard-earned tax dollars.

I hope you will always keep up your good public advocacy work on behalf of the people of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Best wishes,

Jonathan Melle

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Saturday, June 18, 2022

Jonathan,

With six precious weeks until the end of the legislative session, there has been a steady trickle of bills passing the State House. But this trickle will have to turn into a fire hose if our legislators are to pass everything on their to-do list before the end of July.

Of the bills that are still in play, some have been passed by one chamber but not the other (Healthy Youth Act, prescription drug cost oversight, no cost calls), some remain in mysterious conference committees (green energy bill, sports betting) and who knows what might trigger a Baker veto. 

As the deadline draws nearer, we must stay vigilant about the quality of bills that make it to the floor and how they’re getting passed. Leadership has a pattern of watering down progressive bills in committee, rushing them to a vote, and using the impending deadline to limit amendments and actual debate; they try to paint open and democratic processes as the enemy of efficiency. 

But we know better.

 

State House Scoop

5 year prison moratorium on its way to Baker’s desk

The Senate joined the House in passing a bill that would institute a five-year moratorium on prison construction in Massachusetts Thursday afternoon. The moratorium, a priority for criminal justice reform advocates, passed as a part of a larger $5 billion infrastructure bill. This comes at a critical time when incarceration rates in MA have been steadily decreasing while spending has somehow been increasing. In particular, this bill language would stop the construction of the $50 million new women’s prison being planned by the Baker administration. Isn’t it funny how Republicans are all fiscal conservatives until it comes to funding mass incarceration?

House passes mental health bill, sends it to conference committee

Taking up the mantle 7 months after the Senate passed their bill on the same topic, the House unanimously passed a mental health-focused bill this week. The bill seeks to increase access to behavioral health care for young people and would require health insurers to cover an annual mental health assessment, among other provisions. According to House Leadership, the hope is to combine the differing House and Senate bills into a final, more comprehensive mental health bill. Lord knows after 2+ years of Covid, we could use it.

Republicans begin attempt to repeal drivers license bill

A recently-passed law can be repealed via initiative petition during the same session, but it takes 40,000 signatures to put it on the ballot. A handful of MA Republicans wasted no time after the passage of the Work and Family Mobility Act, which would allow undocumented immigrants to obtain a driver’s license, to file paperwork to repeal it. Whether they will be able to both gather enough signatures by the 9/7 deadline and convince a majority of MA voters to repeal the law is another question entirely.

Lyft & Uber-backed ballot question struck down by supreme court

Finally, some GOOD news from a supreme court decision: the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts struck down a major referendum question poised to be on the ballot this November. The question, backed by millions of dollars from rideshare apps like Uber and Lyft, would have miscategorized their employees as contractors, letting them off the hook for providing benefits and other employee rights. If you were planning on volunteering for the Massachusetts Is Not For Sale counter-campaign and now have some time on your hands, why not volunteer for the Fair Share Campaign instead?

 

Take Action

LAST CALL: help democracy & single payer get on the ballot!

We’re at risk of not getting our non-binding questions on the ballot in a few key districts. We need all hands on deck to cross the 200 signature threshold in these districts:

BOSTON AREA >>

PITTSFIELD >>

ANDOVER >>

MARLBOROUGH >>

The Act on Mass and Mass-Care team will be collecting signatures in Pittsfield this weekend! (In fact, this is the first Scoop I’ve ever sent while going 70mph on the Pike.) (Don’t worry, I’m not driving.) Come join us for an hour or two! I would love to meet you in person.

 

Massachusetts Education Justice Alliance Virtual Events

Our friends at MEJA are hosting two important education equity and justice virtual conversations this week:

Tuesday 6/21 7:00PM: The “Segrenomics” of Education - Join the important discussion with Dr. Rooks about her research on: segrenomics, connecting the dots between economics with segregated schooling and community organizers from across the state on their work.

REGISTER  >>

Wednesday 6/22 4:00PM: Education Budget Briefing - Calling education justice advocates and organizers! Join us for K-12 and higher education funding updates on the State Budget, the Supplemental budget, ARPA, and the Fair Share Amendment.

REGISTER  >>

 

That’s all for now. Hope to see you at one of our upcoming signature collection shifts!

Until then,

Erin Leahy

Executive Director, Act on Mass

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Wednesday, June 15, 2022

Jonathan,

Just last week, two incredibly popular pieces of legislation were quietly killed on Beacon Hill: MA Medicare for All, and Same Day Voter Registration.

These two policies have been filed in the MA legislature for decades, and have the overwhelming support of Massachusetts voters. They have even been codified in the Massachusetts Democratic Party platform. And yet our Democratic supermajority in the State House kills them session after session after session.

Act on Mass was founded with one core purpose: to hold the State House accountable to the people. Help us do just that by making a contribution to Act on Mass today:

DONATE TODAY >>

As corporate money and career interests have taken precedence over the will of the voters, it has never been more important to stand up for and safeguard our democracy. Yes, even here in our own backyard. 

We at Act on Mass don’t take corporate or PAC money. We rely on everyday people like you to keep our small but mighty movement afloat. Can you chip in today to sustain our work? Even a small donation, whatever you can afford, is big to us.

It is always easier for those in power, from president to state rep, to maintain the status quo. That’s why we, the people, need to constantly push the powerful to do the job that we hired them to do, not the job that helps them stay in power.

Grateful to be fighting for a more democratic Massachusetts alongside you,

Erin Leahy

Executive Director

Act on Mass

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June 27, 2022

Hello Patrick Fennell,

Please read today's (6/27/2022) news article in the Boston Herald by journalist Matthew Medsger about Beacon Hill lawmakers not voting on tax relief measures despite having a record high over $6.6 billion in its Slush Fund also known as its "Rainy Day Fund".  The State House and State Senate leaders canceled a 2pm meeting with Governor Charlie Baker today to avoid discussing with him his administration's proposals to provide tax relief to Senior Citizens, Veterans, working-class commuters, and so on.

Beacon Hill lawmakers are still nowhere near voting on the fiscal year 2023 Massachusetts state budget that will begin on this upcoming Friday, July 1st, 2022.  The state Legislature sent Baker a $6 billion temporary spending plan to give them more time to pass the $50 billion state budget.  The state Legislature only has one month and three days before they go on their 5-monthslong taxpayer-funded vacation from August 1st, 2022 to December 31st, 2022.

My view of all of Beacon Hill lawmakers is that they represent state government at its worst.  The $6.6 billion state government Slush Fund belongs to the people and taxpayers of Massachusetts.  Beacon Hill lawmakers have no right to sit on that record high amount of surplus state cash.  The other thing that comes to my mind is that Beacon Hill lawmakers are sitting on the money so that they can secretly spend the money in the future on enriching themselves and their wealthy big business campaign donors at the public trough (like they always do).  Beacon Hill lawmakers always vote down Sunshine Laws to open up the state government's "Cooked Books" to the news media, public advocacy groups such as Erin Leahy's Act on Mass, and the people and taxpayers.

Last April of 2021, the Boston Globe reported that Beacon Hill lawmakers gives away a little less than $18 billion per fiscal year in state tax breaks to Boston area big businesses who have no presence in many regions of the Commonwealth such as my native Berkshire County.  The Massachusetts State Lottery reported nearly one year ago that fiscal year 2021 saw record profits.  The Massachusetts Casinos recently reported over $1 billion in gambling profits.  The marijuana businesses recently reported over $1 billion in pot profits.  Massachusetts heavily taxes alcohol and tobacco.  The lottery, casinos, marijuana, alcohol and tobacco are all (voluntary) regressive taxation schemes that fall the hardest on low to moderate income people and taxpayers.

Putting it all together, Beacon Hill lawmakers are sitting on over $6.6 billion in surplus state cash, but they have not passed any tax relief measures, and the legislative leaders avoided meeting with Governor Charlie Baker today to discuss his administration's proposals to provide tax relief to Senior Citizens, Veterans, working-class commuters, renters, and so on.  Beacon Hill lawmakers always vote down Sunshine Laws to keep the public in the dark about how tens of billions of state dollars are spent every fiscal year under Boston's Golden Dome.  The Boston Globe reported that a little less than $18 billion per fiscal year goes to state tax breaks to wealthy Boston area big businesses (who donate to Beacon Hill lawmakers' campaign coffers).  Beacon Hill lawmakers proverbially assault low to moderate income state taxpayers with (voluntary) regressive taxation schemes such as the state lottery and the like.  The fiscal year 2023 Massachusetts state budget will not be passed on time.  On August 1st, 2022, Beacon Hill lawmakers will go on a 5-monthslong taxpayer-funded vacation through December 31st, 2022.

Best wishes,

Jonathan Melle

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"Decision on tax cuts in Massachusetts delayed, again"

By Matthew Medsger | mmedsger@bostonherald.com | Boston Herald | June 27, 2022

Gov. Charlie Baker really wants the Legislature to move forward with his plan to cut taxes, hopefully before the end of their session.

“There is always a lot of stuff that is moving around when you get to the last 30 days of the session. I just really want to make sure that these tax proposals don’t get lost,” he told a room full of reporters at the State House Monday [June 27, 2022].

The leaders of the state Legislature, who sent his January proposal to committee months ago, seem disinclined to listen at the moment, if their canceled meeting with the governor is any indication.

They were to meet about two hours later Monday, after Baker summoned the press to his office to plead his case for tax cuts, about $700 million worth.

The weekly leadership meeting was apparently canceled, according to a release sent out by Senate President Karen Spilka’s office, 15 minutes before it was to begin at 2 p.m., due to a scheduling conflict.

That conflict didn’t prevent Spilka from meeting with House Speaker Ronald Mariano, who was seen heading to her office shortly after Baker’s staff confirmed the governor’s meeting with the legislative leaders had been dropped.

The pair may have been dodging the governor out of simple necessity.

They don’t have a whole lot of time left to get their work done; the session is supposed to end before August.

There are a number of sizable bills still pending, including a bill that would legalize sports betting and a mental health care investment both leaders have cited as important.

Besides which, they were to finish hammering out the differences between the two chambers’ equally large but substantively different nearly $50 billion budget this week.

House Ways and Means Chairman Aaron Michlewitz was seen entering Spilka’s office with Mariano. Any budget negotiations between the two chambers is bound to include him.

Their negotiations may not being going too well, if their morning activities are any indication. The Legislature sent Baker a $6 billion temporary spending plan to cover the time between the end of this fiscal year and when they come to a compromise.

“As the legislative session comes to a close, and given the recent SCOTUS opinions, the Speaker and House leadership are busy with active discussions about pending legislative items,” a spokesperson for Mariano told reporters as he went into Spilka’s office.

Legislative leaders have told the press they will consider some form of tax relief, but not exactly what Baker has asked for. Baker’s plan would provide relief for low-income residents of the commonwealth, seniors, and renters, and lower the estate and capital gains taxes.

Herald wire services contributed.

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July 2, 2022

Chrome Dome Adam Hinds endorsed Paul Marxism for his mostly rural State Senate seat that will go from 52 cities and towns to 57 next year.

Outgoing Western Mass. State Senator Hinds endorses fellow Berkshire delegation member State Rep. Mark to succeed him | WAMC

Beacon Hill lawmakers have NOT passed the fiscal year 2023 Massachusetts state budget that began on July 1st, 2022.  Boston is still sitting on over $6.6 billion in surplus state cash plus $2.3 billion in state "Biden Bucks".  There has been no low to moderate income tax relief, despite of over $8.9 billion in surplus state cash plus "Biden Bucks".  Corrupt career politicians such as Chrome Dome Adam Hinds & Paul Marxism are both failures!

Jonathan A. Melle

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July 2, 2022

Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,

Thank you for your "Saturday Scoop" political email about Beacon Hill politics.  I always look forward to reading your political emails about the corrupt career politicians in Boston.  By the end of this Summer month of July of 2022, Beacon Hill lawmakers finish their 7-month-long (de facto part-time) legislative session and then they will go on their 5-month-long taxpayer-funded vacation through the end of the year.  Beacon Hill lawmakers did not pass the fiscal year 2023 state budget yet, despite the fiscal year starting on July 1st, 2022.  They cannot say they did not have the money because Governor Charlie Baker said that the Massachusetts State Legislature never had as much surplus state funds as they do now, which is over $6.6 billion plus $2.3 billion in "Biden Bucks", in the over 400 years of Massachusetts government. 

With less than one month to go, Beacon Hill lawmakers have many bills to be passed.  They usually pass their bills at the final minutes of their legislative session to limit debate, transparency, and the like.  The State Senate usually passes more progressive (and expensive) bills, and the State House usually kills the bills.  It is ironic that both legislative chambers are full of Democrats, but the Almighty Dollar and Power almost always trumps partisan policies.  The only solution is to vote out most of the corrupt career politicians in Boston and beyond, but they have too much Money and Power to be ousted.

I had brunch out with my dad today, who will turn 78 years old later this month.  I asked my dad what is worse: 2-weeks of one's yearly income in taxes with no political representation under King George III 246 years ago or somewhere around 5 months of one's yearly income in taxes with pseudo-political representation under corrupt career politicians in 2022?  My dad laughed and answered that 2-weeks of one's yearly income sounds a lot better than what we have now.  I went onto list a number of corrupt career politicians who died in elected office, including Ted Kennedy and John McCain.  Said to be billionaire Speaker Nancy Pelosi is 82, U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell is 80, and Joe Biden will turn 80 around Thanksgiving of 2022.  Whatever happened to retirement?  The Almighty Dollar and Power are much better for the Ruling Elites than retiring and letting new and fresh blood into the political system.  The problem for most of the American people is that it is not the 1970s anymore!

Best wishes,

Jonathan A. Melle

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June 2, 2022

Hi Jonathan,

The end of the legislative session is just a month away (or, according to how I measure time, four Saturday Scoops away). And four Scoops, which might be plenty of ice cream to cool down this fourth of July weekend, is not enough time to finish everything our legislators have started. To make matters worse, they’ve already fallen behind; the 2023 Budget, which was due by July 1st, remains unfinished. In fact, this will be the twelfth year in a row that our lawmakers missed their budget deadline, and we are one of only 3 states that has yet to complete this task.

Also on the to-do list: bills on green energy, sports betting, mental health and more are being negotiated in conference committees. More bills (including those described below) have been passed by one chamber but not the other. Because of competing priorities of House and Senate leadership, many of these will die before ever reaching the second vote they need to land on Baker’s desk. Historically, the Senate is the chamber that passes more popular progressive bills, which then go to die in the House. 

Hopefully that’s one pattern they do decide to break.

State House Scoop

House passes major abortion bill in response to overturn of Roe v. Wade

The House passed a sweeping reproductive rights bill (H.4930) on Wednesday, expanding upon the executive order signed by Governor Baker last week. The bill would protect MA healthcare providers from “bounty-style” laws such as SB8 in Texas which gives private citizens the right, and a $10,000 financial incentive, to sue people who seek or provide abortions. Anticipating that the recent Supreme Court decision could also be used to outlaw gender affirming healthcare for transgender patients, the House bill extends these protections to individuals providing these services as well.

This bill would also expand abortion rights here in Massachusetts by allowing abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy in the case of a severe fetal anomaly, AND would require health insurers to cover abortion and abortion-related care without copays, deductibles, or other cost-sharing. In other words, this bill would be monumental if passed into law. It sailed through the House with a bipartisan veto-proof majority, although not all Dems got behind it; Democratic Reps Colleen Garry, Russell Holmes, John Rogers, Alan Silvia, Jeffrey Turco, and Bud Williams voted against the bill, putting them to the political right of 16 of their Republican colleagues.

Senate passes two LGBTQ-focused bills before end of Pride month, & asset forfeiture reform bill

Repeal archaic laws: one of our priority bills, this legislation would repeal old anti-LGBTQ laws that are still on the books in Massachusetts. According to current MA law, sodomy as well as “unnatural or lascivious” sex is illegal. (Don’t worry, I also didn’t know what “lascivious” meant. Apparently: “feeling or revealing an overt and often offensive sexual desire.”) How scandalous! 

Expanding HIV prevention services: This bill allows pharmacies to offer a 60-day supply of PrEP, a drug used to prevent the contraction of HIV, without a prescription. This could be a game-changer for communities of color and low-income communities who have additional barriers to accessing healthcare. In order for the bill to become law, the House has to bring it to a vote. This will be a great test to see if our legislators still prioritize LGBTQ people after Pride month...

Civil asset forfeiture reform: Civil asset forfeiture is when the police can confiscate money and personal property that they allege was involved with a crime. That’s right, just alleged; crimes don’t even have to be charged, never mind proven for the police to take someone’s money, car, or home. (If I may, I highly highly recommend the John Oliver video on this topic. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, mostly in frustration.) The bill passed by the Senate this week raises the burden of proof for law enforcement in these types of cases. And it’s about time; Massachusetts has the lowest burden of proof for asset forfeiture in the country. Massachusetts exceptionalism indeed!

A quick note from the author: the legislature can move when it wants to

I want to take a moment to acknowledge the work that was done on Beacon Hill this week; our House reps were swift to address the overturn of Roe by passing a bill in less than a week. The Senate passed a handful of quality bills all in one session (although it is true that many of these bills are likely to die in the House). I want to leave you with one thought: every week could be like this. Imagine a legislature that is putting its Democratic supermajority to work, passing four major bills that would uplift the lives of Massachusetts residents per week. Hell, I’d even settle for one.

*Endorsement Alert*

We at Act on Mass are absolutely over the moon to announce our first round of endorsements for State Representative. It’s no easy task to find candidates who are down the line progressives, have shown they are dedicated to serving their communities, AND are willing to fight the status quo at the State House. Another thing these candidates all have in common? They can win. They just need our help to do it.

VOLUNTEER FOR NICHOLE [Mossalam]>>

VOLUNTEER FOR HEATHER [May]>>

VOLUNTEER FOR SAM [Montano]>>

VOLUNTEER FOR TERESA [English]>>

Stay tuned for more ways to get involved with our endorsed candidates this summer!

Take Action

Tell the budget negotiators to include at least $2 million for abortion services

Both the House and Senate have earmarked funds for reproductive health care in the 2023 budget. However, the Senate has set aside four times as much money: $2 million. We must ensure that the Budget conference committee maintains the Senate’s funding levels to ensure we are maximizing the support we can provide for abortion care in Massachusetts. 

EMAIL THE CONFERENCE COMMITTEE >>

 

That's all for this week!

Until next time,

Erin Leahy

Executive Director, Act on Mass

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"State Sen. Adam Hinds endorses Rep. Paul Mark as his successor in Western Mass. seat"

By Scott Stafford, The Berkshire Eagle, July 6, 2022

PITTSFIELD — State Sen. Adam Hinds, D-Pittsfield, has officially endorsed state Rep. Paul Mark to succeed him in the seat he is vacating.

Hinds is not seeking reelection to the Senate seat representing Berkshire, Hampden, Franklin, and Hampshire counties. He recently ended his candidacy for lieutenant governor.

“Paul has been a strong voice for western Mass., someone who understands and lives the unique experiences of being far away from our state capital, and he will stand up for working families at every turn. I have had the benefit of working with him and seeing his effectiveness firsthand,” he said in a prepared statement. “It is for these and many more reasons that I am proud to endorse Paul Mark for State Senate.”

Launching Senate bid, state Rep. Paul Mark aims to help 'working families'

Mark is opposed by fellow Democrat Huff Templeton of Williamstown in the Sept. 6 Democratic primary. There are no declared Republican candidates for the seat, so the winner of the primary will run against a candidate of neither party, Brendan Phair of Pittsfield in the Nov. 8 general election.

Hinds’ endorsement adds to the growing list of endorsers, including U.S. Sen. Ed Markey; state Reps. Tricia Farley-Bouvier, D-Pittsfield, William “Smitty” Pignatelli, D-Lenox, John Barrett III, D-North Adams, Lindsay Sabadosa, D-Northampton, Natalie Blais, D-Sunderland; former state Rep. Steve Kulik, D-Worthington; and an increasing number of labor unions and issue-based activist groups.

“I am honored to have the support of Senator Hinds,” Mark said in a prepared statement. “Adam has been a champion for the Berkshires, and fights for each town in the district. From his work securing Rural Sparsity Aid for our local school districts to advocating for the Berkshire Flyer and West-East rail, Adam has put in the work for our district. As a State Senator, I look forward to continuing to fight for our underserved communities, and I will be ready to step into the job effectively on day one.”

Rep. Mark’s campaign just announced two upcoming events: State Sen. John Velis, D-Westfield, chairman of the Joint Committee on Veterans and Foreign Affairs, will be joining Mark at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Rail Trail Ale House in Southwick. And state Sen. Jamie Eldridge, chairman of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary, will join Mark at 5:30 p.m. July 18 at Methuselah Bar and Lounge in Pittsfield.

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July 12, 2022

Hello again, Brenna Ransden at Act on Mass,

Thank you for the update.  Beacon Hill lawmakers will vote tomorrow (Wednesday, July 13th, 2022) at 1:00 PM on Governor Charlie Baker's tax relief bill with amendment riders that would mitigate his supply side economics and financial shell games that gives away hundreds of millions of additional dollars in lost state revenues to the wealthiest 7 percent of Massachusetts residents.  Like I previously wrote today, the corrupt career politicians' state tax break giveaways to the wealthy and other politically connected elites in Massachusetts really amount to tens of billions of dollars of lost state revenues per fiscal year.  The financial, corporate and ruling elites are only about the Almighty Dollar and power to enrich themselves at the public trough, while the people, families, small businesses and taxpayers are falling behind financially.  I am not surprised that there wasn't 72 hours' notice before this tax break giveaway bill was announced.  Please let us all know which State Representatives fell in line with Speaker Ronny Mariano, and which ones voted for economic and financial equity for the people they are supposed to be representing in Boston.  I have always been interested when State Representatives from regions such as my native Berkshire County vote to give the wealthy huge state tax breaks because no such super wealthy corporate entities exist in most rural areas of Western Massachusetts.  It is an election year, and when there are candidate debates, we can ask State Representatives such as Smitty Pignatelli of Lenox why he mostly falls in line with Boston's top-down State House leadership instead of voting in the favor of the actual people he represents in Western Massachusetts over the past nearly 20 years.

Best wishes,

Jonathan A. Melle

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July 12, 2022

Hi Jonathan,

Huge news: the House is taking up the Governor’s tax relief bill, which includes a massive cut to the estate tax, tomorrow at 1:00PM. (Wouldn't it be nice to have had at least 72 hours notice before this was brought to a vote?)

The good news is that there are two amendments that would prevent or mitigate the catastrophic revenue losses this tax cut would pose:

Amendment #621 would strike the estate tax cut entirely from the bill.

Amendment #630 keeps the tax break for estates under $2 million, but increases taxes on estates above $2 million to make up for lost revenue.

Be sure to email your rep ASAP to tell them to cosponsor and vote YES on amendments #621 and #630:

EMAIL YOUR REP NOW >>

Follow us on twitter for updates as the session unfolds tomorrow afternoon. As always, we'll be keeping our eyes peeled for anti-democratic processes, and we'll let you know which reps fell in line with the Speaker and which had the courage to stand up against tax cuts for the wealthy.

In solidarity,

Brenna Ransden

Organizing Director, Act on Mass

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July 12, 2022

Hello Brenna Ransden at Act on Mass,

Do you understand just how inequitable Beacon Hill lawmakers are in their financial public policies towards the people and taxpayers of Massachusetts?  I honestly can say that I myself do not fully understand all of the financial shell games that are used in Boston to the detriment of the Salons not fully funding quality public education and public services throughout the Commonwealth.  I have a Master of Public Administration degree from UMass Amherst (1999), and I have studied a lot of these issue in Massachusetts.  I still don't fully understand just how unfair the state government's tax and spending public policies really are, but I can give you a picture of what is going on under the Golden Dome.

Beacon Hill lawmakers are late in passing their $50 billion state budget that has billions of surplus state dollars from the fiscal year that ended less than 2 weeks ago on June 30th, 2022.  Beacon Hill lawmakers are sitting on many billions of dollars in excess state cash.  Despite all of the money, Beacon Hill lawmakers have not passed even one tax relief measure for the poor and middle-class people, families, small businesses, and taxpayers.  Governor Charlie Baker recently tweeted that Beacon Hill lawmakers never had as much surplus state tax dollars as they do now.  On Thursday, July 14th, 2022, Beacon Hill lawmakers will vote on tax relief measures across the board of the classes.

However, Beacon Hill lawmakers are giving their politically connected big businesses in Boston a little less than $18 billion per fiscal year in state tax breaks, while many other areas of the Commonwealth - such as my native Berkshire County - involuntarily pay for the corrupt career politicians enriching themselves and their wealthy campaign donors at the public trough.  Beacon Hill lawmakers have many (voluntary) regressive taxation schemes that includes the state lottery, casino gambling, excise taxes on marijuana, tobacco and alcohol, and so on.  Beacon Hill lawmakers systemically underfund state aid to public education and local aid.  Beacon Hill lawmakers all make 6 figure public pay plus perks, which critics write is for part-time so-called "work", while many of them earn even more income from other sources.  Beacon Hill lawmakers are playing financial shell games, while the people, families, small businesses, and taxpayers are falling behind financially.  It is the WORST of both worlds!  It is corruption!

Best wishes,

Jonathan A. Melle

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July 12, 2022

Hi Jonathan,

The House is meeting in formal session this Thursday to vote on Governor Baker’s tax relief bill. The bill was sped through the committee process last week, seemingly on the fast track to Baker’s desk. 

There are some good aspects of the bill which will bring relief to some of the most vulnerable populations in Massachusetts. But, it comes as no surprise (especially if you read last week’s Saturday Scoop) that buried under all the good stuff is something deeply troubling: Baker’s proposal to slash the estate tax. 

This big tax cut for the wealthy would double the threshold for the estate tax from $1 million to $2 million. 

This means that the threshold determining who pays taxes on their estate (for example, passing a house down to kids when you pass away) has been made twice as high. Not only would this tax break perpetrate the racial wealth gap by preserving generational wealth, but it would also cost the Commonwealth an estimated $231 million annually. The estate tax currently impacts only the top 7% wealthiest MA residents, and this change would shrink that by half.

Make no mistake: this is the Republican governor’s attempt to hand out tax breaks to his rich friends before leaving office. And our democratic supermajority state legislature is eager to help.

Once the bill is open for amendments, we anticipate an amendment will be filed to remove the estate tax break from this bill. We will let you know as soon as there is an amendment, and what amendment number it is.

In the meantime, reach out to your state representative to let them know you do not want them to slash the estate tax. 

EMAIL YOUR STATE REP >>

The past several years have exposed and deepened the economic disparities we face in Massachusetts. Now is not the time to weaken the only tax that directly reduces inequality. We’ll be keeping a close eye on this bill and will update you all once we have an official amendment. 

In solidarity,

Brenna Ransden

Organizing Director, Act on Mass

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July 14, 2022

Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,

Thank you for your fundraising political email today.  I am a Disabled Veteran, but I still strongly support in spirit your organization's vision of a democrat Beacon Hill that serves the people and taxpayers of Massachusetts over the corrupt career politicians and the Almighty Dollar.

Today is the day the Massachusetts State House of Representatives votes on giving away billions of dollars in state tax breaks.  I wonder how many of the State Representatives will do the right thing and vote against Speaker Ronny Mariano's corrupt bill that will put a lot of money into the wealthiest 7 percent of the state's population's pockets?  My guess is that most of the State Representatives will rubber stamp their all-powerful leader's corrupt bill today.

What was the deal with all of the voice votes on the rider amendments yesterday?  We will never know how each State Representative voted because they didn't have to actually vote on the rider amendments yesterday.  But today, the State Representative will vote on the entire corrupt bill.

When will Beacon Hill lawmakers pass the already late fiscal year 2023 state budget that began on July 1st, 2022?  Do you believe that the $50 billion dollar state budget is excessive?  Economists are predicting a brutal recession in the coming months.  Yet state and local governments are taxing and spending like money is growing on trees.

No matter what happens with the economy, the Financial, Corporate and Ruling Elites always all still make a lot of money, while the rest of us have to pound sand.  The government is supposed to serve the people, but the reality is that the government only cares about power and the Almighty Dollar.

On TV this morning, I watched news media coverage about Joe Biden going to Saudi Arabia tomorrow (Friday, July 15th, 2022) to meet with Crown Prince MBS to give him billions of additional federal dollars in return for them exporting more oil and gas on the condition that they purchase billions of dollars in U.S. arms.  Just two years ago, Joe Biden called Saudi Arabia a "Pariah State" and promised to stand up to Crown Prince MBS for his abusive record of Human Rights violations.  But tomorrow, Joe Biden is going to be a businessman on behalf of the Swamp and buy Saudi oil and gas and sell U.S. arms to them.

Joe Biden is hoping to lower energy prices and sell U.S. arms to make the Democrats look good on the distressed U.S. economy ahead of the 2022 midterm elections that already favor the Republicans running for U.S. Congress.  But in reality, Joe Biden is showing us that the Democrat's Green New Deal nonsense is propaganda, and that the U.S. Government makes a lot of money selling arms and war to the world.  A lot of people are upset with Joe Biden right now, but we should not be surprised because he spent nearly 50 years in the Swamp representing the Financial, Corporate and Ruling Elites instead of the people and taxpayers of the U.S.A.  It amazes me how wealthy said to be billionaire Speaker Nancy Pelosi is, along with the Biden "Crime" Family, by spending decades in the Swamp, but at the end of the day money is power.

Best wishes,

Jonathan A. Melle

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July 14, 2022

HUGE news, Jonathan:

Today we are kicking off our summer fundraiser, and all donations up to $5,000 will be matched! There’s never been a better time to support our small yet mighty organization. Have your contribution doubled by giving today:

DOUBLE YOUR IMPACT TODAY >>

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to our wonderful friends and allies, the members of the Indivisible Acton Area Steering Committee, for pledging to match donations with their personal funds. Because of their generosity, your gift of $10 becomes $20; your gift of $50 becomes $100; $500 becomes $1,000. 

Will you put their generosity to good use by making a gift today?

GIVE $25 >> $50

GIVE $50 >> $100

GIVE $100 >> $200

We proudly don’t take corporate money, so we rely on individuals like you to keep us afloat. Monitoring the State House during votes on issues that affect us all, endorsing and mobilizing behind movement candidates who will fight the status quo, and advocating for more transparency and democracy on Beacon Hill: that’s what you make possible by supporting Act on Mass. 

SUPPORT OUR MOVEMENT >>

Thank you for being in this fight with us.

In solidarity,

Erin Leahy

Executive Director

Act on Mass

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"Mass. House set to pass wide-ranging economic development bill that offers tax relief, health care investments, earmarks"

By Samantha J. Gross, Boston Globe Staff, July 14, 2022

The Massachusetts House Thursday night was set to pass a massive, wide-ranging economic development bill that infuses $3.8 billion into the state economy in the form of tax relief, investments in health care and environmental programs, and support to businesses, as well as a slew of policy changes and earmarks for local projects and programing.

The bill would be paid for by a combination of federal American Rescue Plan dollars, expected state surplus money, and capital bond dollars.

Much of the spending is meant to target “communities that were hardest hit by the pandemic,” Representative Aaron Michlewitz, a North End Democrat who is the House’s budget leader, said while presenting the bill Wednesday morning. “This is a well-rounded spending package that will help support major sectors of our economy and help us be more competitive with other states.”

In a two-day process of amending the bill, House members dispatched nearly 900 amendments by bundling some together — and leaving others out — behind closed doors, then publicly passing multiple mega “consolidated” amendments.

The legislation serves as a vehicle for tax reform and relief, which was born out of pressure to help residents being squeezed by record-high inflation during “unsettling times,” Michlewitz said. The bill would give potentially millions of middle income taxpayers a one-time stimulus check of $250 or $500 for joint filers, but only for those who reported at least $38,000 in 2021 income, a caveat that has drawn scrutiny.

Mirroring tax breaks pitched by Governor Charlie Baker, it also would increase the deduction renters can claim, increase the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit, increase the threshold on the state’s estate tax, and increase state’s child and dependent tax credit.

That adds up to a total of nearly $524 million in permanent tax breaks and $510 million in one-time relief payments.

As of early Thursday evening, the bill included $100 million for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund and $25 million to address food insecurity. It sets $350 million aside for “financially strained” hospitals, $165 million for nursing facilities, $15 million for reproductive health care providers, and $175 million for state parks and public recreation. An additional $300 million goes toward the state’s unemployment fund.

Lawmakers tucked policy changes into the legislation too, creating a controversial $5 million annual live theater tax credit, a major expansion of the Housing Development Incentive Program, a feasibility study on the future of the Hynes Convention Center that would delay Baker’s push to redevelop the prime Back Bay real estate, and, notably, authorizing the Massachusetts Lottery to sell products online.

Marlene Warner, the executive director of the Massachusetts Council on Gaming and Health said her group, which works to address gaming problems and addiction, said Treasurer Deborah B. Goldberg has wanted online lottery products “for a long time,” and that she plans to send a letter expressing her concerns when the bill presumably will go to joint conference committee, with representatives and senators after the Senate is set to pass its own version early next week.

Warner said future legislation or rulemaking should create guard rails to encourage heathy gaming online, like a dashboard to show customers how much time or money they have spent on the website or practice sites where customers can learn how to play the games.

“I think the Massachusetts State Lottery has a steep hill to climb to be prepared for their current products and future products to go online,” Warner said.

In a statement, Goldberg said her office “is prepared to implement a safe and reliable iLottery product for Massachusetts residents.”

One bundle of amendments the House passed Thursday was an $85 million assortment of earmarks to fund local projects, with bigger items including $8 million for riverfront upgrades in Revere, $5 million for the Martin Richard Foundation and Boys and Girls Clubs of Dorchester to renovate the Dorchester Field House in Harbor Point, $5 million for the Edward M. Kennedy Institute to pay its debt, and $1 million to repair and upgrade the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield.

Another “consolidated” mega-amendment added about $24 million in spending for local and statewide environmental and tourism projects, like $1 million for projects at the Old South Meeting House and Old State House in downtown Boston, $2 million for a climate-resilient waterfront park in East Boston, and $2 million for upgrades to the New England Aquarium.

The largest consolidated amendment was a $118 million package that included $20 million for community health centers that serve uninsured patients disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and $10 million to help low-income households with paying winter heating bills.

The bill notably does not include a suspension of the state’s gas tax, a provision that was pushed by many Republicans and business interest groups.

“We have not done what is politically expedient or a quick press hit,” Cusack said on the House floor Wednesday during the first day of debate. “We learned from state after state what works and what doesn’t, and that’s how we got here today.’

The pending final vote on the economic development bill comes as the chambers resolve differences in their budgets for the 2023 fiscal year, which began July 1. According to House and Senate budget chiefs, a compromise budget document will be released “in the coming days” and will be primed for a Monday vote.

Samantha J. Gross can be reached at samantha.gross@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @samanthajgross.

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August 6, 2022

Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,

Thank you for your political email today (Saturday [Scoop], August 6th, 2022) about the end of Beacon Hill's formal legislative session at the end of July 31st, 2022.  I always enjoy reading your witty and sarcastic thoughts about Boston's corrupt career politicians who only do DISSERVICES to the people and taxpayers of Massachusetts and beyond, while they greedily enrich themselves and their wealthy campaign donors at the public trough.

Despite Beacon Hill lawmakers still sitting on billions upon billions of dollars in state government surplus cash, they chose to add to their (voluntary) regressive taxation schemes by passing the state's sports betting bill, while failing to pass their over $4 billion dollar tax relief and economic development and stimulus bill.  The message Boston's corrupt career politicians sent to the public is that they wanted to increase (voluntary) regressive taxation on low to moderate income people, families, communities, and so on, but they don't want the same financially struggling citizens of Massachusetts to receive any of the economic and financial benefits from it.  Even Scrooge was more equitable than the Beacon Hill lawmakers because Scrooge neglected the poor instead of neglecting and exploiting them like Boston's State Representatives and State Senators always do.

If I were a Beacon Hill lawmaker or Governor, I would prioritize public policies that invested in the people and communities throughout Massachusetts.  I liken my ideas of good governance to the 1946 Christmas classic movie "It's a Wonderful Life".  George Bailey used his Building and Loans company to invest in the people of Bedford Falls, which was a town that had nice homes and was a warmhearted community where people cared about each other.  Henry Potter uses his monopoly bank to enrich himself by exploiting people, while his community named "Pottersville" was a coldhearted community with slumlord apartments where people mistreated each other.

When my father Bob was a Berkshire County Commissioner (1997 - mid-2000), I used to go with him to Beacon Hill legislative hearings.  All these years later, I still joke around with my dad about how the State Representatives and State Senators used to scold us for speaking to them during our 3-minutes a piece public testimony.  The Beacon Hill lawmakers of old used to look at my dad and myself like we were annoying them by wasting their time.  I still like to laugh about it with my dad today (Summer of 2022).  My dad said to me that we tried to make our point of view known to them, but they did not want to listen to us.  I bet it would have been a lot different if we were from a wealthy Boston area big business and our bought and paid for greedy lobbyists filled the Beacon Hill lawmakers' campaign coffers with many thousands of dollars in special interest cash.

Best wishes,

Jonathan Melle

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Hi Jonathan,

The 192nd legislative session ended more with a whimper than a bang after a 23-hour final session that bled well into Monday morning. But because of their negligent procrastination, the Democratic supermajority handed our Republican governor final say on a number of critical, progressive bills. Because of them, the prison moratorium and No Cost Calls are dead, and the climate bill hangs in suspense.

And it’s only the beginning of veto season; Baker has another week or so to act on the 60+ bills on his desk.

And none of this is to mention all the popular, progressive, and desperately needed bills that never even made it to the floor for a vote, like Medicare for All, Ending Wage Theft, and Safe Communities Act, to name a few. Hell, we’re in the middle of a devastating housing crisis, and our legislature took no significant action on housing affordability this entire session. And during an era in which trans youth are increasingly under attack, “deep blue” Massachusetts couldn’t even pass the Healthy Youth Act, requiring that sex education be LGBTQ+ inclusive??

But hey, at least we’re probably going to legalize sports betting.

State House Scoop

Awaiting Baker’s signature or veto

Climate action: This legislation would invest in the state’s transition to net zero emissions by 2050. Upon his initial review of the bill, Baker returned the legislation with sweeping amendments, only some of which the legislature incorporated in the final version. It's a toss up whether he signs or vetoes the whole thing.

Mental health access: A priority of President Spilka’s, this bill to expand mental health access emerged at the last minute, likely in exchange for the passage of Speaker Mariano’s big priority…

…Sports betting: After months of stalled closed-doors negotiations, the House and Senate finally reached a compromise on Speaker Mariano’s white whale, his raison d’être: making sports betting legal in Massachusetts. 

Vetoed

Prison Moratorium: Despite excellent and persistent organizing from criminal justice reform advocates and enactment by both chambers, Governor Baker vetoed the 5 year Prison Moratorium with the stroke of a pen on Thursday afternoon. If they had left themselves more time, the Democratic supermajority could have easily overridden this veto, and stopped plans for the new women’s prison. But they didn’t.

Never made it to Baker’s desk

Economic development bill: The major tax relief bill that passed both chambers just weeks ago (think: slashing the estate tax, $250 rebates that excluded low-income taxpayers) was shelved by lawmakers after the discovery of a 1986 law that appears to require that the state return even more revenue to taxpayers than they had planned. I’m not sure how a legislature managed to be caught off guard by 40-year-old law, but if any legislature could pull that off it would be ours.

No Cost Calls: In the biggest outrage of the end of session crunch, a policy to make phone calls to incarcerated individuals free of charge was deliberately tanked by the Senate, who opted instead to play into the Baker administration’s racist fear mongering. The House, very much to their credit, rejected Baker’s incarceration-expanding “dangerousness” amendment to No Cost Calls. However, the Senate passed a version of Baker's amendment, effectively killing the language entirely. See how your senator voted on tanking No Cost Calls here. (To read a more detailed account of this debacle, I highly recommend this excellent article by our friends at Progressive Mass.)

An entire session without Joint Rules

In direct response to the Transparency is Power campaign, both the House's and the Senate’s proposals for the Joint Rules at the start of the session were improvements on last session's rules; both would guarantee more committee votes would be public than before. But because the two proposals were different, a conference committee was appointed to negotiate a compromise. That was in February of 2021.

They never released a compromise version of the Joint Rules. The full legislative session came and went without a final version of the Joint Rules, which govern the publishing of committee votes and so much more.

This unprecedented disregard for process is a slap in the face anyone who cares about government accountability, the 90% of Bay Staters who believe they should get to see how their reps vote in committees, and to all of you who took time last year to advocate for your right to access the legislative process that deeply impacts your lives. 

Angry? Me too. But we knew this fight was never going to be over in one session. Nothing that challenges power is ever that easy. Only after sustained, relentless advocacy (catalyzed by electoral victories) will we achieve our goal of a State House that actually works for the people. And we're just getting started.

Speaking of which

WE’RE ON THE BALLOT

Three months and 15,000+ signatures later, thanks to the hard work of dozens of Act on Mass and Mass-Care volunteers across the state, our non-binding transparency question will be on the November ballot in 20 state rep districts! PLUS Mass-Care’s question about single payer healthcare will be on the ballot in 21 districts! That’s 800,000 constituents who will have a voice on these issues in November. If 2020’s results are any indication (our transparency question passed with an average of 90% in 16 districts), they’ll have a lot to say.

Take Action

Demand the Legislature call a special session to finish the job!

We're joining Families for Justice as Healing & National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls in their calls for a special session in September to override Baker's veto of the Prison Moratorium bill and finish all their unhandled business - including passing No Cost Calls:

CALL YOUR LEGISLATOR >>

Formal sessions are ostensibly done for the rest of the year. So what’s next? Well, five months of informal sessions, and a lot of time for our incumbents to campaign (despite only a fraction having challengers). 

And us? We’ll continue to monitor the legislature and churn out our analysis of the session. But for now, we turn our focus to campaigning for our amazing candidates. There’s just one month left to make the difference between incumbents sailing to reelection and our cohort of progressive challengers sweeping the primary.

I’ll see you on the doors,

Erin Leahy

Executive Director, Act on Mass

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August 18, 2022

A PARODY of Jen & Linda's letter endorsing Paul Marxism

To the Editor of the Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle):

Outgoing Chrome Dome Adam Hinds has been an asset to Jo Comerford's State Senate legislative district in Amherst, Massachusetts.  We thank Chrome Dome for marrying a wealthy woman and then leaving the Berkshires faster than when Jack Welch left Pittsfield over 40 years ago when he was climbing the corporate ladder at GE.  We hope that Chrome Dome will do better by Pittsfield than Neutron Jack, but we won't be holding our breath.  How could Chrome Dome worse by Pittsfield and the Berkshires than the late Jack Welch, who made over $1 billion for himself at GE while making Pittsfield GE's dump with zero GE jobs in Pittsfield to show for it all.

Paul Marxism has represented Pittsfield and North Adams and beyond horribly by voting himself and his State House colleagues a whopping 40% legislative pay raise in early-2017 that cost state taxpayers well over $18 million.  When Covid-19 hit, Paul Marxism and his State House colleagues took months off at a time, while they collected their 6-figure public pay plus perks.  Paul Marxism's public record of voting himself huge legislative pay raises while doing nothing during a pandemic really did NOT help the people who live in the beautiful Berkshires.

Pittsfield and North Adams have a lot of potential for the career criminals and career politicians alike who profit off of the region's distressed and severely economically unequal cities.  If the people had political power instead of always being proverbially beaten down, then a corrupt career politician such as Paul Marxism would never be in elected office.  Pittsfield and North Adams would be able to use limited public resources to invest in the law-abiding people and community institutions instead of having high rates of welfare and disability caseloads, violent crime, Level 5 public schools, downtowns with dozens of empty storefronts that most people avoid, poor neighborhoods called the rings of poverty that encircle social services alleys, and industrial chemical pollutants floating around the air, land and water that causes cancer and other serious illnesses in thousands of local residents.

We do NOT need a partner in the state Senate who will ensure that our Berkshire cities do NOT receive their fair share of state and federal investments in transportation, housing, economic development, education and the entire state budget.  After all, Beacon Hill lawmakers are still sitting on billions upon billions of surplus state dollars - moreso than any point in the over 400 year history of Massachusetts - but the Massachusetts State Legislature ended their formal legislative session without passing the over $4 billion economic stimulus and development bill that included tax relief for low to moderate income taxpayers, including Senior Citizens and Veterans.  What Paul Marxism and his colleagues in the Boston State House are doing with all of the state surplus cash is anyone's guess, but it certainly is NOT helping the proverbial little guy and the Gateway Cities they live in.

Running a city is not easy, and Boston makes it a Hell of lot more difficult by the secretive State House always systemically underfunding public education and local aid.  It is even more frustrating to know that Beacon Hill lawmakers enrich themselves and their wealthy big business backers at the public trough.  To illustrate, in April of 2021, the Boston Globe reported that Beacon Hill lawmakers give away a little less than $18 billion per fiscal year in state tax breaks to Boston area big businesses, which don't exist in mostly rural Berkshire County and other regions of Massachusetts.  Boy, we are really getting screwed over by Paul Marxism and his colleagues in Boston.

As mayors of the only two cities in Berkshire County, we know how important it is to NOT have a socialist and corrupt leader, Paul Marxism, in our state legislative delegation. Paul Mark is the leader we do NOT need.

We ask you to consider NOT voting for Paul Mark for state Senate in the Democratic Primary on Sept. 6 [2022].

Jennifer Macksey, North Adams

Linda Tyer, Pittsfield

The writers are, respectively, the mayor of North Adams and the mayor of Pittsfield.

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Letter: "As the two mayors of Berkshire County, we jointly support Paul Mark for state Senate"

The Berkshire Eagle, August 17, 2022

To the editor: The Berkshires deserve a strong leader in the state Senate.

Outgoing Sen. Adam Hinds has been an asset, and as he leaves, we thank him for his service to our region. We will be voting for Rep. Paul Mark to take over that important spot as our voice in the state Senate. Our experience working with Rep. Mark has shown him to be a true public servant who consistently shows up and has a formidable grasp on our cities’ most important issues.

Paul has represented Pittsfield attentively and as a true partner in the Statehouse, and he has also been a regular presence in North Adams, taking time to learn the city’s priorities. Paul is already having Senate committee chairs out to learn about the needs of the Berkshires, and we have no doubt he will be a tireless advocate for our needs in the Senate.

Pittsfield and North Adams are up-and-coming communities with so much potential. From our vibrant scenes of arts and culture to growing and welcoming local businesses to our natural beauty and resources, we have so much to offer. We are poised to take advantage of this once in a generation moment to succeed. We need a partner in the state Senate who will ensure that our Berkshire cities receive their fair share of state and federal investments in transportation, housing, economic development, education and the entire state budget.

Running a city is not easy, and things change quickly and unexpectedly. Whether we are dealing with more than two years of a global pandemic, facing the increased costs of living and balancing a city budget or addressing the day-to-day problems our residents rely on us to solve, we need a senator that can hit the ground running on day one.

As mayors of the only two cities in Berkshire County, we know how important it is to have strong and collaborative leadership from our state legislative delegation. Paul Mark is the leader we need.

We ask you to consider voting for Paul Mark for state Senate in the Democratic Primary on Sept. 6 [2022].

Jennifer Macksey, North Adams

Linda Tyer, Pittsfield

The writers are, respectively, the mayor of North Adams and the mayor of Pittsfield.

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August 29, 2022

I read an interesting article about a young Jewish woman who is running for State Senator in the Massachusetts Primary Election on September 6th, 2022.  Sydney Levin-Epstein is hoping to bring a voice from Western Massachusetts to the Boston-centric State Legislature on Beacon Hill.  I believe we need more young people of diverse backgrounds to run for political office because the old political establishment is not working for us anymore.

https://jewishinsider.com/2022/08/sydney-levin-epstein-massachusetts-state-senate-democratic-primary/

Jonathan A. Melle

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Letter: "Huff Templeton for state Senate"

The Berkshire Eagle, September 2, 2022

To the editor: Huff Templeton has been a true leader in keeping transparency alive in town government.

He is fair and calm. He keeps track of promises made by other public officials and follows up on those promises. Vote for Huff Templeton. There are very few people I consider a true ally and civic hero; Huff is one of them. Black voters matter to Huff. Let's vote for Huff Templeton as our state senator.

Bilal Ansari, Williamstown

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Hello Erin Leahy at Act on Mass,

Thank you for sending me your weekly political email about Beacon Hill and Massachusetts and beyond politics.  I fully support your public advocacy work on behalf of the people and taxpayers of Massachusetts and beyond.  My thoughts about your political email today, Saturday, September 17th, 2022, are that politicians such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, are, indeed, cruel and inhumane to treat immigrants as cattle.  He proudly took credit for sending the immigrants to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, but we all know that it was nothing more than a mean-spirited political stunt.

I did not know that Massachusetts is not a sanctuary state.  I didn't know that Massachusetts, Florida and Texas and beyond are all failing to care for the immigrants who are in need of government assistance.  As a 100 percent disabled Veteran, sometimes I have to advocate for myself with the VA over my care.  Dealing with government bureaucracies is difficult.  Sometimes, I write to my Congresswoman Annie Kuster, and my two U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, which always helps me in the end.  When I go to the VA Hospital, my fellow Veterans all say there should be no such thing as a homeless Veteran.  I believe the same for all of our fellow people who don't have a roof over their heads.

I respectfully disagree with you about the newly passed law that will go into effect on July 1st, 2023, unless it is repealed via referendum on November 8th, 2022, that gives illegal immigrants Massachusetts Driver's Licenses.  Beacon Hill lawmakers passed the law earlier this year without any public hearings and without any studies on how it will impact the rate of serious automobile accidents - people on the roads could die.  Other states give illegal immigrants Driver's Privileges Cards, but not Massachusetts.  Also, I believe in Equal Justice Under Law, which means that we all have to obey the law, which illegal immigrants are not doing.  I believe that your heart is always in the right place.

I believe it is time to change the outdated Massachusetts state flag and seal to reflect equality and Human Rights.  It is too bad that Beacon Hill lawmakers played bureaucratic shell games on the issue.  But what else is new?

I believe that Massachusetts public employees and public-school teachers should have the legal right to go on strike.  I agree with you that they should be able to go on strike for a living wage, benefits, or adequate school conditions for themselves, their students, and their communities without fear of legal retribution.

I hope that you will win your fight for transparency in Massachusetts State Government, especially with the corrupt and secretive Legislature on Beacon Hill.  I hope that you will win your fight for Universal Healthcare Insurance, too.  Thank you for fighting the good fight on behalf of the people the government is meant to serve and protect.

Best wishes,

Jonathan A. Melle

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Hi Jonathan,

The slow news period that typically follows the end of formal sessions at the State House was suddenly interrupted this week when major national news came knocking on our door, and it’s a doozy. 

Let’s dive right in.

State House Scoop

Migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard Wednesday night for Ron DeSantis’ political stunt

When 48 Venezuelan migrants boarded a plane in Texas earlier this week, they were told they were going to Boston, where shelter and jobs had been lined up for them. This was a cruel lie: against their will, these migrants were sent to Martha’s Vineyard. Nobody had been informed of their impending arrival. There were no jobs awaiting them, nor housing. Even worse, they had been deliberately given false information designed to prevent them from complying with federal law. Who is responsible for this human trafficking? None other than Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has publicly taken credit for using these people as political pawns to protest Biden’s immigration policies. 

DeSantis claims he diverted these migrants to Massachusetts because we’re a sanctuary state, and thus we’ll take better care of undocumented immigrants and refugees than Texas or Florida will. Of course, he’s saying this disingenuously; he wants a “deep blue'' state like ours to get a taste of our own medicine. But the truth is that Massachusetts isn’t much better for undocumented immigrants than Florida or Texas, and that is an utter failure. 

Contrary to popular belief, Massachusetts is NOT a sanctuary state. The bill to make us a sanctuary state, the Safe Communities Act, has been killed in the legislature for the last five sessions in a row. Over half of legislators are signed on as cosponsors, and it is supported by a coalition of over one hundred organizations, but it’s never even come to a vote. To make matters worse, undocumented immigrants in Massachusetts, some of our most vulnerable residents, are not eligible for basic safety nets like SNAP and housing assistance–all of which desperately needs to change. It’s high time that we became the sanctuary state that fear-mongering Republicans think we are.

Yes on 4 campaign launched to combat Republican repeal efforts

DeSantis’ craven stunt finds Massachusetts in the middle of our own wave of anti-immigrant fear mongering; the recently-passed Work and Family Mobility Act to allow residents without federal status to obtain a driver’s license is vulnerable to being repealed via ballot referendum in November. On Monday, the group behind the Work & Family Mobility Act launched the Yes for Safer Roads Coalition to combat the repeal effort. While polling on this issue shows majority support for the law, it’s too close for comfort. It took decades of advocacy to pass this bill. Let’s not allow a rare progressive legislative victory slip through our fingers. 

Commission to redesign the racist MA state flag and seal flounders with no funding

Formed almost two years ago, the commission tasked with designing a new state seal and flag is in search of yet another extension to produce a recommendation. Why haven’t they been able to make any progress? Because they don’t have two nickels to rub together; the 2020 law that formed this commission explicitly stated that “it shall not receive funds from the commonwealth.” (Pro tip: to tell the difference between a genuine priority for the State House and a symbolic one, look at how much they fund it, if at all.) They have only made one decision as a committee since their formation: to conduct polling about potential flag and motto replacements. That poll, in partnership with UMass, is slated to take place next month. As of right now, we can assume there will not be a final recommendation by the current deadline of December 2022.

In Memoriam: The Graveyard of the 192nd Session

Right to Strike

It is currently illegal in Massachusetts for public employees, including public educators, to go on strike. The Right to Strike bill (H.1946) would eliminate that ban. This bill, as well as a weaker compromise version (S.1245/H.2038), was “sent to study” this session–the House’s favorite way to kill a bill.

To be clear: sending H.1946 “to study'' is a direct attack on workers’ rights; rights that are essential to ensuring unionized workers have leverage when they come to the bargaining table. Public teachers cannot withhold their labor to ensure a living wage, benefits, or adequate school conditions for themselves, their students, and their communities without fear of legal retribution, which can include daily fines or even imprisonment. 

In this historic moment in U.S. labor history where support for labor unions is at an astounding 71 percent–its highest point since 1965–those in power on Beacon Hill are choosing to push back. Despite the ban, Massachusetts public workers have risked their jobs and livelihoods to strike in response to stalled negotiations, and have striked for better working conditions and benefits–all of which ultimately benefit communities across the Commonwealth. Although not surprising, it is disappointing that our elected officials continue to side with anti-union corporate interests instead of the rest of us.

Take Action

Join the YES on 4 Campaign for Safer Roads

The campaign will be Question 4 on the statewide ballot on Tuesday, November 8th, 2022, and we need to ensure Massachusetts voters vote YES on 4 for safer roads for all drivers. It’s a commonsense law that makes our roads safer for everyone, while letting families legally make essential trips, like dropping off kids at school and getting to work, medical appointments, and the grocery store.

Join the YES on 4 for Safer Roads campaign and sign up to take action to keep the law in place for safer roads, greater public safety, and work and family mobility.

JOIN THE CAMPAIGN >>

That's all for this week! Thank you for reading all the way to the end, and for all you do for the movement. 

In solidarity,

Erin Leahy

Executive Director, Act on Mass

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"Pittsfield state Senator Adam Hinds named CEO of Edward M. Kennedy Institute"

The Berkshire Eagle, September 20, 2022

BOSTON — Adams Hinds is taking his professional career in a slightly different direction.

After failing to qualify in June for the primary election for lieutenant governor, the Pittsfield Democrat is now giving up his state Senate seat three months before his term expires to become the CEO and executive director of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate in Boston.

Hinds, who has represented the Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire and Hampden District since 2017, will resign his Senate seat on Sunday and start his new job the following day.

“It’s been the honor of a life to be able to represent the region that you grew up in and to really roll up my sleeves on the big structural issues that we’ve been confronting,” Hinds, a native of Buckland, told The Eagle. “It’s just been an amazing opportunity, but I’m just excited to take another step and focus on our democracy and the attention that we all need to be giving it at this moment.”

Located on Columbia Point in the Dorchester section of Boston, the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate is a nonprofit civic and educational institution dedicated to educating the public about the Senate’s role in government, encouraging participatory democracy and invigorating civil discourse.

With the general election less than two months away, and his term set to expire, Hinds said his staff will remain in office after he resigns to handle any legislative issues in the district through the remainder of the year. The decision to proceed in this manner was reached following discussions with Senate officials, Hinds said.

“We’re done with the formal session, there’s no more roll call votes at this stage, I’ve already told the public I’m not running for reelection, and we’re past the primaries at this point,” Hinds said.

“My staff will stay until the end of the year in my office working closely with the representatives in the county to make sure any needs are addressed. It’s only because of that that I felt comfortable that I could accept and resign before the end of the year.”

State Rep. Paul Mark, D-Peru, and unenrolled candidate Brendan Phair of Pittsfield are the candidates for Hinds’ Senate seat in the general election on Nov. 8.

Hinds said he is the first permanent executive director of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute since former Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts President Mary K. Grant, who served from 2017 to 2019. He succeeds Susan Heilman who had been serving as interim executive director.

Hinds said he didn’t learn the position was available until the Senate session ended on Aug. 1. According to the Kennedy Institute, he was one of 160 candidates who were considered for the position.

“I’ve always admired the institute and the work it’s been doing to maintain the senator’s legacy and educate the public about the importance of democracy in the role of our government and its role in the senate,” he said.

“But what really caught my eye is that the board after Jan. 6 determined they wanted to play a larger role in national dialogue and to really bring Republicans and Democrats together to avoid the further political violence that we’re starting to see more regularly.

“That really jumped out to me as a perfect fit because it combines my international negotiating work with domestic political work. It really caught my attention.”

Before his election to the Senate, Hinds served as an aide to former U.S. Rep. John W. Olver, D-Amherst, and led two Berkshire County social service organizations. He also served with the United Nations for nearly 10 years, based in Baghdad. He worked on resolving territory disputes in Jerusalem as part of the Middle East Peace Process, and to remove Syria’s chemical weapons program. He has no previous connection to Kennedy, who died in 2009.

“We have met a couple of times,” Hinds said. “But ultimately I’ve just admired his work from afar.”

Hinds said he wants to continue the Kennedy Institute’s work to facilitate national dialogue with similar institutions from across the aisle.

“They’ve been working with the Orrin Hatch Foundation and the Bob Dole Institute to really address the crisis in our democracy,” Hinds said. “So kind of doubling down on that work is a real priority of mine.”

The goal of The Senate Project, which the Kennedy Institute has launched in partnership with the Bipartisan Policy Center and the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation, is for the public to hear leading senators from each end of the political spectrum.

Hinds also wants to expand the institute’s role in civic education.

“The institute has established itself as an award-winning civic education institution to really focus on Massachusetts school students and others,” Hinds said. “But now with the reality of virtual learning being adopted more widely we really hope to bring the model of civic education to every state in the nation, so that’s another area of growth that we’re focused on.”

When asked Tuesday if he was done with politics, Hinds, who is 46, said, “I have no idea, but I’m taking it one step at a time.

“I haven’t even thought about that, to be honest with you,” he said. “I’m pretty focused now on doing this national level work and really digging into what the institute has to offer.”

Bruce A. Percelay, who chairs the Kennedy Institute’s board of directors, said in a news release that Hinds’ political, diplomatic and nonprofit experience stood out among the candidates.

“As the Kennedy Institute moves to a new level of national reach and impact in promoting a renewed search for bipartisan common ground in the Senate and stronger civic engagement among all Americans, Adam’s government, political, and nonprofit experience here and abroad made him an ideal candidate for CEO,” Percelay said.

“Among the 160 candidates we considered, Adam stood out as exceptionally qualified, connected, and committed to the Kennedy Institute’s mission.”

Former Congressman Joseph P. Kennedy III, who is also a Kennedy Institute board member, said Hinds will bring new energy and vision to the organization. 

“I'm excited to see what he and the Kennedy Institute will do together to continue to educate the public about the important role of the Senate and encourage everyone in our country to participate in our democracy and the civic life of our communities," he said in the release. 

In the Senate, Hinds chairs the joint committee on revenue and the Senate Committee on Reimagining Massachusetts Post-Pandemic Resiliency. He has also been an active member of committees overseeing redistricting, intergovernmental affairs, and racial equity, civil rights and inclusion.

While serving in the Senate, Hinds has recently split his time between an apartment in Pittsfield and a home in Amherst.

“It looks like we’re staying in two locations because my wife’s job is in Amherst,” he said. “Now we’ll kind of shift probably to Boston and Amherst.”

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September 20, 2022

Hello blogger Dan Valenti,

Are you surprised that Chrome Dome Adam Hinds will be resigning his position as the Berkshire-based State Senator on Sunday, September 25th, 2022, which will leave his large geographical state legislative district without political representation in the Massachusetts State Senate for a little over three months?

Jonathan A. Melle

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September 20, 2022

Hello Patrick Fennell, & blogger Dan Valenti,

I agree with both of you about Chrome Dome Adam Hinds not representing the people and taxpayers who live in his State Senate state legislative district.  And yes, there is a long line of useless corrupt career politicians from Pittsfield - "30 pieces of silver" corrupt GE Lobbyist Peter Larkin and plum political sinecure Chris Speranzo - and Western Massachusetts - Greedy Lobbyist Dan Bosley and Disgraced Lobbyist Stan Rosenberg - who went to Boston to only do DISSERVICES against Western Massachusetts and then step down to profit off of their political connections.

My dad, Bob, pointed all of this out over two decades ago when he was a Berkshire County Commissioner from 1997 - mid-2000.  In return for my dad's political advocacy for Berkshire County, Luciforo filed multiple state "ethics" complaints against my father to multiple Massachusetts state agencies to try to destroy my dad's career and elected position.  Nuciforo also tried to jail me for speaking out about his retribution against my father, myself and countless other people who lived in fear of him back then.

Ironically, Nuciforo ended up being the disgraced former Pittsfield State Senator because he had to step down from his political office in 2006 for allegedly illegally double dipping as Chairman of the State Senate Finance Committee while at the same time working as an Attorney serving Boston's big banks and insurance companies for the Boston Law Firm Berman and Dowell.  The Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle) called Luciforo a "Fringe Politician" in 2012 when he lost to PAC Man Richie Neal (D - K Street Insurance Company Lobbyist Firms) by 40 percentage points in the primary election.

I don't understand why Berkshire County and other powerless areas of Massachusetts even bother to send State Representatives and State Senator(s) to Boston.  They go to Boston to be useless backbenchers to rubber stamp vote in favor of Beacon Hill's top-down, secretive and corrupt State House leaders.  They are rewarded with 6-figure public pay plus perks for being perfect bureaucrats.  When they retire, step down or resign their office in disgrace, they use their political connections to earn 6-figure or higher lobbyist salaries in Boston and beyond, which is on top of their huge state pensions plus perks.  Nuciforo used his political connections in both Pittsfield and Boston to open his multimillion-dollar marijuana businesses at both ends of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which is addition to his law offices in Pittsfield and in Boston's financial district.

Meanwhile, the people and taxpayers of Berkshire County and other powerless areas of Massachusetts are always falling behind with excessively high state and local taxes compounded by systemically underfunded state aid for public education and local government services.  From September 26th, 2022, to at least January 1st, 2023, the people and taxpayers who live in Chrome Dome's district will have no representation in the Massachusetts State Senate, but it won't change anything for them.  Paul Marxism is next in line to be Berkshire County's next useless backbencher State Senator, which may be even worse than Chrome Dome and his forthcoming vacant elected office over a little over the next three months.

Best wishes,

Jonathan A. Melle

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September 21, 2022

My thoughts about Chrome Dome Adam Hinds resigning his State Senate position effective on Sunday, September 25th, 2022, to be the CEO of the Ted Kennedy U.S. Senate Institute in Boston effective Monday, September 26th, 2022, are that he is one of a long line of phony Pittsfield politicians that used their state government legislative offices for their own political profit and professional advancement instead of giving a damn about the fictional Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski family who lives, works and pays state and local taxes in my native hometown of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, only for the fictional Kapanskis to always be screwed over by Pittsfield politics and beyond.  Chrome Dome left Pittsfield shortly after he married a high society wealthy woman who is a Professor at Amherst College.  They (she) purchased a $690,000 home in Amherst, Massachusetts, which is outside of Chrome Dome's state legislative district that is represented by State Senator Jo Comerford.  Chrome Dome tried to run for Lieutenant Governor, but he didn't even make it on the Democratic Party ballot because he didn't buy the big wheels in Boston's votes for the useless position.  Chrome Dome is a typical corrupt career politician who is all about the Almighty Dollar and Power instead of representing the people and taxpayers of Pittsfield and beyond in Western Massachusetts, which he did nothing for since 2017, and now they will have no political representation in the Massachusetts State Senate for a little over three months until at least January 1st, 2023.  The limousine latte liberals all love Chrome Dome, and the elitists all give him glowing praises, but I give Chrome Dome a big thumbs down!  I predict Paul Marxism will be an even bigger flop than Chrome Dome.

Jonathan A. Melle

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"Paul Mark defeats Brendan Phair for state Senate seat that represents Berkshire district"

By Tony Dobrowolski, The Berkshire Eagle, November 8, 2022

PITTSFIELD — Paul Mark will be Berkshire County’s next state senator.

The Democrat from Peru, who has served in the House since 2011, rolled to victory Tuesday night in his first bout at a higher weight class, easily defeating unenrolled candidate Brendan Phair of Pittsfield for the state Senate seat in the Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire and Hampden District.

The sprawling district covers 57 Western Massachusetts cities and towns, including all of Berkshire County and parts of Hampshire, Franklin and Hampden counties.

According to Pittsfield Community Television, Mark had a commanding lead over Phair as of late Tuesday night. With 17.5 percent of the vote in, Mark had 21,411 votes, while Phair had 6,168.

Phair was trailing Mark by more than 15,000 votes with only 17.5 percent of the votes counted as of late Tuesday night. Phair called Mark to concede.

Mark referred to his victory as a "real solid win."

"As I've been going around, the message I've been receiving from this region and this county I thought lined up with a lot of the things I believe in philosophically, and that I think I've worked for during my tenure in the House," he said. "You never take anything for granted. You always act like you're coming from behind and you work as hard as you possibly can. Just to see a really solid win feels really affirming and awesome."

Mark, 43, who is in the process of moving to Becket, decided to run for the Senate seat vacated by Adam Hinds after his former district in the House, the 2nd Berkshire District, was broken up by redistricting. Hinds did not seek reelection this year after he decided to run for lieutenant governor.

Phair, 52, a paraprofessional at Taconic High School, had never run for office at any level. He has never belonged to either major political party.

Mark qualified for the general election by defeating Huff Tyler Templeton III of Williamstown in the Democratic primary in September.

The two candidates were a study in contrasts with Mark a veteran state legislator and Phair a political neophyte.

They also had differing viewpoints on a variety of issues. On abortion rights, Mark was pro-choice while Phair was pro-life. Although he is unaffiliated with either major political party Phair also supported positions that are mostly favored by conservatives. He was also pro-energy, supported the Second Amendment, and favored tax relief and tax cuts. He also opposes the state’s electric car mandate that is scheduled to take effect in 2035.

Mark favors standard gun ownership policies and supports measures that help small businesses. He is a proponent of Medicare for All and policies that would relieve student debt.

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Opinion Columnists | Howie Carr: "Bowtied bum kissers out to rewrite history, their way"

By Howie Carr | howard.carr@medianewsgroup.com | Boston Herald | December 14, 2022

First they came for Tom Yawkey and I said nothing.

Then they came for Christopher Columbus and I said nothing.

But then they came for Dapper O’Neil and – now you’re walking on the fightin’ side of me, hoss.

In case you missed it, an obscure former coat holder for a forgotten-but-not-gone former Boston city councilor named Charles “Don’t Call Me Chuck!” Yancey is demanding that the city pull the name of former City Councilor Albert Leo “Dapper” O’Neil from a hearing room at City Hall.

Another non-negotiable demand was that the name of another deceased city councilor, Jimmy Kelly, be removed from the Broadway Bridge.

No one paid much attention to the original news, but then the blow-in drifters at the failing Boston Globe decided to get in on the gag. The legacy hires from the protected classes ran an editorial blasting “Ole Dap,” as the license plate on his automobile read, just to the right of the bumper sticker that said:

“Liberals: An American Cancer.”

For 28 years, Dapper provided comic relief at Boston City Hall.

As Billy Bulger used to say, “Dapper O’Neil is a city councilor at large… in more ways than one.”

So the comrades at the dying broadsheet don’t much like Dapper O’Neil. They never did.

But remember, these are the same trust-funders who not so long ago named Monica Cannon Grant “Bostonian of the Year” – just before the feds charged the larger-than-large BLM grifter with mail fraud, wire fraud, etc. etc. In all, an 18-count indictment.

So yeah, the Globe really knows how to pick ‘em.

Just to select one line at random from the second paragraph of the Dapper indictment, I mean editorial:

“One council staffer filed a sexual harassment suit against him.”

Are the blow-in drifters in the employ of 73-year-old John Henry and his 44-year-old third trophy wife not aware that there is an empty mausoleum of a building in Boston known as the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. Senate?

Do they understand that that white elephant is a monument to a politician, a Democrat like Dapper, who in fact drowned one of his brother’s former staffers while driving drunk? Does it ever occur to the pablum-puking rump swabs that their longtime hero is the only politician with an actual confirmed kill in the War on Women?

That “institute,” which annually hemorrhages almost as much money as the Globe itself, is right down Morrissey Boulevard from where the Globe used to be printed when it was still (almost) a real newspaper.

Has the Globe ever suggested stripping Fat Boy’s name off that preposterous monument to Democrat drunkenness and depravity?

Then there’s the late Rep. Gerry Studds. Boy, did the Globe worship that fiend, even after (or perhaps especially because) he was censured on a 420-3 vote by his US House colleagues after he was found guilty of plying an underage male Congressional page with alcohol and then sodomized him.

Before he started grooming young boys at the Capitol, Studds was grooming them as a “master” at St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire. Do not doubt me – the school chronicled the Democrat statesman’s sordid list of perversions in a report that identified him as “Faculty 20.”

After that report, several of Studds’ victims sued “the haven for sexual predators,” as they called the elite prep school. I’d quote from the complaint about the unspeakable acts Studds performed upon them if I weren’t concerned about giving all the Beautiful People and assorted man-buns at the Globe a bad case of the vapors.

The point is, the feds named 842 square miles of the Gulf of Maine after this pederast – the Gerry E. Studds Stellwagen National Marine Sanctuary.

Has the Globe demanded that Studds’ name be removed from the Atlantic Ocean by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)?

Poor Dapper. He doesn’t have NAMBLA or BLM or some such group to run cover for him at City Hall the way some of these other reprobates do. There seems little pushback from the mau-mauing against the Dap.

Jimmy Kelly, on the other hand, still has a constituency of sorts in Southie, almost 16 years after his death.

But Dapper was from Roxbury. His base is long gone. Later he moved to Roslindale, Ward 18 – “God’s country,” as he called it.

Monica Cannon Grant, the Globe’s Bostonian of the Year, grew wealthy on her radical-chic flim-flams and white-guilt scams. As for Dapper – he never owned any property. He lived in a rented third-floor walk-up on Washington Street.

Likewise, he never opened a checking account. He was just following in the footsteps of his hero, James Michael Curley.

I remember the night Dapper finally lost. It was 1999. He’d always relied on a big vote out of Wards 6 and 7, but that year Southie was trying to elect one of its own, Michael “Baby Flats” Flaherty, to the Council.

So the word went out – give “Baby Flats” the bullet, meaning, only use one of the four votes you had for at-large Council candidates. Dapper’s vote collapsed (it didn’t help that he was almost 80, and sick) and he lost his seat.

As the results came in, a few of us went to his office to break the news to him. There was Mayor Menino, and Jimmy Kelly and me. Dapper just sat in his chair, under the portrait of Curley. He said nothing, but the tears were rolling down his cheeks.

None of us knew what to say. There was nothing that could console him. The job was his whole life. His sister Gert was dead, his dog Roger was dead, he lived alone. He had no children.

Finally, City Council President Kelly said to him:

“Dapper, you didn’t do anything wrong. You didn’t change. The city changed.”

Jimmy was right. The city had changed, and boy has it changed even more since then. But one thing hasn’t changed – the bow-tied bum kissers at the Boston Globe.

They were wrong then, and they’re wrong now.

Caption 1: City Councilor Albert L. 'Dapper' O'Neil rides in Southie's St. Patrick's Day Parade on March 14, 1999. (File)

Caption 2: Dapper O’Neil’s run on the City Council ended in 1999, despite his tiresome efforts to keep his at-large post. (Herald file photo)

Caption 3: PRE-PC: Albert 'Dapper' O'Neil shows off a portrait of Mayor James Michael Curley in his office. O'Neil was known for packing a pistol in City Council meetings

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"Massachusetts State Senate President Karen Spilka visits the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, talks rural aid"

By Sten Spinella, The Berkshire Eagle, March 25, 2023

On her visit Friday to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, state Senate President Karen Spilka probably heard the phrase "not enough" more than once.

Spilka, a Democrat who represents the 2nd Middlesex & Norfolk district, talked to local lawmakers about state aid to both rural schools and for local transportation projects, among other topics. And, as no doubt is true wherever she travels in the state, she heard the lament that more state money is needed.

In addition to talking politics and policies with local lawmakers and reporters, Spilka visited with her sister, Gerri Spilka, a Mass MoCA artist-in-residence who works with textiles.

Spilka said the Senate will be considering increasing the amount of money going toward rural schools.

“I know how important rural school aid is. Since I’ve been in the Legislature, I’ve been a strong proponent of regional equity and looking at how each subject impacts our regions differently, so we will take a good look at that,” Spilka said in the Mass MoCA lobby. “I know former Sen. Adam Hinds and current Sen. Paul Mark have already had several discussions with me on this topic, and have been strong advocates for this.”

Mark, D-Becket, and state Rep. John Barrett III, D-North Adams, were on hand for Spilka's visit, which included a tour of Mass MoCA. 

While Democratic Gov. Maura Healey increased rural school aid by $2 million in her 2024 budget proposal, the $7.5 million Healey allocated for rural school assistance grants is significantly short of a special commission’s recommendation of $60 million annually.

“The Student Opportunity Act, which was passed with great fanfare in 2019, didn’t help a lot of school districts, especially the rural ones,” Barrett said while waiting for Spilka to arrive on Friday. “For instance, North Adams’ annual increase in local aid went up $45,000. Adams was up $37,000, and that just doesn’t cut the mustard. At the same time, over the next five years, the city of Pittsfield was going to get a $5 million increase.”

“The $7.5 million is not enough,” Barrett added. “This is a serious problem that has to be dealt with.”

Mark said that he’d love for rural school aid funding to be bumped up. Still, he said, “$7.5 million in the budget is amazing. Five years ago, this fund didn’t exist.”

Mark said he’d like to see the number increased from $7.5 million to at least $10 million.

“As a delegation, it’s important we [Berkshire legislators] all continue to advocate and try to get to that number,” he said.

When the topic surfaced of increasing Chapter 90 money, which is local aid for transportation, Spilka said that on Thursday, the Senate passed a $350 million road and bridge maintenance bill, which includes $200 million for Chapter 90.

“We did last year do a supplement for Chapter 90 so that all of our communities, all of our cities and towns, got additional money,” Spilka said. “We will take a look at that as well. We recognize particularly on the heels of winter our roads need some work, so we will certainly be looking at that.”

The additional $150 million in bonds aims to help municipalities tackle transportation issues, as officials throughout the state have said the Chapter 90 money for road maintenance is not enough.

Much of state aid is handed out according to formulas, and, as local officials often tell The Eagle, those formulas hurt towns with small populations.

Spilka also said she supports the East-West rail project, which would extend passenger rail service to Pittsfield and connect the eastern and western regions of the state.

“I’ve been a supporter of that from the get-go," she said. "It would be a big boon not only to Western Massachusetts but the entire state,” she said.

Spilka also commented on the state program that uses empty state-owned buildings as shelters for unhoused people, saying she generally supports it. A vacant dormitory on the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts campus may become a shelter for homeless families, The Eagle reported on Thursday.

“I think we need to find locations for folks that are homeless and be creative and innovative,” Spilka said. “We need to work with communities as well to ensure that whatever we do works best for them, and support them with the necessary resources and programs that may come along with that.”

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State Senators Hear About Needs of Rural Communities / iBerkshires.com - The Berkshires online guide to events, news and Berkshire County community information.

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Letter: "What the Inflation Reduction Act can do for Berkshire County"

The Berkshire Eagle, April 11, 2023

To the editor: Thank you for covering the April 3 Berkshire Innovation Center event (“Seize clean energy benefits, expert says,” Eagle, April 4) that focused on the benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act.

Injecting billions of dollars in federal money and supplemented by millions in state funds, the Inflation Reduction Act will promote electrification of our economy so that Massachusetts can reduce its fossil fuel emissions by 50 percent by the year 2030.

As an audience member, I was stunned by the transformative impact that this initiative could have on Berkshire County, and I urge residents to learn how the IRA can reduce harmful pollution, jump-start our economy, and reduce energy expenses for individuals and households.

To learn how to get started reaping these benefits, consider signing up for online seminars offered by greenenergyconsumers.org. The topics range from federal incentives for electric cars (“Update on Federal Incentives” April 27 at noon) to heat pumps (“Heat Pumps: the What, the Where, and the How Much” April 18 at 7 p.m.).

And if you visit rewiringamerica.org, you can also participate in an IRA Savings Calculator that will identify which tax credits and rebates are for you.

At the April 3 event, Sen. Paul Mark urged individuals, contractors, farmers, tax-exempt organizations and community leaders to develop a “punch list” of goals so that all sectors can take advantage of funding that will be available. Larry Chretien of the Green Energy Consumers Alliance added: “Think about future projects — and don’t go the fossil fuel route.”

The reality is that opting for new fossil fuel infrastructure will be a losing proposition, not only for the individual but for Berkshire County’s economy. Electrifying space and water heating alone could reduce energy bills for 55,000 households in Berkshire Country, saving each household $731 per year on average.

Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, there is a brighter — and cleaner — future for Berkshire County and its residents. Let’s take advantage of all it has to offer.

Michele Marantz, Dalton

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Opinion Columnists | Howie Carr: "Massachusetts Democrats to the people — ‘What’s ours is ours and what’s yours is ours’"

By Howie Carr, howard.carr@medianewsgroup.com - Boston Herald, April 16, 2023

This is what a one-party state looks like.

On Thursday [4/13/2023], the Massachusetts House voted 128–26 to gut a law passed by the voters that provided tax relief to the working classes on those rare occasions when the Commonwealth collected too much money.

Last year, the taxpayers — not to be confused with Democrats — were refunded $3 billion of their own money under the provisions of the law, known as 62F.

The hackerama was outraged that people who worked would get back some of their own money. They were determined to get rid of 62F. It was priority number one once the state Republican party committed mass suicide last year.

How many Democrats, you ask, voted to abide by the will of the people and uphold the referendum question that passed easily in 1986 with a 54 percent majority?

Two. Exactly two Democrats voted to continue giving taxpayers a break — Reps. Colleen Garry of Dracut and Jeff Turco of Winthrop.

When it comes to the subject of working people and their money, the Democrats on Beacon Hill now embrace the same philosophy as the old Mafia:

“What’s ours is ours and what’s yours is ours.”

With all Republican opposition eliminated (thanks Jim Lyons and Geoff “DoorDash” Diehl!), the ascendant Democrats have split into factions.

The more pragmatic Democrats seek to drive out society’s productive classes more… slowly. You can compare them to the cook who wants to drop the frog into a pot of room-temperature water, and then turn up the heat slowly, so that the frog doesn’t notice he’s being boiled alive until it’s too late to jump out.

The other faction — the “progressives” — want to get the cauldron boiling, and then toss the frog in. The problem is, sometimes the frog jumps out and escapes, kind of like everyone stuck in Massachusetts now who has a real job, as opposed to some phony-baloney position in academia, or a non-profit, or, God help us, “advocacy.”

At present, the slow-boil Democrats seem to have the upper hand. To cover up their cold-blooded murder of 62F, they attached a fig leaf, tinkering with the death and capital-gains taxes, as if anyone who has any real money is sticking around the Commonwealth to be beggared by the welfare-industrial complex.

Those people are already gone, or are on their way out the door.

The insanity of this new one-party state was clear in the House debate Thursday afternoon. This is what far-left Cambridge Rep. Mike Connolly said about the tax nightmare, as quoted by the State House News Service:

“There was a time when they called it Taxachusetts. That was a long time ago.”

This is how unhinged they have become.

“The story of taxes in Massachusetts throughout my adult life has been a story of tax cuts — for the rich, for big corporations.”

No, in fact it’s been a story of tax cuts passed by the voters being gutted by Democrats. And Thursday’s 128–26 vote to kill 62F was the latest example.

The leftists objected to even the modest tax cuts the leadership offered, because it would deprive them of some of the billion-plus dollars that they’re determined to grab after jacking up the top income tax rate in the state by 80 percent.

The local Reds called that obscene hike “Fair Share.” Because to Democrats, what could be fairer than stealing someone else’s hard-earned money and giving it to layabouts who don’t work?

With the teachers’ unions spending $23 million on the campaign, the graduated income tax was narrowly approved by the voters last year, 52–48 percent, a narrower margin than 62F won with in 1986.

Even hapless Republican House leader Brad Jones discerned the double standard here.

“This was approved by the voters,” he said of 62F. “There are arguments that we need to respect the voters on ‘Fair Share.’ Why not respect the voters on 62F?”

Because, to repeat the Democrats’ mantra: What’s ours is ours and what’s yours is ours.

Another thing the Democrats despised about 62F — the money was returned in the same proportions as it had been taken. In other words, if you paid a lot in taxes, you got back more. If you paid nothing — again, like most Democrats — you didn’t get back anything.

In other words, it was a graduated return of money. The Democrats hated the flat income tax and wanted everyone to pay their “fair share.” So after making sure 62F could never be used again — the threshold to trigger a refund was raised to an unreasonably high level — the powers that be also changed the way the returns are calculated.

Henceforward, the money would go back at a flat rate — not only will Democrats on welfare get “refunds” of taxes they didn’t pay, so will illegal aliens.

“We’re simply changing how it gets distributed,” explained ancient Newton state Rep. Ruth Balser. “What we’re doing today, consistent with everything in the bill, we’re trying to make it fairer, trying to make it more equitable.”

Ah yes, equity.

So let me get this straight — a flat income tax rate is somehow unfair and must be repealed and replaced by a graduated system to punish people who have real jobs. But returning over collections of taxes under that same graduated formula — that’s unfair, and must be replaced with the same flat rate that the Democrats loathed in the income tax rate.

What could be fairer than that? Taking a tax refund away from someone who works, and giving it to someone who doesn’t.

It was left to GOP Rep. Peter Durant of Spencer to point out a final inconvenient truth.

“Here are some facts to remember — 1,100 people per week leave this state. Eleven hundred people, over 50,000 people a year, leave the state citing the high cost of living, the high taxes they pay, the difficulty of making ends meet here.

“Think about that, 1,100 people a week. A recent poll said 40% of all residents in Massachusetts were considering leaving — 40%.”

How soon until the Democrats make Prop. 21/2 “fairer?” How soon until the property-tax cap becomes Prop. 41/2?

This is what a one-party state looks like.

Will the last American leaving Massachusetts please turn out the lights?

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June 18, 2023

On the public record, Becket State Senator Paul Mark voted AGAINST affordable housing last week.  Paul Mark was one of 30 Massachusetts State Senators to vote against S.2397: Question on adoption of the amendment 16: To create basic affordability standards for the Housing Development Incentive Program (HDIP) to replace the current 2% of HDIP-funded housing that actually goes towards affordable housing with 20% to be dedicated to affordable housing.

Please click on the link and scroll down to the end of the webpage:

Here’s How Your State Senator Voted in the Tax Reform Debate – Progressive Mass

Jonathan A. Melle

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June 19, 2023

Trivia time!  Who is this politician?

He has been a corrupt career state politician from the Berkshires since 2011.  He is a rubber stamp vote for the corrupt and secretive State House and State Senate leadership in Boston.  Every two years, he happily accepts up to three public pay raises plus perks that cost the state taxpayers' tens of thousands of dollars per fiscal year.  In early-2017, he voted for the controversial 40 percent public pay raise bill for the "part-time, useless, do nothing (but DISSERVICES)" Massachusetts State Legislature.  Last week, he voted against affordable housing in the Housing Development Incentive Program (HDIP).  He blocks all of Jon Melle's political emails.  He is sarcastically called Paul "Marxism".

The answer: Paul Mark of Becket, Massachusetts

  

Jonathan A. Melle

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After welcoming Mass. Director of Rural Affairs, State Sen. Mark reports on issues local leaders want to see tackled | WAMC

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