CLT UPDATE
Friday, July 17, 2009
Beacon Hill pols diss public at hearing
Outraged attendees of a Tuesday Judiciary Committee
hearing are fuming over the committee’s decision to hear 227 bills –
many of them controversial – in a single day, forcing committee leaders
to cut off testimony from speakers on a range of topics, from gun
violence, to sexual assault and a bill to add gender identity to the
state’s non-discrimination statute....
“It’s an old-school M.O. that has no place in a modern legislature,”
said Brian Condron, director of public affairs at the Home for Little
Wanderers. “It’s crazy and they do this every year ... It really has no
place in a modern legislature in an age of transparency.”
Frustration was visible throughout usually spacious Gardner Auditorium,
which was packed to capacity, with an overflow crowd into the hallway. A
state trooper and two park rangers stood watch at the door. Advocates
for various bills privately questioned why the committee would schedule
so many contentious bills for one hearing, and some said they would have
to leave without testifying because of the long waits.
Adding to a chaotic atmosphere, lawmakers who serve on the committee
frequently moved in and out of the room to cast votes during a busy
House session, at one point leaving Creem as the lone member on the
panel. At one point, Rep. Robert Rice told a packed elevator of people
exiting the hearing to clear out and make way for House members on their
way to a vote....
“The people’s work is supposed to be done in a timely fashion, but not
at the cost of the democratic process,” the House GOP wrote on its blog.
“It is the status quo on Beacon Hill and until our Democratic colleagues
are willing to work with us and make the process more efficient,
unfortunately more situations like the one we are encountering today
will most likely happen again.”
Three-and-a-half hours into the hearing, testimony hadn’t yet begun on
the most-anticipated bill of the day for many in the audience,
legislation adding protections for transgender people to the state
non-discrimination statute.
State House News Service
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Anger, frustration as packed Judiciary hearing
forces rushed remarks
Massachusetts has a full-time Legislature but not
enough time to take testimony on legislation.
How’s that for an expensive irony! ...
The committee knew all this - they even made sure to reserve the
spacious Gardner Auditorium. But for two and a half hours, according to
the State House News Service, they stuck with that tiresome practice of
giving lawmakers priority over the regular Joes who have dragged
themselves to Beacon Hill on a weekday to testify....
Now that’s democracy in action.
Well, not even close, actually. But it’s really just the latest example
of the governing philosophy at the State House these days - the people’s
business doesn’t much involve the actual people anymore. With taxpayers
suffering, O’Flaherty, Creem and their colleagues might want to at least
appear as if they’re earning their generous salaries, and not just going
through the motions.
A Boston Herald editorial
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Hearing impaired
Apparently, state lawmakers are done listening to the
people.
Why else would the Legislature's Judiciary Committee schedule testimony
on a stunning 227 bills Tuesday? The cynical move all but guaranteed the
hundreds of citizens hoping to be heard would go home disappointed and
disillusioned....
Needless to say, Richardson didn't get a chance to speak. She — and the
other citizens who packed the hearing room Tuesday — deserved better
from their elected representatives.
A Salem News editorial
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Stacked agenda shut out citizens
Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
Monday's Judiciary
Committee hearing on Beacon Hill provides the latest example of the
utter contempt in which our legislators-for-life hold us mere serfs.
Public hearings have never been much more than legislative committees
going through the motions, putting on a show, then doing as they
intended all along. But at least in the past they made an effort
for the sake of appearance.
For those who've never
attended one of these dog-and-pony shows, they go like this:
You prepare your testimony,
your presentation, then drive into Boston, pay an exorbitant price to
park by the hour, march up Beacon Hill to the State House, find the
proper room for the hearing. Those in the know get there early, so
they can put their name on the sign-in sheet reasonably near the top of
the list, so they'll get called early. But early is relative for a
mere citizen.
When the committee opens
its hearing, calls the bill to be heard, legislators step up to the head
of the line -- one after another, a parade of them. The public
sits on its hands, patiently awaiting its turn to testify.
Legislators continue meandering into the room at their leisure,
strutting to the head of the line until finally there are no more.
It's not as if they don't see each other around the State House, don't
have an opportunity to express their views (bend arms, trade votes,
etc.) while the public's not waiting or watching. These are
"important" people, their time is so much more valuable than
ours. It's a dog-and-pony show at the expense of the public's
time, making a farce of civic participation.
The committee -- at least a
majority of it -- is usually present at the beginning. But as the
day wears on, one by one they disappear. By the middle of a
hearing you're lucky if more than a chairman or two are still in the
room. These are very busy people, you know, presumably doing the
people's business -- somewhere else.
Hours later you finally get
your chance to speak. You might be asked a question or two -- it
they don't like your position -- but more often you get a few nods from
the chair and a thank you when you're done. The committee's going
to vote how it was going to vote when the hearing opened, anyway;
whatever the leadership wants. You feel good just that you were
there speaking truth to power. At least they can't later say
"Nobody opposed our bill."
It's frustrating,
infuriating being treated as just a nuisance, so much annoyance -- but
that's the way it is, or was.
It's become even worse.
Committee members have become so arrogant, self-assured of reelection,
feel so invincible that they're no longer even making a pretense of
public hearings. They're merely going through the motions, just
getting the process over with. 227 bill in one day? That's
obviously absurd, but why drag out hearings when they already know the
results, why waste their precious time? Besides, how long can the
hoi polloi endure being ignored before they just -- go away and stop
bothering them? Sooner or later the unwashed masses will be worn
down, give up, go home.
This is what their assured
reelection has given us. It's getting hard to believe that such
arrogance and disrespect can get any worse -- but each day we see it
happening, becoming more blatant.
The election of 2010 can't
get here fast enough. These self-anointed aristocrats must be
slapped down if democracy is to one day be restored, they must be turned
out of office -- defeated at the polls. That is the only
salvation for the people of Taxachusetts. Nothing else matters any
more. Nothing else will until The Turnover of 2010.
Grit your teeth for now,
then work hard and vote out every legislator who's dissing us.
 |
|
Chip Ford |
|
State House News Service
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Anger, frustration as packed Judiciary hearing
forces rushed remarks
By Kyle Cheney
Outraged attendees of a Tuesday Judiciary Committee hearing are fuming
over the committee’s decision to hear 227 bills – many of them
controversial – in a single day, forcing committee leaders to cut off
testimony from speakers on a range of topics, from gun violence, to
sexual assault and a bill to add gender identity to the state’s
non-discrimination statute.
More than a few eyebrows were raised during a marathon hearing Tuesday
when the Senate chair of the committee, Cynthia Creem (D-Newton), cut
off Secretary of Public Safety Kevin Burke and asked him to hurry his
testimony on an administration-backed bill aimed at preventing gun
violence.
“It’s an old-school M.O. that has no place in a modern legislature,”
said Brian Condron, director of public affairs at the Home for Little
Wanderers. “It’s crazy and they do this every year ... It really has no
place in a modern legislature in an age of transparency.”
Frustration was visible throughout usually spacious Gardner Auditorium,
which was packed to capacity, with an overflow crowd into the hallway. A
state trooper and two park rangers stood watch at the door. Advocates
for various bills privately questioned why the committee would schedule
so many contentious bills for one hearing, and some said they would have
to leave without testifying because of the long waits.
Adding to a chaotic atmosphere, lawmakers who serve on the committee
frequently moved in and out of the room to cast votes during a busy
House session, at one point leaving Creem as the lone member on the
panel. At one point, Rep. Robert Rice told a packed elevator of people
exiting the hearing to clear out and make way for House members on their
way to a vote.
Because the committee adheres to a common legislative practice to take
testimony from legislators and elected officials before members of the
public, a line of nearly 20 lawmakers occupied most of the committee’s
time for the first two-and-a-half hours of the hearing, which began at
noon. Attorney General Martha Coakley, as well as Lt. Gov. Tim Murray
and Secretary Burke, were also allowed to testify out of turn. Hundreds
of people who came to tell sometimes-emotional stories about – to name a
few – murdered family members, rape and gang violence, waited to
testify.
House Republicans used the occasion to point out that Democrats haven’t
supported their proposals to prevent such occurrences, in part by
attempting to prevent such major scheduling conflicts.
“The people’s work is supposed to be done in a timely fashion, but not
at the cost of the democratic process,” the House GOP wrote on its blog.
“It is the status quo on Beacon Hill and until our Democratic colleagues
are willing to work with us and make the process more efficient,
unfortunately more situations like the one we are encountering today
will most likely happen again.”
Three-and-a-half hours into the hearing, testimony hadn’t yet begun on
the most-anticipated bill of the day for many in the audience,
legislation adding protections for transgender people to the state
non-discrimination statute. The committee, which initially blocked off
2:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. for testimony solely on that bill, pushed the start
to 3:30 p.m. to allow members of the public to testify on other
proposals.
Secretary Burke spoke on H 4102, Gov. Deval Patrick’s proposal aimed at
combating gun trafficking and preventing gang violence. The bill would
bring Massachusetts into compliance with a federal law – passed in the
wake of the mass-shooting at Virginia Tech University – that requires
states to submit various personal data to the federal government to
determine whether prospective gun buyers are fit to purchase firearms.
Data that would be transmitted includes whether individuals have been
committed to mental institutions or are addicted to any controlled
substances, according to Burke.
Other bills that drew throngs of advocates to the hearing included one
(H 344) to ban the devocalization of dogs. Devocalization is a process
in which a dog’s vocal cords are cut or removed. Backers of the bill say
the procedure causes unnecessary harm to dogs, puts dog-owners at risk
of being bitten without warning and can lead to infection of dogs’
throats. Sen. Scott Brown (R-Wrentham) spoke in support of the bill,
saying it was brought to his attention by a 15-year-old in his district.
The bill was filed by Rep. Lida Harkins (D-Needham).
Other bills on which the committee took testimony included:
S 1559: A proposal to require courthouses to designate separate, safe
spaces for crime victims and ensuring access to court proceedings for
victims with disabilities.
H 1614: A proposal, backed by Attorney General Martha Coakley, to
increase the maximum penalty for corporate manslaughter from $1,000 to
$250,000. The proposal, filed by Judiciary Committee co-chair Rep.
Eugene O’Flaherty, was aimed, in part, at Powers Fasteners, a company
that Coakley prosecuted for providing the fast-set epoxy that failed in
a fatal collapse of a Big Dig ceiling panel.
H 1668: A bill to include stepfamily members in incest laws. Rep.
Elizabeth Poirier filed the petition, she said, when she learned that a
constituent raped by her stepfather could not bring charges under
existing incest laws.
S 1668: A proposal to remove three pre-Roe v. Wade, unenforced
provisions of the General Laws that prohibit anyone from performing or
advertising abortion services, or manufacturing devices used to perform
abortions.
H 1423: Also known as Melissa’s Law, a proposal to classify habitual
violent offenders and ensure they serve the maximum sentence for their
most recently committed crimes. The bill was named for Melissa Gosule,
who was murdered by a repeat offender who picked her up on the side of
the road after her car broke down.
S 1757: A bill that would require jail time of 90 days to two-and-a-half
years and fines of $500 to $5,000 for assaulting an on-duty nurse. The
proposal garnered some tearful testimony from nurses who said they had
been “punched, kicked, spit at and slapped” while caring for patients,
some of whom had mental disabilities.
As of 5:45 p.m., Gardner Auditorium was still nearly full, with
advocates for and against the gender identity bill testifying.
Supporters of the legislation predicted at least another two hours of
testimony.
The Boston Herald
Thursday, July 16, 2009
A Boston Herald editorial
Hearing impaired
Massachusetts has a full-time Legislature but not enough time to take
testimony on legislation.
How’s that for an expensive irony!
Yes, on Tuesday the Judiciary Committee - co-chaired by Rep. Eugene
O’Flaherty (D-Chelsea) and Sen. Cynthia Stone Creem (D-Newton) -
scheduled a single hearing to take testimony on a whopping 227 bills.
And while packed hearing agendas are not unheard of when bills are
routine and noncontroversial, that wasn’t the case on Wednesday.
The committee was airing some highly sensitive legislation - bills that
would toughen the penalties for gun crimes, for example, and bills
addressing hate crimes and sexual violence. The family of a 27-year-old
murder victim planned to testify on legislation that would increase the
maximum sentence for repeat offenders. And Attorney General Martha
Coakley’s Big Dig-inspired bill to increase the minimum fine for
corporate manslaughter from $1,000 to $250,000 was on the docket, too.
The committee knew all this - they even made sure to reserve the
spacious Gardner Auditorium. But for two and a half hours, according to
the State House News Service, they stuck with that tiresome practice of
giving lawmakers priority over the regular Joes who have dragged
themselves to Beacon Hill on a weekday to testify.
The agenda drew so much interest that security officials eventually had
to block access to the room because of overcrowding. And the hearing
coincided with a formal House session, so reps had to scurry in and out
between roll calls.
Now that’s democracy in action.
Well, not even close, actually. But it’s really just the latest example
of the governing philosophy at the State House these days - the people’s
business doesn’t much involve the actual people anymore. With taxpayers
suffering, O’Flaherty, Creem and their colleagues might want to at least
appear as if they’re earning their generous salaries, and not just going
through the motions.
The Salem News
Thursday, July 16, 2009
A Salem News editorial
Stacked agenda shut out citizens
Apparently, state lawmakers are done listening to the people.
Why else would the Legislature's Judiciary Committee schedule testimony
on a stunning 227 bills Tuesday? The cynical move all but guaranteed the
hundreds of citizens hoping to be heard would go home disappointed and
disillusioned.
"It's an old-school M.O. that has no place in a modern legislature,"
Brian Condron, director of public affairs at the Home for Little
Wanderers told the State House News Service. "It's crazy and they do
this every year. ... It really has no place in a legislature in an age
of transparency."
Transparency, it is worth noting, was one of the key buzzwords during
this spring's debate over ethics reform. While legislators did pass an
ethics reform bill, Tuesday's Judiciary Committee hearing gave lie to
the claim that the culture was changing on Beacon Hill.
Here's how the State House News Service described the scene:
"Adding to a chaotic atmosphere, lawmakers who serve on the committee
frequently moved in and out of the room to cast votes during a busy
House session, at one point leaving (State Sen. Cynthia) Creem as the
lone member on the panel. At one point, Rep. James Fagan, D-Taunton,
told a packed elevator of people exiting the hearing to clear out and
make way for House members on their way to a vote.
"Because the committee adheres to a common legislative practice to take
testimony from legislators and elected officials before members of the
public, a line of nearly 20 lawmakers occupied most of the committee's
time for the first 21âÑ2 hours of the hearing. Attorney General Martha
Coakley, as well as Lt. Gov. Tim Murray and (Public Safety Secretary
Kevin) Burke, were also allowed to testify out of turn. Hundreds of
people who came to tell sometimes-emotional stories about ... murdered
family members, rape and gang violence, waited to testify."
One of those hoping to testify was Charlene Richardson, a former ER
nurse at Beverly Hospital who was brutally assaulted by a patient she
was treating in 2003. Richardson hoped to testify on a bill that would
make assaulting a health care worker on duty a specific crime with its
own set of penalties.
Needless to say, Richardson didn't get a chance to speak. She — and the
other citizens who packed the hearing room Tuesday — deserved better
from their elected representatives.
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