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CLT UPDATE
Sunday, February 14, 2021
Baker's Arrogant Climate Czar
Deep-Sixed
Jump directly
to CLT's Commentary on the News
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Most Relevant News Excerpts
(Full news reports follow Commentary)
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A group of
bipartisan lawmakers is calling for the immediate dismissal
of climate undersecretary David Ismay after a video surfaced
last week of the $130,000-a-year official saying it’s time
to start “turning the screws” on Massachusetts residents to
further cut carbon emissions.
“Let us be
perfectly clear: these comments are callous, insensitive,
and point to a major, insurmountable disconnect between this
appointed member of your administration and the very public
he is supposed to be serving. In the midst of this terrible
pandemic, with record unemployment plaguing our state and
major economic upheaval threatening our very way of life,
the last thing this administration should… be doing is
‘turning the screws’ on the ‘senior on fixed income’ and
‘the person across the street,” the group of six lawmakers
wrote to Gov. Charlie Baker and his administration.
“Given this
knowledge, Undersecretary Ismay’s position as a public
servant is completely untenable and we call for you to
immediately dismiss him from service within your
administration,” the Feb. 8 letter continued.
Dracut Democrat
Rep. Colleen Garry signed onto the letter alongside seven
Republican lawmakers, including Reps. Nicholas Boldyga of
Southwick, Marc Lombardo of Billerica, David DeCoste of
Norwell, Peter Durant of Spencer, Joseph McKenna of Webster,
Donald Berthiaume of Spencer and Representative Alyson
Sullivan of Abington.
The Boston Herald
Tuesday, February 9, 2021
Lawmakers call for immediate dismissal of Massachusetts
climate undersecretary
The state’s
climate undersecretary is facing the heat as the MassGOP is
calling for his resignation after a video surfaced of the
$130,000-a-year Baker administration official saying he’s
out to “break your will” over carbon emissions.
David Ismay, Gov.
Charlie Baker’s under secretary for climate change, is being
urged to resign and “go back to California where ordinary
people are accustomed to having their will broken,”
Massachusetts Republican Party Chairman Jim Lyons said
Monday.
The Massachusetts
Fiscal Alliance — that first posted Ismay’s questionable
choice of words that also elicited a stern rebuke from Baker
— is calling on Baker to “dismiss” Ismay while also filing a
public records request to see if he has other similar videos
circulating....
Ismay could not be
reached for comment. In the video, he also refers to East
Boston as “eastern Boston.”
Paul Diego Craney,
MassFiscal spokesman, said Ismay’s use of language is
insulting to taxpayers.
“He’s transparent.
He wants to inflict a lot of pain to fulfill his climate
agenda,” said Craney. “The government should be there to
help people. … Not do it on the backs of taxpayers.”
Lyons applauded
Baker for publicly reprimanding Ismay, but added the
undersecretary “should be dismissed from his job. For a
public servant to call for ‘breaking the will’ of those who
pay his $130,000 salary is inexcusable.”
This all comes as
sweeping climate policy legislation is being pushed that
would force net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Baker sent
that bill back to the Legislature with amendments Sunday.
Also part of the
debate is the Transportation Climate Initiative championed
by Baker that aims to reduce motor vehicle pollution by at
least 26% and generate over $1.8 billion in Massachusetts by
2032, according to a deal Massachusetts signed with Rhode
Island, Connecticut and Washington, D.C. It would also hike
the price of gas.
The Boston Herald
Tuesday, February 9, 2021
MassGOP calls for $130K Massachusetts climate official to
resign
MassFiscal seeks any other videos linked to harsh climate
policy rhetoric
What would you
call a $130,000-a-year hack who openly boasts of “breaking
the will” of poor people to drive and heat their own homes
by taxing them into abject poverty, yet has himself been
convicted of speeding at least three times, can’t be
bothered getting his own polluting car inspected and has
even had – gasp! — a private airplane pilot’s license?
You would call him
the undersecretary of climate change for Massachusetts.
Consider the
record of one David Ismay, a drifter who blew into
Maskachusetts a few years back and now publicly entertains
fascist fantasies of “turning the screws” on the state’s
working classes.
These were his
exact words last month, at a public conference:
“Sixty percent of
our emissions that need to be reduced come from you, the
person across the street, the senior on fixed income …
(that’s who the state must) point the finger at, to turn the
screws on, and you know, to break their will, so they stop
emitting. That’s you. We have to break your will.”
A blow-in who
lives in a mansion in Chestnut Hill with an airplane pilot’s
license dreams of forcing old folks who were born here to
freeze in their homes and take the bus to their doctor’s
appointments?
Even John F. Kerry
would blush at such chutzpah....
By 2005, Ismay had
drifted out to Berkeley, Calif. — drifters gotta drift,
after all — and that’s where he apparently either got or
renewed his airplane pilot’s license with the Federal
Aviation Administration.
Think about that
one — a guy who wants your grandmother to have rely on the
bus to buy her groceries spends his leisure time flying
airplanes.
A call was placed
to the undersecretary’s 510 area code cell phone Monday
again asking him to come on my radio show to discuss all of
the above issues.
Perhaps he was in
what he calls “eastern Boston” — trying to figure out which
triple-deckers he plans to demolish first, after he finishes
breaking the will of the working people of Maskachusetts.
When the phone
didn’t ring, I knew it was the undersecretary of climate
change.
Last question:
When is Gov. Charlie Parker going to change Ismay’s
$130,000-a-year climate, once and for all?
The Boston Herald
Tuesday, February 9, 2021
Speeding? Pilot? Climate change undersecretary not playing
it cool
By Howie Carr
Last week, the
Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance published a new video of David
Ismay, the Baker/Polito administration’s Undersecretary for
Climate Change, telling a group of Vermont advocates that in
order for Massachusetts to lower carbon emissions, the state
needs to “break their will” and “turn the screws on”
ordinary people to achieve the administration’s climate
goals.
Ismay gave the
remarks on Jan. 25 at the Vermont Climate Council meeting.
He said, “So let me say that again, 60% of our emissions
that need to be reduced come from you, the person across the
street, the senior on fixed income, right … there is no bad
guy left, at least in Massachusetts to point the finger at,
to turn the screws on, and you know, to break their will, so
they stop emitting. That’s you. We have to break your will.
Right, I can’t even say that publicly …”
Remarks like this
have no place in state government. Ismay should be dismissed
from his powerful position as the state’s top climate
regulator, as he’s clearly demonstrated he does not have the
best interests of the residents of Massachusetts at heart.
If Gov. Baker continues to refuse to dismiss Ismay, then the
public has the right to know more about how the
administration’s top official for climate change intends to
further “break their will” and “turn the screws on” ordinary
people including the “person across the street” and the
“elderly on fixed income.” Maybe those plans are already
underway.
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, February 10, 2021
David Ismay should be dismissed, ASAP
By Paul Craney
When somebody
tells you, “I’m not threatening you,” rest assured that’s
exactly what he’s doing.
When a pocket
fascist publicly announces that he wants to “break your
will,” only a fool would assume that is not in fact his
plan.
When a payroll
patriot brags that he’s getting ready to “turn the screws
on” you, you had best prepare to do exactly that to him
before he can do it to you....
But the main
reason I hope Ismay keeps his job is because he’s finally
provided a public face for the Baker administration’s
biggest planned heist ever — the “Transportation Climate
Initiative,” TCI for short.
The TCI is
Charlie’s ultimate flim-flam — to keep the hackerama flush
with cash in perpetuity by arbitrarily imposing a
multi-billion-dollar fuel tax (with no legislative or
popular approval) on those plebeians Ismay so despises —
“the person across the street, the senior on fixed income.”
...
All the left-wing
states concocted out of thin air a Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) claiming that to reduce emissions by 25%
by 2032 would require “only” a 17-cent hike in the gas tax,
on top of the current state and federal taxes.
But as the
anti-TCI pro-taxpayer groups pointed out last month:
“Most independent
observers found this to be overly generous and one study
conducted by Tufts University even found that a 25%
reduction would require an increase of 38 cents per gallon
to achieve the goal.”
Remember, this
would be an additional 38 cents on top of the current MA
state tax of 24 cents per gallon, plus another 2.6 cents for
underground fuel tanks, as well as the 18-cent per federal
tax (which is going to be raised by the Democrats).
It was such an
outrageous theft that in the end, only 3 of the 13 states
signed on to the mega-heist.
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, February 10, 2021
Charlie Baker’s blundering climate guy shines light on
hypocrisy
By Howie Carr
The Baker
administration’s embattled climate change undersecretary
David Ismay is again being called out for his questionable
comments — this time against fishermen.
The Massachusetts
Fiscal Alliance, that broke the first video on the
$130,000-a-year official’s rhetoric, says he also told
climate activists that in order to obtain enough wind power,
“something has to give” in regard to the fishing industry.
“We need offshore
wind, and yes there is fishing out in the ocean too, but you
know, there’s, we can’t have no offshore wind, no
transmission, no solar, and have clean energy. Right.
Something has to give,” Ismay is quoted telling Vermont
climate advocates last month. He goes on to discuss
transmission lines that will be placed in the ocean.
Massachusetts is
home to some of the nation’s most productive commercial
fishing ports, the state Division of Marine Fisheries
states....
In a release on
the new video clip Wednesday morning, MassFiscal states
Ismay’s comments “cement the notion that large scale wind
farms will have unknown, negative impacts upon the region’s
struggling fishing industry.”
MassFiscal
spokesman Paul Diego Craney adds: “The Legislature recently
removed from legislation language that would help us learn
what a large-scale wind farm would do to the region’s
fishing industry and Ismay’s comments verify what we all
feared.”
Gov. Charlie Baker
once again lashed out at Ismay’s choice of words by saying
“he does not speak for me.” ...
Craney warns that
the latest Ismay video clip where he says “something has to
give” in the fishing industry “should be seen as a warning
for the fishing community that their livelihood may be
jeopardized by these megaprojects.”
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, February 10, 2021
Charlie Baker’s embattled climate undersecretary targets
fishing industry
David Ismay says on new video: ‘Something has to give’ with
wind power, fishing
David Ismay is
under fire again for yet another remark he made during a
Zoom call appearance January 25 with the Vermont Climate
Council.
Ismay, the
undersecretary for Climate Change under Massachusetts
Governor Charlie Baker, told the group that “something has
to give” in regard to the state’s fishing industry,
according to yet another video segment released by the
Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance.
Ismay said he
supports wind energy and he sees an inherent conflict
between expanding wind power and the fishing industry, as
the both use the ocean. Fishermen have complained that wind
turbines in the ocean may disrupt migration patterns and
harm fishing.
“We need offshore
wind, and yes there is fishing out in the ocean too, but you
know, there’s, we can’t have no offshore wind, no
transmission, no solar, and have clean energy,” Ismay told
the panel in the video now posted on on YouTube. “Right.
Something has to give …”
Ismay and the
press office for Charlie Baker could not be reached for
comment on Wednesday.
The New Boston
Post
Wednesday, February 10, 2021
Massachusetts Climate Czar David Ismay Also Caught Saying
He Wants To Harm the Fishing Industry
David Ismay, the
Baker administration $130,000-a-year climate change
undersecretary, has resigned “immediately” citing his
incendiary comments.
In a resignation
letter he shared with the Herald today, Ismay writes: “It is
with great regret that I submit my resignation, effectively
immediately, from the position of Undersecretary for Climate
Change in the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental
Affairs.”
The resignation
letter is addressed to his boss, Secretary of Energy and
Environmental Affairs Kathleen Theoharides, and is dated
Wednesday, Feb. 10.
Ismay heads out
the door after a series of questionable comments about
forcing homeowners, motorists and fishermen to prepare for
hard times as the state pushes for so-called Net Zero
emissions in the years to come.
Even Gov. Charlie
Baker bristled at Ismay’s rhetoric, saying the
undersecretary does not speak for him.
Ismay landed on
the hot seat after MassFiscal posted a video of the
undersecretary saying the state needs to “break their will”
and “turn the screws on” ordinary people to force changes in
their consumption of heating fuels and gasoline. Ismay
described the ordinary people as the “person across the
street” and the “senior on fixed income.”
That didn’t sit
well with the governor....
This morning
MassFiscal spokesman Paul Diego Craney said Ismay is an
example of unelected officials with too much power.
“For the past
year, we’ve continually warned the public regarding the
dangerous amount of power being handed over to unelected
bureaucrats through various climate initiatives such as the
Transportation & Climate Initiative (TCI) and the pending
climate bill,” Craney said.
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, February 11, 2021
Embattled Massachusetts climate official David Ismay resigns
‘immediately’
Adds in resignation letter shared with Herald:
‘I would like to apologize, again, for my comments’
David Ismay is no
longer a member of Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker’s
administration.
The controversial
undersecretary for Climate Change sent his letter of
resignation to the governor’s office on Wednesday, February
10 to the delight of the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance,
which publicized damaging remarks Ismay made during a
January 25 Zoom call with the Vermont Climate Council.
“I would like to
apologize, again, for my comments at last month’s Vermont
Climate Council meeting. My inability to clearly communicate
during that discussion reflected poorly on the governor, on
you, and on our hardworking staff,” Ismay wrote in his
resignation letter, in part.
Last month, Ismay
said that the state needed to “break their will” when it
comes to ordinary people’s use of home heating and driving
gasoline-powered cars. He said everyday activities account
for 60 percent of carbon emissions in the state. And when
speaking about the fishing industry in the same video, he
said, “Something has to give,” since fishermen argue that
wind turbines in the ocean harm their industry.
MassFiscal put out
a
statement in the wake of the news on Thursday morning.
Paul Craney, spokesman for the organization, said:
MassFiscal is
pleased to learn that the Baker and Polito
administration’s controversial climate official has
stepped down from his powerful position. Unelected
officials with that much power should never hold these
types of views.
MassFiscal
will continue to hold state officials, both elected and
unelected, accountable to their words and records. For
the past year, we’ve continually warned the public
regarding the dangerous amount of power being handed
over to unelected bureaucrats through various climate
initiatives such as the Transportation & Climate
Initiative (TCI) and the pending climate bill. While we
will likely see more and more stories like this moving
forward, today’s news is a positive testament of the
important work MassFiscal does. We hope the general
public will remain vigilant in holding the people in
power accountable.
The Baker and
Polito administration now have an opportunity to select
someone more in line with the thinking of the vast
majority of Massachusetts residents to fill this
powerful position, someone who doesn’t prioritize
ideological and bureaucratic goals over ordinary
citizens.
The resignation
came a day after eight Massachusetts lawmakers, seven
Republicans and one Democrat, called on the Baker
administration to fire Ismay from the position.
The New Boston
Post
Wednesday, February 11, 2021
Climate Czar David Ismay Resigns
If only Gov.
Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn “Pay to Play” Polito were
as easy to get rid of as their hack $130,000-a-year minion,
Driftin’ Dave Ismay....
Is there anything
the dynamic duo of Parker ‘n’ Polito can’t utterly mismanage
into complete catastrophe? So many ongoing calamities have
been unfolding here in the East Germany of New England that
some barely even warrant a mention on the nightly news any
longer.
For instance, did
you know that on Monday, Maskachusetts passed the “grim
milestone” of 15,000 COVID deaths? Of course not, because
once Trump could no longer be blamed for the toll, the term
“grim milestone” totally vanished from the headlines.
The MBTA is
practically defunct. The number of passengers on commuter
rail is down over 90%, on the subway lines 60-75%. Yet the
general manager, Steve Poftak, got a 2020 performance bonus
of $20,800 on top of a salary of $324,000.
But what does
Charlie Parker care? He’s still pocketing his
$185,000-a-year paycheck, plus his $65,000 housing
allowance, until that golden parachute at the combined
Tufts-Harvard Health Care Plan opens up.
This guy presides
over the highest nursing-home death rate in the country, the
third highest overall death rate, and he’s going to get
promoted to run a … health care system.
When does Rod
Serling step out of the shadows to introduce this latest
episode of the Twilight Zone? ...
All this rampant
greed, while the state under Charlie Parker suffers the
fourth highest rate of jobs lost in the entire nation....
Somewhere,
probably at a bus station in “Eastern Boston,” clutching his
ticket out of town for parts unknown, a forlorn Driftin’
Dave Ismay sits this morning, wondering how he became the
first hack in this state to lose his six-figure,
no-heavy-lifting job since… forever.
One down, 30,000
to go.
The Boston Herald
Friday, February 12, 2021
Why stop with David Ismay resignation?
Clear out the Charlie Baker administration
By Howie Carr
Will the
Legislature disregard the costs to be borne by average state
residents in its quest to reach a clean-air nirvana?
We’re encouraged
to see that at least the governor has attempted to weigh the
price involved in reaching the goals of the climate-change
bill he sent back to lawmakers for further review.
Gov. Charlie Baker
forwarded several amendments for consideration by lawmakers,
who refiled an identical version of the bill vetoed by Baker
last month.
Sen. Michael
Barrett, one of the bill’s architects and a lead compromise
negotiator, told the Boston Herald that despite the “tug of
war” over the bill, the Legislature is looking to enact
positive change, not wield its “super majority power” —
which would allow them to easily override any of the
governor’s objections.
The bill would
require the state to cut emissions by “at least” 50% of 1990
levels by 2030. Baker, however, wants a reduction range of
45% to 50% by 2030 and by 65% to 75% by 2040.
In explaining his
veto last month, the governor said a state analysis found it
would cost Massachusetts residents $6 billion more to hit
the additional 5% goal in emissions reductions outlined by
the Legislature — a figure Barrett dismissed as “largely
exaggerated … back-of-the-envelope math.” ...
Legislators must
see the forest of economy-crippling costs through the trees
of the carbon-neutral state they seek to create.
Or else that
sucking sound of fed-up residents fleeing to New Hampshire
will increase in volume.
A Boston Herald editorial
Thursday, February 12, 2021
Climate bill’s cost can’t be ignored
House Speaker
Ronald Mariano is sending a message about tax policy ahead
of budget season on Beacon Hill.
"Right now taxes
are not on the table. We have no intention of raising
taxes," Mariano told WCVB's "On the Record" in an interview
set to air Sunday at 11 a.m.
According to a
partial transcript of the interview, Mariano expressed
concern that the state budget was "going to be short," and
said the fate of President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID
relief and economic stimulus bill looms large....
Tax collections in
fiscal 2021 are exceeding projections so far. House and
Senate budget chiefs Aaron Michlewitz and Michael Rodrigues
are likely to release a schedule of upcoming fiscal 2022
state budget hearings soon.
State House News
Service
Thursday, February 12, 2021
Mariano: “We Have No Intention of Raising Taxes”
The Massachusetts
Constitution explicitly says the Legislature can authorize
absentee voting for just three reasons: if someone is out of
town, physically disabled, or cannot vote on Election Day
due to a religious belief.
Lawmakers
acknowledged the constraint in 2013, when they considered
but did not act on a constitutional amendment to allow
absentee voting for any reason.
“There’s been a
long-term traditional view that opportunities to vote by
mail in Massachusetts are constrained by the Constitution,
which specifies particular conditions under which you can do
this,” said Evan Horowitz, executive director of the Center
for State Policy Analysis at Tufts University....
Last year amid the
pandemic, the Legislature allowed anyone to apply for an
absentee ballot by defining COVID-19 precautions as a
physical disability. They also allowed universal early
voting by mail, under the rationale that the constitutional
constraint does not apply to early voting, which the state
just adopted in 2014. In other words, early ballots, even if
they are mailed in, are different from absentee ballots.
It is the latter
opinion that Galvin is relying on in introducing his new
bill, which would permanently expand early voting by
mail....
David Sullivan, an
attorney working with a coalition of advocates pushing to
make mail-in voting permanent, penned a legal memo arguing
that the Legislature has authority to authorize mail-in
voting. Sullivan examined the legislative intent during the
1917 constitutional convention that passed the
constitutional amendment authorizing absentee voting....
But Sullivan
acknowledged in an interview that his interpretation is
unlikely to be universally accepted. “I expect it will be
litigated at some point,” Sullivan said.
The bill supported
by the advocates specifies that any challenge to the
constitutionality of voting by mail must be brought in the
Supreme Judicial Court within 180 days after the bill’s
passage. A lawsuit would be barred if it sought to overturn
the outcome of an election in which people already voted.
“We obviously
don’t want people to vote by mail then find out afterwards
that it was illegal,” Sullivan said.
CommonWealth
Magazine
Thursday, February 11, 2021
Constitutional challenge to vote-by-mail likely
Local town
officials and boards of health continue to turn away
hundreds of people a day from getting the coronavirus
vaccine because of what they call a lack of communication
and planning from the Baker administration.
The town of
Burlington had to cancel 100 more seniors over 75 years old
on Wednesday who were set to get shots but couldn’t because
the state didn’t deliver any doses to the board of health.
“I could have done
hundreds today,” said Dr. Ed Weiner, head of the Burlington
board of health who has been helping get people inoculated
for more than 30 years. “We were all set up and ready to
go.”
Weiner said the
town asked the state Department of Public Health for 800
doses two weeks ago and was ready to go — even reserving
space in the local schools to give the shots. They only got
100 doses.
Then last week the
town got no doses at all.
“I don’t know
what’s going on,” a clearly frustrated Weiner said. “They
don’t communicate. Nobody communicates at the Department of
Public Health.”
Weiner faults Gov.
Charlie Baker for the lack of vaccines and said rather than
give control to town officials, who have a plan, they are
funneling people to mass vaccination sites like Gillette
Stadium and Fenway Park that are dozens of miles away....
Baker has been on
the defensive for weeks on account of the state’s poor
record in getting shots to those who need it most. No matter
what statistics you look at, Massachusetts ranks very low
compared to other states, especially in New England, in the
percentage of doses given to state residents. A new Harvard
study confirmed the state’s abysmal vaccination record.
It’s now clear
that if the state had turned more control over to local
towns and cities, Massachusetts would be ranked higher.
Instead, what we
get is repeated excuses and “I get it” statements from the
Republican governor and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, who is
supposed to be the point person to local town governments.
We don’t want to
hear “I get it” any more. We need action. If the state can’t
figure out how to distribute doses to the most people
possible, turn it over to someone who can.
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, February 11, 2021
Frustrated town officials blame Charlie Baker for
getting stiffed on coronavirus vaccines
By Joe Battenfeld
With a key
legislative deadline pushed forward by a month, Beacon Hill
lawmakers have some extra leg room as they draft up their
proposals for the 2021-2022 session, which continue to
stream into the clerks' offices.
The deadline was
extended this year to Feb. 19 under an amendment to Joint
Rule 12 agreed to by the House and Senate on their first day
of session, just hours after marathon meetings to end their
last two-year session.
The rule change
appears to have been crafted in response to two occurrences:
the blitz of legislating that occupied the attention of
lawmakers into early January and the old deadline's
proximity to the unusually late end to the last session. The
traditional due date for filing legislation is the third
Friday in January, which this year would have given
representatives and senators 10 days to file bills after the
old General Court concluded formal lawmaking in the early
morning of Jan. 6.
Formal lawmaking
usually concludes on July 31 in the second year of a
session, which gives lawmakers more than five months in
which they can contemplate and draft bills, but this year
the branches adjourned sine die shortly after 4:30 a.m. on
the same day the new session began after tackling weighty
bills in the final days....
The deadline
produces the bulk of the bills up for consideration each
session, but bills will continue to pour into the General
Court throughout the session, entering the system as
"late-files." The vast majority of bills fail without
receiving votes in the House or Senate, withering after
committee reviews or perhaps dying in one committee after
getting a favorable recommendation from another. The omnibus
bills that command most of the attention each session are
often crafted by committees and feature components of
numerous other bills.
As lawmakers and
aides prepare to file a petition, they work on the bill
language and gather names of any other initial supporters.
If it's a local bill -- perhaps a successful town meeting
warrant article that needs legislative approval -- they must
provide documentation of municipal-level approval bearing
the city or town's embossed seal.
Or, if a
legislator is re-filing a bill that didn't make it to the
finish line last time around, they can provide the previous
bill number and the clerks' computer application -- known as
LAWS -- auto-fills the old bill text and links it with the
clerks' documentation from last session.
After bills are
filed, House members are customarily given seven days after
the Joint Rule 12 deadline to sign on as cosponsors to their
colleagues' proposals. This year, that too is changed.
State House News
Service
Tuesday, February 9, 2021
New Deadline Offers “Breathing Room” on Bills
Lawmakers Draft Proposals Ahead of Feb. 19 Deadline
After seeing how
voting by mail helped lead to a record number of voters
casting ballots in the 2020 election, Secretary of State
William Galvin said Tuesday he would file legislation this
month to make the option a permanent fixture of the
Massachusetts voting system.
Galvin said his
bill would also expand in-person early voting and implement
same-day voter registration in Massachusetts, allowing
eligible voters who need to register or update their voting
information to do so at the polls on Election Day before
casting their ballot.
Currently, voters
must be registered at least 20 days before Election Day in
order to vote. Galvin's bill would let anyone who missed the
deadline to register on Election Day at the polls, but not
during the intervening period, and voters would not be
permitted to change party affiliation on the day of the
primary.
A record 3,657,972
votes were cast in the 2020 election in November after
lawmakers and election officials collaborated to implement
reforms intended to making voting safe and accessible during
the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 1.5 million people used the
vote-by-mail option in 2020, and another 844,000 voters cast
ballots in-person before Election Day, avoiding crowded
polling places.
The 76 percent
turnout rate in November was the highest since more than 84
percent of registered voters participated in the 1992
election in Massachusetts.
"What we saw last
year was that voting by mail was enormously popular," Galvin
said. "While voting by mail may not always be used to the
same extent as the pandemic finally ends, my office has
heard from many voters who have made it clear that they want
this option to remain available for all future elections."
...
Galvin's
announcement came a day before a coalition of lawmakers and
advocacy groups, including Sen. Cynthia Creem and Rep. John
Lawn, plan on Wednesday to roll out what they're calling the
VOTES Act, which would make last year's election reforms
permanent, implement same-day voter registration, improve
ballot access for incarcerated eligible voters, improve the
automatic voter registration system, and introduce
"risk-limiting post-election audits."
The VOTES Act was
filed in the House and Senate on Tuesday.
State House News
Service
Tuesday, February 9, 2021
Mail-In, Early Voting and Same-Day Registration in Election
Reform Bill
The Massachusetts
Constitution explicitly says the Legislature can authorize
absentee voting for just three reasons: if someone is out of
town, physically disabled, or cannot vote on Election Day
due to a religious belief.
Lawmakers
acknowledged the constraint in 2013, when they considered
but did not act on a constitutional amendment to allow
absentee voting for any reason.
“There’s been a
long-term traditional view that opportunities to vote by
mail in Massachusetts are constrained by the Constitution,
which specifies particular conditions under which you can do
this,” said Evan Horowitz, executive director of the Center
for State Policy Analysis at Tufts University....
Last year amid the
pandemic, the Legislature allowed anyone to apply for an
absentee ballot by defining COVID-19 precautions as a
physical disability. They also allowed universal early
voting by mail, under the rationale that the constitutional
constraint does not apply to early voting, which the state
just adopted in 2014. In other words, early ballots, even if
they are mailed in, are different from absentee ballots.
It is the latter
opinion that Galvin is relying on in introducing his new
bill, which would permanently expand early voting by
mail....
David Sullivan, an
attorney working with a coalition of advocates pushing to
make mail-in voting permanent, penned a legal memo arguing
that the Legislature has authority to authorize mail-in
voting. Sullivan examined the legislative intent during the
1917 constitutional convention that passed the
constitutional amendment authorizing absentee voting....
But Sullivan
acknowledged in an interview that his interpretation is
unlikely to be universally accepted. “I expect it will be
litigated at some point,” Sullivan said.
The bill supported
by the advocates specifies that any challenge to the
constitutionality of voting by mail must be brought in the
Supreme Judicial Court within 180 days after the bill’s
passage. A lawsuit would be barred if it sought to overturn
the outcome of an election in which people already voted.
“We obviously
don’t want people to vote by mail then find out afterwards
that it was illegal,” Sullivan said.
CommonWealth
Magazine
Thursday, February 11, 2021
Constitutional challenge to vote-by-mail likely
Local town
officials and boards of health continue to turn away
hundreds of people a day from getting the coronavirus
vaccine because of what they call a lack of communication
and planning from the Baker administration.
The town of
Burlington had to cancel 100 more seniors over 75 years old
on Wednesday who were set to get shots but couldn’t because
the state didn’t deliver any doses to the board of health.
“I could have done
hundreds today,” said Dr. Ed Weiner, head of the Burlington
board of health who has been helping get people inoculated
for more than 30 years. “We were all set up and ready to
go.”
Weiner said the
town asked the state Department of Public Health for 800
doses two weeks ago and was ready to go — even reserving
space in the local schools to give the shots. They only got
100 doses.
Then last week the
town got no doses at all.
“I don’t know
what’s going on,” a clearly frustrated Weiner said. “They
don’t communicate. Nobody communicates at the Department of
Public Health.”
Weiner faults Gov.
Charlie Baker for the lack of vaccines and said rather than
give control to town officials, who have a plan, they are
funneling people to mass vaccination sites like Gillette
Stadium and Fenway Park that are dozens of miles away....
Baker has been on
the defensive for weeks on account of the state’s poor
record in getting shots to those who need it most. No matter
what statistics you look at, Massachusetts ranks very low
compared to other states, especially in New England, in the
percentage of doses given to state residents. A new Harvard
study confirmed the state’s abysmal vaccination record.
It’s now clear
that if the state had turned more control over to local
towns and cities, Massachusetts would be ranked higher.
Instead, what we
get is repeated excuses and “I get it” statements from the
Republican governor and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, who is
supposed to be the point person to local town governments.
We don’t want to
hear “I get it” any more. We need action. If the state can’t
figure out how to distribute doses to the most people
possible, turn it over to someone who can.
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, February 11, 2021
Frustrated town officials blame Charlie Baker for
getting stiffed on coronavirus vaccines
House and Senate
Democrats ratified their committee assignments for the
two-year session Friday, approving the leadership and
committee structure that includes new posts meant to boost
oversight of the state's COVID-19 response, federal stimulus
funds, and the U.S. Census and redistricting process, and to
weigh the myriad issues that await Massachusetts on the
other side of the pandemic.
Speaker Ronald
Mariano unveiled the first committee slate of his
speakership in a Friday afternoon caucus and Senate
President Karen Spilka doled out assignments for her branch
at a unpublicized noontime caucus. Mariano had announced his
core leadership team Thursday and Spilka revealed Friday
that her main leadership group will remain the same as last
session.
Friday's
assignments put the typical committee structure in place for
the Legislature to get to work reviewing the roughly 1,800
House bills and about 1,200 Senate bills filed so far to
deal with the COVID-19 response, the pandemic's
disproportionate impact on communities of color, the racial
justice issues that sparked last year's massive protests,
routine local matters, and the typical potpourri of any
legislative session.
State House News
Service
Thursday, February 12, 2021
Mariano Shuffles the Deck With House Assignments
House, Senate Appointments Set for 2021-2022
|
Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
It was another bad week for Gov. Baker
— and an even worse one for David Ismay,
Baker's
Undersecretary for Climate Change.
Last week Ismay was
caught telling the truth, and it only got worse from there
— he was then caught telling yet another
truth.
On Tuesday it began when a bipartisan group
of eight legislators delivered a
letter to the Baker administration calling for the immediate
dismissal of Ismay. The Boston Herald reported ("Lawmakers
call for immediate dismissal of Massachusetts climate undersecretary"):
A group of bipartisan lawmakers is
calling for the immediate dismissal of climate
undersecretary David Ismay after a video surfaced last
week of the $130,000-a-year official saying it’s time to
start “turning the screws” on Massachusetts residents to
further cut carbon emissions.
“Let us be perfectly clear: these
comments are callous, insensitive, and point to a major,
insurmountable disconnect between this appointed member
of your administration and the very public he is
supposed to be serving. In the midst of this terrible
pandemic, with record unemployment plaguing our state
and major economic upheaval threatening our very way of
life, the last thing this administration should… be
doing is ‘turning the screws’ on the ‘senior on fixed
income’ and ‘the person across the street,” the group of
six lawmakers wrote to Gov. Charlie Baker and his
administration.
“Given this knowledge,
Undersecretary Ismay’s position as a public servant is
completely untenable and we call for you to immediately
dismiss him from service within your administration,”
the Feb. 8 letter continued.
Dracut Democrat Rep. Colleen Garry
signed onto the letter alongside seven Republican
lawmakers, including Reps. Nicholas Boldyga of
Southwick, Marc Lombardo of Billerica, David DeCoste of
Norwell, Peter Durant of Spencer, Joseph McKenna of
Webster, Donald Berthiaume of Spencer and Representative
Alyson Sullivan of Abington.
This was followed by the Massachusetts
Republican Party calling for Ismay's immediate resignation.
The Boston Herald reported also on Tuesday ("MassGOP calls
for $130K Massachusetts climate official to resign"):
The
state’s climate undersecretary is facing the heat as the MassGOP is
calling for his resignation after a video surfaced of the
$130,000-a-year Baker administration official saying he’s out to
“break your will” over carbon emissions.
David
Ismay, Gov. Charlie Baker’s under secretary for climate change, is
being urged to resign and “go back to California where ordinary
people are accustomed to having their will broken,” Massachusetts
Republican Party Chairman Jim Lyons said Monday.
The
Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance — that first posted Ismay’s
questionable choice of words that also elicited a stern rebuke from
Baker — is calling on Baker to “dismiss” Ismay while also filing a
public records request to see if he has other similar videos
circulating....
Ismay
could not be reached for comment. In the video, he also refers to
East Boston as “eastern Boston.”
Paul
Diego Craney, MassFiscal spokesman, said Ismay’s use of language is
insulting to taxpayers.
“He’s
transparent. He wants to inflict a lot of pain to fulfill his
climate agenda,” said Craney. “The government should be there to
help people. … Not do it on the backs of taxpayers.”
Lyons
applauded Baker for publicly reprimanding Ismay, but added the
undersecretary “should be dismissed from his job. For a public
servant to call for ‘breaking the will’ of those who pay his
$130,000 salary is inexcusable.”
This
all comes as sweeping climate policy legislation is being pushed
that would force net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Baker sent that
bill back to the Legislature with amendments Sunday.
Also
part of the debate is the Transportation Climate Initiative
championed by Baker that aims to reduce motor vehicle pollution by
at least 26% and generate over $1.8 billion in Massachusetts by
2032, according to a deal Massachusetts signed with Rhode Island,
Connecticut and Washington, D.C. It would also hike the price of
gas.
In his op-ed
Boston Herald column on Wednesday ("David
Ismay should be dismissed, ASAP") MassFiscal's Paul Craney
wrote:
Remarks like this have
no place in state government. Ismay should be dismissed from his
powerful position as the state’s top climate regulator, as he’s
clearly demonstrated he does not have the best interests of the
residents of Massachusetts at heart. If Gov. Baker continues to
refuse to dismiss Ismay, then the public has the right to know more
about how the administration’s top official for climate change
intends to further “break their will” and “turn the screws on”
ordinary people including the “person across the street” and the
“elderly on fixed income.” Maybe those plans are already underway.
In his Wednesday Boston Herald column
Howie Carr wrote ("Charlie Baker’s blundering climate guy
shines light on hypocrisy"):
When somebody tells you, “I’m not
threatening you,” rest assured that’s exactly what he’s
doing.
When a pocket fascist publicly
announces that he wants to “break your will,” only a
fool would assume that is not in fact his plan.
When a payroll patriot brags that
he’s getting ready to “turn the screws on” you, you had
best prepare to do exactly that to him before he can do
it to you....
But the main reason I hope Ismay
keeps his job is because he’s finally provided a public
face for the Baker administration’s biggest planned
heist ever — the “Transportation Climate Initiative,”
TCI for short.
The TCI is Charlie’s ultimate flim-flam
— to keep the hackerama flush with cash in perpetuity by
arbitrarily imposing a multi-billion-dollar fuel tax
(with no legislative or popular approval) on those
plebeians Ismay so despises — “the person across the
street, the senior on fixed income.”
And it only got
worse for Ismay from there. The Boston Herald further
reported ("Charlie Baker’s embattled climate undersecretary
targets fishing industry;
David Ismay says on new video: ‘Something has to give’ with
wind power, fishing"):
The
Baker administration’s embattled climate change undersecretary David
Ismay is again being called out for his questionable comments — this
time against fishermen.
The
Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, that broke the first video on the
$130,000-a-year official’s rhetoric, says he also told climate
activists that in order to obtain enough wind power, “something has
to give” in regard to the fishing industry.
“We
need offshore wind, and yes there is fishing out in the ocean too,
but you know, there’s, we can’t have no offshore wind, no
transmission, no solar, and have clean energy. Right. Something has
to give,” Ismay is quoted telling Vermont climate advocates last
month. He goes on to discuss transmission lines that will be placed
in the ocean.
Massachusetts is home to some of the nation’s most productive
commercial fishing ports, the state Division of Marine Fisheries
states....
In a
release on the new video clip Wednesday morning, MassFiscal states
Ismay’s comments “cement the notion that large scale wind farms will
have unknown, negative impacts upon the region’s struggling fishing
industry.”
MassFiscal spokesman Paul Diego Craney adds: “The Legislature
recently removed from legislation language that would help us learn
what a large-scale wind farm would do to the region’s fishing
industry and Ismay’s comments verify what we all feared.”
Gov.
Charlie Baker once again lashed out at Ismay’s choice of words by
saying “he does not speak for me.” ...
Craney warns that the latest Ismay video clip where he says
“something has to give” in the fishing industry “should be seen as a
warning for the fishing community that their livelihood may be
jeopardized by these megaprojects.”
The Baker administration's public relations
crisis reached an ignoble end on Wednesday.
The Boston Herald reported ("Embattled Massachusetts climate
official David Ismay resigns ‘immediately’"):
David
Ismay, the Baker administration $130,000-a-year climate change
undersecretary, has resigned “immediately” citing his incendiary
comments.
In a
resignation letter he shared with the Herald today, Ismay writes:
“It is with great regret that I submit my resignation, effectively
immediately, from the position of Undersecretary for Climate Change
in the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.”
The
resignation letter is addressed to his boss, Secretary of Energy and
Environmental Affairs Kathleen Theoharides, and is dated Wednesday,
Feb. 10.
Ismay
heads out the door after a series of questionable comments about
forcing homeowners, motorists and fishermen to prepare for hard
times as the state pushes for so-called Net Zero emissions in the
years to come.
Even
Gov. Charlie Baker bristled at Ismay’s rhetoric, saying the
undersecretary does not speak for him.
Ismay
landed on the hot seat after MassFiscal posted a video of the
undersecretary saying the state needs to “break their will” and
“turn the screws on” ordinary people to force changes in their
consumption of heating fuels and gasoline. Ismay described the
ordinary people as the “person across the street” and the “senior on
fixed income.”
That
didn’t sit well with the governor....
This
morning MassFiscal spokesman Paul Diego Craney said Ismay is an
example of unelected officials with too much power.
“For
the past year, we’ve continually warned the public regarding the
dangerous amount of power being handed over to unelected bureaucrats
through various climate initiatives such as the Transportation &
Climate Initiative (TCI) and the pending climate bill,” Craney said.
ISMAY'S LETTER OF
RESIGNATION
CLICK
HERE OR ON IMAGE ABOVE FOR FULL SIZE PDF
DOCUMENT
The New Boston Post reported ("Climate
Czar David Ismay Resigns"):
MassFiscal put out a
statement in the wake of the news on Thursday
morning. Paul Craney, spokesman for the organization,
said:
MassFiscal is pleased to learn
that the Baker and Polito administration’s
controversial climate official has stepped down from
his powerful position. Unelected officials with that
much power should never hold these types of views.
MassFiscal will continue to
hold state officials, both elected and unelected,
accountable to their words and records. For the past
year, we’ve continually warned the public regarding
the dangerous amount of power being handed over to
unelected bureaucrats through various climate
initiatives such as the Transportation & Climate
Initiative (TCI) and the pending climate bill. While
we will likely see more and more stories like this
moving forward, today’s news is a positive testament
of the important work MassFiscal does. We hope the
general public will remain vigilant in holding the
people in power accountable.
The Baker and Polito
administration now have an opportunity to select
someone more in line with the thinking of the vast
majority of Massachusetts residents to fill this
powerful position, someone who doesn’t prioritize
ideological and bureaucratic goals over ordinary
citizens.
The resignation came a day after
eight Massachusetts lawmakers, seven Republicans and one
Democrat, called on the Baker administration to fire
Ismay from the position.
In his Boston Herald column on Friday ("Why
stop with David Ismay resignation? Clear out the Charlie Baker
administration") Howie Carr concluded this episode with:
If
only Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn “Pay to Play” Polito were
as easy to get rid of as their hack $130,000-a-year minion, Driftin’
Dave Ismay....
Is
there anything the dynamic duo of Parker ‘n’ Polito can’t utterly
mismanage into complete catastrophe? So many ongoing calamities have
been unfolding here in the East Germany of New England that some
barely even warrant a mention on the nightly news any longer.
For
instance, did you know that on Monday, Maskachusetts passed the
“grim milestone” of 15,000 COVID deaths? Of course not, because once
Trump could no longer be blamed for the toll, the term “grim
milestone” totally vanished from the headlines.
The
MBTA is practically defunct. The number of passengers on commuter
rail is down over 90%, on the subway lines 60-75%. Yet the general
manager, Steve Poftak, got a 2020 performance bonus of $20,800 on
top of a salary of $324,000.
But
what does Charlie Parker care? He’s still pocketing his
$185,000-a-year paycheck, plus his $65,000 housing allowance, until
that golden parachute at the combined Tufts-Harvard Health Care Plan
opens up.
This
guy presides over the highest nursing-home death rate in the
country, the third highest overall death rate, and he’s going to get
promoted to run a … health care system.
When
does Rod Serling step out of the shadows to introduce this latest
episode of the Twilight Zone? ...
All
this rampant greed, while the state under Charlie Parker suffers the
fourth highest rate of jobs lost in the entire nation....
Somewhere, probably at a bus station in “Eastern Boston,” clutching
his ticket out of town for parts unknown, a forlorn Driftin’ Dave
Ismay sits this morning, wondering how he became the first hack in
this state to lose his six-figure, no-heavy-lifting job since…
forever.
One
down, 30,000 to go.
Another dark saga comes to its
conclusion and is now added to the storied history of
Massachusetts "good government" —
because the public was exposed to what's being done to them
and its anger and outrage reached critical mass. Be
assured that Ismay's replacement will be no better for state
residents and consumers, but whoever is appointed will avoid
telling the truth at any cost.
A Boston Herald editorial on Thursday ("Climate
bill’s cost can’t be ignored") put the next shot over the ship of
state's bow:
Will the Legislature disregard the
costs to be borne by average state residents in its
quest to reach a clean-air nirvana?
We’re encouraged to see that at
least the governor has attempted to weigh the price
involved in reaching the goals of the climate-change
bill he sent back to lawmakers for further review.
Gov. Charlie Baker forwarded
several amendments for consideration by lawmakers, who
refiled an identical version of the bill vetoed by Baker
last month.
Sen. Michael Barrett, one of the
bill’s architects and a lead compromise negotiator, told
the Boston Herald that despite the “tug of war” over the
bill, the Legislature is looking to enact positive
change, not wield its “super majority power” — which
would allow them to easily override any of the
governor’s objections.
The bill would require the state to
cut emissions by “at least” 50% of 1990 levels by 2030.
Baker, however, wants a reduction range of 45% to 50% by
2030 and by 65% to 75% by 2040.
In explaining his veto last month,
the governor said a state analysis found it would cost
Massachusetts residents $6 billion more to hit the
additional 5% goal in emissions reductions outlined by
the Legislature — a figure Barrett dismissed as “largely
exaggerated … back-of-the-envelope math.” ...
Legislators must see the forest of
economy-crippling costs through the trees of the
carbon-neutral state they seek to create.
Or else that sucking sound of
fed-up residents fleeing to New Hampshire will increase
in volume.
I'm not hopeful that much has changed but
for one of the cast. The Ismay Incident knocked the climate-change
zealots off course a bit, but I'm betting — this
being Massachusetts and all — it'll be damn the torpedoes, hard
left rudder and full speed ahead.
Though the exposure of Ismay's callous
remarks and the ensuing political firestorm in response to them grabbed
a lot of headlines over the past week, meanwhile Beacon Hill
machinations were moving along.
Back on February 9 the State House News Service reported
("New Deadline Offers “Breathing Room” on Bills"):
With a key legislative
deadline pushed forward by a month, Beacon Hill lawmakers have some
extra leg room as they draft up their proposals for the 2021-2022
session, which continue to stream into the clerks' offices.
The
deadline was extended this year to Feb. 19 under an amendment to
Joint Rule 12 agreed to by the House and Senate on their first day
of session, just hours after marathon meetings to end their last
two-year session.
The
rule change appears to have been crafted in response to two
occurrences: the blitz of legislating that occupied the attention of
lawmakers into early January and the old deadline's proximity to the
unusually late end to the last session. The traditional due date for
filing legislation is the third Friday in January, which this year
would have given representatives and senators 10 days to file bills
after the old General Court concluded formal lawmaking in the early
morning of Jan. 6.
Formal lawmaking usually concludes on July 31 in the second year of
a session, which gives lawmakers more than five months in which they
can contemplate and draft bills, but this year the branches
adjourned sine die shortly after 4:30 a.m. on the same day the new
session began after tackling weighty bills in the final days....
The
deadline produces the bulk of the bills up for consideration each
session, but bills will continue to pour into the General Court
throughout the session, entering the system as "late-files." The
vast majority of bills fail without receiving votes in the House or
Senate, withering after committee reviews or perhaps dying in one
committee after getting a favorable recommendation from another. The
omnibus bills that command most of the attention each session are
often crafted by committees and feature components of numerous other
bills.
The State House News Service reported on
Thursday ("Mariano Shuffles the
Deck With House Assignments"):
Friday's assignments
put the typical committee structure in place for the Legislature to
get to work reviewing the roughly 1,800 House bills and about 1,200
Senate bills filed so far to deal with the COVID-19 response, the
pandemic's disproportionate impact on communities of color, the
racial justice issues that sparked last year's massive protests,
routine local matters, and the typical potpourri of any legislative
session.
So far that's
three thousand bills already filed for the current
legislative session with "late-filed" legislation still on
the horizon —
3,000-and-counting bills, that likely contain the next
stealth assault on Proposition 2½
buried within, somewhere deep in one or more of them.
Last year we didn't unearth the 2020 sneak attack until July
2, didn't defeat it until January 5. It's time to
begin scouring that mountain of proposed legislation, all
over again.
A bit of
good news (for what it's worth at this point) was delivered this week.
The
State House News Service reported on Thursday ("Mariano: 'We
Have No Intention of Raising Taxes'”):
House Speaker Ronald Mariano is
sending a message about tax policy ahead of budget
season on Beacon Hill.
"Right now taxes are not on the
table. We have no intention of raising taxes," Mariano
told WCVB's "On the Record" in an interview set to air
Sunday at 11 a.m.
According to a partial transcript
of the interview, Mariano expressed concern that the
state budget was "going to be short," and said the fate
of President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID relief and
economic stimulus bill looms large....
Tax collections in fiscal 2021 are
exceeding projections so far. House and Senate budget
chiefs Aaron Michlewitz and Michael Rodrigues are likely
to release a schedule of upcoming fiscal 2022 state
budget hearings soon.
"Right now taxes
are not on the table" the new speaker said. "We have
no intention of raising taxes." That's better than him
declaring tax hikes are coming —
but "right now" and "no intention" leaves a lot of room to
maneuver. Let's hope Speaker Mariano means and stands
by it. We'll now wait to see how long his statement
remains operational. Remember those 3,000-and-counting
bills that have been filed.
After seeing how well mail-in
voting, supposedly "temporarily" replacing verifiable traditional and
longstanding voting norms, worked out in Massachusetts (and across the
nation), Secretary of State William Galvin now wants to make potential
voter fraud a permanent feature in the Bay State.
The State House News Service reported on Tuesday ("Mail-In,
Early Voting and Same-Day Registration in Election Reform Bill"):
After seeing how voting by mail
helped lead to a record number of voters casting ballots
in the 2020 election, Secretary of State William Galvin
said Tuesday he would file legislation this month to
make the option a permanent fixture of the Massachusetts
voting system.
Galvin said his bill would also
expand in-person early voting and implement same-day
voter registration in Massachusetts, allowing eligible
voters who need to register or update their voting
information to do so at the polls on Election Day before
casting their ballot....
"What we saw last year was that
voting by mail was enormously popular," Galvin said.
"While voting by mail may not always be used to the same
extent as the pandemic finally ends, my office has heard
from many voters who have made it clear that they want
this option to remain available for all future
elections." ...
Galvin's announcement came a day
before a coalition of lawmakers and advocacy groups,
including Sen. Cynthia Creem and Rep. John Lawn, plan on
Wednesday to roll out what they're calling the VOTES
Act, which would make last year's election reforms
permanent, implement same-day voter registration,
improve ballot access for incarcerated eligible voters,
improve the automatic voter registration system, and
introduce "risk-limiting post-election audits."
The VOTES Act was filed in the
House and Senate on Tuesday.
CommonWealth
Magazine
reported that upending election laws might not be so easy.
On Thursday it noted ("Constitutional challenge to
vote-by-mail likely"):
The Massachusetts Constitution
explicitly says the Legislature can authorize absentee
voting for just three reasons: if someone is out of
town, physically disabled, or cannot vote on Election
Day due to a religious belief.
Lawmakers acknowledged the
constraint in 2013, when they considered but did not act
on a constitutional amendment to allow absentee voting
for any reason.
“There’s been a long-term
traditional view that opportunities to vote by mail in
Massachusetts are constrained by the Constitution, which
specifies particular conditions under which you can do
this,” said Evan Horowitz, executive director of the
Center for State Policy Analysis at Tufts University....
Last year amid the pandemic, the
Legislature allowed anyone to apply for an absentee
ballot by defining COVID-19 precautions as a physical
disability. They also allowed universal early voting by
mail, under the rationale that the constitutional
constraint does not apply to early voting, which the
state just adopted in 2014. In other words, early
ballots, even if they are mailed in, are different from
absentee ballots.
It is the latter opinion that
Galvin is relying on in introducing his new bill, which
would permanently expand early voting by mail....
David Sullivan, an attorney working
with a coalition of advocates pushing to make mail-in
voting permanent, penned a legal memo arguing that the
Legislature has authority to authorize mail-in voting.
Sullivan examined the legislative intent during the 1917
constitutional convention that passed the constitutional
amendment authorizing absentee voting....
But Sullivan acknowledged in an
interview that his interpretation is unlikely to be
universally accepted. “I expect it will be litigated at
some point,” Sullivan said.
The bill supported by the advocates
specifies that any challenge to the constitutionality of
voting by mail must be brought in the Supreme Judicial
Court within 180 days after the bill’s passage. A
lawsuit would be barred if it sought to overturn the
outcome of an election in which people already voted.
“We obviously don’t want people to
vote by mail then find out afterwards that it was
illegal,” Sullivan said.
Voting fraud
— or so-called "irregularities"
among the wine-and-cheese dilettantes
—
doesn't matter so much in The Bluest State where Democrats
seem unable to lose regardless of how gravely and
consistently they abuse their constituents, though there
were challenges by some challengers to electoral outcomes in
a few districts. We've seen how "pandemic exceptions"
to historic voting norms around the country have embroiled
election results in chaos with final determinations unknown
for days if not weeks, even months is some states and how
untrustworthy they are perceived by many to be. What
can go wrong with extending the "temporary pandemic
exceptions" forever, creating entirely new and easier
ways to
game the election process?
And in Massachusetts when the
state Constitution is an impediment to "progress" it can and will be
first ignored, then changed if necessary.
Governor Baker's week kept
steadily sliding downhill, which is becoming his own norm.
His "managerial skills" legend
appears to be disintegrating before everyone's eyes. The latest to
call him out for nonfeasance are local town officials.
The Boston Herald reported on Wednesday ("Frustrated town
officials blame Charlie Baker for getting stiffed on coronavirus
vaccines"):
Local town officials and boards of
health continue to turn away hundreds of people a day
from getting the coronavirus vaccine because of what
they call a lack of communication and planning from the
Baker administration.
The town of Burlington had to
cancel 100 more seniors over 75 years old on Wednesday
who were set to get shots but couldn’t because the state
didn’t deliver any doses to the board of health.
“I could have done hundreds today,”
said Dr. Ed Weiner, head of the Burlington board of
health who has been helping get people inoculated for
more than 30 years. “We were all set up and ready to
go.”
Weiner said the town asked the
state Department of Public Health for 800 doses two
weeks ago and was ready to go — even reserving space in
the local schools to give the shots. They only got 100
doses.
Then last week the town got no
doses at all.
“I don’t know what’s going on,” a
clearly frustrated Weiner said. “They don’t communicate.
Nobody communicates at the Department of Public Health.”
Weiner faults Gov. Charlie Baker
for the lack of vaccines and said rather than give
control to town officials, who have a plan, they are
funneling people to mass vaccination sites like Gillette
Stadium and Fenway Park that are dozens of miles
away....
Baker has been on the defensive for
weeks on account of the state’s poor record in getting
shots to those who need it most. No matter what
statistics you look at, Massachusetts ranks very low
compared to other states, especially in New England, in
the percentage of doses given to state residents. A new
Harvard study confirmed the state’s abysmal vaccination
record.
It’s now clear that if the state
had turned more control over to local towns and cities,
Massachusetts would be ranked higher.
Instead, what we get is repeated
excuses and “I get it” statements from the Republican
governor and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, who is supposed to
be the point person to local town governments.
We don’t want to hear “I get it”
any more. We need action. If the state can’t figure out
how to distribute doses to the most people possible,
turn it over to someone who can.
Maybe Howie Carr
is onto something in his Friday column ("Why stop with David
Ismay resignation? Clear out the Charlie Baker
administration"):
I’m starting to believe
Charlie Parker is about to take it on the lam. Word is, he may be
lunging for a golden parachute — the CEO’s job at the merged
Tufts-Harvard Pilgrim Health Plan, leaving the ruins of the
Commonwealth behind to his dreadful lieutenant governor.
It would fit with that old
adage: “Style is when they're running you out of town and you make
it look like you're leading the parade.”
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Chip Ford
Executive Director |
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Full News Reports Follow
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The Boston
Herald
Tuesday, February 9, 2021
Lawmakers call for immediate dismissal of Massachusetts
climate undersecretary
By Erin Tiernan
A group of bipartisan lawmakers is calling for the immediate
dismissal of climate undersecretary David Ismay after a
video surfaced last week of the $130,000-a-year official
saying it’s time to start “turning the screws” on
Massachusetts residents to further cut carbon emissions.
“Let us be perfectly clear: these comments are callous,
insensitive, and point to a major, insurmountable disconnect
between this appointed member of your administration and the
very public he is supposed to be serving. In the midst of
this terrible pandemic, with record unemployment plaguing
our state and major economic upheaval threatening our very
way of life, the last thing this administration should… be
doing is ‘turning the screws’ on the ‘senior on fixed
income’ and ‘the person across the street,” the group of six
lawmakers
wrote to Gov. Charlie Baker and his administration.
“Given this knowledge, Undersecretary Ismay’s position as a
public servant is completely untenable and we call for you
to immediately dismiss him from service within your
administration,” the Feb. 8 letter continued.
Dracut Democrat Rep. Colleen Garry signed onto the letter
alongside seven Republican lawmakers, including Reps.
Nicholas Boldyga of Southwick, Marc Lombardo of Billerica,
David DeCoste of Norwell, Peter Durant of Spencer, Joseph
McKenna of Webster, Donald Berthiaume of Spencer and
Representative Alyson Sullivan of Abington.
The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance first publicized a video
of comments the undersecretary made at a Jan. 25 Vermont
Climate Council meeting, which was reported by the Herald.
In the video, Ismay suggests that it’s time to go after
seniors, homeowners and motorists to help reduce emissions.
At the end of the clip, he adds: “I can’t even say that
publicly.”
Facing questions from reporters about Ismay’s conduct last
Friday, Baker condemned Ismay’s remarks and said Climate
Secretary Kathleen Theoharides, Ismay’s boss, was aware of
it and would speak to him.
“No one who works in our administration should ever say or
think anything like that — ever,” the Republican governor
said.
The dismay over Ismay’s comments comes as the administration
is entangled in a tug-of-war with the Legislature over a
sweeping climate policy bill that would force net-zero
carbon emissions by 2050, set interim emission reduction
targets, establish appliance energy efficiency standards and
authorize additional purchases of offshore wind power.
Baker has attempted to position Massachusetts as a leader in
the effort to reduce carbon emissions. Last December,
Massachusetts signed onto the controversial Transportation
Climate Initiative deal that aims to reduce motor vehicle
pollution by at least 26% and generate over $1.8 billion in
Massachusetts by 2032, according to a deal reached with
Rhode Island, Connecticut and Washington, D.C.
It will bump the price of gas up by 5 to 7 cents per gallon,
according to state estimates. Eight other states are still
considering the deal.
The Boston
Herald
Tuesday, February 9, 2021
MassGOP calls for $130K Massachusetts climate official to
resign
MassFiscal seeks any other videos linked to harsh climate
policy rhetoric
By Joe Dwinell
The state’s climate undersecretary is facing the heat as the
MassGOP is calling for his resignation after a video
surfaced of the $130,000-a-year Baker administration
official saying he’s out to “break your will” over carbon
emissions.
David Ismay, Gov. Charlie Baker’s under secretary for
climate change, is being urged to resign and “go back to
California where ordinary people are accustomed to having
their will broken,” Massachusetts Republican Party Chairman
Jim Lyons said Monday.
The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance — that first posted
Ismay’s questionable choice of words that also elicited a
stern rebuke from Baker — is calling on Baker to “dismiss”
Ismay while also filing a public records request to see if
he has other similar videos circulating.
As the Herald first reported, Ismay said at a Jan. 25
Vermont Climate Council meeting: “Sixty percent of our
emissions that need to be reduced come from you, the person
across the street, the senior on fixed income, right … there
is no bad guy left, at least in Massachusetts to point the
finger at, to turn the screws on, and you know, to break
their will, so they stop emitting. That’s you. We have to
break your will. Right, I can’t even say that publicly.”
Another video posted to YouTube from this past summer also
shows Ismay urging owners of East Boston “triple-deckers”
and “large” commercial buildings to be forewarned climate
control is coming.
“As we are getting to the regulatory posture,” Ismay says in
a Pathways to Net Zero forum, “it’s going in that direction
— I’m not threatening — we’re still working on it, (but) in
a few years there will have to be something in place.”
Ismay could not be reached for comment. In the video, he
also refers to East Boston as “eastern Boston.”
Paul Diego Craney, MassFiscal spokesman, said Ismay’s use of
language is insulting to taxpayers.
“He’s transparent. He wants to inflict a lot of pain to
fulfill his climate agenda,” said Craney. “The government
should be there to help people. … Not do it on the backs of
taxpayers.”
Lyons applauded Baker for publicly reprimanding Ismay, but
added the undersecretary “should be dismissed from his job.
For a public servant to call for ‘breaking the will’ of
those who pay his $130,000 salary is inexcusable.”
This all comes as sweeping climate policy legislation is
being pushed that would force net-zero carbon emissions by
2050. Baker sent that bill back to the Legislature with
amendments Sunday.
Also part of the debate is the Transportation Climate
Initiative championed by Baker that aims to reduce motor
vehicle pollution by at least 26% and generate over $1.8
billion in Massachusetts by 2032, according to a deal
Massachusetts signed with Rhode Island, Connecticut and
Washington, D.C. It would also hike the price of gas.
The Boston
Herald
Tuesday, February 9, 2021
Speeding? Pilot? Climate change undersecretary not playing
it cool
By Howie Carr
What would you call a $130,000-a-year hack who openly boasts
of “breaking the will” of poor people to drive and heat
their own homes by taxing them into abject poverty, yet has
himself been convicted of speeding at least three times,
can’t be bothered getting his own polluting car inspected
and has even had – gasp! — a private airplane pilot’s
license?
You would call him the undersecretary of climate change for
Massachusetts.
Consider the record of one David Ismay, a drifter who blew
into Maskachusetts a few years back and now publicly
entertains fascist fantasies of “turning the screws” on the
state’s working classes.
These were his exact words last month, at a public
conference:
“Sixty percent of our emissions that need to be reduced come
from you, the person across the street, the senior on fixed
income … (that’s who the state must) point the finger at, to
turn the screws on, and you know, to break their will, so
they stop emitting. That’s you. We have to break your will.”
A blow-in who lives in a mansion in Chestnut Hill with an
airplane pilot’s license dreams of forcing old folks who
were born here to freeze in their homes and take the bus to
their doctor’s appointments?
Even John F. Kerry would blush at such chutzpah.
Ismay is one of the masterminds of Gov. Charlie Baker’s mad
grift to beggar the working classes with a crushing new
“Transportation Climate Initiative” tax that Tufts
University says could add as much as 38 cents to the cost of
every gallon of gasoline.
Your carbon footprint must be reduced — by making your fuel
unaffordable. Do you think Ismay and Charlie Parker are
planning to cut their emissions? Hah.
Do as they say, not as they do.
Before outlining Ismay’s own environmental terrorism, let us
consult EarthEasy.com, the crunchy-granola website that
informs the driving habits of all concerned citizens.
In one section, “Avoiding Speeding,” EarthEasy lays out
rules to live by, if you really care about the Plymouth
red-bellied turtle:
“Increasing your highway cruising speed from 55 to 75 mph
can raise fuel consumption as much as 20%.”
Apparently Ismay was not aware of this inconvenient truth on
Jan. 29, 2000, when he was stopped by Virginia police in the
Accomack General District for doing 74 mph in a 55 zone.
How many polar bears went to their icy, watery graves that
day as their ice floes melted under the heat of Ismay’s
insanely irresponsible Al Gore-esque carbon emissions?
“You can improve your gas mileage 10-15% by driving at 55
rather than 65 mph.”
Ismay must not have gotten that urgent green warning on July
3, 2001, when he was lugged in Virginia Beach doing 60 in a
45 zone.
How many piping plovers perished prematurely that day
because of Ismay’s greedy addiction to internal-combustion
vehicles?
“Natural Resources Canada puts the ‘sweet spot’ for most
cars, trucks and SUV’s even lower, between 30 and 50 m.p.h.”
If only the future undersecretary had known that on March 2,
2001, when he was bagged again in Virginia Beach, this time
for doing 59 in a 45 zone.
Ismay has a wife named Penelope. That’s a pretty name — it
was my late pug’s middle name. Gooner Penelope Carr.
The difference is, unlike Penelope Ismay, Gooner Penelope
Carr was never clocked doing 80 in a 65-mph zone in
Mecklenburg General District in Virginia on April 4, 2000.
All “experts,” not to mention the “environmental justice
community,” agree on how vitally important it is for the
survival of the snail darter to have one’s vehicles properly
inspected, so that permissible EPA standards in catalytic
converters, etc., are observed.
Are you shocked to learn that on April 12, 2000, in Hampton
District Court, the future climate change czar was fined for
having an expired rejection sticker? Not inspection, but
rejection sticker.
In other words, Ismay’s car must have been polluting too
much to pass the inspection, so a rejection sticker was
slapped on it. And yet he couldn’t even be bothered to have
the car brought up to basic standards that may have saved a
species or two from extinction, which as we all know is
forever.
Personally, I weep for the Tasmanian tiger. Perhaps those
lovable marsupials would be still romping merrily through
the outback today if only the undersecretary for climate
change had cared enough about Mother Earth to get his
catalytic converter fine-tuned.
Well, Ismay learned his lesson, at least until Dec. 4, 2000,
when he was busted again, in Henrico General District, and
charged with having an expired registration.
By 2005, Ismay had drifted out to Berkeley, Calif. —
drifters gotta drift, after all — and that’s where he
apparently either got or renewed his airplane pilot’s
license with the Federal Aviation Administration.
Think about that one — a guy who wants your grandmother to
have rely on the bus to buy her groceries spends his leisure
time flying airplanes.
A call was placed to the undersecretary’s 510 area code cell
phone Monday again asking him to come on my radio show to
discuss all of the above issues.
Perhaps he was in what he calls “eastern Boston” — trying to
figure out which triple-deckers he plans to demolish first,
after he finishes breaking the will of the working people of
Maskachusetts.
When the phone didn’t ring, I knew it was the undersecretary
of climate change.
Last question: When is Gov. Charlie Parker going to change
Ismay’s $130,000-a-year climate, once and for all?
The Boston
Herald
Wednesday, February 10, 2021
David Ismay should be dismissed, ASAP
By Paul Craney
Last week, the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance published a new
video of David Ismay, the Baker/Polito administration’s
Undersecretary for Climate Change, telling a group of
Vermont advocates that in order for Massachusetts to lower
carbon emissions, the state needs to “break their will” and
“turn the screws on” ordinary people to achieve the
administration’s climate goals.
Ismay gave the remarks on Jan. 25 at the Vermont Climate
Council meeting. He said, “So let me say that again, 60% of
our emissions that need to be reduced come from you, the
person across the street, the senior on fixed income, right
… there is no bad guy left, at least in Massachusetts to
point the finger at, to turn the screws on, and you know, to
break their will, so they stop emitting. That’s you. We have
to break your will. Right, I can’t even say that publicly …”
The video may be found on MassFiscal’s YouTube page.
On Friday, Gov. Baker was asked about Ismay’s comments and
responded that no one working for him should “say” or
“think” what Ismay said but stopped short from calling on
the controversial undersecretary to step down. As the Baker
administration has continued to impose onerous emissions
reduction goals and force back door gas tax schemes like the
Transportation & Climate Initiative, they have repeatedly
told us the goal wasn’t to make these types of everyday,
essential fuels too expensive to use. Well, it looks like
Undersecretary Ismay accidentally told us the truth. The
truth is, that is the only way they will be able to achieve
these emissions reductions mandates, and depending on how
elastic the emissions producing activity is, the expenses
may skyrocket.
Since the video became public, it’s been widely shared
across both Massachusetts and the rest of the country. The
general public deserves to know if these words are routinely
used and these attitudes commonly held by the undersecretary
and his staff as they carry out the work of the people of
Massachusetts. Ismay acknowledged he shouldn’t have said
these comments publicly, but he did. MassFiscal filed a
Freedom of Information Act request seeking to answer this
question.
Remarks like this have no place in state government. Ismay
should be dismissed from his powerful position as the
state’s top climate regulator, as he’s clearly demonstrated
he does not have the best interests of the residents of
Massachusetts at heart. If Gov. Baker continues to refuse to
dismiss Ismay, then the public has the right to know more
about how the administration’s top official for climate
change intends to further “break their will” and “turn the
screws on” ordinary people including the “person across the
street” and the “elderly on fixed income.” Maybe those plans
are already underway.
— Paul Diego Craney is the
spokesperson of Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance.
The Boston
Herald
Wednesday, February 10, 2021
Charlie Baker’s blundering climate guy shines light on
hypocrisy
Plus, is the governor leaving us so soon?
By Howie Carr
When somebody tells you, “I’m not threatening you,” rest
assured that’s exactly what he’s doing.
When a pocket fascist publicly announces that he wants to
“break your will,” only a fool would assume that is not in
fact his plan.
When a payroll patriot brags that he’s getting ready to
“turn the screws on” you, you had best prepare to do exactly
that to him before he can do it to you.
Meet the pampered puke who made all of the above unhinged
threats, on videotape — Driftin’ Dave Ismay, a failed lawyer
who blew in from California and now slurps at the public
trough as the $130,000-a-year “undersecretary of climate
change” for Gov. Charlie Baker.
Ismay now finds himself with one of his Birkenstock-clad
little feet on a banana peel and the other in the latest
pile of snow that he believes no longer exists because of,
you know, global warming, or something.
Personally, though, I hope this very woke Rhodes Scholar
doesn’t get fired, because he’s the perfect poster boy for
the corrupt administration of the man Joe Biden calls Gov.
Charlie Parker.
Driftin’ Dave is more typical of the overeducated bodily
orifices Charlie attracts than MSP Sgt. Bryan Erickson, the
$186,000-a-year alleged girlfriend-abuser currently locked
up in the Rockingham County Jail before yet another court
hearing today.
But the main reason I hope Ismay keeps his job is because
he’s finally provided a public face for the Baker
administration’s biggest planned heist ever — the
“Transportation Climate Initiative,” TCI for short.
The TCI is Charlie’s ultimate flim-flam — to keep the
hackerama flush with cash in perpetuity by arbitrarily
imposing a multi-billion-dollar fuel tax (with no
legislative or popular approval) on those plebeians Ismay so
despises — “the person across the street, the senior on
fixed income.”
You know, those low-rent blue-collar types who own three-deckers
in “Eastern Boston,” as Driftin’ Dave describes (I think)
East Boston.
It’s such a gargantuan ripoff that it’s hard to summarize in
30 seconds, or was, until Ismay gave us all these sound
cuts. The TCI boodle is supposed to go to “climate change”
projects — wink wink nudge nudge.
The biggest lie the hacks are promoting is that Tall Deval’s
soak-the-poor surcharge would “only” amount to 5-9 cents per
gallon.
Remember, these numbers come from the same state government
that has admitted to falsifying 65,000 criminal drug-lab
tests, and which had to disband an entire troop of the State
Police because the “lawmen” were stealing millions of
dollars in overtime they didn’t work.
But now you can trust this same sticky-fingered hackerama
not to lie about … billions of dollars more in free money to
be stolen from seniors on fixed incomes and the people
across the street, to coin a phrase.
In the beginning, 13 states were going to get together to
rob their citizens in the TCI scam. Every fuel distributor
was going to have to buy “emission allowances” to sell
energy.
It was nothing more or less than a modern version of the
Church’s scam in the Middle Ages — selling “indulgences” to
commit sins.
All the left-wing states concocted out of thin air a
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) claiming that to reduce
emissions by 25% by 2032 would require “only” a 17-cent hike
in the gas tax, on top of the current state and federal
taxes.
But as the anti-TCI pro-taxpayer groups pointed out last
month:
“Most independent observers found this to be overly generous
and one study conducted by Tufts University even found that
a 25% reduction would require an increase of 38 cents per
gallon to achieve the goal.”
Remember, this would be an additional 38 cents on top of the
current MA state tax of 24 cents per gallon, plus another
2.6 cents for underground fuel tanks, as well as the 18-cent
per federal tax (which is going to be raised by the
Democrats).
It was such an outrageous theft that in the end, only 3 of
the 13 states signed on to the mega-heist.
Obviously that real 38-cent number was a non-starter, so the
hacks in the three greediest states jiggled the figures and
suddenly — mirabile dictu! — saving the polar bears would
“only” cost 5-9 cents per gallon.
Lies, damn lies and statistics, in other words.
The problem was, until now it’s been difficult to explain
the breathtaking magnitude of this TCI rip off.
But now we have Driftin’ Dave Ismay. Roll tape:
“Turn the screws on … the person across the street … break
the will of … the senior on fixed income … I’m not
threatening you!”
I’m starting to believe Charlie Parker is about to take it
on the lam. Word is, he may be lunging for a golden
parachute — the CEO’s job at the merged Tufts-Harvard
Pilgrim Health Plan, leaving the ruins of the Commonwealth
behind to his dreadful lieutenant governor.
And Karyn Polito is 100% on board for jacking up the state
gas tax from 24 a gallon to … TCI infinity.
Pay to Play Polito may not realize it yet, but her 2022
running mate has already been picked out for her.
His name is Driftin’ Dave Ismay. How do you like them
apples, Eastern Boston?
The Boston
Herald
Wednesday, February 10, 2021
Charlie Baker’s embattled climate undersecretary targets
fishing industry
David Ismay says on new video: ‘Something has to give’ with
wind power, fishing
By Joe Dwinell
The Baker administration’s embattled climate change
undersecretary David Ismay is again being called out for his
questionable comments — this time against fishermen.
The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, that broke the first
video on the $130,000-a-year official’s rhetoric, says he
also told climate activists that in order to obtain enough
wind power, “something has to give” in regard to the fishing
industry.
“We need offshore wind, and yes there is fishing out in the
ocean too, but you know, there’s, we can’t have no offshore
wind, no transmission, no solar, and have clean energy.
Right. Something has to give,” Ismay is quoted telling
Vermont climate advocates last month. He goes on to discuss
transmission lines that will be placed in the ocean.
Massachusetts is home to some of the nation’s most
productive commercial fishing ports, the state Division of
Marine Fisheries states. The agency adds they are “happy to
help commercial fishermen learn about permits, regulations,
and the other commercial fishing resources.”
In a release on the new video clip Wednesday morning,
MassFiscal states Ismay’s comments “cement the notion that
large scale wind farms will have unknown, negative impacts
upon the region’s struggling fishing industry.”
MassFiscal spokesman Paul Diego Craney adds: “The
Legislature recently removed from legislation language that
would help us learn what a large-scale wind farm would do to
the region’s fishing industry and Ismay’s comments verify
what we all feared.”
Gov. Charlie Baker once again lashed out at Ismay’s choice
of words by saying “he does not speak for me.”
Baker said there “will always be competing interests” when
it comes to climate change issues.
“It’s the job of government to figure out how to manage
that,” Baker said.
“You have to figure out some way to create balance there,”
Baker continued. “No one speaks for me, when they say, you
know, this one is going to be the loser and this one’s going
to be the winner.”
The new video clip comes a day after a group of bipartisan
lawmakers called for Ismay’s immediate dismissal after last
week’s video where he was quoted saying it’s time to start
“turning the screws” on ordinary Massachusetts residents to
further cut carbon emissions.
Multiple attempts to reach Ismay have been unsuccessful.
Baker last week slammed the undersecretary’s original
comments, in responding to a Herald reporter’s question on
Ismay, by saying: “No one who works in our administration
should ever say or think anything like that — ever.”
Craney warns that the latest Ismay video clip where he says
“something has to give” in the fishing industry “should be
seen as a warning for the fishing community that their
livelihood may be jeopardized by these megaprojects.”
The New Boston
Post
Wednesday, February 10, 2021
Massachusetts Climate Czar David Ismay Also Caught Saying
He Wants To Harm the Fishing Industry
By Tom Joyce
David Ismay is under fire again for yet another remark he
made during a Zoom call appearance January 25 with the
Vermont Climate Council.
Ismay, the undersecretary for Climate Change under
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, told the group that
“something has to give” in regard to the state’s fishing
industry, according to yet another video segment released by
the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance.
Ismay said he supports wind energy and he sees an inherent
conflict between expanding wind power and the fishing
industry, as the both use the ocean. Fishermen have
complained that wind turbines in the ocean may disrupt
migration patterns and harm fishing.
“We need offshore wind, and yes there is fishing out in the
ocean too, but you know, there’s, we can’t have no offshore
wind, no transmission, no solar, and have clean energy,”
Ismay told the panel in the video now posted on on YouTube.
“Right. Something has to give …”
Last month Baker signed an economic development bill into
law that originally included a commission that would study
the “impacts of offshore wind energy infrastructure on
marine fisheries including effects of such installations and
connections on the health and behavior of marine mammals.”
However, that section was removed by conference committee,
as MassFiscal points out.
Ismay made the comment about fishing during the same meeting
January 25 in which he said government officials must “turn
the screws on” and “break their will” when it comes to
ordinary residents to get them to stop emitting carbon. The
Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance also publicized that
statement, by releasing a video segment last week.
Ismay’s fishing comment earned condemnation from Paul Craney,
spokesman for MassFiscal.
“Ismay’s more recent comments toward the fishing industry
are ‘fishy’ at best,” Craney said. “The legislature recently
removed from legislation language that would help us learn
what a large-scale wind farm would do to the region’s
fishing industry and Ismay’s comments verify what we all
feared.”
“Ismay’s comments that ‘something has to give’ should be
seen as a warning for the fishing community that their
livelihood may be jeopardized by these megaprojects,” he
added. “It’s unfortunate that Governor Baker embraces such
far reaching climate policies that are bound to have
significant economic costs to our state’s fishing industry.”
Publicizing of the fishing comments comes after a bipartisan
group of eight state representatives sent a letter to
Governor Baker calling on him to fire Ismay. That letter
came in response to the “break their will” comment.
During the Zoom call, Ismay said: “So let me say that again,
60 percent of our emissions that need to be reduced come
from you, the person across the street, the senior on fixed
income, right … there is no bad guy left, at least in
Massachusetts to point the finger at, to turn the screws on,
and you know, to break their will, so they stop emitting.
That’s you. We have to break your will. Right, I can’t even
say that publicly ….”
That “60 percent of our emissions,” he said, comes from
residential heating and passenger vehicles.
Ismay and the press office for Charlie Baker could not be
reached for comment on Wednesday.
The Boston
Herald
Wednesday, February 11, 2021
Embattled Massachusetts climate official David Ismay resigns
‘immediately’
Adds in resignation letter shared with Herald:
‘I would like to apologize, again, for my comments’
By Joe Dwinell
David Ismay, the Baker administration $130,000-a-year
climate change undersecretary, has resigned “immediately”
citing his incendiary comments.
In a resignation letter he shared with the Herald today,
Ismay writes: “It is with great regret that I submit my
resignation, effectively immediately, from the position of
Undersecretary for Climate Change in the Executive Office of
Energy and Environmental Affairs.”
The resignation letter is addressed to his boss, Secretary
of Energy and Environmental Affairs Kathleen Theoharides,
and is dated Wednesday, Feb. 10.
Ismay heads out the door after a series of questionable
comments about forcing homeowners, motorists and fishermen
to prepare for hard times as the state pushes for so-called
Net Zero emissions in the years to come.
Even Gov. Charlie Baker bristled at Ismay’s rhetoric, saying
the undersecretary does not speak for him.
Ismay landed on the hot seat after MassFiscal posted a video
of the undersecretary saying the state needs to “break their
will” and “turn the screws on” ordinary people to force
changes in their consumption of heating fuels and gasoline.
Ismay described the ordinary people as the “person across
the street” and the “senior on fixed income.”
That didn’t sit well with the governor.
“First of all, no one who works in our administration should
ever say or think anything like that — ever,” Baker said
late last week. “Secondly, Secretary Theoharides is going to
have a conversation with him about that.”
This morning MassFiscal spokesman Paul Diego Craney said
Ismay is an example of unelected officials with too much
power.
“For the past year, we’ve continually warned the public
regarding the dangerous amount of power being handed over to
unelected bureaucrats through various climate initiatives
such as the Transportation & Climate Initiative (TCI) and
the pending climate bill,” Craney said.
Craney said MassFiscal will “remain vigilant in holding the
people in power accountable.”
This is a developing story. Here is the rest of his letter:
Ismay adds: “As Undersecretary for Climate Change, I have
worked diligently to ensure the health and welfare of
residents across Massachusetts in the face of the global
climate crisis. Serving the people of Massachusetts as part
of the Baker-Polito Administration has been the honor of a
lifetime, and I am proud of the equitable climate solutions
we achieved together.
“I would like to apologize, again, for my comments at last
month’s Vermont Climate Council meeting. My inability to
clearly communicate during that discussion reflected poorly
on the Governor, on you, and on our hardworking staff.
Although my comments were interpreted by some as placing the
burden of climate change on hardworking families and
vulnerable populations, my intent was the opposite. In the
entirety of my remarks, and as I have elsewhere, I was
urging caution in order to minimize such impacts out of a
sincere concern that overly aggressive emissions targets may
have unintended and harmful consequences on those we most
need to protect.
“Thank you again for the opportunity to serve you, the
Governor, and the people of the Commonwealth.”
ISMAY'S LETTER
OF RESIGNATION
CLICK
HERE OR ON IMAGE ABOVE FOR FULL
SIZE PDF DOCUMENT
The New Boston
Post
Wednesday, February 11, 2021
Climate Czar David Ismay Resigns
By Tom Joyce
David Ismay is no longer a member of Massachusetts Governor
Charlie Baker’s administration.
The controversial undersecretary for Climate Change sent his
letter of resignation to the governor’s office on Wednesday,
February 10 to the delight of the Massachusetts Fiscal
Alliance, which publicized damaging remarks Ismay made
during a January 25 Zoom call with the Vermont Climate
Council.
“I would like to apologize, again, for my comments at last
month’s Vermont Climate Council meeting. My inability to
clearly communicate during that discussion reflected poorly
on the governor, on you, and on our hardworking staff,”
Ismay wrote in his resignation letter, in part.
Last month, Ismay said that the state needed to “break their
will” when it comes to ordinary people’s use of home heating
and driving gasoline-powered cars. He said everyday
activities account for 60 percent of carbon emissions in the
state. And when speaking about the fishing industry in the
same video, he said, “Something has to give,” since
fishermen argue that wind turbines in the ocean harm their
industry.
MassFiscal put out a
statement in the wake of the news on Thursday morning.
Paul Craney, spokesman for the organization, said:
MassFiscal is
pleased to learn that the Baker and Polito
administration’s controversial climate official has
stepped down from his powerful position. Unelected
officials with that much power should never hold these
types of views.
MassFiscal will continue to hold state officials, both
elected and unelected, accountable to their words and
records. For the past year, we’ve continually warned the
public regarding the dangerous amount of power being
handed over to unelected bureaucrats through various
climate initiatives such as the Transportation & Climate
Initiative (TCI) and the pending climate bill. While we
will likely see more and more stories like this moving
forward, today’s news is a positive testament of the
important work MassFiscal does. We hope the general
public will remain vigilant in holding the people in
power accountable.
The Baker and Polito administration now have an
opportunity to select someone more in line with the
thinking of the vast majority of Massachusetts residents
to fill this powerful position, someone who doesn’t
prioritize ideological and bureaucratic goals over
ordinary citizens.
The resignation
came a day after eight Massachusetts lawmakers, seven
Republicans and one Democrat, called on the Baker
administration to fire Ismay from the position.
The Boston
Herald
Friday, February 12, 2021
Why stop with David Ismay resignation?
Clear out the Charlie Baker administration
By Howie Carr
If only Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn “Pay to Play”
Polito were as easy to get rid of as their hack
$130,000-a-year minion, Driftin’ Dave Ismay.
Is there anything in Maskachusetts that Baker and Polito
can’t screw up?
Here are some headlines just in from the administration run
by the man Joe Biden calls “Charlie Parker”:
UMass Amherst tells employed students not to go to work amid
coronavirus upsurge.
27,000 drunken drivers in MA may be eligible to contest
their convictions.
Gov. calls 1,200 wasted vaccines ‘tremendous loss.’
Wife of MSP sergeant accused of assault had filed harassment
complaint against girlfriend.
And that’s just a very partial list of state government’s
fiascoes, from a single day.
Let’s start with the vaccination rollout disaster, which is
part of the Parker-Polito administration’s record of
incompetent overreaction to a seasonal virus.
I got this email Wednesday night from a guy named Bill:
“I brought my elderly mom to get her COVID shot tonight in
the cold, dark, icy weather. My brother set up the
appointment.
“Of course we get there and she wasn’t on the list. We will
have to go back Saturday.
“I am not surprised at all at this stupidity.
“Many old people in wheelchairs and walkers were out in the
dark, cold and icy world. One false slip and it’s a year of
surgery and rehab. I heard the very old man next to us say,
‘I’ll come back Saturday….’
“It probably happened to many old-timers who got themselves
there, defying danger, only to be rejected!”
Is there anything the dynamic duo of Parker ‘n’ Polito can’t
utterly mismanage into complete catastrophe? So many ongoing
calamities have been unfolding here in the East Germany of
New England that some barely even warrant a mention on the
nightly news any longer.
For instance, did you know that on Monday, Maskachusetts
passed the “grim milestone” of 15,000 COVID deaths? Of
course not, because once Trump could no longer be blamed for
the toll, the term “grim milestone” totally vanished from
the headlines.
The MBTA is practically defunct. The number of passengers on
commuter rail is down over 90%, on the subway lines 60-75%.
Yet the general manager, Steve Poftak, got a 2020
performance bonus of $20,800 on top of a salary of $324,000.
But what does Charlie Parker care? He’s still pocketing his
$185,000-a-year paycheck, plus his $65,000 housing
allowance, until that golden parachute at the combined
Tufts-Harvard Health Care Plan opens up.
This guy presides over the highest nursing-home death rate
in the country, the third highest overall death rate, and
he’s going to get promoted to run a … health care system.
When does Rod Serling step out of the shadows to introduce
this latest episode of the Twilight Zone?
As the governor awaits his next boondoogle, it’s business as
usual in the hackerama. On Tuesday, he nominated two more
hacks for $184,693.74-a-year state judgeships.
One of the hacks, Sharon Lalli, is a payroll patriot out of
the Creedon crew in Brockton. She’s already slurping at the
courthouse trough in Plymouth County for $134,923.25 a year.
The other is James M. Murphy and would you care to guess if
he’s in the public or private sector? Correct, like Lalli
he’s an assistant clerk magistrate, in Woburn, for
$119,414.88 a year.
The beautiful thing for some of these courthouse payroll
Charlies scoring judgeships is that some of them already are
vested for multimillion-dollar state pensions, and now they
very quickly vest into second, even more lucrative judicial
pensions.
Already, dozens of retired judges are double-dipping up to
$200,000-plus a year on their multiple pensions … and some
of them are grabbing a third paycheck as recall judges.
All this rampant greed, while the state under Charlie Parker
suffers the fourth highest rate of jobs lost in the entire
nation.
The Dreaded Private Sector in Massachusetts is moribund, yet
the cash register bells keep ringing at the State House.
Meet John E. Garland, just nominated for a judgeship in the
Boston Municipal Court.
Garland got his judgeship the old-fashioned way — he ponied
up $375 for Charlie Parker, $50 for Pay to Polito, $200 to
disgraced Lt. Gov. Tim “Crash” Murray, $175 to the
unindicted co-conspirator Robert DeLeo, $100 to ex-Gov.
Small Deval Patrick, etc.
Then there’s Maureen Mulligan, just nominated for the
Superior Court, a total partisan Democrat — $2,100 to Atty.
Gen. Maura Healey, $500 to Small Deval, $200 to “Marsha”
Coakley, $100 to Suffolk DA Rachael Rollins …
Even before the Panic, their annual work week was never much
more than 35 weeks a year. So how much have they been
working this last year? How much were these judges
“working”? About as much, I’d say, as all the
$300,000-a-year associate assistant deputy senior junior
vice chancellor provosts at UMass, which is to say, very
little, if at all.
Somewhere, probably at a bus station in “Eastern Boston,”
clutching his ticket out of town for parts unknown, a
forlorn Driftin’ Dave Ismay sits this morning, wondering how
he became the first hack in this state to lose his
six-figure, no-heavy-lifting job since… forever.
One down, 30,000 to go.
The Boston
Herald
Thursday, February 12, 2021
A Boston Herald editorial
Climate bill’s cost can’t be ignored
Will the Legislature disregard the costs to be borne by
average state residents in its quest to reach a clean-air
nirvana?
We’re encouraged to see that at least the governor has
attempted to weigh the price involved in reaching the goals
of the climate-change bill he sent back to lawmakers for
further review.
Gov. Charlie Baker forwarded several amendments for
consideration by lawmakers, who refiled an identical version
of the bill vetoed by Baker last month.
Sen. Michael Barrett, one of the bill’s architects and a
lead compromise negotiator, told the Boston Herald that
despite the “tug of war” over the bill, the Legislature is
looking to enact positive change, not wield its “super
majority power” — which would allow them to easily override
any of the governor’s objections.
The bill would require the state to cut emissions by “at
least” 50% of 1990 levels by 2030. Baker, however, wants a
reduction range of 45% to 50% by 2030 and by 65% to 75% by
2040.
In explaining his veto last month, the governor said a state
analysis found it would cost Massachusetts residents $6
billion more to hit the additional 5% goal in emissions
reductions outlined by the Legislature — a figure Barrett
dismissed as “largely exaggerated … back-of-the-envelope
math.”
But building code revisions that would require a huge
efficiency leap with new construction remains the most
troubling factor in this bill for Baker.
The governor’s years-long campaign to jump-start desperately
needed housing construction in this state finally found
traction in the wide-ranging economic-development bill
passed at the end of the last legislative session, which
lowered the bar for changing a community’s zoning bylaws to
a simple majority.
Baker rightly believes the effort to make Massachusetts more
affordable for homebuyers and renters alike would be
hamstrung by the additional costs associated with adhering
to these energy-efficiency mandates.
As currently written, the bill allows individual communities
to adopt rules requiring that new buildings produce net-zero
carbon emissions — a building’s energy use matched by an
equal amount of renewable energy created — as soon as a year
from now.
Under Baker’s counter proposal, the state would develop an
updated, voluntary energy code, with the goal of making new
buildings “super efficient,’’ without using the term
“net-zero,’’ according to Energy and Environmental Affairs
Secretary Kathleen Theoharides.
We’re also concerned the adoption of the net-zero
requirement by wealthier communities like Sen. Barrett’s
hometown of Lexington would further discourage the
construction of affordable housing, and thus perpetuate and
exacerbate the commonwealth’s untenable residential
real-estate crisis.
Legislators must see the forest of economy-crippling costs
through the trees of the carbon-neutral state they seek to
create.
Or else that sucking sound of fed-up residents fleeing to
New Hampshire will increase in volume.
State House News Service
Thursday, February 12, 2021
Mariano: “We Have No Intention of Raising Taxes”
By Michael P. Norton
House Speaker Ronald Mariano is sending a message about tax
policy ahead of budget season on Beacon Hill.
"Right now taxes are not on the table. We have no intention
of raising taxes," Mariano told WCVB's "On the Record" in an
interview set to air Sunday at 11 a.m.
According to a partial transcript of the interview, Mariano
expressed concern that the state budget was "going to be
short," and said the fate of President Joe Biden's $1.9
trillion COVID relief and economic stimulus bill looms
large.
"I'm not optimistic that tax revenues are going to match ...
even with some surprisingly robust returns ... I'm still
afraid we're going to be a little short," Mariano said. "But
we do have to wait and see what the feds do. We are watching
with a high degree of intensity what goes on in Washington."
If the $1.9 trillion package passes, Mariano said, "I think
we'll be able to be alright without having to do anything
more than to reallocate our funds ... and maybe put some
money back into the rainy day fund."
Gov. Charlie Baker two weeks ago proposed a $45.6 billion
fiscal 2022 budget that does not include any tax increases
on residents and would trim state spending by about $300
million, or 0.7 percent, while state tax revenue is expected
to rise 3.5 percent over the current budget year.
Baker's budget used about $1.6 billion from the state's
rainy day fund. Mariano, in the WCVB interview, concurred
with host Ed Harding that "this is a rainy day," suggesting
he's open to making further draws from the stabilization
fund to support state programs and services.
Tax collections in fiscal 2021 are exceeding projections so
far. House and Senate budget chiefs Aaron Michlewitz and
Michael Rodrigues are likely to release a schedule of
upcoming fiscal 2022 state budget hearings soon.
State House
News Service
Tuesday, February 9, 2021
New Deadline Offers “Breathing Room” on Bills
Lawmakers Draft Proposals Ahead of Feb. 19 Deadline
By Sam Doran
With a key legislative deadline pushed forward by a month,
Beacon Hill lawmakers have some extra leg room as they draft
up their proposals for the 2021-2022 session, which continue
to stream into the clerks' offices.
The deadline was extended this year to Feb. 19 under an
amendment to Joint Rule 12 agreed to by the House and Senate
on their first day of session, just hours after marathon
meetings to end their last two-year session.
The rule change appears to have been crafted in response to
two occurrences: the blitz of legislating that occupied the
attention of lawmakers into early January and the old
deadline's proximity to the unusually late end to the last
session. The traditional due date for filing legislation is
the third Friday in January, which this year would have
given representatives and senators 10 days to file bills
after the old General Court concluded formal lawmaking in
the early morning of Jan. 6.
Formal lawmaking usually concludes on July 31 in the second
year of a session, which gives lawmakers more than five
months in which they can contemplate and draft bills, but
this year the branches adjourned sine die shortly after 4:30
a.m. on the same day the new session began after tackling
weighty bills in the final days.
"I think it has been helpful that some of the deadlines have
been pushed back a little bit, so we have a little bit more
breathing room to really kind of sort out and organize the
legislation we want to file, and get all of our things ready
and prepared to go," new Rep. Meg Kilcoyne (D-Northborough)
said on a recent episode of the "State House Takeout"
podcast.
The Joint Rule 12 deadline has bounced around through the
years. The rules for the 1920 session, for example, called
for seasonably filed bills to be deposited with clerks on
the second Saturday of the session. In 1971-1972, Joint Rule
12 fixed the deadline at the first Wednesday in December
preceding the next annual session.
A spokesman for Senate President Karen Spilka said this
year's move was intended to "give members sufficient time to
research, review and file bills that address issues
important to them and their constituents."
The deadline produces the bulk of the bills up for
consideration each session, but bills will continue to pour
into the General Court throughout the session, entering the
system as "late-files." The vast majority of bills fail
without receiving votes in the House or Senate, withering
after committee reviews or perhaps dying in one committee
after getting a favorable recommendation from another. The
omnibus bills that command most of the attention each
session are often crafted by committees and feature
components of numerous other bills.
As lawmakers and aides prepare to file a petition, they work
on the bill language and gather names of any other initial
supporters. If it's a local bill -- perhaps a successful
town meeting warrant article that needs legislative approval
-- they must provide documentation of municipal-level
approval bearing the city or town's embossed seal.
Or, if a legislator is re-filing a bill that didn't make it
to the finish line last time around, they can provide the
previous bill number and the clerks' computer application --
known as LAWS -- auto-fills the old bill text and links it
with the clerks' documentation from last session.
After bills are filed, House members are customarily given
seven days after the Joint Rule 12 deadline to sign on as
cosponsors to their colleagues' proposals. This year, that
too is changed.
The House on Jan. 28 approved a new window for cosponsorship,
giving reps as much time as the bill sits in its initial
committee. That brings the House in line with a traditional
Senate practice, where the cosponsorship deadline is
likewise whenever the bill is first reported out of
committee. Cosponsor totals give some indication of levels
of support for legislation.
Committee reports on all these new bills could take a while
to start rolling in, depending on how long it takes Speaker
Ronald Mariano and President Karen Spilka to assign members
to those panels and then start up the work of committee
hearings. Over the past decade, top Democrats have made
their committee and leadership assignments in a window
ranging from Jan. 21 in 2015 to Feb. 26 in 2011.
State House
News Service
Tuesday, February 9, 2021
Mail-In, Early Voting and Same-Day Registration in Election
Reform Bill
Galvin Lays Out Priority Reforms
By Matt Murphy
After seeing how voting by mail helped lead to a record
number of voters casting ballots in the 2020 election,
Secretary of State William Galvin said Tuesday he would file
legislation this month to make the option a permanent
fixture of the Massachusetts voting system.
Galvin said his bill would also expand in-person early
voting and implement same-day voter registration in
Massachusetts, allowing eligible voters who need to register
or update their voting information to do so at the polls on
Election Day before casting their ballot.
Currently, voters must be registered at least 20 days before
Election Day in order to vote. Galvin's bill would let
anyone who missed the deadline to register on Election Day
at the polls, but not during the intervening period, and
voters would not be permitted to change party affiliation on
the day of the primary.
A record 3,657,972 votes were cast in the 2020 election in
November after lawmakers and election officials collaborated
to implement reforms intended to making voting safe and
accessible during the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 1.5
million people used the vote-by-mail option in 2020, and
another 844,000 voters cast ballots in-person before
Election Day, avoiding crowded polling places.
The 76 percent turnout rate in November was the highest
since more than 84 percent of registered voters participated
in the 1992 election in Massachusetts.
"What we saw last year was that voting by mail was
enormously popular," Galvin said. "While voting by mail may
not always be used to the same extent as the pandemic
finally ends, my office has heard from many voters who have
made it clear that they want this option to remain available
for all future elections."
The secretary's bill would also expand in-person early
voting options by guaranteeing weekend voting in statewide
elections and primaries and extending the early voting
period by two days to 14 days for general elections. It
would also newly create a seven-day in-person early voting
window before primaries, and allow cities and towns to offer
early voting for local elections.
Galvin's announcement came a day before a coalition of
lawmakers and advocacy groups, including Sen. Cynthia Creem
and Rep. John Lawn, plan on Wednesday to roll out what
they're calling the VOTES Act, which would make last year's
election reforms permanent, implement same-day voter
registration, improve ballot access for incarcerated
eligible voters, improve the automatic voter registration
system, and introduce "risk-limiting post-election audits."
The VOTES Act was filed in the House and Senate on Tuesday.
Galvin had previously said after the election that he
planned to pull together an election reform package for the
Legislature that would make voting-by-mail permanent after
convening a working group and consulting with the city and
town clerks associations to learn what could be improved
from 2020.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures,
21 states and the District of Columbia have enacted same-day
voter registration laws. The issue has been debated on
Beacon Hill for well over a decade, and the Senate passed
same-day voter registration in 2014, before it was left out
of a final package that included the introduction of early
voting.
"As I have said for several years, I believe that with the
appropriate technological safeguards in place, we can
implement same-day voter registration in a convenient and
secure manner, as several of our neighboring states have
done," Galvin said in a statement on Tuesday.
Bob LaRocca, executive director of the Boston-based national
Voter Protection Corps, called Galvin's bill a "good start,"
but said the Legislature should go further. He said the
state should mail every registered voter a ballot with
prepaid postage, instead of mailing applications for
ballots, which is how mail-in voting was handled in the 2020
election.
"We applaud Secretary Galvin's proposal and other proposals
to come that will expand access to voting in Massachusetts
and we commend him for joining the call to act. But now is a
time for bold action and for Massachusetts to lead, not just
try to catch up with reforms long established in far less
progressive states," LaRocca said.
Galvin's office said the Brighton Democrat intends to
propose keeping the vote-by-mail system the same as for the
2020 election, with applications mailed to eligible voters
ahead of the primary and general election.
Galvin said he will also propose to make permanent several
temporary changes made in 2020 that gave local clerks
flexibility in hiring and assigning poll workers and with
the processing of ballots.
"In crafting this proposal, it was important to make sure we
worked closely with local election officials to be sure that
we knew what worked in 2020 and what didn't work as well,"
Galvin said. "These changes will allow local election
officials the flexibility they need to get their polling
places adequately staffed and organized and to get ballots
counted in a way that is both timely and secure."
Common Cause of Massachusetts Director Geoff Foster said he
was "encouraged" by Galvin's support for making mail-in
voting permanent and adopting same-day registration.
Common Cause is part of the Election Modernization Coalition
that has partnered with Sen. Creem and Rep. Lawn to write
the VOTES Act, which will be detailed on Wednesday by the
sponsors.
"We appreciate Secretary Galvin's enthusiasm for our shared
priorities and we're very appreciative of Representative
Lawn and Senator Creem's leadership on the VOTES Act which
will make our democracy more secure, accessible, and
equitable for years to come," Foster said Tuesday.
Creem served last session as majority leader under Senate
President Karen Spilka, and Lawn co-chaired the Committee on
Election Laws.
Before he resigned, former Speaker Robert DeLeo said he was
interested in hearing more from clerks and other election
officials about what worked and what didn't in the 2020
elections before committing to a permanent vote-by-mail
system.
CommonWealth
Magazine
Thursday, February 11, 2021
Constitutional challenge to vote-by-mail likely
By Shira Schoenberg
Secretary of the Commonwealth Bill Galvin and voting rights
advocates want to allow Massachusetts residents to vote by
mail for any reason. But is that constitutional?
The Massachusetts Constitution explicitly says the
Legislature can authorize absentee voting for just three
reasons: if someone is out of town, physically disabled, or
cannot vote on Election Day due to a religious belief.
Lawmakers acknowledged the constraint in 2013, when they
considered but did not act on a constitutional amendment to
allow absentee voting for any reason.
“There’s been a long-term traditional view that
opportunities to vote by mail in Massachusetts are
constrained by the Constitution, which specifies particular
conditions under which you can do this,” said Evan Horowitz,
executive director of the Center for State Policy Analysis
at Tufts University.
Last year amid the pandemic, the Legislature allowed anyone
to apply for an absentee ballot by defining COVID-19
precautions as a physical disability. They also allowed
universal early voting by mail, under the rationale that the
constitutional constraint does not apply to early voting,
which the state just adopted in 2014. In other words, early
ballots, even if they are mailed in, are different from
absentee ballots.
It is the latter opinion that Galvin is relying on in
introducing his new bill, which would permanently expand
early voting by mail.
David Sullivan, an attorney working with a coalition of
advocates pushing to make mail-in voting permanent, penned a
legal memo arguing that the Legislature has authority to
authorize mail-in voting. Sullivan examined the legislative
intent during the 1917 constitutional convention that passed
the constitutional amendment authorizing absentee voting.
The amendment was intended to address a constitutional
provision requiring senators to be chosen at “meetings” with
voters physically present. A lawmaker said at the time that
they wanted to let “the soldiers, the traveling men, and the
laboring man who may be kept away, or the railroad man”
vote.
(Elections for senators by written ballot were instituted
the following year.) Later amendments adding disability and
religious beliefs to the reasons allowed for absentee
voting, Sullivan argues, were meant to give the Legislature
additional power, not limit it.
But Sullivan acknowledged in an interview that his
interpretation is unlikely to be universally accepted. “I
expect it will be litigated at some point,” Sullivan said.
The bill supported by the advocates specifies that any
challenge to the constitutionality of voting by mail must be
brought in the Supreme Judicial Court within 180 days after
the bill’s passage. A lawsuit would be barred if it sought
to overturn the outcome of an election in which people
already voted.
“We obviously don’t want people to vote by mail then find
out afterwards that it was illegal,” Sullivan said.
The Boston
Herald
Wednesday, February 11, 2021
Frustrated town officials blame Charlie Baker for
getting stiffed on coronavirus vaccines
By Joe Battenfeld
Local town officials and boards of health continue to turn
away hundreds of people a day from getting the coronavirus
vaccine because of what they call a lack of communication
and planning from the Baker administration.
The town of Burlington had to cancel 100 more seniors over
75 years old on Wednesday who were set to get shots but
couldn’t because the state didn’t deliver any doses to the
board of health.
“I could have done hundreds today,” said Dr. Ed Weiner, head
of the Burlington board of health who has been helping get
people inoculated for more than 30 years. “We were all set
up and ready to go.”
Weiner said the town asked the state Department of Public
Health for 800 doses two weeks ago and was ready to go —
even reserving space in the local schools to give the shots.
They only got 100 doses.
Then last week the town got no doses at all.
“I don’t know what’s going on,” a clearly frustrated Weiner
said. “They don’t communicate. Nobody communicates at the
Department of Public Health.”
Weiner faults Gov. Charlie Baker for the lack of vaccines
and said rather than give control to town officials, who
have a plan, they are funneling people to mass vaccination
sites like Gillette Stadium and Fenway Park that are dozens
of miles away.
“I don’t understand their plan because seniors don’t want to
drive to Fenway Park,” he said. “I am working for my
friends, my community, my neighbors, the 75-year-old-and-up
because they need to be vaccinated first. And what am I
given? Frustration.”
It’s the same story in other communities, which have had
trouble getting enough doses to give to seniors who want to
stay in their town to get vaccinated.
“At this time the state of Massachusetts has informed us
that Wilmington will not be receiving any vaccine for this
week,” a bulletin on the town of Wilmington’s website
states. Westford and Tewksbury have also had to cancel
vaccine clinics due to a lack of supply.
“Other communities in this area got a pittance. Other
communities got nothing. I don’t understand what the plan
is,” according to Weiner. “The governor and lieutenant
governor, they don’t want to listen to anybody.”
Baker has been on the defensive for weeks on account of the
state’s poor record in getting shots to those who need it
most. No matter what statistics you look at, Massachusetts
ranks very low compared to other states, especially in New
England, in the percentage of doses given to state
residents. A new Harvard study confirmed the state’s abysmal
vaccination record.
It’s now clear that if the state had turned more control
over to local towns and cities, Massachusetts would be
ranked higher.
Instead, what we get is repeated excuses and “I get it”
statements from the Republican governor and Lt. Gov. Karyn
Polito, who is supposed to be the point person to local town
governments.
We don’t want to hear “I get it” any more. We need action.
If the state can’t figure out how to distribute doses to the
most people possible, turn it over to someone who can.
State House
News Service
Thursday, February 12, 2021
Mariano Shuffles the Deck With House Assignments
House, Senate Appointments Set for 2021-2022
By Colin A. Young
House and Senate Democrats ratified their committee
assignments for the two-year session Friday, approving the
leadership and committee structure that includes new posts
meant to boost oversight of the state's COVID-19 response,
federal stimulus funds, and the U.S. Census and
redistricting process, and to weigh the myriad issues that
await Massachusetts on the other side of the pandemic.
Speaker Ronald Mariano unveiled the first committee slate of
his speakership in a Friday afternoon caucus and Senate
President Karen Spilka doled out assignments for her branch
at a unpublicized noontime caucus. Mariano had announced his
core leadership team Thursday and Spilka revealed Friday
that her main leadership group will remain the same as last
session.
Friday's assignments put the typical committee structure in
place for the Legislature to get to work reviewing the
roughly 1,800 House bills and about 1,200 Senate bills filed
so far to deal with the COVID-19 response, the pandemic's
disproportionate impact on communities of color, the racial
justice issues that sparked last year's massive protests,
routine local matters, and the typical potpourri of any
legislative session.
Some committees will break new ground on issues this
session, while others are more likely to start off by trying
to find resolution on issues that were debated at length
last session. The representatives and senators appointed
Friday to serve as chairs of committees will wield influence
over the legislation before their panels and will aim to
control the flow of bills to the House and Senate floors.
Though the joint committees are made up of members from both
branches, representatives outnumber senators on each
committee, giving the House and the House chair the upper
hand in the joint committee structure.
New Committees
Rep. William Driscoll of Milton, who has a background in
disaster response and emergency management, was tapped by
the new speaker to serve as the House leader of the new
Joint Committee on COVID-19 and Emergency Preparedness and
Management, which Mariano and Spilka created to provide
oversight of the state's pandemic response and to take on an
advisory role for the Legislature. Rep. Jon Santiago of
Boston's South End, who works as an emergency room doctor at
Boston Medical Center, will be the House vice-chair. Sen. Jo
Comerford of Northampton, who led the Senate's own COVID-focused
working group last session, will serve as Senate co-chair.
Mariano said last week that the Baker administration's
vaccine rollout has been "marked by communications and
operational shortcomings" that need to be corrected, in part
guided by feedback from the Legislature, as the effort
continues.
"Specifically, we have witnessed a disconnect between the
Department of Public Health and those administering the
vaccine, siting and availability issues in many regions
across the state, and communications breakdowns in the
vaccine booking system," the speaker said. "We must be
particularly mindful about addressing gaps in health equity
and supporting individuals with disabilities and those
without access to transportation."
Rep. Bud Williams of Springfield will chair the new
Committee on Racial Equity, Civil Rights and Inclusion for
the House and will oversee a review of existing laws and
proposals, a study of the impacts of existing laws, and
whatever legislation the committee advances "so that the
legislature can craft policy to begin to dismantle systemic
racism and promote equitable opportunities and outcomes for
all residents," the speaker and Senate president said when
they announced the new committee. Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz of
Jamaica Plain will be Williams' Senate counterpart.
The third new joint committee, the Committee on Advanced
Information Technology, the Internet and Cybersecurity, will
be chaired in the House by Rep. Linda Dean Campbell of
Methuen and for the Senate by Sen. Barry Finegold of
Andover.
The House also created a new House Committee on Federal
Stimulus and Census Oversight, two major issues of 2021,
that will be led by Rep. Daniel Hunt of Dorchester. The
panel will be tasked with reviewing federal spending,
including stimulus bills and block grants, and recommending
ways Massachusetts can tap into additional federal
resources.
It will also work with the special redistricting committee
"to ensure continued communication with all stakeholders,
including the Secretary of State's office, to ensure the
Commonwealth has the necessary structure and resources in
place for an accurate and complete census count," Mariano's
office said.
Shuffling the Deck
Mariano's elevation of Rep. Claire Cronin of Easton created
an opening atop the Committee on the Judiciary, which the
speaker chose to fill by appointing Rep. Michael Day of
Stoneham to lead the crucial and often busy panel. Day
opened a private practice after practicing law at Mintz
Levin in Boston for almost a decade and then serving as
special assistant district attorney in Middlesex County.
Sen. Jamie Eldridge of Acton will be Senate co-chair again
this session.
And Rep. Thomas Golden of Lowell moving into a division
leader position meant there would be a new chair of the
Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy. That
job went to Rep. Jeff Roy of Franklin, who most recently
chaired the Committee on Higher Education. Roy could now
lead the House through its response to the amendments Gov.
Charlie Baker recently returned with a major climate policy
bill that Golden helped write and negotiate. Sen. Michael
Barrett will continue to co-chair the committee for the
Senate.
Roy's former chairmanship at the helm of the Committee on
Higher Education this session will be held by Rep. David
Rogers of Cambridge, who last session led the Committee on
Cannabis Policy. That panel will be chaired this session by
Rep. Daniel Donahue of Worcester.
The retirement of Rep. Harold Naughton left open the
chairmanship of the Committee on Public Safety and Homeland
Security. Rep. Carlos Gonzalez of Springfield, who chaired
the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus last session and was
one of the six conference committee members who negotiated
the final policing reform law, will lead the Public Safety
Committee as the police accountability law is implemented
over the next two years.
That committee will have two new chairs -- Sen. Walter
Timilty of Milton will take the reins on the Senate side
from Sen. Michael Moore of Millbury. Moore will instead lead
the Senate Post Audit and Oversight Committee.
Rep. Josh Cutler of Duxbury will lead the Committee on Labor
and Workforce Development for the House, a panel that deals
with major issues like the minimum wage and worker safety
protections each session but could have an even more
significant role over the next two years as Massachusetts
tries to rebound from the massive job losses of the pandemic
and position itself for, as Gov. Charlie Baker calls it,
"the future of work." Sen. Patricia Jehlen of Somerville
returns to serve as Senate co-chair.
The Committee on Health Care Financing, which could be key
to the speaker's stated priority of working to stabilize
community hospitals, will be newly under the leadership of
Rep. John Lawn of Watertown. Lawn last chaired the Election
Laws Committee, which will be handed off to Rep. Daniel Ryan
of Charlestown. Sen. Cindy Friedman will return to chair the
Health Care Financing Committee on the Senate side.
The committee has been in flux more often than not over the
last few years. The death of Chairman Peter Kocot in 2018
preceded failed negotiations with the Senate on a
significant health care bill and the last representative
tabbed to lead the committee, Rep. Jennifer Benson, resigned
in early 2020 to lead the Alliance for Business Leadership.
The Committee on Elder Affairs, led last session by Rep.
Ruth Balser of Newton, will this session be led by Rep.
Thomas Stanley of Waltham. Balser was elevated to serve as a
division leader this term. Sen. Jehlen will continue in her
role as Senate co-chair.
Rep. Denise Garlick of Needham, who previously served as the
number-two on the Ways and Means Committee, is Mariano's
pick to chair the House Committee on Bills in the Third
Reading, which former Rep. Ted Speliotis vacated when he
retired. The committee is responsible for reviewing "all
bills and resolves" for constitutionality and proper
grammar, and to avoid duplication. It's one of the least
visible committees, but virtually no legislation is passed
without going through the committee.
Similarly left vacant by a retirement was the chair of the
House Committee on Steering, Policy and Scheduling, another
of the Legislature's more obscure, but inherently powerful,
panels. Rep. Kevin Honan of Brighton, who previously chaired
the Housing Committee, was chosen to head up the committee
charged with "identifying the major matters pending before
the General Court, the relative urgency and priority for
consideration of such matters, and alternative methods of
responding to such matters by the General Court." Rep. James
Arciero of Westford will now lead the Housing Committee.
Mariano's committee assignments shuffled the House's
redistricting committee structure in a year when lawmakers
will redraw the boundaries for legislative districts.
The House replaced its branch-specific Redistricting
Committee with the new Federal Stimulus and Census Oversight
Committee. Mariano also tapped members to a separate Special
Committee on Redistricting and Reapportionment, with Rep.
Michael Moran of Boston as House chair and Rep. Marcos
Devers of Lawrence as vice-chair.
Meanwhile, Senate Democratic leadership convened a Senate
Standing Committee on Redistricting led by Sen. William
Brownsberger of Belmont, just as it did in the 2019-2020
lawmaking session.
Diminished Roles, and a Comeback
Though some representatives and senators logged off of their
virtual caucus with promotions, some found out that they may
have diminished roles, at least in title, as the new session
gets underway.
Rep. Patricia Haddad of Somerset held the number-three House
role, speaker pro tempore, for nearly all of Robert DeLeo's
record-setting tenure as speaker and was re-appointed to the
position when Mariano was elected speaker in December. She
was not reappointed to a leadership position and on Friday
was named vice-chair of the Committee on Bonding, Capital
Expenditures and State Assets.
Rep. Paul Donato of Medford, who was one of DeLeo's second
assistant majority leaders and played a key role in
Mariano's desire to keep House business running smoothly
amid his transition and the chaotic end of the session, will
this session serve as assistant vice chair of the Ways and
Means Committee.
On the Senate side of the building, Sen. Diana DiZoglio, who
has frequently challenged the transparency of both House and
Senate leadership during her time serving in both branches,
was moved from her chairmanship of the Committee on
Community Development to the less visible Committee on
Export Development.
The Methuen Democrat called the title a "moot point" since
she said she was unable to get multiple requested meetings
with Democratic leadership to work on bills moving through
that committee.
"I do take issue with the lack of diversity in our
leadership team & increased centralization of power," she
said on Twitter.
And Sen. Marc Pacheco of Taunton, the dean of the Senate and
one of the loudest voices for climate action in the
Legislature, was removed from his position as chairman of
the Senate Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change.
He will still co-chair the Joint Committee on State
Administration and Regulatory Oversight, but Senate Majority
Leader Cindy Creem will lead the Global Warming Committee
for the next two years.
Returning to a position of power for the first time since
Sal DiMasi was speaker of the House is Rep. John Rogers of
Norwood, who will serve as vice-chair of the Committee on
Housing. Rogers spent two sessions (2001 to 2004) as chair
of the House Ways and Means Committee and then served as
DiMasi's majority leader. But he lost a speakership fight to
DeLeo and has not held a chairmanship or vice chairmanship
since.
— Matt Murphy and Chris
Lisinski contributed to this report. |
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