rotating chairs

Massachusetts State Committeewoman Kathleen Lynch (R) recently sent out an email to constituents hammering the transparency issue on Beacon Hill. I myself have written a few posts here about some of the issues she touches upon:

The unrespected audit vote:

With a decisive 72% victory, the people of Massachusetts spoke and expect an audit. However, the Massachusetts legislature led by House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka as well as attorney general Andrea Campbell are resisting an audit by their elected state auditor. Their opposition begs the question, what are they trying to hide?

Beacon Hill transparency:

On their website, The Coalition for Healthy Democracy claims the “measure would end Massachusetts’ status as the least transparent state in the nation…. Currently, Massachusetts is the only state where the legislative, executive and judicial branches all claim full exemption from public records law, making it nearly impossible to see how decisions are made, where money flows or how our leaders are truly working for us.”

Stipend reform:

A coalition named Legislative Effectiveness and Accountability Partnership (LEAP) are leading a ballot initiative petition for an “Act to Reform and Regulate Legislative Stipends”. On their website, it reads, “All that stipend money is doled out at the discretion of the Senate President, the House Speaker, or the two minority party leaders and can be taken away at any time. Legislators have lost their stipends for criticizing the Speaker or talking to the media without permission. They are forced to capitulate or risk their livelihoods.”

As I was reading, I was wary of a segue into partisan attacks or campaign pitches. The Democrats control the Massachusetts legislature, so tying them to the rules of the legislature probably wouldn’t be a hard sell to supporters. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see bipartisan calls to action.

They key to the transparency issue is that the problem is with the legislative machine itself, not the party that holds it. If the GOP weaponized the matter and flipped Massachusetts, it would be foolish to expect it to resolve; it would just change hands.

These calls to action and awareness campaigns, when done right, should energize voters to push for bipartisan reform, as this email did. The rules should be fair and enforceable regardless of the party holding the most seats at any given time.