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Towards a just & healthy democracy in the Commonwealth... and beyond!
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Mon May 16, 2011 at 14:43:33 PM EDT
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(An independent voice in the legislature would certainly help change the game, and the game is rigged. Luckily there are strategic entry points -- like the low ballot access threshold for State Rep. seats. If only there were an organized force to take advantage... - promoted by eli_beckerman)
If you ever had any illusions that you live in a democracy, the testimony at the DiMasi trial should lay them to rest. The trial is trying to decide if DiMasi goes to prison. But as State House News reporter Kyle Cheney noted "It was the rare moments of agreement between prosecutors and defense attorneys that were often the most jarring: If you want to win the speaker's ear, no matter how worthy the cause, hiring a well-connected lobbyist is a must. If the speaker wants something in the budget, it will appear in the budget - or in a bond bill, or in a supplemental spending bill - Ways and Means Committee be damned." |
| jandrews :: A Clear Message From the Courtroom |
| So that representative you send to Beacon Hill to represent you is really just a token presence. Those committee hearings are just for show. It's the Speaker - who has never received more than 1 percent of the statewide vote - who will decide what legislation moves forward and what will die. It's a recipe for corruption. It's a prescription for crippling the full and open debate that is so important to democracy.
Senator Scott Brown recently got press attention when he said that the insider government is aided and abetted by one party rule in Massachusetts. He's right. But he then implied that electing more Republicans would fix things. That's a questionable premise. If you have a Democratic Party that is cutting deals with for-profit businesses behind closed doors, the solution is not to elect Republicans who are even more dedicated to helping corporate lobbyists influence public policy.
A better solution is to elect some legislators who haven't taken the kind of corporate payoffs that Scott Brown is busy stuffing into his campaign warchest. We need a few legislators from a clean money party - like the Green-Rainbow Party - that doesn't let its candidates take corporate payoffs. Then maybe the longsuffering taxpayers would finally have a voice in the halls of power. |
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Green Mass Group is an online forum for Green thought and collective action in Massachusetts. It is a community forum for justice, sustainability, democracy and health in the Commonwealth and beyond.
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| Quotes |
"Now, is this the deal I would have preferred? No. I believe that we could have made the tough choices required - on entitlement reform and tax reform - right now, rather than through a special congressional committee process. But this compromise does make a serious down payment on the deficit reduction we need and gives each party a strong incentive to get a balanced plan done before the end of the year. Most importantly, it will allow us to avoid default and end the crisis that Washington imposed on the rest of America."
--President Barack Obama on the debt ceiling "deal"
"Despite Democratic control over the White House, despite Democratic control over the Senate, despite overwhelming opposition from the American people, a small minority of the members of the Republican-controlled House have successfully pushed an extreme right-wing agenda onto the American political landscape. It is an ideology which believes that despite the fact that the rich are getting richer, the middle class is shrinking, and poverty is increasing, all - all of the burden for deficit reduction should rest on working people."
--Independent Senator Bernie Sanders on the debt ceiling "deal"
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Then and Now
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Then...
"Last year Evergreen, a Massachusetts company, agreed to establish their first-ever United States based manufacturing facility here in Massachusetts. They did so, or are doing so, at Devens. They have now agreed and chosen to triple their size at Devens. Their next phase of expansion, right here in Massachusetts, a signature company in a signature sector, and we congratulate all of the folks at Evergreen and look forward to continuing to work with you...
We made a personal commitment to Evergreen for the sake of Evergreen, but also because we wanted to show that there are ways in which state government, in working together with private industry and with the utility companies, could begin to create a different kind of environment, a different kind of business climate here, to grow that sector, and it is happening. It's happening. Evergreen is one of the most prominent examples, but there are a whole host of examples."
--Governor Deval Patrick, April 7, 2008, boasting about state investment in Evergreen.
and Now...
"Evergreen Solar Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday, completing a stunning reversal of fortune for a high-flying alternative-energy company that once seemed to herald a new era for the Massachusetts economy... At its peak, Evergreen employed roughly 900 people locally and attracted more than $50 million in state support, as its stock price soared above $100 a share.
Yesterday, Evergreen's stock closed at 18 cents. The company shuttered its manufacturing plant in Devens earlier this year and now has only 85 employees left. Massachusetts is one of its top creditors, owed $1.5 million in rent."
--Erin Ailworth, Boston Globe, August 16, 2011
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