Page 22 THE EVERETT ADVOCATE – Friday, January 10, 2020 BEACON HIL | FROM PAGE 21 members may have known what they were voting on and may have even agreed with Brad Jones. However, agreement with Brad does not matter if it confl icts with the speaker. This is particularly the case in the rules debate as the speaker has given orders to all Democrats that he wants no changes and that he is taking notice for consideration of leadership and committee assignments. We term the statements and speeches in rules debate as ‘community auditions.’” “ The public is well informed,” continued Holmes. “Many know that the only reason these Democrats changed their votes is because they await their instructions on all votes from the speaker. Members do not think of what is in the best interest of their districts but instead they consider what is in the best interest of themselves by voting with the speaker. This disenfranchises the voters who sent them to the Statehouse. I refuse to arrive in the building and hand over the voice and power of my constituents to the speaker. The best way to eliminate this hypocrisy is to bring pay equity to the building and pay all the members the same regardless of positions in leadership or committee. I was a ‘yes’ vote and voting with Brad before seeing how the speaker voted. Ideas should rule the day.” "I think that every representative has had the experience at one time or another of casting a vote only to have a colleague come and talk to them and explain an issue perhaps in different terms which may cause them to change their mind,” said Rep. Joe McKenna (R-Webster). “I think that is okay. Unfortunately, what we saw during the rules debate is entirely different and is something that we have seen numerous times in my two-plus terms. It's simply a 'follow-the-leader' mentality where members seem to take their sole direction from the color of the light next to the speaker's name with apparently little awareness or concern for the matter being voted on or its content. Leaning on colleagues for guidance and advice is okay, but the type of blind following we saw takes it too far." Chip Ford, Executive Director of Citizens for Limited Taxation: “Captured red-handed on video doing what The Best Legislators Money Can Buy do best – mindlessly following the leader. What a real-time votes tote board exposed through an embarrassing glitch is revealing of what’s so wrong on Beacon Hill. Good catch Beacon Hill Roll Call.” "Too often, House Democrats will vote in lockstep with the speaker, whether he's right or wrong, without doing their own due diligence about what they are, in fact, voting on,” said Jonathan Cohn, Chair of the Issues Committee of Progressive Massachusetts. “Legislators should come to their own conclusions about bills and amendments based on their own promises and principles and the input from advocates, policy experts, and their own constituents — not just on how the speaker chooses to vote … The House had a long debate about its rules, but for the rest of the session, there needs to be a serious debate about the norms by which the chamber operates and how badly they are in need of a change." PERCENTAGE OF TIMES REPRESENTATIVES VOTED WITH THEIR PARTY’S LEADERSHIP IN 2019 The percentage next to the representative's name represents the percentage of times the representative supported his or her party’s leadership. The number in parentheses represents the number of times the representative opposed his or her party’s leadership. Some representatives voted on all 121 roll call votes. Others missed one or more roll call. The percentage for each representative is calculated based on the number of roll calls on which he or she voted and does not count the roll calls for which he or she was absent. Rep. Joseph McGonagle 100 percent (0) HOW LONG WAS LAST WEEK'S SESSION? Beacon Hill Roll Call tracks the length of time that the House and Senate were in session each week. Many legislators say that legislative sessions are only one aspect of the Legislature's job and that a lot of important work is done outside of the House and Senate chambers. They note that their jobs also involve committee work, research, constituent work and other matters that are important to their districts. Critics say that the Legislature does not meet regularly or long enough to debate and vote in public view on the thousands of pieces of legislation that have been fi led. They note that the infrequency and brief length of sessions are misguided and lead to irresponsible latenight sessions and a mad rush to act on dozens of bills in the days immediately preceding the end of an annual session. During the week of December 30-January 3, the House met for a total of one hour and two minutes while the Senate met for a total of one hour and 20 minutes. Mon. December 30 House 11:03 a.m. to 11:10 a.m. Senate 11:08 a.m. to 11:21 a.m. Tues. December 31 No House session No Senate session Wed. January 1 House 11:00 a.m. to 11:01 a.m. Senate 11:28 a.m. to 11:47 a.m. Thurs. January 2 House 11:03 a.m. to 11:57 a.m. Senate 11:10 a.m. to 11:58 a.m. Fri. January 3 No House session Bob Katzen welcomes feedback at bob@beaconhillrollcall.com No Senate session
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