THE REVERE ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2021 Page 15 boston.com • Tune into 1510 AM if you still have an AM radio THE HOUSE AND SENATE: A note from Bob Katzen, Publisher of Beacon Hill Roll Call Join me this Sunday night and every Sunday night between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. for my talk show “The Bob Katzen Baby Boomer and Gen X Show.” Jump in my time capsule and come back to the simpler days of the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. My guest on Sunday, February 28 on my WMEX 1510 AM Radio and online show will be Worcester-native Jay Gordon who hosts the popular nationally syndicated radio program “Elvis Only,” a show dedicated solely to the music and life of the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll. Jay’s knowledge of and love for Elvis is unsurpassed. Jay was also one of the top DJs on the best oldies station in the nation back in the day— Boston’s Oldies 103. Be there or be square! There are many ways you can listen to the show from anywhere in the world: • If you have a smart speaker, simply say, “Play WMEX on RADIO.COM” • Download the free RADIO. COM app on your phone or tablet • Listen online at: www.wmexThere were no roll calls in the House or Senate last week. This week, Beacon Hill Roll Call reports on the percentage of times local senators voted with their party’s leadership in the 2020 session. Beacon Hill Roll Call uses 286 votes from the 2020 Senate session as the basis for this report. This includes all roll calls that were not on local issues. The votes of the 34 Democrats were compared to Senate Majority Leader Cynthia Creem (D-Newton), second-in-command in the Senate. We could not compare the Democrats’ votes to those of Senate President Karen Spilka (DAshland) because, by tradition, the Senate president rarely votes. None of the 34 Democratic senators voted with Creem 100 percent of the time in 2020. That is a big change from the 2019 session when 14 (or 43 percent) of the Democratic senators voted with Creem 100 percent of the time Back to 2020: Three senators voted with Creem all but one time: Sens. Julian Cyr (D-Truro), Sal DiDomenico (D-Everett) and Adam Hinds (D-Pittsfield). Seven senators voted with Cream all but twice: Sens. Mike Barrett (D-Lexington), Joe Boncore (DWinthrop), Will Brownsberger (DBelmont), Brendan Crighton (DLynn), Cindy Friedman (D-Arlington), Eric Lesser (D-Longmeadow) and Jason Lewis (D-Winchester). Thirty-three (97 percent) of the 34 Democrats voted with Creem 90 percent or more of the time. Sen. Diana DiZoglio (D-Methuen) who voted with Creem 89.8 percent of the time was the only one who voted with Creem less than 90 percent of the time. The two other Democratic senators who voted the lowest percentage of times with Creem were Sens. Anne Gobi (D-Spencer) who voted with Creem 90.5 percent of the time and Walter Timilty (D-Milton) who voted with Creem 90.9 percent of the time. The votes of three Republican senators were compared with those of GOP Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester). In 2020, as in 2019, none of the three voted with Tarr 100 percent of the time. In 2020, the Republican senator who voted the lowest percentage of times with Tarr was former Sen. Dean Tran (RFitchburg) who voted with Tarr 57.5 percent of the time. Sen. Ryan Fattman (R-Sutton) voted with Tarr 68.4 percent of the time and Sen. Patrick O’Connor (R-Weymouth) sided with Tarr the most times - 91.2 percent of the time. Those numbers are a big change from 2019 when Tarr got way more cooperation from those senators. In 2019, the Republican senator who voted the lowest percentage of times with Tarr was Sen. Fattman who voted with Tarr 90.8 percent of the time; Sen. Patrick O’Connor voted with Tarr 92.3 percent of the time; and former Sen. Dean Tran sided with Tarr 93.7 percent of the time. PERCENTAGE OF TIMES SENATORS VOTED WITH THEIR PARTY’S LEADERSHIP IN 2020 The percentage next to the senator’s name represents the percentage of times the senator supported his or her party’s leadership. The number in parentheses represents the number of times the senator opposed his or her party’s leadership. Some senators voted on all 286 roll call votes. Others missed one or more roll call. The percentage for each senator 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. Sen. Joseph Boncore 99.3 percent 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 late-night 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 February 1519, the House met for a total of 33 minutes while the Senate met for a total of 17 minutes. Mon. February 15 No House session No Senate session Tues. February 16 House 11:01 a.m. to 11:08 a.m. Senate 11:10 a.m. to 11:17 a.m. Wed. February 17 No House session No Senate session Thurs. February 18 House 11:09 a.m. to 11:35 a.m. Senate 11:09 a.m. to 11:19 a.m. Fri. February 19 No House session No Senate session Bob Katzen welcomes feedback at bob@beaconhillrollcall.com
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