First CSfC Campaign Ends in Major Victory!

Strong Ethics Reform to Be Signed

Our first campaign ended yesterday with an ethics reform bill that, while not perfect, is a major advance on current law--and is a critical first step in restoring public confidence. The legislature passed a sweeping reform package and Governor Deval Patrick, who proposed the original version of this bill, said he will sign it. We are grateful for our members who attended a house meeting on ethics reform on March 8, participated in our first issue survey in late March, lobbied our local legislators in April and May, and lobbied the legislative leadership and conference committee members in May and June. The law that will be signed in the next week is better--thanks to many hands--than the version passed by either the House or Senate.

State Senate Has Moved Backwards on Ethics Reform

Next Step: Lobby the Conference Committee!

Last Thursday, May 14, the State Senate passed its own version of "ethics reform" - unfortunately moving backwards in key respects. On the whole, the Senate bill is worse than the House bill, which is worse than the Governor's proposal in January. The next step is that three members of the House and three members of the Senate will negotiate legislation that they believe will pass both houses. We urge you to write members of the conference committee - names and contact info below - to take the best parts of all three proposals and give us real reform!

The Senate bill has been publicly criticized for significantly weakening ethics enforcement. The Senate bill would remove enforcement proceedings from the Ethics Commission and put them in the Division of Administrative Law Appeals. Administrative law judges have no expertise in ethics law and have not been able to work through their existing huge case backlog. The Senate's rational for this "reform" is that the Ethics Commission has been criticized by some as "overzealous in its enforcement.

The Senate bill also lacks needed provisions on gifts to legislators and giving investigators the right, with judicial approval, to record conversations. These provisions were in the Governor's initial proposal but were dropped and/or weakened in the House and Senate versions. Although the House and Senate bills ad tougher campaign finance requirements (e.g., prohibiting campaign contributions by lobbyists), this down not make up for the flaws in each.

Call or email the legislators listed below and give them a simple message: Combine the best parts of the three proposals or risk flunking the reform test. (1) Restore the Ethics Commission's authority (House provisions do that), ( 2) adopt the Senate and House changes in campaign finance requirements, and (3) adopt the Governor's proposals on the gratuities law and on recording conversations.

Conference Committee Members:

Sen. Frederick Berry (D-Peabody), Chairman, Senate Ethics & Rules Committee, State House, Room 333, Boston, MA 02133; Frederick.Berry@state.ma.us - 617- 722-1410

Sen. Brian Joyce (D-Milton), State House, Room 413-A, Boston, MA 02133, Brian.A.Joyce@state.ma.us , 617- 722-1643

Sen. Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester), State House, Room 313-A, Boston, MA 02133, Bruce.Tarr@state.ma.us, 617-722-1600.

Rep. Peter Kocot (D-Northampton), Chairman, House Ethics Committee, State House, Room 473F, Boston, MA 02133; Rep.PeterKocot@hou.state.ma.us - 617- 722-2210

Rep. James Vallee (D-Franklin), House Majority Leader, State House, Room 238, Boston, MA 02133, Rep.JamesVallee@Hou.State.MA.US, , 617-722-2380

Rep. Jeffrey Perry (R-Sandwich), State House, Room 136, Boston, MA 02133, Rep.JeffreyPerry@Hou.State.MA.US, 617-722-2396

The Vote is In: Help Us Support Strong State Ethics Reform

In a recent membership poll, Cambridge-Somerville for Change members supported proposed state ethics reform legislation, as well as strengthening the bill passed by the House on March 26. Check out the results below:

I favor what the House passed as it stands now: 0%

I favor the House bill, but want the Governor’s change in the gratuities law: 5%

I favor the House bill, but want the Governor’s proposal on recording conversations: 5%

I favor the House bill, but want both the Governor’s change in the gratuities law and his proposal on recording conversations back in: 88%

No, I’m against both the House and Governor’s proposals: 0%

With the bill now in the Senate, CSfC will send a letter to Senate leadership and our local state senators urging them to fight for a strong bill. We urge you, individually, to do the same--the more voices, the better! Contact Senate leadership and your senator.

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear Senator _________________________:

Re: Ethics & Lobbying Reform

Please act swiftly to pass a strong ethics and lobbying bill and halt the erosion of faith in government. The House passed H 3853, an important step forward. The bill is consistent with the Governor's proposal, which grew out of work done by the bipartisan and highly qualified Task Force on Public Integrity. In one respect, the House went beyond the Task Force's recommendations, and included excellent campaign finance disclosure provisions.

The Senate now has the opportunity, however, to strengthen the House bill by including two provisions that the Task Force recommended: One deals with gifts given for or because of a public employee's official position -- the House version inserts the word "knowingly," which weakens the intent. (There already is an intent requirement--that the gift is motivated by official position--and comparable statutes in Massachusetts and other jurisdictions don't generally impose a higher level of intent.)

The House version also omits a provision giving the state Attorney General power to record conversations in public integrity investigations, with judicial approval. This is a tool that federal enforcement authorities have had for years. I support including this provision in the measure.

With so many challenges facing the Commonwealth, it is vital to send a clear message that you intend to serve the public interest and support empowering existing agencies to investigate and appropriately punish those who do not.

Sincerely,
Your Name
Cambridge-Somerville for Change Member

HOW TO SEND YOUR LETTER:
1. Click here to who your senator is.
2. Send an email letter to your senator (email addresses below).
3. Print and send a copy of your letter to the following individuals as well:

Therese Murray, Senate President
State House, Room 330
Boston, MA 02133

Senator Frederick Berry
Chairman, Senate Ethics & Rules Committee
State House, Room 333
Boston, MA 02133

Senators:
Anthony D. Gallucio
Anthony.Galluccio@state.ma.us

Anthony Petruccelli
Anthony.Petrucelli@state.ma.us

Steven A. Tolman
Steven.Tolman@state.ma.us

Patricia D. Jehlen
Patricia.Jehlen@state.ma.us

Should We Support State Ethics Reform?

Response needed by midnight, April 1.

We hosted a forum on ethics reform with Common Cause on March 8. Those who attended want to take action. What do you think CSfC should do? Take the poll at the top of the page to let us know what you think.

In a year when House Speaker Sal DiMasi resigned amidst ethics investigations and State Senator Dianne Wilkerson resigned and was charged with bribery, Governor Patrick filed reform legislation to close major gaps in ethics and lobbying laws. On Thursday the House passed a bill that weakened two key parts of the Governor's package but added important campaign disclosure requirements. Now it goes to the Senate.

Both the Governor's proposal and the one passed Thursday (House Bill 3853) do the following:

• Expand the Secretary of State's, Attorney General's, and Ethics Commission's authority to enforce lobbying and conflict of interest laws
• Increase penalties for lobbying and conflict of interest violations
• Define "lobbying," increase reporting by lobbyists, expand restrictions to the executive branch and increase the amount of information available online about lobbying activities
• Give the Attorney General greater investigative tools, including power to convene statewide public corruption grand juries

But:

• The Governor wanted to change state law to prohibit gifts given for or because of an "official position" (existing law requires linkage to a specific act). The House version prohibits such gifts only if done "knowingly."
• The Governor also wanted to give the Attorney General power to record conversations in public corruption investigations, with judicial approval; the House bill omits this provision.

For more detail, check out: Governor Deval Patrick’s Task Force on Public Integrity. House Bill 3853 (as passed) is not online yet; the version filed on March 25 can be found here: http://www.mass.gov/legis/hbillsrch.htm.

Tell Your Elected Officials You Support The Governor’s Ethics Package

After a year in which former House Speaker Sal DiMasi resigned amidst investigations of lobbyist-friends and State Senator Dianne Wilkerson resigned and was charged with bribery, Governor Deval Patrick filed reform legislation designed to close major gaps in the enforcement of ethics and lobbying laws. We want to hear whether you support the Governor's proposals.

The proposal includes the following reforms:

• Expands the Secretary of State's and Attorney General's authority to enforce lobbying laws, and the Ethics Commission's authority to enforce conflict of interest laws
• Defines "lobbying," increases reporting by lobbyists, expands "revolving door" restrictions to the executive branch and increases the amount of information available online about lobbying activities
• Changes state law to prohibit gifts given for or because of an "official position" (existing law requires linkage to a specific act)
• Gives the Attorney General greater investigative tools, including power to convene statewide public corruption grand juries and record conversations in such investigation with judicial approval
• Increases penalties for lobbying and conflict of interest violations

If you support the Governor’s ethics package, please contact your legislators and let them know. The time for action is now as a decision is expected in the immediate future. A sample letter is below, along with instructions on how to contact your elected officials. Feel free to add your own personal story to your letter.

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear _________________________:

Re: House #95 - Governor's Public Integrity Task Force's Recommendations for Ethics & Lobbying Reform

In the past months, I have become deeply upset by the repeated ethical lapses of public officials in Massachusetts. This goes beyond isolated incidents and needs to be addressed comprehensively.

I encourage you and the other members of the General Court to act swiftly in passing Governor Patrick's ethics and lobbying bill (House #95) in order to halt the erosion of faith in government. The bill was prepared and recommended in January by the bipartisan and highly qualified Task Force on Public Integrity.

With so many challenges facing the Commonwealth, it is important that you send a clear message that you and your colleagues intend to serve the public's interest and that you will empower the existing agencies with necessary tools to investigate and appropriately punish those who do not.

Sincerely,
Your Name

HOW TO SEND YOUR LETTER:

1. Click here to who your senator and representatives are.
2. Send an email letter to your senator and representatives (email addresses below)
   
3. Print and send a copy of your letter to the following individuals as well:

Therese Murray, Senate President
State House, Room 330
Boston, MA 02133

Senator Frederick Berry
Chairman, Senate Ethics & Rules Committee
State House, Room 333
Boston, MA 02133

Robert A. DeLeo, House Speaker
State House, Room 356
Boston, MA 02133

Representative Peter Kocot
Chairman, House Ethics Committee
State House, Room 473F
Boston, MA 02133

Representatives:
William Brownsberger
Rep.WilliamBrownsberger@Hou.State.MA.US

Jonathan Hecht
Rep.JonathanHecht@Hou.State.MA.US

Denise Provost
Rep.DeniseProvost@Hou.State.MA.US

Byron Rushing
Rep.ByronRushing@Hou.State.MA.US

Carl Sciortino
Rep.CarlSciortino@Hou.State.MA.US

Timothy Toomey, Jr.
Rep.TimothyToomey@Hou.State.MA.US

Martha M. Walz
Rep.MarthaWalz@Hou.State.MA.US

Alice K. Wolf
Rep.AliceWolf@Hou.State.MA.US

Senators:
Anthony D. Gallucio
Anthony.Galluccio@state.ma.us

Anthony Petruccelli
Anthony.Petrucelli@state.ma.us

Steven A. Tolman
Steven.Tolman@state.ma.us

Patricia D. Jehlen
Patricia.Jehlen@state.ma.us

LIVE: Clean Up Politics on Beacon Hill

Live-blogging the Clean Up Politics on Beacon Hill ethics reform meeting. Latest comments at the bottom of the post.

ACTIONS:

• Contact your own representative
• Contact the members of the House Ethics Committee
• Write Op-Ed or Letter to the Editor
• Set up phone bank
• Meet face-to-face with Cambridge/Somerville legislators
  

4:10 PM: Passing out materials.

4:12 PM: 14 community members plus Pam Wilmot and Andrew Kingsley from Common Cause so far.

4:13 PM: Introductory comments by CSFC Ethics Reform organizer Larry Field. Brief comments about the origins of Cambridge-Somerville for Change.

4:18 PM: Starting introductions around the room.

4:22 PM: Introductions over. Mostly Cambridge residents, many involved in the Cambridge Democratic City Committee. Moving on to discussion led by Pam.

4:23 PM: Background, history on Common Cause.

4:25 PM: Public needs to hold power accountable.

4:31 PM: Pam along with Scott Harshbarger appointed by Governor Patrick to Task Force to review at the lobby ethics and conflict of interest laws. Paraphrasing Governor Patrick, "Currency of government shouldn't be money, it's public integrity."

Fine for criminal bribery is $5,000, lowest in the country. Hasn't been updated since 1962.

4:36 PM: No civil enforcement authority. Ethics Commission cannot make regulations, only makes case-by-case rulings.

Proposed law includes ethics training for all public officials. Currently, bill is before Ethics Committee. Committee chair needs to hear from community members but also the members of the legislature.

4:38 PM: Create a climate in the State House that is supportive of these reforms. Establish path for continued reforms. Pass bill through the State House unchanged. Open floor to questions.

4:41 PM: Q: People want something and funnel money to legislators to get what they want. Is it correct that these are the sorts of issues the ethics reform package is meant to address?

A: Not just contracting, but also licensing and regulation. Influencing people is not necessarily as simple as contributing money to a legislator's campaign fund. These are the worst examples, but "revolving door" hiring is another problem.

4:42 PM: What is the bill number of this legislation? House 95.

This bill is amending approximately 30 different laws.

4:44 PM: The idea is to have a level playing field, where money is not an issue.

4:45 PM: Calling this "ethics reform" is a misnomer because it's not really ethics, just the subcategory of "conflict of interest". Conflict of interest involves money, familial ties, employment, using your official position for private gain. Private gain is typically finanical in nature.

4:47 PM: Discussed some of the more nuanced conflicts of interest. An appearance of conflict is not a conflict of interest; an appearance can be resolved by disclosing everything that causes the appearance of a conflict.

4:51 PM: Q: How are people working to get "more transparency" defeated?

A: Transparency is not part of the current bill. Legislature not subject to public meetings laws. Governor Patrick is developing a web site to track and shed light on how the money from the federal stimulus package is being spent. Cities and town are subject to the public meeting laws.

4:57 PM: Massachusetts is behind in ethics reform. In part, because of the traditional of old machine politics.

Q: Any correlation between corruption and full-time legislators versus part-time legislators?

A: If you're talking about bribery, no, there's no correlation. There is a correlation with transparency laws, and a modest correlation with competition.

4:59 PM: Q: Presumption that the press will identify corruption and ethics violations. With the state of the press, who does that responsibility fall to?

A: Press still has some power, but not what it used to. Citizen journalism is going to become increasingly important. But this has more to do with accountability; transparency is how the government operates.

5:01 PM: Internet will be important in transparency. Can watch proceedings online. But bills that were filed in February are just now being put online, and many don't have bill numbers.

5:03 PM: Q: Why keeping doing this?

A: There are people like Barack Obama, Alice Wolf. And we need to make their job easier.

Moving into the Action portion of the meeting. Brainstorm some ideas.

5:05 PM: Get in contact with your representative. Contact members of the House Committee considering this bill. None of these members are from Cambridge or Somerville or even Boston.

5:11 PM: Q: Is there value in contacting your own representative versus the entire delegation?

A: Yes.

Q: What are the positions of Cambridge/Somerville representatives?

A: Everyone on the list is in favor of the bill. Some members may have an issue with the provision regarding political gifts for a "particular act" in their official capacity.

5:13 PM: Q: What is the future of this legislation, if it passes the House?

A: This bill would have more trouble if it had started in the Senate. Need to contact Senators, including Senator Galluccio.

5:15 PM: We could explode our effect if we wrote to our friends and relatives, i.e., form letters, scripts and templates, and have them contact their own representatives.

Tool available on Common Cause's web site to send a "canned" letter to your representatives. Not as good as a hand-written letter on paper or a phone call, but it's better than nothing.

Can also get representative information from Secretary of State's web site.

5:17 PM: Contact your representative, even if they are in favor of the bill, so that they can feel the support from their constituents.

CSfC should post on Blue Mass Group that this meeting occurred.

5:19 PM: Q: Is there a timeline by when the House needs to vote on the bill?

A: This bill will not turn into a pumpkin, but the Governor wanted it voted on within a month. Best guess: this bill will come up for a vote in the House in about 3 weeks.

5:21 PM: Q: Could this bill get gutted as it works its way through the legislature?

A: There are 5 areas that might be problematic and get removed, but the vast majority is fine.

5:23 PM: It would be terrible if they don't fix the gratuity statute. Courts have conflated the bribery and gratuity statutes, so you almost have to prove bribery in order to prove gratuity. This issue was exemplified by the Diane Wilkerson case.

5:26 PM: Op-Ed or Letter to the Editor of the Cambridge Chronicle, the Phoenix

5:27 PM: There are 10,000 Common Cause members in Massachusetts. Set up phone bank to contact legislators or write letters.

5:30 PM: Set up a face-to-face meeting with Cambridge and Somerville delegations. Marty Walz may be very influential. Several members of the Cambridge delegation have committees of their own.

5:33 PM: Ethics reform is an ongoing issue for CSfC. You can use the CSfC web site and email address as a resource for ethics reform.

5:35 PM: Q: At what point does an issue like this rise to the level of a referendum?

A: Let's see what the legislators do, but this kind of issue is what the ballot initiative process was created for. However, a ballot initiative is very difficult and requires a lot of money. A ballot initiative typically requires 100,000 signatures.

5:36 PM: Thanks everyone. Meeting wraps up. Summary of actions is at the top of the post.

Help Build the Democratic Party Platform: March 4, 2009

Massachusetts Democratic Party Platform Hearing
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
6:00-8:00 p.m.

The 2009 Massachusetts Democratic Convention is just around the corner. This year's convention is a historic opportunity to focus Massachusetts Democrats on who we are and what we stand for.

The 2009 Platform will be crafted similarly to the 2008 National Convention. You are invited to share your ideas regarding the Democratic Party Platform at the local meeting hosted by the Cambridge Democratic City Committee and the Somerville Democratic City Committee. All testimony received by deadline will be posted on the MassDems website for all to access and comment on. The goal is to make the drafting of the platform as inclusive and transparent as possible.

Your voice is needed! Please join us in having a say in our party platform for 2009.

The Platform Drafting Committee is working on:

1) A summary of our values and principles;
2) A summary of positions on priority issues; and
3) An online, comprehensive list of all testimony and feedback given during the hearings.

Testimony given at this event will be recorded and transcribed for web publication. Platform hearing participants must indicate their party affiliation. Anonymous testimony will be accepted, but will be regarded as such. To read the current Party Platform, go to www.massdems.org/about/platform.cfm.

Massachusetts Democratic Party Platform Hearing
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
6:00-8:00 p.m.

George Dilboy Hall VFW Post
Davis Square
371 Summer St.
Somerville, Ma 02144

If you have any question please contact the event organizer: State Committeeman Mushtaque A. Mirza at 617-876-4267.

Attend a House Meeting on Ethics Reform

Governor Deval Patrick’s Task Force on Public Integrity identified major gaps in the enforcement of state ethics and lobbying laws. In response, the Governor filed a legislative package in January aimed at addressing those gaps. The proposed legislation increases penalties for ethics and lobbying violations, among other key measures. For this package to pass, it must move within the next 45 days.

Please join us on Sunday, March 8, to discuss and strategize. Executive Director Pam Wilmot, and Assistant Director Andrew Kingsley of Common Cause will brief us on the proposal. Common Cause is a non-partisan organization created to ensure open, honest, and accountable government at all levels; they are currently leading the fight for ethics reform in Massachusetts.

Come share your thoughts about what should be done to clean up politics on Beacon Hill. Check back for upcoming posts about Ethics Reform and what you can do to make your voices heard.

Email info@cambridgesomervilleforchange.com to sign up to attend the meeting.

Meeting Details:
Sunday, March 8, 2009
4pm
YWCA, 7 Temple Street
Cambridge, MA (Central Square, 1 block from the T)

* Temple Street runs between Massachusetts Avenue and Bishop Allen Drive on the block between Prospect Street and Inman Street.