Campaign Corner: Aug. 9-15

It's campaign season, which means candidates send out a deluge of photos, op-eds and press releases announcing endorsements, events and candidates' stances on current issues. Each week, Melrose Patch will provide a round-up of these releases in the Campaign Corner. Everything below is taken directly from material provided by each candidates' respective campaign and may be edited for length.

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Mike Day Op-Ed: Renewing the Public Trust

This is a time when we need bold legislative action to address major problems and concerns in our Commonwealth.  Yet the recent and unprecedented abuse of the public trust by certain members of the Legislature has undermined the confidence in government required to bring us together to move forward. 

We have seen our Legislature rocked by scandal after scandal.  Our past three Speakers of the House have left office in disgrace and have faced criminal indictments for tax evasion, obstructing justice, committing perjury and committing fraud on the public.  Within this past term alone, members of the State Senate have been criminally charged with, among other things, committing lewd acts in public and accepting bribes in exchange for official favors.  Yet the culture on Beacon Hill remains unchanged, and our legislators overwhelmingly vote in favor of the status quo and resist efforts to bring true accountability to our government. 

We must all accept a role in restoring our government, because the status quo simply is not good enough anymore.  As voters, we play the most important part of this process.  We need to elect officials who share our values and whose priority will be to stand up to fight for those values.  And we must elect and support officials who will always hold themselves to the highest standard of ethical behavior. 

An elected official must be the representative and advocate of the people alone.  When candidates ask for a vote, they should understand that they are assuming certain obligations from voters: in exchange for a vote of public trust, our candidates must agree that they will always place the interests of the public ahead of their own, and that they will always be honest and accountable for their actions.  

When I joined the bar and became an attorney, I took an ethics pledge to always place the interests of my clients above my own.  Yet it is the personal commitment I make to each and every one of my clients that governs the actions I take.  The confidence and trust they place in me enables and empowers me to stand up in court to fight for their positions without hesitation or reservation.  I value and jealously guard that trust, for, as my parents taught me, that trust is the ultimate measure of me as a person.

We must expect more out of our elected officials than just asking them to show up, vote and perform the constituent services that are the core part of representing a district.  We should be proud of those who represent us in the Legislature, confident that they share and will fight for our values, and secure in knowing that they will hold themselves up to the highest ethical standards.  Above all else, we must elect individuals who will accept and guard the public trust. 

With a primary election on September 14th and a general election on November 2nd, we have two opportunities to cast our votes in this State Senate race and in other races in our district.  We should not miss this opportunity to break through the status quo and renew trust in our government.

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Katherine Clark Meets with McCarthy House Residents

State Representative Katherine Clark (D-Melrose) recently held a coffee hour with residents of the McCarthy House in Melrose to discuss senior issues important to them. The McCarthy House is one of two residences under the Melrose Housing Authority. The residents expressed their concerns regarding medical co-pays, rising cost of living, cleanliness of the facility, and door entrance safety.

"As the State Representative for the McCarthy House, I believe this coffee hour was a great way to connect with residents, listen to their concerns, and work with them to create solutions," said Rep. Clark. "It was a wonderful crowd with a lot of discussion and engaging feedback."

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Katherine Clark Op-Ed: Legislative Session Wrap-up

The past two years have not been easy for our local communities.  Despite the challenges we have all faced, this legislative session produced a number of common sense reforms that focused on job creation, strong fiscal management and processes that streamlined and improved state government.  During the past two years, the legislature worked under the strain of reduced revenue as the result of the recession.  While it is clear that more needs to be done to ensure our long-term growth and stability in the Commonwealth, significant strides were made towards making government more transparent and more accountable this session. Some of the highlights of the session are:

Economic Development

The legislature passed a bill that includes a sales tax holiday for Aug. 14 and 15 and promotes a business-friendly environment, including significant tax breaks, that will help businesses open, expand and create jobs.  The bill will overhaul the state's network of business development agencies, establishing a streamlined, cohesive model with built-in oversight and transparency to reduce redundancy and increase efficiency.

Small Business Health Care

The small business health care bill will reduce small business health insurance costs, promote job retention and job creation, reduce premium fluctuations in the market and require insurers to offer affordable health plans.  The legislation also delivers estimated premium relief of at least 10 percent to help small businesses save and reinvest in their operations and workforce.  It also establishes standardized transparency measures for provider pricing and annual public reporting.  This will decrease marketplace ambiguity and collect important financial information to shed light on how best to reform the system in the long-term.

Housing Legislation

The House passed legislation aimed at protecting tenants in foreclosed properties and helping lenders and homeowners avoid foreclosure.  The bill establishes protections for tenants living in properties that have been taken over by a lender after foreclosure while extending the "right-to-cure" period in some circumstances.  The "right-to-cure" period allows lenders and homeowners a window to work out a new payment plan to avoid foreclosure.

Open and Transparent Budget

I have worked with a handful of legislators to require Massachusetts to create a one-stop, comprehensive online database to track all public expenditures.  Compiled and monitored by the Executive Office of Administration and Finance, the website will allow anyone to access and review all public spending, contracts and procurements.  The budget also required the public disclosure of the results of certain tax credit programs, enhancing the openness and effectiveness of these initiatives. These measures will go far in promoting greater accountability and fiscal responsibility.

Municipal Relief

Also passed was a municipal relief package that establishes a statewide mutual aid agreement to allow cities and towns to share resources, permits municipalities to extend funding schedules for pension systems and allows for regionalization efforts among municipalities.

Transportation Reform

On transportation reform, the House and Senate passed a landmark bill that eliminated the Turnpike Authority, ensured toll equity, abolished the "23 and out" rule at the MBTA and brought all active and retired MBTA workers under the state's Group Insurance Commission.  The transportation reform bill not only eliminated the antiquated and inefficient transportation structure in Massachusetts, but it also brought considerable cost savings to the state and helped alleviate the need for a fare increase.

Pension Reform

On pension reform, the House approved legislation that closed loopholes and eliminated the worst offenses in the pension system.  These reforms resulted in significant taxpayer savings such as the "king for a day" loophole and extended the "vesting" requirement of elected officials from six years to ten years. The legislation also eliminated termination benefits for all state employees and imposing criminal penalties for pension fraud.

Ethics Reform

The legislature also passed an ethics bill that strengthened current ethics, lobbying and campaign finance laws and enhanced the integrity of the political process.  The consensus bill not only barred gifts to public officials, but also increased the authority of the Ethics Commission to investigate and prosecute alleged ethics violations.

    The House began the session by passing a broad rules reform package that limited the Speaker's term to a maximum of eight years, instituted mandatory ethics training and allowed the Speaker to unilaterally remove a member from a leadership position or committee if they receive a criminal indictment.

Many other legislative victories were had such as organ donation awareness, anti-bullying legislation, autism insurance coverage, and domestic violence prevention. Hopefully, if Congress approves federal monies, we will be back in session in August to approve increased spending for school and other local services. While next session will continue to be challenging for the Commonwealth, we have positioned ourselves to take good advantage of the recovery.

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