Monday, March 16, 2009

Beacon Hill Roll Call.. Pam's Newsletter

Voters,

This weeks Beacon Hill Roll Call report:

H 3415, The House and Senate 145 - 0 and 37 -0 approved a supplemental budget and sent to Deval for his paw print to raid the Rainy Day Fund for this years 2009 budget. The amount of 237 million will pay for snow removal (105 Mil) , give the State 90 days to process your tax refund w/o paying interest and a reduction of 286,000 in the Governors office.

My spin... sure pay for snow removal in an emergency situation, but they could have cut 132 million from places like, the Legislators salary and perks, 40 Mil, Fraud, 10 million, wage freeze and pay raises 160 million, combining state agencies, 30 million.

H 3415 Prohibit pay raises and impose hiring freeze for State employees;
rejected the amendment 9 28

More bad news for the taxpayer, but good news for all State mployees. While I'm well aware of many sectors of State Employment that are not being paid well at all, like health care workers, and social service workers, etc, many of the other functions of the State cost to much money and when toll workers make more than teachers, something has to change.


Pams New Letter: FYI.. You can't get this from her web site. www.pamrichardson.com

I've only copied and pasted the first section:

Our state and our community face unprecedented times. The staggering economy, plummeting tax revenues, job losses and fiscal crisis has created challenges not seen in decades. There is not a family, neighbor or friend not feeling the strain created by this economic crisis.

In order to meet these challenges government must reform and change. It must be more responsive, more efficient and more effective in delivering services. We must question past practices and identify innovations and 21st century solutions.

The House of Representatives is working aggressively to reform and retool state government. We have identified several priority areas:

Rules Reform
It is clear we need to change the way state government does business and work harder to restore the public' trust and faith and transparency in all that we do.

We recently passed a set of reforms governing the operations of the House of Representatives:

- Mandate ethics training for all members, officers and employees

- End "phantom" voting

- Limit the Speaker's term to 8 years

- Prohibit members, officers and employees from receiving gifts from lobbyists

- Require electronic and internet access of bill and budget text

These reforms complement a set of initiatives previously acted upon which curbed late-night sessions and prohibit all-night sessions, leading to a more transparent and open state government.

Now I know that some of you could care less about what she says and does, while some of you would like to know this information for various reasons. But I want you all to know that what she has published and laid claim to as nothing more than out right proganda and very misleading. One might interrupt her work as really beneficial to us and how we could feel better about her work in reforming the mass State House.

This is just not true. She and her one party loyalists have rejected the following in ethics reform:

Rules Reform: H 2009 House Rules Not even close to living up to a higher standard of openness, fairness and equality.

Equal Representation on Ethics Committee: defeated 22 - 133 just as it sounds, equal is the part the one party refused on this vote

Audit House Accounts: defeated 16 - 137 yup.. they want no part of auditing

Removal of Committee Chairs and Leadership: again defeated 17 - 137 so once again, if you are caught in unethical and illegal behavior, you get to keep your job.

Values Based Ethics Training: defeated 17 - 137, they say that the current training is adequate... we all can believe that eh?

Raiding Rainy Day Fund: defeated 20-133 they don't want a two thirds approval before raiding the fund.

So when you hear, our reps say, and most will say, they have done much in the way of ethics reform already this year, please keep the truth in mind for future reference. They clearly have their own agenda to protect and to serve and to a great extent it doesn't serve us at all. More lip service and no results.

13 Comments:

At March 16, 2009 at 4:49 PM , Blogger Angry in Framingham said...

You have got to be kidding? Isn't what she is saying in her news letter akin to out and out lies? How can she get away with that? I am not at all surprised by her lack of doing anything to help us, but to misrepresent what she is doing and lie about it is a step over an above even that. And she is on the ethics committee, right? Well, with someone like this teaching ethics, what do you expect the rest of the legislators to learn, except that honesty is not the best policy and lying is easier and never something you have to answer for.

 
At March 16, 2009 at 5:19 PM , Blogger Just wondering said...

Unbeleivable. Something is rotten in Denmark, and I am betting the strongest smell is coming from Richardson's newsletter. I can't beleive the Roll Call could have gotten it that wrong. I say we all inundate Richardson with emails asking her to explain the discrepancy between what the paper reports and what her newsletter says. Not that I expect her to respond, but it would be interesting to see if she makes any attempt to explain the differences. Phantom voting done away with, and she expects us to thank her for doing that? What the hell were they thinking to have ever allowed that in the first place. She is even dumber than I thought if she expects us to be proud of her for voting on something that obviously wrong!

 
At March 16, 2009 at 5:25 PM , Blogger Can't think of a name said...

I hate to say this, but I am not surprised at all by this misinformation. Without misleading people she would never have been elected. The democrats in Framingham are arrogant, dishonest, and bullies, and no one has been able to get enough people to stand up to them in the past. But with enough information like this, showing the current reps as the dishonest people they apparently are, maybe, just maybe, enough of us will be willing to stand up against them and say we have had enough of their lies and unethical behavior. If we don’t, then we are just as bad, and just as guilty, as they are. They are hurting me, and my family, and I simply can not sit on the side lines anymore and be apathetic about this. I have to at least try to find a way to unseat these people. If the election were being held today, they would all be defeated. Let’s hope we all remember what we are thinking today come election day in 2010. I have been reading this blog for months now, and have never commented until today, but I just can not sit on the sidelines any longer.

 
At March 16, 2009 at 5:28 PM , Blogger Dylan said...

I may not agree about the economic situation, but I sure do agree about the useless people representing us at the State House. She should be publically humiliated to have been caught in this deceptive practice of painting an untrue picture of her voting record. And the fact she has been caught is proably not something she ever thought would happen. Nice work Pillsbury in exposing this, and lets hope it brings some results, although it probably won't. Not enough people are reading this blog to make a difference. You need 10 of thousands of people to see this, not just the thousand or so reading this. You need to get this blog out there to more people in order to instigate change in this area!

 
At March 16, 2009 at 5:39 PM , Blogger Unknown said...

How can she expect to get away with this unless she thinks we are all stupid. Of course, she has reason to think that considering all she has gotten away with in the past. How do we make her accountable for this type of behavior. She is not actually lying, she is just skewing the information to make her look good, banking on no one reading that Beacon Hill Roll Call stuff. I never read it before, so for the most part, she is probably right that she can get away with it. But how exactly do we call her on this. We can’t say she is lying, so what can we get her on? I think she is going to get away with this yet again, and if we try to go after her publicly, all the local democrats will rally round and support her and say we are the ones misstating the information as she has not really lied. And unfortunately, they are going to say if Jim leads this fight that it is because he wants to run against her again and beat her. How do we prevent this from becoming a screaming match between Pam and Jim and actually use this information to make a difference? In my opinion, to do that, it can’t be Jim leading the charge. What do the rest of you think. I will check back here tomorrow for some ideas from the rest of my fellow bloggers.

 
At March 16, 2009 at 7:52 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey, why is this even news. Did ou think she was going to change her spots or something? She isn't going to ever change. She has it made!

 
At March 17, 2009 at 9:06 AM , Blogger Tim W. said...

I know this is terrible, but really, what did you expect from someone who went to school to learn to shoe horses for a living? Seriously, if you have a brain in your head, then that is not the career path you choose. What’s even worse is that we elected her. So what does that say about us? My thoughts on this are the hell with the reps, don’t waste our time on them right now. The only way we are going to get some accountability is from the top, we need to inundate the Governor with emails and letters expressing our dissatisfaction with what is going on at the State House, including his own behavior. He is a politician, and he wants to remain a politician. To do that, he has to get elected, and to do that, he needs our support. Show him a ground swell of dissatisfaction, and he is going to have to listen. But that means we need to get a lot more people to write and email him than read this blog. We need to get the message out there to everyone, everywhere, because lets face it, no one can really be pleased with what has transpired in the last week.

 
At March 17, 2009 at 9:39 AM , Blogger Old soldier said...

What did you all do before Pillsbury built this blog? Did you really not have any idea what was going on at the State House? Do you think any of this behavior is new? And if you did know, why the hell didn’t you vote for Pillsbury when you had the chance? Bad enough that so many of you voted to support Richardson, but an awful lot of you voted for nobody at all, just threw your vote away. If those of you who did not vote had given Pillsbury a vote, we might have a different picture here in Framingham. I voted for him, and to be honest, not because I was sure he was the answer, but because I thought he might be and I was willing to take a chance. Hell, we could vote him out in 2 years if he messed up. But the rest of you are so afraid to take a chance you let the existing rep stay in office, even though you would not support her by voting for her, you supported her by not voting against her. You made the bed we are all lying in now. Hope you idiots remember that next election. I fought for the right to live in a country where we can vote, I sure as hell would never, ever, disrespect those who fought that fight, including me, by not bothering to make a choice in an election. You should all be ashamed of yourself!

 
At March 17, 2009 at 11:10 AM , Blogger 6th Middlesex constituent said...

Can you impeach the entire legislature in one fell swoop? What does the MA Constitution say about what recourse we have in a situation like this, where we have just cause for questioning the integrity of so many of our state reps? Jim, any idea what the constitution says about this?

 
At March 17, 2009 at 12:13 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Didn’t St. Patrick rid Ireland of all the snakes by playing a flute and leading them all into the sea to drown? Anyone out there got a flute?

 
At March 17, 2009 at 1:02 PM , Blogger Michael said...

Grass roots efforts need seed to grow grass. I think we all need to encourage everyone in our circle of friends to contact the governor and their state rep with questions about what is happening on the hill. We have got to get them to realize that we are watching, and we do care about what is happening, and that we need more from them than the statement that they are a democrat if they want our votes come next election. You can not be more of a one party state than MA is, and they are all counting on that. But I think in this atmosphere, that may not be enough to get them elected next go round, at least I hope so. Happy St. Paddy’s day to all.

 
At March 17, 2009 at 1:31 PM , Blogger Jim Pillsbury said...

I try every day to figure out any possible way, something can be done before 2010. I read 4 papers a day, more on line and try to get my share of web or media time that is permitted. E mails to some of our leaders don't even get opened. Phone calls, bitching and winning seems to get the usual response, "I know what you mean Mr. Pillsbury". Or, "we just disagree".

You guys are right, getting the message out to more people is the key... and we are trying, but it's not an easey battle, when the combatants don't show their face and hide behind walls of secrecy. Standing up for what you believe in, say the truth, sometimes is the most difficult thing to do.

Solder and other great veterans know first hand what it's like to fight an un seen enemy in jungles and deep underground. Our current war veterans face even more un seen dangers in road sides, schools and churches. I face an enemy who I pay, I face an enemy who is my neighbor, I face an enemy who threatens my way, my children and their children's way of life, I face an enemy who continues to hide amongst those who offer protection, I can't hide, I won't hide, as most of you won't either.

Each and every day that the State stays in this terrible mess, more of us.. you, will take stock in change. It has to happen at some point... the more you know, the better off we all are.

 
At March 17, 2009 at 3:44 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Nice thought 6th Middlesex but when you get rid of the sitting house, who are you going to replace it with? Seems to me that lots of people are ready to complain but not many are ready to step up and actually do something and serve to change things. Before we kick them out, I think we need to figure out who we are going to put in their seats.

 

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