Representative Don Humason



TIME IS UP! Westfield Evening News column By State Representative Don Humason, Jr. July 31, 2010 As of midnight Saturday, July 31, the 2009-2010 session of the Massachusetts General Court comes to a close. Obviously, as I write this column, much remains to be done and many things are in flux. I will submit this to the Westfield Evening News with approximately 36 hours to go in the formal session before the time is up. In fact, instead of emailing in my column late Thursday night as I usually do, this week I waited to submit my column until Friday morning to see if any legislation was shaken loose from any of the pending Conference Committees. None was. Members of both branches and on both sides of the political aisle are in a holding pattern, growing more and more frustrated by the lack of action on major legislation such as the expanded gaming bill, which remains locked in a Conference Committee, as the clock winds down. And even if the gambling bill or some other piece of legislation is reported out of Conference how can legislators, in good conscience, vote on such a detailed, complex, and controversial bill with so little time to actually read and understand what the law would do? Although I have on previous occasions tried to explain the legislative process, it is very different in reality and practice from what we might have learned in social studies or civics class. And this being Massachusetts, there is always a political element to the legislative process, especially this late in the game. There is legislative brinksmanship between the Speaker and the Senate President and between them and the Governor. Like a complicated game of chess there are strategies and calculations before every move and during every match. Each “player” is constantly considering how their move will be received by their supporters, the media, other legislators, and, of course, the electorate. The State House News Service ran a story on Wednesday, July 28, that tidily summed up the issue. I’ve included excerpts of that article below: “While House leaders have been publicly quiet about the gambling negotiations, the chamber’s dean remains outspoken, railing against the Senate’s and Gov. Deval Patrick’s refusal to agree to racetrack slot machines. “House Dean David Flynn said Democrats would pay a price in November if Beacon Hill does not allow “racinos,” a key hang-up of House-Senate negotiations entering their tense final stages Wednesday afternoon, with a 1:30 p.m. meeting scheduled for Speaker Robert DeLeo’s office and Senate President Therese Murray imposing a Wednesday-night deadline for resolution. “During a visit to News Service office, Flynn said that in November, “Democrats in general will have to suffer the consequences because the Senate’s holding up the bill.” “The primary hang-up in the high-level bargaining talks are the number of gambling licenses that should be issued, and how to deal with the House insistence on slot machines for the state's racetracks. The original House bill called for two casinos and four racinos, with licenses guaranteed to the tracks, while the Senate-passed bill allowed three casinos distributed across the state according to legislatively drawn geographic zones. “Conference reports need to be filed by 8 p.m. Friday in order to come up in time for Saturday's session, the last scheduled day of formal sessions for the year. The rule can be suspended by a two-thirds vote in each branch. The House has an informal session slated for Wednesday, with both chambers keeping Thursday throu gh Saturday open for formals.” In the final hours of the formal session, before the clock strikes midnight and time is up, my fellow representatives and senators and I will pass the time in our respective chambers waiting to deal with whatever scraps are thrown us by the legislative leadership and their pawns. I sincerely hope the voters will remember this in November and consider whether power consolidated in the hands of a few high profile members of one party is working out in their favor or not. I hope they will reject the status quo in favor of real change. We’ll all have to wait and see what happens, both with the remains of this session and the election November 2. * * * Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not the staff, editor, or publisher of the Westfield Evening News. Representative Don Humason and his Chief of Staff Sarah Latour may be reached at their Westfield District office, 64 Noble Street, Westfield, MA 01085, 568-1366. Email address: Rep.DonaldHumason@Hou.state.ma.us Website: www.donhumason.org * * * Please feel free to forward this column to your family, friends, and associates. If you do not wish to receive an email copy of my Saturday Westfield Evening News column, please reply and let me know. I will then take you off the list. Sorry for any inconvenience. * * *
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TIME IS UP!

Westfield Evening News column
By State Representative Don Humason, Jr.
July 31, 2010

As of midnight Saturday, July 31, the 2009-2010 session of the Massachusetts General Court comes to a close.

Obviously, as I write this column, much remains to be done and many things are in flux.

I will submit this to the Westfield Evening News with approximately 36 hours to go in the formal session before the time is up. In fact, instead of emailing in my column late Thursday night as I usually do, this week I waited to submit my column until Friday morning to see if any legislation was shaken loose from any of the pending Conference Committees. None was.

Members of both branches and on both sides of the political aisle are in a holding pattern, growing more and more frustrated by the lack of action on major legislation such as the expanded gaming bill, which remains locked in a Conference Committee, as the clock winds down.

And even if the gambling bill or some other piece of legislation is reported out of Conference how can legislators, in good conscience, vote on such a detailed, complex, and controversial bill with so little time to actually read and understand what the law would do?

Although I have on previous occasions tried to explain the legislative process, it is very different in reality and practice from what we might have learned in social studies or civics class. And this being Massachusetts, there is always a political element to the legislative process, especially this late in the game.

There is legislative brinksmanship between the Speaker and the Senate President and between them and the Governor. Like a complicated game of chess there are strategies and calculations before every move and during every match. Each “player” is constantly considering how their move will be received by their supporters, the media, other legislators, and, of course, the electorate.

The State House News Service ran a story on Wednesday, July 28, that tidily summed up the issue. I’ve included excerpts of that article below: “While House leaders have been publicly quiet about the gambling negotiations, the chamber’s dean remains outspoken, railing against the Senate’s and Gov. Deval Patrick’s refusal to agree to racetrack slot machines.

“House Dean David Flynn said Democrats would pay a price in November if Beacon Hill does not allow “racinos,” a key hang-up of House-Senate negotiations entering their tense final stages Wednesday afternoon, with a 1:30 p.m. meeting scheduled for Speaker Robert DeLeo’s office and Senate President Therese Murray imposing a Wednesday-night deadline for resolution.

“During a visit to News Service office, Flynn said that in November, “Democrats in general will have to suffer the consequences because the Senate’s holding up the bill.”

“The primary hang-up in the high-level bargaining talks are the number of gambling licenses that should be issued, and how to deal with the House insistence on slot machines for the state's racetracks. The original House bill called for two casinos and four racinos, with licenses guaranteed to the tracks, while the Senate-passed bill allowed three casinos distributed across the state according to legislatively drawn geographic zones.

“Conference reports need to be filed by 8 p.m. Friday in order to come up in time for Saturday's session, the last scheduled day of formal sessions for the year. The rule can be suspended by a two-thirds vote in each branch. The House has an informal session slated for Wednesday, with both chambers keeping Thursday throu gh Saturday open for formals.”

In the final hours of the formal session, before the clock strikes midnight and time is up, my fellow representatives and senators and I will pass the time in our respective chambers waiting to deal with whatever scraps are thrown us by the legislative leadership and their pawns.

I sincerely hope the voters will remember this in November and consider whether power consolidated in the hands of a few high profile members of one party is working out in their favor or not. I hope they will reject the status quo in favor of real change.

We’ll all have to wait and see what happens, both with the remains of this session and the election November 2.

* * *

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not the staff, editor, or publisher of the Westfield Evening News. Representative Don Humason and his Chief of Staff Sarah Latour may be reached at their Westfield District office, 64 Noble Street, Westfield, MA 01085, 568-1366. Email address: Rep.DonaldHumason@Hou.state.ma.us Website: www.donhumason.org

* * * Please feel free to forward this column to your family, friends, and associates. If you do not wish to receive an email copy of my Saturday Westfield Evening News column, please reply and let me know. I will then take you off the list. Sorry for any inconvenience. * * *