First line
It’s hard to know what Massachusetts Democrats really believe in — besides power. One would be hard-pressed to find a lot of concern for racial justice. MassDems certainly don’t believe in immigrant rights, or they would have supported the Safe Communities Act. They don’t believe there is a problem with Native American mascots or a racists state flag, or they would have decisively fixed both by now. Recently the MassDems overwhelmingly re-elected a party chair who will keep steering the party toward the rocks of irrelevance and decline. When the 420-member state Democratic committee did so, it also rejected two challengers who had both pledged to make the party truly more diverse.
Massachusetts Democrats show unquestioning support for police and correctional officer unions — even the Trump-iest among them, the Massachusetts Correctional Officers Federated Union, got one progressive senator to file legislation to give officers a $100 million raise. No, what keeps legislators up at night is the nightmare that prosecuting bad cops for murdering people of color will somehow undermine police morale.
No surprise, then, that Massachusetts Democrats removed ending Qualified Immunity (impunity) for police from a Police Accountability bill that just barely survived being deep-sixed by the Massachusetts House.
If this isn’t bad enough, Bristol County’s Democratic House Representatives are among the worst of the Democratic Party’s morally-flexible do-nothings.
Thanks to Progressive Mass we can view the results of the December 2nd vote on the Police Accountability bill, S.2693, which now awaits Governor Baker’s signature. Of 14 representatives from Bristol County, only six voted for Police Accountability — even after Qualified Immunity had been stripped from the bill.
What was so wrong with a POST Commission that professionalizes and certifies police officers? What was so upsetting about giving school superintendents discretion to decide whether they want SROs in their schools instead of letting police chiefs decide? The legislators won’t say — only that they get most of their information from the police.
Below is a table of how Bristol County legislators voted.
Remember their names when they ask for your vote in 2022.
| Legislator** | Party, District | S.2693 |
|---|---|---|
| Rep. F.Jay Barrows | Republican, 1st Bristol | No |
| Rep. Carole Fiola | Democrat, 6th Bristol | No |
| Rep. Steven Howitt | Republican, 4th Bristol | No |
| Rep. Christopher Markey | Democrat, 9th Bristol | No |
| Rep. Norman Orrall | Republican, 12th Bristol | No |
| Rep. Elizabeth Poirier | Republican, 14th Bristol | No |
| Rep. Paul Schmid | Democrat, 8th Bristol | No |
| Rep. Alan Silvia | Democrat, 7th Bristol | No |
| Rep. Antonio Cabral | Democrat, 13th Bristol | Yes |
| Rep. Carol Doherty | Democrat, 3rd Bristol | Yes |
| Rep. Patricia Haddad | Democrat, 5th Bristol | Yes |
| Rep. James Hawkins | Democrat, 2nd Bristol | Yes |
| Rep. Christopher Hendricks | Democrat, 11th Bristol | Yes |
| Rep. William Straus | Democrat, 10th Bristol | Yes |
| Sen. Marc Pacheco | Democrat, First Plymouth and Bristol | No |
| Sen. Walter Timilty | Democrat, Norfolk, Bristol and Plymouth | No |
| Sen. Michael Brady | Democrat, Second Plymouth and Bristol | Yes |
| Sen. Paul Feeney | Democrat, Bristol and Norfolk | Yes |
| Sen. Mark Montigny | Democrat, Second Bristol and Plymouth | Yes |
| Sen. Rebecca Rausch | Democrat, Norfolk, Bristol and Middlesex | Yes |
| Sen. Michael Rodrigues | Democrat, First Bristol and Plymouth | Yes |
Comments are closed.