Too long to tweet, but real writing hurts my brain …
- Do check out the website of Tram Nguyen, the young Legal Aid attorney who is taking on Republican Jim Lyons in the 18th Essex House district. I know that this district (mostly Andover) is a click or two more conservative than most, but Lyons is a gun-loving, immigrant-bashing Tea Partier. He defeated Barbara L’Italien in 2010, so it’s not out of the question that it could be represented by a progressive again.
- [Apropos of nothing, did you know that a couple of years ago, Lyons won a judgment against his neighbors, who were harassing his family in some pretty bizarre ways? I did not know this. People are weird, man.]
- Our friends at 350Mass are still looking for folks to pester their reps (State Reps, mostly) about S.2302, the transformative energy bill by Sens. Pacheco and Eldridge. Thomas Golden (Co-Chair of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy) is now leading your typical House slow-roll and break-apart. It shouldn’t be like this. I know I’m a broken record on this — if you haven’t already, 350Mass is asking you to call both your own rep (find out whom here, switchboard is 617-722-2000) and the Speaker at 617-722-2500. Signup and call scripts are here.
- I think, upon reflection, that it would be a mistake to regard the criminal justice reform bill something other than a success for progressive, decent, compassionate governance. That being said, mandatory minimums are still dumb, and our legal system should deal with people in ways sensitive to both mental age and mental health.
- If we were to have a questionnaire for State Rep/Senator primary candidates, what would it include? For me it would include statements on MBTA (and other transit) funding; clean energy (3% RPS, transport emissions); climate readiness; school foundation funding; health care costs. What else? What would you want to know about?
Please share widely!
The 18th Essex was redistricted after the last census, turning it into a much redder district than it had been before.
I’m not saying a Democrat couldn’t win it — L’Italien came very, very close to taking the seat back after an *intense* campaign — but it’s a huge uphill battle. Even against someone as deplorable as Lyons.
I of course wish Nguyen the best, and may 2018 be a wave year to help put wind in her sails.
I might add this is an example of packing and cracking from our own deeply entrenched and deeply blue legislature. It is far less likely the GOP caucus would have a few powerless bomb throwers like Lyons is we had non partisan independent redistricting that made a few more fair fight districts. If we all agree that the politics of far right extremism is a cancer on our body politic, we should stand against redistricting that creates uber Republican districts to pad the DeLeo speakership count.
I almost had a paragraph written about some of this…. but I ended up cutting it because I actually think the last redistricting effort was *much* better than in past years. The congressional districts were pretty darn fair, for example — the Cape and North Shore seats are very tough cookies for Democrats now.
Some of the state legislative seats, on the other hand, are problematic — and the 18th Essex could be the worst — but on the whole, most state legislative seats are compactly drawn and fair.
So do we throw stones or give it a passing, but Needs Improvement grade?
If the legislature is going to take heat for whatever it does, they may not have incentive to continue the trend of making our districts fairer. So I lean towards “Needs Improvement.”
But, yeah, if I were the state leg, I’d take a long and hard look at this seat and a few others next time we’re redistricting.
Fair enough. I still think if we are serious about redistricting reform, we should demand an independent commission model across the board. I will agree compared to any Republican effort, ours is far fairer, and much fairer than the really lopsided ones blue states like MD and IL put out at the same time.
The old 18th Essex was pretty red too. L’Italien never got more than 58% of the vote, even in Blue years. My understanding is the redistricting was intended to make the 17th Essex, which the Republicans also won in 2010, safer. The other Republican, Paul Adams, ran a failed State Senate bid rather than fight Lyons in the primary, so we got stuck with the more obnoxious of the two.
I always got the sense her old House district was what was left after surrounding districts were created. Nobody in their right mind would deliberately create a district comprising pieces of seven communities like that.