And again, your Massachusetts House of Representatives acting a lot like a crowd of obsequious courtiers to an eccentric, capricious King.
A couple of weeks ago, a process amendment was floated to end a requirement to give conference committees more time at the end of the session. (Sounds wrong, on the substance of it.) How did your reps vote? Like a bunch of puppies being tugged around on leashes: When leadership seemed to vote “no”, the no votes dutifully floated in. But oops – there was a mistake!
As the board began to fill up with “no” votes, Petrolati apparently took notice and talked into a microphone he didn’t know was on. “It’s a yes?” “Switch ’em. Yes, yes, yes, yes yes, Mikey,” shouted Petrolati to Division Leader Mike Moran. Suddenly, DeLeo and Petrolati’s votes switched to “yes.” And then all 63 Democrat who had initially voted “no” suddenly switched his or her vote to “yes.”
The merits? Who cares about the merits? The decree came down; your reps followed — even when they and leadership seemed only dimly aware of what it was they were voting on. As usual!
Do read Bob Katzen’s whole account from Beacon Hill Roll Call at the Sentinel and Enterprise — this is really good reporting.
The list of reps who switched their votes below the fold.
Here are the 63 Democratic representatives and one unaffiliated non-party member who switched their votes from “no” to “yes.”
James Arciero (D-Westford), Brian Ashe (D-Longmeadow), Bruce Ayers (D-Quincy), Christine Barber (D-Somerville), John Barrett (D-North Adams), Jennifer Benson (D-Lunenburg), David Biele (D-South Boston), Antonio Cabral (D-New Bedford), Daniel Cahill (D-Lynn), Daniel Carey (D- Easthampton), Gerard Cassidy (D-Brockton), Michelle Ciccolo (D-Lexington), Claire Cronin (D-Easton), Daniel Cullinane (D-Boston), Mark Cusack (D-Braintree), Marcos Devers (D-Lawrence), Daniel Donahue (D-Worcester), Paul J. Donato (D-Medford), Michelle DuBois (D-Brockton), Carolyn Dykema (D-Holliston), Lori Ehrlich (D-Marblehead), Dylan Fernandes (D-Falmouth), Carole Fiola (D-Fall River), Sean Garballey (D-Arlington), Colleen Garry (D-Dracut), Kenneth Gordon (D-Bedford), Jim Hawkins (D-Attleboro), Stephan Hay (D-Fitchburg), Jonathan Hecht (D-Watertown), Kevin Honan (D-Boston), Louis Kafka (D-Sharon), Mary Keefe (D-Worcester), John Lawn (D-Watertown), David LeBoeuf (D-Worcester), Jack Lewis (D-Framingham), David Linsky (D-Natick), Jay Livingstone (D-Boston), Elizabeth Malia (D-Boston), Ronald Mariano (D-Quincy), Paul Mark (D-Peru), Christopher Markey (D-Dartmouth), Joseph McGonagle (D-Everett), Rady Mom (D-Lowell), Frank Moran (D-Lawrence), James Murphy (D-Weymouth), David Nangle (D-Lowell), Harold Naughton (D-Worcester), James O’Day (D-West Boylston), Jerald Parisella (D-Beverly), Smitty Pignatelli (D-Lenox), Dave Robertson (D-Tewksbury), Paul Schmid (D-Westport), Alan Silvia (D-Fall River), Theodore Speliotis (D-Danvers), Thomas Stanley (D-Waltham), Jose Tosado (D-Springfield), Paul Tucker (D-Salem), Chynah Tyler (D-Roxbury), Andres Xavier Vargas (D-Haverhill), Aaron Vega (D-Holyoke), John Velis (D-Westfield), RoseLee Vincent (D-Revere), Thomas Walsh (D-Peabody), Susannah Whipps (U -Athol)
petr says
Open-mike night at the State House always gets ’em rolling on the floor….
thegreenmiles says
I don’t know. There’s tons of votes & it’s hard to know how to vote on all of them, especially one like this that, as you say, isn’t cut & dried.