Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

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  1. has the distinction of being one of most racially diverse municipalities (if not the most diverse) in the commonwealth.  It also has the distinction of being the largest municipality in the commonwealth without a single citizen in the state legislature.  What a co-incidence!
      Actually, from what I can tell, it’s not racism that’s behind this state of affairs, just zealous protection of incumbents.  
      When the last Randolph legislator, Joe Semensi, lost a close race to John Flood, from Canton, Randolph was left without an incumbent to protect.   That was a long time ago.
      Since then, every ten years, the legislature slices, dices and repackages us, like hedge fund managers slice and dice a bunch of mortages for the secondary market.  In the last redisticting, the legislature went so far as to force town officials to redraw the precincts so they could cut the town up into smaller pieces.  The idea is to keep the Randolph part of each district smaller than the part of the district in each adjacent town.
      So, while it wasn’t racism that caused this situation, and it may not have been racism that perpetuated it for 20 or 30 years, another ten years of this is intolerable.  It’s time for a district that is based in Randolph.
         

    • Chelmsford got similarly screwed over in the last redistricting and is cut into 4 pieces.  This was done to remove a Republican representative.  In both cases, the injustice should be rectified.

  2. From what would we do without it Wikapedia , Gov Gerry was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.

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    The word gerrymander (originally written Gerry-mander) was used for the first time in the Boston Gazette newspaper on March 26, 1812. The word was created in reaction to a redrawing of Massachusetts state senate election districts under the then governor Elbridge Gerry (pronounced /’g?ri/; 1744-1814). In 1812, Governor Gerry signed a bill that redistricted Massachusetts to benefit his Democratic-Republican Party. When mapped, one of the contorted districts in the Boston area was said to resemble the shape of a salamander. The exact author of the term gerrymander may never be definitively established. It is widely believed by historians that Federalist newspaper editors Nathan Hale, Benjamin and John Russell were the instigators, but the historical record gives no definitive evidence as to who created or uttered the word for the first time.[1] The term was a portmanteau of the governor’s last name and the word salamander.

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    p>Once again Massachusetts was on the forefront of a now standard political tactic designed to protect incumbents.  

    • Is there any way to truly get involved in the actual map drawing process without being on the legislative staff of the appropriate committees?

      • The software the Legislature uses for redistricting has the ability to export iterations into Google Maps and pdf files.

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        p>Many of the groups involved promise that the redistricting – which includes the equalization and re-precincting of Boston – will be done transparently.  Rep. Moran (the Chair of redistricting on the House side) spoke to a group which included yours truly a couple of weeks ago, and promised an accountable process.

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        p>Furthermore, there are advocacy organizations which also have the software.

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        p>Bear in mind that the Mass Census enumerations aren’t in yet:

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        p>Next weeks releases will be Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota and Tennessee.

      • Last fall, with no protest from these groups, President Murray convened and immediately adjourned a Constitutional Convention which had independent redistricting on the agenda.  I do not remember any calls then to ask the President to allow the bill to go forward.

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        p>Possibly there were no fundraising opportunites if it did.  NOW, they can collect money for the NEXT Constitutional Convention!

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