Greetings BMG readers!
As you may recall, Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance launched its Beta version of its legislative scorecard last week, which you may find at www.MassFiscalScorecard.org. We updated our scores to include the repeal of the tech tax and the failed attempt in the Senate to repeal a provision for automatically increasing the gas tax based on inflation. I encourage you to take a few minutes and search the site. The site’s mission is to give information to the public, specifically how lawmakers vote on key issues. At the very least, I hope BMG readers will find it beneficial to look up votes.
After the updated votes, 19 lawmakers received a 100% rating, including 2 newly elected Democratic House members: Carole Fiola & Daniel Donahue. The remaining 17 lawmakers are Republicans, of whom 14 are in the House: Jim Lyons, Lenny Mirra, Marc Lombardo, Keiko Orrall, Peter Durant, Shaunna O’Connell, Matt Beaton, Geoff Diehl, Ryan Fattman, Nick Boldyga, Todd Smola, Kevin Kuros, Leah Cole & Don Humason. The other 3 are the current Republican senators, Bruce Tarr, Bob Hedlund, and Richard Ross.
The highest scores for Democratic members in the Senate are James Timilty at 83%, Kathleen Ives at 72% & Michael Rush at 61%. Other than Reps. Donahue and Fiola, the highest scores for Democratic House members are Colleen Garry at 62%, James Dwyer and Dennis Rosa at 50%. Three lawmakers continue to earn a 0% rating: Angelo Scaccia, Robert Fennell and William “Smitty” Pignatelli.
As always, if you see areas for which we can improve the site, please contact me. If you would like the site, please share it with your colleagues and friends. Thank you!
-Paul D. Craney
Executive Director
Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance
I’m sure we have quite divergent priorities for the state, but always appreciate information and vote tracking. I will be very aware of who decided to continue our neglect of transportation infrastructure and early childhood education.
So glad to know my State Senator has a 100% record of neglect! Also, should a group which can take unlimited anonymous donations (and not disclose them) really be allowed to preach transparency?
The list of Democrats with high scores looks pretty similar to the list of “Democrats” I’d like to see outta there.