I will not bury the lede: There is absolutely no reason for any progressive representative — nor really any representative at all — to vote for Robert DeLeo for Speaker. Any representative that does so should face a primary challenge. I mean the “good guys”, the medium and bad guys. No free passes.
As we mentioned, two resourceful young folks put some advisory questions on the ballot in DeLeo’s hometown of Winthrop, advising the Speaker to adhere to term limits, limit the lobbying revolving door — and critically, to support the climate-protecting renewable energy policy that DeLeo has been personally dismantling. In one of the best Twitter threads of the last several years, one of those folks, the very clever and clear-minded Max Dunitz lays out exactly what he’s done. tl;dr: Bob DeLeo has an absolutely massive clean-megawatt body count. Read the thread, unrolled.
He has enjoyed boasting of Massachusetts’ leadership in clean energy. In fact he personally has had a negative effect on clean energy development. That means jobs.
His main clean-energy legacy is killing 3000 solar jobs in 2017 while, in an incredible series of coincidences, receiving 6 maximum contributions from Eversource execs (and at least one more from a spouse) in the first OCPF report of 2017. The Bay State is leading the nation!
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Speaker DeLeo–whether he meant to or not–literally made you pay more money for dirtier energy.I’ll avoid talking about wind (other than to say look at the U of Delaware study and look at what the senate passed and you’ll conclude that Bob DeLeo’s contribution to offshore wind was -400 MW) and fast-forward to the next session. ceoe.udel.edu/File%20Library…
Look, if I could capture every important point that Dunitz makes, I’d just be quoting the whole thread. Read it. Really — read it all.
Let’s note that we are not leading in renewable energy policy targets anymore; and with the results of last week’s elections, we will be absolutely left in the dust. (As if this were even a relevant standard! The only standards that matter are the laws of physics, and maintaining a livable ecosystem for civilization and our children.)
Under the law passed this year by the legislature, we’ll increase our renewable portfolio standard by 2%/year, which leads to 35% by 2030. Let’s look at what’s been passed, or what seems likely pass in other states. Leadership in Massachusetts? Nope.
- Nevada: 50% renewable by 2030 (passed by voters, needs to pass again in 2020)
- New Mexico: Governor-elect Grisham wants 50% by 2030; 80% by 2040
- Colorado: Governor-elect Polis wants 100% by 2040
- Connecticut: Governor-elect Lamont wants 100% by 2050; 35% by 2025
- Maine: Governor-elect Mills: “virtually” 100% by 2050
Again, the time has come to move on. In light of the IPCC’s report that we must take rapid, drastic action on decarbonizing our economy, DeLeo’s actions represent an actual physical and economic threat to Massachusetts. He’s got to go, and anyone who supports him will find me supporting a primary challenger, with money, time, and energy. I heartily invite everyone else to make the same commitment. No more.
So is DeLeo a climate denier, or is there some other motivation?
Denier in the sense of not acknowledging the urgency, yes. That’s denial. Other than that, Occam’s Razor would suggest he just hangs around with utility lobbyists a lot.
He’s in bed with the business owners and the very rich, as it seems to be the case with many Democrats in Massachusetts. To quote Upton Sinclair: with regard to the question on climate change. and the speaker…..”It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.
I assume he’s just a cynic.
My own speculation (I’ve never met the man) is that he’s one of those people who say “we can’t do anything about climate change anyway so what’s the point?”
I don’t think the problem ends with DeLeo. Everytime I stop to ponder the current state of the Massachusetts legislature I’m reminded of JFK’s inaugural address, and in particular the one line:
those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.
I think that’s an apt description of this unwinding process… DeLeo rode the tiger with Dimasi and Dimasi ended up inside… And the rest of the legislature jumped on with DeLeo after Dimasi. I don’t see how It can be other than a thoroughgoing culture of corruption and one which has roots in the Big Dig era… .
Through luck, or legerdemain, DeLeo has so far escaped Dimasi’s fate and in a confluence of, either competing or complementary, venalities, he and the entire legislature have entered into a precipitous stasis: caught between the tigers maw and doing something that might upset the precarious balance of avoidance… . they are all desperate to avoid ending up inside and unwilling to disrupt the chain of self-interest, collectively holding on, lest they be pushed, individually, into that maw.. The legislature, collectively, lack the moral courage to take the punishment they deserve… just as DeLeo similarly lacks the moral courage to take responsibility. Maybe he, or they, now truly regrets trying to ride that tiger. But regret isn’t the same thing as repentance.. and DeLeo’s every action seems calculated in the hopes the tiger has lost interest in him as food where the rest of the legislature is similarly trying to avoid those same attentions from the tiger.
So I don’t think DeLeo is particularly for or against climate activity. I think he’s a scared crook among scared crooks and is helping to protect those other fearful crooks and lowlifes all in the uncertain hope they’ll, somehow, be able to protect him through it… It’s the very definition of modern Conservatism: a compact of self-interest in the tigers dinner bowl.
So, just like climate change, the problem is bigger than any one person.