Samantha Gross, “‘The incumbency advantage is real’: In Mass. primary, fraction of challengers succeed,” Boston Globe, September 5, 2024.
“The campaign “was not something that was just focused on getting a specific person elected, but about increasing the attention to the State House in the district,” said Jonathan Cohn, policy director of Progressive Massachusetts, which endorsed MacKay. “That doesn’t go away.””
Katie Lannan, “Why frustrated activists can’t rely on the ballot box for change in Massachusetts,” WGBH, August 15, 2024.
Other observers and advocates, like Jonathan Cohn of the advocacy group Progressive Massachusetts, say the dynamic can fuel a sense of complacency on Beacon Hill. For one thing, Cohn said, most state legislators don’t need to worry about defending their record on the campaign trail.
“One of the problems is that for legislators, because of the fact that so few of them are ever really contested in elections, it flattens the sense of time so they can think, ‘Oh, well, we’ll just be back at it in January,’” he said. “Issues just lose a basic degree of urgency because it’s just one never-ending legislative session for them.”
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Democrats have supermajority control of both legislative branches on Beacon Hill, and Cohn said the red-versus-blue partisan framework through which many people view elections doesn’t really apply in deep-blue Massachusetts.
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“I also think that the Legislature’s history of long, late-night sessions that end with nothing also make it seem like an unattractive job,” said Progressive Mass.’ Cohn. “If you see a place where you look at it and you think, ‘I don’t even know that I could accomplish anything by being here,’ it’s understandable why somebody might not want want to run for that office or think that their that their talents, skills, etc., would be better used elsewhere — even though those people could be the best people for the jobs.”
Sam Drysdale, “Guv Signs Housing Law, But Advocates Say It “Left So Much On The Table,” State House News Service, August 6, 2024.
“Inclusionary zoning is something that could have helped lower-income and working class communities,” Progressive Mass Director Jonathan Cohn said. “Legislators love the Housing Development Incentive Program, which is basically how do we build more high-end housing to gentrify Gateway Cities. They seemed to leave ideas that could have helped working or
middle class people living in expensive cities.”
Cohn said he would have liked to see more robust tenant protections in the bill….”The Senate’s language on broker’s fees — it was never that clear how much they were willing to fight for it. It didn’t seem to be something the governor cared about, the Senate had other priorities; it ended up on the chopping block as well,” he said.
“Having it be a $5.2 billion authorization means more money will be spent, and it’s an increase from what Baker did, but with all bonding, there’s so much that needs to happen for it to yield results. And unlike Baker, I think Healey wants to act ally spend that money. But now all these priorities that actually made it into the bill will be competing with each other for actual spending,” Cohn said.
Cohn, Park, Chou and other advocates said they hope lawmakers and Healey don’t put housing legislation on the backburner after the signing of Tuesday’s housing bond legislation….”If you build a nice affordable development in 10 years that’s great, but by then Massachusetts’s low-income residents will be living in Rhode Island,” Cohn said.
Walter Wuthmann, “Inside the unproductive and contentious end of the Mass. State House’s legislative session,” WBUR, August 5, 2024.
“We are disappointed and appalled,” Progressive Massachusetts Policy Director Jonathan Cohn wrote in a fire-breathing statement Thursday morning. “It does not have to be this way.”
Chris Van Buskirk, “Beacon Hill faces calls for culture change after chaotic end of session,” Boston Herald, August 4, 2024.
“Jonathan Cohn, the policy director at Progressive Massachusetts, said there is a “real downside” to having a permanent supermajority in both branches “that never feels the urgency of any issues.”
“For them to change, I think ultimately, some people will have to lose their seats because of it. I think that too often, the House and Senate operate like incumbent protection rackets,” he told the Herald.”
The Editorial Board, “Mass. legislative process is out of whack,” The Eagle Tribune, August 3, 2024.
“The Legislature ran out the clock on passing meaningful legislation on climate change, despite our living through a summer that continues to break heat records,” said Progressive Massachusetts policy director Jonathan Cohn.
“The Legislature whittled away at the policy components of Gov. Healey’s housing bond bill, caving to real estate interests and ignoring public opinion. We have a housing crisis and a climate crisis, and our Legislature is in clear denial about both,” he said.
Adam Reilly, “Why does the Massachusetts Legislature wait so long to do so much?,” WGBH, August 2, 2024.
“Jonathan Cohn, the political directorof the group Progressive Massachusetts, argues that this dynamic creates a structural problem that naturally leads to a slowed-down pace.
“In any system … if you have too few people in charge of too many decisions, you get a bottleneck effect,” Cohn said. “And you have that with the Legislature, where you know that the decision making is ultimately Ron Mariano’s decision about what’s in the bill, Karen Spilka’s decision about what’s in the bill … If it’s all just coming through one person, that just slows everything down even more.”
But Cohn also believes there’s a tactical consideration at play. By finalizing key legislation at the last minute, he says — and packing individual bills with a sprawling array of provisions on a particular topic — the House and Senate pave the way for marathon negotiating sessions just prior to the session’s end, in which each side defers to its counterpart in some areas and has the favor returned in others.
“Almost to a person, they’ll just all be back in January,” Cohn, of Progressive Mass, said of state lawmakers. “A handful of retirements. Maybe somebody might lose a seat in a primary or general. But they’ll all be back. And there’s often a way in which they just see it as, ‘Well, we didn’t finish now. We’ll come back in a few months and maybe we’ll pass it then.’ … It flattens the sense of time, because if it happens now, if it happens next year, it’s all the same.”
Christian Wade, “Lawmakers recess, leaving many loose ends,” The Eagle Tribune, August 2, 2024.
“Rather than advancing a robust, shared legislative agenda throughout the past year and a half, our Legislature pushed so many important priorities off to the very end of the session, creating bottlenecks and setting themselves up for failure,” said Jonathan Cohn, policy director at the group Progressive Massachusetts. “It does not have to be this way.”
Gintautas Dumcius, “Why are so many amendments being withdrawn on Beacon Hill?,” CommonWealth Beacon, July 30, 2024.
“It’s an idiosyncrasy that drives some crazy, while others say it’s just pols being pols. The quirk isn’t limited to the Senate. Progressive Massachusetts noted that the House’s version of a climate bill drew 107 amendments, and 91 ended up withdrawn. “Our great deliberative body,” the advocacy group sarcastically posted last month to X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter.
According to Jonathan Cohn, the group’s policy director, the strategic case for moving a policy issue forward by taking to the floor via an amendment, even if it gets withdrawn, rests on the idea that enough people see or hear the speeches. “I don’t mean to burst the bubble of legislators, but people don’t watch it,” he said. Writing an opinion piece has more impact than a floor speech, which he likened to “fan service.”
“Filing an amendment, getting a handful of supporters and then saying, ‘I’m done, I’m withdrawing it,’ doesn’t move the ball forward,” Cohn added.
It also highlights the decline of debates. As the State House News Service summary of the Senate’s passage of a housing bill noted, “There was little disagreement and few divided votes.”
Beacon Hill observers say some lawmakers would prefer not to be put on the record about a topic that could cost them support, or even worse, reelection. That amounts to an “incumbent protection racket,” Cohn said.”
Jennifer Smith, “Business groups cheer, progressives knock House axing transfer fees,” CommonWealth Beacon, June 4, 2024.
“Jonathan Cohn, policy director of Progressive Massachusetts, cited the poll in critiquing the House’s proposed bond bill. He said axing the transfer tax option was “taking tools off the table.”
“Let’s be clear: members of House leadership are being dishonest when they claim that they oppose a local option real estate transfer fee because it is a ‘piecemeal’ solution that doesn’t help every city and town,” Cohn wrote in a statement. “Such concerns were nowhere to be found during the budget process, when those very same representatives had no problem stuffing the budget full of outsized perks for their own districts.”