If you ever had any illusions that you live in a democracy, the testimony at the DiMasi trial should lay them to rest. The trial is trying to decide if DiMasi goes to prison. But as State House News reporter Kyle Cheney noted “It was the rare moments of agreement between prosecutors and defense attorneys that were often the most jarring: If you want to win the speaker’s ear, no matter how worthy the cause, hiring a well-connected lobbyist is a must. If the speaker wants something in the budget, it will appear in the budget – or in a bond bill, or in a supplemental spending bill – Ways and Means Committee be damned.”
Continue reading A Clear Message From the CourtroomScott Brown
Tuesday, April 12 · 2:00pm – 5:00pm
2400 JFK Federal Building
15 New Sudbury St.
Boston, MA
Called by Beyond Coal Massachusetts
Take 30 minutes of your time and bring a handwritten note in support of clean air to drop by Senator Brown’s office. We will be greeting people outside his office form 2-5:00 PM on Tuesday, April 12th before you go upstairs to Senator Brown’s office to let him know Massachusetts wants him to vote for clean air.
You will meet volunteers outside before going through security inside and ultimately upstairs to the Senator’s office. We strongly recommend you bring a handwritten letter in support of clean air initiatives. Ideas for letters and clean air facts can be found at www.sierraclub.org/coal/ma
Continue reading Drop by Senator Brown’s Officeh/t to johnk and BMG
Scott Brown stood with Republicans and business as usual to prevent women from achieving equality in the workplace.
Senate Republicans voted unanimously against legislation to close the pay gap between women and men. The Senate voted 58-41 against allowing debate on the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would help end discriminatory pay practices against women. It had already passed the House.
More than 45 years after passage of the Equal Pay Act, the pay gap shockingly persists with women still earning on average 77 cents to every man’s dollar. According to the National Women’s Law Center, “This persistent pay gap translates to more than $10,000 in lost wages per year for the average female worker.” The gap is even worse for women of color: African-American women earn 61 cents and Latinas earn 52 cents for every dollar a white non-Hispanic man earns.
thinkprogress.org
I called his office this morning and was told that the reason he voted no to this bill was because it would result in excessive and costly litigation costs for small businesses. Apparently he is going to introduce a bill that will protect smaller businesses from being ruined by excessive litigation. Perhaps the way to avoid litigation is to pay the right wage in the first place. Protection for small businesses means there will still be a block of women left behind. A lawyer is not going to take up a case where there is not a clear discrepancy in pay, so they should not even have to worry about it if they are practicing wage equality.
Please call Senator Browns office and tell him that this is not acceptable.
email him here
and/or call him:
317 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington D.C. 20510
Phone: (202) 224-4543
Fax: (202) 228-2646
2400 JFK Federal Building
Boston, MA 02203
Phone: (617) 565-3170
Fax: (617) 723-7325