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LWVN Newsletter, Fall 2020

LWVN Newsletter, Vol 26 Issue 2

Table of Contents

President’s letter, Oct. 2020

Dear LWVN Members,

In August, the Board of Directors met, virtually, for our annual planning meeting. At this time, we welcomed our new Board Members Judy Jaffe and Rhanna Kidwell.  We then thought it was extremely important to reaffirm our Leadership Standards, which guide how we work as a Board with each other and the LWVN membership:

LWVN Leadership Standards

The Board of Directors:

  • Is non-partisan
  • Maintains high ethical standards
  • Ensures that we have consensus and speak with one voice
  • Maintains transparency as a Board and local LWV

 

 Each member of the Board of Directors:

  • Stays responsive to Board members, and to all LWVN members
  • Strives to bring forward different views in order to present a well-thought-out position
  • Honors our individual and Board responsibilities
  • Remains honest about our own opinions while respecting those of others

Then using the  “Direction to the Board” which we received from you in  June and our Approved Program we confirmed our priorities, actions and identified Board and LWVN members who will take the lead for each priority area (see Program Priorities, 2020-21).  If you are interested in participating in an effort, we ask that you please volunteer for any/all priorities that are of interest to you by contacting the Board Leads at info@lwvnewton.org.

Though we got a bit of a late start this year, we have continued to function within the safety guidelines from the CDC and the City.  Given these limitations, I am pleased to summarize our significant accomplishments during the first quarter (July-September):

What to look forward to in the second quarter:

  • Distribution of LWVN VOTE Signs to remind people to vote
  • Improve our governance with more efficient processes and clear policies
  • Continuing to observe the Community Preservation Committee and Newton Police Reform Task Force
  • Working with City Leaders to increase transparency in government
  • The League Presents: Ranked Choice Voting
  • Topic Meeting on Zoning Redesign
  • Implementation of the LWVN Scholarship Program
  • Enhanced LWVN Brochure

Sincerely,

Marcia Johnson

President, LWVN

What’s Happening on the Board…

LWVN Scholarship Program

Our Scholarship Committee (Nicki Dawes, Theresa Fitzpatrick, Ellen Grody, Andrea Kozinetz, and Josephine McNeil)  has been working diligently to establish a program that would enable the LWVN to award two scholarships of $1000 to graduating seniors who have plans to continue their education after graduation (College, Vocational Education etc.).  Criteria, being considered, are as follows:

  • The student lives in/goes to school in Newton.  This would include public & private school students, METCO students, and students who are home-schooled
  • In his/her life and school work, holds core values that are in alignment with those of the League
  • The student has been actively involved in Newton’s civic life.
  • There is a financial need

The timeline, as currently planned is:

  • Application process will open on January 1, 2021 and will be due on March 1,2021
  • During March & April, evaluation teams will review applications and make a final decision
  • Awards will be made on May 1, 2021.

The program will be publicized through the high schools, PTO Council, NTA, and other recommended community groups.

Member Handbook

The LWVN Handbook is in the process of being updated for 2020.  Following the election in November, the updated Handbook will be available for download and printing on the LWVN website.  For privacy reasons, the digital version will not feature the Member Roster.  Instead, the Member Roster will be made available separately to members.  In addition, a printed booklet version of the 2020 Handbook will be made available to members upon request.  Please stay tuned for further details.

Mask Fundraiser

LWVN VOTE! maskIn September, we held a “show your LWVN spirit” with this colorful face mask that promoted active engagement in our democracy while helping to protect good health practices. We sold 35 masks and raised $139 for our work, especially in the Voter Service space.  We hope to continue to offer a version of these LWVN masks, as we all will be wearing masks for the foreseeable future. Thank you to Jen Abbott for her creative thinking and initiative with this project.

Advocacy

The LWVN has had a long history of having Observers of Newton City Government.  Though we are in need of observers for all aspects of the City’s activities, we do have regular Observers at Newton’s Community Preservation Committee.  This year our committee, led by Linda Morrison, with members Lucia Dolan, Judy Jaffe, Jack Lovett and alternate member Marcia Johnson made recommendations to support the following projects, with approval from the LWVN Board:

  • The LWVMA has been a long-time supporter of programs, policies and regulations to address the housing needs of low- and moderate-income families and individuals.  Click here and see section on “Affordable Housing.” Therefore, the LWVN observers with the approval of the Board of Directors submitted letters of support for the Golda Meir project and the COVID-19 Emergency Housing Relief
  • In addition, we endorsed the Commonwealth Avenue Carriageway Project as it fits our positions of improving infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians, and will increase greenspace in that edge of the City.
  • In support of the LWVMA mission and vision and the LWVN membership’s direction to the Board, we provided our observations and recommendation, to the Newton Police Reform Task Force, for increased transparency and a more effective means to gather and communicate personal experiences.  We will continue to observe the Task Force’s meetings and have input where we think it may be valuable and helpful.

Voter Service/Elections

by Karen Manning and Sharyn Roberts

Since March, with the COVID-19 pandemic constantly affecting most of our activities, Voters Service has been set back on its heels.  Our usual, very physical presence at Village Days, Farmers Markets, voter forums, and other community events has greatly been curtailed.

So we are learning to pivot.  We have strengthened our collaborations with other groups, reached out to the public with our extensive use of modern day electronic methods, and continued to be visible without being physically there.

We were lucky this summer to have two newly graduated students from Newton South High School “womaning” a table at the reconstituted Farmers Market.  They were part of the youth coalition Students of MA-04 concentrating their efforts on the 4th Congressional District Primary with fact sheets on how to vote, and information on each of the candidates highlighting their qualifications with QR codes directly linking voters to each of those candidates’ campaign websites.

We collaborated with Leagues from Brookline, Needham, Sharon-Stoughton, and Wellesley to co-sponsor the 4th Congressional District Candidate Forum; and with Waltham and Watertown for the 10th Middlesex District Candidate Forum before the Primary Election.  We are grateful to Marcia Johnson, our LWVN President, for her effective leadership ensuring we fulfilled our Voters Service obligations.  We are thankful to BIG (Brookline Interactive Group} and NewTV for hosting these candidate forums and allowing us via Zoom, YouTube, and Vimeo to record and then electronically share these forums with the public by distributing and sharing with other television stations in the respective districts until the Primary.

Thank you to our very busy LWVN Marketing Committee (Jen Abbott, Frieda Dweck, Theresa Fitzpatrick, and Karen Manning), who with Lisa Mirabile and Marcia Johnson have prepared an updated trifold for voters, oversaw a LWVN “Vote” face mask fundraiser, designed and now are distributing our own LWV VOTE lawn signs.  Our MARCOM Team has also been instrumental in making sure that our Voters Service activities are covered by news media (i.e. Boston Globe Metrowest, Newton Patch, and Newton TAB), and social media in press releases, on FaceBook, our LWVN website, and other community websites (Newton Needham Chamber of Commerce, Village 14, etc.).

We encourage community members to access the lwvnewton.org website for excellent voting information as you make your plan to vote.  Also included are Candidates Forums for contested races.  Thank you to Lisa and Marcia.

The LWVUS website vote411.org is a further option to find out exactly what will be on your ballot.  It includes a Voters Guide showing you the races on which you will be voting, the candidate’s biographical information, campaign websites, and responses to questions asked by the League showing where the candidates stand on issues.

We have been advising Boston College on registering their students to vote as is pertinent in their home state or using their college address, applying for absentee ballots, differing states’ deadlines, what constitutes appropriate voter identification, and concern about retaining their grants or scholarships.

We are currently attending virtual sessions being held on different facets of Voters Service by LWVMA, LWVUS, the Harvard Kennedy School Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, NPR, PBS, American Promise, Senator Cynthia Creem, Yes on 2 Ranked Choice Voting, Newton Needham Chamber of Commerce, Zoom.US, National Voter Registration, Common Cause, non-partisan GOTV, Safe Elections Network, Nonprofit Vote, and other nonpartisan, collaborative groups.

We welcome offers from people willing to drive voters to vote at the polls either on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3rd, or during early voting.  Please leave your contact information (name, phone number, and email address) at info@lwvnewton.org or call 617-383-4598.

Citizen Education (Topic Meetings/The League Presents)

Due to the COVID-19 restrictions, we have been limited in what we have been able to do outside of the information provided on our website.   We have been able, working with LWVN member Maureen Reilly Meagher and New TV to produce two  The League Presents shows on two very important topics to Newton residents:

Membership

Welcome, new members!

We welcome new members to the LWV!

  • Mary Bradley
  • Heather Amsden
  • Marcia Karp
  • Ilene and Daniel Pincus
  • Madeline Ranalli
  • Srividya Subramanian
  • Arline Egyud-Moritz

Climate Change, COVID-19, and Zero Emission Vehicles

by Lucia Dolan

“People with COVID-19 who live in US Regions with high levels of air pollution are more likely to die from the disease than people who live in less polluted areas,” according to a recent Harvard Study.  Middlesex County has the second highest level of air pollution particulate matter in Massachusetts, much of it concentrated along the Mass Pike and 128 (A Clean Transportation System for my Patients).

The Massachusetts Zero Emission Vehicle Coalition and partners, including the Newton EV Task Force and League of Women Voters Massachusetts, sent the Department of Transportation and Department of Environmental Protection a letter urging action beginning with asking the State “Set a goal and create an action plan for all vehicles to be electric by 2040.  Commit to all electric transit and school bus fleets by 2035.  Commit to complete electrification of state and municipal fleets by 2035.  Establish goals and incentive programs for the conversion of private vehicle fleets.”

School buses call for special priority, most, including those in Newton, are diesel and emit more particulate matter than gasoline.  Young lungs are more susceptible to damage from air pollution.

On the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day, April 22, 2020, Governor Baker committed the Commonwealth to an ambitious, aggressive, science-based net zero emissions limit of GreenHouse Gases at least 80% below 1990 levels by 2050.  Transportation is Massachusetts largest source of Green House Gas emissions, setting a goal and creating an action plan for electrification of vehicles is an important step toward achieving the State’s ambitious net zero emissions limit.

Moving in the right direction to lower GreenHouse Gases in Newton, NewMo, the City’s transportation service for seniors, uses hybrid vehicles.

2020 LWVUS Convention Report

by LWV Newton delegates Lucia Dolan and Bonnie Carter

Deborah Turner, President of the LWVOver 1,100 delegates across America joined the virtual convention and stayed through the inevitable Zoom challenges to discuss, debate, and vote.  We welcomed in a new board, led by incoming president, Dr. Deborah Turner, of the Des Moines Metropolitan League.  Dr. Turner has served on the Finance committee, Governance Committee, and chaired the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee, in addition to chairing the Board of Trustees of the League of Women Voters Education Fund.  The new LWVUS Board.

 

Finances:  the LWVUS is in good shape with 6 months of operating expenses in reserves.  Per Member Payments was held at $32.  There was a lengthy discussion on whether or not to admit students for free, what the definition of a student should be and whether this discriminates against young people who go straight into the workforce or an apprenticeship.  They retained the definition of student, full time or part time at an accredited institution, which could be a trade school.  The local League does not pay PMP for students, but the local League can set dues at any level.

 

Program Motions Adopted:

  1. A non-recommended item, the abolition of the electoral college by Constitutional amendment as a LWVUS action focus for the 2020-2022 biennium. The motion PASSED on 681 yay, 458 nay votes (There was a debate that this undermined current LWVUS action for the National Popular Vote.)
  2. Concurrence on the Transfer of Federal Public Land. The motion PASSED on 885 yay, 207 nay votes (There was debate that LWVUS should focus on voting issues) Federal lands should benefit all Americans; should be transferred only after assessments including health and environmental impacts; the LWV opposes sale of federal lands to private entities.
  3. Voter Representation/Electoral Systems Concurrence to support electoral systems at each level of government that encourage participation, are verifiable and auditable and enhance representation for all voters be adopted. The motion PASSED on 1064 yay, 79 nay votes
  4. To retain all current LWVUS positions in the areas of representative government, international relations, natural resources and social policy.  The motion PASSED on 1157 yay, 25 nay votes
  5. The proposed LWVUS program for 2020-2022 Campaign for Making Democracy Work®: ensuring a free, fair and accessible electoral system for all eligible voters by focusing on Voting Rights, Improving Elections and advocacy for the National Popular Vote Compact, Campaign Finance/Money in Politics and Redistricting and to continue to work on urgent issues: Climate Change, the Equal Rights Amendment, Health Care, Gun Safety, Abolition of the Electoral College and Immigration. The motion PASSED on 1139 yay, 30 nay votes

Resolutions adopted

  1. We resolve that the LWVUS reaffirms our commitment to Immigration reform, for efficient, expeditious immigrant entry into the United States. The League stands in solidarity with immigrants and our immigrant rights community partners. Congress must take immediate action to pass common sense, fair immigration policies that end the crisis at our borders, end the separation of families, ensure their health and safety, and provide a clear path to citizenship, including DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) young people. The motion PASSED on 1,092 yay, 12 nay votes
  2. We Resolve First, That the League advocates against systemic racism in the justice system and, at a minimum, for preventing excessive force and brutality by law enforcement. We also call for prompt actions by all League members to advocate within every level of government to eradicate systemic racism, and the harm that it causes; We Resolve Second, That the League help our elected officials and all Americans recognize these truths to be self-evident; that Black, Indigenous and all people of color (BIPOC) deserve equal protection under the law; and that we demand solutions for the terrible wrongs done, so that regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, disability, and gender identity or sexual orientation we may truly become a nation “indivisible, with liberty and justice for all”.  The motion PASSED on 1094 yay, 32 nay votes
  3. Resolved, that the LWVUS calls for an immediate, wide-scale, mobilization by the United States, to restore, protect and fund an ecologically sustainable environment and climate, based on an interrelated approach that is environmentally sound, science based, just and equitable, dedicated to adequately addressing the scale and speed of the global climate change emergency. The motion PASSED on 1,091 yay, 21 nay votes

Resolutions Committee Report The resolutions committee was presented with five resolutions.  They ruled that two of them did not fit the criteria for resolutions.  We passed the other three – see above.

LWVN Newsletter, Spring 2020

LWVN Newsletter, Vol 26 Issue 1

Please note: This issue of the newsletter was prepared in late April and should have been distributed in early May. Despite the delay in publication, we’ve chosen to include all the original submissions, as well as some updates from the Annual Meeting held June 14.

Annual Meeting 2020

LWVN held its first virtual annual meeting on Sunday, June 14. Thirty-one members attended via Zoom and held multiple votes by Zoom poll, approving the program recommended by the board; a set of revisions to update the bylaws; and a budget and slate of officers and directors for 2020-21.

For those who were unable to attend, we include the Presidents Message below. We also recommend reviewing the annual workbook, emailed to all members several weeks before the meeting, which is full of information about the work of the LWVN over the past year as well as our plans for the coming year.

From the President - 2020 Annual Meeting

 

President’s Letter, May 1

Dear LWVN Members,

One of the highlights of the 2019-2020 term has been the tremendous amount of work completed by our Marketing & Communications (MARCOM) team of Jennifer Abbott, Frieda Dweck, Karen Manning, and Lisa Mirabile. It is through their energy, enthusiasm and talent that the LWVN has been proactive and innovative in our outreach to local leagues, LWVN members and the community at-large for participation in our events. They have leveraged direct email, Facebook, our website and weekly updates to generate interest and ultimately increased participation in our topic meetings and special events, to be highlighted within this newsletter. Below are a few of our new and unique events that benefited from the capabilities and planning of this team:

Saturday Night at the RacesStarting with the November Municipal elections for City Council and School Committee. With the leadership of Sue Flicop , Sharyn Roberts, and Lucia Dolan, the LWVN was able to hold its first, and hopefully not last, Saturday Night at the Races where residents were able to interface directly with all candidates (challenged & unchallenged) for the 2020-2021 City Council. Of course, this was in addition to organizing candidate forums for challenged city council races and the Voters’ Guide.

 

Of course we cannot forget that 2020 is the 100th anniversary of the League of Women Voters where we celebrated our birthday on February 14 with LWVN members, neighbors, and friends.

Civics ChallengeThe LWVN had another inaugural event this year and it was the Civics Challenge. This was a fantastic event led by Frieda Dweck and her team of Jennifer Abbot and Karen Manning. The LWVN was well represented by the “Crew” with the team of Bonnie Carter, Maureen Reilly Meagher, and Lisa Mirabile.

Please look further into the newsletter for Frieda Dweck’s article describing this event along with all our other fantastic topic meetings.

So, what is happening between now and the end of the 2019-2020 term:

We need to finalize our plans to commemorate the 100th anniversary (August 26th) of the adoption of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1920, prohibiting the federal and state governments from denying citizens the right to vote on the basis of sex. I invite those with an interest in history, are excited about this important achievement for women, have time and energy to plan event(s) to please send an email to info@lwvnewton.org and let us know how you would like to be involved.

As we are coming to the end of the 2019-2020 term, please watch for the invitation to our Annual Meeting to be held in June. As we plan this important meeting and social event, we will be mindful of the coronavirus situation and the safety of our members. Therefore, we may need to hold the work- part of our meeting virtually with a delay in the social time until a bit later in the year.

Please stay safe!

Sincerely,

Marcia Johnson
President, League of Women of Voters of Newton

LWVN Signs Letter to Support Housing Choices

The LWVN board voted to join a group of local organizations who wrote to our state delegation to support H.4263: An Act to Promote Housing Choices, sponsored by the Governor.

Housing Choice letter to Newton legislators May 9, 2020

Civics Challenge – Inaugural Event for the LWVN

by Frieda Dweck

In line with the League’s main objectives of educating citizens about their civic responsibilities and to increase participation in government, LWVN held its inaugural Civics Challenge on March 1st at the Cabot School.  We had 9 teams consisting of family & community groups, middle school, high school, and college students, teachers from NSHS, and a group from the Newton TAB.

City Councilor Josh Krintzman and former Alderman Brooke Lipsitt were our informative and entertaining masters of ceremony. Our judges for the evening were Linda Morrison, Courtney Rau Rogers, and Sue Flicop.

Please join the LWVN in congratulating the three winning teams:

  1. The Newton South History Department:  Tucker Ahlers, Ashley Chapman, John Greiner & Lillian Robinson
  2. The Grads:  Michel Costello and John Lovett
  3. The Proud Lions:  Cathy Borgesen, Kevin Cheng, Dylan Dincer, & James Farmer

We want to thank the Village Bank for its support of the event; Congressman Joe Kennedy for the donation of the pocket constitutions which were given to all participants; State Senator Cynthia Creem and Representatives Ruth Balser & Kay Khan for donating a tour of the State House as our first place prize.  In addition, our first place winners received signed copies of E is for Election Day by Gloria Gavris.

Last but by no means least, we want to thank the LWVN Civics Challenge planning & organizing team: Jennifer Abbott, Karen Manning, and their extraordinary leader Frieda Dweck!

Northland Project

by Marcia Johnson

The citizens of Newton voted, on March 3rd, to uphold the City Council’s approval of the Northland Project in Upper Falls.  The City Council had spent approximately two years working with the developer to arrive at a project that will provide the city with important benefits relative to housing, the environment, and open space, as well as a transportation demand management plan.

In September 2019, the Board sent a letter of support to the City Council, as we thought that this project was in line with so many of the LWVN’s programs & positions.  At the time of the referendum signature gathering process by the Committee for Responsible Development (CRD), we re-sent our September letter of support for the project to you.  At the time of the referendum, we held an educational forum on the project.  Unfortunately, the CRD  declined to participate.  However, Councilor Deb Crossley, Councilor-at-Large, Ward 5 did participate and presented on behalf of Yes for Newton’s Future.  Councilor Crossley was able to respond to some of the questions that evening, but not all.  Therefore she provided  responses, in writing.  We hope that you found the forum and detailed Q&A helpful in your decision-making process.

Lastly and most importantly the Board carefully examined our position along with citizens’ questions and concerns and made a determination to re-affirm our support for the project and all of the benefits we believe it will bring to those who currently are in Newton and those who wish to live, work, and play in Newton.

Women’s Right-to-Vote Coalition 100th Anniversary

by Marcia Johnson

In August 2019 after having been to the Women’s Equality Day sponsored by Suffrage 100 MA, I reached out to Ellen Grody to see what she thought about connecting with Mayor Fuller about doing something to commemorate woman’s achievement of prohibiting the federal and state governments from denying citizens the right to vote on the basis of sex.  As a result of this meeting, a coalition was created consisting of LWVN, Dana Hanson, Director of Community Engagement & Inclusion, Ellen Myers, Newton Free Library, and Lisa Dady, Historic Newton.  At our city-wide kickoff meeting in September, a number of other civic organizations including Newton Cultural Development, Mass Historic, Newton North High School, Citizens for Housing Affordability in Newton, Capella Clausura, and the Human Rights Commission joined the coalition.  We have created a mission statement, tag line, logo, and a growing integrated calendar of events which can all be found on the Mayor’s website.

LWVN has actively been participating with the Coalition to educate and celebrate:

Remembering the Suffrage Movement

Barbara Berenson recounts successful campaign to defeat U.S. Senator John Weeks, former Mayor of Newton

In October, 2018, Barbara Berenson, author of Massachusetts and the Woman Suffrage Movement (2018) published a short piece in the Washington Post entitled “Politicians beware: Crossing Women Comes at a High Price.” She recounts the massive campaign here in the Bay State aimed at unseating one of our two anti-suffrage US Senators.  John Weeks was a former mayor of Newton and served in the House of Representatives for many years.  He had been elected by the state legislature, but since the 17th amendment authorizing popular votes for US Senators took effect while he was in office, it was the popular vote he needed to win re-election in 1918. Senator Weeks was defeated thanks to the tireless research and organizing by women who could not vote.

Legislation at the State House

by Alice Donesi-Feehan

Among the bills LWV MA is supporting at the state house, these three have advanced:  Sen. Cynthia Stone Creem’s bill S.900, An Act relative to the expungement, sealing and criminal records provision. This bill allows for expungement of misdemeanors after 3 years and felonies after 5 years as long as there are no other convictions at that time for those up to age 21. The bill has been sent to study so it will not be acted on in this session.

The reporting deadline on H.3573, Safe Community Act sponsored by Rep. Ruth Balser is An Act to protect the civil rights and safety of all Massachusetts residents and ensure fair treatment of undocumented people and public safety, has been extended to May 1st. Rep. Balser is working closely with Chair Naughton and others including police chiefs to try to move the bill forward.

H.1948, a bill sponsored by Rep. Khan, is An Act Relative to Out-of-Hospital Birth Access and Safety. Currently, home birth is limited to those who have the means to pay out of pocket. This legislation creates a process for licensure of certified professional midwifes (CPMS) overseen by a Board of Midwifery under the Department of Public Health. About 40% of births in Massachusetts are currently covered by Medicaid Mass Health, and this bill would make midwives available to those women who want a home birth. The bill received a favorable report from the Joint Committee on Public Health and is now before the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing.

Keep a lookout for these bills!

Welcome New Members!

We welcome all the members who are new to the League since October 2019!

  • Anne Reenstierna
  • Kendra Abbott
  • Kathleen Franklin
  • Emily Shumsky
  • Janice Lipof
  • Archana Szpak
  • Jack Lovett
  • Nickki Dawes

LWVN Newsletter, Fall 2019

LWVN Newsletter, Vol 25 Issue 3

President’s Letter, Nov. 2019

Dear LWVN Members,

As I mentioned in my July letter, the Board of Directors scheduled a planning session in August.  As a Board, we met on Friday, August 2, and spent the better part of that day and multiple additional meetings, thinking about who we are as a Board and the LWVN priorities.  Thank you to the John M. Barry Boys & Girls Club for allowing us to meet at their lovely facility on Watertown Street.

As a result of our meetings and discussions,  I am pleased to share our Leadership Standards:

The Board of Directors:

  • is non-partisan
  • maintains high ethical standards
  • ensures that we have consensus and speak with one voice
  • maintains transparency as a Board and local LWV

Each member of the Board of Directors:

  • stays responsive to Board members and to all LWVN members
  • strives to bring forward different views in order to present a well-thought-out position
  • honors our individual and Board responsibilities
  • remains honest about our own opinions while respecting those of others

Next we decided to introduce, or in some cases re-introduce, ourselves to current and future members.  So please visit our enhanced  Board of Directors page  on our website where we have posted short bios and pictures of each Board  member so that you can get to know us better.

In order to set our priorities we first looked at what we do well and where we could do things differently and better.    Coming out of our deliberative  process are the following priorities, actions and Board Leads, Exhibit A.

 In light of these priorities, the LWVN has accomplished, Exhibit B a great deal since I last wrote, …so I am pleased to share all and hope that you will volunteer as we move forward in the new year.

In League,

Marcia Johnson, President

October  2019

President's Letter, Exhibit A and B

Topic Discussion Notes: Is our Constitution Holding up to the Test of Time?

By Frieda Dweck

On September 15, 2019, Jed Shugerman, a Newton resident, former Bowen PTO co-chair, and law professor and legal historian at Fordham University in New York, lead a discussion on “Is the Constitution Holding up to the Test of Time”.

We first discussed the methods of interpreting the constitution and whether it matters what was “intended” when the constitution was written.    The two most common methods of interpreting the constitution are “originalism” and a ”living constitution”.   Originalists are usually associated with a more conservative approach to the constitution and to politics, while the ”living constitution” approach is usually associated with more progressive values and politics.  Jed presented his case for interpreting the constitution as a “progressive originalist”.

Originalism is built on the idea of the “rule of law”.    The constitution is intended to put limits on partisanship and politicians.  If we allow the rule of law to evolve all the time, then anyone can interpret it any way they want depending on who is in power.  Rather, the constitution should be interpreted the way we interpret any statute or legislation – look at what Congress intended when they passed the legislation, look at the text and the context.   That includes not only what was intended by the Founding Fathers and the words in the constitution, but all texts, ideas, thoughts and values, that went into the deliberation of those words, as well as history.

If we are going to embrace the originalist concept for interpreting the constitution, then should we have a longer constitution?  No – a more detailed constitution is apt to become outdated and less useful.  A shorter constitution sets up the framework of how decisions will be made, but does not get into the minutiae of details that will change over time.  So, while the Founding Fathers could not have anticipated the constitutional questions regarding, for example, school desegregation, reproductive rights, gay rights, the essential values behind those questions can be discerned in the constitution.

We then discussed the Supreme Court and whether it is still acting in a non-partisan fashion as the constitutional framers envisioned, or should we try and “fix” the Supreme Court by increasing the number of justices or limiting the term each justice serves?   Even though the Supreme Court is currently lined up more conservatively, the justices still make decisions based on their interpretation of the law, and sometimes that interpretation goes against how you would think they are politically aligned.  (Chief Justice Roberts’ decisions on the ACA and on the census questions are examples – but there have been examples like that throughout our judicial history.)  If we allowed presidents to increase the number of justices on the court, each president would want to appoint enough justices to overcome what they believe is a political minority on the court, but then where would it stop? Having life tenure insures the independence of the judiciary.  If Supreme Court justices knew they would have to leave the court after a certain number of years, they might position themselves for their next “gig” while still on the court, which could sway their rulings and affect their independence.

Finally, we tackled the question: are we currently experiencing a “Constitutional Crisis”?   It is not a constitutional crisis to have disputes over the meaning of the constitution.  We are meant to always be debating the values of the constitution.   It is when our political disputes are settled with violence, such as the Civil War, Reconstruction, the race riots in the 1920s, and bringing in the National Guard to enforce desegregation, that we experience a constitutional crisis.

There were many great questions raised by the audience, and stimulating discussions were engaged in, after Jed’s formal presentation.

Voter Service Update for the Fall 2019 Municipal Election

by Sue Flicop

LWVN held 10 Candidates’ Forums this election season, including two for Ward 5 Ward Councilor, both before and after the preliminary election.  All were produced with NewTV, our long-time partner, recorded at NewTV, and made available through the NewTV and LWVN websites.  These were for contested seats on the City Council only.  Although there were also three contested School Committee races, one candidate in each race declined to participate.  Because LWV does not hold ‘empty chair’ debates, we had to cancel the School Committee Candidate Forums.

The LWVN Online Voters Guide did include all candidates for City Council and School Committee, including those in uncontested races and those whose opponents chose not to participate.  This was made available to the public approximately three weeks before the election.  City Council candidates were asked four questions, and the School Committee members were asked five.

LWVN also created ‘Saturday Night at the Races,’ a ‘candidating’ type event for City Council candidates, which was co-sponsored with 7 other Newton organizations.  The event was held at the War Memorial at City Hall, and involved groups of citizens conversing with the City Council candidates by ward.  Every 15 minutes, voters were asked to move to a new table to meet a new set of candidates.  This was quite well-received, both by the candidates and by the voters, who enjoyed an opportunity for face-to-face discussions on issues raised directly by the voters.  Many especially appreciated being able to meet with candidates who did not have challengers, but who nevertheless made the effort to meet voters and discuss important topics.  We expect to continue this event in the next election, but will work to address some issues raised (mainly the noise level and timing).

In an effort to learn more about a new incoming City Councilor, LWVN did also host Ward 8 Ward Council candidate Holly Ryan on our monthly NewTV program, ‘The League Presents’.  Because Holly did not have a challenger, either on the ballot or as a write-in, we felt it was acceptable to meet with her individually and talk about some of the same issues discussed in our Candidates’ Forums. 

LWVN thanks our Voter Service team of co-chairs Bonnie Carter, Sharyn Roberts and Sue Flicop, as well as Lucia Dolan, Lois Levin, Karen Manning, Lisa Mirabile, dozens of LWVN volunteers for the Candidates’ Forums and Saturday Night at the Races, the wonderful NewTV staff, and our co-sponsors for Saturday Night at the Races:  Green Newton,  Mothers Out Front, 350 Mass for a Better Future, Newton Needham Regional Chamber, Newton Conservators, Newton Council on Aging!

Community Discussion with Peter Koutoujian

The League of Women Voters was pleased to host a community discussion led by Middlesex Sheriff Peter J. Koutoujian in November 12, 7 p.m. at the Angier School.  Sheriff Koutoujian talked about the work of the Middlesex Sheriff’s Office, partnerships with local law enforcement and efforts to address the needs of justice-involved individuals with substance use and mental health disorders.  He also discussed innovative programs for incarcerated military veterans and young adult offenders.

This event was co-sponsored with the League of Women Voters of Arlington, Norwood, Sudbury, Wayland and Weston.

You can learn more about Sheriff Koutoujian at the Middlesex Sheriff’s Office website, at middlesexsheriff.org/sheriffs-executive-office/pages/sheriff-koutoujian-biography.

After Suffrage: A 20/20 Perspective on Women’s Rights, 1920 – 2020

by Karen Manning

On Wednesday, October 30, 2019 at 7:00pm, the League of Women Voters of Newton (LWVN) co-sponsored a Newton Free Library event, together with Historic Newton and the Newton Human Rights Commission, hosted by author and guest Barbara Berenson.  The event, “After Suffrage: A 20/20 Perspective on Women’s Rights, 1920 – 2020”  was a talk that explored how women have fared politically and legally over the past century; considered how women activists have built alliances and shaped laws in an effort to combat stereotypes, discrimination and gender-based violence at home, at work and in the public sphere; reviewed some of the key developments over the past century including a discussion of the long and ongoing campaign for the Equal Rights Amendment; and discussed the historical connections between women who opposed suffrage and those who oppose women’s rights today. Barbara Berenson is the author of Massachusetts in the Woman Suffrage Movement: Revolutionary Reformers (2018), Boston in the Civil War: Hub of the Second Revolution (2014) and Walking Tours of Civil War Boston: Hub of Abolitionism (2011, 2d ed. 2014). She is the co-editor of Breaking Barriers: The Unfinished Story of Women Lawyers and Judges in Massachusetts (2012).

Please consider joining LWVN for a discussion of Barbara’s book (Massachusetts in the Woman Suffrage Movement: Revolutionary Reformers (2018)) with the author on Sunday, December 1 from 3 pm to 4:30 pm at the Waban Library Center.  Please RSVP at info@lwvnewton.org.

New Members, Fall 2019

We welcome the following new members:  enjoy the LWV Newton!

  • Kathleen Franklin
  • Kim Smith
  • Martha Bixby
  • Stephanie Gilman
  • Joana Canedo
  • Irene Margolin-Katz
  • Ruth and William Dane

Recent LWVN Losses

We have lost two members of the LWV Newton:

  • Rhona Shoul, who was a very long standing member, died age 93
  • Beth Lowd, a more recent member, kept up her membership even though she had moved out of Newton.

Our sympathies to their families.

LWVN Newsletter, Summer 2019

LWVN Newsletter, Vol 25 Issue 2

Table of contents

New President’s Message

Dear LWVN Members,

On behalf of Ellen Grody and myself, I want to thank you for having the trust and confidence in our ability and commitment to lead the League of Women Voters of Newton.  We also want to thank Sue Flicop and Lisa Mirabile for their leadership and commitment to League over the past years.  Ellen and I have very big shoes to fill and we are pleased that both Sue and Lisa are remaining on the Board of Directors.

We have a big year ahead:

  • Most notably, the 19th Amendment Centennial. The League will be partnering with the Mayor’s office, Historic Newton, and the Newton Free Library to celebrate this important milestone.  Please watch for more information on our website as we ramp up our planning and activities.   If you have any ideas that you would like to share, please send them to president@lwvnewton.org.
  • Newton has city-wide Elections for Councilor-at-Large, Ward Councilor, and School Committee positions. Once again, the League will be co-sponsoring candidate forums with NewTV. The forums are held for competitive races, at this time, and are the best and most objective way for citizens to learn about the candidates.
  • We ask that all league members Submit Questions for the candidates, by using the link.

As a Board we will be meeting in August to set our priorities for the 2019-2020 year.  I encourage you to send your thoughts, feedback and questions  to president@lwvnewton.org as we go forward with our planning and ultimately implementation process.

As a new president, I want to hear from you.  So please send to me your thoughts, anytime!

Sincerely,

Marcia Johnson
LWVN President

Outgoing President’s Message, Annual Meeting May 2019

by Sue Flicop

This annual meeting marks a special moment for me as part of the League of Women Voters of Newton.  This has been my eighth year as either President, Co-President or a Steering Committee member of the League, and next year I return to a regular Board member.  I’ve loved many of the moments representing the League all these years, but have felt for quite a while that it is better for the organization to have new leadership with new ideas and new ways of doing things.  Those of you who have been frustrated with me at any point—it’s time to rejoice because we will have a new leader next year!

Eight years is a long time, and one naturally starts thinking about what was different 8 years ago, what feels exactly the same, and what’s been accomplished in between.

So for what’s different:  we no longer have a strong newspaper in Newton, making it much, much harder to get our information and message out to the community.  I remember one of my first Annual Meetings, Jane Leighton gave direction to the Board about how important it was to be in the TAB as much as possible.  Things are substantially different now.  The slow demise of the TAB has led to a fracturing of ways to get messages out, requiring a multi-pronged approach that sometimes misses many of our older citizens.

With the fallout of the 2016 national election, we have a more engaged citizenry—a good thing, but one that has led to a number of groups with overlapping goals and membership.  Where the League is a more general volunteer group, working on a wide variety of issues, many engaged people choose to focus on one area and look for groups that work exclusively on certain topics.  While this is a net positive for our community, it makes it harder for the League, as a group with perhaps more moderate sensibilities and a long-established—and long—process, to appeal to many of the highly engaged and focused volunteers.

A very welcome change for the League during my time as a leader is the change of some of our most dedicated and hard-working members to be some of our most dedicated and hard-working elected officials.  This, of course, has nothing to do with me (so I’m not taking any credit), but came as a result of the members’ many, many years of engagement with the community and the knowledge and skills that come from being a part of an organization dedicated to good governance and educated decision-making.  We continue to be a training ground for women who are interested in running for office and who are willing to make tough decisions important to our community.

As a result, the League itself has changed.  Reliant as we are on the interest and engagement of our members, we have a number of committees that are no longer active, as we search for new leadership.  We also have some new and refreshed committees working very hard to achieve their goals. So while our positions are essentially the same, the organization has shifted focus to match different interests.

What’s stayed the same in all this time?  We continue to be a respected voice on issues of local municipal government and a sought-out group for support on a variety of initiatives.  We continue our work to both increase the number of voters and to help them become more informed and make the decision that best reflects their perspectives.  We keep true to our core values.

What also seems to have stayed the same, but is disheartening, is that there are two different visions for Newton, with Newton residents dividing up into two camps for seemingly everything.  It’s become quite obvious and predictable, and I’m not sure how it can be fixed.

And what has been accomplished in eight years?  To be really quite honest, I’ve struggled with this question.  I know what we didn’t accomplish, and that was charter reform.  But we tried—we collected signatures, worked to educate the public, followed the whole process, but came up just a little short.  And the repercussions are all around us.  Battle lines were drawn over the charter and they still remain.  What I think we had all hoped would be a general agreement on how our city government should best be structured seem to have devolved into the divisions we see at every land use committee meeting.  As you can imagine, this is my deepest disappointment.

But…it couldn’t all have been bad, right?  Of course not.  We’ve been weathering the changes both in our membership,  and in the world at large.  In the past 8 years we have set some new procedures in place for communicating with members by using email regularly and dropping the use of paper as much as possible.  We’re trying different media to communicate our ideas and inform the public.  We’ve tried to be faster in response to events in the community—we haven’t got that down, yet, and it’s still a work in progress.  We’re open to partnering with groups more closely and advertising events that dovetail with League positions, especially for those groups interested in environmental issues.  Also a work in progress is how to plan topic meetings that are well-attended.  Our topic meetings are always interesting—but given the busy lives of our members, we are trying to find a regular time that appeals to the most people.  We’ve also been addressing more national-level issues, like immigration and voting rights. And I know that there will be more changes to come with a new leader in place.

I’ve been proud to represent the League for so many years—it’s been a great honor that I’ve enjoyed and learned from.  I’ve gained some patience, a dedication to process, a thicker skin, and a deep appreciation for all of you who have been so kind and helpful to me over the years as I’ve made mistakes.  But it’s also time for a change, and I’m happy that our new president is someone who has had many years of experience as a proven leader in our community.  Thank you.

Photo of Incoming Vice President Ellen Grody, incoming President Marcia Johnson, outgoing President Sue Flicop and outgoing Vice President Lisa Mirabile at LWVN Annual Meeting 2019
Incoming Vice President Ellen Grody, incoming President Marcia Johnson, outgoing President Sue Flicop and outgoing Vice President Lisa Mirabile at LWVN Annual Meeting 2019

New Officers and Board of Directors, 2019-20

At the LWV Newton Annual Meeting on May 30, we elected the following Officers and members of the Board of Directors:

President: Marcia Johnson

Vice President: Ellen Grody

Treasurer: Andrea Kozinetz

Clerk: Theresa Fitzpatrick

Board Members:

Jen Abbott
Bonnie Carter
Alice Donisi-Feehan
Frieda Dweck
Sue Flicop
Lois Levin
Karen Manning
Lisa Mirabile
Linda Morrison
Sharyn Roberts

2020 Nominating Committee: Linda Green (Chair), Sue Rosenbaum, Chris Steele

Thank you, and congratulations to all who have agreed to serve!

LWVN Feedback to City Council on their process to adopt an increase in compensation

BRC July 24, 2019

Welcome, New Members!

The LWVN is pleased to welcome the following new members:

  • Melissa Chaikof
  • Sandra Davidow
  • Michele Shin
  • Janet Holly
  • Tricia (Patricia) Foster
  • Holly Ryan
  • Ellen Gordon

City of Newton Meetings Schedule

Lucia Dolan is performing a valuable service that other members may wish to subscribe to.  She posts the City Hall meetings for the following week every Friday. That list is posted on the LWVN website (see City Council Meetings in the sidebar of the home page. To join the email list, send a request to “Join the weekly Docket Digest email list” to  dolanlucia@gmail.com

Thank you , Lucia!

Current LWV MA Legislative priorities

by Alice Donisi Feehan

These are the bills in the MA House of Representatives that LWV MA is lobbying in favor of.  Add your voice!

 

H3573  “Support the Communities Act” about immigration status:

“To restore community trust in police by avoiding entanglement in immigration matters and protect due process for all.”

 

H.1700 An Act Ensuring access to Addiction Services

Will require that people with SUD [substance use disorder] be treated as patients rather than criminals.

 

H732 Public Lands Preservation Act (PLPA)

Refers to Article 97 of the Massachusetts Constitution:  Would codify current state policy that there be no net loss of lands or easements protected under Article 97.

LWVMA Climate Emergency Action Resolution and Plan

From LWVMA:

See below both the Climate Emergency Resolution, submitted as testimony  to the Joint Committee on Telecommunications and Utilities and passed at the 2019 LWVMA Convention unanimously, and the Climate Emergency Plan, approved by the Board of the LWVMA on July 26, 2019.

In his keynote speech at the convention, Bill McKibben made it clear that global societies have an urgent “action deficit” in terms of the response to date on the climate crisis. He also pointed out that the League has a unique and special role to play as a highly-regarded and respected organization with a 100-year history of championing policies for the public good and strengthening our democracy.

League of Women Voters of Massachusetts Climate Emergency Resolution

League of Women Voters of Massachusetts Climate Emergency Resolution

League of Women Voters of Massachusetts Climate Emergency Action Plan

2019 LWVMA Climate Emergency Plan

LWVN Newsletter, Spring 2019

LWVN Newsletter, Vol 25 Issue 1

Table of contents

President’s Message

Dear LWVN members,

We hope you have been able to participate in some of the programming the League has organized this year.  We’ve had topic meetings, planned a forum on ranked choice voting, created episodes of “The League Presents…” on NewTV, registered voters, celebrated our pollworkers and the holidays and so much more!  And we are about to get busier, with more voter registration events coming up as well as events for people interested in running for office and candidates’ forums in preparation for this fall’s municipal election.

This is also the time of year when we think about Annual Meeting, changes to the LWVN Board, and who might be willing to get more involved next year.  We are looking for someone who will continue the League tradition of observing Newton’s Community Preservation Commission (CPC) and organizing comments on applications that are before the CPC. We have a core of volunteers ready to evaluate the applications, but we need someone who can organize the response in a timely way and who can observe the (usually) monthly meetings of the CPC. The League has provided an evaluation of every application since the CPC started in 2002, but many of the League committees leaders have moved on to elected office!  If you are interested, please contact us at info@lwvnewton.org to find out more.

As a volunteer organization, much of our work depends on the interests of our members and where they are willing to spend their time.  If you are interested in environmental and transportation issues, municipal finance, land use and affordable housing, civics and civic education, voter registration and voter education, and willing to spend some time and energy on projects, let us know and we will try to work with you to develop your interests and share them with the League community.

Please read in this newsletter about two interesting meetings we recently had–a topic meeting on voter suppression and gerrymandering and a planning meeting with a speaker on environmental issues.  These are just two examples of events we love to hold so that we can all be more informed.  So share your ideas with us!  We’ll be holding a program planning meeting for next year on April 10th at 8 pm.  Email us at info@lwvnewton.org and we will update you with the location.

In League,

Sue Flicop, LWVN President

Notes on Launa Zimmaro’s Talk on LWVMA and Environmental Issues

If you missed the State Program Planning Meeting and the presentation by Launa Zimmaro, LWVMA Legislative Specialist for Environmental Issues, you can catch up with the notes below.  Thanks to Bonnie Carter and Launa for the notes!

The LWVMA Admin will be continuing to add bills to the League website as they are vetted by the Committee and approved by the Board. The website is the best spot to get detailed information about bills LWVMA supports or opposes in all our advocacy areas. Members should click on the LWVMA Advocacy tab on the home page and check the drop-down menu to find the specific information they are interested in.

Click here to get to the money in politics, 13 minute video I mentioned: Unbreaking America Solving the Corruption Crisis.

Links to articles about House Rules reforms and autocratic House control at end of notes.

Summary of comments: 3/3/19

  • 6-7000 bills are filed every session in the MA State Legislature – an estimated 10% of those bills this session relate to energy and the environment or climate change
  • Climate change bills under consideration for LWVMA support fall into four major categories based on bottom-line findings of the October 2018 IPCC Special Report and the 2018 Fourth National Climate Assessment: that urgent action is needed now and through the coming decade to reduce emissions by transitioning off fossil fuels: 
  • Carbon pricing
  • Transitioning to clean, renewable energy
  • Equity and environmental Justice
  • A plan for how to achieve critical emissions reductions

Carbon pricing

Carbon pricing is a market-based approach that sets a fee, sometimes referred to as a carbon pollution fee, either on the cost of fuels that emit greenhouse gases or on the emissions themselves by capping emissions amounts from various sectors of the economy, referred to as a cap and trade or cap and invest program.

The League supports putting a price on carbon in any of its forms:

  • Revenue neutral Fee and Rebate programs in which all revenue collected is returned to citizens to off-set cost increases
  • Fee and Invest in which the state allocates some portion of revenue could be reinvested in programs that, for example, boost energy efficiency and/or promote clean, renewable energy programs and businesses
  • Cap and Trade, also known as Cap and Invest. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is an example of a Cap and Trade Program used in Massachusetts to cap emissions from power plants. Revenue generated through RGGI has been used to promote and fund home energy audits and upgrades, etc.

For a detailed description of carbon pricing policies, please go to the Price on Carbon website which was developed and maintained by a national team of League members working on this League sanctioned site.

The League doesn’t take a position on how revenue generated is to be spent but does comment on bills.

Carbon pricing bills either approved or being considered by LWVMA follow. Bills refiled from last session are indicated with an R:

  1. BENSON BILL: H. 2810: An Act to promote green infrastructure and reduce carbon emissions, in TUE R
  2. BARRETT BILL: S. 1924: An Act to combat climate change, in TUE R
    • Gives the decision to the governor but proposes disbursement of revenue as going: 60% to Transportation; 30% to school aide; 5% to environmental health and justice
    • LWVMA concerned that suggested use of funds not consistent with need to mitigate climate change impacts
  3. GOVERNOR BAKER/EXECUTIVE BRANCH: Transportation and Climate Initiative Agreement (TCI) – A regional program

Has growing momentum and appears to be best opportunity to put a price on carbon for transportation fuels.

  • Transportation and Climate Initiative Regional Agreement – nine states and D.C. have already signed-on; MA was one of the first to agree. Aims to reduce emissions from the transportation sector – largest source of emissions in the Commonwealth responsible for 39% of emissions
  • Regional agreement promises greater level of reductions than achievable by single state, and sends strong transition signal to the auto and fossil fuel industry; also serves as model for other states
  • Has supporting legislation: S. 2106: An Act to advance modern and sustainable solutions for transportation, Representative Lori Ehrlich and Senator Eric Lesser, in Committee on Transportation
  • LWVMA WEBINAR ON TCI PLANNED FOR LATE APRIL; STAY TUNED!

Local, Clean, Renewable Energy

  1. ELDRIDGE BILL: S. 1958: An Act transitioning Massachusetts to 100 per cent renewable energy, in Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy (TUE) R
  2. CREEM BILL: S. 1940: An Act for utility transition to using renewable energy (FUTURE Act), in TUE
    • Covers gas leaks, rate payer charges for infrastructure and reforms to Dept of Public Utilities to allow towns, legislators and gas customers to have more access and voice in decisions made.
  3. GOUVEIA / COMMERFORD BILL: H. 2865: An Act to establish a net zero stretch energy code, TUE
  4. Balser/Pacheco BILL: H.2802/S.2005: An Act to secure a clean energy future, TUE

Here is link to a good article about this bill. I believe this is the bill that Andrea Downs was referring to at the start of the meeting.

Equity and Environmental Justice

A key factor in advocacy support for all climate change, energy legislation.

  1. ELDRIDGE BILL: S.464: An Act relative to environmental justice and toxics reduction in the Commonwealth, in Environment, Natural Resources & Agriculture (ENRA)
    • Bill text: “The Environmental Justice Act is intended to promote environmental justice, eliminate disparities with respect to exposure to environmental toxins, ensure access to environmental benefits within the Commonwealth, and implement Article 97 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth, which provides that the “people shall have the right to clean air and water, freedom from excessive and unnecessary noise, and the natural, scenic, historic, and esthetic qualities of their environment; and the protection of the people in their right to the conservation, development and utilization of the agricultural, mineral, forest, water, air and other natural resources is hereby declared to be a public purpose.”

Roadmap: How we get “there” – a fossil free, clean energy future

  1. MESCHINO BILL: H.832: An Act to create a 2050 roadmap to a clean and thriving Commonwealth, in Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture (ENRA) R

“Bill Summary: This bill would establish a new framework for the fair and efficient achievement of the Commonwealth’s climate goals by requiring Massachusetts to develop and implement a comprehensive plan to achieve our carbon emission reduction goals by 2050 while maintaining a thriving economy.”

“Why is this needed? In 2008, the Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA) established Massachusetts as a leader in climate change mitigation by committing the Commonwealth to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 80% below 1990 statewide emissions levels by 2050. But efforts to achieve the GWSA’s goals in the last ten years have been disjointed, and too often both short-sighted and ineffective. As a result, it remains unclear whether Massachusetts will meet its initial 2020 GHG emission reduction target. Massachusetts lacks a plan to reach its mid- and long-term carbon emission reduction goals. Newly released major climate reports expose the urgent need for more drastic action to reduce GHG emissions.”

Context: how the MA legislature operates

Notes on Lisa Danetz’s Voter Suppression Presentation

by Frieda Dweck

On Feb 28, members gathered to hear Lisa Danetz discuss Voter suppression issues.  Danetz is a public policy consultant for philanthropic foundations, has worked in the voting rights, money in politics, and democracy field as an expert, advocate, and lawyer for over 15 years. Her work has focused on improving election administration and increasing the political participation of disfranchised groups within our society through public policy research, litigation, executive and legislative advocacy, and public education. Ms. Danetz is the former legal director of Demos, a New York-based public policy center, and also worked at National Voting Rights Institute.

Lisa presented a comprehensive look at how voting rights have been affected nationally over the last 10 years or so, both negatively and positively.

Voting rights have been negatively impacted over the last decade because many politicians have been focusing on voting legitimacy, rather than on ensuring fair play.  This was accomplished in three different ways: (a) voter suppression, (b) gerrymandering, and (c) abuse of absentee ballots.

Voter Suppression – involves the effort to reduce the number of people who can vote.  This can be accomplished by list purging, requiring voter IDs, and manipulating the locations of polling places (siting them far away from voters, or having too few polling places) so that it makes it more difficult for certain voters to vote.  Because of time constraints, Lisa mostly reviewed recent list purging efforts.

List purging – from an administrative point of view, there is a legitimate concern about maintaining an accurate list of voters.  Election administrators use the lists to determine the appropriate allocation of resources for an election; ie. how many polling locations should be available, how many poll workers should be assigned to each location, etc.  For that reason, it is important to ensure that voter lists are kept current and accurate.  However, there is a balance between maintaining an accurate list count and making sure that names are not removed from a voter list just for a failure to vote.

The National Voter Registration Act established a process for voter removal that protects the voter.  One of the ways in which it does that is by creating a mechanism by which the US Postal Service works in coordination with election boards to notify them of address changes.  However, several states have asserted that the mechanisms provided for by the NVRA do not do enough to purge their voter lists of inaccuracies, and have adopted policies that have resulted in the unnecessary removal of voters from voting lists.

Ohio – adopted a Supplemental Process for list purging that permitted election boards to remove a voter from its list if they failed to vote in two subsequent federal elections.  This resulted in approximately 40,000 people being removed from the voter list, without first establishing that the voter no longer resided in the voting district.  The purge of voters also disproportionately affected low- income citizens.

Georgia – adopted the Exact Match Bill.  If the signature on a voter does not exactly match their signature from their voter registration application (even if the signature simply misses a hyphen), their vote is not counted unless they take steps to resolve the discrepancy.  This caused over 50,000 votes to be uncounted, again disproportionately affecting low income voters and voters of color.

Texas – the Secretary of State in Texas demanded a review of voter’s list against a list of driver registrations.  Since non-citizens obtain driver’s licenses, the objective was to identify non-citizens who had been listed on the voter rolls.  This review resulted in 80,000 names being removed from the voter rolls.  What the review failed to look at, though, was how many of the non-citizens became naturalized since obtaining their licenses, and when that review was done, there were only about 80 names left of non-citizens who were on the voter list.  (There is no indication that these 80 non-citizens actually voted, only that their names were on voting lists.)

All these efforts at voter suppression have become more prevalent recently because of a Supreme Court decision in 2013 in the case of Holder v Shelby County.  Prior to that decision, certain states were required to obtain approval of any legislation that would affect the rights of voters before those rules would go into effect, to insure that voters’ rights were protected.  This affected primarily southern states, which have had a history of suppressing the votes of people of color.  The Supreme Court ruled, however, that these protective provisions were no longer required.

Gerrymandering –  is the manipulation of voting districts based on political affiliation and partisan makeup.  Gerrymandering has been used to benefit both Republicans and Democrats.  (Since the term ”gerrymandering” originated in Massachusetts, we, of course, had to briefly mention that history – –    the word was created in reaction to a redrawing of Massachusetts state senate election districts under Governor Elbridge Gerry. In 1812, Gerry signed a bill that redistricted Massachusetts to benefit his party. When mapped, one of the contorted districts in the Boston area was said to resemble the shape of a salamander.)

Partisan gerrymandering can be unconstitutional both under the First Amendment and the Equal Protection clause.  Currently, there are several instances of gerrymandering being challenged in the courts.  It is possible that in two instances  – in North Carolina (where the districting map favors Republicans) and Maryland (where the districting map favors Democrats) – these cases will reach the Supreme Court.

Absentee Ballot Fraud   – the collection of absentee ballots is the area where true fraud and cheating can occur.  While we hear a great deal of concern about the need for photo IDs to prevent voter fraud at the polls, evidence has shown that this is less of a problem than absentee ballot collection.

Recently, in North Carolina, the Election Board refused to certify the outcome of the Congressional District 9 election due to a high number of questionable absentee ballots.  For that district, Republicans make-up 19% of the voters, yet 80% of the absentee ballots were from Republicans.

Our discussion moved on to how voting rights have been positively impacted over the last decade.

Automatic Voter Registration.  Last summer, Massachusetts joined about a dozen other states in adopting automatic voter registration regulations. AVR is expected to go into effect in Massachusetts in 2020.  Whenever any Massachusetts resident interacts with either the Registry of Motor Vehicles or MassHealth, they will be automatically registered to vote unless they opt out.  The RMV or MassHealth will transfer the registration data to the city clerks, and the city clerks then send out notifications to the individuals registered.   Individuals are registered without any party affiliation but have an opportunity to register with a party after the initial notification.

Other initiatives being taken by states across the country to improve voter access:

  • Same Day Voter Registration
  • Restoration of Voting Rights to former felons
  • Electronic Registration Information Center – a database that uses up to date technology to share information about voters (age, citizenship, change of addresses).  About 25 states belong to ERIC.  There are some voting rights advocates who are skeptical of ERIC and believe that it can be used to prematurely remove voters from the registration lists.

All these issues are of interest to the LWV; helping citizens access the vote is one of our primary commitments.

Updates on City Planning

by Marcia Johnson

Riverside Visioning

In 2013 the Board of Aldermen approved a Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) at Riverside special permit.  This project stalled  and was ultimately deemed not economically feasible and never moved forward.  Now fast forward to 2018-19.  Mark Development has partnered with Normandy Real Estate Partners (original developer) to move forward with a development at Riverside.  This project is larger, denser and more comprehensive in its offerings, to which many Auburndale and Lower Falls residents have voiced concerns.  As a result the City Council and Mayor Fuller have taken action by approving and moving forward with Visioning for the Riverside site in order to:

  • Gain community input and perspective in the development of a future vision for the site
  • Produce a plan with development principles for the site that can be provided to the City Council Land Use Committee
  • Develop principles and desired community benefits for future development of the Riverside site.

The TOD at Riverside, though located in Auburndale/Lower Falls, is a city-wide project.  Therefore all citizens should take an interest in this project and provide feedback using this link as well as by participating in future  meetings.

Washington Street Visioning

“Hello Washington Street!” is the City of Newton’s initiative to plan proactively the future of Washington Street in a community-based process with residents, local businesses, and City Councilors, with the help of the Principle Group, the planning firm under contract with the City of Newton. The thirteen-month process, started in April 2018 and anticipated to go until May 2019, will result in a vision plan and draft zoning recommendations for the areas that link West Newton to Newtonville to Newton Corner.

Thank you to those who provided feedback on the first draft of the vision.  Once again, we have an opportunity to promote the need for more diverse housing, and better and safer transportation options in Newton by providing feedback  on the second draft by March 13..    The voices of all residents of Newton count even if you don’t live in West Newton, Newtonville or Newton Corner.

The Final Draft is anticipated to be released in late April, so providing timely feedback is critical.

Howard Haywood Celebration

Former Mayor David Cohen once said that Rev. Haywood did more to build community in the city of Newton than anyone he knew. So it was fitting that on December 16th, more than 350 people filled Temple Shalom to celebrate Newton’s “…Beacon for Affordable Housing” Howard Haywood .     In planning this event, Reverend Haywood insisted that this not be a simple party but rather there be a focus on educating the community about the hard facts central to understanding the injustices of the recent past and the barriers to equality that still exist in our society.  As a result there was some very straight talk about race, prejudice, overt and structural discrimination.  Let me highlight just a few thoughts:

  • In today’s America, approximately half of all Black persons and 40 percent of all Latinos live in neighborhoods that have no white residents – while the average white person lives in a neighborhood that is nearly 80 percent white.
  • Half of the affordable rental housing units in the Greater Boston Metropolitan area are concentrated in just 10 municipalities in the region. Concentrating subsidized and public housing in low-income areas – without providing the resources, amenities and opportunities its residents need to thrive only perpetuates inequality.
  • In 134 Massachusetts municipalities in 2016 there was not a single mortgage loan to a Black borrower and in 49 cities and towns just one loan to a Black borrower. Today we are still racially divided, residentially segregated, and the wall that separates us being reinforced by the increasing racial wealth gap.
  • Yet, today the economic barriers to affordable housing in Newton denying access to all those in the middle and bottom of the economic ladder requires us to do more. We cannot settle for token development, but must embrace an adequate supply of fair affordable housing as essential for a better Newton.

It was appropriate that on that date in December,  Reverend Haywood was honored for his long standing commitment to social justice and especially to fair and affordable housing- as 2018 was the 50th anniversary of the federal Fair Housing Act (FHA) .    The two main goals of the FHA were to end discrimination in housing and to take significant actions to overcome historic segregation and achieve inclusive integrated communities

Today, it is estimated that there are approximately 4 million incidents of housing discrimination in the US each year – the majority of which go unreported.  In Newton, we have to continue to fight for affordable housing, multi-family housing, and even at times more density in housing that will attract people of diverse backgrounds to our community.

As I was finishing this article, I was saddened to learn of the passing of Reverend Haywood.  So now more than ever we need to be guardians of his legacy.  That is, to have the courage to be persistent and impatient when confronted by the forces of ignorance and indifference; to be creative in finding new ways to dent and dismantle the walls that divide us;  to walk humbly in his footsteps and stay the course -hopeful for a more inclusive Newton.

Thank you to Nadine Cohen, Hubie Jones, and Nancy Zollers for content of this article.

LWVN Remembers Susan Kaplan and Doris Lelchook

Long-time LWV Newton member Susan Kaplan died in December, 2018.  Susan was active in a large range of community organizations, especially those that promoted the arts.  She was a founding member of the Board of Directors of Newton Cable Access TV, and was also a member of the Newton Cultural Council.

Doris Lelchook, also a long-time LWV Newton member, died in December, 2018 at the age of 94.  Doris was a regular presence at our lunchtime topic meetings for many years, always participating in the conversation with deep insight and a welcoming smile.