Since 2021, PDM has hosted a series of public policy forums about the major challenges facing Massachusetts. Each includes experts who examine the current situation and discuss legislative and other steps we can take to improve the lives of residents of Massachusetts. They are held over Zoom, usually in the second half of each month. Please check this page frequently for precise times and dates.
2024 Forums:
2024 – FORUM #6: Friday, October 25th, 10-11 AM
Organizing Rideshare Drivers
The gig economy presents unique challenges for workers who operate in an environment without the normal protections of a regulated labor market. Our panel
- Joel Rivera, Deputy Campaign Manager, Yes on 3
- Hilary Robinson, Associate Professor of Law and Sociology, Northeastern Law School, and
- Patrick Cruzi, Rideshare Driver
will explain how transportation network companies (i.e. Uber and Lyft) exploit their workers and why drivers would benefit from representation.
Missed this Forum? Watch the recording here.
Featured Speakers
Joel Rivera
After leading civic engagement and organizing efforts as the Director of Organizing at the Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy (MIRA) Coalition, JOEL RIVERA served as the Political Director of the Fair Share for Massachusetts campaign in 2022, a historic campaign which created a 4% surtax on income earned over $1 million. Currently, Joel is hoping to be a part of history again, this time by helping to secure victory on another first-of-its-kind ballot initiative: to give Uber and Lyft drivers the option to join a union. Joel serves as the Deputy Campaign Manager on the YES on 3 campaign.
Hilary Robinson
HILARY ROBINSON is Associate Professor of Law and Sociology at Northeastern Law School. She teaches courses on the way technology influences the law. Her research has focused on interactions between technological change and legal decision-making, particularly as legal institutions engage in decision-making about technology. Her thesis examined work in an “algorithmic labor market” by studying Uber drivers in Boston, based in part on her own experience in ride-alongs and as a driver herself. She served as the first vice president of the North Shore Branch of the NAACP, which she helped found, and holds degrees from Harvard College, its Law School and a PhD from MIT.
Moderator
John Lippitt
JOHN A. LIPPITT has been a member of the Leadership Team of Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts (PDM) for over 5 years. Mr. Lippitt has a Ph.D. in Early Childhood Policy from the Heller School at Brandeis University and has recently retired from teaching and program management in early childhood policy and practice, as well as child and family policy more broadly. He has been writing a blog on national policy and politics since 2011 at http://lippittpolicyandpolitics.org.
2024 – FORUM #5: Friday, October 11th, 10-11 AM
Getting Out the Progressive Vote
We are losing elections, simply because we fail to get our voters to the polls. What can be done– motivate more voters, empower marginalized communities, make voting easier by changing the rules? Our expert panel will discuss how voter turnout can be improved and thus assure that democracy continues to work.
Missed this Forum? Watch the recording here.
Featured Speakers
Miles Gresham
MILES GRESHAM is the Campaign Director for Neighbor to Neighbor Massachusetts. Miles has worked in law, politics and policy in Western New York State for nine years, most recently as a Policy Fellow for the Partnership for the Public Good in Buffalo.
David Halbert
DAVID HALBERT is the Executive Director of Baystate Progress. He has spent over 15 years in public service, most recently with the Middlesex Sheriff’s Office where he served as Deputy Director of Community Affairs. A lifelong public servant and civic activist David has been a staff member for former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and former Boston City Councilors Sam Yoon & John Tobin.
Shanique Rodriguez
SHANIQUE RODRIGUEZ is the Executive Director of Massachusetts Voter Table. She is a political, social, and reproductive justice activist who has dedicated nearly a decade to organizing in BIPOC communities across Massachusetts. She brings her lived experiences and passion for uplifting and finding justice for marginalized communities like her own to her work.
Moderator
Jonathan Hecht
JONATHAN HECHT is a former state representative (2009-21) and city councilor (2006-2009) from Watertown. Previously, he worked at a New York law firm, as a program officer for the Ford Foundation in human rights and governance in Beijing, taught East Asian law at Harvard Law School, and co-founded the China Law Center at Yale Law School. Jon is on the Steering Committee of the Coalition to Reform our Legislature and the leadership team of the Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts.
Resources for this Episode
- Massachusetts Voter Table’s Legislative Dashboard, a tool that activists and legislators can use to assess voter turnout by district in statewide years (currently has 2022 data, and will be updated after this election).
2024 – FORUM #4: Friday, June 28th, 10-11 AM
The Massachusetts Legislature: How Broken Is It and Can it Be Fixed?
Despite overwhelming Democratic control of both branches and the Governor’s office, why does MA make so little progress on the issues that matter most to our progressive electorate: housing, healthcare, the environment and education? Why does our legislature work in secrecy and lack accountability, transparency and professionalism, compared to every other state in the country? How are individual legislators silenced when they seek to advance progressive legislation, even measures supported by our MA Democratic Platform?
For our June virtual public policy forum, PDM has assembled a panel with different perspectives, each deeply familiar with the workings of our legislative branch: a former legislator, an activist and a journalist who covered the State House. Moderated by the co-chair of PDM’s working group on legislative reform, they will address how our legislature functions, look for answers to why it is not more effective and examine how reform might happen.
Missed this Forum? Watch the recording here.
Featured Speakers
Jonathan Hecht
JONATHAN HECHT is a former state representative (2009-21) and city councilor (2006-2009) from Watertown. Previously, he worked at a New York law firm, as a program officer for the Ford Foundation in human rights and governance in Beijing, taught East Asian law at Harvard Law School, and co-founded the China Law Center at Yale Law School. Jon is on the Steering Committee of the Coalition to Reform our Legislature and the leadership team of the Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts.
Travis Benson
TRAVIS BENSON is an activist who has organized for many candidates and advocacy organizations, including Representative Erika Uyterhoeven and Bernie Sanders. He was Field Director for two transparency campaigns at Act on Mass. He is the author of the May 25, 2024, opinion in Commonwealth Beacon, Dissecting the “toxic” State House culture. Travis is also a musician and multi‑instrumentalist.
Adrian Walker
ADRIAN WALKER writes a twice-weekly column, focusing on politics and local news. A native of Miami, he joined the Globe in 1989 as a general assignment reporter, after three years at the Miami News. Walker was a member of the Globe Spotlight Team that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for local reporting in 2018 for the series “Boston. Race. Image.Reality.” He is a frequent commentator on political and social justice issues – including the Netflix documentary “Trial 4” – and was the host of the Globe’s award-winning nine-part podcast “Murder in Boston” on the Stuart murder case. He was the Globe’s City Hall bureau chief, State House reporter and deputy political editor before becoming a Metro columnist in 1998. He was named an Associate Editor of the Globe in 2021.
Moderator
Jeanne Kempthorne
JEANNE KEMPTHORNE is a retired attorney, federal and state prosecutor and criminal defense attorney. She has long focused on public integrity, having served as chief of the Public Corruption Unit at the US Attorney’s Office in Boston and on the State Ethics Commission. She was vice-chair of the board of Common Cause Massachusetts and served on the leadership team of PDM, where she co-chaired the working group on legislative reform. She currently serves on the steering committee of the Coalition to Reform Our Legislature.
Resources for this Episode
- The American Prospect | December 4, 2023: Massachusetts Blues
- CommonWealth Beacon | May 25, 2024: Dissecting the ‘toxic’ State House culture | Travis Benson
2024 – FORUM #3: Friday, May 17th, 10-11 AM
Demystifying the Governor’s Council: Judges, Court Clerks, Pardons and Paroles
PDM’s next Zoom forum will explore the critical role of the Massachusetts Governor’s Council. The Council’s eight elected members vote to approve or disapprove every gubernatorial appointment of judges, court clerks, and members of the Parole Board, as well as all pardons and sentence commutations. On our state ballots, these are the offices most frequently left blank by voters who don’t know what the Council does or the identity of their Councilor. PDM is hosting this panel of experts to make the Council more accountable, its functions better known, and to enable more voters to choose the best candidates.
Missed this Forum? Watch the recording here.
Featured Speakers
Michael Albano
MICHAEL ALBANO was the elected Mayor of Springfield MA for four two-year terms from 1995 to 2003. Previously, he had been elected to Springfield’s School Committee and its City Council. His public service began in 1974 as a Probation officer in District Court. In 1982, he was appointed to the MA Parole Board by Governor King, and re-appointed by Governor Dukakis, serving until 1994. In 2012, he was elected to the Governor’s Council from Western MA (the 8th District) and served until 2017. Michael holds master’s degrees in criminal justice and public administration.
Jean Trounstine
JEAN TROUNSTINE is an author, activist and professor emerita at Middlesex Community College, who taught about justice issues for over 25 years. During 10 years at Framingham Women’s Prison, she directed eight plays and wrote Shakespeare Behind Bars: The Power of Drama in a Women’s Prison about that work. She has written articles about the criminal legal system focused on parole and the MA Governor’s Council, including for DigBoston. Jean is co-founder of the women’s branch of a program for probationers, Changing Lives Through Literature. In 2024, she published Motherlove (Concord Free Press), a book of short stories about the mothers of teens who have killed other teens. Currently, she co-chairs a coalition of citizen activists, Who Governs the Governor’s Council.
JOHN GRIFFIN
JOHN GRIFFIN is the managing partner for strategy at Partners in Democracy (PID), founded by Harvard’s Danielle Allen to pursue democracy renovation, a new way of thinking about and investing to strengthen our country, by reconnecting people to civic life and redesigning our political institutions and civic infrastructure. Before PID, he spent a decade working in Massachusetts policy and politics, including as MA Policy Director at Democrats for Education Reform. In Washington D.C and MA, he has advised nonprofits, campaigns, and civil society organizations on achieving their policy goals. John holds a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School.
Moderator
Harry Margolis
HARRY MARGOLIS is a practicing lawyer who concentrates on elder law, planning for individuals with disabilities, and estate and trust administration. In 1987, he founded Margolis Bloom & D’Agostino, a law firm with offices in Wellesley. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and has served as adjunct faculty at Boston College Law School. Harry has studied the role and functioning of the Governor’s Council and was a candidate for the District 3 councilor’s seat in 2012. He has served on the leadership team of PDM and is active in Who Governs the Governor’s Council, including the development of their website.
Resources for this Episode
- MA Elections Division | Find Your Governor’s Councillor
- MA Elections Division | Lists of cities and towns in each Governor’s Council District
- Incorruptible Mass Podcast | April 4, 2024: The Governor’s Council — The Appendix of Massachusetts – with Jean Trounstine and Harry Margolis
2024 – FORUM #2: Friday, March 8th, 10-11 AM
Nonprofit Local News
Any of us concerned about the state of our democracy have watched with regret and even alarm as dozens of local news sources have disappeared and coverage of the issues nearest home continues to shrink. As you know, this is a national phenomenon, not just in Massachusetts. Here is the encouraging news that will be the subject of PDM’s next public policy forum on Zoom: Hope is on the way via the growing strength of nonprofit local news sources cropping up here and elsewhere. These enterprises are often supported by their readers’ small monthly contributions, employ talented journalists, and are proliferating.
We will hear from several MA journalists who have founded and edited local news outlets, including Ellen Clegg, the co-author of What Works in Community News: Media Startups, News Deserts and the Future of the 4th Estate, just published by Beacon Books.
Missed this Forum? Watch the recording here.
Featured Speakers
Ellen Clegg
In a journalism career that spanned more than three decades at The Boston Globe, ELLEN CLEGG held a variety of senior editing positions in the newsroom and directed the Globe’s Editorial Page from 2014 to 2018. She is co-founder of Brookline.News. She and Dan Kennedy are co-authors of What Works in Community News: Media Startups, News Deserts and The Future of the Fourth Estate (Beacon Press, 2024). She has published two previous books, ChemoBrain (Prometheus Books, 2009) and The Alzheimer’s Solution (Prometheus Books, 2010, with Dr. Kenneth Kosik).
Sam Mintz
SAM MINTZ is the founding editor of Brookline.News. He has spent his career reporting on both local and national news. Since May 2023, Sam has been the editorial leader of the nonprofit news outlet covering the town of Brookline. He grew up in Arlington, and attended Brandeis University. Sam previously was a reporter at the Cape Cod Times and spent five years in Washington, D.C., covering Congress and federal agencies for E&E News and Politico.
Barbara Roessner
BARBARA ROESSNER is founding editor of The New Bedford Light, a free, nonprofit, all-digital news outlet dedicated to in-depth journalism and diverse community voices. Her newspaper career spans forty-plus years as a political reporter, opinion columnist, writing coach, enterprise editor and news executive. She is a former executive editor and vice president of Hearst Connecticut Media and former managing editor of the Hartford Courant, where she helped lead the newsroom to one Pulitzer Prize and three Pulitzer finalists. She is a graduate of Wesleyan University and was a Knight Fellow at Stanford University. She now paints from her New Bedford art studio, just down the hall from The Light’s newsroom.
Moderator
Julie Rafferty
JULIE RAFFERTY is a co-founder of Brookline.News and currently chairs its board of directors. Julie began her career as a daily news journalist and editor for Gannett and Newhouse newspapers in upstate New York. Since moving to the Boston area, she has led communications efforts at prominent nonprofits, most recently serving as communications dean at the Harvard-Chan School of Public Health. Currently a communications and fundraising consultant, she works with a wide range of large and small nonprofit healthcare, social services and educational organizations in Boston and nationally.
Resources for this Episode
- Darr, Hitt, and Dunaway | August 20, 2018: Newspaper closures polarize voter behavior
- Nature Journal | November 23, 2020: Affective polarization, local contexts and public opinion in America
- ScienceDirect | Financing dies in darkness? The impact of newspaper closures on public finance
- Institute for Nonprofit News
- American Journalism Project
- National Trust for Local News
- Northwestern Local News Initiative | The State of Local News 2023
- Northeastern University School of Journalism | What Works: The Future of Local News
- Press Forward
2024 – FORUM #1: Friday, January 26th, 10-11 AM
Putting it Together: Critical Programs to Address the MA Housing Crisis (fifth forum in a series)
PDM has hosted and recorded a series of virtual forums covering the scope and dynamics of the Massachusetts housing crisis. Our final forum will discuss proposed solutions. Join our panelists Ed Augustus, MA Secretary of Housing and Livable Communities, Carolyn Chou, Chair, Homes for All, and Josh Zakim, Executive Director, Housing Forward-MA, as we walk through multiple legislative proposals and advocacy strategies to combat our unsustainable status quo.
Missed this Forum? Watch the recording here.
Featured Speakers
Ed Augustus
ED AUGUSTUS is the Secretary of Housing and Livable Communities in the Healey administration. He served as City Manager of Worcester, the Chief Administrative and Executive Officer of the Gateway City of more than 200,000 people, from 2014-2022. During his tenure, he oversaw the development or preservation of more than 2,000 affordable housing units throughout the City.
Prior to managing Worcester, Augustus served as Director of Government & Community Relations for The College of the Holy Cross, State Senator for the 2nd Worcester District, Chief of Staff for Congressman Jim McGovern, and Chief of Staff to the Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental and Interagency Affairs at the U.S. Department of Education under President Clinton.
Carolyn Chou
CAROLYN CHOU is the Director of Homes for All Mass, a statewide collective of grassroots housing justice groups working to halt displacement, increase community control of land, and win housing justice.
Carolyn served as the Executive Director of the Asian American Resource Workshop (AARW), Through her work at AARW, Carolyn supported building the leadership capacity and organizing of Vietnamese American young adults in Dorchester. She helped build Dorchester Not for Sale, which brings together a diverse set of neighborhood residents to fight for good jobs, truly affordable housing, and equitable planning.
Josh Zakim
JOSH ZAKIM began his career in 2010 at Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS) where he represented working families facing the loss of their homes to foreclosure at the hands of predatory lenders.
In 2013, Josh was elected to the Boston City Council where he chaired the Committee on Housing & Community Development; the Committee on Civil Rights; and the Special Committee on Transportation, Infrastructure, Planning, & Investment.
After six productive years on the City Council Josh chose not to seek reelection for a fourth term, leaving office in January 2020 to join Housing Forward.
Moderator
Peter Enrich
PETER ENRICH, a long-time member of PDM’s leadership team and a professor emeritus at Northeastern Univ. School of Law, is a leading authority on state and local government and state tax policy, frequently serving as an advisor to state and local governments and to advocacy groups interested in state and local fiscal policy.
Resources for this Episode
- Office of the Governor | Affordable Homes Act Fact Sheet
- Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts | Housing Policy Summary
- Mass.gov | Governor Healey and Lieutenant Governor Driscoll File $56.1 Billion Fiscal Year 2025 Budget
- Mass.gov | The Affordable Homes Act
- Metropolitan Area Planning Council | November 28, 2023: Report Shows Investors are Gobbling Up Homes Across Greater Boston
- Housing Forward MA | Housing Policy FAQs
- Housing Forward MA | Publications & Research
- Homes for All Massachusetts
| A statewide coalition of grassroots housing justice groups working on housing justice & advocacy
2023 Forums:
2023 – FORUM #7: Friday, December 8th, 10-11 AM
Show Me the Money: Some Financial Dimensions of Housing Policy (fourth forum in a series)
The fourth forum focuses on housing funding. Panelists Jason Wright, Senior Policy Analyst, Mass Budget and Policy Center and Thomas N. O’Brien Chief Executive Officer, HYM Investment Group, LLC, the redeveloper of Suffolk Downs will address:
- What are the barriers to funding housing that spans the range of affordability levels?
- Needed investment in existing affordable housing.
- The role of vouchers in driving supply, as well as;
- Where can the money come from?
PDM is hosting a series of virtual forums to help all of us better understand the housing crisis in Massachusetts (and beyond) and envision meaningful strategies to address it. The first forum introduced the dimensions of this crisis and some key policies to explore. The second forum focused on how to keep people in their homes amid the challenges of excessively high rents, unceasing evictions, and the threat of foreclosure. The third forum focused on the regulatory hurdles restricting housing production. If you missed any of the forums you can review the recordings below.
Missed this Forum? Watch the recording here.
Featured Speakers
Jason Wright
Jason WRIGHT is a Senior Policy Analyst at the Massachusetts Budget and Policy
Center focusing on taxes, state revenue, and fiscal policy.
He is an experienced mixed-methods researcher who is interested in methods that center the experience of community members. Jason is pursuing a Ph.D. in public policy at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Prior to joining MassBudget, he worked in research at the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, as an analyst for the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development, and as Director of Data Analytics for Roxbury Community College.
Thomas N. O’Brien
THOMAS O’BRIEN is the Founding Partner and Chief Executive Officer of The HYM Investment Group, LLC. HYM is currently leading the development of over twenty (20) million square feet of mixed-use development in Greater Boston, including Bulfinch Crossing (the redevelopment of the Government Center Garage), Suffolk Downs and Parcel 3 in Roxbury. O’Brien also led the Boston Redevelopment Authority as its Director and Chief of Staff, overseeing the development of over 12 million Square Feet of projects in Boston, from 1993 to 2000. O’Brien is a graduate of Brown University and Suffolk University Law School and is a member of the Massachusetts Bar.
Moderator
Peter Enrich
PETER ENRICH, a long-time member of PDM’s leadership team and a professor emeritus at Northeastern Univ. School of Law, is a leading authority on state and local government and state tax policy, frequently serving as an advisor to state and local governments and to advocacy groups interested in state and local fiscal policy.
2023 – FORUM #6: Friday, October 27th, 10-11 AM
Making Way for More Supply (third forum in a series)
PDM is hosting a series of virtual forums to help all of us better understand the housing crisis in Massachusetts (and beyond) and envision meaningful strategies to address it. The first forum introduced the dimensions of this crisis and some key policies to explore. The second forum focused on how to keep people in their homes amid the challenges of excessively high rents, unceasing evictions, and the threat of foreclosure. If you missed either forum you can review the recordings below.
The third forum focuses on housing production. Panelists Kassie Infante, Abundant Housing MA (AHMA); Eric Shupin, Chief of Policy, MA Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities and Mayor Jared Nicholson of Lynn will address restrictive zoning and the institutional biases that choke supply, steps to increase supply and the role of local advocacy to drive change.
Missed this Forum? Watch the recording here.
Featured Speakers
Kassie Infante
KASSIE INFANTE is the Associate Director of Operations at Abundant Housing MA (AHMA), a statewide network and coalition of pro-housing advocates across Massachusetts who work to increase housing production, zoning reform/desegregation and tenant protections. She is also an appointed member of the Zoning Board of Appeals in Haverhill, and an executive committee member of the Planners of Color network. Originally from Lawrence, MA, Kassie earned her B.S from the University of North Carolina Wilmington and her M.Ed. in Education Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Eric Shupin
Prior to joining the Healey Administration as the Chief of Policy, Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, ERIC SHUPIN served as Director of Public Policy at Citizen’s Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA). Eric has a B.A. and J.D. from The George Washington University and is a member of the Massachusetts Bar.
Jared Nicholson
JARED NICHOLSON is serving his first term as Mayor of Lynn, where his focus has been on delivering inclusive growth through better schools, better housing, better jobs, better infrastructure and more peace in the community.
Prior to being elected Mayor, Nicholson served three terms on the Lynn School Committee and was a law professor at Northeastern University, where he worked with and researched small businesses.
Mayor Nicholson is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School.
Moderator
Peter Enrich
PETER ENRICH, a long-time member of PDM’s leadership team and a professor emeritus at Northeastern Univ. School of Law, is a leading authority on state and local government and state tax policy, frequently serving as an advisor to state and local governments and to advocacy groups interested in state and local fiscal policy.
Resources for this Episode
- The Boston Globe | October 18, 2023: Beyond the Gilded Gate: A Spotlight Report into the Massachusetts housing crisis.
- Mass.gov | Affordable Homes Act Fact Sheet
2023 – FORUM #5: Friday, September 15th, 10-11 AM
Keeping People Housed (second forum in a series)
The second forum in the series on Housing focuses on how to keep people in their homes amid the challenges of excessively high rents, unceasing evictions, and the threat of foreclosure. Our expert panel includes Kimberley Borden, Director of the Tenancy Preservation Program, Berkshire County Regional Housing Authority; Mark Martinez, Housing Staff Attorney, Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI); and Denise Matthew-Turner, Co-Executive Director, Vida Urbana. They will discuss the barriers facing low- and moderate-income families in retaining affordable and appropriate housing, and the near-term policy changes needed to address these issues. As always, PDM posts these recorded forums on our website, and you can watch the first in this 2023 housing series below.
Missed this Forum? Watch the recording here.
Featured Speakers
Kimberley L. Borden
KIMBERLY L. BORDEN is the Director of the Tenancy Preservation Program of Western Massachusetts and Related Services For Berkshire County Regional Housing Authority. She has over thirty years’ experience working for human services organizations, including many years working with battered women and their children. Kim has worked for Berkshire County Regional Housing Authority for nearly 17 years, first as a housing search case manager and for the last 9 years in the Tenancy Preservation Program.
Mark Martinez
MARK MARTINEZ joined Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI) in 2022 as a Staff Attorney in the Housing Unit. Prior to joining MLRI, he served three years as Legal Counsel and Budget Director to State Senator Patricia D. Jehlen. In this role he worked on passing legislation to prevent evictions as well as to create and preserve affordable housing through a tenant’s right of first refusal and a transfer fee. Also, while at the State House, Mark co-founded Beacon BLOC, a collective of staffers organizing around making cultural and institutional changes on Beacon Hill to better recruit, retain and support staffers of color. Mark got his bachelor’s degree from Western New England University and his J.D. from Northeastern University.
Denise Matthews-Turner
DENISE MATTHEWS-TURNER is the Co-Executive Director of City Life/Vida Urbana. Founded in 1973, City Life works for racial, social, and economic justice and gender equity by fighting displacement and building community power in Boston’s working class, BIPOC communities. Before becoming Co-ED, Denise was City Life’s Director of Administration and part of the executive staff team focused on HR, Operations and staff and member leadership development. She facilitates City Life’s Black Feminist Praxis Circle. Denise is a fabric artist and an avid sports fan. A native of New Jersey, Denise is a graduate of Boston University. She lives in Roslindale with her husband of 30 years.
Moderator
Peter Enrich
PETER ENRICH, a long-time member of PDM’s leadership team and a professor emeritus at Northeastern Univ. School of Law, is a leading authority on state and local government and state tax policy, frequently serving as an advisor to state and local governments and to advocacy groups interested in state and local fiscal policy.
2023 – FORUM #4: Friday, June 9th, 10-11 AM
Tackling Our Housing Crisis (first forum in a series)
There’s universal agreement that Massachusetts is facing a housing crisis. But it is a crisis with many dimensions and no silver-bullet solutions. PDM is planning to host a series of forums over the coming months to help all of us to understand the crisis better and to envision how we can advance meaningful strategies to address it.
The first forum will bring together several leading experts including Sen. Lydia Edwards, co-chair of the legislature’s Joint Committee on Housing, Josh Zakim, the executive director of Housing Forward MA, and Keith Fairey, President and CEO of Way Finders, to explore the nature of the problems and their impacts on people’s lives, and to introduce some of the key policy dimensions that need to be addressed. The Forum will be moderated by PDM’s Peter Enrich.
Future forums will tackle these policy dimensions one by one to equip us to be effective advocates for vitally needed change.
Missed this Forum? Watch the recording here.
Featured Speakers
Sen. Lydia Edwards
SENATOR LYDIA EDWARDS is a career advocate, activist, and voice on behalf of society’s most vulnerable. She was raised all over the world by her military mom but chose to make East Boston her home.
Prior to being elected to the State Senate and Boston City Council, Lydia worked extensively in the legal field. She worked as a public interest attorney with Greater Boston Legal Services focusing on labor issues such as fighting for access to unemployment insurance, back wages, fair treatment for domestic workers, and combating human trafficking.
In February 2023, Senator Edwards was named chair of the Joint Housing Committee in the MA state legislature.
Keith Fairey
KEITH FAIREY began his tenure as president and chief executive officer of Way Finders in July of 2020. Prior to joining Way Finders, Keith was a senior vice president for Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. where he led the management, oversight and strategic guidance of Enterprise’s 11 regional market offices across the United States.
He was chief operating officer of the Mount Hope Housing Company in the Bronx, where he rebuilt the organization’s real estate development capacity. Keith also served as the assistant director of Community Pride, the community building program of the Harlem Children’s Zone.
Josh Zakim
JOSH ZAKIM began his career in 2010 at Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS) where he represented working families facing the loss of their homes to foreclosure at the hands of predatory lenders.
In 2013, Josh was elected to the Boston City Council where he chaired the Committee on Housing & Community Development; the Committee on Civil Rights; and the Special Committee on Transportation, Infrastructure, Planning, & Investment.
After six productive years on the City Council Josh chose not to seek reelection for a fourth term, leaving office in January 2020 to join Housing Forward.
Moderator
Peter Enrich
PETER ENRICH, a long-time member of PDM’s leadership team and a professor at Northeastern Univ. School of Law, is a leading authority on state and local government and state tax policy, frequently serving as an advisor to state and local governments and to advocacy groups interested in state and local fiscal policy.
Resources for this Episode
- Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University: The State of the Nations’ Housing
- The Boston Foundation: Greater Boston Housing Report Card
- Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center | May 12, 2023: Affordable Rent for All: Massachusetts is on a Slow Road to Universal Housing Vouchers
- Way Finders | Advocacy on Air: Keith Fairey and Senator John Velis
2023 – FORUM #3: Friday, April 14th, 10-11 AM
After Fair Share: Hot Topics in Massachusetts Tax Policy
In November, MA voters achieved a monumental change in our regressive tax system by approving the Fair Share Amendment. But crucial tax policy debates continue about Gov. Healey’s tax cut proposals and widespread concern that corporations do not pay their fair share. Please join our next PDM zoom forum at 10AM on Friday, April 14, for an in-depth discussion of these and other current issues, with a panel of experts on tax policy and politics – Phineas Baxandall (Policy Director at Mass. Budget & Policy Center), Somerville Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven (member of Joint Committee on Revenue), and Harris Gruman (Raise Up MA leader and SEIU State Council) – moderated by our in-house tax expert, Peter Enrich.
Missed this Forum? Watch the recording here.
Featured Speakers
Phineas Baxandall
PHINEAS BAXANDALL is a Senior Analyst & Advocacy Director at the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, focusing his research on transportation and tax revenue, as well as unemployment and the Earned Income Tax Credit. Previously, Phineas directed the Transportation and Tax & Budget programs for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group and its network of 30 state affiliate organizations. Before joining U.S. PIRG, Phineas was Assistant Director at the Taubman Center for State and Local Government and the Rappaport Institute at the Kennedy School of Government, and a teaching fellow in Social Studies at Harvard. He has written about political economy and public policy, and his 2004 book, Constructing Unemployment, was recently republished by Routledge. He holds a Ph.D. from MIT in Political Science and a B.A. from Wesleyan University.
Harris Gruman
HARRIS GRUMAN is the Executive Director of the Service Employees International Union Massachusetts State Council. In that role he has expanded direct care worker organizing, raised progressive taxation, created major new social insurance programs in paid leave and health care, and elected candidates like progressive Senator Elizabeth Warren. He is a founding member of Raise Up Massachusetts and has served as Chair and then Treasurer of that coalition of labor, community and faith-based organizations.
Erika Uyterhoeven
ERIKA UYTERHOEVEN is the State Representative for the 27th Middlesex district in Somerville, serving her second term. Prior to entering politics, she was as an antitrust economist working in on several high-profile cases before the European Commission and the French Competition Authority. Erika founded Act on Mass whose mission is to build constituent power in state government through increasing transparency, accountability, and accessibility in the legislature. As State Representative, she works extensively on revenue to fund our public goods (including education, transportation, housing, and a livable climate), on increasing public accountability of the legislature and the state administration, most notably the criminal legal system, and fighting for the fundamental rights of organized labor. She holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.A. from Wellesley College.
Moderator
Peter Enrich
PETER ENRICH, a long-time member of PDM’s leadership team and a professor at Northeastern Univ. School of Law, is a leading authority on state and local government and state tax policy, frequently serving as an advisor to state and local governments and to advocacy groups interested in state and local fiscal policy.
Resources for this Episode
- Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center: Envisioning Equity
- Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center | April 6, 2023: High-Income Households Are Not Fleeing Massachusetts
- Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center | April 6, 2023: How Many Would Benefit from the Gov’s Child & Family Tax Credit?
- Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center | April 12, 2023: MassBudget’s Statement on the House Budget Proposal
2023 – FORUM #2: Friday, March 3rd, 10-11 AM
Mission & Culture in Massachusetts Corrections
For our next public policy forum, on March 3, 2023, PDM hosts a conversation about the mission and management of criminal corrections in an era of racial reckoning and rethinking criminal justice. Middlesex Sheriff Peter Koutoujian, longtime defense attorney and civil rights activist Patricia DeJuneas, and Prisoners’ Legal Services executive director Elizabeth Matos discuss the present and the future of corrections and prisoners’ rights in the Commonwealth. Questions we will address include: What shape should reform take as the inmate population in Massachusetts declines? Are the particular needs of incarcerated women being addressed? How best should the Department of Corrections address the medical needs of inmates who are seriously or terminally ill? How do we reform the culture in corrections from a punitive and coercive model to a rehabilitative and restorative one?
Missed this Forum? Watch the recording here.
Featured Speakers
Patty DeJuneas
PATTY DEJUNEAS is a criminal defense and civil rights attorney in Boston. For the last three years, she has specialized in work related to conditions of confinement, including and especially excessive force. Earlier in her career, Patty worked for the Bureau of Prisons on the campus of the maximum security penitentiary in Atlanta. In 2020, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly selected Patty as one of their “Lawyers of the Year” for her work in Larocque v. Turco, a case about attorney access during the disorder at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center.
Elizabeth Matos
After seven years as a staff attorney, ELIZABETH MATOS is the Executive Director of Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts (PLS), which focuses on individual and legislative advocacy, litigation, and creating systemic change. She has participated in prisoner litigation about solitary confinement practices for the mentally ill, discrimination against deaf inmates, draconian classification practices, assaults by guards, and exorbitant phone rates. PLS works closely with current and previously incarcerated people and coalitions to lobby the state legislature on its legislative priorities, including a prison building moratorium. Prior to PLS, Elizabeth practiced housing, education, disability, and immigration law at South Coastal Counties Legal Services. She was also a Fulbright Scholar in Mozambique and served as the Immigrant Rights Coordinator for the MIRA (Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy) Coalition.
Peter J. Koutoujian
In addition to law enforcement, Middlesex Sheriff PETER J. KOUTOUJIAN has worked as a prosecutor, legislator, and professor. He holds a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, a law degree from the New England School of Law, and a B.A. in psychology from Bridgewater State University. He is committed to best practices in correction, including data-driven research and specialty units. He has championed treatment targeted to young adults and military veterans.
Moderator
Jeanne Kempthorne
JEANNE KEMPTHORNE, a member of PDM’s leadership team, is a former state and federal prosecutor and defense attorney. She is a mediator engaged in the prisoner re-entry mediation program in Berkshire County.
Resources for this Episode
- Prison Legal News | April 1, 2020: Massachusetts Supreme Court Orders DOC to Free Terminally Ill Prisoners After DOJ Investigates Mistreatment
- World Peace Foundation | October 13, 2020: Human Rights Abuses in an MA prison: Interview with Patty DeJuneas
- The Atlantic | October 13, 2020: The Truth about Deinstitutionalization
- CommonWealth Magazine | September 9, 2022: SJC to referee another medical parole dispute
- CommonWealth Magazine | January 7, 2023: Medicaid should cover the incarcerated
| Peter J. Koutoujian - The Harvard Gazette | March 2, 2023: Supreme Court may halt health care guarantees for inmates
- Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts | 2023-24 Legislative Priorities
2023 – FORUM #1: Friday, January 20th, 10-11 AM
Talking Trash: Less Talk and More Action
Over the last ten years, solid Waste policy in Massachusetts has been unsuccessful. The Commonwealth is burning and burying as much waste every year as we were in 2010. While we are diverting more food scraps from disposal, and we no longer have to contend with much newspaper, none of the goals set in the 2020 Massachusetts Solid Waste Plan were met – in fact, many of them were not even measured.
The performance of our Bottle Bill has been eroded over time. State bans have long been in effect for cardboard/paper, metal, glass, and plastic containers, yet waste ban materials comprise at least 40% of our disposal. The Commonwealth’s incinerators continue to spew pollutants and even when we close landfills, rather than reducing, reusing, recycling, or composting, we instead ship our trash to states with fewer environmental protections in place.
However, we have Zero Waste solutions that would save us money, create good local jobs, and protect our environment and health. This is the time to modernize the Bottle Bill, pass recycling reforms, bans unrecyclable single use plastics, and institute clean composting programs. Now is the time for action in Massachusetts!
Please join PDM on Zoom as we welcome our latest virtual Forum addressing issues vital to MA progressives, on Friday, January 20, 2023, from 10-11AM, featuring:
Kirstie Pecci, environmental lawyer, Executive Director of Just Zero; formerly Director of the Zero Waste Project at the Conservation Law Foundation;
Jennifer Congdon, environmental advocate and Deputy Director of Beyond Plastics
Jenny Gitlitz, recycling and green building expert, Director of The Solutions to Plastic Pollution Resource Center, Beyond Plastics;
Moderator, Rick Reibstein, Esq., teaches environmental policy and decision-making, Lecturer at Department of Earth & Environment, Boston University
Missed this Forum? Watch the recording here.
Forum #1: Talking Trash slides part 1
Forum #1: Talking Trash slides part 2
Featured Speakers
Kirstie Pecci
KIRSTIE PECCI studied government at Harvard University and law at Boston College Law School. After graduating she worked at Nixon Peabody law firm in Boston. She first became aware of the Saugus Incinerator and Ash Landfill in her role as staff attorney at MASSPIRG. After leaving MASSPIRG, she established the Zero Waste Project at Conservation Law Foundation. Recently, she and her team have launched a national Zero Waste nonprofit called Just Zero, where she is the Executive Director.
Jennifer Congdon
JENNIFER CONGDON is the Deputy Director of Beyond Plastics, a project based at Bennington College that she helped to found in 2019 with a mission to end plastic pollution everywhere. She is a thoughtful and pragmatic organization-building professional with 25 years of experience working in environmental policy, campaigns, government, nonprofit management, and fundraising. Congdon served as Assistant Secretary for the Environment in the New York Governor’s Office from 2008-2010. She has been passionate about protecting the environment and being an activist since the age of eight, when she convinced her parents to participate in the boycott of McDonald’s to end their use of polystyrene. It worked! The company phased out the practice in 1990. She still believes that one person can make a difference and is in awe of the power of collective action.
Jenny Gitlitz
An alumna of U.C. Berkeley’s Energy and Resources Group and a recipient of the Switzer environmental fellowship, JENNY GITLITZ has spent more than 30 years developing programs and conducting research, analysis, and legislative advocacy around recycling and green building. She has written and spoken widely about the success of deposit laws, and has been active in many state campaigns. Prior to joining Beyond Plastics, Jenny spearheaded the Beverage Market Data Analysis, the Container Recycling Institute’s signature product. A Berkshires resident, she enjoys canoeing and cross country skiing.
Moderator
Rick Reibstein
RICK REIBSTEIN helped develop and manage the Commonwealth’s Toxics Use Reduction program, pioneering efforts to reduce the generation of problematic wastes, and to improve the efficiency of production facilities, as well as to save energy and water. He also helped the state and the EPA develop innovative policies and new programs for working with industry sectors, schools, and agencies and individuals, changing regulatory and enforcement processes to promote good will and not first focus on the threat of punishment, but rather to hold that in reserve. Since leaving state service he has been teaching environmental law and policy full-time at Boston University’s College of Arts and Sciences, chairing the Legal Advisory Committee of the nonprofit Quiet Communities, holding public conversations on eliminating lead poisoning, and providing consultation on environmental projects and policy development. He recently published Reconstructing Environmental Governance, summarizing successes in environmental policy that could be resumed with adequate funding and a new vision for EPA and other agencies (Rowman and Littlefield).
Resources for this Episode
2022 Forums:
FORUM #8: Friday, December 2, 10-11 AM
Reproductive Rights: Navigating a Different Landscape
Rebecca Stone, Brookline Commission for Women, is moderating the upcoming PDM zoom forum, “Reproductive Rights: Navigating a Different Landscape,” on Friday, December 2, 10AM – 11AM. We will be talking with Brookline’s Dr. Lucy Chie, an OB/GYN who is also on the Planned Parenthood board, and with Reproductive Equity Now’s Director of Gov. Affairs, Claire Teylouni.
Missed this Forum? Watch the recording here.
Featured Speakers
Lucy Chie
LUCY CHIE, MD, MPH is Director of OB/GYN at South Cove Community Health Center, Director of the OBGYN Community Health Initiative at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Biology at Harvard Medical School. She volunteers as a board member of Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts and Mass PPD (Postpartum Depression) Fund, as well as a member of the Brookline Commission for Women.
Claire Teylouni
CLAIRE TEYLOUNI is the Director of Government Affairs for Reproductive Equity Now, where she manages the organization’s policy portfolio. Claire joined Reproductive Equity Now in August 2021, after nearly seven years of public service experience at both the state and federal level. Prior to joining the Repro Equity Now team, Claire served as Regional Director for Senator Ed Markey for the 3rd, 5th, and 6th Congressional Districts, and previously worked as Legislative Aide to State Representative Christine Barber for two legislative sessions. Claire graduated from the University of Denver in 2013, with a double major in Political Science and Environmental Science.
Moderator
Rebecca Stone
REBECCA STONE, MPA (she/her) has been a public policy analyst, writer, and advocate for more than 35 years, working in national and local government and the non-profit sector. As Policy Director at Advocates for Youth in Washington, D.C. earlier in her career, Rebecca spearheaded campaigns for adolescent access to comprehensive and full-spectrum pregnancy care, and co-authored a national study of what teenagers thought and knew about abortion. Both there and later with the Ounce of Prevention Fund in Chicago, Rebecca worked to expand school-based health clinics providing comprehensive sexual health education and care in high schools. Rebecca is a Brookline Town Meeting Member, is a past chair of the Brookline School Committee, and was a candidate for State Rep in 2018. She is the author of Brookline’s first-in-the-nation municipal by-law requiring free menstrual products in public restrooms and serves on the Brookline Commission for Women where she leads a working group on reproductive health and equity.
Resources for this Episode
- Reproductive Equity Now | Win and Deliver Toolkit
- Reproductive Equity Now | Contraceptive ACCESS Toolkit
- Planned Parenthood of Massachusetts
- ACLU | Reproductive Freedom
- Abortion Finder | Find Verified Abortion Care and Support
- National Network of Abortion Funds
- Legal Helpline for Abortion Care in Your State
FORUM #7: Friday, October 21, 10-11 AM
Transportation and Fair Share Reform
Public transportation in our Commonwealth has been on the ropes for decades. From crumbling infrastructure to inadequate investment, urgent safety issues and faulty oversight, residents and commuters have had to tolerate the deplorable situation provided to us.
But, now, with the Fair Share Amendment on the ballot this November (YES on Question 1!) and the promise of an annual infusion of millions of dollars to address transportation issues, we’re at a critical inflection point. If the ballot question passes what should happen next? What should be prioritized? Failing bridges? Outworn (obsolete?) and dangerous MBTA equipment and structures? Unreliable, overpriced commuter rail? Deficient bus networks outside Metro Boston?
Please join PDM by Zoom as we welcome to our latest virtual Forum addressing issues vital to MA progressives, on Friday, October 21, 2022 from 10-11AM.
- Monica Tibbits-Nutt, Executive Director, 128 Business Council, former Vice Chair of MBTA’s Fiscal & Management Control Board;
- Phineas Baxandall, Senior Analyst & Advocacy Director, MA Budget & Policy Center;
- James Aloisi, Lecturer at MIT on Transportation Policy & Planning; former MA Secretary of Transportation;
- Moderated by Chris Dempsey, recent candidate for MA State Auditor, former MA Assistant Secretary of Transportation, leader of No Boston Olympics.
Missed this Forum? Watch the recording here.
Featured Speakers
Monica Tibbits-Nutt
MONICA G. TIBBITS-NUTT, AICP, LEED AP BD+C is the Executive Director of the 128 Business Council. Monica received a Masters of City and Regional Planning from the Ohio State University in Columbus and a Bachelor of Science in Political Science and Sociology from the University of Southern Indiana. As a first-generation college student who has personally experienced how class impacts college and career preparedness, she works daily to break down those barriers for others and improve access for everyone in her community.
Monica served six years on the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) and was Vice-Chair of the Fiscal and Management Control Board that oversaw the MBTA. Working in regional planning and transportation, she has focused on transportation planning, urban design, and transit equity. In both her advocacy for public transit riders—especially by buses—and her research, Monica seeks to encourage better transportation stakeholders and educate the public about the planning process. She works with the private sector and municipalities to provide service where the MBTA leaves gaps and put together tangible projects to fill those gaps.
Phineas Baxandall
PHINEAS BAXANDALL is a Senior Analyst & Advocacy Director at the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, focusing his research on transportation and tax revenue, as well as unemployment and the Earned Income Tax Credit. Previously, Phineas directed the Transportation and Tax & Budget programs for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group and its network of 30 state affiliate organizations. Before joining U.S. PIRG, Phineas was Assistant Director at the Taubman Center for State and Local Government and the Rappaport Institute at the Kennedy School of Government, and a teaching fellow in Social Studies at Harvard. He has written about political economy and public policy, and his 2004 book, Constructing Unemployment, was recently republished by Routledge. He holds a Ph.D. from MIT in Political Science and a B.A. from Wesleyan University.
Jim Aloisi
JAMES ALOISI has been Lecturer on Transportation Policy and Planning at MIT, and a partner at two Boston law firms, Hill & Barlow and Goulston & Storrs. He played a central role in the creation of Boston’s Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway. In addition to serving as Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation in the Patrick Administration, his public service includes the Boston Human Rights Commission, the Massachusetts Transportation Finance Commission and the Massachusetts Port Authority Board. As Transportation Secretary, he established Boston’s Silver Line 4 service using federal stimulus funds to improve transit connectivity and social equity. Jim is the author of four books, including The Big Dig, and Massport at 60, and a regular contributor to Commonwealth Magazine. He serves on the Board of TransitMatters, the Boston based transit advocacy group.
Moderator
Chris Dempsey
CHRIS DEMPSEY is a public transportation advocate who was Assistant Secretary of Transportation under Governor Deval Patrick, where he co-founded the MassDOT open-data program, which launched smartphone applications that tell when a bus or train will arrive. He is former Chair of the Transportation Board in Brookline, and recently ran for State Auditor. Until he launched his campaign, he was the Director of Transportation for Massachusetts, a nonprofit advocacy coalition dedicated to advancing sustainable transportation across the Commonwealth. Chris is a graduate of Pomona College and the Harvard Business School.
Resources for this Episode
- CommonWealth Magazine | October 1, 2022: “A roadmap for fixing the MBTA” | Jim Aloisi
- CommonWealth Magazine | October 18, 2022: “MBTA: What went wrong and how to fix it“
- The Boston Globe | October 14, 2022: “Warren, Markey put MBTA officials in hot seat over safety incidents“
- CommonWealth Magazine | October 14, 2022: “Warren calls for new leadership ‘top to bottom’ at T“
- CommonWealth Magazine | April 12, 2022: “MBTA is missing big opportunity with commuter rail“
- CommonWealth Magazine | October 3, 2021: “Don’t replace electric trolley buses in N. Cambridge“
- CommonWealth Magazine | April 11, 2021: “MBTA needs to get on decarbonization train“
- CommonWealth Magazine | January 3, 2020: “Add homes at train stops, reduce traffic“
FORUM #6: Friday, April 29, 10-11 AM
Meet Democratic Candidates for Secretary of the Commonwealth in 2022
Please join PDM’s moderators who are preparing to question both Democratic candidates for MA Secretary of the Commonwealth on Zoom, Friday, April 29, from 10 to 11 AM. The Democratic candidate will be decided by the State Primary on September 6, 2022.
The challenger, Tanisha Sullivan, has confirmed her participation in PDM’s forum. The incumbent, William Galvin, has not responded to PDM’s repeated invitations.
Missed this Forum? Watch the recording here.
Tanisha Sullivan
TANISHA SULLIVAN was born in Boston and raised in Brockton. After attending Thayer Academy in Braintree, she graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in Government. She then attended Boston College where she obtained both her J.D. and M.B.A. Tanisha has practiced law in large firms and life sciences companies in Greater Boston and New York City. From 2013 – 2015 Tanisha served as Chief Equity Officer in the Boston Public Schools.
Following her parents’ example, Tanisha’s life’s work has been focused on service, equity, and impact. In 2017, Tanisha was elected to serve as President of the NAACP Boston in a volunteer capacity. There she led the organization in its fight for racial, economic, and social justice with a data driven and solutions-oriented framework. As a civil rights organization, voting rights is a priority for the NAACP, and Tanisha has led efforts to expand access to the ballot box and make our communities more representative.
William Galvin
WILLIAM GALVIN was born in 1950 and grew up in Brighton, MA, where he still resides. A graduate of Boston College and Suffolk University Law School, he had served as a State Representative from Allston-Brighton when he first won election as Secretary of the Commonwealth in 1994. He has been in that office since 1995. [Biography summarized from Galvin campaign website.]
FORUM #5: Friday, March 25, 10-11:15 AM
Meet the Democratic Candidates for Attorney General in 2022
Please join PDM’s moderators who will ask questions of the three Democratic candidates for MA Attorney General on Zoom, Friday, March 25 (for about 75 minutes), beginning at 10 AM.
Missed this Forum? Watch the recording here.
Andrea Campbell
ANDREA JOY CAMPBELL had a difficult childhood, losing her mother when she was eight months old, and her father and two brothers cycled in and out of prison. Thanks to loving relatives, community support and the many teachers who encouraged her, she graduated from Boston Latin School, and then worked her way through college and law school, graduating from Princeton University and UCLA Law School. Andrea has worked as an education lawyer, General Counsel at a regional planning agency, Legal Counsel for Governor Deval Patrick, and as Boston City Council President. She aspires to be an Attorney General for everyone– no matter who you are, where you come from, or where you live. Please visit andreacampbell.org for more information.
Quentin Palfrey
As the first Chief of the Health Care Division in the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, QUENTIN PALFREY sued predatory health insurance companies. He served in President Obama’s White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to help build an economy that works for everyone. And most recently he served as the Acting General Counsel for the Department of Commerce to help the Biden administration roll out the Build Back Better initiative. He is the founder of the Voter Protection Corps, an organization that combats voter suppression. Quentin listed his priorities as AG: dismantling structural racism, injecting urgency into our response to climate change, making it easier to vote, combating wage theft, and countering the assault on reproductive rights. Quentin lives in Weston with his wife Anna and their three children. Please visit www.quentinpalfrey.com for more information.
Shannon Liss-Riordan
SHANNON LISS-RIORDAN has represented plaintiffs and unions for 30 years as an employment lawyer, including workers in the food service, cleaning, adult entertainment, trucking, and other industries. She is currently involved in several cases against “gig economy” companies that save on labor costs by misclassifying employees as independent contractors. A graduate of Harvard Law School and Harvard College, Shannon co-founded the firm Lichten & Liss-Riordan, P.C. in 2009. As Attorney General, Shannon hopes to ensure that the law works for working people. Shannon lives in Brookline with her husband, Kevin, their three children, Shane, Myles and Jordan, and their dog Logan. For more information, please visit shannonforag.com.
FORUM #4: Friday, February 18, 10-11 AM
Meet the Democratic Candidates for State Auditor in 2022
Missed this Forum? Watch the recording here.
Join PDM as we spend an hour interviewing both of the Democratic candidates for State Auditor on Friday, February 18, 2022, from 10-11AM. As with the candidates for Governor, PDM invites you to submit questions ahead of these interviews. The Auditor is the chief accountability officer for government in the Commonwealth. The office conducts audits, investigations, and studies to promote accountability and transparency, improve performance, and make state government work better. We look forward to a discussion that will help our audience decide which candidate holds the most promise for progressive, effective leadership as State Auditor. As always, this forum will be recorded and posted here afterwards. Please save the date and watch this space for PDM’s additional scheduled forums.
Chris Dempsey
The son of public-school educators, CHRIS DEMPSEY has served in Town Meeting and as Chair of the Transportation Board in his hometown of Brookline. Chris was educated at Brookline High School, Pomona College, and the Harvard Business School. He worked in the private sector for a software technology startup, Masabi Inc. Governor Deval Patrick appointed Chris as Assistant Secretary of Transportation, where he co-founded the MassDOT open-data program, which launched smartphone applications that tell when a bus or train will arrive. Before running for Auditor, Chris worked at Transportation for Massachusetts, a nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to advancing sustainable transportation across Massachusetts. In 2015, he was named “Bostonian of the Year” by the Boston Globe Magazine for his volunteer work leading the successful grassroots campaign, No Boston Olympics.
Diana DiZoglio
Senator DIANA DIZOGLIO is a candidate for Massachusetts state auditor and the current State Senator for Massachusetts’ First Essex District, which includes the Cities of Amesbury, Haverhill, Methuen and Newburyport, the Towns of Merrimac and Salisbury and portions of the Town of North Andover. As the daughter of a single mother, who had her at 17, Diana has always had to fight for the things that have mattered to her. She is running for higher office to make sure that no one — no matter their background, bank balance or zip code — receives different treatment on Beacon Hill. She will use her experience to fight for transparency and accountability for the people of Massachusetts.
2022 FORUMS #1-3: Meet the Democratic Candidates for Governor in 2022
Join PDM as we spend an hour interviewing each of the Democratic candidates for Governor on three Friday mornings in January and February 2022. Save the dates and please watch for additional scheduled forums. PDM invites submitted questions as we develop our planning for these interviews. We look forward to discussions that help our audience decide which candidate holds the most promise for progressive, effective leadership as Governor. As always, these forums will be recorded and posted here afterwards.
FORUM #1: Friday, January 7th, 10-11 AM
Interview with Danielle Allen
Missed this Forum? Watch the recording here.
DANIELLE ALLEN is a nonprofit leader, policy innovator, educator, and mother. Over the last twenty years, she has led organizations from local civic education providers to the $6 billion Mellon Foundation, a global philanthropy. She is currently on leave from roles as a center director and political science professor at Harvard in order to run for office. Danielle has worked on the pandemic—she recently spearheaded a multi-disciplinary, cross-sector COVID response team that led to the Biden-Harris Pandemic Testing Board and an interstate compact to build out COVID testing resources, as well as Covid Collaborative guidance on infection prevention and control in K-12 settings that has been disseminated nationally, including through the US Dept of Education. Danielle has focused on policy and implementation in education, justice, health, and democracy. You can learn more about her candidacy at allenforma.com/.
FORUM #2: Friday, January 21st, 10-11 AM
Interview with Sonia Chang-Díaz
Missed this Forum? Watch the recording here.
SONIA CHANG-DÍAZ is the daughter of a social worker and America’s first Latino astronaut, Franklin Chang-Díaz. She was elected the Commonwealth’s first Latina State Senator in 2008 and quickly became a driving force behind many of the state’s biggest progressive reforms — including landmark $1.5 billion progressive education funding reforms, criminal justice reform, LGBT equal rights, and police reform and accountability. Now, Sonia’s running for Governor of Massachusetts to continue the fight for bold, transformational change and build the future we all want our kids to grow up in. Learn more about her campaign at soniachangdiaz.com.
FORUM #3: Friday, February 4th, 10-11 AM
Interview with Maura Healey
Missed this Forum? Watch the recording here.
MAURA HEALEY is running for Governor to bring people together and build an economy that helps every family thrive. She was elected the first openly gay Attorney General in the country in 2014. As the People’s Lawyer, she has protected student borrowers and homeowners from predatory lenders, sued Exxon Mobil for lying about climate change, and held Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family accountable for their role in fueling the opioid epidemic. She’s defended Massachusetts’ immigrant communities from xenophobic attacks, advocated for vulnerable workers across the state, and centered racial justice in every aspect of her office’s work. Prior to her election as AG, she was a civil rights lawyer who led the first state challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act and stood up to the big banks that took advantage of Massachusetts consumers during the mortgage crisis. She’s the eldest of five children who were raised by their single mother, a school nurse, in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, and she played basketball professionally in Austria after graduating from Harvard. Learn more about her campaign at maurahealey.com.
2021 Forums:
FORUM #9: Friday, November 19, 10-11 AM
Voter Choice
Missed this Forum? Watch the recording here.
After the defeat of the state ranked-choice voting initiative in the 2020 election, the action and energy are focused on municipalities. Hear what is going on in cities and towns across the state. What are the promises of ranked-choice voting at the local level? What are the obstacles reformers are facing and overcoming in implementing change?
Is there any prospect for reigniting the issue statewide in the near future? What is happening across the country? And, how is it working where it has been adopted?
Please join us on November 19 from 10 to 11 AM, for this month’s PDM Forum, where we will discuss these and your questions with two expert guests, Greg Dennis, co-founder and board member of Voter Choice
Massachusetts, a non-profit that promotes the expanded adoption of Ranked Choice Voting throughout the Commonwealth, and Tom Peake, UMass economist and senior research analyst, and city councilor in
Easthampton, which, with Tom’s leadership, adopted ranked-choice voting in 2019, for municipal single-winner races. The new Easthampton ordinance was used for the first time on November 2, 2021.
Featured Speakers
Greg Dennis
GREG DENNIS is a co-founder and board member of Voter Choice Massachusetts, a non-profit that promotes the expanded adoption of Ranked Choice Voting throughout the Commonwealth. He has been researching Ranked Choice Voting and advocating for its use in elections for more than 20 years. Currently, Voter Choice Massachusetts is helping dozens of cities and towns around the state adopt Ranked Choice Voting for their municipal elections. He lives with his wife and three kids in Arlington, one of those many towns in the process of adopting Ranked Choice Voting.
Tom Peake
TOM PEAKE has been an Easthampton, MA City Councilor since 2018. Tom worked on the Charter Review Committee that led to Easthampton’s 2019 RCV Ballot Committee, resulting in Easthampton becoming the first MA city to elect a Mayor using RCV! He also serves as a board member at Voter Choice MA and is a Senior Research Analyst at the UMass Donahue Institute.
Jeanne Kempthorne
The conversation will be moderated by PDM’s JEANNE KEMPTHORNE, a
member of Rank the Vote’s national advisory board and a member of the
leadership team of PDM.
Resources for this Episode
- Voter Choice Massachusetts
- Voter Choice Massachusetts video: What Easthampton voters say about Ranked Choice Voting
- Bay State Banner | October 7, 2021: “Ranked-choice voting would increase turnout”
- The Washington Post | October 7, 2021: “The Trailer: Andrew Yang’s got a new political party — and he wants to change how we vote”
- The Washington Post | November 5, 2021: “How ranked-choice voting saved the Virginia GOP from itself”
- Burning Rose | November 8, 2021: “The Necessity of Ranked-Choice Voting”
FORUM #8: Friday, October 29, 10-11 AM
Transportation in Massachusetts
Missed this Forum? Watch the recording here.
Massachusetts faces a transportation crisis many decades in the making: crumbling roads, underfunded regional transit, MBTA crashes, commuter rail unreliability. These issues along with the lack of safe bicycle routes are hamstringing both economic development and our efforts to reduce carbon emissions. This forum will review how we got to our current situation, efforts underway to improve transit in Massachusetts, and what’s not being done that should be.
Featured Speakers
Monica G. Tibbits-Nutt
MONICA G. TIBBITS-NUTT, AICP, LEED AP BD+C, is the Executive Director of the 128 Business Council. Monica formerly served on the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) Board of Directors and was the Vice-Chair of the Fiscal and Management Control Board that oversaw the MBTA. Working in regional planning and transportation, Monica’s specialty areas are transportation planning, urban design, and transit equity. In both her work and research, Monica is particularly interested in capitalizing upon every opportunity to educate better transportation stakeholders and the public about all aspects of the planning process.
Pete Wilson
PETE WILSON is a Senior Advisor at T4MA, responsible for helping to guide the coalition’s advocacy work with the legislature and administration. He served as the Legislative Director for the Massachusetts House Committee on Ways and Means from 2009-2011, and as press secretary and policy advisor to former Senate President Stan Rosenberg. He was named the 2016 Press Secretary of the Year by the State House Press Association and served as a member of Treasurer Goldberg’s Alcohol Task Force. Wilson is a graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder and holds a Master’s Degree in History from The George Washington University. Pete commutes on the Plymouth and Brockton commuter bus.
HARRY MARGOLIS of PDM will moderate.
FORUM #7: Friday, September 24, 10-11 AM
The Other Epidemic: Opioids in Massachusetts
Missed this Forum? Watch the recording here.
PDM’s September Public Policy Forum on Friday 9/24/21 from 10-11 AM, is entitled The Other Epidemic: Opioids in Massachusetts and will address some of the most pressing substance use issues in the Commonwealth now. The speakers will be Kate Donaghue and Abigail Kim, moderated by David Cavell.
Featured Speakers
Kate Donaghue
A retired software engineer, KATE DONAGHUE has worked on MA Democratic campaigns for most of her life. A member of the Massachusetts Democratic State Committee, and past member of the Democratic National Committee, Kate serves on the Adult Advisory Board of the High School Democrats of America. Kate is a legendary Democratic organizer and grassroots activist who lost her son Brian to the epidemic in 2018 and she has become very active in the effort to remove stigma and support families dealing with substance use.
Abby Kim
ABIGAIL KIM, MPH, worked for State Senator John F. Keenan as Legislative Director before becoming Director of Public Policy and Strategic Initiatives at the Association for Behavioral Healthcare (ABH) in 2021. Abby will discuss the complexities facing the substance use treatment system and the current landscape of substance use legislation, policy and advocacy.
Moderator
David Cavell
DAVID CAVELL is a former Assistant Attorney General and Senior Advisor to AG Maura Healey, where he worked closely with the opioid recovery community when that office sued Purdue Pharma. He subsequently made addressing the opioid crisis and securing additional resources for families a central policy issue in his 2020 Democratic primary campaign for Congress (MA-04).
Resources for this Episode
- Central Massachusetts Town Square | July 1, 2021: “Following Son’s Overdose, Local Activist Works to End the Stigma of Substance Use Disorders”
- Boston Globe | March 9, 2019: “Drugs took their children, but not their hope that others might be saved”
- Boston Globe | October 17, 2014: “She’s the iron woman of Massachusetts’ political canvassers”
- Boston Globe | July 8, 2021: “Massachusetts and other states reach $4 billion settlement with Purdue Pharma over company’s role in opioid crisis”
- Mass.gov | Information on obtaining Noloxone
- Boston Indicators | September 17, 2021: “Opioid-Related Deaths in Massachusetts Remain Elevated Four Years after Peak”
- NIH HEALing Communities Study | Massachusetts
- Massachusetts Legislature, Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery | Virtual public hearing on Monday, September 27, 2021 from 9:00am to 5:00pm on Decriminalization and Safe Consumption Sites
- Learn to Cope | A peer-led network for families dealing with addiction and recovery
- The Massachusetts Substance Use Helpline | Call 800-327-5050
FORUM #6: Thursday, June 10, 7-8 PM
Forum on Early Education and Child Care
Missed this Forum? Watch the recording here.
Massachusetts needs a universal system of affordable, high-quality early education and child care (EE&CC). The current system is broken; it is unaffordable for many families, quality is highly variable, and providers are paid so little that many of them are eligible for public assistance. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted just how critical early education and child care are for families, employers, and the entire economy. Moreover, the current system does not provide children, especially those facing challenges, the strong foundation they need for success in school and in life. A strong, universal, affordable, high quality EE&CC system will foster racial and gender equity, address economic inequality, and support a strong economy.
The Common Start Coalition spent two years building a very broad coalition and coming to a consensus on what our system of EE&CC should look like. It has now filed a bill in the MA Legislature to create the system our children, families, employers, and economy need and deserve.
The PDM Forum on Early Education and Child Care will present background on the Common Start Coalition, outline its envisioned EE&CC system, and summarize the legislation that has been filed. Deb Fastino, Chair of the Common Start Coalition and Executive Director of the Coalition for Social Justice, will describe the coalition and its work. Senator Jason Lewis, lead sponsor of the Common Start bill in the Senate and Chair of the Education Committee will discuss the bill and its prospects in Legislature. The Forum will be moderated by John Lippitt, a member of the Common Start Coalition and a PDM Leadership Team Member.
Featured Speakers
Deb Fastino
DEB FASTINO has been organizing since 2000 and is currently the Executive Director of the Coalition for Social Justice. Deb is also a co-founder of Raise Up Massachusetts where she serves as a co-chair. Deb was a key participant in the successful statewide ballot campaign for earned sick time in 2014, helped win the passage of two minimum wage increases in 4 years, as well as directed Raise Up Massachusetts’ work on the recent legislative victory of Paid Family and Medical Leave in the Commonwealth. Deb spearheaded and is the Statewide Director of the Common start Coalition that is advocating for affordable, accessible, high-quality early education and care. In this capacity, she is the facilitator of the Steering Committee and oversees paid and volunteer staff. She coordinates outreach, policy, lobbying, field, fundraising and communications plans with coalition consultants.
Senator Jason Lewis
State Senator JASON LEWIS proudly represents the people of the Fifth Middlesex District of Massachusetts, which includes the cities and towns of Malden, Melrose, Reading, Stoneham, Wakefield, and parts of Winchester. First elected to the Senate in 2014, he has delivered results for his district and been a progressive leader for the Commonwealth.
Senator Lewis has long championed educational equity and led the effort to pass the Student Opportunity Act in 2019, landmark legislation to ensure that every child in Massachusetts has access to a high quality public education. Senator Lewis also led the effort in 2018 to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour and to create a new universal paid family and medical leave program. He was recognized for this achievement by being named an Honorable Mention for the 2018 Bostonians of the Year by the Boston Globe.
Senator Lewis is a member of Senate President Karen Spilka’s leadership team. He serves as the Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Education, the Assistant Vice Chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means and the Vice Chair of the Senate Committee on Reimagining Massachusetts: Post-Pandemic Resiliency. He also co-founded and co-chairs the legislature’s Prevention for Health Caucus and Zero Waste Caucus.
Moderator
John Lippitt
JOHN A. LIPPITT has been a member of the Leadership Team of Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts (PDM) for over 5 years. Mr. Lippitt has a Ph.D. in Early Childhood Policy from the Heller School at Brandeis University and has recently retired from teaching and program management in early childhood policy and practice, as well as child and family policy more broadly. He has been writing a blog on national policy and politics since 2011 at http://lippittpolicyandpolitics.org.
Resources for this Episode
- Common Start Coalition website: for information on the Common Start Coalition, to find a local chapter, to get updates, and to get involved. Chapter activities include meetings with local state Representatives and Senators, screenings of the No Small Matters documentary, and the opportunity to share your story about why we need an enhanced early education and child care system.
- Overview of the Common Start bill
- CommonWealth Magazine | April 20, 2021: “Legislature eyes changes in childcare system”
- John Lippitt | The Importance of Early Childhood Development presentation
FORUM #5: Thursday, May 20, 7-8 PM
The Access Crisis in Vocational Education
Missed this Forum? Watch the recording here.
Every public high school student is supposed to have the option to attend one of the state’s vocational/technical schools, which provide educational and career-path opportunities not available in more traditional high schools. But at present there are far too few seats in vocational programs, with the result that every year thousands of students (primarily from gateway cities and other disadvantaged communities) are left on wait-lists, while employers desperately seek the skilled workers the vocational schools could provide. Compounding the capacity problem, the oversubscribed programs select their students based on middle school grades, attendance and discipline records, and counselor recommendations, all factors that are well known to discriminate against students of color, economically disadvantaged students, students with disabilities, and English language learners.
The forum will discuss these problems and their impacts, and will outline the work of two coalitions where PDM is working to remedy the problems, and ways that you can advance solutions. The speakers will be Dan French, president of Citizens for Public Schools, and Nina Hackel, a leader of PDM’s education working group and a member of the state department of education’s Vocational Technical Education Advisory Panel. The forum will be moderated by Margaret Coppe, another member of PDM’s education working group.
Featured Speakers
Dan French
DAN FRENCH is president of Citizens for Public Schools’ board of directors, a Massachusetts nonprofit that focuses on equitable funding for public schools, keeping public schools under public democratic control, replacing the current inequitable and punitive testing system with community-based control and accountability, and ensuring equitable opportunity and access for students from historically marginalized groups. After serving as executive director for the nonprofit Center for Collaborative Education for 22 years, he now serves in the organization as a Fellow, helping coordinate the Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Education Assessment, comprised of eight districts seeking to build a model focused on multiple measures to assess school quality and teacher-created performance tasks to assess student learning. Prior, he was director of curriculum and instruction for the Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education and a teacher.
Nina Hackel
NINA HACKEL owns and operates Dream Kitchens of Nashua NH, a 6 million dollar kitchen and bath remodeling company. She runs over 25 crews consisting of plumbers, electricians, carpenters, painters, and tilers, trades that often come out of the vocational schools. Nina serves on the State of Massachusetts’ Vocational Technical Education Advisory Council. She has spoken on behalf of the Vocational Education Justice Coalition to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and the press on several occasions to advance social justice in the education system. Nina is a member of the Progressive Democrats’ Education working group and a member of the Lexington Democratic Town Committee. Nina earned her BS in chemical and electrical engineering and her MBA from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Moderator
Margaret Coppe
MARGARET COPPE, of Lexington MA, is a retired biology teacher and science department chair from Wakefield High School. She served nine years on the Lexington School Committee, three years as chair. She is currently a Lexington Town Meeting member. As a member of PDM, she has worked with the Education Subcommittee on issues around vocational education in the state.
Resources for this Episode
- PDM’s One-Pager on the Vocational Education access issues (drafted by PDM’s Education Working Group)
- Summary of Proposed Legislation to Expand Vocational School Capacity (prepared by the Alliance for Vocational Technical Education – AVTE – of which PDM is an active member)
- Summary of Concerns with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s proposed revised regulations on Vocational School Admissions Policies (prepared by the Vocational Education Justice Coalition – VECJ – another coalition of which PDM is an active member)
- Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s proposed revised regulations on Vocational School Admissions Policies
FORUM #4: Thursday, April 15, 7-8 PM
Forum on Revenue Reform
Missed this Forum? Watch the recording here.
What are the shortcomings of the Commonwealth’s present revenue system? How can we build a more adequate and equitable tax system? In particular, what’s the role of the Fair Share Amendment (“the millionaires’ tax”)? And what can all of us do to ensure passage of the Fair Share Amendment next year?
Please join us on April 15 (“Tax Day”) from 7 to 8 PM, for this month’s PDM Forum, where we will discuss these questions (and whatever related questions you may have) with two expert guests, Marie-Frances Rivera, President of the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center (“MassBudget”), and Jeron Mariani, who is coordinating the field operations for the Fair Share campaign. The conversation will be moderated by PDM’s Peter Enrich, emeritus tax professor and former general counsel to the state’s Executive Office for Administration and Finance.
Featured Speakers
Marie-Frances Rivera
MARIE-FRANCES RIVERA, a New Bedford, Mass. native of Afro-Boricua descent, joined MassBudget in 2014. The daughter of an immigrant mother, she grew up in public housing, attended public schools, and deeply understands the need to invest in the public good.
Her professional experiences in the non-profit and philanthropic sectors have grounded her in the power that race-forward policy research can have when coupled with authentic civic engagement to move the needle on racial and economic justice issues.
Marie-Frances earned a master’s degree in Law and Public Policy from Northeastern University and a bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Babson College.
Jeron Mariani
JERON MARIANI is a Senior Project Manager at Field First. Born and raised in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Jeron came to Boston in 2013 to attend Northeastern University. Jeron’s organizing background began on a local level where he worked as a community organizer, trainer, and emcee for youth engagement non-profits in the Twin Cities. While at Northeastern University, Jeron worked as a co-op for the Mass AFL-CIO for two years and following graduation went on to organize for both state and national campaigns. Jeron works closely with the Raise Up Massachusetts Coalition and is proud to fight for social and economic justice for all people. Jeron currently lives in Jamaica Plain.
PETER ENRICH, PDM Leadership Team Chair, will moderate.
FORUM #3: Friday, March 19, 10-11 AM
Climate Action and the Next Generation Roadmap Bill
Missed this Forum? Watch the recording here.
The impacts of climate change are undeniable. Our goal in Massachusetts is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero and to do this in a manner that does not overburden any segment of the population. The Next Generation Roadmap bill promises to do so. This program will cover:
- Climate efforts in Massachusetts to date and the need to up the pace;
- What distinguishes the Next-Generation bill; and
- What additional steps are necessary to assure progress toward achieving the Commonwealth’s emissions goal and mitigating the impacts of climate change.
Featured Speakers
Senator Michael Barrett
MIKE BARRETT is serving his fifth two-year term as State Senator for Bedford, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Concord, Lincoln, Waltham, Weston and large parts of Lexington and Sudbury.
Mike is Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy, the body in the Massachusetts Legislature with primary responsibility for bills on climate change and clean energy. He serves as Assistant Majority Leader of the Democrats in the State Senate.
In late 2020 and early 2021, Mike headed a three-person team of senators who joined a “conference committee” with three members of the Massachusetts House to negotiate a pathbreaking climate bill that stands as a model for legislatures in other states. It’s Mike’s hope that, by the time anyone hears this bio, the bill will have become law.
Mike is a graduate of Harvard College and the Northeastern University School of Law. He’s married, lives in Lexington, and is the father of twin daughters.
Representative Tommy Vitolo
TOMMY VITOLO is serving his second two-year term as State Representative for most of Brookline.
Prior to election to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, Tommy was employed full-time as an energy economist for Synapse Energy Economics. Focused on coal-fired power plant retirement, utility-scale solar valuation, and pipeline alternatives, Tommy worked on behalf of consumer advocates or environmental advocates to help persuade public utility commissioners or elected officials to make decisions that simultaneously benefited consumers and the climate.
Tommy led Brookline to enact the first community choice aggregation program in Massachusetts to use more than 5 percent new renewables as the default option, and Brookline’s proposal to restrict natural gas or oil uses in new construction was first conceived on his front porch.
Tommy is a graduate of North Carolina State University, Dublin City University, and Boston University. His wife builds green skyscrapers, his son deals in Pokémon, and his daughter is an excellent tag player.
JEANNE KRIEGER, a PDM Leadership Team member in Lexington, will moderate.
Resources for this Episode
- An Act creating a next-generation roadmap for Massachusetts climate policy
- Inside Climate News | January 27, 2021: Can Massachusetts Democrats Overcome the Power of Business Lobbyists and Pass Climate Legislation?
FORUM #2: Friday, February 26, 10:00 – 11:00 AM
The State of Affordable Housing in Massachusetts
Missed this Forum? Watch the recording here.
We all know that we have a housing crisis in Massachusetts. Housing prices and rents are unaffordable for many Massachusetts residents. The program will include
- A description of the housing situation in Massachusetts.
- An explanation of how we got into our current situation.
- A summary of the recently passed legislation in Massachusetts including an evaluation of what it provides and what it’s missing.
- A discussion of further steps we can take to provide affordable housing for all who need it.
Panelists Eric Shupin, Director of Public Policy at Citizen’s Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA), and Rep. Andy Vargas, 3rd Essex, Haverhill, will guide us through our questions and will also take questions from the audience. Harry Margolis, a member of PDM’s leadership team and an attorney in Brookline, will moderate.
Featured Speakers
Eric Shupin
ERIC SHUPIN joined Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA) in 2013, and became the Director of Public Policy in 2016. He is responsible for directing CHAPA’s affordable housing advocacy agenda and policy team, which includes CHAPA’s policy committees, the Policy Leadership Council, and CHAPA’s federal advocacy through the New England Housing Network. Prior to CHAPA, Eric was a student-attorney at legal clinics in Washington, DC, where he represented clients in Housing Court. Eric has worked with many housing and community development nonprofit organizations while serving for two years in the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps. Eric has a B.A. and J.D. from The George Washington University and is a member of the Massachusetts Bar.
Rep. Andy X. Vargas
REP. ANDY X. VARGAS was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in November 2017 at age 24. He previously served on the Haverhill City Council and is the first Latino elected official in the city. Vargas is a member of the Black and Latino Caucus and Vice-Chair of the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies. He is also a member of Ways & Means, Education, Public Health, and Small Business committees. https://www.repandyvargas.com/
Resources for this Episode
- Boston Globe | November 28, 2020: The Impending Eviction Crisis Will Inflict Trauma on Another Generation if Leaders Fail to Act
- Commonwealth Magazine | January 14, 2021: Distribution of Housing Assistance Funds Lagging
- HERO (Housing and Environment Revenue Opportunities) Coalition
- An Act providing for climate change adaptation infrastructure and affordable housing investments in the Commonwealth: as filed in the Senate, and in the House
FORUM #1: Friday, January 15, 10:00 – 11:00 AM
Making Our Massachusetts Legislature More Transparent and Effective
Missed this Forum? Watch the recording here.
Do you wonder why in a state so blue with a legislature so Democratic we haven’t enacted more progressive laws? Or why legislation seems to languish endlessly in committee or never reaches the floor for a vote? Do you wonder why the leadership of the House seems to have a stranglehold on the flow of legislation and why our representatives seem unable to get anything much done? Do you wonder what’s going on and what can we do about it?
Well, so do we! These questions and more will be addressed at the first in a series of forums on Massachusetts public policy sponsored by Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts (PDM), from 10-11 AM on Friday, January 15th.
Panelists John Lippitt, PDM, who writes a blog on national policy and politics at http://lippittpolicyandpolitics.org, and Matt Miller, co-founder of Act On Mass, will discuss rules and practices of the state legislature that stymie the passage of progressive legislation and make it difficult for the public to know what is going on in the Legislature, and Act on Mass’ Transparency is Power campaign to start to fix that. They will address strategies for rules reform, including Act On Mass’s Transparency is Power proposal. Jeanne Kempthorne, a member of PDM’s leadership team and a former member of the State Ethics Commission, will moderate.
Featured Speaker
Matt Miller
MATT MILLER co-founded Act on Mass in 2018 and has been Field Director & Campaign manager on many local campaigns and grassroots organizing projects.
Panelist
John Lippitt
JOHN A. LIPPITT has been a member of the Leadership Team of Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts (PDM) for over 5 years. Mr. Lippitt has a Ph.D. in Early Childhood Policy from the Heller School at Brandeis University and has recently retired from teaching and program management in early childhood policy and practice, as well as child and family policy more broadly. He has been writing a blog on national policy and politics since 2011 at http://lippittpolicyandpolitics.org.
Moderator
Jeanne Kempthorne
JEANNE KEMPTHORNE is a former prosecutor and criminal defense attorney. She has strong interests in public integrity, having served as chief of the Public Corruption Unit at the US Attorney’s Office in Boston and on the State Ethics Commission. She was vice-chair of the board of Common Cause Massachusetts and originally joined PDM’s board in Spring 2018.
Resources for this Episode
- Jeanne Kempthorne | PDM: 2021 Resource Guide and Primer on Massachusetts Politics
- Act On Mass | Transparency Campaign: Act On Mass Pledge
- Boston Globe | January 2, 2021: A speakership without limits is a bad idea
- Boston Globe | December 2, 2020: Police reform bill is an example of why the public is distrustful of Beacon Hill
- Commonwealth Magazine | November 23, 2020: Retiring rep, rep-elect share insights on State House opacity