For readers who rarely or never watched Seinfeld, December 23 is an important date on the calendar because it’s Festivus. Festivus is a fictitious religious holiday. There’s a well-known episode where Mr. Costanza wields a pole and airs his grievances to his dinner guests because that’s what the tradition calls for. If Rep. Ellen Read was an observer of Festivus, she would bring a pole to the front of the state house on Monday and air a grievance against vandalism.
In Nashua, Festivus observers could bring a pole to the community flagpole area outside city hall. Among many grievances against the Donchess Donkeys are censorship, corruption, secrecy, disdain, unequal treatment, reckless spending, and its evil spawn, our property taxes. Seeing that our bills were received this week and computed using data from a surprise appraisal of the whole city, Festivus is extra timely this year.
Back to the state house, there are plenty of grievances to air against the Damn Emperor, but the good news is that his days in office are numbered, and there’s a pending civil suit against him in federal court. However, let’s discuss that other branch of government, the legislature, and if airing grievances against your legislator is in order.
Of course, not everyone is lucky enough to be represented by people they voted for or wanted to vote for in both chambers. Some people might have representation on one side of the wall but not the other. Some people might have voted for one or more of their legislators because the thought of their opponent(s) in their seat(s) was just plain unacceptable. Now that LSRs are filed and accumulating cosponsors, it’s a good time to look at what your legislators have COSPONSORED. Does your red legislator have a pattern of cosponsoring blue bills? Sadly, it happens a lot more often than you might think!
Is your red legislator cosponsoring socialism, more spending, more free stuff, or stupid “housing crap?” Have your incumbent red legislators cosponsored optometrists jabbing their patients, Rosenwald’s welfare dental plan, the enshrinement of Mass Health, warrantless arrests in hospitals, or zoning plans to usurp local control (SB 400 in 2022)? And don’t forget HB 1002. Part of the inspiration for this article was an email from a red Rep. who has stood up to red flagger Terry Roy, calling attention to Republican cosponsors of new red flag LSRs.
Remind your legislators that Queen Sharon and the Speaker are NOT their bosses; YOU are. Whether or not you observe Festivus, air your grievances to them if they are cosponsoring bills repugnant to your values. And if the response you get is some variety of what I call “Tim Lang malarkey,” it’s a good idea to monitor that bad bill and pressure them into opposing it. And if you get their lip service, don’t forget to save the receipt.
