Meeting with Creem's Aide

Kiersten, Eddie, Ben, Pema

Today we went to the State House to speak to Senator Cynthia Creem’s aide. We chose to meet with someone in Creem’s office even if we could not get time with Creem herself because there is already a relationship between Creem and YMORE. In addition to that, she dealt with the state revenue and is a chair on the Committee of Ways and Means (which deals with finances.) The aide (whose name we did not remember) told us that Creem has always been in favor of taxes because of the money they bring to the state. While it is not necessarily relevant to this project, Creem is also proposing a bill to keep issues of civil rights from the popular vote. We began by introducing ourselves and by a very fortunate coincidence, she lived a street over from where I live now. The ice had been truly broken after that point.

Our questions:
How does the ballot initiative process work?
What are the arguments for and against cutting the sales tax?
What can we as youth do to keep this from passing?

When we asked about the ballot initiative process, fortunately the aide had a printout she was going to give to YMORE people. It explained fully the ballot initiative process and lists all 3 questions on the ballot. In order to get a question on the ballot, the legislature can propose it or one must collect approximately 70,000 signatures from all over Massachusetts (66,593 or “3% of the total vote cast for all candidates for Governor…at the last state election”) and get said signatures approved. After hearings etc, one must collect another 11,099 signatures. We have the helpful handout for the rest of the group.

The aide speculated on why some may be opposed to the sales tax and also justified the sales tax as it is. She said it is seen as a “regressive tax.” As we discussed already, there is no tax on drugs, food and clothing under $175- what she called the core of purchases. Another arguments she listed is that the 6.25% tax on, for example, a $1000 TV is $625 that could have gone to something else. Connected to that argument is the argument that claims people are driving to New Hampshire (no sales tax) for purchases such as those and MA is losing money as a result. The logical counter argument to the ones listed is that the state needs the money for services and to function.

Next, we explained the door knocking campaign and she suggested some fairly obvious ideas to organize in our communities. It was confirmed that the point is not to get the support of the politicians (not many need to be convinced) but instead the voters. We talked briefly about the housing initiative, too. There are not many supporters of it, two exceptions being Charlie Baker (R) and Tim Cahill (I) because they don’t like overriding local control of housing. We also discussed the rent control referendum that passed. We ended the meeting on a good note. We decided it went very well. She definitely set the tone with a chipper attitude and was very friendly. We were able to chat a little but also stuck to our plan and worked very efficiently. If we find a way to recover this lovely woman's name, we shall send a thank you email. We shall try to contact more local politicians, namely Representative Jeffrey Sanchez and Councilor Felix Arroyo. Success!

-Edsuvani Maisonet