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(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries and letters to the Editor of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)
Dear Fellow Somerville Democrats,
As long-standing Democratic Party activists in Somerville, we are writing to respectfully dissent from our City Committee’s endorsement and express our full support for the reelection of Erika Uyterhoeven to represent the 27th Middlesex district in the State House of Representatives.
We agree with the Committee’s endorsements of Elizabeth Warren, Ayanna Pressley, and Pat Jehlen – they have delivered on our progressive values. For the same reason, we are sticking with Erika Uyterhoeven.
The Committee’s endorsement of her opponent sharply diverges from that standard. Erika shares all the progressive values espoused by the challenger, but has already been serving our community in the State House as a strong voice and vote for those values.
Erika’s signature achievement was her central role in winning the Fair Share Amendment. First she led the work to move it through the legislature and then played a leading role in the campaign to win it at the ballot in 2022. That tax, only paid by the very wealthiest residents of the state, is already delivering over $2 Billion a year in new revenue for education and transportation.
The Fair Share Amendment has already made community college tuition-free for all, ensured universal free meals in our public schools, and put hundreds of millions of dollars into upgrading the MBTA and fixing our roads and bridges. Her leadership on Fair Share is bold visionary public service at its best. Erika – like Senator Warren, Congresswoman Pressley, and State Senator Jehlen – has demonstrated the determination and persistence to get things done!
To say one is for affordable housing, climate action, and reproductive rights is a minimum for our party these days. But to work for policies that actually keep people in their homes, measurably lower our impact on the climate, and enshrine those rights as inviolable takes a person who is committed enough, knowledgeable enough, and steadfast enough to keep the problems and their solutions front and center in the State House debate.
Erika is that person.
And that’s why we whole-heartedly endorse the reelection of Erika Uyterhoeven. We urge you to join us in keeping her on the job to continue working on our shared goals!
Sincerely,
The undersigned Somerville Democrats:
Wilfred N. Mbah, At-large City Councilor
Willie Burnley Jr, At-Large City Councilor
JT Scott, Ward 2 City Councilor
Ben Ewen-Campen, Ward 3 City Councilor
Naima Sait, Ward 5 City Councilor
Denise Provost, Ward 5, former 27th Middlesex State Representative
Mike Grunko, Treasurer, SDCC
Rand Wilson, Ward 6 Democratic Committee
Hala Jadallah, Ward 6 Democratic Committee
Daniel Wong, Ward 2 resident and former Ward 2 Committee Treasurer and Secretary
Harris Gruman, Ward 5
Marya Axner, Ward 5
Reebee Garofalo, Ward 7
Marianne Walles, Ward 4
Mark Stern, Ward 6
Susan Tannehill, Ward 1
Elaine Almquist, Ward 7
Sara Halawa, Ward 3
Dick Bauer, Ward 3
Jeff Uehlinger, Ward 2
Terence Cawley, Ward 3
Sara Dion, Ward 7
Mark Niedergang, Ward 5
Malcolm Cummings, Ward 5
Diane Wong, Ward 2, and Racial Justice Collaborative
Lawrence Rich, Ward 5
Cheryl Hirshman, Ward 3
Susan Eldridge, Ward 7
Surjeet Paintal, Ward 5
Chris Lay, Ward 5
Lael Backus, Ward 5
Susan Fendell, Ward 6 Democratic Committee
Paul Weiskel, Ward 2
Payton Corbett, Ward 1, B.A., Teamsters Local 122
Beth Grunko, Ward 4
Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, Ward 5
Jesse Clingan, Ward 4 City Councilor
Janine Fay, Ward 3
Robert Massie, Ward 4
Lance Davis, Ward 6 City Councilor
August 20, 2024
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How very Trump-esque of these DSA Democrats to disavow a majority vote taken by their voting neighbors. The Somerville Democratic City Committee (aka The Somerville Dems) voted 91 to 52 to support Kathleen Hornby.
What poor losers.
The Somerville Times should put up a disclaimer and get rid of this misleading and fraudulent title.
Erika Uyterhoeven can’t even organize her own City Committee to endorse her and you think she should continue to be a state representative?
It speaks volumes that the authors cite as Uyterhoeven’s “crowning achievement” a bill for which she was not even a lead sponsor. She was one of 100 legislators out of 160 who voted for it. They fail to cite any bills that Uyterhoeven actually introduced that were successfully passed into law, because there are none. They fail to specify any money that Uyterhoeven brought home to Somerville, because there is none in the last budget and very little in previous years.
The vague adjectives the authors use to praise Uyterhoeven are empty platitudes. They cite no examples of why she deserves that praise. Unsurprisingly, that is because her time representing Somerville is marred by laziness and ineffectiveness.
Moreover, Uyterhoeven has shown herself to simply be a cog in the extremist Democratic Socialist Party machine. She blindly adheres to the DSA party line instead of acting in the best interests of Somerville.
Somerville deserves a representative who will take initiative and work tirelessly to address the many problems facing our community, including chronic absenteeism in schools, food insecurity, homelessness, and rats.
That person is not Erika Uyterhoeven.
The Massachusetts Legislature has 200 members and the vast majority have gotten ZERO bills passed in the last four years, and probably in the last decade. This is because, as everyone from The Boston Globe to Progressive Mass have pointed out, our legislature is one of the country’s least efficient, least productive, and most top-heavy in terms of power. Advocates like me are regularly told it can take about 10 years to get a bill passed.
As of July 29, 227 bills had been signed into law this session, or about 6% of those introduced. A staggering 203 were about one person (such as the establishment of a sick leave bank), one city or town (because legislative approval is required for many things municipalities can’t implement on their own, like whether to ban a type of rat poison that kills eagles, hawks, and owls), or a combination of several towns. A few bills passed in the last hours of the session set important new policies, such as updating laws about parentage to reflect the diversity of today’s families. (See links below.)
What else can state reps and senators do in the face of these odds? All legislators have the authority to visit people in prison and jail, and Rep. Uyterhoeven is one of the minority who regularly does this so that she can understand and advocate for the basic needs and rights of people who are incarcerated. She was instrumental in arranging for people in the state prison system to testify at hearings about bills that directly affect them and their families, leveraging the new practice of hybrid hearings to increase participation in the legislative process.
Rep. Uyterhoeven has also supported striking workers by walking with them on picket lines. She lends support and visibility to important groups and causes.
There are many reasons to vote for or against someone, but not getting a bill passed in the Legislature is hardly one of them.
P.S. You can copy and paste the text below into a search engine if the links don’t work.
https://malegislature.gov/Laws/SessionLaws/Acts/2023
https://malegislature.gov/Laws/SessionLaws/Acts/2024