MassFiscal welcomes Paul McCormick Jr. to the team as the new Deputy Finance Director. Paul previously worked at Fidelity Investments, with corporate retirement and benefit plans. He’s a political animal, though, with great campaign credentials. 

Paul graduated from Suffolk University with a degree in Criminal Justice. While at Suffolk he was president of the SU Republicans and an officer with the Massachusetts Alliance of College Republicans. He headed into Suffolk with an armload of credits from Cape Cod Community College, where he represented students on the Board of Trustees.

Carl Copeland, our political director, has a great eye for talent. Carl met Paul over the summer, when Paul was managing a State Senate race. He’s worked on a number of other races as well, including those of Governor Charlie Baker and Lt. Governor Karyn Polito. No stranger to local politics, Paul is from Dennis, where his father is the chairman of the Board of Selectmen. We welcome him to our team. 

A few weeks back, Beacon Hill democrats muscled through a fat pay increase, with an average payout of 40%. The Speaker and Senate President were the biggest winners, with with their salaries increasing by over $80,000. The pay raise scheme was passed with very little public notice. And on top of it all, for several freshmen, the pay raise vote was their first vote.
 
We caught up with one of the freshman, Senator Julian Cyr, a guy whose pay-grab salary increase is pretty astounding and asked him why he thought he should get a hefty raise. Watch our video here. For more information on how your lawmaker fared in padding his or her own pockets, see below. Here, we’ve compiled a list of what lawmakers are eligible to make for the 2017-2018 session. 

More Sunshine. Our Commonwealth needs it.
 
Each year, the National Sunlight Foundation promotes “Sunshine Week," an initiative to spark dialogue on government transparency and freedom of information. 

The Foundation's most recent grade for Massachusetts: an F. 

And although the legislative session has barely begun, MassFiscal gives the Beacon Hill bunch an “F,” too. Already, they've voted down allowing the public time to read new bills. They said no to publishing committee votes. But not every vote was a “no” vote.

The legislature voted a resounding “yes” to increasing their own pay, by 40% overall. So much about the pay hike stinks of smoky back room politics. Its emergency preamble meant retroactive cash for politicians. Money allocated to representatives and senators for travel expenses slyly traveled to an account that makes it countable when pension time rolls around. And of course, it slipped through, garnering each and every one of its votes from Democrats, the party that rules Beacon Hill with an iron fist.

Just for fun, we've put together a video featuring one first term senator who used one of his very first votes to increase his pay from $62,542 to $102,747. We hope you'll take a look.

Now, more than ever, sunshine matters in Massachusetts politics.  Check out Massfiscal’s voting scorecard at massfiscalscorecard.org to see how your lawmaker is voting on important issues.  When representatives and senators know you and I are watching, they make better choices on Beacon Hill. 
 
Let the sunshine in.