After radical bills are passed in Massachusetts Legislature, pro-family activists are striking back.

Stepping up pressure over unconstitutional “informal sessions” that legislators use to save time.

MassResistance activists go office to office at the State House! But legislators & staffers don’t want to talk about it – and give lots of absurd responses.

Orwellian double-think reigns in the Massachusetts State House. But this battle isn’t going to stop!

August 18, 2024

This staffer for Rep. Daniel Donahue (D) talked a lot - but wouldn't answer our question.

Pro-family people across Massachusetts are fed up with the radical laws being passed and are striking back.

What is it like to go office to office, calling out “blue state” legislators (and their aides) about an unconstitutional practice they are all engaged in? (This includes both Democrats and Republicans.) MassResistance activists recently did that – and put them on notice that it’s going to be stopped!

The Massachusetts legislators are catering to extreme left-wing special interests. Over the past few months, they passed a radical LGBT law that redefines the family, passed an outrageous anti-gun bill, and allocated billions of dollars to house, feed, and educate thousands of illegal immigrants (including free community college tuition). None of this was done because average citizens asked for it.

This full-time legislature is now taking a five-month paid vacation until January! They’re supposed to be in the State House working on the numerous necessary bills that pile up all year. But instead, they’re campaigning for re-election or taking care of personal business while still getting a weekly paycheck.

Illegal “informal sessions” are now the norm

Bills are still being passed, of course. But they’re doing it through a phony scheme called “informal sessions.” About three times a week, two or three representatives or senators hold a session before an empty chamber and vote on dozens of bills (by voice vote, of course) while pretending there’s a quorum. As long as no legislator shows up to object that there isn’t a quorum, this scam goes on day after day. No other legislature in America engages in such a sleazy practice.

Here’s the issue: The Massachusetts Constitution states that a majority of each branch is required for business to be conducted. An actual quorum is legally mandated, not a pretend quorum.

MassResistance is organizing statewide to pressure a few “honest” legislators to go to every “informal session” and call the quorum – and thus force the rest of them to come to the State House and do their jobs. It will upend their comfortable way of doing business – and is meant to dampen their fervor to spend their time working for special interests instead of the citizens.

Going door to door through the State House

We had already reached out to many of the legislators via emails and phone calls. Now it was time for personal visits.

July 31 was the last day of “full formal sessions” before the legislators left for their five-month vacation. They were all in the building. So MassResistance activists went to the offices of all 200 legislators.

We had two teams of MassResistance activists there that day. They got to every legislator's office.

We handed them a crisp one-page letter explaining the outrage of what they were doing and why it needed to stop immediately.

Our letter waits in the mailbox of one of the state senators.

If no one was in the office at the time, we left the letters in their mailboxes. But our activists had a chance to personally interact with a surprising number of legislators and/or their staffers. Many of them were visibly surprised to be approached by people who weren’t from LGBT or other far-left special interest groups.

Their reactions – not so positive!

Virtually every legislator and every staffer we talked to refused to address the issue we presented to them: the constitution’s requirement for a quorum to conduct business.

Many of them simply said they saw no problem with using informal sessions because it got important work done. Some outright lied to us about the “legality” of that process. We were told to study the House Rule Book and understand how public hearings work. We were told that the “insignificant” bills don’t need a quorum.

Others refused to engage on the subject at all, or even pretended they couldn’t see us standing there wanting to talk to them.

Overall, the staffers acted as if they didn’t meet with the public often. Maybe they should get out of the State House more!

A few examples of their responses:

The things we were told by officials and their staffers are embarrassing.

• Rep. Susannah Whipps (U) saw no problem with the obviously corrupt process, telling us, “If there’s a controversial bill that really is going to cause anybody heartburn, one representative can doubt the presence of a quorum and it stops until there’s a quorum there. So I see this as a way to get more done.” Regarding our letter, she said, “You should not be peddling such hateful information.”
  

• Rep. Natalie Higgins (D) lectured us: "There is always a Republican and a Democrat in each informal session. I've been here for eight years."
  

• Rep. Jeffrey Roy (D) told us, "We move through informal sessions because it's quicker. We love it." 
  
• An aide to Senator Michael Moore (D) explained that each branch sets its own rules.
  
• An aide to Sen. Ryan Fattman (R) told us that the Senate does not hold informal sessions. He said, "All Senate sessions are formal, and need a quorum." Really? In fact, Sen. Fattman himself participates in many Senate informal sessions!
  
• Rep. Joseph McGonagal (D) simply asked us, “You’re saying this is unconstitutional?” and refused to discuss it further.
  
• An aide to Rep. Daniel Donahue (D) (see photo above) tried to “educate” us on how bills are passed in the Legislature. But when we asked about a quorum requirement, he changed the subject and talked about the particular bills that his boss is working on to get passed.
  

Sen. Peter Durant had an aide at the door to keep visitors from asking him questions.

This staffer for Sen. Patrick O'Connor wouldn't acknowledge our presence when we started asking questions.

Sen. John Keenan (in white shirt) was busy chatting with staffers, so we weren't allowed near him.

This man might be a legislator or staffer. We couldn't tell. He pretended he couldn't see or hear us. Only in the Massachusetts State House would people act that way to visitors!

It’s hard not to think that our elected officials and their staffers are either stupid or hopelessly corrupt. Most likely a mixture of both, depending on whom you talk to in that building.

Visiting the press room

One of our activists went to the State House press room where the newspaper reporters were working. She handed them copies of the letter, explained what the letter was about, and suggested that this was something they should be reporting on. They all said they were busy and didn’t have time.

The truth is that since the Massachusetts news media have all been going along with the scam for years – reporting on the informal sessions as if they were normal and legitimate – it’s unlikely they’ll want to cover this!

(As we’ve mentioned previously, only the conservative Boston Broadside newspaper and the Ed Lambert radio show on Cape Cod have been willing to report on this!)

Final thoughts

The argument we’re making is very straightforward. Going through an exercise like this was a bizarre and upsetting experience. It’s a chilling testament to the lack of intelligence and integrity behind the whole legislative process in Massachusetts – and likely other “blue” states.

That’s why everyone must continue the pressure to force an end to this unconstitutional practice in this legislature – and upend their entire way of doing things. The legislators and their staffs must be forced to pay attention to their constituents instead of the special interests!