House Minority Leader Bradley H. Jones, Jr. issued the following statement after the House engrossed House Bill 4246, which would allow Governor Patrick to make an interim appointment to the vacant U.S. Senate seat.The display the vast majority of Democrats put on today on the House floor is a disgrace and further confirmation of their abuse of power that has become so prevalent in this state legislature.
John Adams, who crafted our state’s constitution, is rolling over in his grave tonight because of the blatant hypocrisy and Machiavellian tactics being used by the Majority Party. Tonight, the ends justified the means. The Democrats made the decision to change a law retroactively at the expense of good government in order to benefit their party.
The people of Massachusetts don’t need another reason not to trust their elected officials. The Democrats have already given them plenty this year; the third Speaker in a row was indicted this year, a Senator allegedly took bribes in exchange for legislation and the Democratic-controlled Legislature hiked the sales tax. Beacon Hill is broken and we need to fix it. We started to take positive steps this year, putting into place a number of reforms in pension, transportation and ethics. But with this vote tonight, we took a dozen steps back.
It is a shame that the majority of Democratic lawmakers are more concerned with pleasing the special interest groups in Washington, than their own constituents here in Massachusetts.
