Demand free and fair elections
Date: 3/14/2011
With a ten percent approval rating how do incumbents in Congress keep getting re-elected? One reason is political gerrymandering.
The congressional district of Barney Frank reveals a distorted method designed to thwart the will of the people and hold onto power. Created in 1981 to help Barney Frank defeat eight-term Republican congresswoman Margaret Heckler, Frank has held onto power for nearly 30 years. Our state legislators in Boston will now redraw the districts for state and federal offices and do everything in their power to make it impossible for challengers to have a fair chance of getting elected.
State Sen. Stanley Rosenberg and state Rep. Michael Moran, leaders of the Massachusetts Redistricting Committee met behind closed doors with our Democrat congressmen to get their advice on how their districts should be drawn. Are you satisfied with politicians or political parties who think districts belong to them? Take for example the town of Chelmsford. Instead of being represented by one Republican representative, it was carved up and is now represented by four Democrat representatives from the neighboring cities and towns. Districts should not be designed to split a town if the population allows it to fit into one state representative district. Towns in a state representative district should be grouped together when part of a school region.
Contact your state legislator
www.malegislature.gov/People/FindMyLegislator and ask when public hearings will be held. Demand free and fair elections.
Massachusetts is losing a congressional seat as people move to states with lower taxes. How would our congressional representatives act if they faced elections that were not rigged by gerrymandering? They might do what we elect them to do, represent our views instead of jamming down our throats a government takeover of healthcare that is opposed by 60 percent of Americans.
A government that insulates itself from the will of the people is not a democracy, and one that manipulates the law is not a republic.
Dan Allie
Westfield
