"A Commonwealth for Everyone": Newton City Councilor Bill Humphrey's Candidacy for the Mass. House of Representatives
A Look at Compelling Arguments Being Made in Another Part of the Commonwealth
[Readers, I should note at the outset that I have contributed $15.00 in 2019 to the subject of this article, Newton City Councilor and candidate for State Representative for the 12th Middlesex District Bill Humphrey, and that, when I was still active on what was then called Twitter, he and I regularly engaged in enjoyable discussion of Massachusetts politics.
This article looks beyond our own neck of the woods in Plymouth County to examine at significant political events in another part of the Commonwealth; now that Plymouth has a newspaper that covers its contested political races, this publication is able to more freely pursue its original interest, which is in common things and the Commonwealth, broadly construed.
I will also be candid that, as a one-man operation with another job, the reportorial and editorial resources required to adequately cover these contested local races are simply not available to me, whereas they do exist for The Plymouth Independent, The Duxbury Clipper, The Plympton-Halifax-Kingston Express, and others, who are already covering them.
The one exception to this is that I do plan, shortly, to publish a piece on the Plymouth County Commissioner elections, since one of the precipitating crises which impelled me to start writing this newsletter was the attempt by the County Commissioners — two of whom are up for reelection this year — to put a racetrack/casino on the County Wood Lot, common land belonging to the 530,000 inhabitants of Plymouth County, and not to any private or particular interests.
With all that said, one of the things historians and social scientists do is to look for and at patterns. We try to order these patterns, to interpret them, to explain them. And what I think is interesting is that the arguments which I and others have been making here in southeastern Massachusetts, regarding common things and common rights, are similar to those being made elsewhere in Massachusetts. Arguments in favor of a Commonwealth for all are being made — in my view, exceptionally well — by Newton City Councilor Bill Humphrey in his race for the open seat in the 12th Middlesex District in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, covering southern Newton and the western half of Brookline.
This article looks at Mr. Humphrey’s candidacy and arguments ahead of tomorrow’s primary election.
As always, thanks for reading and subscribing. — Ben Cronin]
(NEWTON and BROOKLINE) — Ten thousand doors are a lot to knock on, but that’s the milestone that Newton City Councilor Bill Humphrey’s campaign for State Representative in the 12th Middlesex District — consisting of the southern part of Newton and the southwestern part of Brookline — reached last week.
“This week, my all-volunteer campaign team and I — backed by hundreds of grassroots donors — celebrated reaching our 10,000th resident door in the district during this campaign. I personally have knocked just shy of 8,000 of these myself, which is an invaluable opportunity to meet the voters directly and hear about the issues they care about most, so that I can do my best work representing my constituents,” Mr. Humphrey wrote in an August 28th newsletter.
“In order, the top five issues most commonly cited this year as we go door-to-door have been environmental issues, housing, public transit, education/childcare, and reproductive rights. This face-to-face approach to meeting the voters where they are in an era of limited local news is how I got elected to the City Council in the first place, and I’m glad I have been able to bring this approach to my campaign for State Representative,” he said.
(Bill Humphrey campaigning, May, 2024; credit — Bill Humphrey for State Representative, https://www.facebook.com/BillHumphreyMA)
Mr. Humphrey is running for the Democratic nomination in the district. He is joined in the race by Greg Schwartz, a former Newton City Councilor and a medical doctor, and Newton City Councilor At-Large and real estate appraiser and consultant Rick Lipof.
The seat has been occupied by Rep. Ruth Balser (D) since 1999, who has decided to retire.
I first became aware of Mr. Humphrey nearly a decade ago, when I was active on what was then still called Twitter, following and discussing Massachusetts politics. I was immediately struck by the clarity, strength, and moral appeal of Mr. Humphrey’s arguments, and, indeed, he has been steadfast in his support for a truly common Commonwealth — a Commonwealth for all.
Humphrey’s electoral history, biography, and campaign message
I was also impressed that Mr. Humphrey, unlike many people whom I encountered on Twitter, was eager to actually enact his ideas, including by seeking elected office. He ran in the Democratic primary for a seat in The Governor’s Council in 2016, to which he was not elected. In 2019, he was elected to the Newton City Council from Ward 5 (as I noted above, I donated $15.00 to Mr. Humphrey’s campaign in May, 2019). He was reelected in 2023.
On the City Council, “he helped shepherd through the passage of a significant reform to the protection of trees on private property in Newton, and he also supported and strengthened the city’s plastic waste reduction ordinance,” according to his campaign website.
City Councilor Humphrey’s website describes him as “a progressive Democrat and fifth-generation native of Newton, Massachusetts. He is a proud product of the Newton public school system, having graduated from Angier Elementary, Brown Middle School, and Newton South High School.” He graduated from the University of Delaware with an Honors B.A. in Political Science; he minored in History, Geography, and Political Communication. The son a union nurse and a retired public transit planner, he “grew up in a multi-generational household that also included his elderly great-aunt (and one grandmother living around the corner). This gave him an unusual firsthand perspective on aging in place issues and caregiver challenges that many people in his generation did not experience until much later in life,” his website states.
In addition, his website notes that like his family members, he “believes passionately in the power of good government and public works to make society more socially just and equitable.”
City Councilor Humphrey distilled his candidacy’s message for the website Ballotpedia. He said, in part:
“Massachusetts should be a Commonwealth for everyone and a Beacon for the nation. Massachusetts should be leading the way: We need a Green New Deal that gets us off fossil fuels with economic justice, controls flooding, and builds hundreds of thousands of green homes for young adults, seniors, and families. We need to restore a public transit system and road network we can be proud of. We should create universal pre-K and daycare, properly fund our K through 12 schools, and expand public higher ed. We should finally establish universal healthcare, including abortion and maternal health, and address mental health and substance use with more health services, not criminalization. We deserve an inclusive society for everyone.”
On his campaign website, Mr. Humphrey explained why he is running for State Representative.
“An open seat in the Legislature is a wonderful chance to take stock and look at the progress we’ve made, and then to turn our eyes to the future to think about what more we can do to make Massachusetts a Commonwealth for everyone. Serving my Ward 5 constituents on the Newton City Council over the past several years has been the most rewarding experience in my career. Yet at every turn, we find ourselves confronted with problems that require solutions and funding beyond the level of local government. These include the climate crisis, housing, and healthcare, and so much more. I’ve learned about navigating a legislative body, what real leadership and teamwork look like, and how our government interacts with residents every day. I have a vision for a brighter tomorrow for everyone in Massachusetts, and I’m excited to share that with Newton and Brookline voters in the 12th Middlesex District. More importantly, I can’t wait to hear you share with me your ideas, your hopes, and your struggles, as I go door-to-door between now and the September 3rd Democratic primary.”
Mr. Humphrey’s platform is premised upon similar concerns which have motivated this publication — the idea that some things are simply and irreducibly public, and that our goal ought to be, as he puts it, “a Commonwealth for everyone.”
Here are some of Councilor Humphrey’s views which I found compelling:
On the issues: The Environment
Given the extent to which this publication has looked at the ways in which populations that are far from the power and money have been the ones who have paid, and continue to pay, the greatest costs in terms of energy production, including in the cases of both Holtec and sand mining across the region, I strongly agreed with this from Councilor Humphrey’s website:
On Public Transit
In addition, given my increasing interest in our transit system over the last nine months or so, I appreciated this passage in particular from Mr. Humphrey’s discussion of his views on Public Transit and Infrastructure:
“Public transit workers should be public employees, and they should be unionized — and public transit operations should not be outsourced either. The economics of public transportation do not support privatization, and public services like transit should remain fully state-owned and state-operated. We must continue to oppose any privatization efforts and end the outsourced operation of commuter rail,” his website states.
He further argues that “Public transit funding increases should come from equitable and progressive taxation, not constant fare hikes,” noting that he “supports a fare-free system of buses and subways to increase ridership and ease of use.”
(Mr. Humphrey campaigning in Newton; credit — Bill Humphrey for State Representative, https://www.facebook.com/BillHumphreyMA)
On Transparency and Good Government in the Massachusetts Legislature
I am also sympathetic to Mr. Humphrey’s arguments that at a basic level of procedural regularity, transparency, and open government, the Massachusetts Legislature in recent sessions has become internally dysfunctional, as evidenced by the 11th hour rush in recent sessions to squeeze months’ worth of work into just a few weeks.
“Legislative work that should be happening every day over a term increasingly occurs in a chaotic, last-minute scramble in the final weeks of a session where huge bills pass with little review and often missing critical pieces that had been considered essential,” he said.
“Lack of delegation of authority to the relevant committees and their expertise leads to a bottleneck of inaction and drafting errors in lawmaking, even on completely uncontroversial proposals with overwhelming support. Hundreds of bills each term are voted out of committee each term and expire without a vote in the full House of Representatives because the clock runs out and they seem to be lost in the shuffle,” said Mr. Humphrey.
“Legislative inaction at a basic level also keeps resulting in laws being pushed to the referendum process, where voters are asked to evaluate complex issues because their elected officials failed to make a decision after several terms,” he stated.
He noted that he “has a record of combining effective and collaborative legislative strategy with an independence and integrity that does not yield to a "go-along-to-get-along" culture. He also previously served on the Rules Subcommittee of the Newton City Council and has endorsed the Sunlight Act to expand Public Records access to legislators and to put committee testimony into the public record. He will be a supporter of changing how things get done in the Massachusetts House of Representatives because the current system is not serving the people of our state efficiently and effectively.”
(The 12th Middlesex District; credit — Ballotpedia.)
Endorsements
Mr. Humphrey has been endorsed by a number of organizations and individuals, including the Massachusetts and Newton Teachers Association, Reproductive Equity Now (formerly known as NARAL Pro-Choice), Pipefitters Local 537, Bay State Stonewall Democrats, the United Union of Roofers, Progressive Massachusetts, Waterproofers & Allied Workers Local 33, the Massachusetts Sierra Club, Teamsters Local No. 122, the SEIU State Council, Carpenters Local Union 339, and others.
Conclusion: A Commonwealth For Everyone
Taken together, I believe the arguments for Mr. Humphrey’s candidacy are compelling. He combines a courageous willingness to speak in favor of a truly egalitarian and democratic Commonwealth with a determination to enact the changes he wishes to see at the level of statute and policy. This is a rare combination, and one that, in my view, would serve well both the people of the 12th Middlesex District and the entire Commonwealth of Massachusetts, from Race Point to the Taconic Crest.
To paraphrase an old poster from the British Labour Party: when our Commonwealth is truly for everyone, everyone will be better off.
The primary election is tomorrow, Tuesday, September 3rd, 2024.