Bob Maginn Elected Chairman of the MassGOP
November 30, 2011
The Massachusetts Republican State Committee voted overwhelmingly to elect Bob Maginn as the next chairman of the MassGOP.
"I am honored to receive the support of so many of our Party's State Committee members in last night's election. The 2012 election cycle offers a unique opportunity for Republican candidates in Massachusetts to be successful at all levels and I look forward to working with Senator Scott Brown, and House and Senate Republican leaders Brad Jones and Bruce Tarr to build upon the gains our Party made last year," Bob Maginn, Chairman of the MassGOP said. "Working alongside activists, together we will vigorously challenge the one-party rule on Beacon Hill and promote an ethical culture bringing the right plan to fix our Massachusetts economy and create more jobs."
Senator Scott Brown on the election of Bob Maginn: "As we look ahead to 2012, it is critical that we stand united as a party. Next year offers us a real opportunity to elect commonsense leaders at the Statehouse and Congress. Under the leadership of Chairman Maginn, I am confident our candidates will succeed if we stay focused on creating jobs and getting the economy moving again.”
House Minority Leader Bradley H. Jones, Jr.: “I look forward to working with Bob as we move toward the 2012 election cycle. Bob realizes the importance of our two main election priorities on Beacon Hill – retaining current seats in the House of Representatives and gaining new Republican seats – and I am optimistic about his plan to achieve these goals.”
Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr: "The Massachusetts Republican Party has had the benefit of a spirited, energetic and thoughtful contest for the selection of a new chairman, and both candidates are to be congratulated for their campaign efforts. That process has not only resulted in the selection of Bob Maginn to lead the party, but also has set the stage for unity and progress in bringing Republican leadership to bear on the issues facing our state. He is a leader not only with a commitment to the principles of limited and efficient government, but also with a proven record of concern for others."
***********************************************************
House Republican Caucus Votes in Favor of Passing “Melissa’s Bill”
In case you missed it, led by bill sponsor Bradford Hill (R-Ipswich), the entire House Republican Caucus voted yesterday in support of legislation aimed at protecting the public from dangerous, repeat offenders.
House Bill 3811, An Act Relative to Habitual Repeat Offenders, Sentencing and Improving Law Enforcement Tools, often referred to as “Melissa’s Bill”, was filed in 2000 in memory of Melissa Gosule, a then 27-year-old teacher who was brutally murdered by a repeat offender who had served fewer than two years in jail for a combined 27 criminal convictions. More recent violent attacks by repeat offenders further illustrate the need for legislation aimed at keeping these offenders incarcerated.
“I am pleased that the Legislature has confirmed its commitment to ensuring the safety of all the citizens of the Commonwealth from dangerous, habitual offenders. Additionally, I am thrilled by the overwhelming support that I have received from my colleagues on both sides of the aisle,” stated Representative Hill. “We in the Republican Caucus were happy to have taken the lead, joined by our Democratic colleagues, in passing this legislation.”
Amendments offered by House Republicans during the debate include: mandatory written notification of parole hearings to the Attorney General, District Attorney, local Chief of Police, and the victim for an offender convicted of a violent crime who has served more than 5 years in prison; and a requirement that parole for life sentences may only be granted by a 2/3 vote of the parole board.
“I am pleased that this legislation, 10 years in the making, has passed the House overwhelmingly, and with bi-partisan support,” said House Minority Leader Bradley H. Jones, Jr. “‘Melissa’s Bill’ will further ensure the safety of all of the citizens of the Commonwealth from dangerous, habitual offenders.”
Components of “Melissa’s Bill” passed by the House of Representatives includes:
• The length of time a habitual offender must serve before becoming eligible for parole is increased from ½ to 2/3 of their sentence.
• Anyone convicted of a predetermined offense, who has been convicted twice previously of one or more the listed offenses, will be considered a habitual offender and be punished by imprisonment for the maximum term provided by law for the third offense.
• No person shall be considered a habitual offender based upon any offense for which such person was adjudicated a delinquent child.
• Anyone convicted of a felony who has been previously twice convicted and sentenced to prison for at least 3 years by the state of Massachusetts, another state, or the United States, will be considered a habitual offender and be punished by imprisonment for the maximum term provided by law for the subsequent felony for which that offender is to be sentenced.
The legislation will now be sent to Conference Committee.
Posted by Massachusetts House Republicans, November 17, 2011
***************************************************** .
SENATE UNANIMOUSLY APPROVES CRIME BILL WITH “THREE STRIKES” PROVISION
By Kyle Cheney and Colleen Quinn - STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, NOV. 10, 2011…..The Senate on Thursday unanimously adopted an omnibus crime package that includes a proposal to deny parole eligibility to three-time violent felons and makes changes in gun and sentencing laws.
“The people who will deal in death and administer death to others will be dealt with accordingly,” Senate President Therese Murray said after casting her vote in support of the legislation. “I’m very proud of this body.”
The bill passed with the family members of Melissa Gosule and John Maguire – both killed by habitual offenders who would never have been released from prison under the provisions of the bill – looking on from the public gallery. Gosule was the namesake for Melissa’s Law, a proposal Republicans have long pushed with little Democratic support in previous sessions. Maguire was a Woburn police officer killed last December by a habitual offender who had recently been paroled.
“It’s balanced. It’s tough where we need to be tough,” said Sen. Steven Baddour (D-Methuen) who crafted the bill with a small group of senators, including Senate Judiciary Committee co-chair Cynthia Creem, Senate budget chief Stephen Brewer, and Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr.
Critics, including the Massachusetts Bar Association, ripped the bill as too heavily weighted in support of mandatory minimum sentences without enough understanding of potential costs or efforts to reduce prison overcrowding.
Under the legislation, individuals convicted of crimes punishable by two and a half years or more in state prison would be prohibited from possessing firearms. Mandatory minimum sentences for certain drug crimes would be reduced and applied to current inmates, making them eligible for parole if they've served the new reduced sentence. All inmates released from prison would be subject to mandatory supervision.
The bill now heads to the House, and backers in the Senate said they hoped the body would take it up before a seven-week recess that begins Nov. 16. Many of the proposals in the Senate bill are still pending before the House-controlled Judiciary Committee, who has not yet recommended legislation.
During debate on the bill, senators sped through 76 amendments, adopting a proposal that would permit judges to include pets in restraining orders. Supporters said the proposal would protect domestic violence victims who often remain in abusive situations because of fears about the safety of a pet.
The Senate bill also shrinks the area around schools in which drug offenders are slapped with mandatory minimum sentences of two to three years. The existing zone of 1,000 feet would shrink to 500 feet, according to the bill. The Senate rejected attempts by some members to shrink the school zone further to either 250 feet or 100 feet. Backers of the 500-foot proposal called it a compromise between law enforcement officials – who use the threat of tougher sentences to coax plea bargains – and those worried that large school zones discriminate against urban populations.
“I’m a big believer of if you break the law, you pay the consequences. These school zone laws are important,” said Sen. Michael Knapik (R-Westfield).
But critics said even 500 feet would likely encompass most residents of urban neighborhoods and would do little to prevent crime or protect kids from drug dealers.
“I’m supporting bills that keep drugs out of the hands of kids. But this fosters discriminatory incarceration,” said Sen. Daniel Wolf (D-Harwich), who sponsored the 100-foot school zone amendment.
Civil liberties and prisoner advocates, the Massachusetts Bar Association, and some members of the clergy railed against the bill, arguing that it would worsen prison overcrowding, cost tens of millions of dollars and harm, not enhance, public safety. Senators estimated the bill would save $5 million.
“While pleased that the crime bill being debated in the Senate today includes a reduction in mandatory minimum sentences for some non-violent drug offenders, we believe it is a missed opportunity to enact meaningful reform which both increases public safety and is fiscally sound,” said Martin Healy, chief legal counsel of the bar association.
Leslie Walker, executive director of Prisoners’ Legal Services, said in a statement following passage of the bill: “If this legislation becomes law, Massachusetts' already terrible prison overcrowding problem will become one of the worst in the nation. That is not only a humanitarian concern, it is a taxpayer concern. We are spending $1 billion a year on incarceration, and that number will soar under this bill. It is time we got smart on corrections.”
Other critics of the proposal called it “wrong bill at the wrong time.”
Stephen O’Neill, executive director of Ex-prisoners and Prisoners Organizing for Community Advancement, said the three-strikes aspect of the bill would be costly, adding that reduced sentences for some drug crimes only “nibbles around the edges.”
“To not deal with why people are incarcerated is a mistake,” O’Neill said. “We do almost nothing to address the reasons people are breaking the law and recidivism.”
Some protestors were with the Occupy Boston movement, carrying pamphlets that read “Time to Occupy the State House.” The news that Occupy protesters intended to flood the State House – a call that never materialized – led to an increased police presence around the Senate chamber and the public galleries, with at times about 10 state troopers – including plainclothes officers – and a handful of Department of Conservation and Recreation rangers patrolling the halls.
Family members of victims who help spur the legislation to passage praised the bill, calling it a “long overdue.”
Les Gosule, the father of Melissa Gosule, the 27-year-old woman who was raped and murdered by a paroled violent criminal, said it was a “bittersweet day.”
“Twelve years and this bill has never seen the light of day before,” he said while watching the debate in the Senate gallery. “This is bitter because it never should have happened. It is bitter because it has taken 12 years. It is sweet because something is finally happening.”
During debate, an amendment offered by Sen. Katherine Clark (D-Melrose) to permit drug offenders in state prisons or Department of Correction facilities to seek parole after serving two-thirds of their sentences was defeated 11-24, despite assurances that the early parole wouldn’t be extended to drug traffickers, those who involved minors in their crimes, or those whose crimes involved a firearm.
“This isn’t just about juveniles. It’s not just about those who are suffering from addiction. It’s about the victims. It’s about the families that have been ripped apart,” Baddour said. “For some reason we don’t talk about that enough. This amendment guts this bill.”
Added Sen. Brewer (D-Barre), “This would go against the whole theory of what we are trying to do.”
Clark’s amendment won the support of Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz (D-Jamaica Plain), who said her experience in a district with high incidence of drug crime led her to believe that early parole would enhance, not hurt public safety.
“I would again urge my colleagues to consider that I am speaking on behalf of neighborhoods that are highly, highly impacted by the crimes you are worried about. When talking about drug trafficking, it is a scourge on my district,” said Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz (D-Jamaica Plain). “If there were any thought that mandatory minimums in these cases work, again I would not be urging your support of this amendment. But the evidence is simply not there.”
Senators also backed an attempt by Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr to encourage the inclusion of a victim advocate on the Parole Board.
“I don’t think it really serves the interest of good, scientifically based analysis just because a person is a victim,” Brewer said.
The Senate also rejected an attempt by Tarr to strip a provision that permits terminally ill inmates from being released.
Baddour said he did not think the Senate’s decision to circumvent the traditional committee process to draft the bill would reduce its chances of passage in the House.
“I think they understood that we said early on in the session that this was a bill the Senate president was committed to getting done, and I think it needed that sort of impetus to get the bill moving.”
“We’re all hopeful and optimistic,” he added.
******************************************************
By Dan McCreadyWicked Local Quincy Posted Jul 13, 2011 @ 02:37 AMLast update Jul 13, 2011 @ 04:59 PM QUINCY —
“We need an iron door, not a revolving door” said Les Gosule as he addressed a meeting of the Quincy Republican City Committee on Tuesday evening.
The event was held at Best Western Adams Inn on Hancock St and attracted a crowd of over 30 listeners. Gosule came to discuss the current state of “Melissa’s Bill” which is named after Gosule’s daughter, Melissa Gosule, who was murdered by a paroled inmate with 27 prior felonies.
Although there are several versions of the bill currently in committee, they all would make it more difficult for repeat violent criminal offenders to be granted parole and impose stricter sentencing guidelines. During his speech Gosule expressed disappointment that the bill had not yet made it to the floor of the Legislature where he says 90 legislators are supporting it.
“What I want is a bill to come out of committee, and it doesn’t really matter what the bill is” he said. Gosule criticized lawmakers who expressed reservations about the bill and dismissed concerns that having greater monitoring of released inmates would be illegal. "I’m tired of hearing that’s not what the law is, didn’t we vote these people into office to change the law and make it better?”
There were solemn moments such as when he read a poem dedicated to his daughter and lighter moments poking fun of Sal Dimasi joking, “if I saw him I probably would have got it done because I probably could have given him some money on the side.”
Even though this speech was in front of a Republican group Gosule says Melissa’s Bill is non-partisan. “This has nothing to do with politics,” said Gosule “this should have all to do with public safety and taking care of people who are innocent.”
