I’ve watched both presidential debates to date, and not once has either candidate been asked about whether the federal government has too much power over the states.
For that matter, how about federal government intrusion into municipal government? On October 11th, the city of Oakland, California, filed suit against the United States Department of Justice over a medical marijuana dispute.
Regardless of your feelings about Cannabis, the Oakland City Council long ago voted in favor of medical marijuana, and last year received $1.1 million in tax revenue from the largest dispensary in the city.
The lawsuit stems over the DOJ’s attempt to seize property from the Harborside Health Center, which employs 100 people, serving 112,000 customers annually.
In the face of a federal law stating possession and distribution of marijuana is illegal, the state of California voted to legalize medical marijuana in 1996 with Proposition 215.
Here in Massachusetts, a different type of overreach has been in place - the state mandates defined benefit pension plans for municipalities. As a local elected official, I can’t understand how the state can mandate a plan (a defined benefit plan) without seeing if a city or town can afford it. The only explanation for this mandate is that a powerful lobbying group must have convinced the state legislature that it is in their best interest to tell cities and towns how to operate their finances.
So, how do you change this? With a home rule petition. And, if necessary, a coalition. And that is exactly what I’m trying to do. By the end of this month, I expect to have language that gives each city and town in Massachusetts the ability to negotiate directly with unions on pensions for new hires. While these negotiations would still occur within collective bargaining, success of this process in neighboring Connecticut leads me to believe that my town will be able to craft a more affordable pension plan with our labor unions.
The next step will be to go to all 361 communities in the state and ask them to join this effort in the name of financial freedom.
While I’m sure officials at the DOJ and the representatives and senators in the MA state legislature think they are just doing their job, at some point, they need to step back and consider who they work for – you and me, the taxpayers and voters.
When government grows too large, it stops listening to the people who pay for it. But if those same people never speak up, silence is taken as support.