Op-Ed: The Ballot Box Cannot Be A Substitute for Leadership

Last week was a whirlwind of news coming from the State House. The good news is that paid family and medical leave was passed and the minimum wage will be going up to $15 over the next five years. This means one or both of these issues may not be on the November ballot. The bad news is that the Fair Share Amendment, or the “Millionaire’s tax”, was struck down by the Massachusetts Supreme Court, and that the “grand bargain” on minimum wage fell short of what labor unions, progressive groups, and thousands of voters demanded by pushing the ballot initiative.

I’m glad our representatives are willing to revive the Fair Share Act, but their boldest idea is to restart the Constitutional Amendment process -- which will take at least four years. In the meantime, working families will fall further behind as our education and transportation systems continue to crumble. We cannot wait until 2022 to get the progress we deserve. We need to elect leaders who understand the urgency and are willing to take political risks to move us forward. There are innovative ideas to generate revenue now, and I’m willing to pursue them.

I’m also glad to see our leaders make progress on workforce issues like paid leave and minimum wage. At the same time, I’m frustrated that it took these ballot initiatives to force our leaders to act. These ballot questions are a direct result of our State House failing to do its job. Citizens created these ballot questions because they were tired of our lawmakers’ inaction. If our only path to progress is pressuring our leaders with ballot questions, it's time for new generation of political leadership.