Politics & Government
Newton Activist to Help Mass Dems Draft 2013 Platform
The Massachusetts Democratic Committee Platform Chair Mayor Setti Warren named the Platform Drafting Committee last week.
As the Massachusetts Democratic Committee works to put together its 2013 Platform, local communities will be well-represented on the party's Platform Drafting Committee.
Newton resident and activist Holly Ryan was named last week as a member of the committee and will focus on the area of justice and civil rights, according to a press release issued last week by the Mass. Democratic Committee.
Newton Mayor Setti Warren is the chair of this year's Massachusetts Democratic Party Platform Committee and made the nominations for the 40-person committee.
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“Our platform is a set a values and statement of what we believe as Democrats,” Mayor Warren said in the press release. “Over the course of the next months, the Platform Committee will participate in an open and transparent process to gather those values and beliefs into a single document.”
Earlier this year, Mayor Setti Warren named Ryan as the first transgender member of the Newton Human Rights Commission.
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In addition to her position on the Human Rights Commission, Ryan was the former co-chair of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC). During her time at the MTPC, she worked with legislators to pass the transgender anti-discrimination law.
Each year, the Mass. Dems come together to form a platform of issues and opinions that acts as a foundation for the organization. The members of the Drafting Committee base their platform recommendations on feedback they receive from other Democrats in the state, the press release said.
The party will vote on the platform at its convention in June, which will be held in Lowell.
Other local politicians and activists on the committee include Middlesex County Sheriff Peter Koutoujian, who will focus on the platform's public safety and crime prevention section, as well as Brookline Selectman Jesse Mermell, who will work on the healthcare and human services section.
The Mass. Democratic Party press release and full list of Draft Committee members is included below:
Massachusetts Democratic Party Platform Committee Chair Mayor Setti Warren Announces Members of the Platform Drafting Committee
The next step in forming a grassroots platform process leading up to the 2013 Platform Convention in Lowell.
BOSTON – Today, Massachusetts Democratic Party Platform Committee Chair Mayor Setti Warren announced the members of the Platform Drafting Committee who will be tasked with proposing a platform based on feedback from Democrats throughout Massachusetts.
Under Mayor Warren’s direction, any Democrat in Massachusetts my hold a hearing or provide recommendations on the party’s platform, which will be debated and approved by delegates to the Massachusetts Democratic Party’s convention next June in Lowell.
This effort is a continuation of the Massachusetts Democratic Party efforts to work with local citizens to establish an issues and values-based foundation for the biggest and broadest grassroots coalition in the history of the Commonwealth.
“Our platform is a set a values and statement of what we believe as Democrats,” said Mayor Warren. “Over the course of the next months, the Platform Committee will participate in an open and transparent process to gather those values and beliefs into a single document.”
The Platform Committee will compile a draft platform with the following sections: Education, Healthcare and Human Services, Labor, Economic Growth, Energy and Environment, Transportation and Infrastructure, Public Safety and Crime Prevention, Revenue and Expenditures, Ethnics and Transparency, Justice and Civil Rights, Voting and Democracy, Business and Entrepreneurship.
“This year, we are adding a section to the Massachusetts Democratic Party’s Platform to specifically lay our agenda to support business growth and entrepreneurship in the Commonwealth,” Mayor Warren added. “Massachusetts Democrats believes in a building an economy from the middle out, not from the top down and we want to show that small business can thrive in a fair economy.”
Members of the Platform Drafting Committee:
Mayor Setti Warren, Newton
Education
State Committee Member Jim Ditullio, Saugus
Senator Jen Flanagan, Leominster
Mayor Thatcher Keezer, Amesbury
State Committee Member Kate Moore, Belmont
Healthcare and Human Services
Joe Kearns Goodwin, Waltham
Selectman Jesse Mermell, Brookline
Representative Jeff Sanchez, Jamaica Plain
Labor
Councilor Felix Arroyo, Boston
State Committee Member, Angela Cristiani, Quincy
State Committee Member John Dumas, Quincy
Representative Denise Garlick, Needham
Economic Growth
Mayor Joe Curtatone, Somerville
Representative Anne Margaret Ferrante, Gloucester
Councilor Dan Rivera, Lawrence
Kathleen Walker, Woburn
Energy and Environment
Senator Ben Downing, Pittsfield
Representative Lori Ehrlich, Marblehead
Senator Barry Finegold, Andover
Transportation and Infrastructure
Representative Jen Benson, Lunenburg
Representative Tom Conroy, Wayland
State Committee Member Matt Fenlon, Chicopee
Public Safety and Crime Prevention
Sheriff Dan Bowler, Pittsfield
Sheriff Peter Koutoujian, Waltham
Steve Tompkins, Boston
Revenue and Expenditures
Councilor Leland Cheung, Cambridge
Senator Katherine Clark, Melrose
State Committee Member Mara Dolan, Concord
Mayor Kim Driscoll, Salem
Ethnics and Transparency
Senator Jamie Eldridge, Acton
Marilee Hunt, Bridgewater
State Committee Member Mike Lake, Boston
Justice and Civil Rights
Councilor Ayanna Pressley, Boston
Commissioner Holly Ryan, Newton
Councilor Serai Rivera, Worcester
State Committee Member Michelle Wu, Boston
Voting and Democracy
Cheryl Crawford, Boston
Councilor Tito Jackson, Boston
Representative Aaron Michlewitz, Boston
Business and Entrepreneurship
Senator Dan Wolf, Harwich
Mayor Lisa Wong, Fitchburg
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