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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