Mathew Helman: Scott Brown is No Job Crusader

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Friday, June 15, 2012

Mathew Helman, Guest MINDSETTER™

In the virtual pages of GoLocalWorcester, Republican Scott Brown recently touted a piece of legislation that smacks of election year gimmickry. In proposing this bill, Brown seeks to cover for a major weakness of his own record in the U.S. Senate.

Boston Herald reporter Dave Wedge recently reminded voters that “Brown voted with fellow GOP lawmakers in 2010 to defeat a measure that would have restored millions for summer jobs.” While it’s disappointing enough that Republican Scott Brown would join his right-wing colleagues in opposing summer jobs for teens, the story gets much worse.

In response to Republican Scott Brown’s anti-jobs vote in 2010, a remarkable group of young adults rallied in Boston this past April to let Brown know about their discontent that Brown “radically slashed” summer jobs funding. Following the rally, some of these teens wanted to deliver their petition to Brown’s office. What followed was a demonstration of Scott Brown’s elitist approach to dealing with students. The Boston Globe’s Adrian Walker described the scene:

"A group of teenagers calling for more summer jobs got a civics lesson they didn’t anticipate on Thursday when they tried to pay a visit to US Senator Scott Brown. About 25 students, along with several community activists and Councilor Felix G. Arroyo of Boston, were hoping for a meeting with Brown when they were intercepted at the entrance to the John F. Kennedy Federal Building. They were told that Brown’s office could not accommodate a group of their size and were denied entry."

“They never even got to the metal detectors,” said Mswati Hanks, a community organizer in East Boston. “They had been [protesting] for about three hours by that point, and they were disappointed that they weren’t even allowed in the door.”

“These are young people who want to work this summer, them and their brothers and sisters,” Arroyo said. “Brown voted against summer jobs funding, and we wanted to ask him to reconsider if the issue comes up again.”

Not only were these remarkable young adults denied entry into Scott Brown’s office, but Brown’s staff went so far as to deny them entry into the public building. It’s hypocritical for Brown to refer to his office as “the People’s Seat” when he and his staff refuse to meet with people, even if those people are students who may be too young to vote.

Scott Brown was widely criticized for the incident, which occurred in the Spring of an election year. The response appears to be this gimmick piece of legislation, designed to Etch-A-Sketch his record of opposing funding for summer jobs and his office’s elitist shutdown of young adults who simply wanted to spend their summer working in their community.

While the whole situation is disappointing, it’s not at all surprising. Brown's record includes votes against the American Jobs Act of 2011 (S. 1660, Senate Vote #160, 10/11/11), the Rebuild America Jobs Act (S. 1769, Senate Vote 195, 11/3/11), and the Teachers and First Responders Back to Work Act of 2011 (S.1723, Senate Vote 177, 10/20/11). These three bills amounted to an estimated 33,000 jobs at stake for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and Brown voted against them all.

It’s further expected from Brown given his partisan voting record in the U.S. Senate, putting obstruction and gridlock ahead of problem-solving and getting things done. A study of Brown’s actual votes in key situations shows that, over 75% of the time, Brown sides with his right-wing Republican colleagues instead of working toward bipartisan compromise.

We saw this play out in the recent debate over the student loan interest rate. The interest rate is set to double in July from 3.4% to 6.8%, making a college education more expensive for students and families. The U.S. Senate voted on a bill to keep the rate at 3.4%, and the bill had majority support. Unfortunately, right-wing Republicans filibustered the bill, forcing the bill to require 60 votes, rather than 50 votes, for passage. The bill fell short of the 60-vote threshold, with Brown siding with his right-wing colleagues and effectively voting to double the student loan interest rate.

Republican Scott Brown’s real record in the U.S. Senate includes slashing summer jobs for teens, voting against over 33,000 jobs for Massachusetts, and voting to double the student loan interest rate. His real record also includes prioritizing partisan gridlock over bipartisan problem-solving. No election-year gimmicks can Etch-A-Sketch that record away.

If Brown ever holds a public town hall forum, voters might have the chance to ask him about these important issues. Unfortunately, since his election to the U.S. Senate, Brown has refused to hold public town hall forums, perhaps to avoid criticism of his partisan record. The “People’s Senator” shamefully refuses to meet with “We the People.”

Mathew Helman currently serves as Communications Director of ProgressMass. Mathew, a proud product of the Framingham public schools, has spent the last ten years working in Massachusetts government and politics.

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