Change Beacon Hill

Chris McKeown over at Blue Mass Group asks the question,
Isn't it time WE fix Beacon Hill?
His suggestion is a constitutional amendment to change the way that the legislative leaders are chosen to a secret ballot, limit the appointing powers of those leaders, and turn over committee assignments to a Committee on Committees which would also act by secret ballot. The whole idea is to give individual legislators more power at the expense of the House and Senate leaders. Will you help gather signatures to get this reform on the ballot? Go to the link in the block below and learn how to do it.

Now is the time--and the opportunity is ripe to fix Beacon Hill, once and for all. But, success will take many Massachusetts residents to be willing to download a petition kit and gather 100 signatures (just a few hours work).

Simply put, Fix Beacon Hill (FBH) is a non-partisan, grassroots organization formed for the sole purpose of restoring deliberative, representative democracy in our legislature. We can only do this through a constitutional amendment. FBH is not backed by, or affiliated with, any political party, industry association or lobbying group. Our mission is simply about re-establishing the deliberative, representative democratic process that our framers intended for the legislature; ensuring that all individual legislators have a voice in our legislature.

This sounds like a good plan to me. Let us get the signatures and get it done.
In addition to the above changes, ...

... the amendment provides that,

d) Neither chamber shall exempt itself from Massachusetts’ open meeting laws
e) Both chambers shall establish and publish detailed line item budgets for the operation of their chamber.

Further good policy in my view. We can get this done with your help. Read the amendment here
Chris also suggests these as ways to further this goal

Commit to getting 100 signatures
Commit to enlisting friends/family to do the same
Voice your support with your legislators
Volunteer to gather signatures at your fall Town Meeting or Town/County Fair
Reach out to any media contacts you have
Contact your local newspaper for a story
Donate to the cause - any amount helps
Give a presentation to local fraternal group(s)

What do you say? We all complain about Beacon Hill. Here is a concrete way to change it.