State Rep. Christine Barber is an exceptionally effective legislator

Letter to the editor, Somerville Journal

August 19, 2020

A few of years ago, I answered a reporter’s routine question about the status of a bill that I was working on for the Sierra Club. Tired and frustrated with the lack of momentum of progressive climate legislation in the building, I broke the unspoken rule of lobbyists in Massachusetts politics and pointed to the flaws in the political structure of the State House -- “Let me be clear,” I asserted. “Don’t confuse what goes on in this building with democracy.” And that’s exactly what he printed.

I was surprised to see this quote recently, out of context, in a Letter to the Editor to the Somerville Journal from State Representative candidate hopeful Anna Callahan along with former gubernatorial candidate Bob Massie and Greg Nadeau, who appears to have been a State House staffer decades ago. The point was to disingenuously tie the failings of the State Legislature to a candidate and colleague who I admire and have worked with on numerous climate issues in the State House, current State Representative Christine Barber of Somerville & Medford.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t asked and did not give approval of whether this quote could be included to push out this message. If I were, I would have advised the trio that when I said those words, I was not talking about any individual State Representative that was responsible for the current power structure. In fact, I would argue that Representative Barber has been exceptionally effective in moving progressive policies forward and stopping efforts in the State House -- like crushing Governor Baker’s attempt to roll back Medicaid in 2018, or getting crucial amendments adopted to bring us closer to carbon neutrality. Christine has always been a true partner to advocates like myself because she is pragmatic -- she understands what we can get done right now to mitigate the effect of climate change while also pushing long term solutions. If you feel impatient with the current leadership structure, there is no better champion for getting progressive wins regardless of the status quo than Christine Barber.

With my years of experience at the Sierra Club, I will be the first to tell you that moving legislation forward in the House of Representatives is a slow process that takes enormous patience. Christine Barber has that rare ability to stay unrelentingly focused on her goals and has become a superstar, not just for her district, but for all the people of the Commonwealth, regardless of the barriers. She’s not a magician, she’s simply effective at getting things done in a slow-paced environment. And she’s succeeding.

In her time in the state legislature, Christine has successfully organized her colleagues to block efforts from our Republican Governor to downgrade the monitoring of our water supply. She has voted for Massachusetts to achieve at least net zero emissions by 2050. She voted to allocate $12m for a workforce development program to increase participation in the clean energy economy by marginalized communities. She has led on ensuring that Environmental Justice remains the focus in all discussions on Climate Change. This passionate environmentalist is who we need to have fighting for us in the State House.

If we want to see real progressive change with the power structures in the State House, we need to do better than slinging mud at an effective State Rep who is a leader of organizing her colleagues to line up behind progressive efforts that succeed. Instead, we must focus on electing more progressives in different parts of the State so that we can truly have a chance at combating climate change.

We need leaders who have the backing of trusted progressive groups like MassAlliance, Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts, Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund, 350 Massachusetts, the Environmental League of Massachusetts Action Fund, and labor unions. We need a legislative partner who doesn’t see the Green New Deal as a “platitude,” but a call to action -- that candidate is State Representative Christine Barber.

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Phillip Sego was an Environmental Advocate for the Massachusetts Sierra Club from 1999 through 2015.

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