Editorial Roundup: New England

Barre-Montpelier Times Argus. November 25, 2023.

Editorial: Doing their part

The members of Vermont’s congressional delegation took some hard line positions this week on the Israeli-Hamas war.

U.S. Rep. Becca Balint was the first Jewish member of the House of Representatives to call for a cease-fire. (Sen. Dick Durbin, of Illinois, became the first member of Congress’s upper chamber to call for a cease-fire.)

“I do not claim to know how to solve every aspect of this decades-long conflict. But what I do know is that killing civilians, and killing children, is an abomination and categorically unacceptable — no matter who the civilians are, and no matter who the children are,” wrote Balint in a commentary that was published in national and Vermont media outlets, including on these pages. In the op-ed, Balint writes that she is one generation removed from the horrors of the Holocaust — the realities of antisemitism and genocide are, thus, not far from her mind.

She writes that she is grieving for Israelis killed or taken hostage in the Oct. 7 attack. Likewise, she said she is grieving for the Palestinians “killed and suffering in the chaos of violence,” and for the children who have been killed, harmed and orphaned amid the war.

“For the good of Palestinians and Israelis, a lasting bilateral cease-fire can only work if Hamas does not continue to rule in Gaza. Hamas is a terrorist organization, and its stated goal is to annihilate the state of Israel,” Balint wrote. “It can’t remain in power in Gaza. It has violated international law by taking hostages and massacring civilians.”

Balint was one of 24 Democratic members of Congress who called for the cease-fire.

Then, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders made headlines when he called for imposing conditions on any aid provided to Israel by the United States. Sanders called Hamas “a corrupt terrorist organization” and agreed that “Israel absolutely has the right to defend itself.”

In a statement released Monday, Sanders stated that “while Israel has the right to go after Hamas, (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu’s right-wing extremist government does not have the right to wage almost total warfare against the Palestinian people. That is morally unacceptable and in violation of international law.” He said displacing 1.6 million people from their homes, cutting off food, water, medical supplies and fuel, and killing some 12,000 Palestinians, including children, is “in violation of every code of human decency. It must stop.”

The U.S. provides $3.8 billion a year in aid to Israel, and the Biden administration wants $14.3 billion more. Sanders cautioned, however, “The Netanyahu government, or hopefully a new Israeli government, must understand that not one penny will be coming to Israel from the U.S. unless there is a fundamental change in their military and political positions.”

Sanders outlined that, among other conditions, on Israel are: An end to the indiscriminate bombing and a significant pause in military operations so that massive humanitarian assistance can come into the region; the right of displaced Gazans to return to their homes; no long-term Israeli re-occupation or blockade of Gaza; an end to settler violence in the West Bank and a freeze on settlement expansion; a commitment to broad peace talks for a two-state solution.

According to The Guardian, Sanders issued his call while Democrats continue facing mounting pressure from the party’s voters to support a cease-fire in the war. Sanders himself has faced criticism from his progressive supporters over his reluctance to endorse their push for a cease-fire.

Some have called Sanders’ approach a “responsible course of action” by citing the U.S.’s legal and moral responsibility to ensure that public resources do not facilitate gross violations of human rights and international law. Others have suggested it is a fool’s errand and an attempt at playing politics.

Meanwhile, in a letter to President Joe Biden, U.S. Sen. Peter Welch reiterated immediate steps to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza and to protect civilians.

In the letter, signed by other lawmakers as well, Welch urged President Biden to work toward the long-term goals of ending the Hamas threat, bringing hostages home and achieving sustainable peace in the region through a two-state solution. It does not go as far as calling for a cease-fire.

“We are concerned that increased and prolonged suffering in Gaza is not only intolerable for Palestinian civilians there but will also negatively impact the security of Israeli civilians by exacerbating existing tensions and eroding regional alliances,” the senators wrote. “This conflict will not be solved by force alone. Preservation of and respect for innocent life is morally right and the best hope for a long-term strategy to accomplish security, stability and peace in the region.”

While much of the country falters over the complexity of the issue, we appreciate that the members of our delegation, each in their own way, are standing up and seeking a humanitarian resolution, or at least pause to the Israeli-Hamas war. Leadership is needed in order to properly hold space for this heinous conflict. Our delegation is doing its part.

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Hearst Connecticut Media. November 29, 2023.

Editorial: The Sean Scanlon school of politics

No one wants to be cynical about politicians. We want to believe they have some convictions. Most of them probably do, at least at the start.

Sean Scanlon, the former state legislator who is in his first term in statewide office as comptroller, is only 36 years old. He has been ahead of the game for years already. And now he appears to be displaying the cynicism of a politician twice his age.

The context is a story in the CT Mirror about the 2026 gubernatorial election, which might seem a lifetime away but, politics being what it is, has already become the subject of jockeying among interested parties. Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz is known to have an interest in running, and she is among a virtual army of Democrats, including Scanlon, who could potentially make a move in that direction.

But it all depends what the current holder of that position decides. Ned Lamont was reelected a year ago, and Connecticut has no terms limits. He could decide to run again, and is said to be open to the possibility.

The smart move when asked about all this would be to demur. Say the election is far in the future. No one expects a prominent Democrat to publicly speak out against a sitting governor, but it would be perfectly fair to say nothing at all of substance about an election years in the future.

That’s not what Scanlon did. When asked about Lamont, he said, “We have a governor doing a great job. And I don’t know why anybody would not be encouraging him to run for a third term.”

Scanlon, when he was in the General Assembly, was the author of a bill that would have created a public option for health insurance in Connecticut. He repeatedly declared it among his highest priorities, and with Democrats owning big majorities in the House and Senate, it should have had a path to success.

This is not about the merits of a public option, which has been debated at length. What is not in dispute is that Scanlon thought it was a good idea. It’s also not in dispute that the reason the plan failed was that Ned Lamont killed it.

The governor may have had good reasons. The insurance lobby, a major presence in Hartford, certainly hated the idea, and maybe the governor thought that was too much to overcome. That’s not the issue.

The issue is that Scanlon’s very recent priority will never become a reality with Ned Lamont in office. If you think a public option is a good idea, even a necessary one, the possibility of a third Lamont term puts off the start of work on one until 2031, at the earliest.

If you wanted better choices for your health insurance, that’s a long time to wait. It appears this is now something Sean Scanlon is OK with.

It could be argued this is too much to make of a stray comment. But we want politicians to have convictions. If their words don’t matter, it’s hard to see how anything else they do matters, either.

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Bangor Daily News. November 24, 2023.

Editorial: Lawmakers must give the Lewiston shooting commission subpoena power

The newly formed commission to investigate the facts surrounding the horrific Oct. 25 Lewiston shooting has sensibly asked for subpoena power so it can compel testimony and documents, if needed, as part of its review. The Legislature, we’ll say once again, should approve this additional investigatory power as soon as possible.

Gov. Janet Mills and Attorney General Aaron Frey had made clear that they stood ready to ask the Legislature to give the commission this power, the commission has now asked for it, Mills and Frey have seconded that ask, and lawmakers shouldn’t delay in delivering it once they return to session.

We can understand that some lawmakers want legislative involvement in reviewing the facts proceeding, during and after the shooting that claimed 18 lives and injured 13 others. They can, and should, do that regardless of what the Independent Commission to Investigate the Facts of the Tragedy in Lewiston, which met for the first time Monday, does. We’re certainly not asking the Government Oversight Committee or any other legislative committee to remain on the sidelines. But the Legislature can help ensure the commission’s work is unimpeded by immediately providing subpoena power to the commission and, if it deems it necessary, then undertake its own review.

This process and the many details involved are complex, but in simplest terms: This commission, which was intentionally chosen to be independent and distanced from politics, has a critical charge. It requires an additional tool from the Legislature to best fulfill that charge, and lawmakers should be looking to facilitate that work rather than bog it down.

We’ve found some of the early legislative reaction to this issue, particularly the hesitance from Maine Senate Republican leadership, to be perplexing. In contrast, their colleagues in House Republican leadership have shown a quick and direct appreciation for the need to extend subpoena power to the commission.

“I absolutely will support it,” Amy Arata, the assistant House Republican leader, told the Portland Press Herald earlier this week. “As a member of the Government Oversight Committee, I know how frustrating it is when you’re trying to do your job without being able to get all the info we need.”

Republican House leader Billy Bob Faulkingham similarly signaled his support.

“The victims, their families, as well as the Maine people deserve to know the details of how the system failed us on October 25th,” Faulkingham said, as reported by the Press Herald. “The Maine House Republicans are committed to bringing daylight to this situation… If subpoena powers are required to determine the truth, then I am inclined to support the request.”

Faulkingham has appropriately centered this question around the shooting victims, their families and the Maine people. Providing them with answers, both as detailed and as quickly as possible, needs to be the priority. Subpoena power has an important role to play in achieving that.

Commissioner Toby Dilworth, a former assistant U.S. attorney who is now managing director at the law firm Drummond Woodsum, provided a good explanation of why this power is important at the commission’s initial Nov. 20 meeting.

“We hope and expect that people will cooperate with us, and come and make their documents and evidence available to us, but some may resist. And we would need a subpoena under those circumstances,” Dilworth explained. “And others may want to cooperate with us, but feel constrained by privacy and other statutes, that they can’t turn the records over in the absence of a subpoena. And so we’re going to be seeking military records, and psychiatric records, and medical records, and all of those may not be producible to us without this subpoena power.”

Lawmakers should listen to this message, and the message from fellow legislators like House Republican leaders who are already making clear and strong arguments, to better equip the Lewiston shooting commission in its vital fact-finding mission.

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Portland Press Herald. November 26, 2023.

Editorial: Now is Augusta’s opportunity to right gun control wrongs

The commonsense proposals blocked by our elected representatives earlier this year have to be revived and passed – for starters.

By voting down a handful of simple, unimposing gun control proposals earlier this year, state lawmakers failed Mainers.

Come Jan. 3, the same lawmakers have an opportunity to pass emergency legislation that would – at minimum – right the shameful oversights of the first legislative session. The outpouring of public support for action on guns should mean the writing is on the wall; our elected representatives need to realize they have no choice now but to correct them.

Early reports on the antsy work arising from the mass shootings in Lewiston on Oct. 25 heralds a mixed bag of bills in development.

This forthcoming wave of proposals will undoubtedly contain some duds. A suggestion (by Republican Sen. Eric Brakey) that the state issue a commemorative license plate is a good example of the type of “thoughts and prayers” reflex that we could all do without.

It appears there will be a host of proposals to improve mental health care and a few related to victim support. These are necessary areas of focus. The legislating that most urgently needs to be done, however, and which we know to be the most contentious, must focus on preventing shootings rather than trying to repair their devastating aftermath.

Although high-profile leaders like U.S. Rep. Jared Golden and state Senate President Troy Jackson have been vocal about reconsidering their opposition to conditions on gun ownership after the Lewiston shootings, we know better than to think this will be either widely representative or persuasive enough to bring staunch gun control opponents around.

According to this newspaper’s reporting, early versions of bills “set the stage for what could be a historic debate over gun legislation in the coming session.”

That the negotiations will be historic is not in doubt – the reverberations of Maine’s worst mass shooting are going to be keenly felt for a long time.

That there is a guarantee of more debate on some of these simple, basic ideas, however – ideas that enjoy robust and growing public support, the likes of which even the most popular elected representative could only dream of – continues to be profoundly disappointing.

After Lewiston, it stings uniquely. How do we reconcile this resistance with the depth of the statewide horror, heartbreak and outrage?

Two months before Lewiston, this editorial board published an impatient position on the sorry outcome of gun control laws in Maine in the last session (“Our View: We have not nearly earned the right to quibble about gun control,” Sept. 7).

And yet, even having been through what Maine has now been through, impressionable lawmakers all around our state are already preparing to engage in more dishonest, paranoid arguments against the most basic and inoffensive restrictions. Every time they dare to do this, and they are now very good at it, they put warped thinking and commercial interests before the safety and security of their constituents.

Instituting an effective system of background checks on private gun sales and waiting periods, and banning “rapid-fire” augmentation devices that make the average gun more like an automatic weapon, the three most obvious and galling examples of measures untouched, would result in only negligible changes to a prospective gun owner’s buying experience.

That’s without getting into addressing the shortcomings of the “yellow flag” law or advancing the strong case for a “red flag” law and the even stronger case for an assault weapons ban, prospective regulations that have been loudly called for since Oct. 25.

The Giffords Law Center (founded by Rep. Gabby Giffords after she survived a shooting in 2011) gives Maine an “F” grade for gun safety, along with 24 other states. There’s absolutely no reason we should still be part of this pitiful group.

Widespread and increasingly fervent public support for standards on the procurement and ownership of guns isn’t reflected in the statutes. Until it is, guns come before people, which should be mortifying to everybody.

Lawmakers in Augusta owe it to Mainers to free themselves from the selfish philosophical manipulations of the gun lobby and the rampant disrespect for the public that lobby insists on. Can they do that? We’re waiting impatiently to find out.

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Boston Globe. November 28, 2023.

Editorial: Cannabis worker’s death cries for improved workplace safety rules

A 27-year-old West Springfield worker’s death last year revealed the hazards of the nascent industry — and highlights how little is being done to protect the marijuana workforce.

It took the tragic death of Lorna McMurrey, from West Springfield, for state and federal health officials to confirm what many workers already suspected: Cannabis production work can cause asthma, and employers can do more to prevent it.

Recent reports from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention make concrete recommendations for how companies can reduce the risk of cannabis-related asthma among employees. But recommendations are not enough. State regulators should enshrine into law additional workplace safety requirements to ensure workers are properly protected. As the cannabis industry matures and more is learned about the manufacturing process and its potential dangers, it is incumbent that workplace health and safety rules keep up. No worker should die or suffer from respiratory illness because of a preventable occupational hazard.

According to the CDC report, McMurrey, who died in January 2022, is the first US cannabis worker whose death was attributed to occupational asthma. She first got sick in July 2021, two months after starting work in Trulieve’s Holyoke cannabis processing plant. She was taken to the emergency room in November 2021 after experiencing shortness of breath while working in an area where cannabis was ground and made into cigarettes. In January, she again experienced shortness of breath, along with sneezing and coughing at work, then suffered cardiac arrest before emergency medical services arrived. She was hospitalized and died three days later.

The CDC investigation found McMurrey wore her own N95 mask. The dust from a grinder was vacuumed, but the vacuum had no HEPA filter, allowing dust to escape.

Four of 10 of McMurrey’s coworkers in the flower production department also experienced symptoms of asthma, they told investigators from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

On Nov. 20, McMurrey’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Trulieve, alleging that the facility was negligent in designing and installing an HVAC system that failed to properly vent the facility and that leaked, causing mold to grow on the cannabis, and in failing to implement policies to minimize workers’ exposure to cannabis dust and mold.

Trulieve has already closed its Massachusetts dispensaries.

This is not only a Massachusetts problem. Previous studies identified symptoms of work-related asthma among cannabis cultivation employees in Washington.

There are some general regulations that address alleged corporate lapses leading to McMurrey’s death. OSHA fined Trulieve $14,500 for failing to adequately communicate with workers about work-related hazards. The Cannabis Control Commission is seeking to fine Trulieve $502,500 for violating the company’s standard operating procedures related to workplace safety, failing to maintain employee training records, failing to process marijuana in a safe and sanitary manner, failing to have safe processing policies, and submitting untruthful information in an incident report. Details of the allegations were redacted in a copy of the order provided to the Globe, and the matter remains pending with the commission’s enforcement counsel staff, who review allegations to prepare for possible litigation. Typically, companies are given a chance to respond to an order, request a hearing, and potentially negotiate a settlement.

But general rules about policies and communication are no substitute for specific regulations about what precautions companies must take when cannabis is processed. OSHA has not issued cannabis-specific regulations because marijuana is still federally prohibited. While OSHA is the ideal body to issue nationwide regulations, until that void is filled, states need to step up.

“Even before this report came out, we knew that there was an absence of the proper worker health and safety regulations that would protect around some of these specific hazards,” said Brenda Quintana, an organizer with the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health. “Currently, there’s nothing in the books that would have prevented a fatality of this sort.”

The CDC report includes specific measures employers can take to protect workers: assessing air quality to identify high-dust areas; using equipment controls like exhaust ventilation and high-efficiency vacuuming; providing personal protective equipment like masks; and training employees to recognize allergy symptoms and seek medical attention. The CDC also urges health care providers to learn to detect occupational allergies and workers compensation insurance carriers to recognize asthma-related claims.

A separate report by DPH’s Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation program makes similar recommendations, urging employers to assess and control workplace hazards, modify equipment to mitigate hazards, train workers on handling hazardous materials, and implement a medical surveillance program to monitor worker health. DPH sent a separate bulletin to health care providers advising them about work-related asthma.

The Cannabis Control Commission distributed the DPH and CDC information to cannabis businesses. But an agency spokesperson declined to comment on whether commissioners would seek further regulation. An agency statement focused only on raising awareness, saying, “Scientific understanding like this will help keep our agents safe, and we look forward to ongoing research into all health issues associated with our developing industry to ensure workers, patients, and consumers know the risks.”

Ideally, employers would voluntarily create a safe working environment. But we don’t rely on voluntary compliance to keep workers safe in construction, agriculture, health care, or any number of other industries that have detailed safety mandates imposed by OSHA. Why should we tolerate it in cannabis?

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The Associated Press