Portland Press Herald. June 16, 2024.
Editorial: Abortion ruling allows Maine to stay the course – for now
The Mills administration’s consistent, proactive work on abortion access is still as important
On Thursday, in the U.S. Supreme Court’s first abortion decision since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the court unanimously preserved access to the drug used in nearly two-thirds of all abortions last year.
Maine Gov. Janet Mills and Attorney General Aaron Frey both welcomed the outcome, which does not work against their efforts to simplify and protect access to the drug, mifepristone. Last year, in the face of growing and increasingly creative penalization of abortion and miscarriage management (the case rejected by the Supreme Court came from a group of doctors who rallied together to challenge the regulatory status of mifepristone), Maine joined 17 other states in a lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration’s restrictions on it.
In her statement following the ruling, Mills took care not to sound complacent. “While this ruling is welcome news, we know this: the reproductive rights of women remain under direct and constant attack, and I pledge that my administration will continue to fight any attempts to undermine reproductive rights in Maine.”
Sadly, this remains an accurate reading of the room. Although the American voting public has repeatedly made known its support for access to abortion and reproductive health care, the forces devoted to its limitation (or, indeed, its elimination) appear unbowed.
For now, Maine’s leaders are fortunate to have federal leaders on their side in this respect. Mills’ statement echoed that of U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, who said: “The Department of Justice is committed to protecting reproductive freedom. We will continue to use every tool at our disposal to protect women’s access to mifepristone and other lawful reproductive care.”
This latest Supreme Court decision changes little. November, on the other hand, could change plenty.
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Bangor Daily News. June 13, 2024.
Editorial: Even without law change, Maine police should destroy forfeited guns
A bill that would have required Maine law enforcement agencies to destroy weapons that are forfeited to them was vetoed by Gov. Janet Mills in April.
After it had been introduced, the bill was amended to also ban bump stocks. We were concerned that combining the two issues could doom the common-sense measure to stop the sale of firearms by law enforcement agencies. Our fears were realized with the governor’s veto.
The governor signed a bill, which she had initially crafted, to expand background checks for advertised firearms sales, change the state’s yellow flag law and make additional investment in mental health services. She allowed a bill that will impose a 72-hour waiting period on most gun purchases to become law without her signature.
She vetoed the gun destruction and bump stock ban legislation because, she said, the language around what would be banned was too broad and, because it was different from federal law and definitions used in other states, it may not have withstood legal scrutiny.
“Despite the well-meaning nature of this bill, I am concerned that the novel language this bill contains, the manner in which it was developed, and the short time that was available during its review create the risk for unintended mistakes,” Mills wrote in her veto letter.
It is unfortunate that an otherwise straightforward ban on the sale of firearms forfeited to law enforcement agencies became mired in the more complex, but also worthy, effort to ban bump stocks. Although sales through police departments account for a small number of gun sales in the U.S. each year, stopping these sales may have kept some guns away from criminals.
In the absence of a state law barring the practice, law enforcement agencies can still destroy weapons forfeited to them. It doesn’t take a law change for more agencies to do this.
Maine law currently requires all forfeited firearms used in the commission of a murder or homicide to be destroyed, but police may sell guns used in other crimes. Reporting by the Bangor Daily News’ Maine Focus team found that the Oxford County sheriff had sold guns from evidence to a local gun shop without following the legally required steps or documenting the deal. This was the impetus for the bill to ban such sales, which was sponsored by Sen. Anne Carney, D-Cape Elizabeth.
Many police departments, in Maine and across the country, already destroy weapons that are either forfeited to or turned in to them.
However, as the Maine Monitor reported earlier this year, there needs to be more accountability among the companies that are paid to destroy such weapons. Some guns are not fully destroyed with some components being sold as part of kits to make new weapons. This is counter to the whole point of law enforcement agencies sending in weapons to be destroyed.
A voluntary gun give back program, sponsored by the Maine Gun Safety Coalition, collected hundreds of weapons earlier this month. Portions of those guns were melted and recycled, with some portions used in art projects.
In addition to revisiting legislation to stop the sale of forfeited weapons, lawmakers should look for ways to ensure that when police do send weapons to be destroyed that is what actually happens.
When guns are properly seized or forfeited by their owner, law enforcement officials have an opportunity to take them out of circulation. They should do so, whether required by state law or not.
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Boston Globe. June 17, 2024.
Editorial: Foul-mouthed, sexist trooper puts the spotlight on State Police
Governor says she’s ‘disgusted’ by the recent turn of events. Well, now she can remake the department from the top.
Just when it seems the reputation of the Massachusetts State Police can’t get much lower, along comes Trooper Michael Proctor, lead investigator in the Karen Read case, to bring it down yet another notch.
He’s another reminder, in case one was still needed, of just how urgently the agency needs a new leader.
Read is charged with hitting her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow outside the Canton home of another Boston cop in January 2022. The case has torn that small community apart and attracted national attention — with thousands of viewers able to tune in to live coverage daily.
Last week that coverage centered on a series of crude, derogatory, and misogynistic text messages about Read that Proctor sent to fellow troopers and friends during that investigation.
The messages came to light as part of a federal investigation — an investigation not yet concluded and not revealed to jurors now hearing the Read case. Proctor is also the subject of an internal investigation but remains on active duty during both probes.
But what those countless viewers of the trial here and around the nation now know is that Proctor has joked with his buddies as he scrolled through Read’s cellphone about finding “no nudes so far.” He called the woman he was investigating “a whack job,” and a “nutbag,” made fun of her medical condition (Crohn’s disease) in the crudest possible way, and used the obscene “c” word to describe Read — a word Judge Beverly Cannone ordered him to say aloud in court. In a text to his sister, Proctor said he hoped Read “kills herself.”
“My emotions got the best of me,” Proctor said by way of explanation.
The glimpse into Proctor’s mind-set — one that disparages and dehumanizes a woman he has now zeroed in on as his one and only suspect — is enough to give any Massachusetts citizen nightmares.
It will also call into question his judgment and his credibility on any future case he may be called to testify in — including the case against Brian Walshe, who has been charged in the 2023 murder and dismembering of his wife, Ana, in their Cohasset home.
And the disclosures would certainly put Proctor at the top of any so-called Brady list — basically a do not call list prosecutors are required to maintain of officers whose credibility is so suspect it has to be disclosed to defense counsel. (“Brady” takes its name from the Supreme Court case that established the principle.)
In her first public comments about Proctor on Thursday, Governor Maura Healey said of the text messages, “It’s terrible. It’s completely unprofessional.
“It does harm, quite frankly, to the dignity and integrity of the work of men and women across the State Police and law enforcement. So as a former attorney general and as governor, I am disgusted by that,” she added.
What it should also do is lend urgency to the governor’s now 16-month search for a new head of the State Police, an agency wracked by multiple scandals in the past few years. First there was that overtime fraud scandal that resulted in not only federal prosecutions but also the dismantling of an entire State Police troop in order to rid the service of the stench. That was followed by the conviction of the former head of the State Police union and the lobbyist on federal charges of “racketeering, fraud, obstruction of justice and tax crimes.”
And in January two current and two former state troopers were charged in connection with a scheme to fraudulently award commercial driver’s licenses (those needed to drive tractor-trailers or school buses) in return for bribes that included a snowblower, a new driveway, a plunge pool, and cases of bottled water.
So, yes, the State Police are surely overdue for a house cleaning — and that has to start at the top. The department has been run for the past 16 months by Interim Colonel John Mawn Jr. But for the first time in the history of the department, the governor now has the authority — granted under the 2020 police reform act — to name a head of the State Police from outside the department.
Healey appointed a six-person search committee in March 2023. The closing date for applications was last October. A spokesperson for the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security said in a statement that the committee’s search is “entering its final stages” and “the final interviews with the most qualified candidates are underway. The search has been a competitive process, with interest shown from both external and internal candidates.”
However, the spokesperson offered no information on how many applied for the job or what the field had been whittled down to.
Healey has an opportunity to reshape the department. Although the post still requires 10 years of full-time law enforcement experience and at least five years in a senior administrative or supervisory role, that doesn’t preclude someone with the courage to call out corruption and rid the department of the kind of misogyny that was on display in a Dedham courtroom last week.
And Healey’s right. It doesn’t take much for one guy to harm the “dignity and integrity” of an entire force. But the right person in the right position at the right time can do wonders to restore that integrity and morale.
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Barre-Montpelier Times Argus. June 18, 2024.
Editorial: Point in Time
Our little state’s big struggle with homelessness remains very real.
Despite steps locally, as well as statewide, Vermont continues to trend toward not doing enough.
“Let’s be clear — Vermont’s homelessness crisis is a political choice,” stated Frank Knaack, executive director of the Housing and Homelessness Alliance of Vermont, in a news release on Monday. “It is past time for Vermont to rethink its approach to public safety and finally prioritize the safety and well-being of all residents. We urge our elected leaders to make the sustained long-term investments necessary for Vermont to finally ensure the basic right of housing for all.”
This week, the results of the latest Vermont-specific findings of the 2024 Point in Time count were released. The count is a nationwide tally of persons experiencing literal homelessness that occurs on a single, uniform day each year nationwide.
Housing and Homelessness Alliance of Vermont and Vermont’s two Continua of Care — the Balance of State CoC and Chittenden County Homeless Alliance (Burlington/Chittenden County CoC) — released the results, which can be found online at helpingtohousevt.org/2024-point-in-time-count.
According to the PIT count data, 2024 saw another record high number of unhoused Vermonters, with 3,458 unhoused Vermonters in a single night. That represents a 300% increase over pre-COVID levels (1,110 unhoused people in 2020).
Among the other Vermont findings:
— 166 people did not have access to emergency shelter, representing a 21% increase over 2023 (137 unsheltered people in 2023).
— 309 unhoused people were fleeing domestic or sexual violence.
— 855 unhoused people had a serious mental illness.
— 568 unhoused people with a long-term physical disability.
— 254 unhoused people with a developmental disability.
— 107 unhoused people were veterans.
— 737 unhoused people were children (under age 18).
— 199 unhoused people were over 65 years old and 646 unhoused people were 55 years old or older.
— Black Vermonters are 5.6 times more likely than white Vermonters to be unhoused.
— And over 35% were unhoused for more than one year; more than 72% were unhoused for more than 90 days.
According to the accompanying news release, Vermont’s emergency shelter system does not match the documented need. There is currently a statewide shelter capacity for approximately 550 households, and all are full. The 1,463 households currently sheltered under the General Assistance Emergency Housing Program are in addition to the approximately 550 households shelter capacity. Beginning on July 1, there will be additional restrictions on the General Assistance Emergency Housing Program that will place hundreds of additional unhoused Vermonters at risk of unsheltered homelessness.
The data shows — in stark reality — that Vermont is not serving the unhoused community well.
“Despite another record number of unhoused residents, Vermont still does not have an adequate plan to ensure shelter for those in need,” stated Jess Graff, co-chair of the Balance of State CoC. “Vermont’s perpetually under-resourced shelter service providers are already stretched beyond capacity and, as a result of new restrictions on emergency shelter that will soon go into effect, we expect that hundreds of additional Vermonters will face unsheltered homelessness later this year. Our state leaders must act.”
We would agree. This is not an issue that can continually be kicked down the road. As a state that prides itself in being the first to find solutions, and setting the bar for the rest of the United States, we are well beyond the point of looking cold-hearted and callous when it comes to our most vulnerable.
Report advocates note that a large proportion of the unhoused Vermonters counted in the 2024 PIT count would be considered extremely vulnerable even if they were not unhoused.
“Failing to provide emergency shelter for vulnerable Vermonters in need can lead to significant preventable harms, including death,” stated Sarah Russell, co-chair of the Burlington/Chittenden CoC. “Yet, at the same time as we are witnessing an increase in the number of extremely vulnerable unhoused Vermonters, including seniors, families with children, people with disabilities, and Vermonters fleeing domestic violence, we will also see a reduction in the emergency shelter options available. In addition to these completely preventable human harms, the economic costs associated with the failure to provide shelter — including on health systems, schools, criminal justice systems, and other public services — will fall on municipalities and local institutions to cover. Vermont can and must do better.”
We need to take the results of this vital tool and use it to leverage real conversations.
This week, we are going to see our first heat wave of 2024, with temperatures expected to top 100 degrees. In six months, it will be winter, and potentially bitter cold if weather patterns stay consistent.
In the meantime, many of the individuals who can make some of these decisions are running for reelection or election. Seems like housing the unhoused, and how that might be achieved, ought to be a campaign issue right now.
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Boston Herald. June 18, 2024.
Editorial: State Police must be reformed. Today!
Enough is enough! What more does Gov. Maura Healey need to reform the Massachusetts State Police?
Just look at the Facebook comments on every recent MSP post. Bay State citizens are fed up with the scandals and overtime abuse, and who can blame them?
We can’t even print some of the vile comments Trooper Michael Proctor texted, according to testimony in the Karen Read trial. Just put your mind in the gutter and that’s the tenor of those texts.
Sexually disgusting comments have no place in any murder investigation. Did Trooper Proctor consider that the victim here is a Boston Police officer? A foster dad to his dead sister’s two kids?
Why didn’t one of his State Police pals text back and tell him to “Shut up!”
What’s even more disturbing, and that’s saying a lot, is Trooper Proctor is also assigned to the Brian Walshe murder case, where the Cohasset husband is accused of dismembering his wife and scattering her body parts, depriving her loved ones of a proper burial.
Did Trooper Proctor text about that murder? You know the defense attorneys in that case have already subpoenaed his cell phone records, so we will soon find out.
Is Gov. Healey going to wait and see what comes out of that case before acting?
We get it. Gallows humor is part of the business for police officers who see the worst of humanity. That’s why the ones who remember the people beneath the blood and bullets deserve our gratitude. Trooper Proctor is not one of them. He should be fired, and the next State Police colonel should come from outside the agency.
As we reported, a law enforcement watchdog group is pushing Gov. Healey to establish a Blue Ribbon Commission to fix what’s wrong with the State Police before the agency faces possible receivership by the Department of Justice.
The Healey administration says they are down to six finalists for the next leader of the State Police. Does that include outside candidates? If not, why not? We asked that question Monday and got nowhere.
To his credit, interim State Police Colonel John Mawn said in a rare statement to the Herald Sunday evening that he shares the public’s disgust but must respect “the integrity of the ongoing criminal trial and our own internal affairs investigation” and cannot comment further on Trooper Proctor.
The real question is whether Gov. Healey and lawmakers have the courage to challenge the powerful State Police union. If she’s aiming for higher office — U.S. Senate? Vice president? Cabinet member? — Gov. Healey cannot afford a no-confidence vote from the State Police. But is that the right play today? It isn’t. Courage is called for, and the State Police have lost the public’s confidence, and someone needs to win it back.
This entire issue boils down to money. Just look at the take-home pay for State Police officers. (We do, every year.) They crack the Top 10 for highest earners in Massachusetts state government. Taxpayers fork over $400,000-plus to some of these officers, and many blow past $100,000.
Massachusetts deserves better! Gov. Healey, rip up the political playbook, bring in an outside professional to run the State Police, and give taxpayers the agency they deserve.
END