Government Reform 

“Political courage deserves recognition. By voting to support the Clean Election’s Law…Representative Cory Atkins stood up for principles of independent government, competitive elections, and responsiveness to the voters.” – Common Cause Massachusetts.

“Cory Atkins not only has the guts to stand up to the powers on Beacon Hill, she has the savvy get others to stand with her.” – Rep. Jay Kaufman, D-Lexington.

Creating Reform on Beacon Hill – The House Democratic Council

“The House is broken and we must continue to work to fix it,” said Rep. Atkins. “Both the Governor and the Speaker try to dictate the House agenda from the top-down.”

“House members needed a way to cultivate leadership skills and build alliances outside Finneran’s operations – I founded the House Democrat Council to provide this opportunity.”

Rep. Atkins is a founding member and current Leadership Development Chair of the legislative reform group, the House Democratic Council. The HDC serves to empower rank-in-file members of the House of Representatives by offering full access to information on policy matters and to leadership training.

House leadership tries to limits legislators’ access to information as a way to force party-line voting. The HDC ensures that representatives have full access to experts and information on all important policy matters. This year, Rep. Atkins brought together policy experts in health care, criminal justice reform and casino gambling to do forums on how different legislation could impact their fields of expertise.

“Leadership likes to present issues as black and white, but after talking to outside experts engaged in vigorous debate, it’s easy to see that almost every single issue has many layers,” said Atkins. “Providing access to impartial information is one of the HDC’s most valuable services. I’m proud to be part of its leadership.” (See Table 3.1)

Fighting Legislative Patronage
Rep. Atkins took a lead roll in defeating the legislative pay raise bill that Speaker Finneran eagerly wanted to pass to reward loyalists. Common Cause praised Rep. Atkins saying, “Rep. Atkins got it right when she opposed Speakers Finneran’s plan to set legislative bonus pay – the stipends of between $7,500 and $25,000 awarded to leadership loyalists above their $53,000 base pay – without oversight from the Senate or Governor or input from the public…

Until more Representatives stand up to leadership when it is wrong-headed, like Representative Atkins did on this one, we’ll continue to have a House… that resembles a fiefdom rather than the open, democratic institution it could and should be.”

Pension Reform
Rep. Atkins filed legislation designed to curtail excesses in the state retirement system. In doing so, she fought hard to stop the outrageous $1 million severance package for outgoing University of Massachusetts President William Bulger.

Courts and Criminal Justice
Rep. Atkins joined retired Justice Dolan and the Pioneer Institute in their call for creating a more equitable way to fund Massachusetts’ courts. The courts need the resources to carryout speedy and equitable justice, without being a haven for political patronage.

Open Government
Rep. Atkins supported critical funding to update the State House’s woefully outdated technological capacity. She voted create system that allow for an electronic bill filling, amending, viewing and tracking. The new system means constituents will have near real-time access to the legislative process.

Common Cause called an upgraded legislative website, “one of the most important portals for citizen involvement in, and understanding of, their government.” Rep. Atkins believes that one of best way to empower her constituents is to provide them easy and reliable access to good information.

“Nothing feels better than passing good legislation on the state’s most important issues when the entrenched powers on Beacon Hill are fighting you all the way,” said Rep. Atkins.