Erika is running to fight for a government that works for the many, not the few. As an organizer, an antitrust economist, a democratic socialist, and a proud daughter of a single immigrant mother, Erika understands both the struggles working people face and the mechanisms by which corporations take control of our government to rig the rules in their favor.
Planet Earth is in crisis. Leading scientists have given humanity 10 years to dramatically transform the way we live and rely on energy to maintain a habitable planet for generations to come. The current reality is no accident. For too long, a selfish few driven by the greed and power inherent in our capitalist economy have funded and incentivized the destruction and pillaging of resources. The threat of the climate crisis is enormous, but the answers are clear and action, not deliberation, is demanded now.
Even in 2020, Massachusetts relies on burning dirty fossil fuels, imported from fracking sites out of state, to power our grid and heat our homes. We must transition quickly away from fossil fuels and source our electricity from local sustainable solar and wind generation. The benefits extend well beyond a thriving planet as cleaner air will reduce healthcare costs and a transition to clean energy will be critical to lift Massachusetts out of the recession caused by COVID-19.
It is impossible to talk about climate change without acknowledging the racial injustices inherent to the warming of the earth. Communities of color are more likely to experience health impacts related to pollution and to be disproportionately impacted by climate change, both economically and in terms of their physical safety and well being. Reparations for this disregard must be front and center in any climate change response.
This is deeply personal for me. I am 33 years old. In my lifetime this planet will change immensely, even more than it already has. I have been aware of the disregard with which aggressively profit focused corporations treat working people since a young age. I grew up one mile away from a former Dow Chemical facility and hazardous waste site. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health discovered statistically elevated incidences of breast cancer for residents near this site. This is just one of an endless number of examples in which corporations abused limited liability protection and put their profits above the health and safety of neighbors. Human beings have caused climate change and it is up to us to take the radical action necessary to allow our planet to heal and to develop sustainable practices that allow humanity to live in harmony with nature rather than gluttonously dominate it.
The climate crisis and its urgency guide me on what kind of leader I want to be. Humanity has run out of time for half measures and incremental change. My north star in running for elected office is to think about how my children will look back on what I did. Will I be able to live with myself? And did I do everything in my control to stop this crisis? I was deeply engaged in designing the Sunrise Movement’s ‘Which Side Are You On?’ campaign for 100% renewable energy, and I have conducted training for members of the Sierra Club and 350 to advocate for environmental issues at the state level. My experience working with environmental advocacy groups and unions makes me well positioned to champion a Green New Deal for Massachusetts. As your representative, I will fight everyday with the urgency that our tenuous future demands, I will fight everyday for your children and future generations, and I will fight for our beautiful planet.
A Massachusetts Green New Deal
A modern transportation system that is fully funded, expanded, and free to use
Revenue neutral carbon tax
100% renewable energy by 2030
A moratorium on the construction of any new fossil-fuel infrastructure
Environmental justice, which guarantees equal protection from pollution and toxins to all those within the Commonwealth
Strong regulations on pesticides and herbicides that harm pollinators
The protection of old growth forests throughout Massachusetts
Increase funding to the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center to drive innovation and creation of green jobs
Over the past decade, Somerville has had the steepest increase in housing pricing in Massachusetts—we are truly on the front lines of the displacement and gentrification crisis. For decades, the “solutions” have been tax credits to developers, direct subsidies for market-based rents, and public-private partnerships. Such private market “solutions” are corporate welfare schemes and they hurt our residents through handouts to developers and an over-reliance on the construction of luxury units. Affordable housing for all residents is a fundamental right. Housing is where we call home, not investment opportunities for real estate developers.
At its worst, housing policy has brick-by-brick worsened racial inequality, segregation, fairness in the education system, and income inequality. The failure in housing policy is directly responsible for the fact that Massachusetts is the 6th most unequal state in the country.
Over the past few weeks, I have been working with tenants at 19 Central Street on Spring Hill who are facing displacement due to a 30% rent hike by their billionaire landlord in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. They are fighting back by forming a tenants association to balance the power their landlord holds over their livelihoods and to collectively negotiate rent, and I am doing everything in my power to support their effort. Unfortunately, such experiences are all too common in Somerville and their experience highlights the need to fight for housing policies that centers on residents and our rights to safe, affordable, and stable housing.
In Somerville, 65% of residents are renters, placing a majority of our city at the mercy of policies that undercut tenants. Deplorable standards for quality and safety, unjust fees that make moving obscenely expensive, and unpredictable and unfair evictions are stomached by renters.
To solve the housing crisis, we must fundamentally rebuild our priorities and direct them away from profit. The price of real estate is a reflection of the vibrancy of a community. All of us in Somerville create value for our community by improving our public schools, making art, preparing delicious meals at our favorite local restaurants, and tending to outdoor spaces. It is time that we stop outside real estate opportunists from profiting off of the value that we as a community build together. As a state representative, I will see to it that we bring true meaning to housing as a human right by investing in new and affordable housing, supporting the right of tenants to organize, and working with local, union labor on all development projects.
I support a robust social housing program and will advocate for federal support to bolster local funding to lead a massive expansion of social housing in Massachusetts as part of a Green New Deal. The connections between profit, entrenched wealth and housing policy must be broken through linkage fees, transfer taxes on the sale of homes over $1 million, and increasing the estate tax on estates over $1 million. Property taxes should never be a source of displacement for working families.
I will advocate for a bill of rights for tenants, guaranteeing the right to quality and accessible housing by enforcing building codes, putting an end to “no fault” evictions, guaranteeing the right to counsel, sealing all eviction cases, and protecting tenants from unjust fees. As a campaign, we are refusing any contributions from real-estate developers. We have the power to stop heartbreaking displacement and to make affordable and stable housing a guaranteed right for all by putting people before profit.
Fully fund a home guarantee by expanding the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Trust
Advocate for federal funds for the refurbishment and construction of social housing and advancing efforts to repeal the Faircloth Amendment, which prohibits the creation of new public housing
Ending the anti-democratic, state-wide ban on rent control
Investment in mixed-income public housing to eliminate gentrification and create individual economic stability
Net-zero public housing that is built exclusively by local unions
A just cause eviction law and the right to counsel in housing disputes
Sealed eviction cases through the passage of the Homes Act
The rights of tenants, including the right to organize and the right to purchase, preventing displacement and offering residents a pathway to ownership
Protecting the homeless through a housing first model, providing permanent housing and support services for people experiencing homelessness
Expanding emergency assistance shelter programs
An official written statement on all housing and real-estate communications that acknowledges that property in Massachusetts is built on the stolen land of Indigenous peoples
Free and high-quality public education is a fundamental and essential right that upholds the “American dream” - any child can better their station through dedicated study and with generous public investment. In reality, however, our education experience varies widely depending on our zipcode, race, and class due to the overall systematic defunding of our education system; the lethal combination of segregated housing and schools funded by property taxes; and the construction of an education system based on white supremacist notions of achievement, opportunity, and success. Instead of serving as a cornerstone of a vibrant democracy and as a vehicle for all people to become thriving successful adults, our current education system manifests and reinforces the racism and classism that pervades our society. One of the reasons that the “American dream” is deferred is because of the inequities and injustices that exist in schooling.
I am a product of public schools. I was incredibly lucky to grow up in one of the most well-funded and highest performing school districts in the state according to state measures of academic achievement. My predominantly white, upper-middle class classmates and I benefited immensely from the high quality education that we received. Many young people in Massachusetts are not so fortunate. Disparities between school experiences based on zip code are perpetuated by state policy makers. Every single child deserves the high quality education that I am so fortunate to have received.
In 2018, I was made very aware of the hypocrisy of our current approach to funding schools in Massachusetts when the House Chair of Education, who represents the well-funded district I grew up in, opposed the Promise Act. This legislation sought to implement the Foundation Budget Review Commission’s recommendations to more equitably fund our schools. All children deserve the right to an excellent education, like the one that I was lucky enough to receive, regardless of zip code. As your representative I will fight for fair and equitable funding for all our schools.
To address educational inequities we must re-examine the purpose of why we send our children to school and therefore who benefits from “traditional” education; the ways we fund our schools; and the history of racism in our schools. We must strive towards reshaping schools into institutions that are equitably funded, culturally responsive, in which families are meaningfully engaged, and educators have autonomy. Our schools must become liberatory and uplifting for all students.
I believe this can only be done through collective action and power building, and we’re doing it already. Last fall, I organized with the teachers unions (MTA and AFT) and the Fund our Future campaign to build a broad coalition of unions and progressive activists to push our legislature to pass the Student Opportunity Act, successfully bringing $1.5 billion to our schools. I currently run workshops for the MTA to equip educators to effectively advocate for their public schools and for their students. We do this through sharing and building on their stories and their students’ stories, and tapping into those experiences to make hard asks of their legislators. I will bring this lens of community power and coalition building to the state house as your representative.
The formation of a Massachusetts education coalition made up of diverse educators, families, and youth from across the state to share power in decision making at the state level
Increased pay for all educators, especially for educators of color who bear an increased burden and privilege of supporting students of color
Immediate investment in early education and universal access to high-quality Pre-K
A moratorium on high stakes testing and the permanent cancelation of the MCAS
Debt-free higher education and the Cherish Act, which would fully fund public higher education by raising more than $500 million per year
The right of youth school committee members to vote on their school boards
The development of guidelines for culturally competent and historically rigorous curriculums at all grade levels
Universal recess
Racial justice is fundamental to my work as a progressive activist, organizer, and leader. We cannot both be neutral and anti-racist. True anti-racism requires deliberate advocacy. We must engage deeply and thoughtfully with the historical injustices that are actively perpetuated by some, and passively sustained by most of us. Every policy decision must be made through the lens of anti-racism: is this decision perpetuating the status quo and therefore racist, or is it actively dismantling racism? I will bring this lens to every decision I face as a state representative and I am committed to standing against policies that do not actively address racial disparities, by putting forth anti-racist policies in all issue areas.
To achieve racial justice, we must first acknowledge that across all policy areas today people of color face worse outcomes than white people, and we must face the historical truth that these disparities stem directly from advantages that are inherited at birth by people with privilege. To understand this history is to understand how white supremacy has intentionally constructed and institutionalized the dehumanization of Black, Brown, and Indigenous peoples, deeply embedding these practices and policies into the society we inherit today. We see the legacies of this systematic dehumanization in all aspects of our society including our schools, health care system, criminal justice system, housing, transportation and more. The intentional othering of people who are not deemed white enough is unfortunately a very real part of our current reality. Despite the steps towards equality that have been hard won by civil rights activists, xenophobia, racism, and anti-semitism including Islamophobia pervade our policies, practices, and institutions. Each year we see an increase in these blatant acts of hatred. To see the devastation that generations of racism causes, you need not look any further than the COVID-19 crisis: Black and Brown communities are most at risk, are least likely to be able to shelter in place, are more likely to be frontline workers, and are dying at the highest rates.
The experience of being othered as a person of color is deeply personal for me. I am a nisei (二世, Japanese for second generation) Asian American, and unfortunately I have had to experience both structural and interpersonal racism. My first memory of preschool was my mom picking me up and seeing other parents make fun of my mom’s English. My mom remembers this too and she retells the story that at 4 years old, I was consoling her, that I told her, “It’s ok, I don’t care how my mom speaks English.” Experiences such as this one become a part of your sense of self and influences what you think you are capable of and willing to try. For me, it’s why I completely shied away from humanities, history, and literature, for all of my formal education. I gave up on English because all my teachers said I was good at math and science, a common stereotype about Asians. I remember feeling there was no way for me to leave the box my teachers put me in as an Asian student. These boxes are what students of color live and breathe everyday. I empathize with young students of color yearning to be outside that box —to truly belong— and know how damaging and heartbreaking it is when students give up on leaving that box.
It is important to note that despite generations of oppression, Black and Brown people and other people of color have thrived, created, built, and succeeded. People of color have the resiliency, tenacity, optimism, and hope that our country needs to face the challenges of today and of the future. People of color must be centered in all of the work that we do. The activism of people of color has laid the groundwork for all recent protest movements, and has pushed our nation to grow towards embodying our creed of “life, liberty, and justice for all.” The fight against racism pushes us to fight against all injustices and to recognize how racism and white supremacy hurts everyone in the end. As your State Representative, I am dedicated to elevating the experiences of my constituents of color and fighting to undo the injustices we face.
Anti-racism work intersects with all other policy areas. As your State Representative, I will fight for:
Criminal Justice Reform
Advocate for decarceration -- commuting the sentences of anyone serving time for minor offenses and low level felonies, and releasing all people held on probation
End cash bail which penalizes people before they are convicted and creates a judicial system that discriminates based on income
Ensure the right to due process and the right to counsel by vastly increasing funding for public defenders
Eliminate the exploitive and immoral prison labor system, mandating a living wage for incarcerated workers
Employ a civilian oversight board, increasing accountability and transparency in policing
Defund the police, recognizing the lengthy history of racism, police brutality, and systematic violence perpetrated by law enforcement -- reallocating funding to non-police resources, such as housing, healthcare, and public education
Anti-racist housing policies
Reforming of racist zoning laws and real estate practices, including redlining, exclusionary zoning, and predatory lending
Fully funding a homes guarantee by expanding the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Trust
Advocating for state and federal funding for the refurbishment and construction of social housing and a repeal of the Faircloth Amendment, which prohibits the creation of new public housing
Ending the anti-democratic, state-wide ban on rent control
Investing in mixed-income public housing to eliminate gentrification and create individual economic stability
Environmental and climate justice
Environmental justice, which guarantees equal protection from pollution and toxins to all those within the Commonwealth, and equal access to clean natural spaces and environmental benefits
Ensuring sound and pollution barriers are built along I-93. Environmental justice communities in Somerville deserve clean air. It is outrageous that such barriers have been built long ago in affluent suburbs and yet our densely inhabited, largely immigrant community bordering I-93 in Somerville has not.
A Massachusetts Green New Deal, recognizing that communities of color, low-income, and immigrant communities are on the frontlines of environmental harm, and are exposed disproportionately to the effects of climate change
Expansion of free, reliable public transportation infrastructure, mitigating the carbon emissions and air pollution caused by personal vehicles, and ensuring that all communities have equal access to mobility
Immigrant rights
Passage of the Safe Communities Act and the Family Mobility Act, ensuring safety, dignity, and economic opportunity for all Massachusetts residents, regardless of immigration status
Equal opportunity for in-state public university tuition, scholarships, and grants, regardless of documentation or DACA eligibility
Creation of a pathway to citizenship and legal permanent residency
Racial justice in public education
Creation of a culturally competent and historically rigorous curriculum
Funding more pathways for educators of color
Funding Hub Community Schools, which center the needs of the local community (including students, parents, and teachers), and include their voices in decision-making
Pay equity, particularly for paraprofessionals and support staff
Lower student-counselor ratios and greater mental health supports
De-emphasizing and termination of standardized testing, which creates racially-discriminatory benchmarks of achievement
Guaranteeing that all Massachusetts students can attend and graduate public universities debt-free
Healthcare & COVID-19
Pass the Reduce Racial Disparities in Maternal Health Act, which would start to rectify the injustice that black people are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy than white people, and fund community-based maternal care organizations
Passage of Medicare for all in Massachusetts, and expanded access to essential services, including mental health, reproductive and maternal care, and emergency assistance
During the COVID-19 pandemic
Moratorium on all co-pays and costs related to COVID-19 care
Ensure health protections (e.g. PPE access, gloves, disinfectant materials) for all frontline and essential workers -- which are disproportionately Black and Brown individuals
Stop the closure of essential services and healthcare facilities , particularly in historically underserved communities
Economic Justice
Pass the Fair Share Amendment, increase corporate taxes on C-corps, and levy taxes on wealth because large salaries in excess of $1 million and accumulated wealth are byproducts of the racist belief that the rich generate more value for society than people of color
Establish a truly livable minimum wage for all workers and eliminate the tipped minimum wage
Passage of the Act to Prevent Wage Theft to prevent employers from making labor markets more “flexible” when their underlying objective is to bust unions and disadvantage workers
Protect the Right to Vote and Right to Political Participation
Expand vote registration opportunities and protect voting rights, through same-day, automatic, and pre-registration, enfranchising of the incarcerated, and illegalizing of any voter suppression practices
Creating pathways for people of color to enter public service, by providing support and resources to candidates of color
In our Commonwealth, diversity is our greatest strength. Too frequently, immigrants face the crippling decision to either seek public protections that guard our civil rights and risk separation from their families, or to remain silent and vulnerable. Immigrants should never suffer from unsafe working conditions, wage theft, wrongful eviction, reduced access to health care, or restricted opportunities for education because they fear accessing fundamental protections from discrimmination. Fear has no place in the life of any person.
As a daughter of a single mother from Japan, growing up I witnessed everyday the contributions that immigrants provide to our communities. I developed a profound respect for immigrant families, yet at the same time I lived through the immense challenges that recently resettled people are up against. From a young age, my mom and I were frequently treated as outsiders in our own community. In addition to facing xenophobia and discrimination, many immigrants are marginalized by exclusionary state and federal policies designed to create fear. I believe that immigrants deserve the same opportunities and protections as all Americans. Fundamental rights are inherited at birth and should not depend upon documentation status. I will defend these beliefs in the State House, passing policies that respect the dignity of all residents and guarantee the safety of all people.
I have fought alongside advocates and organized support for the passage of the Safe Communities Act for years. There are few better indicators as to how broken the State House is than the failure to pass the Safe Communities Act. Since taking office, the Trump administration has stoked nativism and empowered Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) at the expense of civil rights. The Safe Communities Act must be passed in order to protect immigrants rights. I will always stand up for legislation that grants immigrants full participation in everyday life and I am committed to transformative and empathetic immigration policies.
Passage of the Safe Communities Act, which limits the compliance of local police with federal ICE policies and precludes a Muslim registry
Passage of the Work and Family Mobility Act, guaranteeing the human right of mobility and the right of all residents of Massachusetts to have access to a driver’s license without consideration of a person’s documentation status
Stand up to and create protections against the public charge rule, protecting working-class immigrants and pathways to permanent residency. Any attempt to define an immigrant life as a “public charge” is antiquated and blasphemous
Guarantee a path to permanent residency for those with Temporary Protected Status
Protected in-state college tuition for graduates of Massachusetts high schools, regardless of immigration status or DACA eligibility
Support a pathway to citizenship for DREAMers
A fully-funded, reliable, expansive, and safe public transportation system is the lifeline of any large city. Access to public transit is about more than getting from point A to point B. Transportation guarantees access to employment, education, health care, and culture, experiences that shape and enrich our lives. It is also critical to acknowledge that the guarantee of free transportation is vital to the protection of fundamental rights. To address income inequality and institutional racism, all neighborhoods must have access to the same reliable public transportation options as the wealthiest communities. It is unacceptable for any neighborhood to be underserved by public transportation infrastructure and to suffer from unreliable service. Transportation also lies at the center of the climate crisis. The use of transportation is the largest and fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions. Massachusetts must dramatically reduce its carbon footprint in transportation by investing in the T, the Commuter Rail, and in MBTA bus services.
The public transportation infrastructure in the Greater Boston region fails to meet the demands of a modern city. The State House has failed to invest in a functioning transportation system that serves everyone and continues to favor patchwork measures, failing to demonstrate the urgency needed to truly tackle glaring shortcomings and declines in ridership. The Authorizing and Accelerating Transportation Investment Act, which was proposed by the Baker Administration last year, falls short of the investment needed to fully fund public transportation. Such initiatives are merely a step in the right direction towards fully funding the MBTA, addressing serious needs for repairs, and expanding the reach of MBTA services. We must invest in public transportation infrastructure that is affordable, accessible, and accomplishes its purpose of guaranteeing that all people can move freely and without undue burden.
As a long-term resident of Somerville and a native of the Greater Boston area, I have experienced the challenges caused by the T’s delays and inadequate investment in green transportation. I am an avid cyclist and year-round make the trip across the Longfellow Bridge to the Act on Mass working space near Beacon Hill. I believe that now more than ever Massachusetts needs critical infrastructure that provides for clean and sustainable transportation options. I also am a frequent rider of the T and MBTA bus services and share in the frustration that stems from the unwillingness of the State House to properly fund a transportation system that guarantees reliable and equal access for all residents.
Businesses benefit disproportionately from having a strong transportation network, providing a range of travel options for employees and customers. Thus, it is fair and sensible that businesses fund a reliable transportation network. Through progressive revenue measures, we can not only make public transportation free, but upgrade existing infrastructure that has worn after decades of neglect. We can also expand service by investing in the Commuter Rail, connect the Red and Blue Lines and invest in true high-speed rail across the state. An increase in the tax rate paid by C-corps would produce hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue that could be reinvested in maintaining and expanding MBTA services.
Guaranteeing the right to mobility is essential for a just economy, protecting both public health and the environment, and providing equal access for every single person. As your representative, you can trust that I will hold the State House responsible for investing in a free and well-maintained public transportation system that we are proud of.
A fully funded MBTA, which is free and accessible to everyone
The passage of a Massachusetts Green New Deal that supports the expansion of clean, fossil-fuel free public transportation
An increase in tax rates for C-corps, fighting to make sure that large businesses pay their fair share for necessary investments in public goods
Increased fees on ride-hailing applications, levying a $1 fee on ride-hailing services in order to reduce the number of environmentally harmful single-occupancy vehicles on the road
Pass the Modern and Sustainable Solutions for Transportation Act, expanding transportation in low-income communities, electrifying transportation, subsidizing and incentivizing zero-emission vehicle ownership, and supporting bicycle transportation
Fund the expansion of MBTA Commuter and Regional Rail services, reducing congested highway traffic and providing environmentally-friendly statewide transit
Healthcare is a human right. In Massachusetts, 1 in 5 residents are saddled with medical debt. In a thriving state that is the heart of the biotech industry and home to some of the best hospitals in the nation, no one should be underinsured or face financial hardship due to medical costs. The COVID-19 pandemic lays bare the gaping weaknesses in our current healthcare system and reveals just how many Americans are at risk due to a lack of coverage. We can and must do better.
I have experienced the broken medical system both as a practitioner and as a patient. I worked as an EMT in college: it was my first exposure to the deep flaws of our healthcare system and the hardest job I have ever held. It was profound to watch as our healthcare system failed time and again, forcing patients to the point of requiring emergency medical services. I transported hundreds of patients who, on top of dealing with their medical emergency, were deeply anxious about how much the ambulance ride was going to cost. I knew that my private ambulance company would charge at least $1,000. Meanwhile, I was only paid $13 per hour. Who was profiting off of our basic human rights? Where was the comprehensive rehabilitation and care for these people? As a patient, I found myself slammed with a $20,000 medical bill right out of college after being hospitalized at MGH for over a week. My health insurance found an error in my file and tried to get out of covering my medical bill altogether. This experience is all too familiar for working people.
Fixing the broken healthcare system will require the citizens of Massachusetts to stand up and say that our health and welfare are more important than the profits of the insurance and pharmaceutical companies. The majority of Americans support Medicare for All. It is time that our politicians listen! Transparency and accessibility are essential to making a seismic policy shift such as Medicare for All. The insurance and pharmaceutical industry have outsized sway at the Massachusetts State House and are able to water down key legislation behind closed doors. In my work at Act on Mass, I have focused on making the State House the People's House -- we have a right to know how and why our representatives are making their decisions. As your representative, I will bring my coalition building and organizing background to bear to move forward a strong people-powered movement for Medicare for All in Massachusetts.
Massachusetts Medicare for All, in which the state provides healthcare to all residents as a right, not a privilege, through a single-payer program
Pass the Roe Act, removing arbitrary barriers to abortion access and mandatory parental consent, because every person has the right to choose what is best for their body
Pass the Reduce Racial Disparities in Maternal Health Act, which would start to rectify the injustice that black people are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy than white people
Require annual safety risk assessments and programs to eliminate violence for healthcare employees, combating violence against nurses and healthcare workers
Pass The Workforce Development and Patient Safety Act, calling for an assessment of the nursing workforce in order to set safe patients limits. The safety of patients and healthcare professionals should take priority over reducing costs
Stop the illegal closure of hospitals, extend the notice periods prior to the discontinuation of healthcare facilities, and protect communities from being cut-off from comprehensive services
Guarantee free medical care in prisons and jails, including professional and evidence-based substance abuse and mental health treatment
Guarantee that incarcerated trans people have full and complete access to healthcare
Require that schools electing to teach sex education provide medically accurate information and include information about both abstinence and contraception
A prosperous economy guarantees that every employee has a voice, that all workers are free from the volatility of financial markets, and that the aim of work is not to generate profit for the few, but instead to prosper collectively. Corporate executives, financial analysts, and establishment economists have serially tried to convince us that our economy is thriving, pointing to historically low unemployment and record high stock market valuations. Narratives of superficial prosperity are smokescreens for the inequality and unjust distribution of power that undergirds our economy. Any economy that does not guarantee a living wage, does not provide union membership for all workers, does not treat all workers with dignity, and does not assure a life free from financial precarity is not a thriving economy. Critically, a prosperous economy must not be fueled by a climate crisis, dependent upon the appropriation of the labor of women, and bolstered by a history of racial oppression.
In recent decades, the promise of an economy for everyone has been under siege by a corporate-funded movement led by the few. As a result, the range of voices at the table has been dramatically suppressed. In place of a just economy, power has shifted to the financial system at the expense of the labor unions, markets with oversimplified incentives have been prioritized over the security provided by government protections, and the building of public institutions has been delegated to forms of private ownership that are more focused on extracting from public goods than on creating them. Severe and escalating wealth inequality, financial fragility for the vast majority, the flagrant paying off of elected officials, and environmental crisis are the consequences of market fundamentalism. The ongoing COVID-19 crisis has made painfully clear the dereliction of duty in building a fair society.
Early in my career I was an antitrust economist. I studied how corporations take an unfair share by consolidating into global monopolies, stealing wages by undermining collective bargaining, and syphoning fees off of the economy through an overgrown financial system. These hidden structures struck a personal chord when I enrolled at Harvard Business School. We studied how corporate raiders control companies by holding only a tiny fraction of ownership. Carl Icahn, a corporate raider, employed such tactics on the company that my mom worked for, Trans World Airlines (TWA), in the 1980s. Growing up, I witnessed firsthand how investors like Icahn make companies more “efficient” by carving out the American worker. I witnessed my mom’s colleagues receive worse contracts over time and felt the strain my mom carried when she was asked to retire early so that they could hire 2-3 flight attendants in her place. Simply put, workers are not numbers on a spreadsheet and no single person should hold such sway over the livelihoods of thousands of employees.
I believe that the only way to fight these injustices is through collective action and the government. Very simply, to break the grip of power that corporations have on our economy the tax system in Massachusetts that grants preferential treatment to high earners and corporations must be rewritten immediately. It is an outrage that the Massachusetts tax system asks more of its lower wage earners than of its highest wage earners.
Three objectives are crystal clear. First, the Fair Share Amendment, a constitutional amendment that would impose an additional tax on annual income in excess of $1 million, must be passed in the 2021-2022 legislative session. I testified vociferously in favor of the amendment during public hearings. Second, the power of corporations must be redistributed through higher corporate taxes, funding our basic human rights like healthcare, education, and housing. Third, the influence of entrenched wealth must be unwound through a series of wealth taxes. Complementary to fighting power through taxation and the funding of basic human rights, systems that humanize and democratize businesses, such as through the transition of founder-owned businesses to co-operatives, provide tangible pathways to economic inclusivity.
Fair Share Amendment
Corporate tax increase on C-corps, undoing the corporate tax cuts of the prior decade
Taxes on wealth, including (i) the elimination of the step-up in basis for capital gains for individuals who inherit wealth and (ii) raising the estate tax
Raise the minimum wage to a truly livable wage by building off of the “Grand Bargain” reached in 2018 that raised the minimum wage to $15 by 2023
Establish a truly livable minimum wage for all workers and eliminate the tipped minimum wage
Act to Prevent Wage Theft to prevent employers from making labor markets more “flexible” when their underlying objective is to bust unions and disadvantage workers
Join California, Illinois, and New York in imposing a state level tax on carried interest so that hedge fund and private equity managers pay more in personal income taxes than firefighters and teachers
The creation non-extractive loan funds to finance the transition of small and medium sized businesses to cooperative ownership
For our democracy to truly work, everyone needs to have their voice heard in shaping policies and laws that will impact their communities. If people like you and I do not have our voices heard, then policies end up being crafted by corporate interests who have access to vast sums of money and our politicians. The laws that have been passed over the last 40 years show how the weakening of our democratic institutions has led to policies stacked against working people and the empowerment of dangerous demagogues like Trump.
I co-founded Act on Mass, the lead organization for transparency in the Massachusetts State House, because a lack of transparency in state government is leading to policy outcomes that do not reflect what the majority of Massachusetts residents want. Bills that would protect immigrants, improve our public schools, fight climate change, and increase affordable housing are blocked year after year in committee without a public vote. Most people are shocked when they hear that most votes in the State House are not publicly available, but it is true. A bill can have a majority of the legislature signed on as “co-sponsor” (such as bills to prevent wage theft, 100% renewables, and the Roe Act to improve reproductive healthcare access) and still be shelved in secret, with no way for you to know how your State Representatives voted.
The culture of our State House determines whether or not important legislation related to climate, housing, and protecting immigrants advances or dies. As I have organized around the State House, it has become clear to me that when evaluating candidates for office it is not enough to make sure that they agree with you on all the issues, but to ensure that they will stand up for them in public, even when it is uncomfortable.
Being raised by a single immigrant mother, I did not always feel like I deserved a voice. An early memory of mine is seeing parents of my classmates mimic my mom’s English outside of the preschool that I attended. As a child, I sadly believed that I was inferior because of my race, my class, and the shape of my family. Over time, I unlearned any doubt in myself and I am no longer voiceless. None of us are voiceless and we all deserve a stake in our government and have the right to hold our representatives accountable. I will make sure that the voices of Somerville are heard loud and clear in the State House.
Ensure that the objectives of the State House Transparency Pledge, an initiative that I have dedicated years to, become standard procedures in the State House
Make all committee votes publicly available upon request, including electronic polls and study orders
Require that all votes and testimony of committees are publicly available, including electronic polls and study orders
Ensure that State Representatives stand for roll call on any bill or amendment which that State Representatives has co-sponsored or has voiced support for
The heart of our democracy is democracy in the workplace. I stand with workers fighting for fair wages and respect and dignity in the workplace every day. As a state representative, I will always stand with workers over management. Too few workers have unions, and I will do everything in my power to foster new organizing and uphold strong unions. I will work against encroachment on union power, fight for the labor movement that we have, and work to restore our labor movement to the strength that it once was.
Profit-driven capitalism has time and again prioritized efficiency, cost-cutting, and dividends over the wellbeing of workers. Corporations, representing the interests of the wealthy few, hold disproportionate political and economic power - suppressing the voices of everyone else in our society. Critical to creating economic and social justice is holding these powerful businesses accountable, and fighting to ensure that our workers, the backbone of the economy, are protected.
Organized labor is of personal importance to me. I was raised by a single immigrant mother who worked as a flight attendant for Trans World Airlines (TWA). Her union ensured she was paid a living wage and I was able to pursue my dreams. I am who I am today because of organized labor. I intimately understand how strong unions change people’s lives for generations, and I will do everything I can for other people to receive the same benefits my family did.
Now tragically, that is not the reality for many working families. Since the 80’s corporations have been carving out the American worker, busting unions, and gaslighting our politicians and the American people into believing that insatiable economic growth is more important than people living with dignity. Our wages have remained stagnant while executives and investors line their pockets with excessive profits by co-opting our basic human rights like housing, healthcare, education, and a liveable climate. I watched as a child, as year after year, my mom and her co-workers received worse and worse contracts and how my mom was asked repeatedly by her employers to retire early to enable them to hire 2 or 3 flight attendants in her place. Workers should be treated with dignity and respect by their employers - not as numbers to be manipulated and slashed to maximize profits.
COVID-19 Protections
Securing hazard pay for essential and frontline workers in both the private and public sectors.
Guaranteeing paid-sick time, and the assumption of occupational contraction for essential and frontline workers who test positive for COVID-19.
Passing legislation that mandates safe patient limits and safe working conditions, including access to PPE and sanitization for healthcare providers.
Guaranteeing fair wages for all. Service workers who rely on tips for their wages are frequently subjected to sexual harassment and gender discrimination. We must pass fair wage legislation ensuring that tipped employees are guaranteed payment of at least minimum wage to protect them from discrimination and to ensure that they are paid fairly.
Ending wage theft. Nearly $700 million are stolen from low-wage workers each year in Massachusetts. We must end this practice by passing an Act to Prevent Wage Theft, Promote Employer Accountability, and Enhance Public Enforcement.
Ensuring fair workweek hours, and passing the Fair Work Week Bill. As part-time and around-the-clock labor increases, workers must have control over the hours they work including:
The right to 14 days advance notice of hours
The right to request specific hours without facing retaliation
The right to rest for 11 hours between shifts
The right to any additional available hours before an employer can hire a new employee to fill them
The right to collect unemployment benefits when an employer’s failure to comply with Fair Scheduling practices is the worker’s reason for leaving a job
Retirement Security for all workers with the passage of Secure Choice Retirement legislation. This would provide a vehicle for every worker in Massachusetts to save for retirement and will help secure a stable financial future for retirees state-wide.
Guaranteeing equal pay for equal work, and explicitly prohibiting wage discrimination against women, people of color, and minority workers.
Ending executive pay abuse by taxing companies who pay their CEOs more than 100 times their median wage. This revenue could be used to fund public infrastructure, including the MBTA.
Guaranteeing all workers the right to unionize.
Ensuring a fair contract and liveable wages for Somerville Paraprofessionals.
Passing a PRO (Protecting the Right to Organize) Act for Massachusetts.
Penalize employers who retaliate against or interfere with employee attempts to unionize.
Streamline the NLRB election process so workers can petition to form a union and get a timely vote without employer interference.
Prohibits companies from forcing workers to attend mandatory anti-union meetings as a condition of continued employment
Protect strikes and other protest activity by repealing the prohibition on secondary boycotts and prohibiting employers from permanently replacing strikers.
Codifying protections from workplace violence by passing an Act Requiring Health Care Employers to Develop and Implement Programs to Prevent Workplace Violence. Healthcare and social workers are all too often subjected to workplace violence. We have a responsibility to reduce and prevent foreseeable, serious, and life-altering violence against workers in healthcare and social service occupations.
Ending sexual harassment in the workplace and passing an Act to Require Sexual Harassment Prevention Training to enhance current anti-discrimination law to require high-quality sexual harassment training in the workplace.
Promoting the creation and expansion of worker cooperatives in Somerville and state-wide. These are for-profit businesses in which the workers, rather than investors or capital possessors, are the owners. Worker-owners control a portion of the business, have input into business matters, and receive compensation for their labor.
Our community is facing an unprecedented threat. COVID-19 is threatening not only our physical health, but the health of our economy, our healthcare system, our education system, our infrastructure, and more, while testing our government’s ability to equitably and respectfully provide for its residents. Our federal and state governments’ slow and tepid response to this crisis has provided little to no relief to the people and small businesses who need it most.
Bold leadership to support our communities is needed now more than ever. The COVID-19 crisis has exposed and exacerbated structural injustices in our society, and I am committed to fighting for policies that protect the health and safety of working people and our communities, during this crisis and at all times.
In order for our community to best survive this crisis, the State House must provide:
Free, accessible COVID-19 testing and healthcare -
Cash assistance
A moratorium on evictions
A moratorium on utility payments (including water, electricity, heating, and internet) -
Freeze on rent and mortgage payments
Postponed student loan payments
Immediate decarceration of prisons and immigrant detention centers
Certainty on waiving MCAS as a high school graduation requirement
See our videos for information on what actions the State House is (and isn’t) taking on each of these policies.
The leaders and organizations that fight for our community give us hope and are responsible for many of the mutual aid resources listed here. This list of resources for Somerville has been compiled as a resource for those seeking help, and for those able to help others during this trying time. Included are resources for those seeking financial assistance, for parents needing childcare or maintaining their child’s education at home, for teachers and organizers, and collective care including access to food and other goods, links to extended deadlines for applying for healthcare, and resources for policy surrounding COVID.
The city of Somerville has compiled resources and educational information on COVID-19 here. To receive alerts from the city of Somerville, sign up at this link.
The state of Massachusetts has also compiled resources and educational information, and has set up a text alert system to keep residents up to date on the actions of the government here.
As a strong, compassionate community, I believe that we can use this crisis to better our government and to demand the changes we need to strengthen our city, state, and country. We must champion the health, safety, and welfare of all, not just the powerful and wealthy. I am committed to fight for everyone to be treated with dignity and respect.
Under the current criminal legal system, the fundamental rights of liberty and justice are not guaranteed to all. Instead, there is a lottery system where race, economic status, and neighborhood influence the probability of receiving fair treatment under the law. The long shadow cast by the racially motivated war on drugs continues to impact our community and affects access to rehabilitation, rates and lengths of incarceration, and employability.
While Massachusetts has been applauded for its recent criminal justice reform bill, there is significant work to do to close the justice inequality gap: the same bill that abolished some mandatory minimum sentences introduced new ones. These types of sentences deprive judges from granting leniency based on individual circumstances and influence the types of charges pursued. The Institute for Justice graded each state on its civil forfeiture laws, under which law enforcement can seize property allegedly connected with criminal activity. Massachusetts had the distinction, shared with only one other state, of earning an “F” grade due to the low bar for seizing property, the burden on the innocent to prove their innocence to recover their property, and law enforcement’s high incentive to declare a crime has been committed since they keep what they take.
While racist policing and prosecution, in tandem with the systemic racism of the housing and education system, result in hungry and houseless MA citizens being arrested and incarcerated for the crime of stealing food or finding shelter, corporate bad actors run rampant. The epidemic of wage theft has overwhelmed the capacity of our existing labor laws and enforcement mechanisms to the tune of nearly $700 million in wages stolen from about low-wage workers each year in Massachusetts. These are not unrelated issues. In order to end racist policing and reform the criminal legal system, we must address access to affordable housing and equitable employment in addition to addressing corporate crimes.
I plan to address these issues by championing justice reform that focuses on putting people and our communities first.
Decriminalize Poverty and Defund the Police
End Broken Windows Prosecuting. Stop prosecuting crimes of poverty and instead go after wage theft and bad landlords.
End Civil Asset Forfeiture. Police are incentivized to seize property because that money goes to their budgets. No police department should receive financial benefit from arrests.
Require Racial and Economic Impact Analyses of All Charges. The public has a right to know the economic and racial impact of charges filed.
Require DA offices to make publicly available their lists of police officers who should not be called as witnesses at trial because they have lied in the past. These are known as “Brady” lists and most DA offices keep such lists, but refuse to release them to the public.
End Mass Incarceration
End Cash Bail. Cash bail penalizes people before they are judged guilty and creates two systems of justice – one for the wealthy, one for the poor.
End For-Profit Prisons and detention centers. End for-profit greed in our criminal justice system, top to bottom by: by banning for-profit prisons and detention centers, ending cash bail, and making prison and jail communications, re-entry, diversion and treatment programs fee-free.
Advocate Against Death by Incarceration. Too many people die in prison. Indefinite incarceration is wrong; parole should be presumed.
We must reform the existing prison system until such time as mass incarceration is meaningfully ended. We must guarantee that prisoners in MA have meaningful rights, which means a robust “Prisoners Bill of Rights” and access to the means to ensure that such rights are respected, and to seek redress when they are violated.
Ensure due process and right to counsel by vastly increasing funding for public defenders.
provide comprehensive mental health care to both incarcerated communities and law enforcement.
End the school-to-prison pipeline; remove all law enforcement officers from schools.
End the War on Drugs.
Treat Substance Use Disorders as a Medical Issue. All evidence points to treatment, not incarceration, as the best way to mitigate harm from substance use. Doctors and nurses, not police, are trained to handle these issues.
End the practice of sending police officers with ambulances on every 911 call, no matter the emergency.
Create a separate emergency response team specifically for mental-health and substance-related emergencies.
Deploy Harm-Reduction Strategies to Combat the Opioid Epidemic. More Americans die from overdoses than car accidents. We must provide first responders, teachers, employers, and organizations across Massachusetts with naloxone and other life-saving interventions, including educational outreach and overdose training.
Work with Safe Injection Facilities. Testing for drug impurities and providing medical treatment to people suffering from use disorder can save thousands of lives. Facilities providing these services reduce overdose deaths in surrounding areas by 30% and help communities heal. Each site reduces epidemic-related costs by millions of dollars and provides critical services that meet people where they are.
Transform the way we police communities by ending the War on Drugs by expunging past convictions, treating children who interact with the criminal legal system as children, reversing the criminalization of addiction, and ending the reliance on police forces to handle mental health emergencies, homelessness, maintenance violations, and other low-level situations.
Center Community Solutions.
Let Community Groups Decide Response to Local Gun Violence. Evidence shows communities know how to best deal with gun violence. Representative Uyterhoeven will listen to and respect their desires.
Expand Survivor Services Unit. Survivors of violence and crime need help to resume their lives, not more trauma or lengthy legal process from inconsiderate or paternalistic prosecutors that do not respect survivors’ wishes.
Decarcerate and Restore Communities.
Establish a Retroactive Release Unit. People currently incarcerated for offenses that are no longer being prosecuted will be released.
Establish a Record Review Unit to Clear Records. Convictions for offenses that are no longer being prosecuted should not prevent people from being employed or getting housing.
Reverse the criminalization of communities, end cycles of violence, provide support to survivors of crime, and invest in our communities.
Create a Reentry Services Unit to Reduce Recidivism. The best way to prevent repeat offenses is to provide people leaving prison with the basics every person needs to live in society, such as housing, job help and education.
Protect Immigrants from Fraud and Abuse. Immigration is not a crime; it is the foundation of our country. Too many abuse our immigrant communities and use fear of deportation against them. ICE is an abusive, renegade agency. Families have a right to be together, and Representative Uyterhoeven will fight for that right.
Establish alternative Parole Boards. The Parole Board is a bottleneck to decarceration. To quicken the pace of decarceration, especially during the coronavirus pandemic, we need to widen this bottleneck.
Tackle Corporate Crimes.
Investigate and Prosecute Abusive Landlords. Bad landlords should not be landlords. If they have property in Somerville, they will be held accountable in Somerville. Bad landlords will be forced to provide adequate housing.
Hold Drug Companies Accountable for Overprescribing. Prescriptions motivated by profit, not public health, rake in billions of dollars at the expense of individuals. Companies and doctors that over-market or overprescribed these drugs, despite knowing their dangers, must be brought to court.
Establish Corporate Crime, Consumer Protection, Wage Theft and Antitrust Legislation. Discriminatory, monopolistic practices and fraud can destroy neighborhood economies. Employers stealing wages forces people to make drastic choices to survive.
Free, fair, and accessible elections are absolutely necessary for a democracy to function. But the current state of campaign finance and voting laws gives outsized influence to big donors and special interests and makes it more difficult for the average voter to exercise their right to vote. These issues are nothing short of undermining our democracy.
Every eligible American not only deserves to be heard, but has a right to have their vote counted in selecting the people and policies that will determine the future of their communities.
To ensure that everyone has their voice heard, we need to fight for major structural democracy reform. We need to reduce the corrupting influence of corporate interests and wealthy elites in the policy-making process; we need to protect every American’s right to vote by removing systemic barriers to participating in the electoral process; and we need reform to make our elections more fair and functional.
I am starting that reform within my own campaign. As part of my pledge to turn the State House into the People’s House, I am refusing donations from real estate developers, fossil fuel company employees, and corporate PACs. This should be the norm, not an exception.
We deserve representatives that are accountable to the people, not the wealthy and powerful corporations.
As your representative, I will fight to strengthen our democracy and for every voice to be heard.
Get big money out of politics
Pass the We the People Resolution to put people, not money, in charge of our political system. In addition to reforming democracy here in Massachusetts, we can help ensure voting rights for people around the country by calling on Congress to pass a Constitutional amendment to limit Constitutional rights to natural persons and place limits on political contributions, a move that would undermine the corrupting influence of Citizens United.
Implement a “Clean Elections” system to provide public funding for candidates who want to run for office in exchange for forgoing special interest and high dollar contributions. Such a system would work to ensure that no particular donor - either wealthy elites or special interests - has an outsized influence on the outcome of the election. It would also lift the voices of marginalized communities by removing financial barriers to running for office.
Pass a capped tax deduction for campaign donations. This would help capped tax deduction for campaign donations to level the playing field against the deep-pocketed donors and uplift grassroots campaigns.
Protect and expand the right to vote
Remove barriers to participate in elections. We can expand and improve our system of automatic voter registration, enact same-day voter registration, expand early voting, and make election day a holiday.
Make universal mail-in ballots permanent. Massachusetts should follow the example set by other states to make voting more easily accessible to working people, elderly people, and anyone who cannot safely or easily vote in person for any reason.
Restore voting rights to incarcerated people. We can help do our part to break the cycles of systemic oppression and racism to make sure all voices are heard.
Election reform
Enact ranked choice voting. Ranked choice voting allows voters to cast their ballot for their actual top preference, without worrying about vote splitting.
End partisan gerrymandering. We need to ensure that the decennial process of redistricting happens in a fair and unbiased manner. One of the ways we can achieve this is by appointing an independent commission to redraw congressional districts.
Make running for office more accessible to ensure communities are accurately and diversely represented. We can introduce and reform regulations on campaign expenditures to cover expenses like child care to make it easier for people from all walks of life to run for office.
Pass legislation to guarantee secure, easily audited, and verifiable voting technology and systems.