PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A Boston-based advocacy group has taken aim at state Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier.

 

Residents throughout the city received a mailing recently calling on residents to call the Pittsfield Democrat and have her switch positions on a recent vote to increase stipends for lawmakers in leadership. It was sent out by the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, a non-profit that says its goal is to advocate for "fiscal responsibility, transparency, and accountability in state government."

 

"The reason for our mailer into Pittsfield is very simple, MassFiscal wants to make sure folks know how their lawmaker votes in Boston. This year has been tough on the taxpayer, given January's enormous legislative pay grab, out-of-control MassHealth spending, and the backroom deal making that makes it all possible," said spokesman Paul D. Craney.

 

The mailer particularly took aim at Farley-Bouvier's vote on the $18 million compensation package that raised the pay for those in leadership positions, but not the base pay of other lawmakers. The mailer reads, "Have you ever received a 40 percent pay raise? Or a $20,000 expense allowance?"

 

Farley-Bouvier said she found the mailer to be "disheartening" and untrue. She says the mailer implied that she received a 40 percent pay raise.

 

"I was disappointed and disheartened by them. To know that somebody was willing to distort the truth so badly and malign my name is disheartening," Farley-Bouvier said. "They clearly have a lot of money to spend and they weren't particularly interested in giving my constituents the truth."

 

Farley-Bouvier is just one of 10 lawmakers to be targeted with the campaign. The others include Brian Murray, Joan Meschino, Alice Peisch, Cory Atkins, Mark Cusack, Natalie Higgins, Paul McMurtry, Ann-Margaret Ferrante, and Harold Naughton.

 

Craney wrote that the bill included increases that were "shockingly large."

 

"The annual salary of the Speaker of the House increased from $102,279.44 to $157,547.97; that of the Senate President grew from $89,779.44 to 162,547.97.The dust hasn't settled on what this massive shady pay grab will cost taxpayers, but early estimates hover around $18 million dollars. That's the same amount lawmakers claimed they needed last July when they voted to eliminate the popular and traditional sales-tax-free weekend," Craney wrote.

 

"The bill was passed with an emergency preamble attached and the lawmakers received retroactive pay. Members of the judiciary were included among employees who received a pay bump. The judiciary is a protected class among state workers, and a little-known statute protecting them also protects the entire pay-raise package from citizen repeal."

 

Farley-Bouvier said her pay didn't increase that much. The pay for legislators is determined by the governor and a formula based on the state's median household income. She said she did receive a small pay increase this year, but that was because the median income had increased and had nothing to do with the vote.

 

"They implied that I got a 40 percent raise. I didn't get a 40 percent raise. The raise I got was something done by statute and the governor has complete control over it," she said.

 

"The vote had to do with the leadership stipends and I was not in leadership when I took the vote. The one thing that did change after the vote was that I was promoted to a vice chair so I get a $5,000 stipend. But that isn't anywhere close to 40 percent."

 

Farley-Bouvier said the vote to raise the salaries of those in leadership and constitutional officers such as judges was based on a 2014 advisory commission report out of Boston University. The 3rd Berkshire representative said the pay hadn't increased in 30 years and she knows of staff members who were getting paid more than the speaker.

 

"I learned about the issues around the pay compensation, did my research, and took a vote that I would take again," Farley-Bouvier said.

 

Mass Fiscal Alliance, however, says the commission was funded and appointed by the state and not other input was sought — creating an "echo chamber" among lawmakers.

 

"During the voting session, the Legislature did not deliberate on how to pay for the $18 million raise. They held no public forums for hashing out competing ideas. Instead, they relied on the recommendations of a commission, a commission appointed and funded by the legislature. Only the echo chamber that is the Beacon Hill establishment would pass a measure with no regard for the needs of the taxpayer," Craney wrote.

 

"Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance is concerned that politicians like Rep. Bouvier are telling a different story in their communities about the processes on Beacon Hill. We want to remove the spin and provide the facts around the vote."

 

A second issue Mass Fiscal Alliance goes after is the change to the per diem travel expenses. 

 

"The implications of the raise are bigger and broader than the shock of the initial sticker price. Because the bill converts lawmaker's per diem travel reimbursements from one kind of payment to another, that travel money is now included in retirement calculations," Craney wrote.

 

"On her first significant vote of this legislative session, Rep. Bouvier joined the Beacon Hill establishment to award herself a pay raise, a larger expense account, retroactive pay, and a boosted pension."

 

Farley-Bouvier said she doesn't like the way per diems were changed, despite seeing about a $2,000 boost in those expenses. The vote eliminates the per diem funds for travel and stipends for offices and then provides a flat $20,000 for those who live outside of 50 miles from Boston and $15,000 for those inside.

 

"The people who live out here in the Berkshires did not make out well at all. We are being treated exactly the same as if you lived in Worcester," Farley-Bouvier said.

 

She said her office and travel allocation had been $18,000 a year while her expenses itemized out to $24,000 per year — the difference coming from her salary or campaign funds. 

 

"My expenses for the office and my travel are about $24,000 and I don't live high off the hog," Farley-Bouvier said. "I live and I travel modestly. I have to take my salary and/or campaign funds to supplement my travel expenses."

 

The mailer brings bigger concerns for Farley-Bouvier when it comes to the organization's first foray into Berkshire County. The group has been around for a number of years and has traditionally targeted Democrats, but not in the western part of the state.

 

Additionally, Farley-Bouvier said the first few targets of the recent mailers were all women, and there is still a disproportionate number of women being targeted. She is the only woman legislator from Western Mass to be targeted.

 

"While they've been around for four to five years, they have never come into Berkshire County before. Nobody from this group is from Berkshire County," she said.

 

"They are a very secretive, dark money group. This is the kind of stuff we see in national politics. They don't disclose their donors. It doesn't matter what your voting record is, they only attack Democrats and they call themselves a non-partisan group."

 

It isn't clear how Mass Fiscal Alliance is funded. The company is not considered a political action committee and is not subject to open book laws. Last year, Craney told State House News that the organization had no intent in revealing its donor list.