Nobody said legislative leadership was going to be easy –the Speaker and the President cannot avoid conflict; they must confront it, resolve it, and take the blame for it.

from 4th Edition of Lobbying on a Shoestring. Chapter 3 of Lobbying explores the decision making dynamic in legislative bodies from State Houses to city counsels to families in human terms Find it here.

In Massachusetts we seem to thrive on leadership conflicts within legislative bodies as well as challenges from out side advocacy groups and opinion makers in the media who think the decision making process should more open and transparent to the public. Many outside critics think the fault lies in the leadership structure that gives elected leaders excessive power to control agendas and appointments to key committees and blame the elected leaders for using those rules to push for the legislation they think is the best. Others blame the rank and file legislators who attended a caucus and voted for the current leader being criticized – again and again.

Legislative historians in Massachusetts have told me these kinds of personal leadership fights have been going on since the Mayflower Contract, and I believe them.

I have attached an article from Commonwealth Magazine by Bruce Mohl, a long time respected State House
Reporter who has reported an interesting story about the leadership of Robert DeLeo. The question for the reader is this — who do you blame?