More hypocrisy in the Mass. State House:

RINO State Rep ranted that “informal sessions” (of just 1 or 2 members) are a legal way to pass laws - then did the opposite!

When one bill didn’t go his way, he made a quorum call and temporarily shut down the sessions - proving that they're illegal.

But it was just temporary. After that, he backed down to pressure. Here's what happened ...

May 29, 2025

by Brian Camenker

Over the last several months, we’ve exposed how as few as 1 or 2 House members and Senators regularly meet – in an empty chamber and without a legal quorum – to “pass” outrageous laws that affect us all. They cynically call these "informal sessions."

Only if a legislator shows up and says “there is no quorum” are they forced to stop the phony session (until the next time). That actually happens, but it’s very rare. Both Republicans and Democrats go along with this scam. It saves the rest of them from having to do real work!

Here’s what some recent “informal sessions” have passed: Everyone in Massachusetts must now subsidize (with higher insurance costs) a range of health coverage for issues they’ll never have. Nursing homes must now include the full LGBT agenda. Hundreds of millions of tax dollars are diverted to slush funds and pet projects.  And much more.

A recent incident reveals just how dishonest and hypocritical our legislators are about this outrageous practice.

In October, I attended a banquet of one of the pro-family groups. Before the dinner started, I joined two of my friends – a State Committeewoman and a long-time activist – who were chatting with Rep. David DeCoste (R-Norwell).

The four of us talked for a bit. Then I politely asked DeCoste if he would consider helping stop the informal sessions by attending and calling the quorum. It seemed like a reasonable question. What happened next was bizarre.

DeCoste became very angry. He glared and his face became twisted. He started ranting at me – much of what he said was irrational, incoherent, and unhinged. He complained about the “nut jobs” who keep bringing this up, and that those who did so are “gay.” He accused me of not supporting Ronald Reagan (not true). He fumed about GOP conservatives running in primaries.

When I finally got him to talk about the constitutional problem of informal sessions, he said that he’s read the Massachusetts Constitution, and that informal sessions are perfectly constitutional.

Later, I talked to my two friends who were there and heard this. They both said they were shocked and surprised at his deranged behavior. Neither could think of any explanation.

Now comes the even stranger part. On November 21 and 22, 2024, the House held two informal sessions. DeCoste walked into both and officially “doubted the presence of a quorum,” forcing both sessions to stop immediately!

DeCoste told State House News that he did it because the informal session was about to pass a bill, sponsored by Boston’s leftist mayor, that would allow the city of Boston to greatly increase taxes on commercial property. DeCoste said it would “cripple real estate.” He implied he’d likely keep coming to the informal sessions and calling the quorum until they got an actual constitutional quorum to pass it.

But that’s not what happened. A Democrat State Rep from Boston, Ron Consalvo, was very upset at DeCoste for doing that. Consalvo told reporters that he’d be meeting with DeCoste “to discuss it.” Apparently, Consalvo threatened DeCoste in some way, because DeCoste stopped showing up at the House informal sessions, and the bill passed at the next one.

(By the way, it never did get passed into law. When the bill reached the Senate’s informal session, Sen. Nick Collins of South Boston refused to let it through, and it finally died.)

The hypocrisy surrounding informal sessions is astounding! DeCoste will probably go back to attacking anyone who wants to stop this corrupt and unconstitutional process. But none of this is surprising. This is what our legislators have been allowed to get away with.

Until this practice completely stops, our lazy, disconnected legislature will continue to illegally “pass” bills that can do great damage to the Commonwealth. MassResistance is leading the charge to end this. We will keep you informed as to what YOU can do.