The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • D4

D4 Capital The Boston Globe FRIDAY, AUGUST 8, 2014 This week Aug. 1-7 A Republican in a sea of Democrats Massachusetts House minority leader takes pride in small victories and ability to compromise By Jeremy C. Fox GLOBE STAFF Being a Republican leader in a state government dominated by Democrats means sometimes accepting compromise as victory or being satisfied with peeling back the least appealing aspects of legislation you'd prefer to defeat outright. "It can be making an egregiously bad bill less bad; it can be making a good bill better," Bradley H. Jones minority leader in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, said in an interview this week.

Having spent 20 years in the House and 12 as the minority leader, Jones, 49, said being outnumbered by more than four-to-one can be "extraordinarily frustrating. But I think that it requires you to work that much harder and maybe be that much more creative." Jones, who lives in North Reading, could point to few Republican legislative accomplishments in the 18-month session that ended last week, but he said he was relieved that the party had been effective in arguing against $2 billion in tax increases in Governor Deval Patrick's budget last year and particularly in advocating for the repeal of a tax on software services. Garrett J. Bradley, a member of the House Democratic leadership, said that with the software tax, Jones foresaw what Democrats missed: the opposition that would later be raised by technology executives. "The tech tax was something that I recall him specifically warning us about saying that this was going to cause significant problems in the business community," Bradley said.

"We said, 'We think you're wrong, And it turned out he was right." In assessing the 2013-14 session, Jones also touted a Republican-sponsored state tax amnesty measure that will waive penalties for those who owe back taxes for a two-month period, with a portion of revenue directed to substance abuse treatment. And he pointed to Republican efforts in developing an alternative transportation financing plan and progress on welfare reform, though he hopes to accomplish more on that effort in the next session. He was disappointed that his party was unable to entirely forestall all tax increases, he said, but heartened that a November ballot initiative will give voters an opportunity to repeal a measure that ties the state gas tax to the rate of inflation. Bradley, a Hingham Democrat, praised Jones as a "worthy adversary" who understands the rules and traditions of the Legislature and "represents his caucus and his party very effectively in a situation in which they are vastly outnumbered by Democrats." "If you're going to debate him which I have done on the floor of the House you'd better bring your A game, or he will make you look foolish," Bradley said. "I've seen it done to people who thought they could get up and match wits with him, and they ended up coming to a gunfight with a knife." He said Jones is influential despite the Democrats' lopsided majority because he knows when to push an issue and when to compromise.

"If leaders in Washington could reach across the aisle like he's able to do, maybe they could accomplish a lot more down there," Bradley said. But Jones's willingness to work with Democrats to get legislation passed has led to criticism from within his own party. In May, Republican Representatives Marc Lombardo and Jim Lyons publicly questioned Jones's leadership and called for his removal, leading to a vote in which 21 of 29 House Republicans reaffirmed their support for Jones, with Lombardo, Lyons, and several other members absent from the meeting, as reported by the State House News Service. Jones said he hopes to distinguish the Massachusetts party from the national Republican Party and the partisan gridlock in Washington, though he believes Democrats share the blame for congressional inaction. On Beacon Hill, too, he sees legislators distracted by events in the day's news cycle, he said, whether it be rushing to pass legislation against so-called up-skirting photographs or attention to the federal corruption trial of former state probation commissioner John J.

O'Brien. Jones believes, too, that some Democratic lawmakers are more focused on jockeying for position than on passing legislation. "I think a big chunk of it, quite frankly, comes down to the incredible control that one-party government invests in the hands of very, very few people," he said. "It fosters a dynamic amongst the membership that 'If I go along with the leadership, they will completely take care of And then I don't learn the issues; we don't have as much debate; I don't know the process; I don't know the rules." Jones said State House Republicans are sometimes frustrated that efforts to pass even nonpartisan legislation that would benefit the communities they represent can be inhibited by Democrats holding grudges from partisan disagreements. "The reality is everything in this building for better or worse, right or wrong does get interrelated to some degree," he said.

Jeremy C. Fox can be reached at jeremy.foxglobe. com. ARAM BOGHOSIAN FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE Bradley Jones has spent 20 years in the Massachusetts House, 12 as minority leader. ISTOCKPHOTO 'Being on Fox and being up on the issues, and listening to the false rhetoric out of the administration really charged me up to get involved SCOTT BROWN, former US senator and Fox News contributor, in an interview on Fox News 'President Obama should never have said as much as he did, that if you like your current health care plan, you can keep it.

That wasn't true. And you shouldn't lie to people. And they just lied to BARNEY FRANK, former congressman, on the rollout of the Affordable Care Act, in a Huffington Post interview interview 'If I were Romney, there's no doubt I would do it. But I'm not PAT BUCHANAN, contemplating a 2016 presidential run for Mitt Romney, quoted in The Week 'The thing is PATRICIA HADDAD, state representative, noting the enactment of legislation on foreclosed properties, in the wee hours of the morning as the legislative session drew to a close 'It could be an issue of constitutional KELLY AYOTTE, New Hampshire senator, on the CIA's admission of spying on Senate staffers An honest answer from a candidate's mom Authenticity is sometimes in short supply in politics. But you wouldn't know it from listening to 92-year-old Shirley Grossman better known this week as gubernatorial candidate Steve Grossman's wealthy mom.

Why did she decide to donate what she described as "a lot of money" to a super PAC supporting his campaign? No beating around the bush here: "As a treasurer he doesn't get much publicity, but he's done awful good. But ask anybody on the street, and they don't know him." Perhaps not precisely the spin her son was hoping for but mighty refreshing nonetheless. toff ffc Auditor accused of using State House office for campaign work When you're the state auditor, it's your job to make sure other people are following the rules. So it's a fairly bad week when a former employee accuses you of breaking them. That's what happened to Suzanne Bump this week.

A federal whistle-blower lawsuit accused Bump of using her State House office for reelection campaign work. Bump vigorously denied the allegations..