Senate President Murray's Swearing-In Speech
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Thank you, Mr. Leader, for your support and guidance over the years.
You are a true friend and great asset to the Senate. And thank you Senator
Hart and Senator Flanagan for all your kind words.
I continue to be honored and humbled to serve as President of
the Senate, and I thank all of you – my colleagues here in the Senate – for
expressing your faith and support by choosing me to lead this historic and
esteemed body.
At the Left: Senate President Murray being
sworn-in as President of the Massachusetts Senate January 5, 2011. Senator Murray
won re-election to the post of Senate President by an
unanimous vote by her peers.
That opportunity, of course, would not be
available without the ongoing support of my constituents.
To the people of the Plymouth and Barnstable
District, I say a heart-felt “Thank You.” It is an honor to serve you.
I will continue to work hard. I will not let you
down.
I would like to thank Governor Patrick and
Speaker DeLeo. They have been partners in this
great endeavor to make our Commonwealth a better place for everyone, and I
look forward to working with them in this new session as we take on new
challenges and expand our efforts on some familiar issues.
I want to thank the rest of our Constitutional
Officers – the Lieutenant Governor, Secretary Galvin and Attorney General Coakley – and congratulate Treasurer-Elect Steven
Grossman and Auditor-Elect Suzanne Bump. And I would like to extend my
deepest gratitude to Joseph DeNucci and Timothy
Cahill for their past service, support and friendship over the years.
I would also like to acknowledge (Mayor Thomas Menino), the new City Council President Stephen Murphy,
former City Council President Michael Ross, and my good friend City
Councilor Maureen Feeney.
Former Senate President Robert Travaglini is also here. … Thank you, Trav, as always, for remembering and respecting the
work we do here in this chamber.
A special thank you to my staff – who do so much and never stop working. Your efforts and
your sacrifices do not go unnoticed, and I appreciate the time and
commitment you give to the people of the Commonwealth, this office, and the
Senate.
Thank you, yet again, to Oladunni
Oladipo of Canton for gracing us with the
beautiful gift of her voice.
It’s become quite a tradition to have Oladunni in our Chamber, and we have seen her grow up
before our very eyes. A beautiful voice, and a
beautiful young lady. I know her parents are very proud of her and her
siblings.
We also enjoy the special honor today of having
the Plymouth Police Department Honor Guard and the Boston Police Department
Bagpipers, and I’d like to thank them for being part of today’s ceremony.
And thank you Reverend Bryan Parrish of the
pastoral Center in Braintree for leading us in thanks and prayer, which we
need and will remember during the next difficult two years. And I would
like to thank the Reverend Dr. Evan C. Hines of the Eliot Church of Roxbury
who will be giving our closing prayer today.
The Reverend Peter J. Gomes of Plymouth was also
supposed to be with us today, as he has been in the past, but is facing
serious challenges to his health. Reverend, our thoughts and prayers are
with you, and we wish you a full recovery.
Finally, I want to extend my deepest thanks to
those special people in my life who are my foundation – my family and
friends.
Especially my daughter, Lauren; my sisters;
my brothers-in-law; my cousins; my nieces and nephews.
You keep me grounded. You keep me focused on
what is truly important. Your love, encouragement and sacrifice inspire me.
You make me who I am, and I wouldn’t be here today without you.
Below: Senate President Murray thanking
her family and friends.
Now, I would like to formally welcome back
our returning senators …
And I would also like to introduce our newest members
and ask you to stand when I call your name …
Senator Katherine Clark
Senator Eileen Donoghue
Senator Barry Finegold
Senator John Keenan
Senator Michael Roderigues
Senator Michael Rush
Senator James Welch
Senator Daniel Wolf
Welcome to the Senate.
We have a lot to live up to in the next two
years.
Last session was one of the most productive in
recent memory, with landmark legislation having passed into law. The Senate
alone passed more than 2,000 bills with at least 600 becoming law.
It seems like a lifetime ago, but the Senate
initiated and passed major Transportation Reform, Pension Reform and
Education Reform in 2009, followed by more Senate initiatives that passed
in 2010 including Safe Driving legislation, Economic Development, CORI Reform,
Foreclosure Protection, and Small Business Health Insurance Relief.
Additionally, we supported and passed reforms to
our ethics, lobbying and campaign finance laws; and passed anti-bullying
and school nutrition legislation to promote a safer, healthier learning
environment for our children.
We did all of this amidst a global economic
downturn that none of us could have predicted and that became the worst
financial crisis since the Great Depression.
But our hard work, our foresight in budget preparations,
and billions of dollars in reduced spending have helped us in our ongoing
recovery as we continue to outperform most other states.
We continue to have a double-A bond rating from
the nation’s top credit agencies;
We have the fourth-most productive workforce –
and one of the highest-paid and best-educated – in the country;
CNBC has ranked us the fifth best state to do
business;
And while we represent just 2.4 percent of the
nation’s population, we are responsible for 9.4 percent of the nation’s
employment growth in the past year;
But we can and must do more to retain and grow
our existing businesses as well as attract new investors, industry and jobs
from across the world.
Because of the Senate’s ongoing leadership on
health care initiatives, we have received millions in federal funds – the
most of any state in the nation – for implementation of cost- and
life-saving tools such as electronic medical records.
And we now have, by far, the highest rate of
insured in the nation at more than 98 percent.
At the Right: Senate President Murray
giving newly-elected Senator Dan Wolfe (Cape and Islands) his member pin.
Additionally, we receive more than $2
Billion a year in grant money from the National Institutes of Health for
medical research at our universities and hospitals that help advance
innovation and fuel our economy.
In education, our 4th- and 8th-graders are first
in the nation in reading; our 4th-graders are second worldwide in science
and tied for third in math; and our 8th-graders are tied for first in
science and ranked sixth in math.
But we face the challenge of constant, global
competition and we must focus on continuing to improve our educational
system to continue to be a contender on the world stage.
This is true not just for primary and secondary
education, but also for our institutions of higher learning.
We have some of the best, world-renowned public
and private colleges and universities right here.
Our own public university has received a global
ranking as the 56th best university in the world, boasting a flagship
campus at Amherst that includes the Commonwealth College for honors
students and the Isenberg School of Management …
Our Boston campus is the biggest commuter school
in the Commonwealth and has a tremendous public policy school and is the
future site of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. Senate …
The Lowell campus known for cutting-edge work in
engineering and nanotechnology and housing the Polymer Research Center…
A Dartmouth campus that leads in marine biology,
bioengineering and water quality research and is partnering with the Woods
Hole Oceanographic Institute and the Massachusetts Maritime Academy …
And a medical school that hosts our own Nobel
Prize winner (Dr. Craig Mello) and is on the cutting edge of health care
technology and research.
We need to give these institutions the tools
they need to build on their strengths and successes and continue to lead.
As we start this new session, along with
education, job creation and business development, it is my goal, under the
leadership of Senator Richard Moore, for the Senate to once again lead the
way on health care payment reform.
We must also face the growing crisis of opiate
addiction that is fueling crime sprees and ruining the lives of families
all over the state.
On January 1, we began tracking opiate
prescriptions to try and put a stop to doctor shopping and addicts gaming the system. As part of the same legislation, we
also established an information hotline on addiction treatment and
prevention services and required additional training for health
practitioners on pain management.
Senator Steven Tolman
has been our most vocal advocate on this issue, and we must pay attention
to the devastating effects on families of every socio-economic background
who live in all of our districts.
Our jails and prisons are overwhelmed. And those
addicted to opiates are frequently not getting the proper treatment to kick
the habit. We can – we must – do a better job of focusing on this crisis.
And, once again, these and all of our efforts
will be framed within the context of a challenging budget, as we face a
$1.5 to $2 billion gap for FY12.
That means more difficult decisions and program
reductions will be necessary. But, we were chosen by the voting public to
be here and to make those tough decisions.
When we receive a vote, we receive someone’s
trust. A trust to do what’s right; a trust to work hard; a trust to represent
fairly and honestly; a trust to serve and not be served.
We step into this historic and grand building
every day to do our jobs. And it is filled with all kinds of people – all
with their own expectations, their own needs, their own wants.
It is our job to sift through it all. To never
forget our mission … To never leave our integrity at the curb … To never
betray the trust of those who chose you on Election Day.
Our constituents should always be first in our
minds. But when we think of them, we must think compassionately, and we
must think judiciously.
Make a name for yourself for the work you do and
the service you perform.
For our newest members, let me share my story:
When I came in as a freshman senator, I thought
that with my background as a planning and construction mitigation manager
for the highway department I would have a seat on the transportation
committee.
But, it wasn’t to be.
I landed quickly in Human Services – an area I
had no expertise in whatsoever.
I decided right away that it wouldn’t matter. I
went to work and learned all I could about the agencies and programs under
that secretariat.
I soon recognized a need to change how our
welfare system worked. And by the time I was a sophomore senator, we had
passed a comprehensive overhaul of the welfare system.
I worked on DSS and childcare services next to
consolidate services and correct systematic problems. Mental Health Parity
and the Catastrophic Illness in Children Relief Fund followed.
And after years of hard work and real change, I
found myself chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee and led early
efforts on the reorganization of the MDC and creation of the Department of
Conservation and Recreation.
I advocated for and helped establish the School
Building Assistance Program to end out-of-control budget appropriations.
And I helped lead the way on initial
transportation reform, affordable housing innovations, Chapter 70 reform,
and with Senator Moore our landmark Health Care Reform Act.
Four years later, I was humbled to be elected by
my colleagues – including many of you here in this chamber today – as the
first woman Senate President in the long and storied history of our
Commonwealth – a position in which I am proud to have led new and unprecedented
reforms in transportation, pensions, ethics and campaign finance, health
care, energy, education and economic development.
I mention all this, not as a personal pat on the
back – that’s not what this is about.
Anyone who knows me – and much to the frustration
of my own staff – understands that I am not one to take a bow or bask in
the spotlight.
My point in mentioning these accomplishments is
simply to tell you that hard work and dedication have their own rewards –
real rewards.
The reward of knowing you’ve made changes that
will help stabilize our economy, weather a storm or help the most
vulnerable among us.
The reward of knowing that you serve because you
cannot sit by and do nothing when you look at a baby struggling to breathe,
a child struggling to learn, or a mother struggling to cast off years of
abuse.
Most of the time, no one will see it. Little
attention will be paid to the good work you do.
There is much greater intrigue in the rumors and
shadows that surround this building.
But we still can shine a light by our actions –
what we do here, every day, to make Massachusetts a better place and to
make the lives of the people we represent better…
To make sure that child in a wheelchair is getting
the care and coverage he’s been promised; to make sure that family
struggling to pay the bills is not left in the cold; to make sure the laws
we pass here are a reflection of the needs and concerns of residents across
our great Commonwealth.
I have great hopes for this new session.
We will continue our work to make health care
more affordable and accessible.
We will continue our work to help small
businesses grow and create jobs.
We will continue our work to create more
efficient services and government.
Below: Senate President Murray listening
as her Senate colleagues unanimously vote to re-elect her as President of
the Massachusetts Senate.
 And I have
every intention of leading an agenda that also includes further reforms to
state government programs and departments, and the overdue need to
restructure our state finance laws to better control debt and reduce costs
to the state budget.
These are the important matters that must
receive our undivided, bipartisan attention.
To the new minority leader, Senator Tarr, I offer my Congratulations.
As a senator representing the people of the
First Essex and Middlesex District, you have worked hard for your
constituents.
As a colleague in this chamber, you have worked
with me and others to ensure the safety and livelihood of our fishermen and
farmers, and worked to pass good legislation for the people of the
Commonwealth.
And now, as minority leader, I am confident we
will continue to work together and continue the spirit of bipartisanship on
behalf of all the people of Massachusetts.
During my tenure as President, I have and will
continue to make it a priority to ensure that full and robust debates are
the rule, not the exception, and that we, as a
deliberative body, take all thoughts, opinions and ideas into
consideration.
Because, regardless of whether you have a “D” or
an “R” after your name, we all represent the people of the Commonwealth,
and they are our priority.
And we must show each person who voted for us,
and those who didn’t, that we will NOT betray their trust.
Let’s do the work together that will benefit the
residents of this great Commonwealth today and for many years to come.
Thank you.
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