Family of man killed in I-75 hit-and-run call for accountability
The family of a semi-truck driver killed in a hit and run crash on Interstate 75 is calling for accountability.
Terrell Lowdermilk’s family learned Monday that the man investigators accuse of being responsible, Christopher Bradshaw, was a Milton Police Department Lieutenant. The City of Milton fired Bradshaw Monday.
“Our family is deeply saddened and grieving the loss of Terrell, whose life was stolen in such a senseless act—one committed by the very institution meant to protect him,” said Cindy Hayes. Hayes is Lowdermilk’s mother.
The crash that killed him happened Wednesday around 2:30 am. According to Marietta Police Department, Lowdermilk and another semi driver stopped on the side of Interstate 75 Northbound to exchange information after a fender bender.
That’s when police said a pickup truck hit Lowdermilk. The driver never stopped.
Two days later, Marietta Police Department tracked down the pickup. That’s when the officer reached out to detectives through his attorney and agreed to turn himself into the jail.
“That’s very disturbing, you know? They take an oath to protect and serve,” said Lowdermilk’s father, Terence Lowdermilk. “He violated his oath.”
Channel 2 obtained Bradshaw’s police training records. He started his law enforcement career as a Cherokee County Sheriff’s Deputy in 2008. He took a job as a Milton Police officer in 2011. By 2022, he’d climbed the ranks to Lieutenant.
“What kind of example does that make to the public?” said Terence Lowdermilk.
Milton Police Department sent Channel 2 a statement in response to the arrest.
It said Bradshaw was off duty when the crash happened.
“When you become a police officer, you take an oath to protect and serve your community. Officers are held to a higher standard, whether on or off duty, and the public entrusts them with their lives,” said Hayes.
Milton Police said when leadership learned of Bradshaw’s arrest, he was immediately put on administrative leave. Then, the City of Milton terminated him.
“We are calling for accountability, transparency, and answers from law enforcement,” said Hayes. “Justice for Terrell is not only about our family’s pain, but also about restoring the trust and integrity that every community deserves.”
Milton Police Lt. Andrew Noblett wrote, “Our deepest condolences go out to the family and loved ones of the victim during this difficult time. While we cannot provide further comment due to the ongoing investigation being led by the Marietta Police Department, we remain committed to transparency, accountability, and maintaining the trust of our community.”
Lowdermilk’s family created a GoFundMe page to help with funeral expenses.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
“[He/she/they] that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.” — Benjamin Franklin
“The [person] who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely to be the one who dropped it.” — Lou Holtz
“Wisdom stems from personal accountability. We all make mistakes; own them…learn from them. Don’t throw away the lesson by blaming others.” — Steve Maraboli
Early on in my career, I made mistakes. Lots of them. It wasn’t out of malice or intent, it was simply a lack of experience. In everyone’s career and personal life, they are going to make mistakes. It’s part of the learning process and, quite frankly, the only way you are assured to eventually succeed. Truthfully though, it’s not the mistakes that matter. It is how you react to them. Your inner monologue, without fail, will tell you to explain yourself, to place blame and to minimize your participation — the goal being to limit the damage and walk away unscathed. I will let you in on a little secret: This is the worst thing you can do.
Saying you’re sorry is hard, necessary … and important
How many times in the past week, month or year can you remember saying “I’m sorry” to someone for something you have done? What was the reaction? There are simply very limited angry responses to someone who genuinely and reflectively says “I’m sorry.” It establishes remorse, but also acknowledgement. An acknowledgement of the failure. An acknowledgement of the action. An acknowledgement of the poor outcome. And remorse for the same. It can instantly mend relationships and allow you to move forward and progress. It also diffuses the situation.
Trying to explain will only exacerbate the problem
In contrast, attempting to explain away your failures invites the exact opposite reaction. Every time you explain why something wasn’t your fault, it’s easier to demonstrate why it was. Every time you place the blame on someone else, it opens the door for a more direct critique of your actions. Additionally, I think you will find that every time your deflections are redirected your way, they will get more intense, more angry and more likely to personally impact you in an adverse way.
Saying you’re sorry is exercising personal accountability and demonstrating strength. Blaming others is just opening a window into your weakness.
Personal accountability is, however, very difficult. It requires you to look at yourself critically. It requires you to stare failures in the face and ask yourself how and why they happened. It requires you to improve. Deflecting, on the other hand, simply requires you to make an excuse, whether truthful or not. There is no reflection necessary, simply an overwhelming desire to bury the problem and to move on. The problem is, you will likely move on to your next failure because, without critical reflection, you simply aren’t driving yourself to improve.
There are simple, yet critical, ways you can practice personal accountability
So, how do you turn these ambiguous theses into action? There are a number of ways:
In everything you do, take pride and put in effort: If you don’t care or you’re going to half-ass the assignment, find something else to do, whether it’s a personal project or professional one. The only way to consistently avoid failure is to put all of you into the things you do. Pride shows. Laziness and listlessness do as well.
Ask for feedback and embrace the negative: Everyone wants to go into a review and hear nothing but accolades. And, quite frankly, for your boss, it’s easier to highlight the good than lament the bad. Because of this, there is often a failure of leadership as well during these meetings. It’s great to hear what you’ve done well, but it’s absolutely necessary to learn what you have not. Before any feedback session ends, you must ask, “What can I do better?” The answer will never be “nothing,” and you will improve because of it.
Look critically at your work: Step outside yourself and ask, “If I was someone else, would I be impressed by this?” This is hard reflectivity. That said, if you put pride and effort into your work, you’ll likely answer the question with a resounding “yes.”
Never blame others: Let’s remove issues of unfair bias and/or personal vendettas. The truth is, if blame is being laid at your feet, you likely had something to do with it. Accept and embrace the responsibility. Say you’re sorry. Promise to improve. And then go improve. I promise you there is going to be some discomfort when you do this. I also promise the discomfort will be shorter and less painful than it will if you start deflecting the blame, even if it is warranted.
Trust others and be a good person: When you trust others and treat others well, you will find you’re not alone when mistakes are made, and you will rarely be the object of blame from those who don’t practice personal accountability.
Learn from those around you who are personally accountable and ignore those who aren’t: Becoming personally accountable is difficult. But the best of those around you will show you the way. They will be the leaders in your professional environment. Emulate them. Ask them questions. And when you see those consistently casting blame and trying to absolve themselves of their mistakes, ignore them. They won’t be around long.
I’ll be honest, maybe it’s that I’m getting old, but it seems unequivocal to me that personal accountability is decreasing. Maybe in this digital age and with the increase in remote work, it’s just easier to be dismissive and hide your mistakes. But “getting away with something” isn’t really getting away with something. Karma is real, and I think you’ll find that it comes back around with a vengeance. In contrast, exercising personal accountability will almost always land you in good stead. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my career, and I can say, unequivocally, it is only because I’ve failed that I have succeeded.
BOSTON — Millions of dollars in contributions are continuing to flow to ballot committees behind five statewide referendums ahead of the election Nov. 5.
Sunday was the deadline for groups raising money for and against the ballot questions to report their hauls from the latest reporting period.
Fundraising on Question 2 saw the most activity in the most recent period, with groups backing the proposal to scrap the decades-old mandate requiring high school students to pass the MCAS exams to graduate spending more than $9.6 million to date, according to filings with the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance.
A sizable chunk of funding reported by the Committee for High Standards Not High Stakes has been provided by the Massachusetts Teachers Association, the main proponent of the referendum.
Much of the funding has come from in-kind contributions for signature gathering, research and other campaign related activities.
Opponents of Question 2, organized under the Committee to Protect Our Kids’ Future, reported raising more than $2.1 million in the most recent fundraising period.
Backers of Question 3, which would authorize Uber, Lyft and other ride-hailing drivers to unionize and bargain collectively for better wages and benefits, had raised more than $5.7 million for the campaign as of Sunday, according to the OCPF filings.
Supporters of Question 1, which asks voters to approve a performance and financial audit of the state Legislature, reported collecting nearly $500,000 as of Sunday, according to the filings.
The referendum was proposed by Auditor Diana DiZoglio, a Methuen Democrat and former state lawmaker whose efforts to audit the House and Senate have been blocked by legislative leaders who argue the move is unconstitutional. DiZoglio has chipped in more than $100,000 of her own money for the campaign, filings show.
Meanwhile, backers of Question 5, which calls for paying tipped workers the state’s minimum wage of $15 per hour, raised more than $200,000, not including in-kind contributions from labor unions and others backing the effort, the filings show.
Unlike contributions to individual candidates, donations to referendum campaigns are unrestricted and corporations often get involved, as do special interests, labor unions and others.
The money is being mostly spent on campaign advertising, mailers and outreach in an attempt to sway voters ahead of the election.
Overall figures for this election cycle are expected to rise with committees submitting other rounds of fundraising totals in coming months, and their final, year-end reports after the election.
Ahead of the 2022 elections, committees behind ballot questions to set the “millionaires tax”, dental benefits, expand retail beer and wine sales, and repeal a state law authorizing state driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants raked in more than $67 million – the most expensive election cycles in recent years.
In 2020, ballot questions to update the state’s “right to repair” law and authorize ranked-choice voting poured more than $60.7 million into their campaigns.
Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@cnhinews.com.
BOSTON — Massachusetts voters are flocking to the early polls, and sending and dropping off mail ballots at local election offices ahead of the presidential election Nov. 5.
Hundreds of thousands have already voted through the mail and during the two-week early voting period that got underway Saturday, according to Secretary of State Bill Galvin’s office, which said it sent more than 1.3 million ballots to registered voters who requested them.
As of Wednesday, at least 818,904 ballots had been cast, or roughly 16.2% of the state’s 4.9 million registered voters, Galvin’s office said. That included 154,684 in-person early voting ballots.
Locally, many communities have already seen thousands of votes cast with 13 days until the election. As of Wednesday, voters in Beverly cast nearly 1,100 ballots while North Andover voters had cast 770 ballots, according to a tally provided by Galvin’s office.
Salem voters had cast 756 mail ballots by Friday while Gloucester voters had turned in 428 ballots, according to the data. Newburyport voters had cast 716 votes as of Wednesday, Galvin’s office said.
Topping the statewide ballot is the historic race for the White House between former Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, who will be on the ballot with their running mates, Ohio Republican Sen. J.D. Vance and Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Recent polls show Harris with a wide lead over Trump in deep-blue Massachusetts, but the race is tight nationally – especially in battleground states such as Georgia, Pennsylvania and Arizona, where the candidates and their running mates have been campaigning to rally their supporters and win over undecided voters.
Besides picking a new president and deciding a handful of contested legislative and local races, voters will consider ballot questions to audit the Legislature, scrap the MCAS graduation mandate, allow ride-hailing drivers to form unions, legalize psychedelic mushrooms, and boost the wages of tipped workers.
More than half of the state’s voters are registered as independent – not affiliated with a major party – with their ranks swelling in the months leading up to the election. Those who aren’t registered can do so until Oct. 26, Galvin’s office said.
Galvin is urging voters to check that they are still registered and if not, make sure that they do so before the deadline Saturday to register ahead of the election. Under Massachusetts law, there is a 10-day cutoff to register before a statewide election.
“If you want to vote for president, any other office on the ballot, or these ballot questions, you need to be registered to vote,” Galvin said in a statement. “Even if you are already a voter, if you’ve moved since the last time you voted, I urge you to check that your address is up to date before it’s too late.”
Voters can see a full list of candidates, register to vote, and look up early voting locations and times on the secretary of state’s website: www.VoteInMA.com.
Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@cnhinews.com.
BOSTON — The state Legislature lacks transparency and accountability in its dealings, according to a new state audit, which blasts legislative leaders for refusing to open up their books for the performance review.
The audit, released Monday by Auditor Diana DiZoglio, faults the state House of Representatives and Senate for failing to conduct timely financial reviews of its spending, a lack of transparency in its procurement policies and a website that makes it difficult for the public to navigate, among other criticisms.
But DiZoglio also leaned into House and Senate leaders for refusing to provide information her office requested for the audit, including tracking year-end budget spending, how they decide which major bills are brought up for a vote and whether the two chambers are following their own rules regarding non-disclosure agreements.
“It is deeply concerning that legislative leaders have refused to cooperate with our office to help promote transparency and identify ways to improve service to the people of Massachusetts,” the Democrat said in a statement. “Transparency and accountability are cornerstones of our democracy and enable the people to participate in government as intended in our Constitution, in a system of checks and balances.”
The audit comes as DiZoglio urges voters to approve Question 1, which if approved would force legislative leaders to open up their books for an independent review.
Under current laws, the auditor has the power to examine “all departments, offices, commissions, institutions and activities of the commonwealth” but the ballot question would expand those powers to specifically include the Legislature.
The referendum was proposed by DiZoglio, a Methuen Democrat and former state lawmaker, whose high-profile efforts to audit the House and Senate have been blocked by legislative leaders who argue the move is unconstitutional.
The partial audit released on Monday found that the Senate and House didn’t ensure annual financial audits were completed, filed with required recipients, or made available to the public in a timely way, in an apparent violation of their own rules.
The review also found that the Legislature’s procurement policies lack transparency, which auditors said limit the public’s ability to hold the Legislature accountable.
The Massachusetts Legislature’s website also lacks content and is hard to navigate, compared to other state’s legislative bodies, which auditors said “hinders the public’s ability to understand and engage in the legislative process and hold the Legislature accountable for ensuring an equitable mode of making laws.”
Other concerns flagged by auditors included a lack of details about how legislative leaders appoint committee chairpersons and other posts that bump up lawmaker’s prestige and compensation.
Legislative leaders were asked to respond to the findings of the audit, but DiZoglio’s office said they declined.
“The purported audit of the Legislature released by the Auditor today confirms only one thing: the Auditor has abandoned all pretext of faithfully performing her statutory responsibilities in favor of using her office for pure political self-promotion and electioneering,” House Speaker Ron Mariano said in a statement on Monday in response to the report.
“The Auditor should instead be focusing on her statutorily mandated reviews, as she continues to underperform her predecessors in the completion of that important work,” he added.
DiZoglio launched her review of the Legislature more than a year ago but said she hasn’t been able to get access to individuals and records her office needs for a forensic investigation.
Mariano, a Quincy Democrat, and Senate President Karen Spilka, D-Ashland, have so far blocked her efforts to conduct the investigation into the House and Senate’s inner workings, calling the proposed audit “unconstitutional” and claiming it would violate the separation of powers.
DiZoglio has framed the plan as part of a broader effort to improve transparency and accountability in Legislature, which is continuously ranked as one of the least effective and least transparent legislative bodies in the country. It is also one of only four state Legislatures that exempts itself from public records laws, DiZoglio points out.
The effort was dealt a blow last year when Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office rejected DiZoglio’s request to file a lawsuit to force the audit, saying a review of state laws, judicial rulings and the historical record, suggests she doesn’t have standing to file the legal challenge.
A panel of six lawmakers who reviewed the proposal issued a report concluding that passage of Question 1 would “undermine the separation of powers between the branches of government.” The report included testimony from constitutional scholars and civics educators who oppose the move.
Despite that, recent polls have shown voters strongly support Question 1 — one of five referendums on the Nov. 5 ballot — which hasn’t drawn any organized opposition.
Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@cnhinews.com.
BOSTON — Hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts voters have already cast ballots for next month’s crucial presidential election with a two-week early voting period getting underway this weekend, according to state election officials.
Each community will have at least one early voting station available during regular business hours, as well as Saturdays and Sundays, through Nov. 1, according to Secretary of State Bill Galvin’s office.
Voters can also cast their ballots through mail, which can be received by Nov. 8 if postmarked by Election Day, Galvin’s office said.
“Early voting offers each voter the convenience of casting their ballot at a time that works for them,” Galvin said in a statement. “If you prefer to vote in person, this gives you that opportunity, even if Election Day is a busy day for you.”
More than 360,000 voters have already cast their ballots by mail as of Thursday, according to Galvin’s office, which says it has sent more than 1.3 million ballots to registered voters who requested them.
Massachusetts has more than 4.9 million voters, over half of whom are registered as independent – not affiliated with a major party – and whose ranks have swelled in the months leading up to the election. Those who aren’t registered can do so until Oct. 26 and can register online or at early voting locations, Galvin’s office said.
Topping the Nov. 5 ballot is the contentious, neck-and-neck race for the White House between former Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, who will be on the ballot with their running mates, Ohio Republican Sen. J.D. Vance and Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Recent polls show Harris with a wide lead over Trump in deep-blue Massachusetts, but the race couldn’t be closer nationally and in battleground states such as Georgia, Pennsylvania and Arizona, where the candidates and their running mates have been campaigning to rally their supporters and win over undecided voters.
Trump and Harris will share the Massachusetts ballot with several third-party and fringe candidates, including the Party for Socialism and Liberation’s candidates, Claudia De La Cruz and her vice presidential running mate, Karina Garcia.
Green Party candidate Jill Stein and her vice presidential candidate Gloria Caballero Roca, Libertarian presidential candidate Chase Oliver and his running mate Mike ter Maat, and independent presidential candidate Shiva Ayyadurai and his running mate, Crystal Ellis, will also be on the ballot.
Besides picking a new president and deciding a handful of contested legislative and local races, voters will consider ballot questions to audit the Legislature, scrap the MCAS graduation mandate, allow ride-hailing drivers to form unions, legalize psychedelic mushrooms and boost the wages of tipped workers.
The state’s strong consumer protection laws often make it a testing ground for controversial changes in law and policy through the ballot box, and the outcomes of several of the questions are being closely watched nationally.
Neither of the North of Boston area’s two Democratic congressional members, Reps. Lori Trahan of Westford and Seth Moulton of Salem, are facing challengers. Republicans didn’t field any candidates in 3rd or 6th Congressional District races, ensuring that Trahan and Moulton will win another two years in Congress.
Despite the lack of contested races in this year’s election cycle, good government groups are still urging Massachusetts voters to cast ballots by mail, during the early voting period or on Election Day.
“There’s a lot at stake and it’s a huge, consequential election,” Geoff Foster, executive director of Common Cause Massachusetts, said Tuesday during a livestreamed briefing on voting options.
“The election isn’t three weeks away. It’s now,” he said. “You can vote by mail. You can vote in person during early voting. Or, if you want to keep it old school, you can wait until Tuesday, Nov. 5, and cast a ballot at your local polling station.”
Voters can see a full list of the candidates, register to vote and look up early voting locations and times on the secretary of state’s website: www.VoteInMA.com.
Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@cnhinews.com.
BOSTON — Critics of high-stakes testing are urging voters to approve a proposal to remove the MCAS exam requirement to graduate from high school, but critics say the move would eliminate a crucial tool for measuring students’ progress through public school.
Question 2, one of five referendums on the Nov. 5 ballot, asks voters if they want to scrap the decades-old mandate requiring 10th-grade students to demonstrate proficiency in math, English and science through a series of standardized tests known as the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System.
A “yes” vote would still require students to take the 10th-grade MCAS exams, but they would no longer need to earn a passing score or other state approval. School districts would need to set their own criteria for graduation based on statewide educational standards.
A “no” vote would keep the status quo, requiring students to pass the 10th-grade MCAS exams to graduate.
Each year, about 500,000 students take the MCAS — the benchmark “gold standard” standardized test in the state for nearly 30 years.
The testing begins in the third grade, but students in the 10th grade are required to pass the math, English and science exams to graduate from high school. The tests are also designed to identify under-performing schools and districts as candidates for state intervention.
Backers of Question 2, which include the Massachusetts Teachers Association, argue that Massachusetts has become an outlier as one of a handful of states that requires students to pass a test to graduate from high school. They say the testing isn’t a complete picture of a student’s abilities, and often leaves those who don’t pass the test behind.
“Massachusetts residents are ready to join the vast majority of states that have scrapped the use of standardized tests as a graduation requirement and instead use authentic, educator-designed assessments of student skills,” MTA President Max Page said.
“The MCAS will still be taken, as is required by federal law, but it will be used for diagnostic purposes, and not as a high-stakes test required for earning a diploma.”
Supporters of the graduation requirement, including the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education, argue that the exams are necessary to expose inequities among students and school districts, measure trends in student outcomes, and gauge readiness for college and the workplace.
John Schneider, chair of the Protect Our Kids Future: NO on Question 2 campaign, said eliminating the MCAS graduation standard “will effectively weaken the proficiency we expect students to meet, and that is disastrous for both employers and students.”
“Employers in Massachusetts understand the importance of maintaining high standards in education — not only to provide an educated workforce for our growing industries, but also to provide equal opportunities for students from every community across Massachusetts to fill the jobs our companies are creating,” he said.
“Without a statewide standard for graduation, our public education system could easily fall back into mediocrity.”
The Massachusetts Superintendents Association, which represents school administrators, also opposes Question 2, citing a key concern that the proposal “fails to stipulate a replacement for MCAS as a statewide standard for earning a high school diploma.”
Both sides have raised and spent millions of dollars for TV and digital ads to convince voters to keep or do away with the MCAS requirement. They’ve also traded barbs about claims of misleading advertising.
Recent polls have shown a slight majority of the state’s voters support Question 2, but pollsters say opposition to the referendum could tighten as the election draws closer.
A recent report by Tufts University’s Center for State Policy Analysis suggested that allowing school districts to set graduation requirements could start a “a race to the bottom” because districts with poor or falling graduation rates “would be tempted to compensate by lowering expectations.”
But the report’s authors, who didn’t take a position on Question 2, also said that scrapping the MCAS graduation requirement could free up teachers to focus less on test preparation and more on knowledge and skills that aren’t covered by a standardized exam.
The Tuft’s report also points out that despite claims by Question 2 supporters, state educational data shows the MCAS requirement “rarely” prevents students from getting a high school diploma. Most students eventually meet the requirements to graduate, the report notes.
The debate over the graduation mandate comes as the latest MCAS results show students’ test scores are still lagging behind pre-pandemic years.
Among 10th-graders, science scores increased but math and English Language Arts scores dropped slightly, according to the results of the spring exams released last month by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Not surprisingly, supporters and opponents of Question 2 seized on the data to back their claims that the high school graduation requirement should be scrapped or maintained.
State education officials blamed chronic absenteeism for the across-the-board drop in MCAS scores, with a high percentage of students missing more than 10% of the school year, or 18 days in the previous school year. Those numbers have dropped below 20% since the pandemic, but remain high, state officials said.
Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him atcwade@cnhinews.com.
BOSTON — State Auditor Diana DiZoglio is hitting the road to rally voter support for her ballot campaign to open up the state Legislature’s financial books.
DiZoglio said she plans to begin a 141-mile trek across Massachusetts to raise awareness of Question 1, which asks voters in the election Nov. 5 to approve a performance and financial audit of the state Legislature.
She argues that the audit would ensure the Legislature is operating in accordance with government rules and regulations.
The Methuen Democrat’s “Walking for Sunshine” sojourn was to get underway Friday night in Great Barrington, where she was to meet supporters at a local bar before hitting the long road to Boston.
DiZoglio said she will meet with voters at nightly events along the way and urge them to “demand greater transparency for the state Legislature” by approving the referendum.
DiZoglio, a former state lawmaker, launched her review of the Legislature more than a year ago but said she has not been able to receive access to the people and records her office needs for a forensic investigation. She has framed the plan as part of a broader effort to improve transparency and accountability in state government.
House Speaker Ron Mariano, D-Quincy, and Senate President Karen Spilka, D-Ashland, have so far blocked her efforts to conduct the investigation of the House and Senate’s inner workings, calling the proposed audit “unconstitutional” and claiming it would violate the separation of powers.
The effort was dealt a blow last year when Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office rejected DiZoglio’s request to file a lawsuit to force the audit, saying a review of state laws, judicial rulings and the historical record suggests she does not have standing to file the legal challenge.
But DiZoglio and other supporters gathered enough signatures from voters to put the question on the November ballot.
“We believe taxpayers deserve to know how their tax dollars are being spent, and they deserve transparency, accessibility and accountability from elected officials,” the Yes on 1 campaign said in a statement.
“But instead of taking meaningful action that makes life better in the Commonwealth, they continue to be characterized as one of the least efficient, least productive legislatures in the country, plagued by late-night horse trading and closed-door discussions, with constituencies cut out of the process.”
The state’s restrictive records law consistently earns Massachusetts failing grades from First Amendment groups.
In 2016, the state overhauled its public records law for the first time in decades, limiting how much state and local governments and police departments may charge for public records and setting deadlines for agencies to respond to requests for information, among other changes.
But lawmakers left in place many of the exemptions shielding the Legislature, courts and law enforcement agencies from disclosing certain records.
Recent polls have shown voters strongly support for Question 1 – one of five referendums on the November ballot – which so far has not drawn any organized opposition.
Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@cnhinews.com.
BOSTON — State Auditor Diana DiZoglio is hitting the road to rally voter support for her ballot campaign to open up the state Legislature’s financial books.
DiZoglio said she plans to begin a 141-mile trek across Massachusetts to raise awareness for Question 1, which asks voters in the Nov. 5 elections to approve a performance and financial audit of the state Legislature, which she argues will ensure that it is operating in accordance with government rules and regulations.
The Methuen Democrat’s “Walking for Sunshine” sojourn gets underway Friday night in Great Barrington, where she will meet supporters at a local bar before hitting the long road to Boston.
DiZoglio said she will meet with voters at nightly events along the way and urge them to “demand greater transparency for the state Legislature” by approving the referendum.
A former state lawmaker, DiZoglio launched her review of the Legislature more than a year ago but said she hasn’t been able to get access to individuals and records her office needs for a forensic investigation. She has framed the plan as part of a broader effort to improve transparency and accountability in state government.
House Speaker Ron Mariano, D-Quincy, and Senate President Karen Spilka, D-Ashland, have so far blocked her efforts to conduct the investigation into the House and Senate’s inner workings, calling the proposed audit “unconstitutional” and claiming it would violate the separation of powers.
The effort was dealt a blow last year when Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office rejected DiZoglio’s request to file a lawsuit to force the audit, saying a review of state laws, judicial rulings and the historical record, suggests she doesn’t have standing to file the legal challenge.
But DiZoglio and other supporters gathered enough signatures from voters to put the question on the November ballot.
“We believe taxpayers deserve to know how their tax dollars are being spent, and they deserve transparency, accessibility and accountability from elected officials,” the Yes on 1 campaign said in a statement. “But instead of taking meaningful action that makes life better in the Commonwealth, they continue to be characterized as one of the least efficient, least productive legislatures in the country, plagued by late-night horse trading and closed-door discussions, with constituencies cut out of the process.”
The state’s restrictive records law consistently earns Massachusetts failing grades from First Amendment groups.
In 2016, the state overhauled its public records law for the first time in decades, limiting how much state and local governments and police departments may charge for public records and setting deadlines for agencies to respond to requests for information, among other changes.
But lawmakers left in place many of the exemptions shielding the Legislature, courts and law enforcement agencies from disclosing certain records.
Recent polls have shown voters strongly support for Question 1 — one of five referendums on the November ballot — which so far hasn’t drawn any organized opposition.
Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@cnhinews.com
METHUEN — Residents will have to wait until at least December to vote for a new mayor.
After the unexpected death of Neil Perry, 66, over the weekend, a City Council in mourning began planning for his successor Monday night.
It is unclear who will run for mayor but due to state law, the city will not be able to hold an election until 64 days after it is scheduled. Councilor D.J. Beauregard is the acting mayor.
Perry, serving his third term, died Saturday while surrounded by his family.
City officials choked back tears as they spoke Monday night during an emotional, 30-minute meeting attended by city department heads and other employees.
While councilors authorized the clerk’s office to begin planning, they will not vote to schedule the election until Oct. 7. The clerk’s office will have the complex task of planning a mayoral election while also preparing for the presidential election in November.
Beauregard will possess most of the authority traditionally held by the mayor but would not be able to permanently hire or fire staff, according to City Solicitor Ken Rossetti. The 64-day waiting period provides sufficient time for residents to be informed of the election and for candidates to prepare, he added.
Perry’s “strength of character” was an inspiration, Rossetti said.
Perry had been battling kidney disease and while not always able to physically attend meetings, he worked right up until his death. Beyond simply being colleagues, councilors and other officials described Perry as a friend, struggling at times Monday night to find the right words to say as they spoke about him.
Only a week ago, Perry attended the council’s meeting in person Sept. 16, showing no indication of failing health.
Perry began leading the city as mayor in January 2020. Last year, he won reelection with about 70% of the vote against challenger Matthew Wicks, a former Air Force officer and a machinist.
Each year, the council elects a member to serve as acting mayor in the event of a vacancy. Beauregard was elected to fill the role Jan. 4.
Beauregard is a councilor at large and has served the city since January 2020. He worked at Notre Dame Cristo Rey High School as the director of strategic initiatives. But at the council’s meeting Monday, Beauregard announced he had resigned from his full-time job.
The newly elected mayor would serve the remainder of Perry’s term, which ends Dec. 31, 2025.
During Perry’s administration, an embattled Methuen Police Department underwent significant reforms, previously vacant leadership positions in the city were filled, and significant development was achieved, including at The Loop, among other positive changes.
In only his first few months of office, Perry was tested with leading the city at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The city is providing free, confidential counseling services in the wake of the mayor’s death.
Prior to running for mayor, Perry spent 38 years working at Raytheon. He previously worked as a bilingual educator for Methuen Public Schools
Perry’s funeral will be held Sept. 30. City Hall will be closed that day.
“He started it and we are going to finish it for him,”said Chief Administrative & Financial Officer Maggie Duprey.
BOSTON — Massachusetts voters can go to the polls beginning this weekend to nominate candidates for Congress and a handful of contested legislative and county races as early voting gets underway ahead of the state primary.
From Saturday to Aug. 30, cities and towns will allow registered voters to cast early ballots ahead of the Sept. 3 primary. No excuse or justification is required to cast a ballot ahead of time. Voters can also vote by mail, but must request their ballots by a Monday deadline, according to the Secretary of State’s office. Saturday is the deadline to register to vote.
Turnout is generally low in state primaries, but the lack of contested races means it could drop to new lows with voters more focused on the November crucial presidential election.
Nevertheless, good government groups are urging voters to take advantage of the state’s expanded voting options to cast their ballots ahead of the primary.
“With early voting and vote by mail, we have more options for how we choose to cast a ballot and pick our state leaders,” Geoff Foster, executive director of Common Cause Massachusetts, said in a statement. “We encourage everyone to get out and vote before the long weekend.”
Topping the ballot are three Republican contenders — attorney and cryptocurrency advocate John Deaton, Quincy City Council President Ian Cain and researcher and engineer Bob Antonellis — who are facing off in the GOP primary for a shot at challenging incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has no primary challenger.
None of the state’s nine Democratic congress members are facing primary challengers, including Reps. Seth Moulton of Salem, and Lori Trahan of Westford. Republicans didn’t field any candidates in 3rd or 6th Congressional district races, ensuring that Trahan and Moulton will win another two years in Congress.
There are also a handful of contested state legislative primaries, including a rematch between incumbent Democratic Rep. Francisco Paulino of Methuen and Marcos A. Devers of Lawrence in the 16th Essex District race. There are no Republicans running for the House seat.
Most of the largely Democratic state legislators representing the north of Boston region are facing no primary challengers, and few Republicans are running for the seats.
On a county level, former Governor’s Councilor Eileen Duff of Gloucester is facing off against Navy veteran Joseph Michael Gentleman III in the Democratic primary for a six-year term as the Southern Essex County Register of Deeds. The winner will fill a vacancy left by former Register John O’Brien, a Democrat who retired on Dec. 31 after 47 years in the post.
Incumbent Essex County Clerk of Courts Thomas Driscoll will try to fend off a challenge from former Beverly Councilor James FX Doherty on the Democratic ballot. The clerk oversees the superior courts in Salem, Lawrence and Newburyport.
More than 4.9 million people are eligible to vote in the Sept. 3 primary, elections officials say. The majority, about 63%, are not affiliated with a political party.
Under the Massachusetts system of open primaries, so-called “un-enrolled” or independent voters can choose a Republican or Democratic ballot.
Registered Democrats can vote only in the Democratic primary, while Republicans can vote only on the GOP ballot. Libertarians, the state’s other major party, can only vote on their ballot.
Secretary Of State Bill Galvin is recommending that voters check their city or town’s early voting schedule, and make a plan to vote. He noted that many local election offices have limited hours on Fridays.
“With the primaries being held on the day after Labor Day, some voters may prefer to vote by mail or to vote early, especially if they have children going back to school that day,” Galvin said in a statement. “The early voting period gives you the chance to vote on whichever day you prefer, at your convenience.”
Voters also can look up locations and times on the Secretary of State’s website: www.MassEarlyVote.com.
Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@cnhinews.com.
Voters head to the polls in just two short weeks to vote in the primaries Sept. 10 for their party representatives to run in the November general election for available state representative seats.
As of this month, there are 194 Democrats, 197 Republicans and one independent seated in Concord. Eight seats are vacant.
In Rockingham County, voters from district 1 (Pelham), districts 8 and 32 (Danville), District 13 (Derry), districts 15 and 34 (Hampstead), districts 16 and 35 (Londonderry), District 17 (Windham), District 18 (Atkinson), district 20s and 36 (Plaistow) and district 25 (Salem) will elect 32 of the county’s 67 available seats.
Voters will see contested races on Sept. 10 in the following districts and parties.
In Derry’s District 13, 11 Republicans are vying for 10 seats.
In Londonderry’s District 16, 10 Republicans are vying for seven seats.
In Salem’s District 25, 10 Republicans are vying for seven seats.
In Danville’s District 32, two Republicans are vying for one seat.
There are no contested races in any of the districts within the Democratic party.
Statewide, 400 representatives will be chosen in November to represent the state’s 204 voting districts.
Voters will also vote Sept. 10 for their party candidate for Congress and the House of Representatives.
Burned the **** out, girl is stressing me the **** out and blaming me for everything, unable to take personal accountability unsurprisingly. So I’m taking off for the middle of nowhere without cell service to sleep in my hammock and float in the river and get **** faced for a while. Might just not come back and become one with the trees.
It has been just over four and a half years since police in Aurora, Colorado, violently detained Elijah McClain, who had committed no crime, after a teenage 911 caller reported he “look[ed] sketchy” as he walked home from a convenience store in August 2019. The encounter, which originally flew under the radar, epitomized the sort of hyperactive, abusive policing that people of varying political persuasions could admit was excessive as the U.S. engaged in a national debate about the broader subject in 2020. And the initial cursory internal investigation—if you can call it that—into McClain’s death embodied the government’s not-so-subtle tendency to insulate itself from transparency and accountability at the expense of the people who pay their salaries.
But all these years later, accountability is finally coming. And the results are, to put it mildly, a bit weird, raising potentially uncomfortable questions about what justice should look like in similar cases of abuse.
Peter Cichuniec on Friday was sentenced to five years in prison. But Cichuniec was not the officer who first physically accosted McClain within 10 seconds of exiting a patrol car, despite that no crime had been reported and that McClain had no weapon. That was Nathan Woodyard. Nor was Cichuniec one of the two officers who joined Woodyard shortly thereafter, helping him forcibly subdue and arrest McClain, notwithstanding the fact that they had not met the constitutionally required standard to do so. Those were Jason Rosenblatt and Randy Roedema.
Cichuniec, who didn’t arrive until about 11 minutes later, was the lead paramedic, ultimately administering too large a dose of a sedative after miscalculating McClain’s size and hearing from police that McClain was allegedly experiencing “excited delirium,” an often-rejected syndrome characterized by severe distress, agitation, and sudden death. While it remains unclear what exactly caused McClain to go into cardiac arrest, an amended autopsy attributes McClain’s death to “complications of ketamine administration following forcible restraint.” For Cichuniec’s error, which occurred in rapidly changing, chaotic circumstances, he will spend significantly more time in prison than any of the officers, without whom Cichuniec would never have been called in the first place.
Woodyard, who initiated the encounter and violated department policy by applying two carotid holds—where blood flow to the brain is cut off by applying pressure to both sides of the neck—was found not guilty of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. (He has since returned to work with $200,000 in back pay.) Rosenblatt was also acquitted. Roedema, the senior officer on the scene, was convicted of criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault and sentenced to 14 months in jail.
As Reason‘s Jacob Sullum wrote previously, McClain died from a smorgasbord of constitutional violations, laid out exhaustively in a 157-page report released in 2021 by an independent panel appointed by the Aurora City Council.
Did Woodyard meet the Fourth Amendment bar to conduct an investigatory stop of McClain? No, the panel concluded, as it “did not appear to be supported by any officer’s reasonable suspicion that Mr. McClain was engaged in criminal activity.” Was law enforcement justified next in frisking McClain, which is legally permissible only if they reasonably suspect the person is armed? No, the panel concluded, as Woodyard himself admitted he felt safe approaching because McClain “didn’t have any weapons.” And did police meet the constitutional threshold to escalate the encounter to an arrest, which requires probable cause that a crime has been committed? No, the panel concluded, as “the only facts that had changed were Mr. McClain’s attempt and stated intention to keep walking in the direction he had been going and his ‘tensing up.’” (In 2021, the city of Aurora authorized a $15 million settlement with McClain’s family. Good.)
When Woodyard first approached McClain, he had earbuds in and appeared to not hear Woodyard’s commands. He was wearing a ski mask, sweat pants, a jacket, and a knit cap, which makes sense when considering he had anemia, a condition that causes coldness in the extremities. Those were the circumstances—along with the teenage 911 call—that ultimately led police to feel justified in forcibly accosting McClain, who was 5’7″ and 140 pounds, so much so that he vomited profusely into his ski mask.
Cichuniec was convicted of criminally negligent homicide and second-degree assault, with a sentencing enhancement for causing serious injury or death. His five-year sentence is the mandatory minimum prescribed by Colorado law. At trial, prosecutors argued he and Jeremy Cooper—the other paramedic on scene who was convicted of criminally negligent homicide and will be sentenced later—failed to do their due diligence in monitoring McClain after giving him the ketamine. The defense countered that the two men were unaware McClain had already received two carotid holds and that he had been vomiting since—important information when evaluating ketamine use, which can further restrict breathing.
It can certainly be true that Cichuniec made an egregious professional misjudgment. And it can also be true that punishing him criminally for it makes little sense, particularly in the context of a criminal justice reform conversation that has, often rightfully, emphasized that prison should be reserved for people who actively present a danger to society. That those two things may feel painful to reconcile does not actually make them irreconcilable.
So is Cichuniec actively a danger? While his error—which appeared to be an honest one, no matter how catastrophic—very well may have contributed to McClain’s demise, it is difficult to make the argument that he still poses a threat to the public. There are, after all, different forms of accountability outside of prison walls. Fire him? Of course. Bring a civil suit? Ideally. Imprison him for the next five years? I fail to see who, exactly, that makes safer.
At the close of one of the criminal trials involving McClain’s death, the jury heard a refrain often touted by criminal justice reformers. It came from an unlikely source. “Just because there’s a tragedy does not mean there’s criminality,” said one of Roedema’s lawyers during closing arguments. Readers can view the body camera footage and decide for themselves if that applies to the officers.
But, at least when it comes to Cichuniec, the distinction between tragedy and criminality is correct. Elijah McClain didn’t deserve to die. That’s a fact. And it doesn’t change the reality that putting Cichuniec in prison only serves to undermine what this same movement has often fought against: overbroad, ham-fisted prosecution. For that to mean anything, society shouldn’t be sending people to prison because the political moment seems to demand it—no matter how unsympathetic the defendant.
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I’m sure you are familiar with the cringing feeling you get when you make a mistake and must tell someone at work, especially if it’s your boss. You probably pause to see if there is anything you can do to either undo the mistake, cover it up somehow, or shift the blame.
The problem with ducking out on personal responsibility, whether it’s simply due to laziness or you’re completely overwhelmed with the magnitude of the mistake, it ultimately leads to a multitude of failures. You’re failing your team, you’re failing your own credibility, and you’re failing to take the opportunity to grow as a person.
If you are like many people, you may find it hard to accept that your own actions have led to your troubles. However, when you blame external circumstances or other people for your problems, you are giving up the control that you have to steer your life in your desired direction.
By having a sense of personal responsibility, you can reflect on the outcomes of your work and develop a strategy to avoid making future mistakes. Additionally, taking personal responsibility gives you an opportunity to build relationships that are based on trust.
In this post, I am going to define personal responsibility and review 8 key ingredients to having this character trait that infiltrates into all areas of your life.
What is Personal Responsibility?
When you have a sense of personal responsibility, it means you are willing to accept and live by society’s established standards of individual behavior. When these expected standards aren’t met, someone with personal responsibility doesn’t seek others to blame, rather they’re able to maturely respond to the presented challenges themselves and take any blame for their actions.
More simply put, your life is full of choices, and what you do with them governs your whole reality. Being able to see that your decisions have a direct impact on your life’s events is what being able to accept personal responsibility is all about. It doesn’t matter where you fall on the spectrum of the simplicity of your life, you are able to see that you create both the good and the bad circumstances.
Let’s look at what it takes to stop making excuses and accept responsibility for yourself.
8 Qualities of Someone Who Has a Sense of Personal Responsibility
1. Strong Communication Skills
You can’t have personal responsibility if you’re not aware of the things that you’re responsible for. Ask for clarity from your boss or a relevant person so you are well-aware of the things you should be doing and how you should be doing them. This applies to friends and co-workers as well. If expectations are unclear, it is critical to communicate so you won’t make a mistake due to assumptions. The truth is, vagueness leads to a lack of action.
Communication also involves seeking feedback. If something hasn’t gone according to plan, asking for feedback can give you the opportunity to learn from your mistakes and ensure you don’t repeat them.
If you feel that you were unsuccessful at a task, reflect on what you could have done differently to create a better outcome and communicate with others who can also provide you with insight. When you communicate with people about your mistakes, they’re much less likely to get angry, and typically more willing to work with you to fix the problem.
Another way to communicate that shows other people that you have personal responsibility is to ask questions that focus on your potential actions.
For example, “How can I help you solve this problem?” “How can I help get this project completed on time?” or “What do I need to do to become accustomed to this new business?” Asking these questions will show people that you want to be proactive in getting things accomplished.
It is important to not over-commit yourself when you’re aiming to gain a sense of personal responsibility. If you take on too much, you’ll eventually drop the ball on something and let someone down.
Carefully consider your workload before agreeing to another task or role. Will you be able to accomplish the additional work on top of what’s currently on your plate and do it to the best of your ability? If you tend to say yes to all of your boss’s requests because you want to be seen as a team player, even if the request is unrelated to your specific job, you will probably find yourself experiencing burnout as you’re overloaded with work.
It is hard to maintain personal responsibility when you take on more than you can handle, even if you think that it could pay off in the end with a promotion or raise. Having the ability to say no, or even just not right now can allow you to create the boundaries that are needed for you to be able to uphold your responsibilities and achieve all your goals.
In order to maintain personal responsibility in your career, taking on an overwhelming assignment that will detract from your core responsibilities will compromise your work performance, so it is best to decline and focus on the things that are already in front of you.
Carefully consider your workload before agreeing to another task or role. If you take on too much, you’ll eventually drop the ball on something and let someone down.
3. Humility
You will achieve more success in life when you’re fully honest with yourself and other people, which may require stepping away from your pride to admit when you’ve made a mistake.
In order to have a sense of humility, you have to be aware of your strengths and weaknesses and have the self-control to only take on as much as you can handle. After all, a large part of being responsible involves following through any time you make a commitment.
You also have to have the personal restraint to be able to say no to tasks that are beyond your scope of knowledge, despite your eagerness to prove yourself. Part of having a sense of humility is recognizing that you don’t know everything, and you can reach out for help during times of uncertainty.
Being humble shows others that you are willing to learn and continue to improve yourself and grow your knowledge base. Instead of blaming other people or external factors, people who have humility take responsibility for themselves by advocating for their needs and owning their areas of weakness.
4. Ability to Control Impulses
It’s difficult to accept your own fault in creating your life’s negative outcomes, however, it’s easy to make poor decisions when you’re presented with a last-minute choice.
People make poor decisions in the moment all the time to appease their impulses, even though these decisions may have obvious destructive consequences. If given the time to really think about the decision, one may choose the more responsible option, however, without giving it much thought, it is easy to make bad decisions.
For example, what are you going to do if you’re at a birthday party and you’re offered a nice, fresh piece of birthday cake? While we all know that splurging every now and then in moderation is alright, we also know that if you eat junk food, it will have adverse effects on your health.
In this case, you need to be able to control your impulses, as making these wrong decisions often leads to poor results. Accepting that your faulty behavior is in your control takes courage, but it is essential in the pursuit of personal responsibility. This leads me to my next point…
You must have the ability to control impulses. People make poor decisions in the moment all the time to appease their impulses.
5. Courage
It can be scary to accept your failures, but creating a sense of internal dishonesty can lead to irritation. However, if you are able to build the courage that you need to accept your failures, you will be demonstrating personal responsibility.
For example, if a coworker accuses you of making a bad decision with a client that they have seen in the past, you may react by telling them they don’t understand the circumstances or by saying, “It’s fine, I know what I’m doing”.
However, as you’re saying these things, you know your co-worker has a point and you are repeating a mistake, and therefore you react with a sense of fear that comes out as anger.
To start building courage, you first need to identify what it is that you are afraid of. If you keep defending your mistakes at work, it may mean that you are afraid of being perceived as a failure.
Engaging with your fear and exploring the possible causes of it will help you build courage. Fear is a product of the unknown, and if you are able to accept the unknown, fear will have less of an impact on you.
6. Persistence
Regardless of the struggles that you face, you must continue moving forward toward having a sense of personal responsibility. Even if making a small error feels like a giant failure, you have to recognize the opportunity for personal growth and development.
If you become complacent in your unfulfilling job or lackluster relationship, you aren’t giving yourself the chance to make mistakes that you can then learn from. While you may be able to admit that you can’t find a more satisfying job, if you sit around without taking any significant action to try, then you’ll pity yourself and develop a sense of self-hatred.
You have to take consistent action to maintain a sense of personal responsibility. For example, are you struggling to lose weight, but you maintain your sedentary lifestyle along with a questionable diet? If so, rather than sitting around and waiting for results that will never come, you have to be persistent in your actions to lose weight by changing your routine.
Or, are you concerned about your job or your professional future? Then you have to be the one to do the work to widen your job prospects or expand your skillset. You have to initiate the change.
Layout your goals and the necessary tasks to accomplish those goals that will help you conquer the problem at hand. Once you have clear goals to resolve your problem, you will be equipped with the tools you need to take responsibility for your life and make the necessary improvements.
Continue moving forward toward having a sense of personal responsibility regardless of the challenges that you might face ahead.
7. Be Your Authentic Self
When you have personal responsibility, you don’t react to the things around you; you simply act. Your actions come from your true self, as you are self-directed, self-motivated, self-disciplined, and you know right from wrong.
A big part of this is being able to believe what you think is right over what other people say. You have to trust your own judgment and not rely on others to make those judgments for you.
To be responsible for yourself means that you will do what’s expected of you, even when no one is around to know. This does not just mean doing the things that someone else subjectively expects you to do, it means doing the things that you should expect of yourself.
Your tasks belong only to you, and while people may help you, they won’t do them for you. Having personal responsibility to complete your tasks allows you to earn your place in this world.
While it’s easy to blame others and act helpless, and it’s intimidating to take risks and stand up for the things that you believe are right, doing so will ensure that you are not staying on the sidelines when it comes to your own life. If you recognize that the choices you make lead to negative consequences, you will feel empowered knowing that you can make better choices moving forward.
Being your authentic self also means not making excuses. Be honest with yourself and others about your wants and needs. It’s better to be genuine at all times than to have to make an excuse and back out of something, especially if it is at the last minute.
8. Be Organized
If you have a sense of personal responsibility, you are able to keep your life organized by using whatever avenue works best for you, whether that’s planners, calendars, apps, or something else. You stay organized so you can keep yourself on track and on top of your goals and responsibilities.
You have to track your personal obligations just as you would your professional ones so you never miss something and to ensure you’re following through on your promises.
In that same vein, if you have personal responsibility, you don’t put things off until the last minute because you know doing so won’t result in your best work. One thing to keep in mind about not procrastinating on tasks is to consider completing your hardest or most dreaded task on your to-do list first. This will make the rest of your list feel more simple and it will make it easier to have personal responsibility.
A Final Take on Personal Responsibility
Personal accountability is a character trait that we often admire in others. We like being around people who don’t make excuses, are able to take responsibility for their actions, and not blame others for their mistakes.
To maintain your likeability at work and in your personal life, it is important to accept personal responsibility for your failures and not blame them on external factors. Instead, take ownership for any shortcomings that you may have and work with others to come up with a solution to the problem.
While it is easy to be aware of these characteristics of someone who has personal responsibility, it can be more difficult to put them into practice.
However, I challenge you to make a conscious effort to practice these 8 key ingredients to having personal responsibility. You may soon see that the results are immediate, effective, and long-lasting, which can benefit you in both your professional and your personal life.
Connie Stemmle is a professional editor, freelance writer and ghostwriter. She holds a BS in Marketing and a Master’s Degree in Social Work. When she is not writing, Connie is either spending time with her 4-year-old daughter, running, or making efforts in her community to promote social justice.
There might be affiliate links on this page, which means we get a small commission of anything you buy. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Please do your own research before making any online purchase.
Some principles withstand the test of time–foolproof ideas that kick start the journey to success and put you on the road to a more fulfilling, healthier, more conscious life.
First and foremost of these is accountability.
But what exactly is accountability?
Accountability is a condition in which you take responsibility.
An accountable person understands that the overall quality of life is down to you and you alone.
It doesn’t matter who you are, where you started, or what advantages and disadvantages you were born with.
Accountability allows you to operate at your full potential.
Why?
Because you are taking ownership of your goals and problems.
This can seem daunting, but in reality, it is incredibly empowering.
You simply cannot operate at your potential if you blame something or someone else for where you currently are in life.
Why Accountability Creates Success and Irresponsibility Creates Failure
To understand why accountability works, you need to understand its opposite–irresponsibility, otherwise known as playing the blame game.
Society loves irresponsibility. Think of the various phrases you might hear regularly:
“I can’t find a job because the economy is in shambles.” Maybe you didn’t take the time to learn new skills or build a network within your industry.
“My health is poor because the food industry contaminates everything with unhealthy fats and excess sugar, salt, etc”. – Have you used this as an opportunity to educate yourself about nutrition and food labels?
“The bank foreclosed on my house. It’s their fault, because they said I qualified for a loan that I couldn’t afford.” – Did you take the time to fully understand your finances and figure out how much you can afford to pay each month?
“I’m too busy/tired to exercise.” – Can you carve out 5 to 10 minutes a day for some simple calisthenics or a brisk walk?
“I like sugar/cigarettes/(insert addictive substance here) too much to quit.” – Addictions can cripple you, but there is always help available to anyone who wants to quit.
These excuses are heard frequently, and they all have one thing in common: They take control out of your hands and put it into someone or something else.
They can be plausible and understandable, but that doesn’t change the fact that you can always do something about it.
There are dozens of conditions and groups of people that can negatively impact your success:
Government
Economy
Parents
The area you grew up in
Friends
Family
Religion
Coworkers
All of these and more can hinder you, but the only person who can overcome them is you.
Accountability Starts with Change
The results you see now are a direct result of habits and actions. Change these and you will change your results.
If you want to improve, think about how the choices you have made have led you to where you currently are now.
How have these choices helped or hindered you?
The first step in accountability is taking ownership of yourself.
This means that you need to look at your current habits and decisions, and change them if necessary.
Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Motivation
Without motivation, change can be difficult.
Motivation comes in two flavors: intrinsic and extrinsic.
Intrinsic motivation is all about feeling competent, satisfied, and internally motivated.
An example is going to the gym because you enjoy the feeling that exercise gives you.
Extrinsic motivation is all about goals, rewards, and achievement.
Without motivation, change can be difficult.
An example is going to the gym to lose x amount of pounds or lift x amount of weight.
When changing your habits, think about why you are doing it.
If you want to earn x amount of money every month, then you’re doing it for extrinsic reasons.
If you’re taking action because you want to be more independent and live a more satisfying life, you’re intrinsically motivated.
Keep in mind which one you are. This is your why, and it’s important to hold onto it.
An Accountability Action Plan
While knowledge about accountability is great, application is where the rewards are found.
Applying accountability is much more straightforward if you have a roadmap to follow.
Make a Commitment
Decide what you want to achieve. To be accountable, you need something to be accountable to.
This is your steering wheel. It keeps you honest and helps you know if you’re going the right way.
One way to commit is to ask yourself some questions:
Are your day-to-day decisions and actions helping or hindering you?
Are you listening to constructive criticism from people who care about you?
Are you taking stock of your mistakes and learning from them?
Are you being honest and genuine with yourself and others?
Are you a reliable person? Would you count on you if you didn’t know yourself?
The essence of commitment is sticking with something until the very end. Try to minimize wavering and “umming and ahhing.” Stay the course and stick to your chosen path and goals.
Simplify and Gain Clarity
Break your objectives down to the point where there is no room for interpretation about what the outcome should look like.
When stating what your goals or objectives are, be clear about what you’re expecting from yourself.
This isn’t necessarily for other people (although they’ll likely find it helpful). This is all about removing any ambiguity for yourself.
If you’ve said that you’re going to get fit, and the process for that is going to the gym four days a week, you’ve set a commitment and an expectation.
Don’t set yourself a list of massive commitments with vague, ambiguous, open-ended goals. This makes it harder to be accountable in life.
Create SMART goals
SMART stands for:
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time-bound.
With these goals, you take out all of the guesswork out of the process.
Specific means it has a narrow focus. “I want to be a better person” is not a goal, it’s a prayer. “I want to improve my stress management skills” is much better.
Measurable means that you have some way of knowing if you’re getting closer or further from your goal. For stress management, this could mean attending a course and getting a certification, or it could mean attending regular meditation sessions.
Attainable means realistic. Improving stress management doesn’t mean that you’re trying to be the next Dalai Lama or Gautama Buddha. It could be something as straightforward as lowering your blood pressure.
Relevant means that the goal is related to your broader aims and objectives. Learning to manage stress better, for example, can help with physical and mental health. It can also help you succeed more in the long run.
Time-bound means giving yourself a deadline or ensuring that you check in with your progress every month.
SMART goals help with accountability by breaking everything down into steps.
If you stick to the process of achieving a goal, then you are being accountable to yourself.
This video provides a quick overview of SMART goals and then show three examples for each of the seven areas of your life.
Stop Pointing Fingers
Regardless of how wonderful you are, setbacks can and will happen.
When they do, your response can make or break your progress. Do you complain about who is at fault, or do you see what can be learned from the setback?
That being said, it is important to end self-blame. If you’ve goofed up, there’s no need to self-flagellate and feel too bad.
This doesn’t make you more accountable, it just makes you fixate more on your flaws than necessary. It is much better to reflect on what went wrong and then figure out how you can avoid the same mistakes in the future.
Practice
Accountability is like a skill: You need to put the time in to get the benefits out of it.
A good way to do this is to think of yourself as a manager for your own life. Are you managing your life well? Are you using your time and resources well? Is the company (you) flourishing?
Looking into how you spend your time is another good way to practice accountability. Do you spend time reading or learning about the skills you want to develop or the subjects you want to learn about?
Do you spend any time in the gym?
Do you spend time budgeting or looking at your finances?
Looking at things in this way exposes gaps in your accountability and helps you think of better ways to get things done.
Try an Accountability Partner
Finding someone who can help you stick to your goals can be a game-changer.
If you struggle to do what you say you’re going to do, then you might need someone else to help you out.
This is where an accountability partner comes in. They can be a peer, a partner, or a friend who checks in to ensure that you’re doing what you said you were going to do.
You both focus on each other’s success. Instead of feeling like a teacher is scolding you for misbehaving, you’re on a more even footing.
A good accountability partnership focuses on coaching and supporting each other. It is not about judgment.
A good accountability partner is someone who you can talk to about the challenges you’re facing, and get honest advice from.
Watch the video below to learn the specific steps to take in order to succeed with an accountability partner.
Accountability Benefits
Following a plan makes it much easier to enjoy the benefits of accountability in your life, of which there are many!
Benefits can help you stay motivated, so here’s what you can expect to gain from being more accountable in your life.
You observe your own life: When you place your own life under a microscope, you notice what you’re doing well and what you’re doing poorly. This knowledge can be transformative when it’s self-realized.
Socrates said “An unexamined life is not worth living,” and this is exactly what he meant.
You become more honest with yourself and others: When you become more accountable, it’s much easier to see where you’re failing. This can hurt at first, but it’s invaluable information in the long run.
When you understand your strengths and weaknesses, you understand exactly where to put your focus and attention.
You force yourself to follow through on commitments: One common problem is starting a new project and then abandoning it when the initial feelings of excitement go away. A large portion of success is just sticking with something until you’re good at it.
It keeps you grounded in reality: Focusing too much on goals and dreams stops you from taking the necessary actions to achieve them.
Accountability is all about being focused on your day-to-day actions and commitments. This keeps your eyes on the road and helps you stay focused on the everyday actions that get you to where you want to be.
Final Thoughts on Accountability
Accountability isn’t some new and sexy revolutionary idea, but it’s almost impossible to overstate just how valuable it can be to anyone on the path to a more independent and fulfilling life.
Being accountable is all about taking an honest look at where you are now versus where you want to be, and then keeping tabs on yourself to ensure you’re taking the actions you need to get there.
And if you’re looking for more articles on accountability, be sure to check out these blog posts:
After two former Georgia election workers sued Rudy Giuliani for falsely accusing them of committing massive fraud in 2020, his attorney argued that the real culprit in that calumny was The Gateway Pundit. Meanwhile, Gateway Pundit publisher Jim Hoft, who faced a separate defamation lawsuit by the same plaintiffs, was arguing that his website “fairly and accurately reported on the claims made by third parties, such as Trump’s legal team,” which Giuliani led.
This month’s $148 million verdict against Giuliani suggests that jurors were not swayed by his attempt to shift the blame for his baseless allegations. His consolation prize is top billing in my annual list of memorable moments in buck passing, several of which involved the tireless peddler of Donald Trump’s stolen-election fantasy.
‘Really Crazy Stuff.’ That was Rupert Murdoch’s private description of Giuliani’s baroque conspiracy theory, which Fox News nevertheless helped promote. Although the outlet, like Hoft, blamed Giuliani et al. for the tall tale, its frequently credulous coverage of his allegations against Dominion Voting Systems resulted in a $787 million defamation settlement last April.
‘I Relied on Others.’ In October, Jenna Ellis, a member of Giuliani’s “elite strike force team,” pleaded guilty to a state charge of aiding and abetting false statements. Even while admitting that she had failed to fact-check the team’s election fraud claims, Ellis tried to mitigate her responsibility, saying, “I relied on others, including lawyers with many more years of experience than I, to provide me with true and reliable information.”
‘There’s Nothing There.’ In January, we learned that President Joe Biden, who had slammed Trump’s “totally irresponsible” handling of classified records, also had retained sensitive material he was not supposed to have. “We found a handful of documents were filed in the wrong place,” Biden said, taking refuge in the passive voice. “I think you’re going to find there’s nothing there.”
The Mask Slips. In May, after former White House COVID-19 adviser Anthony Fauci conceded that face masks had, at best, a modest overall impact on coronavirus transmission during the pandemic, CNN’s Erin Burnett noted that his admission seemed to contradict what Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and other public health officials had been saying for three years. Murthy implausibly blamed ever-shifting science, saying, “Sometimes guidance does evolve over time as you learn more,” which “can be disconcerting.”
‘Concerns Have Been Raised.’ A year ago, the World Journal of Oncologyretracted an eyebrow-raising study claiming that nicotine vapers face about the same cancer risk as cigarette smokers. Blaming the study’s authors, who failed to address post-publication “concerns” about their “methodology,” “data processing,” “statistical analysis,” and “conclusions,” the journal’s editors did not explain why they and their peer reviewers had overlooked these and other glaring deficiencies.
Black-Market Boosters. Nearly three years after New York supposedly legalized recreational marijuana, state-approved stores remain scarce and account for a tiny percentage of sales. Instead of admitting their complicity in this fiasco, state officials are promising a crackdown on the unauthorized vendors who have proliferated because the legal industry is hobbled by heavy taxes, burdensome regulations, and maddening red tape.
‘Percocet via Snapchat.’ At a Republican presidential debate in September, Vivek Ramaswamy blamed deaths from fentanyl disguised as pain pills on “bio-terrorism” abetted by social media. He conveniently overlooked the fact that such hazards are a product of the prohibition policies that he supports, which create a black market where the composition of drugs is uncertain and unpredictable.
‘Floored and Shocked.’ In August, after five of his deputies admitted torturing two men during an unlawful home invasion, Rankin County, Mississippi, Sheriff Bryan Bailey said he was “floored and shocked” by the “horrendous crimes” of “these few individuals.” Yet Bailey’s underlings had been committing similar abuses for nearly two decades, generating multiple complaints and lawsuits. “I’m going to fix this,” he promised while insisting he was oblivious to that pattern of brutality. “I’m going to make everyone a whole lot more accountable.”
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When things don’t turn out the way you want or expect, it’s easy to deny your role in the situation and look to external factors to blame.
And while circumstances, other people’s actions, and even luck can impact your personal and professional lives, refusing to accept accountability can prevent you from ever achieving your full potential.
Making excuses and blaming others can certainly give you some short-term relief, but it blocks any potential growth or improvement that you could make–and it doesn’t teach you how to avoid the problem in the future.
But what can you do to build more personal accountability?
Well, in this article, we are going to look at how you can build more accountability in your life and start taking ownership over the results that you produce–both positive and negative.
But first, let’s take another look at what accountability is.
What Is Personal Accountability?
Accountability isn’t about accepting blame when things go wrong. It’s about delivering on your promises. It’s accepting responsibility for an outcome rather than a set of tasks. It’s being proactive with intentional and strategic follow-through.
How would you like to work in an organization where everyone does what they say they’ll do? If you’re like 85% of the working population, you don’t feel like you’re currently working somewhere where employees are engaged with their work.
When you’re in a professional culture that embraces personal accountability, not only do people do what they say they will do, they also hold each other accountable to ensure their organization remains credible for clients or customers.
Without taking personal accountability, you’re likely working in a culture full of blame, where you figure mediocre is good enough,goals are vague, and you spend more of your energy trying to beat the system than you spend on doing your job well.
But having personal accountability isn’t just helpful in your professional life, it can also benefit you in your personal life.
On the other hand, if you have accountability, you accept the outcome that you’ve worked for–whether that’s good or bad. Having a sense of accountability is knowing that when your responsibilities are complete, you have to answer to someone for your work.
When you’re in a professional culture that embraces personal accountability, you hold each other accountable to ensure their organization remains credible for clients or customers.
There are a lot of definitions of accountability out there, but knowing what accountability means doesn’t equate to maintaining it as a value in your life. But while personal accountability may be defined in several ways, all of the definitions have a few common factors.
Everyone who defines this concept agrees that having accountability involves making a commitment to feel empowered to accept ownership of your tasks.
There are several reasons why you may be looking for how to build more accountability in your life.
Studies show that when employees lack personal accountability in a professional environment, low employee morale is likely to follow, along with reduced productivity and a higher rate of employee turnover.
Further, there is a direct relationship between employees’ sense of personal accountability and the overall performance of an organization.
Essentially, when employees have a strong sense of personal accountability, they perform better than those who lack this trait.
When something goes wrong and you find that you typically become upset, look the other way, or shut down in response, you’re displaying defense mechanisms to avoid having to face the situation.
Here are some signs that you need to build more personal accountability in your life:
You always have an excuse.
You blame other people for your shortcomings or mistakes.
You don’t follow through with your promises.
You’re waiting for ______, because once you have it, your life will be “better”.
You expect other people to fix your problems.
Let’s take a look at why you should want to build more personal accountability in your life.
Why Build Personal Accountability?
When you have personal accountability, you’re eager to take charge of your life, tackle new challenges, and reap the benefits of facilitating a success of some sort.
Everything that happens in your life is a direct result of your actions. And it’s only when you can take 100% responsibility for your choices that you will lead a meaningful and fulfilling life. When you stop blaming external forces, you can redirect that energy to focus on creating a better situation for yourself.
You have to understand and accept that you’re the one who is in charge of your circumstances because this will encourage you to be proactive in making a change for the better.
Once you accept accountability, you will genuinely believe the truth–which is that everything around you is the outcome of your decisions.
Let’s take a look at some specific habits you can adopt to build more personal accountability in your life.
8 Habits to Build More Personal Accountability in Your Life
1. Make a Commitment
The first step to building accountability is deciding what you want to achieve, which will then make it clear what you’re staying accountable for.
Once you’ve decided, you have to make a commitment to being personally accountable–this isn’t really something that can come and go. You need to be able to commit to the following:
Taking responsibility for your decisions and actions, whether they’re right or wrong
Learn from your mistakes and take corrective action
Supporting your team in honoring their commitments and be a positive role model by always honoring yours. If support is offered when challenges arise, studies show that people are more likely to get creative, innovative, and stay committed
Be honest and genuine in your work
Be reliable so people know they can count on you
Often, your commitments have to be to yourself to make a change. If you’re unhappy with an aspect of your life, step out of your comfort zone to initiate a change.
One of the first things you should do is specifically define people’s expectations of you when trying to gain accountability.
And while it may be difficult to change something that you’re used to, remember that it’s your choice to do nothing but complain rather than take action, but that’s not going to improve anything.
When you make a commitment, it means that you are going to follow through with something until the very end. You’re removing the things in your environment that may be distractions. You understand the decision has been made and there’s no turning back now.
2. Gain Clarity
When trying to gain accountability, many mistakenly start by listing the tasks that they will be held accountable for. However, one of the first things you should do is specifically define people’s expectations of you (or your company).
This means you have to break your objectives down to the point where there is no room for interpretation about what the outcome should look like.
If there is a misunderstanding between what you’re aiming for and the outcome that someone else is expecting, at least one person is sure to be disappointed in the end. If you are in a leadership position, make sure to explain to your subordinates exactly what you need from them.
When identifying your end goal, clarify where you are vs. where you need to be in order to establish your baseline so you can measure your progress along the way. And then get your team focused on the necessary actions that must be taken to get it done.
3. Be Realistic
If you overcommit yourself, not only are you likely to forget something important, you also may start cutting corners in your work to get it done faster. This will only decrease the quality of your outcomes, so be sure to know your limits and be realistic when making commitments to others.
And, because having personal accountability is a choice that you have to accept, this means that you need to learn to say no when it’s necessary.
You can’t agree to do everything that’s asked of you and expect it to be done well, so if you’re trying to build personal accountability–and you want that accountability to be rewarding–you need to be realistic about how you plan to distribute your time.
4. Create SMART Goals
To build personal accountability, you must work on setting goals. When you can, set SMART goals so you can measure your progress as you go.
When you know exactly how you’re going to complete your goals, you’ll be able to measure your progress and assume accountability for what you have and haven’t done to achieve your goals.
Your SMART goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. With this in mind, you know that you will need a clear deadline in order to claim victory.
The video below provides a quick overview of SMART goals and then show three examples for each of the seven areas of your life.
Since this is the case, you need to make proper progress along the way and reach your smaller objectives so you’re moving forward toward success, which requires that you hold yourself accountable.
You will see that having personal accountability pushes you to get things accomplished and see the outcomes you were hoping for.
5. Eliminate Blame
No matter what, you will have setbacks when you’re working toward your goals. But when you’re facing a hurdle, you can’t look to external sources to blame for the issue.
And while you don’t have to beat yourself up and assume all fault for everything that goes wrong, you do need to feel the necessary empowerment to reflect on what went wrong and figure out how you can make things turn out differently in the future.
You have to be able to recognize that you control your actions and whatever outcomes result.
Finally, if necessary, you need to be able to admit fault to other people. Put your pride aside and practice doing this. Apologize if you need to, and tell people how you plan to make things right in the future.
6. Practice Holding Yourself Accountable
When you have accountability, there is someone (or many people) who are looking to you for an end result. People are counting on you.
To get used to this, start counting on yourself. If you were your manager, would you think you’re earning the salary you’re making? Are you meeting the goals that your company has laid out for you? Are you billing enough hours or signing on enough clients?
Hold yourself accountable for what you do with your time. Review your to-do list frequently so you can see what you’ve accomplished and what got left behind.
You can do this in your personal life as well. Reflect on your eating and exercising habits, the amount of time you spent reading, or how closely you stuck to your budget every week.
Then plan how you can fill in any gaps next week by making improvements to how you choose to spend your time or focusing on another factor that’s impacting your progress.
Accountability requires ongoing feedback. You need to hear what you’re doing well and what you need to improve. So create formal systems and processes so you don’t miss this critical step.
Feedback should be given (or sought out) every day. You must look at your actual performance toward the desired outcome so you can continue to define what “winning” looks like.
Seek feedback from others, including the opinions of coworkers, friends, and clients. Other people’s opinions will give you insight that will give you the necessary tools to succeed.
Accept the fact that how you see yourself may be very different from how other people perceive you. Ask others to give you an honest evaluation of your job performance, and even look to clients or customers to help understand what you’re doing right and where you can make a change.
8. Get an Accountability Partner
One of the best ways to build more personal accountability is to find an accountability partner who will follow along with your progress.
An accountability partner is a peer who helps you reach your goals by offering guidance and making sure you do what you say you’re going to do.
The video below discusses the benefits of having an accountability partner and the five-step process for having long-term success with this type of arrangement.
This is similar to having a mentor, however, this is a mutually beneficial relationship in which both people benefit from the feedback and support of their partner.
Your accountability partner will give you individualized help with your goals and they will be focused on your success–and vice versa.
You and your accountability partner will agree to support, coach, and provide feedback on a regular basis for one another. You will share your accomplishments with each other, discuss challenges, and offer some words of encouragement.
Final Thoughts for Building Personal Accountability
Building personal accountability doesn’t have to be scary or involve a lot of self-blame. Instead, making the decision to do this should mark an empowering transition to a new phase of your life where you can gain control of your time and the person that you want to be.
Follow the tips laid out in this article to build accountability in your life and regain that sense of control that feels so out of reach. Making the shift to being personally accountable requires some work and change, but you will find the results to be worth the effort.
And if you’re working on adding more or improving values in life, be sure to check out these articles:
Connie Mathers is a professional editor and freelance writer. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and a Master’s Degree in Social Work. When she is not writing, Connie is either spending time with her daughter and two dogs, running, or working at her full-time job as a social worker in Richmond, VA.
LONDON — In May last year, my phone buzzed with a message from a contact in the British parliament whom I know well.
We meet every so often for coffee in a cafe far away enough from Westminster to be discreet, where he tells me what’s unfolding in the depths of parliament’s dingy corridors.
That day, his message read: “Has an MP been arrested today? Who can say?”
His first question was a news tip for me to follow up on. I began ringing and texting everyone I knew who might be able to tell me about the possible detention of a member of parliament.
Sure enough, the police soon confirmed that a 56-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of rape and other offenses.
My contact’s second question — “Who can say?” — was more complicated.
In the hours after the arrest, pretty much every British political media organization prominently reported the man’s arrest, together with his age, his position as an MP, and his alleged crimes.
But while every reporter in Westminster knew exactly who he was, it took more than a year before anybody dared publish his name.
As with many other matters of the public interest, Britain’s restrictive libel and privacy laws put any publication that reported his identity at risk of a lengthy legal battle and crippling financial penalties.
In July, London’s Sunday Times took the decision to name him, reporting that he had been absent from parliament since his arrest. With the exception of a single mention in the Mirror newspaper, no other mainstream publication followed suit.
POLITICO can now join in reporting that the man arrested is Andrew Rosindell, a member of the Conservative party who has served as MP for the constituency of Romford in Essex, east of London, since 2001.
Rosindell has not been charged and denies any wrongdoing. He, like every British citizen, is entitled to the presumption of innocence. He has been released by police while they look into his case.
While every reporter in Westminster knew exactly who he was, it took more than a year before anybody dared publish his name | Marco Bertorello/AFP via Getty Images
But POLITICO believes there is a clear public interest in naming him, given the obvious impact upon his ability to represent his constituents — and because of further information we publish today about his activities since May 2021.
During the time he has been absent from parliament, he has continued to claim expenses for his work there and accepted foreign trips worth £8,548 (nearly $11,000) to Bahrain, India, Italy and Poland. He has also continued to receive donations from his supporters.
Rosindell declined to comment for this article.
These might seem like obvious and easy facts to report. But doing so has required extensive discussions with my editors and with a lawyer, even after the courage shown by the Sunday Times.
The Rosindell case is a clear-cut example — one among many — of how Britain’s media laws sometimes place individual privacy over the public interest, putting obstacles in the way of accountability journalism.
Given the work involved in reporting something like the allegations against Rosindell, it’s easy to see how many editors and reporters — battling for readers while grinding out the news — might look at the facts involved and conclude writing about it is simply not worth the risk.
For journalists trying to keep public figures honest, this can be a serious problem — and it’s one the United Kingdom is exporting around the world.
Burden of proof
The heart of the challenge lies in England’s incredibly tough defamation laws — which penalize statements that could damage someone’s public image among “right-thinking members of society” or cause “serious harm” to their reputation.
In the United States, journalists are not only shielded by the First Amendment, but for a defamation claim to succeed, the claimant must prove the allegations are false and were disseminated with malicious intent.
In English courts, the burden of proof lies on the publisher of the potentially libelous statement. Truth can be a defense, but you need to have the actual goods; simply pointing to another press report or even relying on allegations in a police arrest warrant, for example, is not enough.
In recent years, these defamation laws have combined with court rulings on the privacy of individuals under arrest or investigation to hinder reporting on potential abuses of power and other matters of the public interest.
This has contributed to the prevalence of “open secrets” in British public life: individuals known within their circles for alleged wrongdoing who cannot be named due to the onerously high burden of legal proof.
When the Sunday Times published an investigation into claims of sexual abuse against Russell Brand, many in the television industry responded that this had been known for as long as he had been famous | Jeff Spicer/Getty Images
A recent example of this is the allegations against the comedian Russell Brand. When the Sunday Times published an investigation into claims of sexual abuse against him, many in the television industry responded that this had been known for as long as he had been famous.
The trouble was, as the Daily Mail detailed, that for years Brand had deployed lawyers to use legal threats to shoot down stories or rumblings of stories that might crop up about his behavior.
SLAPP in the face
Scratch a high-profile scandal, and you’re likely to find a host of lawyers looking to block reporting about it, or seeking damages for what’s already been published.
The actor and producer Noel Clarke is suing the Guardian over a series of articles reporting allegations of sexual assault and harassment, which, even if unsuccessful, is likely to cost the newspaper hundreds of thousands of pounds.
A well-known British business is suing a broadcaster over an investigation into their working practices that has not yet been aired.
Complainants don’t even have to win for their lawsuits to have a chilling effect. Successfully fending off a claim can eat up months or years of a journalist’s time, if they have the resources at all to fight it.
Even the threat of a lawsuit can be enough to give many journalists pause.
When Ben De Pear was editor of Channel 4 News, the broadcaster worked with the Guardian and New York Times to expose the collection of Facebook users’ personal data by the consulting firm Cambridge Analytica for use in the 2016 Brexit referendum campaign.
After the journalists reached out for comment from Facebook, they were met with a barrage of different tactics, he said. “They didn’t answer till the last possible minute. Their response was published and sent to news organizations before it was sent to us. They prevaricated. Their lawyers sometimes sent 30 or 40 pages of legalese.”
“Normally, the longer the response, the less there is in it,” he added. “Good lawyers, journalists and editors will be able to cut through that, but it still sucks up time and causes an inordinate amount of stress.”
So common have efforts by rich individuals and companies to squash stories become that the practice has been endowed with an acronym: SLAPPs, or strategic lawsuits against public participation.
The English model
The problem isn’t constrained to local shores; England’s libel laws are increasingly being deployed against reporting in foreign countries about foreign individuals — a practice detractors describe as “libel tourism.”
Journalists Tom Burgis and Catherine Belton were both sued over books they wrote about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime and corruption in the former Soviet Union | Pool photo by Mikhail Metzel via AFP/Getty Images
Claimants have to establish jurisdiction to bring their action in the U.K., but the threshold is “not a very onerous one,” said Padraig Hughes, legal director at the Media Legal Defense Initiative, a London nonprofit offering advice and financial support to journalists facing defamation claims.
Journalists Tom Burgis and Catherine Belton were both sued over books they wrote about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime and corruption in the former Soviet Union.
Burgis and Belton both won, but their experiences don’t tell the whole story, said Clare Rewcastle Brown, a British journalist who helped expose one of the largest ever corruption scandals: the looting of billions of dollars from Malaysia’s 1MDB sovereign wealth fund.
“For every showcase where publishers can boast that they stuck with the author — and well done them — the fact of the matter is, they’ll have killed numerous other books,” she said.
My call with Rewcastle Brown was arranged around her schedule of getting up at 3 a.m. to appear via Zoom as a defendant in a defamation action brought against her by a member of the Malaysian royal family — one of dozens of similar actions she has faced.
She tells me she has survived through sheer bloody-mindedness, and by “frankly, having nothing to lose.”
She acknowledged that for many media outlets, especially smaller ones, these types of attacks could cause them to re-evaluate whether the efforts are worth it.
“As the money starts to ebb, the courage likewise ebbs away,” she said.
Devastating effect
England’s media laws do have their defenders, and there are examples where the system has made a positive difference. It “serves to make journalism in this country very rigorous, so it does have a good effect,” is how De Pear, of Channel 4 News, put it.
Gavin Phillipson, a professor of law at Bristol University, pointed out that the U.S. is not a model but an exception, with English law “completely in line with the vast majority of liberal democracies in both Europe and the Commonwealth.”
He has written about the “devastating effect” of stories such as the Mail Online’s decision to name a young Muslim man arrested in connection with the 2017 Manchester arena bombing. He was innocent and released without charge, but his name had already spread across the world in connection with the atrocity.
Phillipson notes that while the courts have established that everyone should have a reasonable expectation of privacy, “it doesn’t cover the underlying conduct itself.”
“If the press do their own investigative journalism and find out what actually has happened, then the law of privacy doesn’t stop them publishing that,” he said.
This factored into POLITICO’s decision to publish sexual harassment allegations against Julian Knight, a senior member of parliament, early this year.
Our story relied on our reporting, not just the fact that he’s being investigated by police. (Knight strongly denies all the allegations against him.)
Testing limits
Some in the U.K. have recognized the problem and made efforts to stamp down on libel tourism.
The Defamation Act 2013 raised the bar so that claimants would have to show they had suffered “serious” harm to their reputation, and introduced tighter rules for litigants not domiciled in the U.K.
The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act attempted to give extra protection to defendants in litigation related to economic crimes. And this year the government announced legislation to scrap a rule forcing media companies to pay the legal bills of people who sue them.
But the pendulum has also swung the other way.
There was until recently a rule that the police had to notify the House of Commons Speaker of the arrest of any member of parliament and their name would be published.
If this measure had still been in place, it would have made the debate about publishing Rosindell’s name moot. But MPs opted to scrap it with very little fanfare in 2016.
Gabriel Pogrund, Whitehall editor for the Sunday Times, wrote the newspaper’s story naming Rosindell. He also reported on an accusation of rape against the former MP Charlie Elphicke, over which Elphicke sued the paper. (Elphicke was later convicted of sexual assault and dropped his claim.)
Pogrund argues that his job has gotten harder as a string of recent legal defeats for publications has diminished the appetite for testing where the line is.
The result, when it comes to public figures and organizations suspected of serious wrongdoing, he said, has been “an informal conspiracy of silence.”
LONDON — As David Cameron heads to Washington this week for his first big speech back on the world stage, his bête noire Boris Johnson will be sat in a dingy room in west London.
Johnson is to give two days of televised testimony before Britain’s COVID-19 inquiry, answering a barrage of questions under oath about decisions he took while prime minister in 2020 and 2021 which — many believe — cost thousands of people their lives.
As Johnson battles to salvage his battered reputation, Cameron will be strutting through America in a ministerial motorcade, glad-handing Washington’s power players and preparing to address the Aspen Security Forum as U.K. foreign secretary.
It’s a stark symbol of just how quickly the political sands can shift.
Cameron had long been written out of the British political scene, famously retreating to a hut in his garden to write his memoirs after calling — and losing — the divisive Brexit referendum in 2016. Johnson — an old acquaintance from his school days — had fought on the opposite side, and his star rose rapidly after the referendum victory. As Cameron licked his wounds, Johnson became foreign secretary in 2016 and then prime minister — with the landslide majority Cameron also craved — three years later.
But with Johnson now long gone and Cameron handed a dramatic ministerial comeback — along with a seat in the House of Lords — in Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Cabinet reshuffle last month, the two men’s fate has come full circle.
And former colleagues say Cameron is making no secret of his delight at the turn of events, frequently texting associates to say how much he is enjoying the new gig.
Despite now having the run of the palatial Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office — known as the grandest building on Whitehall — Cameron has also been awarded two large private rooms in the House of Lords, displacing Conservative colleagues in the process.
Some friends believe he’s having more fun than when he was actually running the country.
“He has got the bits of the job he enjoyed, he has shed the bits he didn’t. It is the perfect semi-retirement job for him,” a former No. 10 adviser who worked for Cameron said. (The adviser was granted anonymity, like others in this article, to speak candidly about private interactions with the foreign secretary)
“All prime ministers like being on the world stage. It allows them to grapple with big issues,” a second former No. 10 adviser who worked closely with Cameron said.
Cameron’s closest political ally, his ex-Chancellor George Osborne, says his friend’s return will have fulfilled the “strong element of public service” in the ex-prime minister, which he claimed has “always been part of his DNA.”
Cameron’s closest political ally, his ex-Chancellor George Osborne (left), says his friend’s return will have fulfilled the “strong element of public service” in the ex-PM | Pool photo by Petar Kujundzic via Getty Images
“It’s like the sound of the trumpet. Back on … the political playing field, and serving your country. He’s doing it because above all he thinks he can make a difference,” Osborne said on a recent podcast.
Others are less impressed.
One Whitehall official, while acknowledging the diplomatic advantages of having a former PM in post, described Cameron’s appointment as “failing upward, writ large.”
Cameron’s peerage means MPs cannot quiz him in the House of Commons like other ministers, another fact which rankles with opponents.
“Once again Cameron is jetsetting around the globe with seemingly no accountability to the British public,” Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesperson Layla Moran said.
“We have very little idea whom this unelected foreign secretary is meeting and what he is saying. Maybe if he spent as much time — or indeed any time at all — making himself available for scrutiny from MPs, we would understand exactly what his foreign policy priorities are.”
Back onthe world stage
On his first visit to the U.S. since becoming foreign secretary on Wednesday, Cameron will meet key members of the Biden administration, including U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, as well as Republican and Democratic Congressional figures in an effort to shore up support for Ukraine.
Cameron’s appointment has certainly made diplomats in foreign capitals sit up and take notice, if only because his is a familiar name in the hard-to-follow soap opera of British politics.
Even in the U.S., his appointment triggered some excitement. As one U.K. official put it, “Americans have a sort of respect for former office-bearers in a way that Brits don’t.”
An EU diplomat said that despite having “gambled” on the Brexit referendum, Cameron is still well thought of in Brussels.
Cameron will certainly feel at home, having relished life on the world stage as prime minister, according to multiple advisers who worked with him at the time.
“You get the idiosyncrasies of different leaders and he enjoyed that. He has a good sense of humor,” the second former adviser quoted above said. The aide recounted how a Nigerian president had once left a soap opera playing on TV throughout his meeting with the British prime minister. “[Cameron] came out laughing. He could roll with the weird and wonderful.”
With Johnson now long gone and Cameron handed a dramatic ministerial comeback in Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Cabinet reshuffle last month, the two men’s fate has come full circle | Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
Predictably, Cameron has slipped back easily into government — perhaps a little too easily, according to the Whitehall official quoted above who said he had to be reminded he needed clearance before texting friendly hellos to former acquaintances from foreign powers.
The same person said he was demanding fast, detailed briefings at a rate more associated with No. 10, and has sometimes sent papers back asking for a more creative approach. They pointed out his only previous job in government had been as prime minister, which influences his way of working.
Green with envy
The notoriously competitive Cameron also won’t be displeased by the reaction to his appointment by his political peers.
Arch-rival and former school frenemy Johnson, who was ousted from office in 2022 over his handling of various personal scandals, couldn’t help but mock Cameron’s return, describing it as “great news for retreads everywhere.”
Osborne, Cameron’s closest political friend, admitted to being “a little bit jealous, but in a good way,” after he returned.
“There’s a little bit of me that goes ‘I’d fancy being foreign secretary,’” Osborne admitted, before insisting: “But I’m very happy with what I’m doing with the rest of my life, and I think it probably keeps me sane.”
Even the man who appointed Cameron — Sunak — may start to envy Cameron’s ability to detach from the day-to-day management of a fractious Conservative Party, something he endured throughout his own premiership from 2010-2016.
Two government officials said Cameron was essentially “prime minister of foreign affairs,” leaving Sunak to fix his attention on a raft of nightmarish domestic problems in the run-up to the next election, which he is expected to lose.
“[Cameron] can really dedicate himself in a way he never could as PM, because you’re on the plane back and you’ve got to deal with Mark Pritchard and circus tent animals, or whatever else there is when you are prime minister,” a third former adviser said, referencing a furor over a Tory backbench rebellion on banning circus animals.
Adrenaline rush
Life will certainly be different from the past seven years. Shortly after his appointment last month, Cameron told peers the Chippy Larder food project — where he volunteered for two years during his political retirement — would have to manage without him for a while.
“There’s an element of it being quite hard to replay that adrenaline rush [of being PM], the pace of what you do,” the second former adviser quoted above said, noting Cameron had quit before he was 50 and had been “at the peak of his abilities.”
“It’s a shot of redemption,” the third former adviser added. “He’s got another chance at it — and this one probably isn’t going to end in his failure.”
