Getting Results For Burlington and Bedford
In his time in the legislature, Rep. Ken Gordon has shown a keen ability to get results for Bedford, Burlington, and for our Commonwealth. In addition, he partners with Rep. Michelle Ciccolo to help Lexington through his representation of Precinct 6. Last session, Ken worked to deliver necessary investments in our communities through the FY25 budget. He secured $75,000 to Bedford for a performance platform for cultural events, as well as $75,000 to the Burlington Council on Aging for the salary of a full-time Social Worker. Additionally, he directed $150,000 to the Boston MedFlight Program operating at Hanscom and $500,000 for Lahey Hospital to establish a psychiatry residency training program in Burlington. These investments provide funding for vital parts of our community.
Ken works to ensure that Bedford receives funding to mitigate the shortfall for the education of military students living at Hanscom AFB. In the most recent FY25 Budget, Bedford received $571,000 in funding.
While working for the district’s economic development and food security needs, Ken Gordon is best known in Bedford for convincing Mass Department of Transportation to re-locate a planned salt shed from an area near a Bedford neighborhood to its current site in Billerica, and previously for convincing the Administration to bring down the number of otherwise homeless families at the Bedford Plaza Hotel while ensuring every family assigned there was kept safe and respected. In Burlington he guided municipal officials in obtaining grants that assisted in reducing the strain on its town water and sewer infrastructure, allowing the town to take steps to join the MWRA and emerge from what seemed to be an annual water ban. He led the effort to widen Route 128 at the Middlesex Turnpike exit to create room for an additional marked lane, which eased the traffic stress going into Burlington and reduced traffic on our town roads.
Getting Results For Massachusetts
Ken is proud to have filed, co-authored, and led the debate on the House bill calling for Paid Family and Medical Leave for the 3.1 million workers in the Commonwealth. His bill was passed into law as part of the Grand Bargain. Beginning in January 2021, working parents could replace the income they would otherwise lose so they can choose to be with a new baby (by adoption or natural birth) or to stay beside a hospitalized child or other family member. This bill drew the attention of the Obama White House, which invited Ken to D.C. on several occasions, including an opportunity to attend a Holiday Reception in 2016 (photo with Breena above). In 2023, Ken worked on a critical fix to the PFML program. As a result of this fix, employers may provide full wage replacement to workers who take PFML leave, if the employee chooses. Prior to this, employees were limited to payments
made by the PFML program during their time of leave. If they earned more money before taking leave, they could not “top off” the difference by accepting wages instead of accrued vacation or unused sick time, even if their employer was willing to let them do so. Last session as House Chair of the Joint Committee on Public Service, Ken led a reformation of our Civil Service laws that changed the way we hire police officers and firefighters. This system will protect applicants, especially veterans and members of traditionally marginalized communities from nepotism and patronage in hiring. At the same time, it adds new flexibility for Civil Service towns and cities. The also led on a new policy that will give our first responders who became disabled as a result of an extremely violent act a bump in pension benefits in a way that is fairly administered throughout the Commonwealth.
Also last session, Ken teamed with East Boston’s Adrian Madaro in filing the House version of the Common Start Bill, which will provide near-universal access to early education and childcare for our youngest children. The principles and many of the particulars of this bill were included in the FY25 budget.
An Accomplished Lawyer
Ken has been a practicing attorney for 34 years, all of which in the courtrooms of Massachusetts. For the past 24 years Ken has specialized in representing the rights of employees who suffer discrimination or wrongful termination at the work place. Before he was a lawyer, Ken spent time as a professional sportswriter, covering pro, college, and high school sports for the Palm Beach Post and Evening Times, and he was affiliated with The Boston Globe and The Sporting News among other publications.
