Leverage. It’s a concept embraced by liberal pols who see constituents as means to an end rather than people whom they swore to serve.

We saw this during the shutdown, when our own Rep. Katherine Clark referenced families facing SNAP cutoffs: “Shutdowns are terrible. Of course there will be families that are going to suffer. We take that responsibility seriously, but it is one of the few leverage times we have.”

The Healey Administration is running with the strategy, linking funding for a financial literacy program for students to compliance with the MBTA Communities Act.

You get your money when we get our way.

As the Herald reported, Republican Peter Durant says a regional school district in his central Massachusetts district has been blocked from accessing a $3,200 grant from the state Department of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation for the Credit for Life Fairs program.

The state senator added that Dracut and Hanover join Wachusett Regional — a school district that covers Holden, Paxton, Princeton, Rutland and Sterling — in losing out on the funding because they have yet to comply with the MBTA Communities Act.

That was always the cudgel: comply with the zoning law, or lose access to state funding. Some communities have resisted and hit the fiscal fence.

Back in March, State Rep. Patrick Kearney, who represents several South Shore towns, highlighted in a legislative budget hearing how Marshfield lost access to a $261,600 grant to dredge the North River, which he said also impacts Scituate, Norwell, Hanover, Pembroke and Rockland.

“No, I cannot commit that,” Healey told Kearney when he asked the governor if her administration would stop withholding previously committed state funding.

Leverage. Marshfield approved the zoning bylaw in October.

Dracut, Hanover and Holden are non-compliant with the MBTA Communities Act, and that is spelling trouble for students beyond those towns.

Wachusett Regional High School serves more than 1,750 students in Worcester County, and Durant is arguing that towns in the five-community district are being unfairly punished because of Holden’s “policy dispute with the administration.”

“Using a regional high school as leverage in a disagreement with one of the towns in the district is the wrong approach and an overreach of state authority,” Durant said in a statement.

“Punishing them … sets a troubling precedent of tying educational funding to unrelated grant funds, rather than basing it on the needs of students.”

Gov. Healey cried foul over the Trump Administration’s delay in dispatching Low Income Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) funding last month.

“No more excuses,” Healey said in a statement. “President Trump needs to do his job and get LIHEAP money out the door so people can heat their homes.”

And Mass. schools need that financial literacy program grant to educate their students. Non-zoning law compliant towns also need funding for necessary projects.

Call it leverage or the “carrot and stick” approach, but withholding funds over non-compliance, whether it’s SNAP benefits or an education grant, is no way to serve constituents.

Editorial cartoon by Joe Heller (Joe Heller)