WHEN COMMONWEALTH MAGAZINE arrived on the scene 20 years ago, Barbara Anderson’s most public battles were already behind her. It was in that context that founding editor Dave Denison paid her a visit at the downtown offices of Citizens for Limited Taxation and then, a week later, at her “small, cluttered Marblehead home.” Anderson, who […]
Dave Denison
Posted inPolitics
Reality sets in
As a candidate, Deval Patrick was highlysuccessful without “listening to the experts.”AP Photo/Chitose Suzuki. On a Friday afternoon in early November 2006, I went to the office of Michael Dukakis, deep in the political science warren at Northeastern University, to talk about the job he held for 12 years, longer than anyone before or since, […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics
Cost unconscious
On a Wednesday afternoon in late April, I went to the John W. McCormack state office building, a pillar of bureaucracy a half-block east of the State House, and found my way into a basement-level meeting room. There, 11 members of the Health Care Quality and Cost Council sat in a U-formation in the windowless […]
Posted inHealth Care
Tough medicine
Photo by Frank Curran As of April 12, 2006, Jonathan Gruber became the most influential economist in Massachusetts government. That was the day Gov. Mitt Romney signed a sweeping health care reform law that had Gruber’s distinct fingerprints on it. Of course, at the Faneuil Hall bill-signing ceremony the cameras focused on Romney and key […]
Posted inPolitics
Recipe for success
shortly after the polls closed on election night, November 7, it was clear that voters from all around Massachusetts had turned out in droves to elect Democrat Deval Patrick as governor. At one point that evening, CBS4 political analyst Jon Keller went on the air with some wry advice for the governor-elect. Noting that there […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Tax Talk
Illustration by Ryan Heshka IF ALL GOES according to the standard script for governor’s races in Massachusetts, there will be a moment this fall, probably in a televised debate in late October as voters are finally paying attention, when the candidates are asked to declare their true feelings about taxes. No candidate will have any […]
Posted inUncategorized
Sissela Bok on Violence Entertainment and the Nations Youth
Is the American entertainment industry allergic to ethical reflection about its use of violent images? If so, what might the effects be on the nation’s youth? Such questions have become more pressing in recent decades, as television, movies, and video games have become more prevalent–and more violent. A number of school shootings captured the nation’s […]
Posted inUncategorized
A Visit With David Driscoll
The first day of September was looking pretty good for Education Commissioner David Driscoll. As he sat that afternoon in the conference room adjoining his office, he could see something more than the usual view from the fifth floor of the state Department of Education headquarters in Malden–he could see education reform in Massachusetts beginning […]
Posted inUncategorized
The Last Harrumph
PREFACE.This is my last issue as editor of CommonWealth. It was my intention, believe it or not, to go out with something light and lively in this space. I wanted to reflect on how much fun Massachusetts politics can be. I suspect that hasn’t been evident enough in our pages–that we enjoy our subject considerably. […]
Posted inUncategorized
West Springfield and Southampton
WEST SPRINGFIELD — Every town has one — the captious critic who angrily insists that local government is being run by a band of incompetents. Most often the gadfly is ignored and the public shows scant desire to march on town hall and throw the scoundrels out. The wheels of government grind on as they […]