Back in September, medical software developer Meditech pulled the plug on a plan to build a $65 million office complex in Freetown, but South Coast officials mounted an intense effort to salvage the project. Yesterday, the company confirmed that the Freetown office development really is dead, and said it will be expanding around Interstate 495 instead. It’s what happened in between — a battle with Secretary of State William Galvin, an intense lobbying effort on Beacon Hill, and bitter complaints about political power plays thrown everywhere — that makes either announcement worth noting.
CommonWealth’s current issue chronicles the standoff between Meditech and the Massachusetts Historical Commission, an agency Galvin oversees. The Freetown site Meditech wanted to build on was once an active Wampanoag Indian tribe site, and there’s a likelihood the site contains unmarked graves. Meditech made its September announcement about abandoning the project after failing to come to an agreement with Mass. Historical over how much archaeological work Meditech would have to do on the site before building its new offices.
Initially, the standoff between Meditech and Mass. Historical centered around the scope of site work that would be required — Meditech balked at what it saw as an unreasonable request from Mass. Historical to strip and sift through 21 acres of land. In response, Sen. Michael Rodrigues filed a bill that would have removed Mass. Historical’s oversight of the Freetown property. At a legislative hearing last month, Rodrigues and Galvin aimed some unusually pointed rounds of barbs at each other. Rodrigues accused Galvin’s agency of single-handedly blocking a critical development project in the economically struggling South Coast, while Galvin labeled Rodrigues’s bill as “a crude, ridiculous effort,” and accused Meditech’s backers of acting as “spewers of deceit.”
Much of the debate over Meditech’s Freetown project has centered around just what Galvin’s office asked, or didn’t ask, Meditech to do. For months, South Coast lawmakers beat the drum about the expensive, time-consuming demand that Meditech dig up 21 acres of its development site. Galvin says the request was “never, never, never, never” made. CommonWealth’s review of public documents related to the Meditech project found no written references to the 21-acre demand until after Meditech suspended its project.
Instead, the standoff had devolved into a turf war between Meditech and Galvin: After its archaeological consultants agreed to a compromise with Mass. Historical in November, Meditech walked away, saying it would never build in Freetown as long as Galvin was involved. At last month’s hearing, a Fall River redevelopment official reiterated that stance, saying Meditech’s distrust of Galvin was “too deep.”
–PAUL MCMORROW
BEACON HILL
Peter Lucas, in his column for the Lowell Sun, puts a damper on the frenzy surrounding US Attorney Carmen Ortiz’s probation probe. He suggests the Globe and Ortiz are in cahoots and that Ortiz may be having a hard time proving that lawmakers accepted payments in return for placing people at probation. “Patronage, at all levels of government, is the lifeblood of politics,” Lucas writes.
A speech by Boston Globe editor Marty Baron trumpets the value of a free press — and gives a shout-out to CommonWealth’s coverage of weaknesses in the state’s Public Records Law.
Strategies for Children’s Irene Sege, in a column for CommonWealth, says the state needs to spend more on early childhood education.
Kevin Peterson, writing in CommonWealth, says the state’s election laws need an overhaul.
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
Peabody Mayor Ted Bettencourt hires the daughter of former mayor Peter Torigian as city treasurer, the Salem News reports.
CommonWealth’s Paul McMorrow says we have a chance to fix the mistakes made along Storrow Drive and elsewhere during the era of highways and concrete.
Looking to ingratiate himself with his new constituents, US Rep.Stephen Lynch has vowed to press the Coast Guard on alternatives to the planned replacement bridge over the Fore River at the Quincy-Weymouth line, calling the current proposal “monstrous.”
The Fall River City Council voted to seek its own attorneys on matters affecting the council rather than us the city’s corporation counsel, who is appointed by the mayor.
NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON
Governing offers a breakdown on President Obama’s budget, everything from Medicaid reforms to transportation to education and public safety. US Sen. John Kerry supports the president’s call for ending tax cuts for the wealthy, while his Massachusetts colleague Scott Brown opposes the measure. The Chronicle of Philanthropy says the budget could have an impact on charitable giving because of reduced deductions. The National Review is full of praise for the plan. Just kidding.
The New Jersey state Senate approves a gay marriage bill by a vote of 24-16, a major shift from the 20-14 rejection in early 2010, the Associated Press reports.
Charles Murray of the American Enterprise Institute discusses his new book, Coming Apart, on WBUR’s On Point.
Economist Richard Florida maps religion and education to chart the country’s rightward drift.
ELECTION 2012
A new WBUR-MassINC poll shows US Sen. Scott Brown and Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren running neck and neck. About two-thirds of the itemized donations Brown received last quarter were from in-state, the Globe reports.
The “L” word bedevils Mitt Romney, according to a former political speechwriter. Two developments in the race — an improving economy and the reemergence of social issues — both work against Romney. Rick Santorum, the race’s biggest social conservative, tries his hand at economic populism in Michigan. Santorum races to a lead in the latest Michigan polls, helped in large part by blue-collar Democrats and independents, prompting a pro-Romney super PAC to plunk down another $500,000 for TV ads.
Joe Kennedy III hopes to raise $100,000 at a pair of Washington, DC, fundraisers hosted by former Kennedy staffers.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
Anthony Pangaro, the man now entrusted with driving the Filene’s redevelopment project in Boston, has been one of the city’s most prolific — and below the radar — developers, the Globe’s Casey Ross writes.
The SEC is investigating Wynn Resorts, the developer hoping to build a casino in Foxborough.
EDUCATION
Bristol Community College President John Sbrega is not pleased with Gov. Deval Patrick’s plan to centralize community colleges and says he and his fellow presidents were not consulted.
HEALTH CARE
Brockton city councilors voted unanimously to reject moving the city’s workers, who currently have a $5 copay and no deductible, into the state Group Insurance Commission despite facing a $12 million budget deficit. Meanwhile, the Bridgewater-Raynham School Committee voted to either join the GIC or design their own similar plan in an effort to save $1 million.
The Cape Cod Times takes note of the latest stats on health care coverage in Massachusetts and finds much to celebrate.
New purchasing cooperatives are allowing small businesses in the state to cut health care premiums for employees by as much as 20 percent, the Globe reports.
TRANSPORTATION
More than 400 people showed up at Boston meeting to protest proposed MBTA fare hikes and service cuts. The Herald reports that the meeting got rowdy, with attendees even jeering fare hike opponent Tom Menino.
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
NStar customers will see their gas heating bills drop by 9 percent because of falling natural gas prices, a rare in-season move by the utility.
A study by the University of Tennessee finds that electric cars may actually make the air quality worse, at least in China, where the 100 million electric cars are recharged using electricity mainly generated by burning coal. Via U.S. News & World Report.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
A November trial date is set for Whitey Bulger.
Two students at B.M.C. Durfee High School in Fall River were arrested and charged with possession and intent to distribute marijuana after one of the students became sick from eating a pot-laced cookie he bought from the other.
WHITNEY HOUSTON
In the wake of the apparent overdose death of pop icon Whitney Houston, Keller@Large wonders, is anyone safe from substance abuse?