A Few Quibbles About Clean Elections

Of course it’s true that the system of getting elected to public office in this country, if you step back and think about it, is insane. For a candidate to […]

Mackerel by Moonlight By William F. Weld Simon & Schuster, New York, 1998, 238 pages William Floyd Weld, as we all know, has led a charmed upper-crust life. He likes […]

Kevin Sowyrda calls from his car phone to say he’s giving up. He’s tired of being “stalked.” He’ll do the interview. He’ll be right over. Sowyrda, who is probably the […]

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts JOURNAL OF THE HOUSE Thursday, April 31, 1998 Met according to adjournment, at eleven o’clock A.M. in a Full Formal Session. Prayer was offered by the […]

There is little about John W. Sears that suggests a thoroughly modern man. From the Gilbert & Sullivan references dropped into conversation, to the books aligned on the top of […]

A group of investors is clamoring to lower the taxes they pay. There’s nothing new here; wealthy people and businesses are always trying to shift the tax burden onto working […]

Is it fair that Massachusetts penalizes you for saving? At 12 percent, the tax on investment income is double the rate on wages and salaries, and is the highest tax […]

When Acting Gov. Paul Cellucci sent his budget proposal to the Legislature earlier this year, it represented a politician’s picture of paradise. The economic boom has lifted state revenues to […]

What do Bob Vila, Paul Theroux, and David Magnani have in common? No, they have not appeared together in “This Old House,” on the cover of The Mosquito Coast, or […]

He may be remembered best for his bill requiring dogs to wear diapers. But Rosaire Rajotte has pitched 685 other legislative proposals to clean up the Commonwealth. The retired maintenance […]

“This next case is my worst nightmare,” says Hampden County Superior Court probation officer Lorna Burt as she steers her Nissan Pathfinder off the main drag onto a side road […]

Earlier this year, I paid a visit to state Senator Richard Tisei in his wood-paneled office on the third floor of the State House. Tisei is one of the newer […]

I. A woman is shot in Springfield Shortly after midnight near the end of 1994, Juan Rosado left a Springfield house party carrying a loaded gun. The tatooed teenager belonged […]

The 32-year-old Roslindale woman, a former addict who had been arrested a year ago for heroin possession, stepped to the front of the crowded Mattapan courtroom for her weekly hearing […]

What is the point in having state legislators? What, if anything, do people expect from them? The author Alan Rosenthal tells of a Massachusetts state senator (unnamed!) who said he […]

The Decline of Representative Democracy: Process, Participation, and Power in State Legislatures By Alan Rosenthal CQ Press, Washington, D.C., 1998, 369 pages. There can’t be more than a cloakroomful of […]

How much does character matter in a president? Bill Clinton’s many ethical entanglements have made his presidency a running debate on the link between private character and public leadership. While […]

BELCHERTOWN — It wasn’t hard to see that Bernie Kubiak was ready to take a vacation from local politics. He had yet to announce that he would not run for […]

Massachusetts is above the national average in turnover among state Senators, but is lower than average in the House. A term limits law was approved by the voters in 1994 […]

Little noticed in President Clinton’s 1998 budget is the provision for Urban Ultra Empowerment Zones (UUEZ) — a master plan of tax credits, subsidies, grants, and loan guarantees targeted to […]

Massachusetts is a place full of professors, but it’s hard to think of one who has had more influence on state government in recent years than Harvard Business School Professor […]