Permanent mail-in voting is now the law in Massachusetts – unless Republican Party chair Jim Lyons has his way. The conservative GOP chair filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Judicial […]
Elections
Posted inCourts, State Government
MassGOP challenges vote-by-mail law
PERMANENT MAIL-IN voting is now the law in Massachusetts – unless Republican Party chair Jim Lyons has his way. The conservative GOP chair filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Judicial […]
Posted inPolitics
Bucking party, Baker makes vote-by-mail permanent
DESPITE CONCERNS by members of his own party, Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, signed a law Wednesday making voting by mail permanent. Massachusetts allowed early voting by mail for the […]
Posted inPolitics
SJC approves millionaire tax ballot summary
THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT on Wednesday decided that the summary of a ballot question raising taxes on income over $1 million can go forward as written, stating that the money […]
Posted inOpinion
We’re playing catch-up on democracy in Mass.
EVERYWHERE WE TURN, America faces existential threats to our democracy. Voting rights. Economic downturn. Candidates for office from local municipalities to the highest in the land suggest that election results […]
Posted inOpinion
I want to live my life the way I want
I GOT MY KIDS off to school the other day. I made some deliveries with DoorDash. I ran some errands, made some more deliveries, went home for a bit, picked […]
Posted inThe Download
Where does battle over app drivers go now?
Forget November 2022. It will likely be a long time before Uber and Lyft drivers get certainty about their employment status in Massachusetts. Today, drivers are considered independent contractors, but […]
Posted inHealth Care
SJC lets dental insurance question proceed to ballot
THE NOVEMBER BALLOT is coming into focus as the Supreme Judicial Court on Wednesday ruled that a question regulating dental insurance can proceed to the ballot. The ballot question would […]
Posted inPolitics
Where does battle over app drivers go now?
FORGET NOVEMBER 2022. It will likely be a long time before Uber and Lyft drivers get certainty about their employment status in Massachusetts. Today, drivers are considered independent contractors, but […]
Posted inPolitics
Auditor candidates both claiming to be outsiders
THE TWO DEMOCRATIC candidates for state auditor are both claiming to be the outsider in the race and insisting they have the edge heading toward the September primary. Chris Dempsey, […]
Posted inThe Download
Auditor candidates both claiming to be outsiders
The two Democratic candidates for state auditor are both claiming to be the outsider in the race and insisting they have the edge heading toward the September primary. Chris Dempsey, […]
Posted inPolitics
More than half of lawmakers face no challenger this year
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE MOST MASSACHUSETTS state lawmakers will stroll into another term in office unopposed, poised to face no declared opponents in both the September 6 primary and November […]
Posted inOpinion
GOP’s Amore says his opponents are not ‘evil’
TWENTY YEARS AGO, Charles Krauthammer famously said of the divide between the right and the left that “Conservatives think liberals are stupid. Liberals think conservatives are evil.” This, he claimed, […]
Posted inOpinion
Liability not an issue with rideshare ballot question
MASSACHUSETTS VOTERS this fall may be asked to decide, through a proposed ballot question, whether app-based rideshare and delivery drivers are independent contractors with unprecedented flexibility and substantial benefits. The […]
Posted inOpinion
Rideshare ballot question could affect non-drivers
MUCH OF THE DEBATE over the app-based-driver initiative petition has focused on how it would affect the drivers themselves. As important as those issues are, there is another aspect that […]
Posted inThe Download
SJC will consider challenges to all four ballot questions
State law lays out the steps needed to file an initiative petition to put a question before voters on the state ballot: get certified by the attorney general, collect signatures, […]
Posted inPolitics
SJC will consider challenges to all four ballot questions
STATE LAW lays out the steps needed to file an initiative petition to put a question before voters on the state ballot: get certified by the attorney general, collect signatures, […]
Posted inPolitics
Chang-Diaz turns forum with Healey into a debate
DEMOCRATIC GUBERNATORIAL candidate Sonia Chang-Diaz, frustrated in her attempts to negotiate a pre-convention, one-on-one debate with her rival Maura Healey, used a Wednesday night forum on climate change to accentuate […]
Posted inPolitics
Healey climate plan calls for cabinet czar
DEMOCRATIC GUBERNATORIAL candidate Maura Healey began to flesh out her policy positions on Tuesday by unveiling a climate change plan that calls for the appointment of cabinet-level official to oversee […]
Posted inThe Download
Bump says auditor cannot audit Legislature
Back in 2010, the last time the state auditor’s job was up for grabs, CommonWealth went out on the hustings to see what the candidates were talking about. It turned […]
Posted inPolitics
Bump says auditor cannot audit Legislature
BACK IN 2010, the last time the state auditor’s job was up for grabs, CommonWealth went out on the hustings to see what the candidates were talking about. It turned […]
Posted inOpinion
DiZoglio vows to audit the Legislature if elected auditor
I WAS DISAPPOINTED by Bruce Mohl’s recent post in CommonWealth magazine relative to the Massachusetts auditor’s race entitled, “Standing up campaign promises of auditor candidates.” A more fitting title might […]
Posted inPolitics
Chang-Diaz, Healey wrangling over debates
THE TWO DEMOCRATIC gubernatorial candidates continued to wrangle over debates on Thursday, with Attorney General Maura Healey agreeing to two debates after the convention in June and Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz […]
Posted inPolitics
Standing up campaign promises of auditor candidates
THE CANDIDATES for auditor, particularly the two Democrats, make the office seem pretty sexy. Chris Dempsey, a leading transportation advocate who previously led the successful fight to prevent the Olympics […]