STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE FORMER STATE Sen. Dean Tran was indicted Friday by a Suffolk County grand jury and charged with two counts of violating state ethics laws, Attorney General […]
Ethics and Open Government
Posted inGovernment, State House News Service
Arroyo pays $3,000 in ethics case
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE BOSTON CITY Councilor Ricardo Arroyo has paid a $3,000 civil penalty and admitted to violating the conflict of interest law by continuing to represent his brother […]
Posted inOpinion
Getting business and government on the same page
WE LIVE in an era of tough and intractable problems, ranging from climate change and racial and income inequality, to an alarming erosion of trust in all our institutions and […]
Posted inUncategorized
Woburn case among most egregious in Open Meeting Law report
ATTORNEY GENERAL Maura Healey on Monday released a report summarizing her efforts to enforce the state’s Open Meeting Law last year, with one of the most egregious offenses occurring in […]
Posted inPolitics
Lawmakers eat away at transparency
WE’RE PRETTY SURE it’s not what our friends at State House News Service had in mind when they dubbed their weekly podcast “State House Takeout.” And if lawmakers haven’t budged on […]
Posted inThe Download
Lawmakers eat away at transparency
We’re pretty sure it’s not what our friends at State House News Service had in mind when they dubbed their weekly podcast “State House Takeout.” And if lawmakers haven’t budged […]
Posted inPolitics
Transparency sacrificed with consolidated amendments
BACK IN JANUARY, the House Democratic caucus gathered to nominate Rep. Robert DeLeo for another term as speaker. There was no question that DeLeo had the votes, but a small […]
Posted inThe Download
Transparency sacrificed with consolidated amendments
Back in January, the House Democratic caucus gathered to nominate Rep. Robert DeLeo for another term as speaker. There was no question that DeLeo had the votes, but a small […]
Posted inPolitics
Heroux repurposing mayoral emails for campaign
ATTLEBORO MAYOR PAUL HEROUX, in what may be a violation of the state’s conflict of interest law, is pulling the addresses off the emails he receives in his official mayoral […]
Posted inPolitics
Chandler no longer “acting”
SENATE DEMOCRATS AGREED to remove the “acting” title from Senate President Harriette Chandler for the remainder of the year before holding an election for a new president, deciding the storm […]
Posted inThe Download
Troopergate gets more tangled
The mess in the State Police seems to be getting messier. The head of the department, Col. Richard McKeon, abruptly retired last week in the face of controversy over his […]
Posted inPolitics
Pushing ranked choice with beer (and pie)
AMERICANS ARE ALL too familiar with the divisive saga of the 2016 presidential contest, but few are aware of the quiet revolution that blossomed in Maine and is now taking flight […]
Posted inThe Back Story
Rep joins unenrolled in-crowd
Rep. Susannah Whipps joined the political in-crowd this week, switching her party registration from Republican to unenrolled. Statewide, unenrolled voters – those not affiliated with any political party – are taking over. They […]
Posted inThe Download
Hating on the haters
Boston is no place for hate – and we’ll beat you and isolate you to prove it. Message sent, message received. From elected officials to the 15,000 to 40,000 demonstrators […]
Posted inThe Download
Trump’s disruptive power
Donald Trump signed 42 executive orders in his first 200 days as president. By comparison, Barack Obama, who Trump criticized for signing too many, averaged 35 executive orders a year […]
Posted inThe Download
Catching up with inaccuracy
In an editorial on Thursday, the Metrowest Daily News unloaded on President Trump for his embarrassing stance on climate change, which the newspaper said prompted scientists to leak a draft […]
Posted inThe Back Story
Does web browsing leave a public record?
THE STATE’S SUPERVISOR of public records says a state employee’s web browsing history is a public record, and has asked Attorney General Maura Healey to order the Baker administration to […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics, The Download
How a health care bill becomes a law
While all eyes yesterday were on the Senate hearing where Attorney General Jeff Sessions was testifying, some actual legislating is taking place in Washington — or so we are led […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Opening the gate
Former FBI director James Comey now joins the growing ranks of law enforcement officials fired by President Trump, alongside former acting Attorney General Sally Yates and Preet Bharara, the former […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The Codcast: Probation, patronage, and power struggles
Patronage, no matter how blatant or unsavory, is not a crime. At least that’s what a federal appeals court ruled recently in overturning the convictions of former Probation commissioner Jack […]
Posted inPolitics
Baker public records stance referred to Healey
THE STATE’S SUPERVISOR OF PUBLIC RECORDS said Gov. Charlie Baker failed to comply with an administrative order to produce documents and referred the matter to Attorney General Maura Healey for […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
For Arroyo, probate job no soft landing pad
This wasn’t how the story was supposed to end. When Felix Arroyo was elected Suffolk County Register of Probate in 2014, the former Boston city councilor was supposed to sail […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
Finneran loses pension appeal
THE STATE’S HIGHEST COURT has rejected an appeal by former House speaker Thomas Finneran to reinstate his pension, saying the one-time legislative leader’s lies during testimony in a federal lawsuit […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
1984? Try 10 years earlier
Critics of President Donald Trump’s 26-day tenure liken it to an Orwellian world, where “alternative facts” and “fake news” mean the opposite of what we’ve always believed. But with the […]