To read the headlines in the two Boston papers last week would lead one to think that government salaries are spiraling out of control: “More than 1,000 state employees get […]
Ethics and Open Government
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Probation trial won’t be pretty for Beacon Hill
Lawmakers on Beacon Hill looked like they got off easy in federal prosecutors’ investigation into corruption at the state Probation Department. But as former probation boss John O’Brien heads to […]
Posted inPolitics
Possible Probation witness lists filed
Defense Witness List Prosecution Witness List The prosecution and defense teams in the federal corruption trial of former Probation commissioner John J. O’Brien on Tuesday filed lists of people they […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Grassroots democracy or insider politics?
The state Democratic Party’s rule requiring a candidates for governor to get 15 percent of the delegate votes at the state convention in order to appear on the primary ballot […]
Posted inPolitics
Lawmakers get immunity
Lawyers for former Probation commissioner John O’Brien revealed that a number of state legislators have been granted immunity by federal prosecutors in exchange for their testimony in the one-time powerful […]
Posted inEnvironment, The Download
Spreading the green to fight climate change opponents
Liberal angst greeted Citizens United, the 2010 Supreme Court decision that opened up massive outside spending in federal, state and local politics. As big money becomes more deeply entrenched in […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
House rules
The Massachusetts House expelled Rep. Carlos Henriquez of Boston on Thursday because the representatives couldn’t tolerate having a colleague who was serving time in jail for assault and battery against […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The whirling revolving door
What do you call a long-time congressional staff member? A chump. Lawrence Lessig , the Harvard law professor who has been on a crusade against the corrupting influence of money […]
Posted inThe Download
Tsarnaev and the death penalty
Attorney General Eric Holder approved a motion for prosecutors to seek the death penalty for alleged Boston Marathon bomber Dzokhar Tsarnaev, triggering an emotional debate inside Massachusetts about the ethics […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
Panagiotakos’s lobbying fees soar
Steven Panagiotakos, once one of the state’s most respected lawmakers, is quickly becoming one of Beacon Hill’s top lobbyists. Records on file with the Secretary of State’s office indicate Panagiotakos’s […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
Lynn police cleared in fatal shooting
The Essex District Attorney says the fatal shooting of an Iraqi war veteran in September by Lynn police was justified because the man, Denis Reynoso, had grabbed an officer’s gun […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
Henriquez, in cuffs, testifies at State House
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICEWith his lawyer asserting his innocence and suggesting the all-white jury that convicted him was not a “jury of his peers,” incarcerated state Rep. Carlos Henriquez was […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Probation listicles all the rage
Lawyers for embattled former Probation Department chief John O’Brien have long claimed that the federal racketeering case against the one-time Beacon Hill fixer represents an attempt to criminalize patronage. They’ve […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Back Story
Meade sought legal advice on Red Sox invite
On June 25, 2012, Peter Meade got to do what most Boston fans only dream of doing: He filled in as the public address announcer at Fenway Park as the […]
Posted inPolitics
Ethics Commission revises conflict law
State Sen. Dan Wolf can keep his day job. The State Ethics Commission today finalized a change in regulations that will allow officials at the state and local level who […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
How the data were gathered
It wasn’t easy assembling the data for this report. No one agency or office compiles a comprehensive list of instances when police use deadly force, so CommonWealth gathered the information […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
Clearing the cops
FROM THE TINY TOWN of Colrain at the Vermont border to the siren-pierced streets of Boston, state and local police have shot and killed 73 people across Massachusetts over the […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Ethics rules require Crosby recusal
The Boston Globe published stories on November 21 and December 8 revealing that Steve Crosby, chairman of the Gaming Commission, had a previous seven-year business partnership with Paul Lohnes, part-owner […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
¡Arriba Lantigua!
“Who are you?” Lawrence Mayor William Lantigua is not happy to see a reporter in his downtown campaign headquarters, much less one who has dropped in unannounced and is busy […]
Posted inPolitics
A change in ethics
The State Ethics Commission on Monday proposed making it easier for business owners to run for or hold public office in Massachusetts, allowing executives to retain their stake in a […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
Political friends – with benefits
When the Massachusetts Legislature passed its highly touted Ethics Reform Act in 2009, tucked inside was a change to the law that allows elected officials to set up funds separate […]
Posted inEconomy, Opinion, Politics
To be or not to BRA: Is that the question?
During the mayoral primary, the future of the Boston Redevelopment Authority emerged as a hot topic, and rightly so, as the BRA touches on our lives in so many ways. […]
Posted inPolitics
Wolf gets ethics stay but gov run in doubt
The state Ethics Commission voted to formulate some changes in the conflict of interest law that would allow state Sen. Dan Wolf and other lawmakers with private business interests to […]
Posted inPolitics
Heavy hitters go to bat for Wolf
State Sen. Dan Wolf has lined up nearly a dozen big guns, including former judges, top prosecutors, and ethics experts, to persuade the Ethics Commission to change the rules to […]
