GOV. CHARLIE BAKER suggested for the first time Monday that he may lift the COVID-19 state of emergency at the same time as he allows businesses to fully reopen, which is now scheduled for August 1. Baker said his administration is still figuring out various issues around the emergency order, which has allowed him to put in place a wide range of […]
Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance
Posted inPolitics
Supreme Court declines to take up corporate spending appeal
THE US SUPREME COURT has declined to hear an appeal to a ruling upholding the state’s ban on corporate donations to political candidates. Monday’s decision by the nation’s highest court could spell the end of the road for the legal effort to loosen Massachusetts campaign finance rules by granting corporations the ability to donate to […]
Posted inThe Download
The Codcast: The campaign money man
Michael Sullivan follows the money. Sullivan is the director of the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance, which monitors and publicizes how candidates for office in Massachusetts raise and spend their campaign cash. He makes sure politicians follow the rules, and in some cases he has to set the rules. He recently proposed a […]
Posted inOpinion
Like it or not, campaign regs changed for the better
LAST JANUARY, the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance (OCPF) proposed revisions to many of their existing campaign finance regulations. While most of the proposed changes were minor and technical in nature, several had potentially substantial and serious repercussions for non-profit organizations of all types across the state. Of particular note were the changes […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
“Dark money” on the right
First came the news last month that Gov. Charlie Baker was raising big bucks from Republican honchos — some $300,000 in all — to win seats for his allies on the Republican State Committee, but did not have to disclose the donors because these were intraparty elections. Then the Globe reported earlier this month on […]