Boston magazine’s David Bernstein did journalism a favor this week. The web was aflame over a Massachusetts bill that purported to forbid a person seeking a divorce from having sex […]
Massachusetts Legislature
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Republican candidates hiding in plain sight
It’s been a generation or two since the GOP in Massachusetts – the so-called Saltonstall, Sargent, and Lodge Republicans who would now be termed RINOs on the national stage – […]
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, 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
House panel backs Henriquez expulsion
THE HOUSE ETHICS COMMITTEE issues a report setting the stage for a Thursday vote to expel Rep. Carlos Henriquez from the body. The committee voted 9-1 that House Speaker Robert […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Bay State is a bottom-dweller on budget planning
What do Massachusetts and Alabama have in common? They both are lousy at using the best tools available to craft state budgets. That news may come as a shock to […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics, State House News Service, The Download
Political fallout from Jeremiah Oliver case
Gov. Deval Patrick pronounced the state of the Commonwealth “strong,” but the state of the Department of Children and Families is anything but. Patrick won’t be able to revel in […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Beacon Hill exodus
Despite comfortable perches on Beacon Hill, state lawmakers are fleeing the Legislature at a fast clip. Leading the outmigration are several top lieutenants to House Speaker Robert DeLeo. Lynn Democrat […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Sex and politics
Most people who followed the day-to-day coverage of the trial of state Rep. Carlos Henriquez were confused. Katherine Gonsalves, the college student who accused Henriquez of hitting her when she […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Katherine Clark takes the fifth
State Sen. Katherine Clark’s victory in the crowded Democratic primary field almost assuredly fast tracks her to Washington, DC, just in time to cope with the fallout from the creep […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Gabriel Gomez’s Etch A Sketch moment?
Former Senate candidate Gabriel Gomez insists his conversion from staunchly defending an absolute Second Amendment right to bear arms to now supporting an assault weapons ban and limiting magazine sizes […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
DeLeo’s legal tab
House Speaker Robert DeLeo has long denied being a target of the federal investigation into the state’s corrupt probation department. But it’s hard to look at DeLeo’s most recent campaign […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
State GOP looks to 2014
The state’s Democrats kicked off their gubernatorial hunt last week with a convention in Lowell. The Republican answer came more quietly, in the form of a meeting and conference call […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Walsh shifting to Patrick’s PAC
John Walsh is stepping down this fall as the head of the Massachusetts Democratic Party and taking the reins of Gov. Deval Patrick’s political action committee, Together PAC. The story […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
Patrick’s bewildering tax standoff
If you’re confused about the tax standoff on Beacon Hill, you’re not alone. Gov. Deval Patrick is going to the mat with legislative leaders over the mere possibility that transportation […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics, The Download
Lyme disease wars
Warm weather is finally here and so begins the season for summer barbeques, long days on the beach, warm evening strolls — and Lyme disease. When it comes to the […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Senate transparency moves — better than nothing (and House)
The Massachusetts Senate stepped gingerly into the digital age last week. And when the chamber arrived in the future, or at least a version of the future from several years […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
The agita of agendas
It’s the time of year – actually, every other year – that the haughty process of setting agendas is at the forefront. It’s a period of high-mindedness, hope, promise, and […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
DiMasi appeal runs on Dunkin’
In the end, with Sal DiMasi, it all comes back to Dunkin’ Donuts.William Cintolo, the lawyer who unsuccessfully defended former House Speaker Sal DiMasi against federal corruption charges, is a […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics, The Download
Weighing the Legislature’s containment strategy
Health care reform in Massachusetts has never been just about Massachusetts. It wasn’t when Mitt Romney, Robert Travaglini and Sal DiMasi pushed through a blueprint for national universal health care, […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Gov. Patrick and the tale of two bills
If the end of the General Court’s 187th session precipitated a chaotic though predictable scramble to move the session’s most consequential bills, it was an even more challenging time for […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Legislature loses track of time
Two years ago, the Legislature slept on a ticking clock and paid the price. Lawmakers put off priority legislation, their prized casino bill, until the last possible moment, as is […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Sympathy for Sal
Former House speaker Sal DiMasi’s tragic story of failing to get prompt treatment from prison officials for tongue cancer is touching off a wave of sympathy, but it’s unclear whether […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Death by a thousand transportation studies
When in doubt, study is the default strategy of Massachusetts lawmakers when it comes to dealing with prickly issues like transportation finance. Rep. Dan Winslow attempted to slaughter a sacred […]