The state's Public Records Law is in desperate need of repair, according to a group of panelists who discussed the law today at a State House forum sponsored by CommonWealth […]
Massachusetts Legislature
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
A Capital idea
John R. Schneider, MassINC's executive vice president, offers his take on the governor's FY 2010 budget: Included in the governor's FY2010 budget is a new approach to managing the state's […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
The tax horse is out of the revenue barn
Gov Deval Patrick, who rode into office on a promise of reducing property taxes, has come full circle on the T-word with the stark realities of the economy smacking him […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
New Mexico legislators fight for the right to doze through sessions
The New Mexico state legislature is reluctant to air its business on the Internet, and one lawmaker is refreshingly (or depressingly) frank about the reason. From the New Mexico Independent: […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Ka-ching: Delay pads DiMasi’s pension
Perhaps the revelation last week that relatives of House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi had their loans paid off by an indicted associate of the longtime North End pol was the straw that broke the […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
How much cutting is really going on?
The Legislature and the judiciary balked last week at letting Gov. Deval Patrick unilaterally cut their spending accounts, perhaps because they were concerned he would make real cuts in their budgets. […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Democrats pull a “Finneran” in Tennessee House
Last week Sal DiMasi sailed to another term as Speaker of the Massachusetts House, but there was a far more interesting leadership vote in Nashville yesterday. Republicans outnumber Democrats 50-49 […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Pension perk for lawmakers may finally be curbed, but where’s the wholesale fix?
After disgraced former state senator Jim Marzilli recently sought a special state pension, the Boston Globe ran a follow-up story reporting that more than a dozen former lawmakers have taken advantage of a […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Patrick’s narrow ethics focus
Gov. Deval Patrick's task force on public integrity today unveiled legislation to toughen the state's ethics and lobbying laws, but it shied away from broader, more radical measures to address why corruption always […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
Capital gains freefall
More spending cuts and new taxes will probably be necessary as state officials awaken to the potential for a sharp downturn in capital gains tax revenues this fiscal year and next year. At […]
Posted inEconomy, Environment, Politics, The Download
Greenway gets $2 million bailout to prevent “blight”
Seeking to prevent blight in downtown Boston, an economic development agency is plugging a $2 million hole in the budget of a private group about to take over management of the Rose Fitzgerald […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Creedon leaves Senate, laments shrinkage of House
At times, Friday's session of the Massachusetts Senate seemed like a revival of the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts, as members offered tributes to four departing members: Edward Augustus of Worcester, […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
Patrick losing control of transportation debate
Gov. Deval Patrick is quickly losing control of the debate over state transportation funding and management. The governor's vague proposal (spelled out in a Nov. 13 op-ed column) to abolish the Massachusetts […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Piecemeal toll hike
Gov. Deval Patrick says he wants to consolidate the state’s transportation agencies under one unified command, but he is preparing to pay for the services those agencies provide on a […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Old-school ways
Yesterday’s State House buzz centered on state Rep. David Flynn, the senior member of the House, who told reporters that five members have raised with him the idea that he […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Loyalty, ethics, virtue, and Wilkerson
Friday’s press conference by Gov. Deval Patrick to announce that he’s naming a special commission on ethics had an interesting moment. Although Patrick said a string of troubling cases involving […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Dianne Wilkerson’s long slide down
This morning’s arrest of state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson on extortion and wire fraud charges looks like the final chapter in a pitiful tale whose installments have come with almost predictable […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Wilkerson backers take the low road
Monday, October 27, 2008 Dianne Wilkerson is counting on a big turnout of black voters for Barack Obama to boost the desperate write-in campaign she’s waging after losing last month’s […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Finneran: I was playing a word game
By Colman M. Herman What do former House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran and former President Bill Clinton have in common? They both parsed their words under oath in a way […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, The Download
Channel tax anger at Dems?
Boston Globe columnist Joan Vennochi picks up today on our recent post highlighting the fact that Massachusetts ranks last in the country in contested races by major party candidates for […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Massachusetts ranks dead last in contested elections
Massachusetts, once known for its raucous politics, now ranks last in the nation in the percentage of voters with a choice as to who represents them in the State House. […]
