CriticalMass

• Happy Thanksgiving from Governor Patrick!

  Number of comments: 0
  Are you an employer in Massachusetts? One of the steadfast few toughing it out here in the Commonwealth? Well, Governor Patrick is sending a real turkey of a proposal your way, just in time for Thanksgiving.
  
  Globe headline: Health pushes firms' tax up - State to double levy' [...]
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  Posted: November 26, 2009, 10:16am EST
  by Dan

• Wow - that's LOW (Governor Patrick's latest poll numbers)

  Number of comments: 0
  The latest Rasmussen Reports tracking poll on the MA gubernatorial race is out, and man-oh-man is it ugly for Governor Patrick. Whole thing here. Here are some highlights:
  

  With businessman Christy Mihos as the GOP gubernatorial candidate, Patrick captures 32% of the vote. Independent candidate Tim Cahill gets [...]

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  Posted: November 25, 2009, 11:46am EST
  by Dan

• Is that a rhetorical question?

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  How's this for a headline: "Fox Undercover: State Authority Wasting Money?"
  
  Isn't that a rhetorical question? State authorities waste money - it's practically a statutory obligation. Some are worse than others, of course. The late, great Massachusetts Turnpike Authority leaps to mind (and yes, much of the waste' [...]
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  Posted: November 24, 2009, 11:27am EST
  by Dan

• Transportation reform rhetoric belied by reality

  Number of comments: 0
  I've had a busy couple of weeks, during which time I have repeatedly intended to fire off a missive about the increasingly ugly political spectacle that has become of Governor Patrick's ballyhooed transportation reform. Each time I've realized I did not have the time to do the subject justice, since [...]
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  Posted: November 23, 2009, 9:20am EST
  by Dan

• Like sands through the hourglass

  Number of comments: 0
  So are the hours of the Massachusetts Legislature.
  
  I'm running this morning, and so will give short shrift to a topic that could easily consume my morning.
  
  As I mentioned yesterday, Massachusetts' most recent legislative session - which saw massive tax hikes, cuts to basic services and [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 7:49am EST
  by Dan

• Meanwhile, to our south

  Number of comments: 0
  This little tid-bit from the State House News seems so far to have been missed by the major media. But it should be of interest to anyone pondering casinos as a means to budgetary salvation here in Massachusetts:
  Foxwoods Resort Casino, the Connecticut facility eyed by Bay State policymakers as [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 8:24am EST
  by Dan

• Keep your stinkin' hands off our holidays!

  Number of comments: 1
  Today is a big day - the last day of the current Massachusetts Legislative session. Bet you didn't know that, did you? Hardly anyone does.
  
  Consistent with a long tradition of faithful procrastination in our legislature, a lot has been going on these last few days. Yesterday the Senate' [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 7:53am EST
  by Dan

• Another dopey "no cost" proposal

  Number of comments: 1
  Recall about a month ago that Massachusetts House Speaker Bob DeLeo instructed his Members to bring to him proposals that 'don't cost anything,' so that the Legislature - which has spent every single available dollar and more - could continue to give at least the appearance of worthwhile activity.' [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2009, 8:08am EST
  by Dan

• Monday Morning Miscellany

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  Massachusetts Lawmakers Working Second Jobs. Fox 25 Boston reports this morning on a number of Massachusetts legislators whose 'second jobs' might pose conflicts with their obligations as members of the Legislature with influence over the state budget. While I agree that several of the examples highlighted by Fox raise [...]
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  Posted: November 16, 2009, 11:13am EST
  by Dan

• More Breaking News from the Land of Duh

  Number of comments: 0
  From the front page of today's Boston Globe blares this banner headline: "Stimulus fund job boost in state exaggerated, review finds." It might as well read, "Stimulus fund job boost exaggerated, common sense says." Or, from another angle, "Bureaucrats and politicians exaggerate when big money on table, review finds."[...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2009, 9:15am EST
  by Dan

• In case you missed it

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  Joan Vennochi's latest, passed along for your edification - no further comment necessary.' [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2009, 11:06am EST
  by Dan

• "Fair share": the tax hike advocate's favorite non-argument

  Number of comments: 1
  These days, with everyone feeling the pinch and political Independents (and even many Democrats) turning on the tax-and-spenders at all levels of government, it is easy to forget that there are smart, well-intentioned and civically engaged people out there who still argue explicitly and openly for higher taxes. I ran [...]
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  Posted: November 08, 2009, 10:23pm EST
  by Dan

• Grants and targeted incentives are no match for escalating costs

  Number of comments: 0
  The Globe has an important story tucked away in the "green living" portion of its Lifestyle section today.
  
  "Evergreen shifts work to China," sub-titled "solar panels won't be assembled at Devens factory."
  
  Yet another company moving operations (and jobs) out of Massachusetts. But this particular story is' [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 11:18am EST
  by Dan

• What NOT to do.

  Number of comments: 0
  For political aspirants, there are two, related lessons in this Globe article about the trials and tribulations of the Christy Mihos campaign:
  
  (1) If you need to part ways with your campaign spokesman, best to do it in a friendly way, preferably yourself. Do not have someone else [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 8:13am EST
  by Dan

• The (fifth? sixth?) Cut is the Deepest

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  Much is written this morning about the latest round of budget cuts proposed by Governor Patrick yesterday.  The specifics seem, as usual, to be blurry.  The initial round of coverage reported 2,000 state jobs to be cut.  Then Patrick's chief budget adviser pegged the number at 1,000.  The Globe' [...]
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  Posted: October 30, 2009, 9:49am EDT
  by Dan

• Check out this new site

  Number of comments: 0
  Take a moment to check out American Maggie, a new political website "for conservative and Republican women to share their views online about politics and public policy."  (The name is a clever reference to Margaret Thatcher, by the way).
  
  In a very early stage, there is already quite [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2009, 6:13pm EDT
  by Dan

• Grab your wallet - here they come again.

  Number of comments: 0
  You've probably heard or read somewhere relatively recently that, having hiked the state sales tax by 25% earlier this year, the Beacon Hill Democrats were laying off the tax hikes for a while. Well, according to a dispatch from the State House News Service this evening, you heard wrong: [...]
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  Posted: October 28, 2009, 5:23pm EDT
  by Dan

• Sure, but what about immmigration?

  Number of comments: 0
  Plenty has been written about last night's Democratic Senatorial debate. Many have observed that the candidates were virtually indistinguishable on the issues, and demonstrated equal skill at avoiding the questions they were asked. That tendency struck me, of course. But what I found most amusing in an otherwise hum-drum' [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 6:11pm EDT
  by Dan

• Unions say "jump!" Dems say, "how high?"

  Number of comments: 0
  This article from the Springfield Republican out in Western Mass provides a hilarious-yet-troubling example of the lengths to which some Massachusetts Democratic state legislators will go to appease the Commonwealth's powerful union bosses. Here's the meat of it:
  A pledge to site a casino in Western Massachusetts, taken by [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 9:26am EDT
  by Dan

• Charlie Baker: a refreshing contrast

  Number of comments: 0
  I was at a Charlie Baker event a couple of weeks back. Following Charlie's long, detailed, no-notes speech and a Q&A session that lasted over 20 minutes and featured not a single ducked question, most of the comments I heard coming out of the event focused on the substance' [...]
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  Posted: October 26, 2009, 5:45pm EDT
  by Dan

• Hitting close to home now

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  It is easy to look down one's nose at the liberal on the Cape who drives a Prius but opposes Cape Wind, or the guy in New Bedford who gripes about the high cost of home heating, but would tie his body to a piling before allowing a new LNG' [...]
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  Posted: October 23, 2009, 9:46am EDT
  by Dan

• Cynicism Watch!

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  Coakley: E-mail probe will not be completed before mayoral election.
  
  Go figure!
  
  Of course it does not really matter that the Attorney General (who by the way is running for US Senate) waited until the 11th hour to get involved in the Boston email investigation, [...]
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  Posted: October 22, 2009, 5:09pm EDT
  by Dan

• Not the strongest argument she's ever made

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  In an address yesterday to the Massachusetts Bar Association, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Margaret Marshall urged attorneys to contact the governor and their legislators to argue against further cuts to the state judiciary's budget. In so doing she made an argument that might strike more than a few' [...]
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  Posted: October 22, 2009, 12:01pm EDT
  by Dan

• Bluffing and bloviating

  Number of comments: 1
  The Worcester Telegram & Gazette has an excellent editorial this morning, entitled Who's Bluffing?, about Governor Patrick's latest pledge to make the cuts necessary to get the state budget under control.
  
  The reference to "bluffing" in the title refers to Governor Patrick's threat to cut up to' [...]
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  Posted: October 20, 2009, 9:58am EDT
  by Dan

• A tiny minority within the Supermajority

  Number of comments: 1
  Yvonne Abraham's piece in the Globe this morning is worth reading, for two reasons: (1) it gives belated and well-deserved kudos to seven (seven!) "brave souls" - Massachusetts House Democrats who, at great professional risk, stood on principle last January and voted against Sal DiMasi for Speaker. And' [...]
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  Posted: October 18, 2009, 8:40am EDT
  by Dan

• Sal is not just about Sal - and he's not old news

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  Yesterday during my commute I listened to WBZ radio's report on the new indictment of former Speaker Sal DiMasi, this time for extortion, as well as related new charges concerning a secret financial interest he had in a building management company that sought and received state contracts. As it' [...]
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  Posted: October 15, 2009, 1:55pm EDT
  by Dan

• Why don't we just put up signs at the borders? "Business: KEEP OUT!"

  Number of comments: 0
  A common convention in Western movies is the sign post at the edge of town, warning ruffians, rustlers, road crews and other ne'er-do-wells to keep out.
  
  The front page of today's Globe is the modern day equivalent of those sign post, telling employers, entrepreneurs, small businesses and other engines [...]
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  Posted: October 13, 2009, 4:12pm EDT
  by Dan

• Another great argument for a part-time legislature

  Number of comments: 1
  This delightful blurb comes from the State House News' Weekly Roundup (read the whole thing - it's a good one):
  So, what do they do now, with no money to spend? That was the question posed in DeLeo's office Tuesday when the speaker met with senior leadership and committee' [...]
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  Posted: October 12, 2009, 9:03am EDT
  by Dan

• From the really bad guess file

  Number of comments: 0
  Globe headline today: "Unicycling may catch on in carbon-conscious world." Um... yeah. Pardon me if I do not rush out to buy stock in the local unicycle manufacturer. But that is not the worst guess making news today.
  
  The latest estimate of this year's state revenue shortfall' [...]
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  Posted: October 09, 2009, 9:42am EDT
  by Dan

• Take the time to read - and share - this

  Number of comments: 0
  Gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker has posted the first of what will become many policy missives here, on his campaign website. Styled as a series of responses to "the top 10 questions" Charlie has heard during his first weeks of campaigning, the essay gives more common sense, detailed policy prescriptions [...]
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  Posted: October 08, 2009, 11:51am EDT
  by Dan

• What a tangled web (Mayors and AGs and Congressmen, oh my!)

  Number of comments: 0
  The Boston Globe's editors provide a nice capsule summary of the email mess roiling Boston City Hall - and of the case for a long-overdue takeover of the investigation by legitimate law enforcement. Unbelievably, weeks into a scandal that seemingly gets worse every couple of days, the "investigation"' [...]
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  Posted: October 07, 2009, 8:26am EDT
  by Dan

• Innocent until proven guilty... in court, anyhow.

  Number of comments: 1
  Innocent until proven guilty and all of that. But based only on the facts in this Globe article, I have a hard time thinking of too many conclusions to which one could safely jump beyond the obvious one.
  
  It will be interesting to see how this plays out, [...]
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  Posted: October 06, 2009, 9:44am EDT
  by Dan

• More Stimulus Baloney

  Number of comments: 0
  The front page of this morning's Globe blares: "State lags badly on stimulus spending." The thrust of the article comes in the first two paragraphs:
  Massachusetts is almost dead last among states in spending federal economic stimulus money for transportation projects, prompting a powerful congressman to sharply rebuke Governor' [...]
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  Posted: October 03, 2009, 9:30am EDT
  by Dan

• Friday afternoon miscellany

  Number of comments: 0
  So President Obama is finally coming to Massachusetts to do some fund raising for his friend, Governor Patrick. Patrick's political committee released the following statement today (annotated with hyperlinks, to emphasize the 'Iraqi Information Minister-like' quality of the dispatch):
  The Governor’s commitment to our best-in-the-nation public schools and [...]
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  Posted: October 02, 2009, 2:31pm EDT
  by Dan

• Hmmmm... where have I heard that before...?

  Number of comments: 0
  Fox News Boston wonders if Governor Patrick is really planning to run for re-election. I feel like I've read that before somewhere, a while ago...
  
  Fox also reports on Charlie Baker's very impressive fundraising results for the month of September. Between Charlie's fast start and Patrick's anemic' [...]
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  Posted: October 01, 2009, 10:28am EDT
  by Dan

• Sometimes the obvious explanation is the correct one

  Number of comments: 1
  The front page of today's Globe bears more bad economic news for Massachusetts, just days after offering an upbeat assessment of the state's prospects for recovery. It seems state revenues (tax collections, primarily) have come in a few hundred million dollars below projections as of the close of [...]
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  Posted: September 29, 2009, 9:20am EDT
  by Dan

• A useful political yardstick

  Number of comments: 0
  Occasionally life provides us with a useful and unexpected yardstick - an event that we can use to more precisely measure, and therefore appreciate, something that we have always perceived but have not previously been able to quantify with any real precision. Like a September trip to Florida that makes [...]
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  Posted: September 26, 2009, 9:05am EDT
  by Dan

• Spock, Sulu and Scotty were unavailable

  Number of comments: 0
  Kirk to be named interim Senator.
  
  There is only one appropriate response to the blatant abuse of power exhibited by Beacon Hill Democrats this week.
  
  Actually, there are two. The other is to vote out some of these folks come next November. [...]
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  Posted: September 24, 2009, 10:26am EDT
  by Dan

• He needs a new line if he's going to run for Governor

  Number of comments: 0
  With every bit of media attention focused on the legislative maneuvering over an interim replacement for Senator Kennedy and the Governor himself mostly holed up in Western Mass recovering from hip surgery, one could almost forget recently that the Patrick Administration exists.
  
  I got a reminder yesterday morning when [...]
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  Posted: September 24, 2009, 8:06am EDT
  by Dan

• The best argument I've heard for an interim Senator

  Number of comments: 0
  According to the State House News, debate has started in the Massachusetts Senate on the interim Senator appointment legislation. Here's the first thick slice of baloney:
  On the floor, Sen. Thomas Kennedy, chair of the Election Laws Committee, Sen. Kennedy compared the state’s lack of second senator to "taxation without'" [...]
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  Posted: September 22, 2009, 12:20pm EDT
  by Dan

• Is Gov. Dukakis shining up his best pair of shoes?

  Number of comments: 0
  It looks like today will likely be the day when the Massachusetts Senate votes to join the House in passing the Electoral Hypocrisy Act of 2009, granting to Governor Patrick the authority to appoint an interim Obamacare vote to warm a seat for a few months in the US [...]
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  Posted: September 22, 2009, 9:21am EDT
  by Dan

• Late to the table

  Number of comments: 0
  Foxwoods is billions in debt and restructuring its finances. Mohegan Sun recently laid off 500 employees.
  
  To our immediate south, Rhode Island's Twin River 'racino' is also drowning in debt and sucking state funds eagerly into its starving maw.
  
  Atlantic City, Detroit and [...]
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  Posted: September 18, 2009, 11:26am EDT
  by Dan

• The slight upside to this whole interim Senator thing

  Number of comments: 0
  There is a slight upside to the current fight on Beacon Hill over proposed legislation that would grant to Governor Patrick the authority to appoint an interim replacement for the late Senator Kennedy. The Massachusetts Legislature is behaving, for once, like a bona-fide deliberative body. Like, in other words, a [...]
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  Posted: September 17, 2009, 5:02pm EDT
  by Dan

• Thursday morning miscellany

  Number of comments: 0
  
  Worth more than 1000 words.
  Look at this photo from the Herald. As the likelihood of a Patrick victory in 2005 became increasingly clear, I recall commenting to a friend that there was an upside to the prospect of a Governor Patrick. Voters had [...]
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  Posted: September 17, 2009, 9:39am EDT
  by Dan

• Another great resource from the Pioneer Institute

  Number of comments: 0
  If you care about Massachusetts government - especially about fiscal issues - and you do not keep up with the doings of the Pioneer Institute, you should.
  
  Their latest and greatest contribution to substantive dialogue over how our government spends our tax dollars is MassOpenBooks.org.
  [...]
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  Posted: September 16, 2009, 11:55am EDT
  by Dan

• Our Dems are going all in

  Number of comments: 0
  In the days immediately following receipt by the Beacon Hill Big Three of Senator Kennedy's deathbed request for a change in Massachusetts law to allow Governor Patrick to fill Kennedy's seat with an 'interim Senator'/guaranteed "yea!" on Obamacare, large numbers of Beacon Hill Democrats expressed trepidation about voting for [...]
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  Posted: September 16, 2009, 10:45am EDT
  by Dan

• You've got mail... no you don't!

  Number of comments: 0
  Amid all the hype about, first, the gubernatorial election that is 14 months off, and then the Senate special election that is three and a half months off, not too many people here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts are paying much attention to an important election that will take place [...]
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  Posted: September 14, 2009, 10:46pm EDT
  by Dan

• The bottom of the barrel

  Number of comments: 0
  Talk about scraping the bottom of the argument barrel.
  Apparently, unless Congress passes "meaningful health care reform," the bullies will have won. [...]
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  Posted: September 14, 2009, 8:42am EDT
  by Dan

• Aloisi, we hardly knew ye

  Number of comments: 0
  I guess soon-to-be-ex Transportation Secretary Jim Aloisi did not have photos of the Governor in a compromising situation after all.
  Good riddance. [...]
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  Posted: September 11, 2009, 9:15pm EDT
  by Dan

• Not everything is about politics

  Number of comments: 1
  This article from today's Globe about the difficulties Massachusetts school teachers are having in deciding how to 'teach' the subject of the 9/11 attacks puts a knot in my gut. The 14 year old girl, a freshman in high school, who is unsure who perpetrated those attacks ("I forgot" [...]
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  Posted: September 11, 2009, 10:51am EDT
  by Dan

• The health care vote count must be CLOSE

  Number of comments: 0
  This from the State House News this afternoon:
  President Barack Obama pushed Thursday afternoon for Massachusetts to rewrite a 2004 election law and allow Gov. Deval Patrick to appoint an interim senator to fill the late Sen. Edward Kennedy’s seat, his political operation calling it “a needed vote in favor [...]
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  Posted: September 10, 2009, 2:19pm EDT
  by Dan

• Postcards from the edge

  Number of comments: 0
  From yesterday's Boston.com: "Republican Christy Mihos is seriously considering dropping his campaign for governor to run for the US Senate seat of Edward M. Kennedy, a senior adviser to Mihos confirmed today, a pivot that would reshape the two most high-profile political campaigns in Massachusetts."
  
  Anonymous Christy Mihos' [...]
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  Posted: September 09, 2009, 2:30pm EDT
  by Dan

• And you thought health insurance was expensive

  Number of comments: 2
  Just look at the premiums on political insurance!
  
  Yesterday the Massachusetts state Auditor estimated the cost of the upcoming special election to fill the seat of the late Senator Ted Kennedy at up to $12.6 million dollars. Further (to the great relief of municipal officials from the Berkshires [...]
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  Posted: September 09, 2009, 6:42am EDT
  by Dan

• No Joe for Senate. Still Joe for Oil

  Number of comments: 0
  Thank God. That was my initial and lasting reaction to news of Joe Kennedy's decision to forgo a race for his Uncle's Senate seat. Whether he would have been invincible, as much of the punditry seems to think, I do not know. Personally I think his current reputation has [...]
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  Posted: September 07, 2009, 4:21pm EDT
  by Dan

• He was for it before he was against it... again

  Number of comments: 1
  Can he not just stay quiet? Do the words "no comment" taste so bad that he cannot bear to have them pass his lips?
  
  Here's Senator John Kerry (D-the Louvre) on the Great White of a bill lurking in the depths of Beacon Hill that would re-change Massachusetts' [...]
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  Posted: September 06, 2009, 9:34am EDT
  by Dan

• Dominus noster Bostonesis Globus te absolvat

  Number of comments: 0
  Senator Kennedy's immortal soul can finally rest. We cannot know whether the Pope put in a good word for the Senator in response to his recent letter, but no matter: this morning by way of an editorial, the all powerful Boston Globe steps in for the Big Guy [...]
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  Posted: September 04, 2009, 7:10am EDT
  by Dan

• A bloody interesting idea

  Number of comments: 0
  I get the feeling that this is just a lark, 'this Curt Schilling mulls Senate run' thing. But boy, we Rs could certainly do worse than Schilling for a special election that the 'experts' have all but handed to any Kennedy who might want it or, barring that, to [...]
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  Posted: September 02, 2009, 6:07pm EDT
  by Dan

• Raise a glass to Rep. Rodrigues

  Number of comments: 0
  
  There is little I can say that has not already been said (especially now that Howie has weighed in) about the current uproar over Rep. Michael Rodrigues' (D-Hypocrisy) bone-headed decision to do some tax free booze shopping north of the border last weekend,' [...]
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  Posted: September 02, 2009, 8:41am EDT
  by Dan

• Wisdom at the local level

  Number of comments: 0
  The Globe can be forgiven the somewhat puzzled tone that runs through its article today about the fact that relatively few Massachusetts municipalities have raised their hotel and meal taxes, as they were authorized to do earlier this year by our wise Legislature. As of a deadline yesterday, only [...]
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  Posted: September 01, 2009, 9:36am EDT
  by Dan

• Get ready for Interim Senator ____________

  Number of comments: 1
  They are going to do it. Apparently gaining confidence from the outpouring of public grief last week and over the weekend for the late Senator Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democratic cabal is today clearly signaling that it is prepared to overcome its initial misgivings and vote to grant the Senator's 'last' [...]
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  Posted: August 31, 2009, 2:20pm EDT
  by Dan

• You do the math

  Number of comments: 0
  President Obama has been in Massachusetts, albeit on an island, for the entire last week.
  
  Governor Patrick, ostensibly up for reelection next year, has a surprisingly underwhelming campaign fund compared to, for instance, Treasurer Tim Cahill who plans to run as an Independent (he's sitting on a $3 million [...]
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  Posted: August 29, 2009, 12:22pm EDT
  by Dan

• Beyond Parody

  Number of comments: 1
  OK, I admit it. I saw the Globe editorial this morning titled "Legislature must act quickly on interim Senate appointment," and I read no further than the title. Just was not in the mood to spoil a perfectly good Friday morning. It took a mention in the Wall Street [...]
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  Posted: August 28, 2009, 4:22pm EDT
  by Dan

• KennedyCare

  Number of comments: 0
  Republican agita over Democratic proposals to rename pending health care legislation after the late Senator Kennedy seems, to me, misplaced. (Leave aside for a moment the puzzle as to which of the six or more bills floating out there would have the honor of bearing the Kennedy name).
  
  Agree [...]
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  Posted: August 28, 2009, 9:41am EDT
  by Dan

• A show that does not need re-making

  Number of comments: 0
  They've re-made Knight Rider, Beverly Hills 90210, Battlestar Galactica and even the Bionic Woman.
  
  Now it appears that we in Massachusetts might be in for a local re-make of Dynasty this fall and winter. Some time in the next few weeks we'll find out if either Joe [...]
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  Posted: August 27, 2009, 11:33am EDT
  by Dan

• RIP, Senator Kennedy

  Number of comments: 0
  I have quite a number of friends and former colleagues who knew Senator Ted Kennedy well, worked for or with him, or both. Each gives an overwhelmingly positive assessment of the man who, whatever else he was, was a loyal friend, a committed advocate and a dedicated Senator.
  That is [...]
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  Posted: August 26, 2009, 8:25am EDT
  by Dan

• 3 Profiles in Courage

  Number of comments: 0
  The political brouhaha touched off by that letter from Senator Kennedy requesting a change (re-change) in state election law last week has been front page news across the country for the better part of a week now. It has been covered by every major and minor news outlet. TV, [...]
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  Posted: August 25, 2009, 5:32pm EDT
  by Dan

• This game is rigged

  Number of comments: 0
  Front page of the Globe today discusses the swirl of activity around Massachusetts in preparation for expected passage this year of a bill legalizing some form of casino gaming in the state. Whether it will be full 'destination resort casinos,' somewhat seedier 'slots parlors,' slots at existing racetracks or [...]
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  Posted: August 24, 2009, 8:49am EDT
  by Dan

• The Kennedy letter has little to do with Massachusetts... and everything to do with Washington

  Number of comments: 1
  The Globe's Scott Lehigh gets all misty today over reports of a letter, apparently dated July 2 but not delivered until recently, from ailing Senator Ted Kennedy to Governor Patrick, Senate President Murray and House Speaker DeLeo. In the letter, Kennedy asks the three state leaders to [...]
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  Posted: August 20, 2009, 4:49pm EDT
  by Dan

• A hot day in Boston... but it must be freezing in Hades

  Number of comments: 0
  Hell is freezing over. It has to be.
  
  I find it troubling enough on the rare occasion when I am in four-square agreement with one item produced by the editors of the Boston Globe. But two in one day? Surely Lucifer must be reaching for his leg warmers.
  
  [...]
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  Posted: August 19, 2009, 9:35am EDT
  by Dan

• "Astonishing."

  Number of comments: 0
  Close on the heels of a knock-down, drag-out between the Governor and the Legislature over $1.5 million in funding for the two state-sponsored zoos, we get this from today's Globe: $10 million for veterans go unused.
  
  From the outset let me make one thing clear: on the spectrum [...]
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  Posted: August 18, 2009, 9:21am EDT
  by Dan

• Get your stinkin' hands off our economy

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  Not content with the stick they put in our business community's collective eye with the 25% sales tax increase that went into effect this month; or the salt they rubbed in that festering wound with their preemptive announcement that there will be no sales tax holiday this year (breaking a [...]
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  Posted: August 16, 2009, 9:49am EDT
  by Dan

• Breaking news: Massachusetts is real good at spending

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  This item just in from the State House News: MASS. AMONG TOP 10 STATES IN STIMULUS SPENDING; JOB NUMBERS ELUSIVE
  The state, local governments and private entities in Massachusetts have received $4.44 billion and spent more than $2.02 billion, 45 percent, through the federal stimulus law, known as the American [...]
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  Posted: August 13, 2009, 4:44pm EDT
  by Dan

• Spend 'em if you got 'em!

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  Taxpayer dollars, that is.
  
  That's the thought that popped into my head as I read the Herald's latest bad-government cover story this morning. Here is the meat of it:
  

  The state Parole Board splurged on hundreds of embroidered golf shirts and morale-boosting gold pins as well as BlackBerrys, [...]

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  Posted: August 13, 2009, 12:43pm EDT
  by Dan

• This MBTA mess merits a re-cap

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  Governor Patrick and Transpo secretary Jim Aloisi are furiously trying to spin their way out of the huge mess they made this week with their ill-advised and ill-timed T power play. Previous installments here and here.
  
  Because the Governor and - to an even greater [...]
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  Posted: August 12, 2009, 10:47am EDT
  by Dan

• Someone get an extinguisher!

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  The Governor's pants are on fire.
  
  Following up on my post yesterday about his ill-advised decision to force out Dan Grabauskas, former GM of the MBTA: Governor Patrick awoke today to find this on the front page of the Globe: "Ex-T chief urged fare hike delay."
  
  [...]
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  Posted: August 11, 2009, 10:00am EDT
  by Dan

• From the "be careful what you wish for" file

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  Last week Governor Patrick and his smarmy pit viper of a transportation secretary managed to oust long-time General Manager of the MBTA, Dan Grabauskas, thereby gaining full control over the troubled mass transit authority (Grabauskas was a Romney appointee, and frequently clashed with the Governor and the Secretary). [Bias [...]
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  Posted: August 10, 2009, 5:01pm EDT
  by Dan

• Well that's an interesting strategy, Christy

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  Fascinating interview of political consultant Dick Morris published in the State House News yesterday. The interview was conducted by Jim O'Sullivan, who at a young age is about as good as they come.
  
  You may know that Christy Mihos has retained Morris in his quest to best his 7' [...]
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  Posted: August 07, 2009, 8:45am EDT
  by Dan

• Someone ate his Wheaties this morning

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  Massachusetts House Minority Leader Brad Jones went on a rip earlier today, managing in the course of just a few lines to skewer the Governor, the Speaker, the Secretary of Transportation and a certain state senator who was much in the news a few months back. From the State House [...]
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  Posted: August 06, 2009, 3:34pm EDT
  by Dan

• Dumb, even by the Globe's standards

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  The Globe sent reporter Vivian Nereim to the mall this week. There, apparently to her surprise, she found shoppers. This is front page news.
  
  "Massachusetts consumers have for weeks bemoaned the possibility of an increase in the state sales tax," writes Nereim. "But this week, the first under" [...]
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  Posted: August 06, 2009, 10:03am EDT
  by Dan

• Thinking about ballot initiatives

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  This is the week when various groups hoping to get a citizens' initiative on next year's ballot have to file their petitions for certification with the Attorney General. The certification process is relatively apolitical - the AG simply determines whether an initiative passes constitutional muster, and then gives the go-ahead' [...]
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  Posted: August 05, 2009, 9:59am EDT
  by Dan