I haven’t read a Joe Battenfeld column in years, but yesterday’s effort to throw shade at the likely 2022 Democratic nominee for governor caught my eye. According to Joe, “[p]artisan politics has permeated the office of the state’s top cop to an unprecedented level – whether it’s the scores of lawsuits she’s filed against Trump…
Category: Charlie Baker
Polito’s Gubernatorial Prospects are Out of Her Control
Shira Schoenberg’s excellent CW piece about Karyn Polito’s political future is thorough and fair. Lt. Governor Polito has been a good Lt. Governor to Charlie Baker. Under different circumstances, and despite her former profile as an aggressively conservative Republican legislator, Karen Polito could have been an excellent candidate for the Corner Office in 2022. Unfortunately…
Gov. Baker’s School Reopening Panel–Waltons Win Again?
With the national coronavirus situation grim Massachusetts is doing better and is preparing to reopen—including schools. Governor Charlie Baker’s reopening panels (No Place for Heroes) have been long on C-suite types (Zoom!) and short on front line workers. In the case of the school reopening panels, a solid five of the five “parent” members are…
Governor Baker’s Reopening Panel Follies
When Governor Charlie Baker made his appointments to the statewide reopening advisory panel it was laden with CEOs and C-suite types, with no workers. We may be tossing around terms like “heroes” for front line workers like nurses, grocery workers, and housekeeping staff but the governor’s reopening panel was No Place for Heroes. Workers are…
Why Lt. Gov. Polito Should Add Workers to the Reopen Mass. Advisory Panel: It’s in Her Own Best Interest
In Baker’s Reopen Advisory Panel: No Place for Heroes I called for workers to be added to the advisory panel on reopening the state, headed by Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito. That call went nowhere. Let me try again. Lt. Gov. Polito, putting workers on the panel is in your own best interest. Apparently the absence…
Baker’s Reopen Advisory Panel: No Place for Heroes
One of my students works at a grocery and he’s scared. So I looked over the advisory panel on reopening the state appointed by Governor Charlie Baker to see who is looking out for my student’s health and well-being. The answer is: no one. Not a single solitary member is looking out for workers. No…
Running in Massachusetts During COVID-19: Public Health vs. Appearing on the Ballot
Citizens of Wisconsin risked their lives to vote last week. Because of actions by their state legislature, upheld by a 5-4 a Supreme Court decision, Wisconsin residents were forced to choose between exercising their right to cast a ballot and protecting their health – as well as the health of all with whom they come…
The Masks Roll In, The Masks Roll Out . . .
Two big stories greet us this morning in coronavirus politics and government. Let’s take a look at images of these stories and see what we can make of it: The masks roll in, the masks roll out. In this tradeoff, America only comes out 279 million masks down. As Heather Cox Richardson points out in…
Coronavirus and Charlie Baker’s Party Problem
Back in the serene days of fall 2019 some in the Massachusetts political class were discussing whether Governor Charlie Baker should remain a Republican, go Independent, or even start a new party. The coronavirus crisis has exposed an even knottier conundrum for Baker. That has to do with the state’s need for federal aid. In…
Mass Pols for President Have the Right Training & Temperament
Deval Patrick’s decision to join the race late looks to me like an expression of determination that I share. Patrick, a two-term governor of Massachusetts, understands American politics, which is to say, he understands the necessity of practical, non-ideological, political leadership. I think Governor Patrick, Senator Warren, and even Governor Weld are determined to take…