So it begins: Democrats for Education Reform is pouring dark money back into Massachusetts politics. That is apparent from today’s Matt Stout story in the Boston Globe: So it begins: Business-backed group opposing MCAS ballot question rolling out $250,000 ad campaign. One of the donors for a digital media buy from the Protect Our Kids…
Category: dark money
Massachusetts Politico Shocked, Shocked to Find Gambling in the Casino
Yesterday Politico’s Massachusetts Playbook was gobsmacked, astounded, discombobulated, and dumbstruck by what it called “strange ballot bedfellows,” “an unlikely coalition,” “organizations on both sides of the aisle,” and “an unlikely alliance,” meaning, the front groups predictably allied against the teachers’ unions proposed ballot question to eliminate the MCAS graduation requirement while keeping MCAS as a…
Yes, The Boston Globe Can Report Who Is Funding K-12 Dark Money Interests. Or Not. It’s a Choice.
I hate to be the one who spreads rumors, but this one is true: Media in small towns, rural districts, and major cities across this county cover dark money in K-12 politics. It happens. Just not in Boston. Selectively, even the Globe has done it! The paper has revealed in editorials or op-eds that Citizens…
Boston Policy Institute: Another Dreary Addition to Boston’s Dark Money Industry
Unfortunately, Boston has a new entry into the dark money politics game, the Boston Policy Institute (BPI). If you are concerned about how the power of unaccountable money erodes our politics, this is more bad news. Gintautas Dumcius of CommonWealth Beacon just did a fine piece on BPI The shadowy think tank fighting Boston City…
Recommendations for Books You Should Not Read Because You Do Not Care
Last week I was in a colloquy on Twitter with a Boston political journalist and an activist, neither of whom enjoys my focus on money in politics. So, I’ll be doing more of that. But first, one thing they both say is the public does not care at all about who funds politics, especially dark…
Banned in Boston: Coverage of Walton Family Spending on K-12 Interest Groups, 2022 Edition
“So far as I can tell, in a period in which the Waltons poured more than $10,000,000 into K-12 interest groups in Massachusetts, no Boston Globe staffer has ever reported that fact.” In Just Giving: Why Philanthropy Is Failing Democracy and How It Can Do Better, Professor Rob Reich argues that “Big philanthropy is often…
Newton Public Education Faces Right-wing Assaults
Newton public education is the target of a coordinated right-wing extremist assault. The latest is a frivolous attack on Newton Teachers Association but that follows attacks on diversity programs and racist attacks on two superintendents. Wake up, folks. I wrote about Christian Nationalists Attack on Newton Teachers Association just the other day. That post featured…
What the Globe Left Out of “MTA Exerts More Power”
The Boston Globe is messing with my Golden Years and I don’t appreciate it one bit. I really want just want to play some Sudoko and rest up for the blue plate special but then the Globe goes and prints something like MTA exerts more power amid a wave of teacher strikes, generating praise and…
A Citizens Guide to School Privatization
A Citizen’s Guide to School Privatization Last week was the annual conference of the Network for Public Education and part of my contribution was an 18 page report, A Citizens Guide to School Privatization. I’ll be adding to it over time as phony billionaire “moms” and “parents” groups proliferate. For now it includes national groups…
Democrats for Education Reform: Let’s Meet the Funders
I often point out Democrats for Education Reform ’s far-right patrons like Rupert Murdoch and the Waltons but I haven’t given DFER MA’s Boston patrons enough attention. Let’s try. First, DFER is really at least three different legal structures under one roof. There’s the DFER PAC and DFER SuperPAC which have to report contributions and…