Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, the Koch-tied operation, held a press event in Boston with other New England Koch allied fronts and I always wonder what milquetoast description the media that cover MFA will hide behind. How about “fiscal watchdogs” (Boston Herald)? Or this one: “Business-minded, small government groups.” Here’s one I’ve seen often: “right-leaning.” MassFiscal is…
Category: dark money
Yvonne Abraham Explains Why Robert Kraft and Jim Davis “would be fools to appear in their own ads”
On Sunday the Boston Globe’s Metro columnist Yvonne Abraham wrote The face of opposition to Question 1 admits proposed tax wouldn’t hurt him much: ‘I’m not struggling.’ The face of opposition was Leo Cakounes who made some standard conservative talking points about government and then Ms. Abraham got to the important point: Fair enough. But…
Bidding Now Open in the Political Futures Market
The Boston Globe’s Matt Stout reported with some amazement yesterday on a new SuperPAC “that could command millions of dollars” for the sparse political investment of the office of lieutenant governor. There’s no reason for amazement if you understand things like the Lexington (KY) Selected Yearling Sale. The sale is one of several occasions when…
New York Times Covers AG’s Race and Misses the Story
Last week as the Massachusetts Democrats gathered in convention the New York Times rolled out Inside the Audition for Democrats’ Next Crusading Attorney General projecting the race for the party’s nominee as a signal of where the national party is headed. Then the Times just went for the usual horse race stuff. Too bad because…
The Barr Foundation-Hostetter Political Team
The Waltons Political Team of Arkansas tosses millions of dollars around to privatize Massachusetts public schools but they can’t do it alone. They need local investments and lately they’ve been getting a lot of them from the Barr Foundation and its patron, Boston billionaire Amos Hostetter. Let’s take a look. First, a little political science….
School Privatization Week: The Walton Family’s Massachusetts Political Team 2019
I noticed in the Sunday Globe that Governor Baker has proclaimed this “School Choice Week” and I thought, what better time than School Privatization Week to re-up some of my favorite dark money and the politics of school privatization posts? Today let’s take another look at this one from 2019, The Walton Family’s Massachusetts Political…
School Privatization Week: New Campaign Song for Great Schools Massachusetts: ‘It’s Up to You, New York, New York
I noticed in the Sunday Globe that Governor Baker has proclaimed this “School Choice Week” and I thought, what better time than School Privatization Week to re-up some of my favorite dark money and the politics of school privatization posts? Let’s kick off the celebration with an early one but still one of my favorites:…
2021: Closing with Hopeful and Not-so-hopeful Signs
As 2021 closes three recent political developments reveal truths we are not always privileged to see: coverage of the death of philanthropist Jerome Rappaport; Republican gubernatorial candidate Geoff Diehl turning a blind eye to racist attacks against Boston mayor Michelle Wu; and more accurate descriptions of privatization fronts like billionaire funded National Parents Union. Rappaport…
Trump’s Lawyer Sues Wellesley for Charles Koch’s Phony “Parent” Group
Tuesday the Boston Globe had a story National conservative group files lawsuit against Wellesley public schools and I thought, I could write a headline that is both more clickable and more dead-on balls accurate than that so here it is: Trump’s Lawyer Sues Wellesley for Charles Koch’s Phony “Parent” Group. Do you like it? The…
SuperPACs: Boston Keeps Not Inviting You But You Keep Coming Back
The Boston Globe is doing a pretty good job (I hope the Globe keeps it up) paying attention to SuperPACs in the Boston mayor’s race, the latest example being Danny McDonald’s SuperPAC’s emerge in Boston mayor’s race, with little objection so far. But regular people do object to these vehicles for oligarchic wealth, and they…