A mock civil war is raging between bogus National Parents Union and sham Parents Defending Education and only one man can feign to suppress it: Charles Koch. Koch funds both National Parents Union and (almost certainly) Parents Defending Education so he has a fantasy moral obligation to pretend to step in. The latest blanks in…
GOP Effort to Stop Permanent Mail-In Voting Highlights Unique Aspects of Mass Politics
The MassGOP lawsuit to stop permanent mail-in voting is more interesting than you might think. The state’s Republican Party Chairman, Jim Lyons, has taken a very weak outfit and turned it into an exceptionally incompetent one that is now engaged full-time in garden variety “lib trolling,” an activity that hasn’t been as useful for party…
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…
Will the MassDems Address the Money Corruption in Their Midst?
“It violates the essence of what made America a great country in its political system. Now it’s just an oligarchy, with unlimited political bribery being the essence of getting the nominations for president or to elect the president. And the same thing applies to governors and U.S. senators and congress members. So now we’ve just…
Knives Out (and the Voters Get It in the Back)
Imagine my surprise, as an amiable old retiree trying to find my misplaced orthotics while sipping Metamucil-laced protein supplement, to find myself almost mentioned in a Massachusetts Politico piece titled “Knives Out” today. I say almost because attorney general candidate Quentin Palfrey used research from my blog posts to make a point about the Walton…
Legislative Opacity Makes Voice Votes a Safe Bet on Beacon Hill
The state senate recently passed a bill legalizing sports betting in the Commonwealth. It passed the chamber by a voice vote, which means that senators’ individual preferences on the bill’s passage were not formally recorded. The Boston Globe editors were shocked…shocked to see voice votes on gambling in the state senate. “A lawmaker’s first duty…
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….
Letter to Jon Keller re Keri Rodrigues
Dear Mr. Keller, I noted with interest your interview on WBZ-TV with Keri Rodrigues, whom you described as a “long time Massachusetts activist.” The description does not do her justice. Ms. Rodrigues is a well-compensated communications professional who has worked for a series of interests funded by the Walton family, wealthy Bostonians, and Charles Koch….
The Waltons’ Massachusetts Political Team (2020 update)
With a search for a new Boston Superintendent of Schools, a renewed review by the state of Boston Public Schools possibly leading to receivership, a new governor on the horizon, and the radical right promoting turmoil in public education, Massachusetts elites and philanthropic interest groups want to know one thing: what does the Walton family…
My Pre-Review of Guv Baker’s Book about “Getting Beyond Politics” to Achieve “Results”
Charlie Baker has written a book. The purpose of the book (according to the publisher’s description) is to demonstrate “that government can work,” a task that is “vital to ensuring the future of our democracy” and apparently requires “getting beyond politics.” Sadly, Baker’s publisher, Harvard Business Review Press, didn’t see fit to send review copies…