No Drumlins

Earl: 5% Chance of "$10 billion disaster" in New England

2010-09-01T13:41:00.000-04:00

I was just reading the Tropical Weather Blog at Weather Underground and was surprised to read this:

A deviation to the left, with a direct hit on eastern Long Island and Providence, Rhode Island, would probably be a $10 billion disaster, as the hurricane would hit a heavily populated area and drive a drive a 5 - 10 foot storm surge up Buzzards Bay and Narragansett Bay. The odds of this occurring are around 5%, according to the latest NHC wind probability forecast.

Whoa, whoa, whoa! The chance that Saturday morning we will begin cleaning up from a "$10 billion disaster" that would rival the Hurricane of 1938 are 1-in-20? This is news, no?

Worwtown Fleet: Leominster

2010-08-27T12:45:00.000-04:00

In a show of support for Jeff Barnard, Worcester's premier web columnist who is waging a battle against cancer, area bloggers are taking up his practice of snapping photos of Central Massachusetts from their cars and posting the scenes on their sites. The snapshots have been a staple of Wormtown Taxi over the years. The producer of Nicole, Worcester--a must-read if you care about Worcester at all--is the brainchild behind the idea.

While I don't carry a camera with me in the car most of the time, I have taken thousands of road photos as part of my delayed quest to drive and photograph every state highway in Massachusetts. So in support of Jeff, I'll be periodically posting some of my favorites here.

This shot is of a 1940s-era sign for route 12. The sign is attached to a sign post on the southbound side of Main St. in downtown Leominster and is most likely the oldest route sign still in use in Massachusetts. In fact, I'd wager that it might be one of the 10 oldest--if not the oldest--still in use on a highway in America.

For more scenes, Nicole has set up a blogroll of posts made specifically in tribute to and in support of Jeff.

Jump on in, the water is great!

2010-08-20T17:26:00.000-04:00

What are you doing standing on the sidelines? Jump on in to the pool at CMassPolitics.com. The water is great and the stories are even better! Here's what you missed today...

Foley v. Telegram
Worcester County Sheriff Candidate Thomas Foley (D-Worcester) has reacted forcefully to the Telegram's reporting last week of his disability pension. In a nearly 1,300-word letter to supporters that he posted to his Web site earlier this week, Foley accused Telegram reporter Shaun Sutner of treating his campaign unfairly and charged that his opponents were engaging in unfair campaign tactics...(read more)

Friday Roundup: Lamb's voting record in question
A Telegram report claims that "In previous elections, Mr. [Martin] Lamb says he has almost always voted Republican, but he conceded he didn’t vote for Ronald Reagan the first time Mr. Reagan ran for president." That does not jive with an earlier Telegram report. Last month, Shaun Sutner reported that Lamb "voted as a Democrat in state and presidential primary elections in 2006, 2004 and 2000."...(read more)

Bill Gunn clarifies remarks on Islamic Center
On Tuesday, The Sentinel and Enterprise wrote that First Congressional District challenger Bill Gunn (R-Ware) suggested that building a "pork factory" would be an appropriate response to the planned Islamic Center in Lower Manhattan a few blocks from Ground Zero...Following my note on the piece in Wednesday's CMassPolitics.com Gunn posted a comment to the entry, putting the discussion into a fuller context...(read more)

Don't be left on shore. Make sure you update your links to include CMassPolitics.com.

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Here is what you've been missing...

2010-08-19T16:06:00.001-04:00

Here is what you've been missing over the last two days if you aren't reading CMassPolitics.com...

Wednesday State House Roundup: Debate days
The Ayer Democratic Town Committee hosted a debate between the three Democrats vying for the First Middlesex District nomination. While Jane Moriss (D-Groton), Jesse Reich (D-Ayer), and Tony Saboliauskas (D-Pepperell) agreed on many issues they split over the proposed repeal of the affordable housing law known as 40B...(read more)

Candidates weigh in on Islamic Cultural Center, one wants to build "pork factory"
Since the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque" is the cultural issue du jour, the candidates spoke with the Sentinel and Enterprise. One, Bill Gunn (R-Belchertown) is so incensed he wants to make sausages next to the Islamic Center in an effort to antagonize organizers...(read more)

Wednesday Congressional Roundup: Out like a Lamb
Tuesday was a busy day on the campaign trail in the Third Congressional District, with many of the candidates out on the campaign trail. Michael Lamb (R-Holliston) made a stop in Fall River, where he criticized Rep. James McGovern (D-Worcester) for allowing the federal deficit to rise...(read more)

Thursday Congressional Roundup: Immigration dominates debate
Four of the five challengers for the Third Congressional District seat held by Rep. James McGovern (D-Worcester) squared off last night in a Shrewsbury debate. The forum, sponsored by the Shrewsbury League of Women Voters, gave Brian Herr (R-Hopkinton), Michael Stopa (R-Holliston), Martin Lamb (R-Holliston), and Robert Delle (R-Paxton) a chance to differentiate themselves from each other, however slightly. One area where there was both some consensus and disagreement was on immigration policy...(read more)

State House Roundup: Prickly debate in 13th Worcester
The six candidates for the Democratic nomination in the 13th Worcester District squared off in a 90-minute debate yesterday at Anna Maria. From the looks of the Telegram photo, the event was a greuling one for the participants. According to the report the dialogue became testy at times, with more than one tart exchange between dueling candidates...(read more)

Tuesday Roundup: Harrington's new idea

2010-08-17T10:31:00.002-04:00

This week, sister publications Lowell Sun and Sentinel and Enterprise are profiling candidates for the First Middlesex House seat being vacated by Robert Hargraves (R-Groton). Two Republicans are vying for the nomination, and one of them, Sheila Harrington (R-Groton) is advancing a proposal that I've not seen before:

GROTON -- For many workers, landing a competitive job in Massachusetts means they may not be able to work in the same field, should they ever resign or get laid off.

That's because, says Sheila Harrington, many employers ask workers to sign a contract that prohibits them from seeking a similar job elsewhere or starting a business in which the skills and knowledge they acquired on the job might come in handy. The Bay State court is known for enforcing the contractual agreement -- so much so that skilled professionals are afraid to use their talents outside the corporate shadows, Harrington says.

Harrington believes limiting the scope the non-compete clause and the range of workers to whom such contracts may be applied is crucial to creating more jobs in Massachusetts.

"If you want to stimulate more jobs in Massachusetts, you have to be more creative" than simply rolling back the sales tax, Harrington says.

I'm skeptical that there are that many people still out of work because of non-compete clauses. Even so, it's refreshing to see a candidate talk about something different than taxes, casinos, and immigration for a change.

While I don't think reporter Hiroko Sato meant the profiles of Harrington and Connie Sullivan (R-Ayer) to be contrasting pieces, it looks like Harrington is taking a veiled shot at Sullivan when the profiles are read one after the other:

AYER -- Discouraging Massachusetts consumers from crossing the state border is one of Cornelius "Connie" Sullivan's economic stimulus strategies.

Lowering the sales tax would help create many more jobs in the state, and that's evident from how stores were hiring people for the tax-free weekend, Sullivan says....

He supports rolling back the sales tax to 5 percent -- or as low as 3 percent if voters are willing to. That would require the state to scale back on spending, but the state government has "plenty of fat" to trim anyway, he says...

Presumably, the Sun and Sentinel will be looking at the Democratic candidates on the days to come.

On to other things...

Second Franklin House District
The four candidates for the Democratic nomination will face off in a forum at 6:00 pm at the Greenfield Community Television studios. GCT is pretty good about posting their events online, and we will post a link on CMassPolitics.com once it becomes available.

Lee Chauvette (D-Athol) was interviewed by Athol author James Joseph Brown.

Second Congressional District
Jay Fleitman (R-Northampton) tells the Telegram that the federal stimulus was "a disaster," the Gulf oil spill was "handled horribly," and that Afghanistan is "an abject mess."

Fifth Congressional District
Sam Meas (R-Haverhill) gave a wide-ranging interview to the Haverhill Gazette. He said the number one reason he is running is:

First, there is a huge lack of choice in Massachusetts. There is one dominant party, and many are running unopposed. It is the antithesis to democracy. We've spent $1 trillion on two wars trying to give them the freedom of choice, but we do not have it here. To me, that's important. If Republicans were the dominant party, I'd say the same thing.

Third Congressional District
The Boston Globe reports that James McGovern (D-Worcester) co-authored a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi asking her to protect food stamp funding in a proposed child nutrition bill.

Monday roundup: Pension talk still driving sheriff's race

2010-08-16T14:19:00.000-04:00

If a small snapshot is any indication, the political talk around Worcester is still centered on the Worcester County Sheriff's race, where discussion of Governor's Councilor Tom Foley (D-Worcester) and his disability pension continues as we begin a new week. The topic was discussed this morning on WCRN-AM's The Midday Report with Hank Stolz. While there is no podcast of the show available, most of the callers sounded like they were more apt to blame Foley for running for office while collecting disability than to blame the odd pension system that would allow him to collect while being sheriff (should he be elected).

For better or worse (depends, I suppose, or which candidate you support), today marks the fifth day of discussion of Foley's disability pension. Dianne Williamson broke the ice in the Telegram with a column on Thursday, followed by notes from Shaun Sutner on Telegram.com on Friday and in the print edition on Sunday.

Coincidentally, Foley's supporters have come out in force over the weekend. Whether in response to the stories or because of the calendar (yesterday was 30 days before primary election day), Foley lawn signs have been sprouting like clover in this area. This morning I drove through Clinton on my way to 495 and counted 24 Foley signs in the 2.6 miles between the Lancaster town line to the west and the Berlin town line to the east.

Speaking of the Telegram, if you are trying to access the stories lined above and find yourself banging your head against the (fire)wall, it's because the T&G has begun charging non-subscribers for online access to most locally-produced articles. I have an on-line account and will continue to include links to the Telegram in my stories, but how much access you, the reader, will have is anyone's guess.

On to a very short roundup...

Third Congressional District
The Telegram keeps up its profiles of Congressional candidates, this time checking in on Brian Herr (R-Hopkinton). Herr briefly outlined some of his positions:

Like his opponents in the primary, Mr. Herr wants to cut government spending. He supports unemployment benefits in this “scary time,” but doesn't support borrowing money to extend benefits. He believes the government should provide services for vulnerable populations such as people with disabilities, as long as cuts are made elsewhere.

Schools, he contends, are best run at the local level, so he wonders why the country needs a U.S. Department of Education with a budget in the tens of billions of dollars.

He slammed a bill Congress passed last week to restore public jobs as more unnecessary spending.

He believes spending cuts need to come before new tax cuts.

Herr also claims to have more than 4,000 Facebook friends.

Fifth Congressional District
Sam Meas (R-Haverhill) has added former Haverhill Mayor Mike Sullivan as an advisor. He is also apparently "Bad to the Bone."

Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin Senate District
Fifth Worcester House District
Sen. Stephen Brewer (D-Barre) and Rep. Anne Gobi (D-Spencer) spearheaded a bill to allow the Worcester County 4-H Club to lease land from the state for the next 25 years.

Cross posted at CMassPolitics.com.
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Weekend roundup: I've been everywhere, man

2010-08-14T08:53:00.001-04:00

It's awfully difficult for a challenger to dominate the media cycle against an well-financed, high-ranking incumbent, but Tom Wesley (R-Hopedale) managed to do just that Friday in his Second Congressional District race against Rep. Richard Neal (D-Springfield). We'll start with the Telegram, where Wesley was the feature of Friday's candidate profile:

Mr. Wesley explained that these are tough economic times and that people have to be careful with their finances. He quickly added, however, that this election is about more than raising money.

“I see it as my patriotic duty,” he said when asked why he was running. “I'm fighting for unborn generations.” termed a lynchpin election, which means in his opinion the American way of life is at stake and people are angry with what has been happening on Capitol Hill.

In addition, Wesley was all over the radio, appearing on Springfield's WAQY-FM and WHYN-AM. He has also continued videotaping while driving.

For his part, Neal has received praise from the unlikeliest of sources. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, has endorsed Neal's bill to provide for automatic enrollment in IRAs for employees of small businesses:

The Automatic IRA is a conservative, market-oriented solution to help address our retirement savings crisis. It would increase the proportion of Americans who can save for retirement at work from 50 percent to 90 percent, make it simple for small business owners to offer IRAs to their employees, and create low-cost accounts that an employee can understand and use without having to be a financial expert.

Neal's proposal has also been endorsed by the more liberal Brookings Institution.

Elsewhere...

Third Congressional District
Rep. James McGovern (D-Worcester) continues to keep the pressure on Congress and the Obama administration over the cut in food stamp aid that was part of the $26 billion jobs bill:

"President Obama pledged to end childhood hunger by 2015," McGovern pointed out. "It's hard to see how you do that while you're cutting food stamps.''

Fifth Congressional District
In the Sentinel, columnist Peter Lucas calls Tom Weaver (R-Westford) "the most qualified candidate you never heard of."

Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Lowell) was in Harvard to tout federal funding for a 220-kilowatt solar power facility at Carlson Orchards.

First Middlesex District
Tony Saboliauskas (D-Pepperell) is part of a group trying to get permission to erect a "Support our Troops" sign on town land in Pepperell.

Second Franklin House District
Earlier this week, David Roulston (D-Greenfield) became the latest candidate to criticize the proposed biomass plant in Greenfield.

Middlesex and Worcester Senate District
The communications director for Sen. Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton) is taking time off during the fall recess to work for the campaign of Ninth District Congressman Stephen Lynch (D-South Boston).

Worcester County Sheriff
Lew Evangelidis (R-Holden) recently visited the Hampden County Sheriff to get some tips on programs for inmates.

Cross posted at CMassPolitics.com.
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Scot Bove on Tom Foley's disability and retirement

2010-08-13T15:30:00.000-04:00

In the Telegram's daily ElectionNet report, Shaun Sutner looks further into the ramificaions of Tom Foley's disability retirement and it's role in the race for the Democratic nomination for Worcester County Sheriff. Yesterday, Foley spoke with Telegram columnist Dianne Williamson. Today, Sutner wrote:

So far, Foley's opponent for the Democratic nomination, Scot Bove, has not talked about it publicly, including at a sheriff's debate Thursday night in Harvard.

It might look petty or negative for Bove to bring up questions about whether Foley, the retired state police superintendent who gets a $112,000 tax-free pension because of a heart condition but says his doctors have cleared him to return to work.

Perhaps Bove (D-Holden) has decided to take a low profile on this issue as spring turned into summer, but in May, Bove had some pointed words for Foley in a Democratic candidates' debate I moderated for Sterling-Lancaster Community Television.

At the event, I asked Foley about the charges that he would be "double-dipping." The exchange devolved into the candidates levelling charges back and forth, with Bove questioning Foley's assertion that the job was purely administrative (and implying that Foley wasn't phsically up for it) and Foley accusing Bove or forcing correctional officers to contribute to his campaign.

Here is the entire exchange:

Cross posted at CMassPolitics.com.
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Thursday roundup: A new sheriff in town

2010-08-12T17:00:00.001-04:00

The Telegram really brings it today with a bunch of stories on area politics in their Thursday edition, led by a look at last night's Sheriff's debate in Harvard:

Three candidates for Worcester County sheriff last night promised to kick politics out of the Worcester County Jail and House of Correction, while the fourth candidate, an assistant deputy superintendent at the facility in West Boylston said the jail has already been professionalized.

The emphasis at a sheriff candidates forum at the Harvard Unitarian Universalist Church was more on individual qualifications to run the Sheriff's Department than differences over issues. The forum was sponsored by the Worcester County Chapter of the Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, with Ronal C. Madnick, director of the chapter, posing questions to the candidates.

Madnick (U-Worcester), you may remember, is a candidate for state rep. in the 13th Worcester district. His participation as a moderator in this debate has sparked some discussion of a conflict of interest.

The Telegram's lead columnist, Diane Williamson, also took a look at candidate Tom Foley. Specifically, she examines the questions surrounding his retirement from the State Police due to a heart problem and the effect that issue is having on the race:

When Foley retired at age 50, he filed for and was granted a disability pension due to a heart condition. Under state law, he receives a tax-free pension — $112,000 — equal to 72 percent of his salary. The sheriff’s salary is $123,000, although under law Foley would only be eligible for about $93,000.

His opponents raise valid questions. If someone is so disabled that he must retire from one public job, how can he take another one? Is he disabled, or isn’t he? Just this week, while endorsing [Scott] Bove, the Worcester County Superior Officers Union said Foley couldn’t meet the “basic requirements” for sheriff because of his health, as the sheriff must also be a correction officer.

Williamson concludes that Foley's health is less of an issue than a flawed pension "system that encourages excess and abuse."

Elsewhere...

Third Congressional District
Brian Herr (R-Hopkinton) says the appropriations bill that passed congress earlier this week was akin to a shakedown:

It's no surprise that Jim McGovern voted for this bill...during his political career he has received $1,176,725 in contributions from labor unions. This year alone, he has received $2,500 from the American Federation of Teacher, $2,500 from the National Association of Firefighters, and $2,000 from the National Education Association.

It looks like the vote for this bill was nothing more than a $26 billion political payback.

Robert Delle (R-Westboro/Wayland/Paxton) talks about his upcoming move to Paxton and his campaign for office. He also says he "considers President Obama a socialist and is so wary of government spending that he believes people are 'stealing' federal stimulus money, though he didn't say who."

In an op-ed for the MetroWest Daily News, Michael Stopa (R-Holliston) argues that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is crowding out private investment and hurting the economy.

Fifth Congressional District
The four candidates for the Republican nomination discussed their ambitions at a debate in Concord:

When it came time to ask questions to one another, the candidates touched on tort reform for the healthcare bill, cost of living increases and the first piece of legislation they would file if elected.

Repealing the healthcare bill would be first on Golnik’s list, while Weaver said he would like to establish and chair an anti-appropriations committee to look at the books and cut unnecessary expenses. Shapiro would start by slapping a dollar limit on the federal budget and keeping bills under 100 pages, and Meas said he would seek to become the Ways and Means chairman and simplify the tax code to stimulate the economy.

13th Worcester House District
Mike Perotto (D-Worcester) visited Worcester Community Cable Access's "What It's Worth" show.

Shaun Sutner of the Telegram checks in on the relationship between Joff Smith (D-Worcester) and Worcester Mag columnist and former city councilor Gary Rosen. Sutner also looks at the efforts of Paul Franco (R-Worcester) in Paxton.

Cross posted at CMassPolitics.com.
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Introducing CMassPolitics.com

2010-08-12T12:00:00.005-04:00

About three weeks ago, I began to repurpose my longtime blog No Drumlins away from a personal opinion site and into a site that reports on political news here in Central Massachusetts. In an effort to better separate the reporting from my opinion, I have decided to start a separate venture for the political roundups.

Beginning today, the updates will be posted first on my new site, CMassPolitics.com.

In an effort to ramp up coverage of the local races, I will be reaching out to the campaigns to let them know that in addition to the daily roundups, candidates should feel free to send me press releases, campaign video or audio, announcements of events, or other newsworthy items.

It is my hope that over the next few weeks, CMassPolitics.com will become the first stop for information on candidates and races in Central Massachusetts.

To ease the transition, I will continue to cross-post updates on both CMassPolitics.com and No Drumlins. Please update your bookmarks, rss feeds, or email addresses,using the following links:

Homepage: cmasspolitics.com (or cmasspolitics.blogspot.com)
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Email: cmasspolitics@gmail.com

For more information about the me and the focus of CMassPolitics.com, click here.

Wednesday Roundup: Money is on its way

2010-08-11T18:00:00.000-04:00

Topping the news today are the reports that Congress passed the jobs bill, meaning $655 million will be coming to Massachusetts. In the Telegram, John Monahan reports that the money will be used to fully fund Chapter 70 education aid and to restore funding to a number of social programs threatened in the FY2011 budget passed late last month. Third District Congressman James McGovern (D-Worcester) spoke in favor of the bill on the House floor:

“At a time when states like Massachusetts are starting to see unemployment rates decrease, now is not the time to pull the rug out from under them,” Mr. McGovern said. “If we were to fail our states and not enact this extension, 2,400 teaching, police and firefighter jobs in Massachusetts would be at risk.”

However, McGovern wasn't completely happy with the final bill. In order to make the $26 billion package deficit-neutral, the House offset some of the spending by including cuts to food stamp programs. According to The Hill, McGovern has pledged to restore the food stamp funds and find another way to offset the spending.

For his part, McGovern has been stimulating the local economy not with food stamps, but with food service. Shaun Sutner reports (second item) that McGovern has rolled up large tabs at a number of restaurants in the Third District. Among those listed in the report was a nearly $20,000 bill at a restaurant in Swansea.

Fifth Congressional District
The Lowell Sun gives Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Lowell) credit (or blame, if you prefer) for "push[ing] through an emergency $26 billion jobs bill." Tsongas outlined how the funding would help Massachusetts:

Tsongas explained that the Recovery Act included increased federal support to states to maintain the Medicaid program, due to the fact that as unemployment went up during the recession, more people were qualifying for the low-income health insurance program and states were facing a diminished tax base with which to meet that need.

"Those Medicaid funds are scheduled to run out at the end of this calendar year even though the economy is still on shaky ground and states have not started to see a significant increase in their revenues," Tsongas said.

In other news, Tsongas is also worried that plans to widen I-93 from Andover to New Hampshire may squash plans to build a new interchange that would service businesses in the area.

Tsongas is also touting the endorsement of Veterans and Military Families for Progress.

Sam Meas (R-Haverhill) continues to get national recognition for his compelling personal story, this time in a Richmond Times-Dispatch profile. Meas lived in Richmond for a time as a teenager.

In a column in the Billerica Townie News, Tom Weaver (R-Westford) outlines his plan to cut $596 billion from the federal budget.

Worcester and Middlesex Senate District
The jobs bill could have a trickle down effect on the state legislature. Sen. Jennifer Flanagan (D-Leominster) told the Sentinel and Enterprise that she doubts the legislature will be called back into session to debate the appropriations coming from Congress. If the legislature did reconvene in a special seesion, it could also choose to reconsider the casino bill, which Flanagan believes is dead.

11th Worcester House District
Sutner looks at the race between the seventysomething Kevin Byrne (D-Shrewsbury) and the thirtysomething Matthew Beaton (R-Shrewsbury), and explains how Byrne will make the November ballot despite being left off the primary slate (third item).

Sutner also looks at the unconventional approach of Daniel Dubrule (R-Ashburnham), who is refusing to speak to area rod and gun clubs despite being "a gun owner and professed Second Amendment supporter."

Second Congressional District
Rep. Richard Neal gave a wide-ranging interview with WAMC Northeast Public Radio. The interview ran in three parts earlier this week. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Governor's Council
Fran Ford (D-Paxton) took a populist tone against the propsed closing of courthouses in Leominster and Westborough, anguing in a Telegram op-ed that "it is past the time when we in Central and Western Massachusetts need to tell Boston that 'enough is enough.'"

Finally, look for a major announcement about the future of this site tomorrow.

Campaign odds and ends: Lights, camera, action!

2010-08-10T19:50:00.001-04:00

While I try to keep up with the campaigns, stuff falls through the cracks or gets lost in the Internet. So I took a look around to see what I've been missing over the last week or so. Apparently I've been missing lots of local TV and radio appearances. So here is a roundup of stuff that hasn't been making the roundups...

Second Congressional District

Tom Wesley (R-Hopedale) spoke out about President Obama choosing to film The View instead of making a speech to the Boy Scouts. While the legislature just outlawed texting while driving, apparently videotaping web commercials while driving is still legal. Look out for that truck, Tom!

Second Franklin House District
Greenfield Community Television has posted brief video statements from the five candidates:
Steven Adam (R-Orange)
Denise Andrews (D-Orange)
Lee Chauvette (D-Athol)
David Roulston (D-Greenfield)
Roxanne Wedegartner (D-Greenfield)

First Congressional District
Greenfield Community Television also has a video statement from Bill Gunn (R-Belchertown).

Fifth Congressional District
The Groton Channel has also been hosting some candidates. Jon Golnik (R-Carlisle) made an appearance last week.

Eighth Worcester House District
Rep. George Peterson (R-Grafton) called in to the Jeff Katz Show on WXKS-AM to talk about the sales tax holiday and the end of the legislative session.

Sixth Worcester House District
Peter Durant (R-Spencer) visited with Jane Woodworth of WESO-AM radio. In his current role as Spencer Selectman, Durant and the other members of the board are considering fines for utility companies who do not clean up old utility poles.

12th Worcester House District
Treasurer Tim Cahill recognized Rep. Harold Naughton (D-Clinton) for his leadership in retroactively extending the Welcome Home Bonus for Vietnam Veterans to include veterans who served from 1973-1975.

Challenger James Gettens (R-Sterling) criticized Naughton for voting to streamline the approval of wind energy projects by bypassing local planning boards.

Worcester County Sheriff
Finally, Scot Bove (D-Holden) announced that he has received the endorsements of the Worcester County Superior Officers (Local 275) and the Worcester County Corrections Officers (Local 550).

Tuesday Roundup: Rock the boat (don't rock the boat, baby)

2010-08-10T13:57:00.003-04:00

Let's start our Tuesday spin around the region with the Congressional race in the Fifth District, where Sam Meas (R-Haverhill) rocked John Kerry over the recent controversy surrounding Kerry's yacht:

In a press release issued last week, Meas said the "nautical and tax-dodging misadventures of our aristocratic Senior Senator, John F. Kerry, firmly solidify his reputation as being total out of touch with his constituents."

Kerry, of course, has come under heavy fire for registering his new, $7 million, 76-foot yacht "Isabel," in Rhode Island instead of his home state of Massachusetts, ostensibly to avoid paying taxes on the costly craft.

At its core, this story illustrates the need to scrap our oppressive, unjust and obscenely complex tax system and replace it with something simpler and more fair..."

Of course, Kerry has been accused of docking his boat in Rhode Island to avoid paying state--not federal --taxes, so should he be elected to Congress, Meas wouldn't have any standing to change the tax system he accuses Kerry of dodging.

Poweline followed up The Weekly Standard's profile of Meas with a note from a reader touting Jon Golnik (R-Carlisle) as the best challenger in the field.

Second Congressional District
Rep. Richard Neal (D-Springfield) traveled to Lee's Summit, Mo. to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Social Security at a series of town hall meetings with Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver.

Third Congressional District
Robert Chipman (R-Plainville) wrote to the Attleboro Sun-Chronicle describing his side of a dispute over lawn signs in Plainville.

Michael Stopa (R-Holliston) and Brian Herr (R-Hopkinton) attended a Tea Party event in Northboro to hear arguments against granting citizenship to illegal immigrants.

Second Worcester House District
Three of the five candidates for the open seat--Rich Bastien (R-Gardner), Carolyn Kamuda (U-Gardner), and Amy Feeley-Knuuttila (D, Winchendon) were endorsed by Citizens for Limited Taxation.

13th Worcester House District
Sean Dacey at Unfashionable Sentiments takes stock of the number of lawn signs in his neighborhood.

Middlesex and Worcester Senate District
37th Middlesex House District
In a surprise to no one, the Young Democrats of Massachusetts endorsed Sen. Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton). Previously, the YDMA announced their support for Rep. Jen Benson (D-Lunenburg).

Finally, thanks to Shaun Sutner of the Telegram, who had nice things to say about this blog in his online daily ElectionNet column on telegram.com.

Monday roundup: "No record of doing anything well"

2010-08-09T16:49:00.004-04:00

The most interesting developments this weekend were in the Fifth Congressional District, where candidate/minstrel Tom Weaver (R-Westford) attacked Rep Niki Tsongas (D-Lowell) with a song. But there were other developments as well...

Third Congressional District
The Telegram profiled Robert Chipman (R-Plainville) this morning. According to the profile, the mortgage consultant is against the Affordable Care Act, against financial regulation, against the portion of the 14th amendment that guarantees citizenship to U.S.-born children, and against pretty much everything else congress has done in the past 221 years:

“Congress has no record of doing anything well,” he said in a recent interview.

One other note on the profile...reporter Priyanka Dayal wrote "After quietly disapproving of President Barack Obama for years, the always-active voter has also decided to speak up." While conservatives like Chipman might feel like they've been fighting the President for years, he's only been president for 19 months. Still between 29 and 77 months to go...

Dayal also took a brief look at the race between Rep. James McGovern, Chipman, and the other four Republican contenders.

Second Franklin House District
Candidates continue to weigh in on the biomass plant proposed for Greenfield. Denise Andrews (D-Orange) has made public her comments to the Department of Energy Resources:

...large scale wood burning electrical generating plants, like the 47 megawatt plant proposed in Greenfield, are not good investments or direction for our communities.

There are two fundamental reasons for this conclusion, first, the scientific analysis and second, the desires and will of the people have been made clear. Scientific perspectives and data shared from the Manomet study team, area health care professionals, forestry professionals, and area researchers were consistent, compelling and conclusive. As for the will and desires of the people, Lennie Weeks, from Greenfield, shared beautifully at this forum that the people have spoken and that the will of the people must be respected and supported. The recent Greenfield Biomass vote (8:2 vote) was compelling and clear that the people do not believe the proposed biomass plant or current direction is best for their community.

In a press release (no link available), Lee Chauvette (D-Athol) called on the town of Greenfield and the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs to conduct an enhanced review of the proposal:

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has a strict policy entitled the Environmental Justice Policy which mandates enhanced public participation as well as enhanced review of such projects by the Executive Office for communities that fall under this particular program. Greenfield does in fact according to the policy website have a neighborhood that is an Environmental Justice Policy neighborhood....

The Environmental Justice Program is designed to give residents enhanced participation in projects that may cause harm to their neighborhoods...I urge local officials to review this issue.

Second Congressional District
Rep. Richard Neal (D-Springfield) is poised to introduce legislation requiring employers without a retirement plan to offer an IRA option.

Neal has also pledged to fight for federal funds to restore an historic house in Springfield.

Ninth Worcester House District
13th Worcester House District
Shaun Sutner of the Telegram looks at the explosion of candidates from Central Mass. Included are Timothy Dodd (D-Westboro) challenging George Peterson (R-Grafton) in the Ninth District and Paul Franco (R-Worcester) running for the open seat in the 13th District.

Challenger has a Tsong for Tsongas

2010-08-09T16:08:00.000-04:00

Alright, this probably isn't the biggest story out there today, but it is destined to become a classic. Tom Weaver (R-Westford) has fired off this salvo against Fifth Congressional District Representative Niki Tsongas (D-Lowell):

"When will American's learn..." that politicians who can rewrite classic folk tunes and perform them are the next wave. I'm hoping that Tsongas comes back with a cover of a Joni Mitchell tune as a response.

Or maybe she'll just respond with a press release. That's what the National Republican Congressional Committee has done with Tsongas, attacking her for high unemployment. If you read the release closely, it's clear that it is a generic release and that the words "Niki Tsongas" "Tsongas" and "Massachusetts" can easily be swapped out for, say, "Carol Shea-Porter" "Porter" and "New Hampshire" or any number of other Democrats being targeted by the NRCC.

For her part, Tsongas is touting a $43 million loan guarantee for Beacon Power of Tyngsboro to build a "20 MW flywheel energy storage plant, now under construction in Stephentown, New York."

Earlier today, Jon Golnik (R-Carlisle) was a guest on the Callie Crossley Show on WGBH-FM radio.

Saturday roundup: McGovern keeps up the pressure on Afghanistan

2010-08-06T22:40:00.001-04:00

Rep. James McGovern (D-Worcester) continued his anti-war advocacy with a column in Friday's Telegram. The congressman explained his vote against the $33 billion war appropriations bill:

I voted in 2001 to go to war in Afghanistan — to hunt down al-Qaida and eliminate their threat. I would cast that same vote today — in a heartbeat. Al-Qaida remains a threat, and we must redouble our efforts to destroy them wherever they are — in Pakistan, in Yemen, in Somalia, and elsewhere around the world.

But what we are doing in Afghanistan today is far beyond that original authorization. We are engaged in extensive, expensive “nation-building” in a very complicated, dangerous part of the world.

And frankly, given the level of unemployment and the severe economic situation we face in the United States, I’d rather do a little more “nation-building” here at home.

Speaking to the Attleboro Sun-Chronicle, McGovern laid out his support for allowing the Bush-era tax cuts to expire on families making over $250,000. "I'm sorry, if Donald Trump doesn't get a tax break it's not the end of the world," he said.

Elsewhere in the Third Congressional District, Robert Delle (R-Westboro) is calling for a boycott of New York City over the planned mosque and Islamic Cutural Center a couple of blocks from the former site of the World Trade Center. I can think of a dozen or more reasons to stay away from New York, but that wouldn't be one of them.

Fifth Congressional District
Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Lowell) gave a detailed explanation of her vote against the Afghanistan military authorization.

Sam Meas (R-Haverhill) gets his second national profile in a week, as The Weekly Standard checks in on the campaign. Meas characterizes Tsongas as "so convoluted, she’s so out of touch."

13th Worcester House District
Margot Barnet (D-Worcester) introduces herself to the community at Blue Mass Group. She also revvealed that she is a longtime BMG member with a paper trail.

Ronal Madnick (U-Worcester) will be hosting a debate next week between the four candidates for sheriff. Shaun Sutner of the Telegram wonders if having a candidate in one race moderate a debate in another is a "possible election-season conflict of interest."

Second Franklin House District
For what it's worth, Madnick won't be the first rep candidate this cycle to moderate a debate for another office. David Roulston (D-Greenfield) hosted a debate between the Northwestern District Attorney candidates earlier this week.

First Middlesex House District
In his role as a member of Ayer's Finance Committee, Jesse Reich (D-Ayer) defended the agenda of the upcoming meeting of finance committees across the region.

Sheila Harrington (R-Groton) announced some upcoming events. She will be hosting a night of billiards in Ayer later this week, and giving away ice cream in Dunstable and Groton next month.

Thursday roundup: Looking for order in the courts

2010-08-05T22:53:00.002-04:00

Wednesday brought the Court Relocation Committee to Worcester, where a hearing was held on proposals to close a handful of district courts, including facilities in Leominster and Westboro. Sen. Jennifer Flanagan (D-Leominster) testified in opposition to the plan:

"We don't have the rail, we don't have the subway, we don't have the trolleys and we don't have the short cab rides," she said. "This is going to hit hard in the city of Leominster."

The Telegram noted that "dozens of people" testified against the proposal, including a number of elected representatives. Congressman James McGovern (D-Worcester) and Rep. George Peterson (R-Grafton) were among those testifying.
Elsewhere...

Third Congressional District
McGovern has been busy in the district the last couple of days. In addition to appearing with Rep. Harold Naughton (D-Clinton) in announcing a $250,000 grant to repair a road in Clinton, McGovern also announced a series of visits to local businesses, and checked out another road in need of repair in Holliston.

First Worcester Senate District
Harriette Chandler (D-Worcester) explained her vote in favor of "racinos." Despite her claim last week that she would vote against any bill that included the slot machine facilities, Chandler voted in favor of the final bill, which included the possibility of two racinos. She said she believed that the licensing commission would refuse to issue slot licenses because the governor opposes them.

Second Worcester House District
Rich Bastien (R-Gardner) attended last weekend's rally with Congressional candidate Bill Gunn (R-Belchertown) and spoke with DaTechGuy.

Worcester County Sheriff
Shaun Sutner of the Telegram looks at the wardrobe choices of the candidates for Sheriff.

Tuesday roundup: Good day to spend in the hammock

2010-08-03T23:20:00.000-04:00

Another sleepy August day came and went, with little election news to report around Central Mass. Here's what's new...

Worcester County Sheriff
Lew Evangelidis (R-Holden) spoke in support of James McKenna, a write-in candidate for Attorney General.

First Congressional District
Bill Gunn (R-Belchertown) appeared at a rally in Leominster. DaTechGuy has the video.

Ninth Worcester House District
Rep. George N. Peterson Jr. (R-Grafton) switched his vote on CORI reform from yes to no after a provision to allow for "dangerous hearings for defendants charged with felony firearm offenses" was added to the final bill.

Fifth Congressional District
Both Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Lowell) and challenger Jon Golnik (R-Carlisle) were profiled at Yes We Will Lawrence.

37th Middlesex House District
Sponsores of the bill to allow local communities to more easily set up their own local electrical utilities--including Rep. Jen Benson (D-Lunenburg) are lamenting the legislature's inablity to pass the legislation before the end of the session.

Weekend roundup: Senate stays on 15, dares Governor to take hit

2010-08-01T21:20:00.001-04:00

As the State Legislature wound down the session Saturday, the big news was not that the House and Senate both passed the compromise Casino bill, but that the margin in the Senate was again 25-15, two votes shy of a veto-proof majority. So, if the Governor vetoes the bill as he has promised and if Senate President Therese Murray (D-Plymouth) calls a special session to consider the veto, gambling supporters need to get two opposing senators to switch their votes.

Locally, it appears that each of the representatives and senators up for reelection voted the same way they did when the issue came up earlier this session. Interestingly, that included Sen. Harriette Chandler (D-Worcester) who voted for the three casino, two racino proposal despite her insistance last week that she would not vote for a bill that included slot parlors for racetracks. As of this evening, Chandler has not publicly discussed her change of heart.

Elsewhere...

Third Congressional District
Rep. James McGovern (D-Worcester) was vocal in his support for the House bill that strengthens oversight of offshore dirlling. "If you want to apologize for Big Oil, go right ahead, but the American people are not on your side on this one," he said.

Martin Lamb (R-Holliston) unveiled an economic package of tax cuts, including "putting a six-month moratorium on payroll taxes such as Social Security." He could not tell the Attleboro Sun-Chronicle how he would pay for the tax cuts.

Lamb claims he is winning the Facebook primary. According to statistics provided by Lamb and published in the Telegram, Lamb has nearly triple the number of Facebook friends as Brian Herr (D-Hopkinton), his closest competition for the Republican nomination. That and $1.99 will get him a coffee an Dunks.

First Congressional District
The House of Representatives is apparently so upset with HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan that it refused to fund his travel budget. While John Olver (D-Amherst) opposed the measure, he did so tepidly and did not block it from coming out of his committee.

Fifth Congressional District
Jon Golnik (R-Carlisle) has no use for the legal decision striking down parts of Arizona's immigration law.

Sam Meas (R-Haverhill) took a spin on syndicated radio's The Roger Hedgecock show.

Second Congressional District
Barron's has dubbed the provision Rep. Richard Neal (D-Springfield) has proposed to close tax loopholes for foreign insurance comanies "Hurricane Neal" for it's potential impact on the re-insurance industry.

Middlesex and Worcester Senate District
Sen. Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton) was criticized by Glenn Beck, of all people, for his leadership on the bill to apportion Massachusetts's electoral votes based on the winner of the popular vote.

18th Worcester House District
Shaun Sutner of the Telegram suggests that Rep. Jennifer Callahan (D-Sutton) is operating under a double standard when it comes to lobbying and campaign finance issues.

11th Worcester House District
Matthew Beaton (R-Shrewsbury) was photographed on a golf course with President Geroge H. W. Bush and a Beaton for Representative bumper sticker. This earned a "President Bush throws support behind Beaton" headline from Daily Westborough.

Worcester County Sheriff
The Telegram looks at the four candidates for Sheriff.

Thursday roundup: Tsongas tried to keep Schilling's company in Mass.?

2010-07-29T10:00:00.000-04:00

Wednesday was slow with a capital "S", so in keeping with the media's tradition of headlining a Red Sox story when nothing else is going on, we start with former Red Sox hero and current businessman/blowhard Curt Schilling. In a discussion with WEEI Radio about Rhode Island's decision to offer Schilling's video game company 38 Studios a $75 million guarantee to move the business to the Ocean State, Schilling mentioned that he'd only received help from one Massachusetts politician:

Although Schilling “absolutely” wished Massachusetts had offered incentives to keep 38 Studios in the Bay State, only U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas, D-Mass., made a significant effort to explore the possibility, he said.

“We made every effort to make that happen, and it was not going to happen,” he said. Officials in Massachusetts have said the state would never provide as large a guarantee as $75 million to a single company.

I'm not sure what pull Tsongas (D-Lowell) would have since the state would have made the decision, but Schilling's company is located in Maynard for the time being and Maynard is in her Fifth Congressional district, so perhaps she just saw it as good constituent relations.

In a completely unrelated item, challenger Jon Golnik (R-Carlisle) got the Lowell Sun to publish a story about his call for Tsongas to call for House Ways and Means Committee chairman Charlie Rangel to step down:

"Instead of supporting partisan friendships, Nancy Pelosi, Niki Tsongas and the rest of our elected officials in Washington need to stand up for what is right and demand for their colleague's resignation. People are cynical because once again, members of Congress are above the law," Golnik said in a statement....

"If his colleagues feel he is too unethical too keep his money, then he is too unethical to spend ours," Golnik said.

Tsongas probably has less pull with Rangel than she does with some state development authority, but at least Golnik got an article out of it.

Sam Meas (R-Haverhill) came out against the expiration of last decade's deficit-building tax cuts.

Elsewhere....

Middlesex and Worcester Senate District
Rep. Jamie Eldridge told the Lowell Sun that Schilling never asked him for any help. Maynard is part of the Middlesex and Worcester District.

Third Congressional District
Not only has Rep. James McGovern (D-Worcester) been all over the news as a leader of the anti-war effort, he has also drafted a letter (along with Democratic Rep. Jan Schankowsky of Illinois) urging Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to call for investigations of war crimes in Sri Lanka.

Wednesday Roundup: McGovern continues anti-war crusade

2010-07-28T09:12:00.003-04:00

Rep. James McGovern (D-Worcester) continues to lead the anti-war effort in the wake of the leak of classified Pentagon documents relating to the war in Afghanistan. The congressman from the Third District explained his vote against yesterday's war appropriations bill to the New York Times:

“All of the puzzle has been put together and it is not a pretty picture; things are really ugly over there,” Representative James P. McGovern, Democrat of Massachusetts, said. “I think the White House continues to underestimate the depth of anti-war sentiment here.”

Locally, McGovern is sponsoring a poster contest. He'd like someone to create a poster for his campaign. "This contest will allow me to showcase some of the best artists in the 3rd Congressional District,” McGovern said. Apparently all of the best artists in the Third District are Democrats.

The Attleboro Sun-Chronicle reports on a couple of endorsements. Marty Lamb (R-Holliston) has picked up the support of former state GOP Chairman Jim Rappaport. Brian Herr (R-Hopkinton) picked up the endorsement of Robbi Blute, wife of former congressman and current WCRN radio host Peter Blute.

In other news...

Middlesex and Worcester Senate District
Sen. Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton) supported the Senate bill to apportion all of the states electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the national popular vote. According to the Boston Globe, he said:

What we are submitting is the idea that the president should be selected by the majority of people in the United States of America...Every vote will be of the same weight across the country.

The bill now awaits Governor Patrick's signature.

Second Congressional District
Rep Richard Neal (D-Springfield) announced that the renovation of Springfield's Union Station can go forward as the federal government has lifted it's funding freeze.

The Springfield Reminder profiled challenger Tom Wesley (R-Hopedale).

Fifth Congressional District
The Lawrence Eagle-Tribune announced that it is sponsoring a debate between the four Republican candidates for Rep. Niki Tsongas's seat. The debate will be August 30 in Haverhill.

First Congressional District
Channlenger Bill Gunn (R-Belchertown) appeared in Leominster yesterday. The Sentinel and Enterprise reports that he jumped into the race because he was upset about the passage of the Affordable Care Act.

Worcester County Sheriff
All four candidates appeared in Leominster Monday night at a forum sponsored by the Twin City Tea Party. DaTechGuy has the video of each candidate's presentation.

11th Worcester House District
Shrewsbury.net sat down for an interview with new candidate Kevin Byrne (D-Shrewsbury).

Second Franklin House District
In yesterday's post, I noted that Lee Chauvette (D-Athol) issued a statement opposing a biomass plant being developed in Greenfield. I wrote: "The developers of the plant, Co-op Power, defended their proposed plant (they call it biodiesel, not biomass) in a post at Blue Mass. Group." I received an email from the Chauvette campaign explaining that his opposition is to "a 'biomass' plant being proposed in Greenfield by Madera Power under the name of Pioneer Power," not the biodiesel plant being developed by Co-op Power. I regret the error.

Tuesday Roundup: McGuane out of Second Franklin race, Chauvette opposes "biomass plant"

2010-07-27T08:41:00.003-04:00

Lots of news coming out of the Second Franklin District today. The most important (and most inevitable) of which is the news that Martin McGuane (D-Greenfield) who pled to a DUI charge last week has pulled out of the race. Michael Henry of Montague Matters read between the lines of the former candidate's announcement:

In a simple press statement, e-mailed Thursday at 7:31 p.m., the 53-year-old candidate was quoted as saying, ‘Due to health issues and personal reasons, I am withdrawing from the race, effective immediately.’

...He might have done a good job if his “health issues” (read: alcoholism) and his personal reasons (read: piss-poor liar) didn’t force him to withdraw.

McGuane is the second candidate to withdraw from the contest this month. Genieveve Fraser (U-Orange) announced on July 7 that she was pulling out because she had "developed photosensitivity and must avoid direct sunlight." In her announcement, Fraser endorsed Roxanne Wedegartner (D-Greenfield).

In policy news, Lee Chauvette (D-Athol) is opposing the construction of what he calls a "biomass plant" in Greenfield. In a strongly worded statement, he wrote:

“People aren’t just worried about the quality of the air, or the 'eyesore'--such as the stack height of such a project; they’re concerned about their health and the health of their kids and community. These concerns have been voiced to me frequently, and not from just Greenfield residents, but residents from Gill, Erving and even Montague and beyond. It’s not enough to say the issue of Biomass in Greenfield is a 'Greenfield' issue, especially when as a candidate to represent the entire District I have an incumbent responsibility to protect the interests of all citizens.”*

In other election news...

Third Congressional District
Rep. James McGovern (D-Worcester) has been making the media rounds in response to the leaking of classified documents related to the war in Afghanistan. He told Chris Matthews on MSNBC:

"...The documents that were released paint a very grim picture and our men and women who are fighting the battle are doing an incredible job,” said Mr. McGovern. “It’s clear they have no reliable partners. They can’t trust the government of Afghanistan because Karzai is corrupt. They can’t trust the Afghan police or the Afghan military because they’re corrupt. Now we have news that the Pakistani intelligence are working to undercut the American men and women we’re putting in harm’s way. This is an outrage.”

Second Congressional District
Rep. Richard Neal (D-Springfield) continues to come under fire from European governments and the reinsurance industry for his proposal to do away with tax deductions for reinsurers based overseas.

Challenger Tom Wesley (R-Hopedale) has posted a new web ad criticizing Neal for...just about everything.

* -- Update 9:40 pm: In the original version of this post, I noted that "The developers of the plant, Co-op Power, defended their proposed plant (they call it biodiesel, not biomass) in a post at Blue Mass. Group." I received an email from the Chauvette campaign explaining that his opposition is to "a 'biomass' plant being proposed in Greenfield by Madera Power under the name of Pioneer Power." I regret the error.

Weekend Roundup: Lazy days of summer

2010-07-26T14:00:00.004-04:00

As one would expect after a lazy summer weekend, there were no big stories to break over the last couple of days. But there were a couple of things of note, here they are...

Sixth Worcester House District
Rep. Geraldo Alicea (D-Charlton) reports that progress is being made in the quest to bring a Registry of Motor Vehicles office back to Southbridge.

Challenger Peter Durant (R-Spencer) has called on Alicea to file Durant's bill to prohibit the state from breaking a lease similar to the former RMV lease in Sturbridge. The press release is a proof-readers nightmare. One hopes the bill is better written than the release.

11th Worcester House District
Kevin Byrne (D-Shrewsbury) announced recently that he plans to run for the Democratic nomination to replace Rep. Karyn Polito (R-Shrewsbury). Denis Leary (D-Shrewsbury) had been the only Democratic candidate to qualify for the ballot, but he recently pulled out due to health issues.

12th Worcester House District
Rep. Harold Naughton received the endorsement of The Gun Action Owners League of Massachusetts.

Challenger James Gettens (R-Sterling) was endorsed by Citizens for Limited Taxation.

37th Middlesex House District
Rep. Jennifer Benson (D-Lunenburg) voted in favor of the sales-tax holiday. Her anti-tax opponent, Kurt Hayes (R-Boxborough), criticized her even though she voted the way he would have.

18th Worcester House District
Selectman Ryan Fattman (R-Sutton) has been under fire for literature claiming he won an award that he did not win. He is challenging Rep. Jennifer Callahan (D-Sutton).

13th Worcester District
City Councillor Joffrey Smith (D-Worcester) is balking at Worcester's newly proposed valet parking ordinance.

Second Franklin House District
Lee Chauvette (D-Athol) has been endorsed by the Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts.

First Congressional District
Bill Gunn (R-Belchertown) brings his campaign to Leominster for a candidate forum Tuesday night at 7:00.

Sterling's response to water emergency not sterling

2010-07-25T18:32:00.000-04:00

On Tuesday, routine testing of Sterling's water supply found traces of e.Coli bacteria. When the results were returned on Wednesday, the town issued a boil water order for all residents and businesses that use the town water supply. We are still required to boil our water until at least Tuesday. Unfortunately, word got out in dribs and drabs, and many (if not most) residents didn't get the word until sometime on Thursday, long after the order went out.

The lack of timely information and the spread of misinformation suggests that the town's leaders were not prepared to communicate this sort of emergency to townspeople, and some citizens have begun to wonder if the lack of information has compromised the safety of their families.

According to the date stamp on the official boil water notice posted to sterling-ma.gov, the PDF file was created at 6:48 pm on Wednesday, July 21. We found out about it thanks to a Facebook post from one of our neighbors sometime after 9:30 pm. It looks like we were some of the lucky ones, although our children had drinks, brushed their teeth, and washed up after the boil water order was issued.

Information began to circulate on Thursday. The Telegram and Gazette ran a short item Thursday morning. Incredibly, the item did not give out a local phone number or Web site for residents to get further information. Instead, the phone number it included where people could call to get information was an 800 number for the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

By Thursday morning, electronic tote boards on Main Street and Worcester Road had been erected to tell motorists about the order. Those signs did include a local phone number. Other media also helped get the word out, as local television stations had picked up the story by midday and were including the information in their news reports.

Finally, late Tuesday afternoon -- nearly a full 24 hours after the boil water order went into effect -- we received the reverse-911 call informing us of the water emergency.

Think about that for a minute. It took an entire day to get the phones hooked up and get a broadcast message to the town. 235 years ago, the people of Lexington found out the British were coming in a quarter of the time it took the people of Sterling to find out their water wasn't safe to drink. Perhaps we should hire out an equestrian squad and have them gallop through the countryside in the tradition of Paul Revere. Bet it wouldn't have taken 24 hours to get the word out...

Not that the communication has been much better since then. After updating the Web site on Thursday evening, the town did not post another update until yesterday afternoon. There has not been an update for 27 hours (as of this writing) and it does not appear that there will be any more information for almost 24 hours to come:

As of Saturday, July 24th at 3PM, the boil water order continues to be in effect for all users of the Sterling Water Department System. Preliminary results show no E-coli but some coliform in the system. The water department has been disinfecting the entire water system and will take another round of sampling on Monday, July 26th per DEP directive. Please be informed that it takes 24 hours to receive results of the samples collected.

It would be nice to get a daily update...in fact, I think it is necessary, even if the update is little more than a message stating that nothing has changed. Beyond that, the notice needs to be clear and precise. Reading that closely, it's clear that the earliest the boil water order can be rescinded is Tuesday, July 26 (24 hours after the next round of testing on the 25th). Well, just say it.

Because of the lack of information, people are starting to blame the town for whatever is going wrong with their pets, children, etc. On Friday, I heard a group of parents talking about kids they knew who had been sick that week and they were sure it was the water. I've talked to people who have a sick dog and they figure that is because of the water. Another friend of ours has a 3-year-old with a stomach bug, and she thinks it's because she didn't get the notice until Thursday night and her family was drinking tap water all day.

Maybe they are right. I'm skeptical that every stomach bug and distempered pet is the result of water contamination. Frankly, I'm skeptical that any of it is from the water. But people don't believe they had the information they needed -- and deserved -- to keep their families safe.

The feeling of distrust is a burden that the town departments and leaders will deal with for some time to come.

Friday Roundup: GOP Money Trouble

2010-07-23T21:05:00.001-04:00

The big story today is courtesy of the Associated Press, which reports that despite a supposed anti-incumbent wave this fall, GOP challengers for Congress are trailing badly in the fundraising race. The chart from the Telegram shows the details:

(Just a note to the Telegram...while Democrats in Sterling would love to be in the Third District with Rep. Jim McGovern as depicted in the map, we're actually in Rep. John Olver's First District.)

Third Congressional District
Speaking of McGovern (D-Worcester), Worcester Magazine has a long look at the race in the Third District. It is the first time McGovern has faced an opponent in four years.

One of his potential Republican challengers, Martin Lamb (R-Holliston) is under fire for his voting record. The Telegram reports that Lamb first registered as a Republican in 2009 and voted as a Democrat in every state and federal election between 2000 and 2006. The news drew a strong reaction from challenger Brian Herr (R-Hopkinton). Previously, Lamb unveiled his "lamb chop plan" (seriously? lamb chop plan?) to save the country to the Milford Daily News.

For his part, Herr told the MetroWest Daily News that he hopes to avoid the "nasty, unproductive banter" of Capitol Hill if he is elected.

Robert Delle (R-Westborough) tells the MetroWest Daily News that "Barack Obama is a Marxist." He claims to know this because he was a "bonafide socialist" while in college.

Michael Stopa (R-Holliston) told the Holliston TAB that he decided to run because it was "a travesty" that McGovern was unopposed last cycle. Now he appears to be the moderate Republican in the crowded primary field.

Second Congressional District
Jay Fleitman (R-Northampton) came out strongly against the Wall Street Reform Act that President Obama signed last week.

Rep. Richard Neal (D-Springfield) confirmed that he is running for Ways and Means chairman. Neal also spoke to ABC News about extending unemployment benefits and allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire for people making over $250,000 per year.

Fifth Congressional District
A Wayland attorney is accusing town officials of violating the state's Open Meeting Law by not posting a meeting last November with Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Lowell).

Speaking of openness, the Boston Globe suggests Tsongas could make it easier for constituents to find information about her earmarks.

Challengers Sam Meas (R-Haverhill) and Jon Golnik (R-Carlisle) both told the Lowell Sun that they would have voted against Wall Street reform. They were joined by candidates Robert Shapiro (R-Andover) and Thomas Weaver (R-Westford) in opposition to the extension of unemployment benefits. Tsongas voted for both bills.

Golnik told the Boston Herald that he opposes the road signs informing motorists of projects paid for by the stimulus bill.

WBUR profiled Meas, a Cambodian American who survived the Khmer Rouge as a child and came to the United States as an orphaned teen. The Lowell Sun says Meas is counting on strong support from Lowell's Cambodian community.

Daily Roundup: McGuane pleads to DUI charge, Richard Neal in Bermuda Triangle

2010-07-22T12:54:00.001-04:00

Today's top story again comes from the Second Franklin House District, where candidate Martin A. McGuane (D-Greenfield) has pled to the DUI charges stemming from his arrest over the weekend. From the Springfield Republican:

GREENFIELD - Martin A. McGuane, a candidate for the 2nd Franklin seat in the state House of Representatives, is losing his driver's license for 45 days and must take an alcohol education program after pleading to facts sufficient for a finding of guilty following his arrest early Saturday on alcohol charges.

The case Wednesday was continued without a finding for one year in District Court....

When asked about his political future, McGuane said Wednesday he would release a statement this week.

In other CMass election news today...

The big news out of Bermuda is that Congressman Richard Neal (D-Springfield) is coming under fire from Germany's ambassador over his bill to "remove the tax-deductibility of reinsurance premiums paid to a foreign affiliate if the amount exceeds the industry average for third-party reinsurance." Back on Capitol Hill, the representative from the Second District is agressively trying to build support to be named the next Ways and Means Committee Chairman. Bloomberg reports that Neal has donated over $400,000 to the campaigns of fellow Democrats just in the last five months.

Tom Wesley (R-Hopedale), running against Neal, appeared last Friday with Jay Severin. The video of his appearance on the radio show is here.

First Congressional District Rep. John Olver (D-Amherst), blocked a $350 million appropriation for the proposed Transforming Rental Assisstance program from coming out of his House Appropriations Transportation, Housing and Urban Development subcommittee. He told The Hill the proposal should be subject to a full debate and not added to an appropriations bill.

Rep. Paul Kujowski (D-Webster), running for re-election in the Eighth Worcester District, explained his vote to allow developers of wind energy projects to circumvent local planning boards. Rep. Anne Gobi (D-Spencer) discussed why the proposal was bad for voters in her Fifth Worcester District.

All four candidates for Worcester County Sheriff are scheduled to attend a Twin City Tea Party candidate forum Monday night in Leominster.

The announcement that Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Margaret Marshall is retiring this fall should give a boost to the race between Jennie Caissie (R-Oxford) and Fran Ford (D-Paxton) for Governor's Council. While the council will ratify or reject her replacement before this fall's election, the high-profile appointment should help citizens better understand the role of councilors.

CMass Senate Roundup...Rolling the dice on casinos

2010-07-21T23:51:00.001-04:00

Catching up on the last few weeks of the State Senate campaigns...

First Worcester
Sen. Harriette Chandler (D-Worcester) said Monday that she will oppose any compromise on the casino bill that includes slot machines at race tracks. The orignal Senate vote was 25-15 in favor, so if racinos are included opponents will only need to switch four more votes. In last week's Worcester Magazine, Chandler also said she was concerned that a House provision protecting local theatre venues might be dropped, though it was not clear if she would also change her vote if that provision were not included.

Chandler was endorsed by MassEquality.

William Higgins (R-Northborough) was endorsed by the Citizens for Limited Taxation.

Worcester and Middlesex
Sen. Jennifer Flanagan (D-Leominster) told the Telegram & Gazette that race track slots were not a deal breaker for her. She was backed up by Democratic Fitchburg mayor Lisa Wong, who argued in the Sentinel and Enterprise that restaurants and businesses in Fitchburg should be allowed to add slot machines in the future if racinos are approved.

Three weeks ago, Flanagan broke with most of her Democratic colleagues and attended a meeting of the Twin City Tea Party. Conservative blogger DaTechguy was there to take video of Flanagan and opponent Neal Heeren (R-Bolton) and came away impressed by the Democrat:

Without a question Heeren was a weaker speaker, he had to refer to his notes quite a bit on opening and seemed very uncomfortable on stage, rather odd for a lawyer. On the issues he was more correct but you have to be able to make the case to people. That’s a skill he can develop but if Flanagan keeps showing up and manages to make credible explanation and presentations it will be harder for him.

This more than anything illustrates why Flanagan’s presence was smart! Rather than avoiding the Tea Party in fear she confronts it directly.

Heeren was scheduled to attend the Greater Gardner Tea Party event earlier this evening.

Finally, some guy named Kevin Lynch has been mounting an independent campaign almost solely via the Sentinel and Enterprise comment boards. Perhaps someone will tell him that as an independent, he still has time to get enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.

Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin

Stephen Brewer (D-Barre) voted against the Senate's casino bill. The Springfield Republican called it a "politically difficult vote" because the Ways and Means Vice Chariman voted against Speaker Murray. Brewer explained his "no" vote to the Journal Register:

“The numbers just do not add up and cities and towns will end up picking up these extra costs,” said Brewer. As an example of how far short this number falls, Brewer said, at one point, the town of Palmer handed him a request for $50 million in mitigation costs.

“I am concerned that without first conducting a cost benefit analysis, as I advocated for, we may be getting ourselves into a situation that we did not intend,” Brewer said.

After eight years of trying, the Senate has finally passed Brewer's bill allowing police to arrest drivers involved in fatal or injury-causing accidents at the scene. Currently police can only arrest a driver at the scene of an accident if the suspect is under the influence.

Brewer also donned a 19th-century costume and delivered the Declaration of Independence at ceremonies July 4 at Old Sturbridge Village (at right).

Daniel Dubrule (R-Ashburnham) was scheduled to appear at the aforementioned Greater Gardner Tea Party this evening.

Middlesex and Worcester
Sen. Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton) led the unsuccessful fight against casinos in the Senate. While he ultimately voted against the bill, he was successful in amending the bill to prohibit smoking in casinos. However, he was unable to convince senators that towns surrounding a proposed casino site should have veto power over the project. His amendmet to ban ATMs from casinos was also defeated.

Eldridge picked up the endorsement of MassEquality.

Selectman George Thompson (R-Westboro) spoke late last month at a forum sponsored by the Ayer Republican Town Committee. The forum appears to have made more news for who was not invited than what was said.

So...What's New?

2010-07-20T13:57:00.000-04:00

If you happen to have followed this blog, saw the earlier update today, and wondered "Why has No Drumlins been dormant for three-and-a-half months and then up comes this rogue post about some guy from Greenfield?"...well, I'm here to tell you.

(But first, let's be honest. There probably aren't five people out there who wondered about that, but I needed some sort of opening premise.)

As election season starts to heat up, I've decided to re-start No Drumlins as a sort of Central Mass. election wrap-up. There are a handful of blogs out there (MassBeacon, Lovers, Muggers, and Thieves to name a couple) that have been looking at local and statewide races, but none that concentrate on Central Mass. in particular.

Since I'm not doing anything else right now (note to readers: if you are looking for a writer or a benefits professional, hire me), I figured I'd put some of my time into keeping an eye on the following contests:

Senate
Middlesex and Worcester (incumbent Jamie Eldridge, D-Acton)
First Worcester (incumbent Harriette Chandler, D-Worcester)
Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin (incumbent Stephen Brewer, D-Barre)
Worcester and Middlesex (incumbent Jennifer Flanagan, D-Leominster)

House of Representatives
Second Franklin (open seat -- currently Democratic)
First Middlesex (open seat -- currently Republican)
Third Middlesex (incumbent Kate Hogan, D-Stow)
37th Middlesex (incumbent Jennifer Benson, D-Lunenburg)
First Worcester (open seat -- currently Republican)
Second Worcester (open seat -- currently Democratic)
Fifth Worcester (incumbent Anne Gobi, D-Spencer)
Sixth Worcester (incumbent Geraldo Alicea, D-Charlton)
Eighth Worcester (incumbent Paul Kujawski, D-Webster)
Ninth Worcester (incumbent George Peterson, R-Grafton)
11th Worcester (open seat -- currently Republican)
12th Worcester (incumbent Harold Naughton, D-Clinton)
13th Worcester (open seat -- currently Democratic)
18th Worcester (incumbent Jennifer Callahan, D-Sutton)

Worcester County Sheriff (open seat -- currently Democratic)
Govenor's Council (open seat -- currently Democratic)

US Congress
First District (incumbent John Olver, D-Amherst)
Second District (incumbent Richard Neal, D-Springfield)
Third District (incumbent James McGovern, D-Worcester)
Fifth District (incumbent Nikki Tsongas, D-Lowell)

I figure that there is plenty of coverage on the statewide offices, so I'll leave those to others.

Oh, and so you know what my biases are, I am the chair of the Sterling Democratic Town Committee, have worked on local Democratic campaigns in the past, and expect to work for Democrats locally in this election cycle as well. I plan to present all of the information I can find as impartially as I can, but I do have a point of view.

State Rep. candidate arrested for OUI

2010-07-20T13:18:00.002-04:00

Breaking news this weekend from Greenfield...Martin McGuane, who is one of five Democrats vying for the nomination for State Representative in the Second Franklin District, has been arrested and arraigned for OUI and an open container violation. From the Recorder:

GREENFIELD -- Martin A. McGuane, one of six candidates in the race for a state House seat, was arraigned Monday on misdemeanor charges involving alcohol in a vehicle.

McGuane, 53, of 252 Davis St., was arrested early Saturday morning and charged with operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol and driving with an open container of alcohol in his vehicle. He pleaded innocent to the charges Monday in district court.

Michael Henry of MontagueMatters is calling on McGuane to drop out of the race. He is also reporting that McGuane's campaign Web site has been taken offline.

The Second Franklin District includes five towns in Franklin County and Athol in Worcester County. There are currently five Democrats and one Republican running for the seat.

Update: More from Masslive.com and the Springfield Republican, including results of the breathalyzer and the brews in McGuane's car:

McGuane agreed to take a field sobriety test that requires walking a straight line and touching the tip of a pen. Haskins concluded that he failed the test and arrested him. McGuane was brought to the Greenfield police station where he took several breathalyzer tests, averaging 0.19 percent alcohol, twice the legal limit of 0.08.

Police notified McGuane that his license is being suspended. In his car, officers also found two empty bottles of BBC Steel Rail beer and a 1.5 liter bottle of pinot grigio with about an inch of wine left in the bottom of the bottle.

Damned if you do, damned if you do

2010-04-06T14:44:00.000-04:00

The Boston Globe is reporting this morning that Pittsfield Mayor James Ruberto and former Red Sox General Manager Dan Duquette are being hauled in on ethics charges for not conducting an illegal transaction:

The Massachusetts State Ethics Commission is holding a hearing today in a controversy involving Mayor James M. Ruberto of Pittsfield, former Red Sox general manager Daniel Duquette, and a pair of tickets to the 2004 World Series.

The commission's investigators allege that Duquette's sale of two tickets to the 2004 World Series to Ruberto at face value – when they were commanding as much as $2,000 apiece -- violated the state's conflict of interest law.

Here is the problem with that charge: If Duquette had sold the mayor the two ducats at $2,000 each, he'd have been in violation of the state's anti-scalping laws. In fact, if Duquette had got $250 each for the tix, he'd have been breaking the law.

And we all know what would happen if it wen't the other way. What do you think woulld happen if someone found out that politician X got two tickets to a Bruins-Thrashers game on a snowy Thursday in January for half-price. Do you think think the fact that scalpers on the street were only selling them for half-price would help him or her out?

So I guess the moral of the story is that officials subject to the ethics law--at least as it was written in 2004--can only attend sporting events where they pay full price for a ticket and where the street value of the ticket is no greater than full price. So if you are a pol looking to go to a Sox game, best to find a cold night in May when the Royals are in town so you don't have to go before the ethics commission.

Recovering

2010-04-05T09:55:00.000-04:00

Last weekend, I had a couple of the largest traffic days in the history of this blog, thanks to the interest people have in Leominster mayor and city hall Romeo Dean Mazzarella. Seemed like a great opportunity to capture a bunch of new readers. An good aggressive week of blogging could have done wonders for the enterprise.

Then, nothing.

There is a reason. On Tuesday, I went in for fairly major surgery. Nothing life-threatening, and nothing that wasn't planned, but having a doctor cut you up and staple you back together takes a toll no matter what.

Not having any surgery before, I figured that it wouldn't be too tough to at least keep writing in tthe aftermath. I was so sure of that, I brought a netbook along to the hospital so that I could keep up with this site while I was waiting to come home. I didn't have the first idea what was coming.

What I found was that even though I felt better than I thought I would, I couldn't concentrate on writing. I was on a schedule (still am to an extent), where I had to eat at a certain time, drink at a certain time, breathe deeply at a certain time, walk at a certain time, to the point that I was thinking so much about that stuff that I couldn't concentrate on much else.

My recovery has been flying along. I feel great -- actually I feel a lot better than I thought I would -- I'm starting to get out for walks a couple of times a day, driving again, you know, everyday stuff. Hopefully I'll be able to get back in the saddle of this site as well.

Anyway, in case you've been wondering why No Drumlins went dark, there you go.

Flooding getting worser and worser

2010-03-29T13:21:00.002-04:00

While watching out my picture window to the East to see if any part of Clinton remains above water, I got this alert from the National Weather Service:

FLOODING WILL BE AT LEAST AS WORSE AS IT WAS 2 WEEKS AGO. THIS IS GOING TO BE A PROLONGED PERIOD OF URBAN AND SMALL STREAM FLOODING FROM THIS AFTERNOON...LASTING WELL INTO TUESDAY MORNING.

Maybe we ought to start requiring our meteorologists to get ~~an English minor~~ ~~English minors~~ minors in English along with their ~~degree~~ degrees.

Mayor Mazzarella's Mad Libs are "Ready for You!"

2010-03-27T09:34:00.001-04:00

A quick update on the love shack that is Leominster city hall...the Telegram moved the ball ahead on the story this morning by reporting that the controversy may have begun when Mayor Dean Mazzarella's ex-girlfriend/secretary popped him in the kisser on the steps of city hall:

The mayor's defense of his actions followed months of rumors that his ex-girlfriend, Stacia L. Venturi — upon discovering his relationship with Lisa L. Vallee, the economic coordinator — slapped Mr. Mazzarella on City Hall steps on Jan. 19, the day of the special election to replace the late U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.

The mayor denied that Ms. Venturi struck him, but acknowledged she was upset upon finding out through a series of office e-mails about his relationship with Ms. Valle, who is married. Mr. Mazzarella noted using city e-mail was a mistake, and said they should have communicated via personal e-mail....

“I take full responsibility for everything I do,” he said. “I am not a womanizer.”

Look, tensions were high on the day of the special election, perhaps it is just as simple as one of them supported Senator Scott Brown and the other was a Martha Coakley voter.

But anytime the mayor has to come out and state "I am not a womanizer,"...well, that's just not good. I don't imagine people of Leominster will be thrilled with the description of Mozarella's current girlfriend as "who is married," either, if they weren't already aware.

Anyway, this morning's regularly scheduled post is "Ready for You!"

Scott had the brilliant idea of turning the emails that recently surfaced between Leominster Mayor Dean Mazzarella and his city hall paramours into a series of Mad Libs. I've created these from the text of the emails, as presented in the Sentinel and Enterprise, you just have to fill in the italicized terms. Feel free to complete them in the comments.

Subject: Poster Board

Paramour: Where is the (noun) for (name of friend #1)? He is (verb) at 1:00 today. Also we need a few (plural noun) for the (noun).

Mayor: It's at my (place). Stop in and see (name of friend #2) and he will give you (plural noun)…If you wait until I get back, I can (verb) you at the (place).

Paramour: You've got enough to do already. I'll be sure to let you know if I need (noun) and what happens with (friend #1) and the (noun) too. You are too (adjective) to me.

Mayor: Tell you what. Let me know when you get to (place) and if I can, I will (verb) you there.

Paramour: OK. You got it, (term of endearment).

Subject: Co-workers

Paramour: That was by chance (adjective)! (Name of co-worker) came in here and asked me for a (noun) ... ugh, didn't want (pronoun) to feel (part of the body) so I kept it (adjective). He said he (past-tense verb) me; he's (adjective) but we knew that already. I'm thinking of you, can we (verb) later tonight after (name of event).

Mayor: He is (adjective). We can (verb) sooner if you want. You can call me on your way to see (group of people). 4 p.m. Before you go to (place) is fine. Or you could (verb) me when you get out. I stay in (place) until I have to go to (event) so just (verb) me on my (noun). Does any of that work?

Paramour: Nice. 4 p.m. is good. I will absolutely (verb) you to (verb) your (noun) at 4 p.m….

Mayor: (Verb) me at my (place) at 4:00. I have to run out and get some (noun) for my (place).

Leominster Mayor Mazzarella loves the ladies, is "Ready for You"

2010-03-26T10:16:00.004-04:00

There is nothing wrong with loving the ladies, except that both of the ladies Leominster Mayor Dean Mazzarella is (or has been) loving work in city hall. Well, that and that he's emailing them using his city hall account. From the Sentinel and Enterprise:

LEOMINSTER -- Mayor Dean J. Mazzarella defended his decision to enter into a personal relationship with the city's economic development coordinator, saying his typical "18-hour days" leave him no time for a personal life outside of work.

"What you have here is simply a guy who works all day who basically met two people ... in the matter of 17 years," Mazzarella said Thursday afternoon during a telephone interview that his private attorney sat in on. "I didn't plan on the second one, but it happened and when we realized it was serious, we kept it professional."

Mazzarella insisted he has done nothing wrong and hasn't violated any city law or policy and believes his decision to date Lisa Vallee, the city's economic development coordinator -- after having a long-term relationship with another city employee and his former secretary, Stacia Venturi -- hasn't hurt his ability to manage other City Hall employees, nor did it put the city at any legal risk.

That's all. Just a hard-working lonely guy who only leaves city hall to sleep, so if he's going to have affairs, the only place to have them is in city hall. To make it more interesting, he sends emails back and forth with his partners using his official email account. Like this one exchange with Ms. Vallee:

"(City employee) came in here and asked me for a hug ... ugh, didn't want him to feel these boobs so I kept it quick," Vallee wrote in the e-mail. "He said he missed me, he's weird but we knew that already. I'm thinking of you, can we talk direct later tonight after ur council stuff. 10 p.m. ish or whatever."

Mazzarella, according to the e-mails provided, replied at 11:03 a.m., "He is weird. (Portion redacted). We can talk sooner if you want. You can call me on your way to see your kids. 4 p.m. Before you go to PTO is fine. Or you could call me when you get out. I stay in my office until I have to go to council so just call me on my cell. Does any of that work?"

And then Vallee responded to Mazzarella, "Nice. 4 p.m. is good. I will absolutely call you to hear your voice at 4 p.m."

Awwww. Isn't that sweet? Frankly, I'd like to find out more about this creepy city employee who cruises city hall looking for hugs so that he can feel the ladies' boobs. Seems like having a serial harasser in city employ might warrant a follow-up investigation from the Sentinel.

The Sentinel has published a handful of the emails (in keeping with the Sentinel's policy of finding a way to screw something up in every story, they've run them out in an html file instead of scanning them and posting PDFs, so good luck). Looks like Mazzarella was also carrying on conversations with his ex at the same time, for what that's worth.

But the best part of the story might be found at the end of each email. In the one email the Sentinel did post as an image, the signature lines of Mayor Mazzarella and Ms. Vallee include the slogan "Leominster: Ready for You!"

"Ready for You" indeed!

Is Scott Brown trying to save face with amendments that aren't his?

2010-03-24T22:16:00.000-04:00

When I was putting together my earlier post on Scott Brown's bad day, something that he told WAAF's Greg Hill in his on-air therapy session caught my eye. According to the Herald's account of the interview, Brown claimed that he was going to be trying to change the bill today:

Brown said he is offering several amendments to the “fix-it” bill. Among them is a proposal to repeal a 3 percent tax on medical devices. Brown said there are more than 200 medical device makers in the Bay State that would lose their profit margin if the tax is put in place.

The Herald took that and published this later in the day:

Brown was preparing to file an amendment today that would repeal the medical-device provision, as part of an overall Republican plan to bombard Democrats with amendments as senators vote on a “reconciliation” bill that would make changes to the health-care reform package.

This puzzled me, because I was sure that I saw the list of amendments yesterday. It was my understanding that the debate started last night and the list of amendments needed to be in before the debate started. So I couldn't figure out how Brown was going to file an amendment today.

To satisfy my curiosity, I went to the Senate web site and looked up the list of amendments. I found three things:

Scott Brown is not the primary sponsor of any amendments, never mind "several amendments to the 'fix-it' bill."
Scott Brown is only listed as a co-sponsor to Senator Pat Roberts's amendment to repeal the medical device tax.
All of the amendments were filed yesterday, March 23.

So what's the deal, Senator? Do you think that tacking your name on as a cosponsor to someone else's bill covers you when you tell the media that you are going to be filing several amendments? Do you think voters won't notice when you over-promise then take credit for someone else's work?

We notice.

Scott Brown's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day

2010-03-24T15:05:00.010-04:00

It has been a really rough 24-or-so hours for the extremely freshman senator from Massachusetts. He doesn't seem to be handling it particularly well.

First, people are starting to realize that Brown's election ended up being the kick in the pants the Democrats needed to actually pass health care reform. I noted it, Massachusetts' top political blog subscribes to the same theory, even the head Scott Brown cheerleaders at the Herald ran a story today wondering what the hell is going on with their hero, complete with an expiration date stamped on his forehead:

“We start to wonder whether we helped a RINO (Republican in name only) get into office,” said Tea Party activist Jeffrey McQueen, who raveled from Michigan to campaign for Brown in the final days of the Jan. 19 special election that rocked the nation.

“If it wasn’t for the Tea Party movement, Scott Brown wouldn’t have gotten that seat. We expect to see a true conservative in there.”

In fact, Democrats now say Brown’s election as the so-called “41st vote” to block Obama’s health-care overhaul inspired them to seek procedural means to bypass GOP efforts to derail the bill.

“Scott Brown’s election actually delivered health-care reform, because we didn’t need the 60 votes to make it happen. He delivered a significant victory in that,” [Massachusetts Democratic Party Chairman John]Walsh said.

Brown did what any distinguished politician would do when confronted with controversy, he called in to WAAF to whine:

Host Greg Hill asked the Wrentham Republican to respond to Democrats’ criticism that he’s “insignificant” and GOP fears that his election killed their fight against President Obama’s health care overhaul.

“That’s good. Let them keep thinking like that. That’s what they thought last time and here I am doing the people’s business,” said Brown. “They can try to, you know, twist and manipulate and, you know, destroy the message and destroy as much as they want but the bottom line is people are very angry.”...

“You know they can try to pooh-pooh my election and try to minimize it and all that stuff,” Brown said. “I get what they’re trying to do. But the bottom line is they are going to start to carve out folks who are disabled and have some very serious medical issues and say, ‘See the Republicans want to take this away.’ ”

I'm not sure exactly what he means, but I think he's saying that Democrats are going to accuse Republicans who favor repealing the bill as wanting to take away new safeguards for people with preexisting conditions, wanting to take away the right to keep health care and not fear losing it if a patient becomes sick, and wanting to take away tax credits that help seniors cope with the Medicare "donut hole" and help small businesses purchase insurance for their workers.

If that is what he means, then he is right to be worried. Well, he doesn't have to be worried if he favors those provisions. But in yet another mistake, he came out yesterday in support of full repeal. So when we accuse Brown of wanting to take away new safeguards for people with preexisting conditions, wanting to take away the right to keep health care and not fear losing it if a patient becomes sick, and wanting to take away tax credits that help seniors cope with the Medicare "donut hole" and help small businesses purchase insurance for their workers, it is because that is exactly what Brown is calling for when he calls for repeal.

But that is not all. Brown is being widely ridiculed for taking a Walsh tweet and some internet speculation and turning it into a fundraising pitch against a 2012 opponent who is isn't an opponent. From the Senator's fund raising letter:

It's only been a couple of months since I've been in office, and before I've even settled into my new job, the political machine in Massachusetts is looking for someone to run against me. And you're not going to believe who they are supposedly trying to recruit--liberal MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow.

I don't know if this was enough to raise any money, but it did get a response from the TV host:

"It's completely made up by [Brown]," she told Bill Wolff. Normally the executive producer of The Rachel Maddow Show, Wolff took the host's chair as Maddow recused herself "for the first and probably last time."

The bewildered Maddow found herself in two unexpected positions: a guest on her own show and a fundraising catalyst. "The fear of Rachel Maddow is what he's raising money on in Massachusetts," she observed before joking, "Massachusetts donors, open your wallets! Maddow's coming!"...

"Why didn't they just call and ask me if it was true before sending out the fundraising letter?" she wondered.

So to recap, in the last day or so Scott Brown has

been blamed for health care being passed
been called out for not being able to fulfill his promise to stop it
been ridiculed by the Boston Herald, of all publications
called for insurance companies to be able to deny coverage to children and sick patients
complained that he is being accused of calling for insurance companies to be able to deny coverage to children and sick patients
tried to raise money on the fear that a TV personality might run against him
been ridiculed for trying to raise money on the fear that a TV personality might run against him, and
complained to a DJ on a rock music radio station that he's being treated unfairly.

Hell of a day, Scott. Hell of a day.

Will Health Care Reform be Scott Brown's legacy?

2010-03-23T12:46:00.000-04:00

If Senator Scott Brown represents Massachusetts for decades he will have an opportunity to forge his own legacy as a Senator, but if he is voted out of office in 2012 the health care reform bill passed this week will be his legacy. The bill--especially the House provisions included in the reconciliation package--would not have become law without him.

If you go back to the first of January, the question was whether or not the House would accept the Senate bill as it was written and whether the Senate would approve any changes the House might propose. Because there had been 60 votes for the Senate version, the Senate held all of the cards in that negotiation. Majority Leader Harry Reid had worked like crazy to get a bill that could hold together 60 votes. He was not going to compromise with the House and risk losing his super-majority. At the time there were three options:

The House would pass the Senate bill as is, making the Senate bill the law of the land and shutting out House provisions.
The House and Senate would try to find a solution in conference that would keep all of the House votes and not lose even one Senate vote.
The two chambers could not come to an agreement and the bill would die.

In reality, the only way health care reform was going to be passed was with option 1. Even at that, the Senate bill was unacceptable to the pro-life Stupak group and was also opposed by liberal House members who didn't think it went far enough in it's provisions. Any change to make it more pro-life would have lost liberal votes in both chambers. Any change to make it more pro-choice would have shut out the Sutpak bloc. Any liberalization of the terms of the bill would have lost votes in the Senate.

With the landscape as it was in January, it was going to be either the Senate bill or no bill at all.

But as we know, everything changed on January 19. With Scott Brown's election, Senate Democrats no longer had 60 votes. That meant leadership also didn't have any leverage with the House. If there was going to be health care reform, it would have to go through a reconciliation process that only required a simple majority.

That change put the ball squarely in Nancy Pelosi's court. Now the House had the upper hand in negotiations. It didn't matter anymore what conservative Democratic Senators like Ben Nelson an Blanche Lincoln thought about the bill because their votes wouldn't matter anyway. Pelosi realized that this was her chance to enhance the bill is whatever way she needed to get House Democrats behind it. As long as it was palatable enough for 51 senators, it would work out.

So Pelosi crafted a sidecar bill that made the final product more progressive. The reconciliation bill increases premium subsidies to low- and middle-income families, expands Medicare payroll taxes to capital gains and dividends, closes the prescription drug "donut hole" for Medicare recipients, eases the excise tax on high-cost "Cadillac" insurance plans, and strengthens efforts to move Medicare reimbursement money away from for-profit Medicare Advantage plans and back to doctors and hospitals where it belongs.

The result is that the bill is more progressive than it ever would have been if Martha Coakley had been elected.

If Scott Brown is unlucky enough to take to the floor of the Senate on January 2, 2013 to give his farewell speech, he'll talk about what he has done for Massachusetts. But he won't mention his greatest legacy: ensuring that the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010 became the law of the land.

Forum tonight with Sheriff candidate Scot Bove

2010-03-22T08:28:00.001-04:00

Scot Bove, Democratic candidate for Worcester County Sheriff, will speak at an open forum hosted by the Sterling Democratic Town Committee tonight at 7:00 pm at the Butterick Building Room 205, 1 Park Street, Sterling. The committee will hold it's monthly business meeting following the forum.

This is the first of our committee's series of candidate forums. Future forums will include other candidates for office, including candidates for sheriff, state representative, auditor, treasurer, and hopefully governor. If you are in

Each of our forums will be televised on Sterling-Lancaster Cable TV and will be posted on You Tube (and here) as well.

Hopefully you can come down to town hall to catch the discussion later tonight.

Health Care debate: Send in the clowns

2010-03-21T23:09:00.000-04:00

I can't say that I am a C-span junkie, but I've been known to watch proceedings now and then. Whether for or against the health care reform bill that passed the House tonight--and I am in favor of it, although it could be a lot better--I think everyone can agree that tonight's vote is historic. This will probably go down as one of the most important acts of legislation of the post-war era, and I decided that I was going to watch the debate and the votes tonight.

After watching four hours of "debate" it's easy to see why people think congress is broken.

I must have heard somewhere around 100 speeches this evening and there isn't a dime's difference between them. Every Republican had the same set of talking points. Every Democrat read from the same script.Same thing over and over and over again.

Why? Because of the television cameras. Every last representative has to get up and say their one minute--even if it is the same thing as the previous speaker--so that the local TV station has video of Representative So-and-So imploring his or her colleagues to vote the right way.

Regardless of how our founding fathers thought Congress should work, the fact is that the all of the negotiations are completed behind closed doors. By the time a bill is called for a vote, the speaker knows exactly how many votes she has. Everything done in the chamber is done for the cameras.

So if you tuned in tonight and thought, "wow, what a bunch of clowns," that's why. While they may or may not all be clowns, they have certainly turned the floor of the House into a circus.

Patrick to Supreme Court? Could the ultimate domino fall

2010-03-16T18:11:00.000-04:00

Speculation has ramped up over the last couple of days that Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens might announce later this spring that he is retiring from the court. Could this be Governor Patrick's ticket out? First, the Stevens news:

WASHINGTON - Justice John Paul Stevens, leader of the Supreme Court's liberal wing, said in an interview that he would decide in early April whether to retire at the end of this court term....

Interviewed March 8, Stevens said he would make up his mind in about a month.

The court's current term is scheduled to end in late June. Justices who are retiring typically announce the news near the end of a term so a successor can be seated by October.

Why Patrick? Lets go back in time to the Summer of 2007. As the presidential campaign was just starting to wind up, the SCOTUSblog took a look at possible Supreme Court nominees should a Democrat be elected president. Here is part of what they wrote:

Deval Patrick may prefer to run for a second term as Governor. More generally, though being named a Justice is obviously an extraordinary and profound honor, a nominee on the left is in all likelihood signing up for ten years of dissent on many of the most important issues of Court confronts....

My ultimate predictions? Kim Wardlaw (2009, for Souter), Deval Patrick (2010, for Stevens), and Elena Kagan (2011, for Ginsburg).

Well, the authors got their first prediction wrong, but they did list Sonia Sotomayor among the candidates for Souter's position. Many are touting Kagan for the position should Stevens retire, but the author has accounted for that by predicting that she will replace Justice Ginsberg.

So, what would this mean for the governor's race? Well, the timing really couldn't be better. Let's assume for a moment that President Obama doesn't announce his pick until mid-June. On June 15 he gets Patrick on the horn and makes him an offer he can't refuse: not only will he be the next Supreme Court justice, but he won't have to risk tarnishing his legacy with a lost election.

If Governor Patrick pulls more than 85% of the delegate votes at the State Democratic Convention on June 6, he will be the only Democratic nominee on the primary ballot. So, if the governor decides to stand down, the state committee would convene to nominate a replacement candidate. That would almost definitely be Lt. Governor Tim Murray. (If Grace Ross qualifies for the ballot as well, I do not know if procedure would allow for a replacement in the primaries, but a Murray sticker campaign could still defeat Ross).

So Murray gets to campaign all summer while Patrick finishes up his work at the state house. Because a new justice wouldn't be seated until August or so, Patrick can do the dirty work on this year's budget, which will undoubtedly be unpopular. After he signs the budget, he turns the keys to the governor's office to Murray, who can continue to campaign as the active governor while being able to put a little distance between himself and the unpopular decisions Patrick will have to make during the budget process.

I don't think anyone has polled a potential Murray-Baker-Cahill race instead of Patrick-Baker-Cahill, but I sense that Murray is a bit more popular than Patrick. Where the governor is currently holding a three- to eight-point lead in the polls, I'd guess Murray's lead would be more like eight- to twelve-points.

Really, what could be better for Massachusetts liberals? Deval Patrick gets to sit on the Supreme Court for the next 30 years and Tim Murray becomes a favorite to win the corner office.

"They Ran Like Rats!"

2010-03-16T17:25:00.000-04:00

I don't have the first idea why I was watching C-Span the night of April 1, 1992. My guess is that there was a Bruins game that had just ended and I was flipping around looking for something else on TV. But whatever the reason, I was fortunate enough to witness Congressman Joseph Early's meltdown on the house floor.

Now, C-Span has put over 20 years of their archives on the the web. So, if you missed it the first time or would like to relive the moment again, scroll ahead to the 379 minute mark of the embedded video and enjoy.

If you want to hear Congressman Early's speech in it's entirety, it starts at around 369:10.

"It is already pouring over the spillway."

2010-03-16T10:46:00.000-04:00

Today's back of the hand is delivered by State Representative Harold Naughton. An article about the flooding in Clinton and Lancaster included this exchange between Naughton and Lancaster Town Administrator Orlando Pacheco, where Naughton calls Pacheco on the obvious:

[Naughton] said the Wachusett Reservoir was full to overflowing with water pouring over its spillway and down toward the Nashua River.

Flooding problems were also being dealt with in Lancaster and Westminster. Route 117 in the Bolton Flats area, a normally flood prone area, was closed from Route 70 to Bolton. Town Administrator Orlando Pacheco said his concern is that the situation could get worse if water has to be released.

“They don't have to release it,” Mr. Naughton said. “It is already pouring over the spillway.”

Hee!

To be fair, Naughton probably didn't deliver the retort in person. If he did, then good for him for restating the obvious. If not, then kudos to Karen Nugent for arranging the story in such a way that it looks like a smackdown.

Grad student makes Long-shot bid for state rep

2010-03-14T23:58:00.002-04:00

With Hank Stolz jumping out of the race for First Worcester District Representative, it looked like the fight may come down to a heads-up battle between Holden selectmen Ken O'Brien and Kim Ferguson. Not so fast, as the Landmark reports another candidate has thrown his hat in the ring:

HOLDEN — An MBA graduate student from Holden has thrown his hat in the ring to run for the 1st Worcester District state representative seat being vacated by Lewis Evangelidis (R-Holden).

Citing the need for solutions that don’t run along party lines, 23-year-old Jonathan Long of Winter Hill Road, Holden, said these are uncommon times that require uncommon solutions.

Uncommon times that require uncommon solutions? Oh, Brother. I imagine the young man is young enough to think that's original. Good for him for running, but he's got to be a little less cliched than that. The article is essentially a rundown of Long's resume, but does include this quote:

"Our state as a whole hasn't been hit as hard as the rest of the country, but it's still bad. We have to help and extend benefits to the people who have lost their jobs but we can't increase the tax burden for people either."

If the guy can extend benefits without raising revenues, he certainly will have found an uncommon solution. Politicians have been promising that without success for thousands of years. Perhaps Long can be the guy to find a way.

Updated March 15: the Telegram has more, including a note that Long is leaving the Democratic party to make his run.

Is Clinton sex offender central?

2010-03-13T09:30:00.002-05:00

I don't think so, but in a comment to the Item regarding a proposed bylaw to restrict where sex offenders can live, Police Chief Mark Laverdure made this stunning claim:

Laverdure said town safety officials had toyed with the idea in the past of writing a bylaw restricting where Level 3 sex offenders could live, based on their proximity to children, but some of those bylaws have been thrown out in other communities.

“Some bylaws, like you can’t live within 150 yards of a school or playground, will generally be approved. But anything too restrictive is not legal,” Laverdure said. “The purpose is to make people aware. Everyone should know that these people are out there. But for every one who is registered, there are probably 50 who are not.”

What? The article notes that there are five registered level 3 sex offenders in Clinton. By Chief Laverdure's math, there are actually 250 or so serious sex offenders in Clinton. That would be nearly two percent of the entire town's population.

I hope Chief Laverdure was just being inartful. I don't think he means that there are 245 level 3 sex offenders in Clinton who are unregistered. And I hope he's not suggesting that fully two of every 100 residents is a rapist who has continued without apprehension.

I think he's trying to make the point that everyone needs to be vigilant about the people around them, but boy, that is a damning way to do it.

Thanks, guys.

2010-03-12T21:37:00.001-05:00

It's been a week since I've had a chance to write. I've had meetings out of town, been dealing with a couple of family medical issues...you know, life. When I've been away, it's tough for me to get back on track. Through the week I've been noting things that I'd like to write about, but then I start thinking, "Well, that's four days old, no one's interested in that any more." Then I look at my stat counter and see that my numbers are way down (because I haven't written anything new) and I wonder if it's worth the effort, etc.

So I was really gratified by some feedback I got today. One of Worcester's must read bloggers, Nicole of Nicole, Worcester, gave me a nice shout out today as part of a critique of the Worcester news scene:

...We’re also looking at a situation where blogs are providing better election coverage than the local daily. There has got to be a better way, preferably one that involves replacing Robert Z. Nemeth with Lance from No Drumlins.

While I don't have the gravitas that comes with the initial "Z," I appreciate the recognition, nonetheless. Come to think about it, I'll be more available in a couple of weeks, so if the T&G is looking for a local columnist, they know how to reach me.

Seperately, I also got this bit of feedback in my email box this afternoon:

Just checked out your website while doing search on Hank Stoltz (to see what he was up to). You've got some real good political news on Central Mass. You should have an about page to let people know more about you.

I've always tried to keep my identity veiled, if not anonymous (it wouldn't take a whole lot of digging around the archives to find out who I am, but I don't sign my posts with my full name, for instance). But as I alluded to a moment ago I'll soon be "more available," which is a way of saying that I'll be out of a full-time job. The company for which I work has relocated my position out of state and I have elected not to make the trip. Since my reluctance to be fully identified is based in large part on the nature of my job, maybe I'll create an 'about page' and pull back the veil.

In any event, I appreciate the kind words and the support. It's nice to be reminded that people are reading after all.

So this is what the Item calls good news...

2010-03-05T08:15:00.003-05:00

In today's Clinton Item, I came across a column asking whether the Apocalypse was near:

Recent events may draw one’s attention to the two apocalyptic prophecies from the biblical Book of Revelation: the Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse (apocalypse being the ultimate extermination of mankind) and the sixth prophetic seal of Revelation, which predicts a great earthquake. (Source: Revelation 6).

The Book of Revelation explains that the Fourth Horseman brings with him death by disease and wild animals. While neither of these are particularly new phenomena, they have each made very recent headlines (Source: Revelation 6)...

The column then goes on to outline all of the horrific tragedies of the last couple of months, from the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile to the death of a Sea World trainer at the hands (flippers?) of a killer whale (seriously, this is the example of "death by wild animals.") It concludes:

So conclusively I leave you, the reader, with this final question: Are the seals of Revelation being broken? Are the Horsemen riding? Is the world coming to an impending end?

Or is this all just coincidence?

The kicker for me...note the title of the author:

Vanessa Murray is the calendar and Good News editor for The Item.

The Good News editor? I'd hate to see what the Bad News editor would come up with...

RMV fee controversy is everyone's fault

2010-03-02T12:30:00.002-05:00

Whenever a politician on Beacon Hill says that they didn't know about a fee hike like the Registry of Motor Vehicles' five-dollar charge to do business in person, the siren on my BS detector wails like a fleet of engines headed to a five-alarm blaze. The fact is, the state legislature is so powerful that a selectman in Montague needs to have a home-rule petition passed in order to sneeze at town meeting. So there is nothing more disingenuous than this:

Outraged state senators on both sides of the aisle today will push to overturn a “brutal” Registry of Motor Vehicles fee slapped on drivers who conduct some business in person instead of online after a Herald report revealed the cost hike.

“It doesn’t seem quite fair,” said Senate President Therese Murray (D-Plymouth). “I assume the members might (vote to eliminate the $5 fee). We didn’t even know it had happened until we read it (in the Herald)...”

“I think the element of surprise is what angered people, and rightly so. I’m angry as well,” [Rep. Joseph Wagner (D-Chicopee)] said. “Given the way this has been packaged, I would take a serious look at supporting a rollback.”

Baloney.

Oh, I have no doubt that Senator Murray, Representative Wagner, and others in the legislature didn't know it was coming. But there is a big difference between not knowing something is happening and not being told that it is going to happen. The legislature was told that this increase was coming. It's their own fault if they didn't pay attention.

State law is clear that the Secretary of Administration and Finance must inform the legislature at least 60 days before raising fees and hold a public hearing at least 30 days before raising fees. In the case of this particular fee, it appears that the notice was given more than one year in advance.

According to the Senate Journal of December 15, 2008, "A communication from the Executive Office for Administration and Finance (pursuant to Section 3B of Chapter 7 of the General Laws) giving notice of its intention to amend 801 CMR 4.02: Fees for Licenses, Permits, and Services to be Charged to State Agencies (received Thursday, December 11, 2008),— was placed on file."

On January 6, 2009, the House Journal reports that a communication "From the Executive Office for Administration and Finance (under the provisions of Section 3B Chapter 7 of the General Laws) submitting proposed amendments to 801 CMR 4.02 and 801 CMR 4.08" was "placed on file."

On February 17, 2009, the RMV announced a public hearing would be held March 16 to consider the proposed fee changes. The announcement included a link to the fee changes themselves. The $5.00 "Branch Transaction Administrative Fee" is clearly marked as a change.

The current list of fees posted at the Executive Office for Administration and Finance was amended on January 22, 2010 to include the new fee (see page 42).

The Senate was told, the House was told, a public hearing was held, no one raised a stink, so the revenue projections for the FY2010 budget were made including revenue from this fee. The House and Senate pass the budget, Governor Patrick signs it, and everyone is happy until the fee kicks in, consumers get outraged, and legislators pretend that if they had actually been informed of this despicable fee they would have stopped it.

Again, baloney.

But while legislators have no reason to be outraged, consumers do. The RMV absolutely misled consumers about this change, despite their protestations to the contrary. Back to the Herald:

The RMV has done little to raise awareness of the fee. It was mentioned on an obscure RMV blog posting on Saturday. An internal memo obtained by the Herald says there will not be a promotion of the fee.

“Customer advertising . . . will not include the administrative fee separately, but rather the stated renewal or duplicate fee will be listed as $5 greater,” wrote RMV officials in the memo.

Looking through the RMV's archives, it is clear that they had no intention of letting people know of the increase. There are a number of official releases that specifically promote online usage. While those would seem to be the perfect place to remind customers that using online services would save money because fees will rise in 2010, none mention the increase. In fact, the official fee schedule "revised February 2010" does not even list the fee, even though it was to go into effect March 1.

Obviously, they were trying to hide it. They had an entire year to tell everyone that they had better go online or they were going to be charged a fee. It should have been in every press release about web services, posted on the web site, noted in every mailing, and advertised prominently in each branch. Why didn't they?

Well, I think we all know the reason. The RMV has to balance out the savings they get from having people use the web with the fees they would generate by charging everyone who comes into the branches. Apparently there is more to gain by collecting the fees than there is by saving money through on-line transactions.

Well, today the governor responded by rescinding the fees. It was probably the best thing he could do given the situation. This isn't a bad fee. We should be encouraging our state agencies to be more efficient, and one of the ways to do that is to move people to online transactions.

We should also encourage our legislators to read the communications from the executive secretaries so they know what government is doing. That's why the communications are required. And we should encourage the RMV to be honest with consumers, and worry more about customer service than raising money.

Deval Patrick's lead may be bigger than you think

2010-03-01T18:36:00.001-05:00

Friday, the Boston Herald screamed the headline "Poll says race is between Cahill & Baker." It's safe to say that a Herald reader that didn't get into the article would believe that Governor Deval Patrick was getting trounced, or at least was losing. Funny, that's not what the poll said:

Gov. Deval Patrick’s standing with voters is so weak that this year’s race for governor is shaping up as a contest between his two rivals, a new Suffolk University-7News poll shows.

“This race is really between Charlie Baker and Tim Cahill,” said David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, which conducted the poll. “Whoever emerges between the Baker-Cahill race is likely to be the winner.”

As for Patrick, Paleologos said, “On paper, he leads.”

The governor’s grip on a precarious lead continues, with the incumbent Democrat taking 33 percent of the vote compared to Republican Baker’s 25 percent and Treasurer Timothy Cahill, running as an independent, close behind with 23 percent.

Green-Rainbow Party candidate Jill Stein trails with a distant 3 percent, and 16 percent are undecided, according to the survey of 500 likely voters.

Amazing. Governor Patrick holds a lead outside the margin of error, yet the "race is really between Charlie Baker and Tim Cahill." In the official Suffolk University press release touting the poll there is no suggestion that Patrick is losing, but there is this note on momentum:

Patrick (33 percent) still leads the tightening field, followed by Baker (25 percent), who edges out Independent candidate and State Treasurer Tim Cahill (23 percent). Green Party candidate Jill Stein has 3 percent, while 16 percent are undecided. In a November, 2009 poll, Patrick led Cahill 36 percent to 26 percent, while Baker, the former Harvard Pilgrim chief executive, was a distant third with only 15 percent.

Now, it looks to me like Patrick's and Cahill's standings haven't changed a bit (their three-point drops would be within the margin of error), but that Baker has picked up 10 points from undecided voters. I'm still not sure how that translates into a Patrick loss, but there you go.

I suppose seeing the incumbent governor at 33% could mean that he is toast. That is one way to look at it. But there are also a couple of other ways of looking at the Suffolk poll.

For instance, looking at the demographics of this poll, one thing stood out to me. According to the marginals posted on Suffolk's web site, the polling sample went 49-36 for Scott Brown in January's special election. That corresponds to a 57-42 advantage when you take out the 14% who did not vote or refused to answer. We know that Scott Brown actually won by a 52-47 advantage, so I wondered what would happen if I weighted the votes for governor based on a 52-47 margin among the 431 respondents who said they voted. (I did not re-weigh the votes of the other 69 respondents).

Here is how the poll looks based on a 52-47 Brown win:

Patrick -- 35
Baker -- 24
Cahill -- 22
Stein -- 3
Undecided -- 16

That changes the Patrick margin from +8 to +11. Not a huge change, but one that could cause a tabloid like the Herald to scream "Patrick cruising with double-digit lead" if it were inclined to ever say anything positive about the governor.

Another way one might choose to look at the poll is that while Patrick continues to do very well with Coakley voters, neither Cahill or Baker have broken through with Brown voters. Here are the numbers (no weighting):

Among Coakley voters:
Patrick -- 62
Cahill -- 15
Baker -- 7
Stein -- 4
Undecided -- 12

Among Brown voters:
Baker -- 42
Cahill -- 28
Patrick -- 11
Stein -- 2
Undecided -- 16

If Baker is going to match Patrick's base, he'll need somewhere around 57% of Brown voters to come even. He also cannot afford to give up Brown voters to Patrick (11%) at a higher rate than Patrick bleeds Coakley voters to Baker (7%).

Here is another way to look at it. Let's take Suffolk's numbers in this poll and compare them to the six previous polls in this race (there may be others, but I could only find seven):

Notice Suffolk's numbers. In their previous two polls, Patrick had his two best showings while Baker had his only two results under 20 percent. In other words, Baker may not have momentum at all; rather maybe the Suffolk poll has been out of sync in its previous iterations and is just now falling into line with the other surveys.

Sure, it would be great if Patrick were polling in the mid-40s, but he's not. Even so, no matter how you slice it, he is winning today just as he has been since the start of the campaign. If Cahill stays in the race and Patrick shores up the rest of Coakley's supporters, he will be reelected.

Third man out: Stolz says no to run after all

2010-02-24T08:48:00.002-05:00

Well, so much for last week's story that Hank Stolz is running for state representative in the First Worcester district. According to an article to run in tomorrow's Worcester Magazine, the local TV and radio personality says, "Never mind."

Worcester radio and cable television host Hank Stolz, who had mulled running for state representative as an independent or Democrat, pulled out of the race last week in order to continue hosting political discussions and offering commentary on WCRN-AM 830 and Charter TV 3, according to this week’s Worcester Mag.

Lest you think I have some unusual insight into the inner working of Worcester Magazine, the scoop actually came across the RSS feed for WoMag's sister publication, The Landmark. The Landmark's Thursday edition comes across the wires on Wednesday morning, so their piece references a WoMag article that wont be published until tomorrow.

Hank Stolz is third man in for State Rep

2010-02-22T20:20:00.001-05:00

Worcester Magazine reported this week that Hank Stolz, host of a WCRN radio show and a Worcester Cable TV show is leaving the Democratic party to run for State Representative as an independent. The story:

“I feel much more comfortable running as an independent,” Stolz told our sister paper, The Community Journal. He said both major parties have litmus tests for their candidates, and he doesn’t believe he fits into either mold. “The politics are starting to prevent what it is that is right for the district,” he said. Not to mention the power of the independent voting bloc that helped propel Scott Brown to the Senate.

Stolz has been exploring a run for sometime; Worcester Magazine reported back in December that he was looking at running as a Democrat.

At least Hank didn't toss out the whole "I didn't leave the party, the party left me" baloney that other candidates have used when bolting to run as an independent. (Or maybe he did, the complete article in the Community Journal is still behind a pay firewall). But I'm interested to know what he thinks these litmus tests are.

While Democrats generally hold a certain set of values, the Democratic party in Massachusetts is certainly diverse enough to accept most all comers. Of our elected officials, we have some who are pro-life and others who are pro-choice. Some voted in favor of gay marriage and some opposed. Some believe in strict gun control and others get A ratings from the NRA. Many oppose the death penalty while others are in favor. There isn't complete consensus on budgetary issues...I'd love to hear what Stolz thinks these "litmus test" issues are.

The same is true for Republicans in the state. Even though there are many, many fewer of them in the state house, they also hold a diverse set of views on most issues.

As far as the race itself goes, my gut tells me that this could help Democrat Ken O'Brien quite a bit. Assuming Kimberly Ferguson is in the race on the Republican side, there will be two center-right candidates in the November election vying for the conservatives and conservative-leaning independents, as well as those who want to vote against the incumbent party.

Democrats and Republicans have nearly the same number of registered voters in the district, however Independents usually break for the Republican (this isn't just a Scott Brown phenomenon, it's been this way--at least in Sterling--for as long as anyone cares to remember). Having two strong candidates to split the vote on the right could be just what O'Brien needs to push through.

Sentinel misses the irony

2010-02-20T09:31:00.004-05:00

The top story in today's Sentenel and Enterprise is an article titled:

Locals say golfing great's sex scandal is getting too much media attention

You know, because having a tiny newspaper in a town publish an 856-word piece above the fold isn't "too much media attention."

As you can guess, there isn't anything newsworthy in the article -- unless you consider a series of man-on-the-street interviews about a subject that the interviewees say is irrelevant to be newsworthy -- but one guy quoted extensively seems to be a real charm:

Gary Derinzo of Ashburnham, who watched the announcement, said too much attention has been placed on the incident and that it should be left to Woods and his wife to work things out.

"I think the media should leave him alone. He deserves a private life. The guy goes out and gets a little something on the side, let them work it out," said Derinzo.... "He's got a problem. Everyone has a sex addiction in their own way. Everyone has their own dark corner, he just got caught."

Note to self: keep your head down and your eyes straight ahead the next time you go to Ashburnham.

A Matt Lorch surge

2010-02-19T20:54:00.002-05:00

For reasons I cannot explain, over the last two days I have had a veritable tsunami of page hits from people searching the Web for Matt Lorch. Apparently this blog has become something of a landing place for Matt Lorch lurkers, since a post I ran in 2006 is the fourth most popular item that comes up in a Google search of his name.

So, why is Matt Lorch suddenly so popular? I have no earthly idea. I suppose it could be because he's rumored to be moving to another TV market or some such thing, but I'd like to think it has to do with this infamous clip of him attempting to do sports in a previous market:

Did Scott Brown just step in it?

2010-02-18T23:31:00.002-05:00

You had to figure that at some point someone was going to bring politics into the domestic terror attack in Austin, Texas. But count me among those who did not expect Scott Brown would be the first.

Apparently Senator Brown appeared on Fox News earlier today and when asked for his reaction to the event, he said this:

Well it's certainly tragic and I feel for the families obviously being affected by it. And I don't know if it's related, but I can just sense not only in my election, but since being here in Washington, people are frustrated. They want transparency, they want their elected officials to be accountable and open and talk about the things that are affecting their daily lives. So I'm not sure that there's a connection, I certainly hope not. But we need to do things better.

Really? I probably should give the Senator the benefit of the doubt because, despite his meteoric rise, he still is a novice on the big stage. But it sure does seem like Senator Brown is saying that the suicide pilot had a point, and if elected officials were just a little more accountable and transparent that this sort of thing wouldn't happen. Fox News host Neil Cavuto sensed it too, because he gave Brown a chance to walk back a little. Brown didn't bite:

Cavuto: Um, you know invariably people are going to look at this and say, well, that's where some of this populist rage gets you. Isn't that a bit extreme?

Brown: Well, yeah, of course it's extreme. You don't know anything about the individual. He could have had other issues, certainly. No one likes paying taxes, obviously. But the way we're trying to deal with things and have been in the past, at least until I got here is, there's such a logjam in Washington. And people want us to do better. They want us to help solve the problems that are affecting Americans in a very real way.

And I think we, I'm hopeful that we can do that, with a lot of the things that are coming forward. At least what I'm hearing through, and speaking with my colleagues this seems to be a diff[erent] feel...there's kind of a message that was sent with my election, the fact that I was elected by a substantial margin taking the former Ted Kennedy's seat. They want difference up here and I'm hopeful that's going to happen.

Senator, the attack today had nothing to do with "a logjam in Washington," and I certainly hope that the attacker didn't believe in "the kind of message that was sent with [your] election."

I saw this on a couple of progressive Washington blogs this evening and figured it wouldn't become much, but then a Google search of Joseph Stack (not a search of Scott Brown) turned up this piece from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. If this gets past the blogosphere and into the mainstream, Brown could be facing some heat for the first time

I think we may be hearing Senator Brown clarify things tomorrow.

Updated: CBS News has also picked this up.

Live Blogging the Winter Olympics -- Part 2

2010-02-12T23:47:00.006-05:00

Part 1 is here. Part 2, joined in progress...

10:38 -- The longer this ceremony goes, the more cynical I become. Is it supposed to work like that?

10:39 -- It's not the ceremony, it's Sarah McLauhlin doing that.

10:39 -- She's hot. Mirrorball is worth a download right now, people. And "When Somebody Loved Me" from the Toy Story 2 soundtrack? I'm still pissed they gave the Oscar to that Phil Collins excrement from "Tarzan". What a load.

10:40 -- I mean, it's no "It's Hard Out There For A Pimp," but it was Oscar worthy.

10:41 -- I've been waiting for a Greg Kinnear action flick. Thank you, Hollywood Jesus.

10:43 -- Let me see if I get this straight. Some good ol' boy from Jim Crow Georgia riding his bike in 1959 inspired a bunch of South Korean engineers to build the 2010 Kia Sorrento? That's not the least bit implausible.

10:44 -- They were inspired to find a faster getaway car if the Klan ever came for them.

10:44 -- Oh good, more time spent kissing Quebec's ass. That's, like, 60% of their national budget, isn't it?

10:45 -- And on fiddle: Hellboy.

10:46 -- Oh please, play Cotton Eyed Joe. Oh, please, oh, please, oh, please!

10:47 -- You can have all of the tattoos and Mohawks you want and if you wear that much eye-liner, you're still going to have a hard time convincing me you aren't a little light in the loafers.

10:47 -- This shit is so crunk.

10:48 -- I don't mean you, of course, I mean the fiddler.

10:48 -- Not that there is anything wrong with that.

10:50 -- Are all of the Dropkick Murphys there? Or just most of them?

10:51 -- Since Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, Marco Sturm, and David Krejci are in the Olympics, the Dropkick Murphys were contractually obligated to come along. International law says "Where four or more Bruins or Red Sox congregate, the Dropkick Murphys must accompany them."

10:51 -- I see bra technology has not yet reached the great white north.

10:55 -- My face is starting to hurt from wincing at this program so much.

10:56 -- I'm sure "A tribute to Canada's Vast Prairies" will make you feel more at home...is that Donald Sutherland doing the narration?

10:58 -- It is. He was great in Dirty Dozen. "Very pretty, general. very pretty. But will they fight?"

10:59 -- Now we just need Telly Savales to come out with a knife in one hand shouting "Whores!" and this party will really get going. Right on, Canada!

11:00 -- I'd settle for a "Ho-bag!" from the gallery.

11:02 -- As of this very second, the "Both Sides, Now" page on Wikipedia has not yet been updated with the 2010 Vancouver Olympics cover. Don't you wonder who cares so much about stuff to go onto Wikipedia and update it? I mean, why does this song even have a 1,500 word entry?

11:03 -- That was Joni Mitchell? My, her voice has deepend over the years.

11:03 -- Wikipedia has now, in fact, been updated.

11:04 -- I watched a documentary about Joni Mitchell a few months ago. It actually wasn't nearly as boring as this mess.

11:05 -- Hey, it's the Flying Tomato! Whoop-de-effing-do.

11:06 -- Lindsey Jacobellis is transfixed by the sight of snowboarders not wiping out. Hard to fathom. Maybe she's studying them for pointers. "How do they do that?!"

11:08 -- That nameless Canadian chick may have won the gold, but Lindsey Jacobellis got to be in a Dunkin' Donuts commercial every 15 minutes for a month. You think Ms. Canada there got that kind of scratch from Tim Horton's?

11:09 -- And here's a skating tribute to the motion capture used in Canadian director James Cameron's "Avatar".

11:10 - -They did not just say slam poetry. No they didn't.

11:11 -- I think a fat guy with a neck beard and Eurostyle glasses defines Canada better than any poem could hope to.

11:12 -- The ultimate symbol of the Vancouver Games: Kyle Orton.

11:13 -- "Canada is the 'What' in 'What's New.'" He's no Robert Frost, eh?

11:14 -- "And what's more, we didn't just say it. We sprayed it."

11:15 -- The wonders of Hi-Def.

11:16 -- And now, the part we've all been waiting for...pasty old white men with accents.

11:18 -- How is it that the Canadian flag is tangled in the wind when they are in a dome?

11:18 - "We share with the world what it feels like to be a Canadian: boring."

11:19 -- I've been to Tim Horton's. I paid with a Loonie. I know what it's like to be a proud Canadian.

11:20 -- "A world in need of peace..." The teabaggers aren't going to like this.

11:21 -- C'mon, Don Cherry!

11:22 -- Do you know why Don Cherry's nickname was "Grapes?"

11:24 -- Speculation centers on his groin, but... no.

11:25 -- You are correct, petit frère. Supposedly he wore pants so tight that his balls were readily noticable. So the Bruins players started calling him "Grapes."

11:26 -- That's the same reason my friends call me "The Hydra."

11:29 -- I hate Bode Miller. Get him off my TV.

11:29 -- What the hell is this jabberwocky? Don't they speak English in Canada?

11:30 -- Listen, If Spanish were the official language of the Olympics, we'd probably get all of this in English, French, and Spanish.

11:32 -- Song of peace? Sounds like a time for me to sing a song of piss. Bathroom break. No offense to k.d., but I only listen to the Jason Castro version of this song.

11:32 -- k.d. lang. Your Super Bow LXII halftime show.

11:34 -- If k.d.'s suit were black she would be a dead ringer for Johnny Cash. And no, that is not a compliment.

11:36 -- Prop Bet: has k.d. lang said "hallelujah" more in this song, or in the rest of her life combined?

11:36 -- No bet.

11:38 -- Dan the Audi Man loved that last ad.

11:39 -- 12 more minutes of this nonsense? Holy crap.

11:40 -- With that outfit on, Donald Sutherlind looks like Hollwood's version of St. Peter waiting to greet you at the pearly gates. That or Sarumon. One or the other.

11:41 -- Damn. Bobby Orr not going to light the torch. Not a bad consolation prize, I suppose.

11:41 -- Okay, Orr isn't carrying the torch. it must be Gretzky. What a total ripoff. That wispy little creampuff couldn't carry Orr's grapes.

11:42 -- Holy hair.

11:42 -- To hell with the torch, they ought to just light her hair. It would probably take the whole two weeks to burn.

11:44 -- Was Gretzky ever an Olympian? Isn't it usually an Olympian who lights the torch? Or does his stint as coach count?

11:45 -- A little Googling confirms that it will be Gretzky. Hope that doesn't ruin it for you.

11:46 -- The fact that it's Gretzky is what ruins it for me. Does anyone outside of Canada like Gretzky?

11:47 -- He's the Great One. Well, him and an X-Large Dunkin' Donuts coffee.

11:49 -- Great One, Schmrait Frun. Whatever.

11:50 -- Do you think everyone is standing around the stadium looking at each other waiting for NBC to come back from commercial?

11:52 -- They're taking bets on whether Gretzky comes out in a Phoenix Coyotes jersey. I wonder whether the people of Arizona think he's the great one?

11:53 -- They should announce that the Coyotes are moving back to Winnipeg. That would mean a lot more to Canada than having Gretz light the torch.

11:54 -- And yes, I call him Gretz. Me and Gretz are tight.

11:55 -- How did Cameron get that gig?

11:57 -- Something is going to emerge from the stadium floor? Something is going to emerge from my pants! HA!

11:57 -- And then...nothing happened. Looks like Gretz needs Mark Messier to set him up.

11:58 -- Okay, grapes, keep it together.

11:59 -- Six billion dollars and they cant even light the torch correctly. How 'bout that Canadian ingenuity?

11:59 -- I think this is a re-enactment of the emregence of Superman's Fortress of Solitude just before Supes goes to fight Zod in "Superman II."

12:00 -- OKay, that lasted forever. I'm out of here. Peace, y'all.

12:02 -- Wait! Gretzky is going outside to light the real cauldron. You can't quit now!

12:03 -- I'm not following Gretzky around the city to light a billion other malfunctioning cauldrons. Unless one of them has Petr Klima in it.

12:04 -- You'd follow Bobby Orr around the city to light a billion cigarettes.

12:07 -- Vice President Biden is wearing a pin that includes the Canadian and US flags crossed. Bet you a dollar to a donut that someone criticizes him for that tomorrow.

12:10 -- That's it. Peace Out. I hope you enjoyed the opening ceremonies.

Live Blogging the Winter Olympics

2010-02-12T22:36:00.007-05:00

You are looking live at Vancouver. Where the world has gathered in a domed stadium. Just like they did in Greece oh so long ago. Scott is joining me (and carrying the ball for the first half hour or so). His comments are in red, mine are in blue. And away we go...

8:36 -- Welcome back to the Olympics. Man, it seems like we never left. But that's probably just because all of these excruciating NBC Olympic features are exactly the same. Here's a brief recap of what we've seen over the last half hour or so: Arnold Schwarzeneggar carried the torch for a mile or so, during which time California fell approximately $77 million more in debt; Dan Patrick interviewed two ice dancers, and just typing that makes me want to punch myself in the nuts a dozen times; Apollo "Creed" Ohno showed his soul patch on national televison, which I hoped would be outlawed by now by FCC deceny standards (by the way, he always makes me wonder when Smashing Pumpkins are going to reunite. Just saying.); and Cris Collinsworth of all people took a break from doing the voicework for Madden 2011 just long enough to interview the biggest moron in the history of American sports, Lindsey Jacobellis.

Yeah, we're off to a rocking start here. I hope Lance logs on soon to give me a break; I'm going to need a few seconds to question the universe for allowing NBC this TV contract.

8:44 -- Apparently the world premiere of the new "We Are The World" video is coming up. Am I the only one that thought the original was a pile of schmaltzy crap? Haven't the people of Haiti suffered enough without subjecting them to a Lil' Jon and Joe Jonas duet?

8:47 -- Speaking of which, they just had a commercial for it and I literally mistook Qincy Jones for Muhammed Ali. I am apparently a douchebag.

8:48 -- Did they really just claim that these are some of the "best" artists in the world? And then they lead off with Justin Beiber. You know what, I'm not the douchebag after all, these people are. I mean, I hope they make a billion dollars to help the people of Haiti, because I personally would pay that much just to ensure I never have to hear that sonic assault ever again.

8:54 -- They showed a nice commercial featuring Canadian superstars imporing people to vacation in British Columbia. that is to say, Canadian-born superstars. I wonder how many of them became U.S. citizens once they hit it big in America? Just curious.

8:55 -- Dan Patrick is now conducting the most painful interview ever with a group of American snowboarding women. Lindsey Jacobellis suddenly has context.

8:58 -- A nice new ad for the U. S. Census. Their new campaign features a guy in a bathrobe a giant mustache parading through the neighborhood. Not bad. it's definitely a step up from their last campaign, "kill yourself and scrawl the word Fed across your chest." That one was a bit of a bust.

8:59 -- Okay, enough crap, let's get to the ceremony already. Here we go.

9:01 -- And the show has started off with a bang, with Dudley Do-Roight riding into the pavilion on a moose. Actually, it's starting with a sequence showing a snowboarder rushing down a mountain. I'm waiting for the Russian skiers to start chasing him, shooting out of their semi-automatic ski poles just before he parachutes off the side to a waiting submarine. Hey, everything is better when Roger Moore is involved. I hope he's the one lighting the torch. My actual guess: Wayne Gretzky. Though it should be the actual greatest player in hockey history, Bobby Orr.

9:04 -- I was hoping when the snowboarder whipped off his mask it would turn out to be Canadian native Michael J. Fox.

9:07 -- The Prime Minister was apparently as confused by "The Vice-Royal Salute" as everyone else in the free world. I appreciate that he started singing along during the one stanze of the national anthem, though.

9:08 -- Finally! Dudley Effing Do-Right! Hell yes! Like, eight of them.

9:09 -- They should have had Rene Rancourt sing the national anthem. Give some fist pumps, get the crowd juiced up. This is the worst version of the Canadian national anthem I have ever heard. It has the Celine Dion stink all over it. The arrangement is terrible! Brutal.

9:12 -- Is Alec Baldwin really the best person to be giving out marriage advice?

9:15 -- So, what did I miss? Dancing Bears? Singing Inuits? Bearded men in toques?

9:15 -- I want one of those hiuge totems for my house. Or... I guess I want one of those huge totems to be my house. As long as it's a Windfury Totem, that is. And I want that wolf-hat too. The bare-chested wolf-hat look is big this year, I think it's the centerpiece of Michael Kors's spring line.
9:16 -- Apparently, I did not miss the singing Inuits.

9:17 -- No, that appears to be happening now.

9:18 -- This explains the Inuit dominance at ping-pong.

9:19 -- Phil Sheridan would have a field day if he saw this.

9:22 -- It doesn't look like the guy from the Greek Olympic Committee has found the Grecian Formula, if you know what I mean.
9:23 -- The fact that the Argentine alpine skier is my size tells you why no South American team has ever won a medal.

9:25 -- The Australian team hung a Kangol flag from their balcony? What, is Samuel L. Jackson leading their contingent?

9:25 -- Now, there is a classy outfit. The Austrians are apparently the only ones to get the memo that this was going to happen inside, so

9:26 -- Jackson Pollack designed Azjerbaijan's pajamas.

9:29 -- To hell with all of the running suits. How about a little style.
9:30 -- A point for the Cayman Islander's hats.
9:31 -- Was the crowd booing China? Or were they just saying "Mao"?
9:33 -- "Obama isn't there, so I doubt it was 'Mao.'" -- Sarah Palin

9:34 -- Maybe they were booing because they finally heard the new version of "We Are the World."

9:35 -- I believe Jaromir Jagr wore those pants for most of his 500 or so NHL goals.

9:35 -- I see Estonia got a hold of Mom's bedazzler.

9:36 -- Is that Ethiopia? I thought it was a group of DHL employess making a late delivery.

9:36 -- I'm going to say that the Finnish suits are in homage to their ski troops and they accidentally gave them camouflage outfits instead of all-whites. I can't imagine any reason other than mushrooms. Probably a Nike thing.
9:37 -- Are the French waving white flags? Just asking...

9:38 -- A bunch of French atheltes are on the scene. Let's hope FIFA isn't around or you might as well give them the medals now.

9:40 -- There's apparently no "I" in "Germany".
9:40 -- Apparently even in German, there is no I in team. Isn't that what the German police wear when directing traffic?

9:42 -- Jinx. You owe me a Molson's.

9:42 -- You know the world has changed when the British are the first team wearing berets.

9:43 -- That's in honor of Field Marshall Montgomery. He was a huge fan of the halfpipe.

9:43 -- And there are apparently no hairdressers in Hong Kong. Egads.

9:44 -- Iceland does not scream "Winter Olympics." It screams "Drunken Bankrupt spa-goers."

9:46 -- OK. "Spa-goers" is pretty lame.

9:46 -- You'd think that Bollywood could turn out more than three ice dancers.

9:46 -- It's a long way to Tipper-arrrry! It's a long long way to go!"

9:48 -- Looks like Berlusconi gave all really of the Italian men Mickey Mouse gloves...probably to keep them to from groping the other athletes.
9:49 -- Those shamans must be getting really tired of dancing.

9:49 -- Speaking of Shaman, these ceremonies wouldbe really improved if there was an Alpha Flight appearance. That's a reference for all my fans who came over from my website to follow us tonight. All none of them.
9:50 -- Now that is an effin' hat. Too bad the rest of the Kazakhs aren't wearing that bedazzled, tri-cornered top.

9:50 -- Time for the obligatory Borat joke. C'mon, Costas. Don't let me down.

9:51 -- You are going to cross-post this on your website, right? I mean, the winter olympics seem like it would be right up you readership's alley.
9:56 -- Probably not , but it may be time for a spotlight on The Sportsmaster.

9:56 -- The guy from Moldova is having a pretty good week...not because it's his birthday, but because he's not in Moldova.

9:56 -- The Monte Carlo team getting ready for their Christmas family picture.

9:58 -- ...and Matt Lauer and his wife met on a double-Dutch.

9:59 -- WTF is that cape that lady was just wearing? I can't even formulate a joke about it, it was just too freakish.

9:59 -- I am from New Zealand. I am the Falconer.

10:01 -- Must not make Polish joke after seeing those outfits. Must resist.

10:02 -- Is it just me, or does every country with one athlete just have a guy competing in cross-country skiing? "Can you walk on skiis? Yes? Here's a plane ticket to Canada. Grab a flag."

10:03 -- OK. The Russian outfits are the leader in the clubhouse. The Varsity jackets with the Russian team design on the shoulders and leather sleeves are really nice. Especially the red ones with the white sleeves that the men are sporting. Best thing to come out of Russia since...well...since...um...

10:05 -- Olympians gorge on chicken mcnuggets? The gold medal count may be down this year. The crispy golden batter count, however, will be up. As will the cholesterol count. I wonder how Mrs. Obama feels about an ad showing dozens of pre-teens mowing McDonalds food?

10:06 -- The Slovenes look sharp too.

10:08 -- Spain, wearing hats marked "VANCOUVER" in large letters on all sides will not make the people cheer for you any more than they already would.

10:00 -- Bob Costas said "Cooch." Heh heh, heh heh heh.

10:10 -- Lauer got it right, it is, in fact, Istanbul, not Constantinople. A common mistake.

10:12 -- He thinks it will be a warm reception? He's never listened to Montreal Canadiens fans greet the U. S. national anthem before a game, has he.

10:12 -- Marco!

10:13 -- The difference between 2008 and 2010? Joe Biden isn't waving the flag updside down and probably won't be patting the female athletes on the ass.

10:13 -- Biden gets to do all the cool stuff.

10:13 -- Which also makes him the only politician in American currently doing anything.

10:17 -- Matt Lauer: "So many Canadians in attendance." No shit, Sherlock. Welcome to Vancouver!

10:18 -- Maybe if he had one of those Spanish hats he'd remember where the Games are being held.

10:18 -- Did they just say they were going to settle in to enjoy the show? The show? There's more of this crap?!

10:19 -- Only another hour and a half. Glad you signed up for this, huh?

10:19 -- And now, in recognition of Canadian history, the delegation from Canada will pull down the totems. Commence!

10:20 -- This would be the worst thing I have ever heard, but I already listened to "We Are The World 25 For Haiti" tonight.

10:21 -- OK. Time to be honest. You wrote this theme song, didn't you?

10:22 -- I think this is Kara's new "American Idol" single.

10:22 -- I don't know about you, but I'm just having a had time getting Inuit.

10:23 -- I was wondering who that dude doing the terrible Brian Adams impression was. Answer? Bryan Adams.

10:25 -- I have to say, Crunch n' Munch is underrated. I don't like Cracker Jack at all, but this Crunch 'n Munch stuff is OK.

10:26 -- I never realized how unbelievably cheesy Candaians are. They aren't nearly this bad on Ice Road Truckers.

10:28 -- The extreme northern natives of Canada apparently were pioneering habadashers.

10:29 - -I hope this is a St. Elsewhere's type snow globe, so I can wake up from this nightmarish dream sequence.

10:35 -- This google docs program couldn't possibly suck any worse.

10:36 -- Looks like it's time for me to publish this and move on to part two. See you in another life, brother.

Hammerin' Hank hits Hub hacks

2010-02-12T08:00:00.003-05:00

State Rep. Hank Naughton is taking on Massport over perks that allow workers to cash in unused vacation time for thousands of dollars a year. From today's Herald:

An outraged Democratic lawmaker, fed up with Massport’s lavish vacation buyback program, vowed yesterday to file a bill to end the plum perk, even as Gov. Deval Patrick expressed his own frustration with the big-spending agency.

“In this difficult economy, we need to watch where every nickel and dime is being spent,” said state Rep. Harold P. Naughton Jr., adding he intended to submit the bill by the end of the week.

“Across the board, we need to think of better and more efficient financial solutions,” Naughton added.

It's great to see our rep taking the lead on issues of waste in our quasi-public agencies. Lest anyone think it's an election-year ploy, Hank was also one of the legislators that tried to strip Evacuation Day and Bunker Hill Day from the list of Suffolk-county only holidays.

Call or email your state rep and ask him or her to help Hank reform Massport.

Telegram tries passing the buck on controversial cartoon

2010-02-11T18:00:00.005-05:00

Shortly after the earthquake in Haiti, the Telegram and Gazette published a political cartoon on their opinion page that showed two relief workers piling up dead bodies while discussing Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien. The cartoon wasn't funny or particularly thought-provoking. But apparently it was controversial, as a number of readers wrote letters to the editor to protest it's insensitivity. Here are excerpts:

The insensitivity to the suffering of the Haitian people and what they are experiencing is second only to the stupidity and careless disregard of the Telegram & Gazette in printing such trash.

Did it occur to anyone at the T&G how this would affect families and friends of both victims and volunteers in Haiti? If a student at a school had drawn this, they would have been suspended and recommended for psychological evaluation.

I’m utterly disgusted that a local newspaper, that teaches so many families across this state, would publish something as tasteless as this. Turning the catastrophe in Haiti into a joke is an incredibly low and vile thing to do.

What is funny is the Telegram's handling of these complaints. Here are the headlines the Telegram editors slapped on these letters:

Disgusted by syndicated cartoon
Syndicated cartoon insensitive to Haiti
Syndicated cartoon was in poor taste

The editors want to make it clear to you that this was a syndicated cartoon. In other words, don't blame us for what some jamoke in a studio somewhere decided was funny. (One of the three letter writers did note that it was a syndicated cartoon, but the other two did not).

Of course, the Telegram has dozens of syndicated cartoons to choose from each day. While the Telegram's in-house cartoonist may not have drawn this one, it's editors still needed to decide which cartoon to run. Just because it is "syndicated" doesn't absolve them of their responsibility.

Here is the cartoon. You can decide for yourself if it's offensive or not:

2010 Snow Bowl

2010-02-10T08:16:00.001-05:00

It's time to compare the local weather stations to see who does the best job of forecasting today's storm. The estimates below are for Sterling, based on the snowfall maps that were posted online at 8:00 this morning:

WBZ (Channel 4): 4-8 inches
WCVB (Channel 5): 4-8 inches
WHDH (Channel 7): 3-5 inches
WFXT (Channel 25): 4-8 inches
N.E. Cable News: 8-12 inches
Weather Channel: 3-6 inches
Weather Underground: 4-6 inches
Nat'l Weather Service: 3-6 inches

Looks like NECN is going out on a limb on this one.

Praising Democrats not allowed

2010-02-07T09:00:00.002-05:00

The race for Lew Evangelidis’ seat in the State House is heating up, with Holden Selectman Ken O’Brien running as a Democrat and fellow board member Kimberly Ferguson likely running as a Republican. But the debate really got started four weeks ago when O’Brien wrote a letter to the editor of The Landmark thanking Governor Deval Patrick for restoring transportation funds he had previously cut from the state budget.

Apparently, if there is one thing you can’t do in this district, it’s to publicly praise a Democrat, as the Landmark has received letters and guest columns for three straight weeks eviscerating O’Brien for daring to defend the Governor. The assault from the right culminated in a “Speak Out” column by Darin McCarthy which was peppered with myths, half-truths, and omissions. I think there were a couple of good points in there, but it was hard to get past the errors.

And because I just can’t let old news pass without a comment, I’d like to try to set the record straight. Here are excerpts of the letter:

Countless thanks to both Mark Ferguson and Elliott Lockwood, who both wrote articles in previous weeks (Jan. 14 and Jan. 21) bringing to light a letter by Holden Selectman Ken O’Brien (Jan. 7). In the letter Ken O’Brien went on a completely tactless, partisan rant praising our governor Deval Patrick for reversing his own decision to rob our transportation funds earlier this year.

Here is O'Brien's letter. Here again is McCarthy's letter. Which one is the "tactless, partisan rant?"

Yes, Ken, the vast Republican executive branch has been a widespread problem in Massachusetts for some time now. His letter proves to me how completely out of touch he is, how outright partisan of a town official he is and, more importantly, how absolutely stupid he thinks the taxpaying voters are.

I sense sarcasm. I wonder if Mr. McCarthy remembers that the executive branch was controlled by Republican governors from 1991-2007.

I guess being a partisan town official is a bad thing. Mr. McCarthy is probably surprised to see that Select Board Chair Kimberly Ferguson is running as a Republican. I imagine he will be writing another letter to the editor shortly decrying the partisanship of that town official. I also find it interesting that Mrs. Ferguson's husband wrote a letter earlier that was critical of Ken O'Brien. Nothing like softening up the opponent as your spouse is exploring a run for office.

What do you think of the fact that the Massachusetts Democratic Legislature, stating that such a critical seat should not be appointed by one person, reversed the succession law in 2004 so that then-Gov. Mitt Romney could not appoint a senator had John Kerry won the presidency? What do you think of the fact that the Democratic Legislature reversed that same decision in 2009 (at Ted Kennedy’s urging just prior to his passing) so that Deval Patrick could appoint an interim senator, in order to cast critical votes on Obama’s health care overhaul? By the way, how did that self-serving political move play out, Ken?

Should Martha Coakley have just been handed the senator’s seat without having to earn it?

I'm going to answer for myself here. The legislature should not change succession laws based on circumstance, they should change them based on what is right. They should not have changed the laws in 2004 or 2009 in response to specific events. However, the law as it is currently written is the best solution. The governor should appoint a temporary replacement so that the state's interests are protected, and the people can decide a replacement shortly thereafter. It would have been better to make that change in 2006 or 2008 or 2010 when there was no specific case in mind.

Of course, if McCarthy is implying by the tone of his questions that the law should not have been changed, then his answer to the question of whether or not Coakley should "have just been handed the senator’s seat without having to earn it?" must be a resounding yes. Based on the way the law was before 2004, whoever was appointed would have been handed the seat without having to earn it. In a climate where the appointee was a permanent replacement, Coakley may very well have been the pick.

How many more state senators and speakers (Marzilli, Wilkerson, and DiMasi) needed to be indicted by the federal government because she, as the state’s top law enforcement official, failed to prosecute some of them herself, Ken? I believe her arguments were mostly that she felt the federal government had better investigative tools and jurisdiction.

Oh no, here come the inaccuracies. Jim Marzilli was indicted by the Middlesex District Attorney's office because his alleged assault happened in Lowell. The AG's office would not have had jurisdiction. With Wilkerson and DiMasi, Coakley did explain that state law did not was not nearly as strong as federal law when dealing with public corruption. Thanks to Governor Patrick and the Democratic-led legislature (oh no, am I going to get a nasty letter now?), ethics reform was passed last summer. The tougher ethics rules make it harder to get away with corruption under Massachusetts law and make it easier for corrupt politicians to be prosecuted in state courts.

When Sal DiMasi was up for re-appointment, who in the state’s Legislature unanimously voted in his favor, only to see him step down under federal corruption allegations weeks later? I’ll give you a clue: there are 144 of them, out of 160.

Here is the rundown of the vote on January 7, 2009:

135 -- Sal DiMasi (D)
9 -- Brad Jones (R)
1 -- William Greene (D)
14 -- Present

Techinically, it wasn't unanimous in the Democratic caucus because there was one vote for Green and nine who voted present. However, if we use McCarthy's counting method and tally a "present" vote as an affirmation of DiMasi, then he must have been royally angered at Representative Lew Evangelidis because Big Lew also voted present, in an apparent--by McCarthy's logic--show of support of DiMasi.

What of Deval Patrick’s pick for transportation secretary, James Aloisi? What of the fact that while campaigning, Deval specifically used words that he was against the “Big Dig culture,” yet in appointing Aloisi as transportation secretary (the Friday before Christmas during a snowstorm), the taxpayers’ stocking full of coal was a stooge lawyer who helped write the law that saddled the Turnpike Authority with the Big Dig’s debt, and later he cashed in to the tune of $3 million in legal fees, working as an outside counsel. And the list goes on and on.

Aloisi did "help write the law." Who was he helping? Current Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker, who was then Secretary of Administration and Finance. From the Boston Globe:

And the decision to assign the project, and much of its debt, to the Turnpike Authority in two bills passed in 1995 and 1997, was also crafted during Baker’s time as a top finance man on Beacon Hill. In 1997, when critics were cautioning that the state was not setting aside enough money to pay for the Big Dig, he defended the turnpike plan as “the right mechanism for dealing with a situation that everyone admits is going to be challenging.’’....
Former House Transportation Committee chairman Joseph C. Sullivan, who led the panel when many financing decisions were made, said Baker had a heavy hand in the plan to assign Big Dig expenses to the Turnpike Authority.

“The primary author was the governor and, instrumental in that authorship, was Secretary Baker,’’ said Sullivan, a Democrat and now mayor of Braintree....

“It would be impossible to get that kind of a monster created without the [administration and finance] secretary, the governor, and the legislative leadership,’’ [Senator Mark Montigny] said. “It’s just too big of an undertaking.’’

If you're going to blame Aloisi for the Big Dig mess then you have to blame Baker, as they were working hand in hand to saddle the Turnpike Authority with billion of dollars in debt. I'd think having the guy who masterminded the whole scheme in the corner office is more dangerous than appointing his cohort to a bureaucratic position. But that is for voters this fall to decide.

Four more years? Was it also not a fact that Deval Patrick in 2006 campaigned that he would reduce property taxes in Massachusetts? How has that worked out for everyone?

Patrick campaigned on "property tax relief" not "property tax reduction," and you know what? He has delivered. In each of the first two years of Patrick budgets, property taxes have risen at a slower pace than any year since 1992. Of the 16 budgets filed during the years of Republicans, the last 15 caused property taxes in cities and towns to rise faster than they did in 2008 or 2009.

Under Romney, the average property tax bill rose 23.5% from 2003 (the last Swift/Celluci budget year) to 2007 (the last Romney budget year). Broken into two year blocks, property taxes rose 11.9% in 2004-05 and 10.4% in 2006-07. As a comparison, in 2008-09, property taxes have only risen 7.3%.

I understand that you have to get tax revenues from somewhere to prevent the impoverished state government from having to forego pay raises.

Yeah, all of those high pay, no work hacks like prison nurses and mental health workers don't deserve raises.

Sigh. Looks like it's going to be a rough and tumble summer.

The nightmares are on me

2010-02-04T23:00:00.002-05:00

Last night when I was putting Jackson to bed, he slipped and fell and hit his forehead on the floor. Nothing serious, but Michelle got a freezer pack, wrapped it in a towel, and had Jackson hold it on his head for a couple minutes while he calmed down.

Jackson asked why he had to keep the towel around the ice pack instead of putting it directly on his skin, which led to this unfortunate discussion:

Me: That is much too cold to put on your head without the towel.

Jackson (trying it): It doesn't feel too cold.

Me: Buddy, if you keep it on like that for too long, your boo boo will get worse.

Jackson: What will happen?

Me: If it gets too cold, it will start to turn blue and it will hurt very very much.

Jackson: What happens if my skin turns blue?

Me: Then we'd have to go to the doctor so she could make it better.

Jackson: How will the doctor make it better?

Me: Well, if your skin is blue for too long, the only way the doctor can fix it is by taking some healthy skin from your back and putting in on the boo boo.

Jackson (becoming hysterical): You mean the doctor is going to take skin off my back and put it on my head?

It is at this point that I realized I had fallen into the trap of trying to answer every "Why?" of a three-year old instead of just saying "Because Daddy says so."

So if you hear screams in the middle of the night coming from the second floor, it's just an imaginary skin graft operation.

Mass. Republicans looking to repeal 1933 anti-discrimination laws?

2010-02-02T17:45:00.001-05:00

I was checking in at leading Republican blog Red Mass Group earlier today and there are times when I just can't figure out if they intentionally don't get it, or if they just can't bother with the details.

In a very popular post over there about the evils of H. 1728 (derisively known as the "Bathroom Bill"), one of their editors argues against a law that has been on the books in Massachusetts for 77 years.

The editor thinks that H. 1728 is being written so broadly that it infringes on freedom of speech. For instance, this gem:

Section 24 specifically bans the the type of content that can be "published, issued, circulated, distributed or displayed, in any way, any advertisement, circular, folder, book, pamphlet, written or painted or printed notice or sign, of any kind or description" by private citizens in direct conflict of our first amendment rights. To be clear: I am not talking about government publications. These are regulations on us as private citizens not employed by the government. They want to ban what we can write in books.

He either doesn't realize or is not willing to acknowledge that the law he quotes was passed by the legislature in 1933. That's right. Massachusetts' leading Republican web site opposes anti-discrimiation statues that have been on the books since the 1930s.

Here is the original text of the ACT TO PREVENT ADVERTISEMENTS TENDING TO DISCRIMINATE AGAINST PERSONS OF ANY RELIGIOUS SECT, CREED, CLASS, DENOMINATION OR NATIONALITY BY PLACES OF PUBLIC ACCOMMODATION, RESORT OR AMUSEMENT, passed into law on April 6, 1933:

Section 92 A. No owner, lessee, proprietor, manager, superintendent, agent or employee of any place of public accommodation, resort or amusement shall, directly or indirectly, by himself or another, publish, issue, circulate, distribute or display, or cause to be published, issued, circulated, distributed or displayed, in any way, any advertisement, circular, folder, book, pamphlet, written, or painted or printed notice or sign, of any kind or description, intended to discriminate against or actually discriminating against persons of any religious sect, creed, class, race, color, denomination or nationality, in the full enjoyment of the accommodations, advantages, facilities or privileges offered to the general public by such places of public accommodation, resort or amusement, provided, that nothing herein contained shall be construed to prohibit the mailing to any person of a private communication in writing, in response to his specific written inquiry.

Emphasis added to show that the language Red Mass Group finds so offensive has not changed since the original 1933 act.

As you can see, the law is on the books not to "ban what we can write in books," but to keep business owners from putting up signs that say "Whites Only", or from including "No Irish need apply" in a newspaper advertisement. It's an anti-discrimination statute, period.

Over the years, the section has been amended to include sex, sexual orientation, and disability among other reasons that one cannot suffer discrimination.

That is what H. 1728 does: it adds bisexual and transgender to the definitions of those protected from discrimination. It doesn't take away anyone's right to free speech, right to use the bathroom, or anything else.

So, a question for local Republicans. Do you guys really support a repeal of the anti-discrimation act of 1933, or do you just not read the bills you oppose?

T&G readers not entitled to their own facts

2010-02-01T18:10:00.001-05:00

The late New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously said "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." Unfortunately, that sentiment does not apply to the letters to the editor that appear in the Telegram & Gazette each day.

On an almost daily basis, the letters to the editor include one or more missives that include factually false information. Here is the one from today that got me going:

To all of the hardworking, taxpaying, middle class Americans out there who, like myself, continue to struggle through our failing economy, here is what going green means to me. Unless you are very wealthy — or at the other end of the spectrum, extremely poor — expect no help whatsoever, if you should decide to go green and replace older windows, insulate your home, or restore an aging furnace.

Going green, for most of us, means being left out in the cold.

This is demonstrably untrue. I appreciate that our society allows people to be as uninformed as they want to be. And I'm very grateful that our newspapers can print just about whatever they want without interference. But at what point should the opinion page editor say, "you know, that is a lie," and either chuck the letter or add an editor's note that reads "Editor's note: According to the IRS, federal tax credits of up to $1,500 are available to taxpayers who make energy-efficient home improvements."?

Federal tax credits are available to anyone who chooses to "replace older windows, insulate your home, or restore an aging furnace." The only requirement is that you do so with materials that have been rated highly efficient. Using those materials is not difficult to do and they are not hard to find. In fact, Home Depot, Lowe's and other home improvement stores list qualifying products on their websites. If you go to the store in person, materials that qualify for tax credits are clearly marked.

And those materials are not boutique products that are premium priced. The energy-efficient shingles cost the same as those that do not qualify for the credit, the difference is that qualifying shingles are a lighter color and reflect more of the sun's rays, cutting down on air conditioning costs. The energy-efficient insulation is the same Fiberglas insulation we have used for years; as long as the R rating is high enough, it qualifies for a credit. Nearly every storm door on sale at Home Depot qualifies for a credit as long as it is paired with a wood or steel door. If you are buying a storm door to replace an older model, it is likely going to qualify for a credit.

I know, because in the last year we replaced the roof on a section of our house, replaced two storm doors, and added insulation to the ceiling of another section of house. Because we did all of those things with materials that are rated highly efficient, we will be getting a tax credit of 30% of our cost when we file next month.

It seems to me that newspapers either should avoid publishing letters that are factually false or make sure that readers know that the writer is not entitled to her own facts.

Fun with redistricting

2010-01-28T18:15:00.008-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, I came across this web application that allows the use to create congressional district maps with accurate information from every voting precinct in the country. As you assign precincts to a district, it calculates the population in the proposed district and the deviation from the perfect district size...the thing is absolutely incredible.

As you can imagine, I've been geeked up on this thing, creating different scenarios for Massachusetts when we come up for redistricting in 2012. So far, I've run four scenarios. In all of them, I'm assuming that Massachusetts will be left with just nine districts, which means that one congressional seat has to vanish. In three of the four scenarios, I'm also assuming that incumbents will remain in their districts and that the Democratic legislature is the ones doing the redistricting.

The first scenario I ran is one that has been seen as likely ever since it became clear that Massachusetts would lose a district. There has been speculation that 1st District Representative John Olver might retire after the 2011-12 session, allowing the first district to be the one that is dissolved. Here is the way I would redistrict the state based on that assumption:

Here, I've combined the western parts of the first and second districts to create one district that is essentially the Connecticut River Valley and the Berkshires. To compensate for that, I've moved Jim McGovern's district north and west, to include most of the populated areas of Worcester County west to the liberal bastion of Amherst. The southern leg of McGovern's old district is now split between Ed Markey and Barney Frank. Finally, I've extended Niki Tsongas's district west along the NH border, giving her a district where most of her population is in the Merrimack Valley and most of her land area is in the rural north.

In scenario 2, Niki Tsongas is defeated by a Republican challenger (not necessarily likely, but she is probably the most vulnerable to a challenge).

In this case, I have carved up the old fifth district into the first, third, fourth, sixth, and seventh districts, essentially leaving the old district with no base on which a Republican incumbent could run. I've also put Carlisle--home of top Republican candidate Jon Golnik--into the district of powerful Rep. Jim McGovern, along with urban centers like Worcester, Fitchburg, Leominster, Marlborough, and Lowell. Actually, this isn't a bad map at all.

There has been a lot of buzz over challengers to Bill Delahunt in the 10th district. In scenario 3, I combine the ninth and 10th districts, forcing a Republican to have to run against Conservative Boston Democrat Steven Lynch to retain his seat.

This scenario forces some pretty significant gerrymandering south of Boston and in Metro West (for instance, the 40 miles from Grafton to Logan Airport would take one across seven districts). I don't really like this solution, but the legislature will do what it has to do to give a Democrat the chance to retake the seat.

Finally, I gamed out a district map with no regard to incumbency or current borders:

District 1 would be Springfield and the Berkshires. District 2 is Central Mass. and the Quabbin region to Amherst. District 3 is the 495 belt. District 4 is the Merrimack Valley. District 5 is 128 and Metro West. District 6 is the North Shore. District 7 is Boston and Quincy. District 8 is 95 South, and District 9 is the South Shore, South Coast, and the Cape and Islands. I really like this.

Oh, and since you can set the number of districts you want in the application (up to 500), one could also game out maps for the 40 State Senate and 160 State Representative Districts. But even that might be a little too geeky for me.

Evangelidis is out, Ken O'Brien to run

2010-01-26T18:00:00.002-05:00

According to Red Mass Group, Representative Lew Evangelidis announced to his supporters yesterday that he is definitively running for Sheriff. The announcement opens up the seat in the First Worcester District, which Evangelidis has held for eight years. Holden Selectman Ken O'Brien announced last night at the Sterling Democratic Town Committee meeting that he intends to run for the seat, with a formal announcement early in February.*

First, the email from Evangelidis:

I wanted all of you to know that I will be a candidate for Worcester County Sheriff this coming November. As a former assistant district attorney, assistant state prosecutor and having worked in the private sector for many years I hope you would see me as an ideal candidate for Worcester County Sheriff. With your help I think that we can break down the old Worcester County political machine and have an independent and professional Sheriff's Department.

In making his pitch last night to our committee, O'Brien said that he is a socially progressive, fiscally conservative Democrat. He said he will make bringing federal stimulus dollars and other state aid to the district a priority. He also said that he will fight to make sure that any future budget cuts do not affect local aid.

He said that his experience as a Holden Selectman and his relationships with local, state, and congressional Democrats make him an ideal candidate for the seat. The district includes the western half of Sterling, along with Holden, Princeton, Rutland, Oakham, Hubbardston, and Westminster.

Although the district leans strongly Republican (For instance, in 2006 Kerry Healey and Christy Mihos combined for 50% of the vote in the district, compared with 42% statewide; in 2008, McCain won 49% of the district, compared to just 36% statewide), O'Brien believes that he can make up the difference through a strong organization and get out the vote effort. He certainly has ties to a successful organization: his brother Joe was easily elected mayor of Worcester last fall.

It's possible that O'Brien might have to get through a primary. Last month, Worcester Magazine reported that Worcester radio and TV personality Hank Stolz is exploring a candidacy as a Democrat. There will definitely be at least one Republican running for the seat. Rumors in the district are that fellow Holden Select Board member Kimberly Ferguson is exploring a run, among others.

*-- Even though Ken O'Brien has not officially announced, since his comments last night were at a public meeting held in a public building, I am comfortable writing about them.

A Standout Tuesday

2010-01-22T16:45:00.002-05:00

Despite my disappointment and frustration at the results of Tuesday’s election, I otherwise had a very good day. For the first time, I spent much of the day out at the polls holding signs and greeting voters on behalf of my candidate, and even though she lost, the experience was well worth it.

There is an old adage that lawn signs don’t vote. I believe that. I also believe that standing out at the polls doesn’t actually win any votes. I imagine everyone who came out to vote Tuesday already had an idea who they were voting for.

But I think visibility at the polls saves votes. There were most likely some voters who came out whose support for Martha Coakley was tepid, at best. Had they arrived at the polling place and seen enthusiasm for Scott Brown and no support for Coakley, I can see some of them saying “Well, if she doesn’t care enough to get people out and campaign, why should I care enough to give her my vote?”

But more importantly than that, I learned that the visibility boosts the morale of those who do come out to vote and that—more than anything—made the day worth it.

Sterling is a Republican town. Those who vote Democratic know that, and it’s clear that they are much more apt to go about their business quietly. So it was nice to see so many smiles and clandestine thumbs-up as we greeted voters. A number of voters thanked me and the other Democrats who stood out to support Coakley. Some went as far as to say that they didn’t expect to see any support out there and they were happy to see that they weren’t alone.

By 7:30 pm, I was about done. There were hardly any more voters left to cast ballots, and many of those who did come out were able to park right in front of the entrance to the school, so our signs weren’t visible to them anyway. Every once in a while, someone would park in the main parking lot and walk by our location, but by that time of night, it was very rare.

I had been debating whether or not I really wanted to stand out in the snow for another 30 minutes (I’d been there for seven hours already; I figured I’d done what I could) and was just about to pack up my signs when a young woman heading back to her car stopped to thank me for being out there. She told me that she was so thankful that I had taken the time to stand out there in the weather and that she was happy that there were others who shared her support. I figured that I couldn’t leave after that, so I stuck it out the rest of the night.

The point I took from that was that even if she and others were disappointed about their candidate or the result, because she knew that she wasn’t alone she might be apt to keep voting or volunteering or doing whatever it is that she does when election time comes around. My being there didn’t influence her vote Tuesday, but it might have some effect in the next election.

Another thing that heartened me was that my fellow Sterlingites are, if nothing else, very polite. Knowing that most of the folks who came out to vote were going to be opposing my candidate filled me with a little trepidation, but me and my follow Democrats holding signs were generally treated well.

I tried to greet everyone who came by and for the most part I got a hello in reply. Those neighbors who just couldn’t bear the thought of acknowledging a Democrat walked by with their heads down. There were a couple of scowls here and there, but with a few exceptions, nothing untoward.

One guy came by wearing a yellow windbreaker. He muttered “Communists!” when he walked in to vote and followed by rolling his window down and yelling “Communists!” out the window of his SUV as he left the parking lot. (‘Communists’ is so 60’s. ‘European-style Socialists’ is much more in vogue, all though that is probably too many words for that guy to string together.) Otherwise, the only time I got yelled at was by two Coakley voters who wanted to let me know that they were voting for Coakley because they supported her issues, but that they were disgusted by the tone of her campaign. Fair enough.

I also took some good-natured ribbing from members of the Town Republican Committee who were out to hold signs for Scott Brown. I was wearing my Red Sox jacket and hat and they wanted to know if Martha Coakley thought I was a Yankees’ fan. I actually got that from a few people, now that I think of it, but each time we were able to share a laugh about it.

I had some good discussions with them about the campaign, how good or bad the schools in town were, what our kids like about Davis Farmland...you know, neighborly stuff. With all of the fire and anger that comes through in TV commercials and the internet, it was very nice to know that as neighbors, the difference in our politics wasn’t any different or more contentious than the difference in the brand of car we drive or TV shows we watch.

Even though we lost, the whole experience was worth it. I definitely plan to be out there again in the fall. Hopefully it will be a bit warmer and a bit less snowy...and that we win a few more votes.

Lessons from Last Night

2010-01-20T22:50:00.009-05:00

We Democrats have to learn a few things from last night's result. Martha Coakley lost the election for more reasons than I can get into here--and that's not really the point of this post anyway--but some of those reasons will come back to haunt us again in November if we don't do something about it now.

We have to assume that all contests will be hotly contested, high-turnout affairs and campaign as though we are behind, no matter what. Senator-elect Brown's victory has Republicans feeling like anything is possible. At every level, in every district, we need to assume that without using every tool we have we are going to lose. We cannot afford to say "Well, if we get enough votes here then we can afford to lose there..." We have to contest every vote.

We have to simplify the message. For instance, the discussion in this campaign should not have been about "Obama's health care plan." It should have been about prohibiting insurers from denying coverage due to preexisting conditions. It should have been about guaranteeing that if you get sick, your insurer can't drop your coverage. It should have been about expanding drug coverage for Seniors. It should have been about allowing 55-64 year olds the chance to buy into Medicare. There are dozens of good, popular things in that bill, but Coakley never spoke about them in simple, specific terms. We need to break our issues down to simple, easy to understand points and hammer away on those points.

We have to define our opponents and fight the campaign on our terms. Martha Coakley should have been out the day after the primary with a commercial similar to my video endorsement. She should have looked straight into the camera and told the people of Massachusetts what she stood for, and how that was different from Brown's position. Set a narrative about yourself and your opponent and make the opponent work to change people's minds.

We have to give people an affirmative reason to vote for our candidates; voting against the other guy isn't good enough. Did Coakley ever tell you why she wanted to be our Senator? Did she ever outline a rationale for her campaign? Anyone could have run under the mantle of carrying on Ted Kennedy's legacy and saving the President's agenda. In the end, people needed a reason to vote for Coakley and she never gave it to them. The entire theme of the Coakley campaign the last 10 days was "Don't vote for that scary Republican." That rarely works, and since Brown had already defined himself (see previous point), it was particularly ineffective this time.

We have to ask people for their votes. It seems like that should go unsaid, but did Coakley ever look you straight in the eye (through the magic of TV, or in person) and tell you she needed your vote? We cannot win on principles and issues alone. While those are extremely important, in the end we are electing a person, not an issue. That person needs to ask for our votes.

"Get out the vote" can't mean someone gets out the vote for us, it has to mean our candidates get out the vote themselves. Those of us who work on campaigns can hold signs and phone bank and all of that, but the candidate has to get on the ground in those areas where the base is. By and large, the urban centers had lower turnout than the suburbs and if Coakley was going to win, she needed those areas to turnout in high numbers. The people working the phones worked very hard to get folks out, but how many days did Coakley spend shaking hands in Senior Centers in Worcester, or Community Centers in Springfield, or in Churches in Roxbury? The point is that our candidates cannot take our reliable Democratic votes for granted, for fear that they may not be so reliable after all.

We have to ignore the "fundamentals." Every statistical model, every historical campaign, every last piece of data pointed to an easy Coakley win. We all believed it. Worse, the campaign believed it. We cannot afford to wake up after primary day this September and think "If all the Dems who came out for the primary vote in November, we can't lose." If it takes us until the end of October to get in gear, it will be too late.

Finally, those of us who are not candidates can't wait for our candidates to do the right thing. Unfortunately, some of our favorite people will need to be dragged kicking and screaming out to shake hands and meet with town and ward committees and work the phones with us and work to get themselves reelected. We have to get organized and motivated and committed NOW. Every town and ward committee has a role to play. Write letters to the editors of your newspapers touting your candidates. Find out what your opponent stands for and gently (but firmly) question him or her about it. Call your neighbors. Hold house parties. Whatever you can do. But do not wait until mid-September to get moving.

Yesterday is over. It is what it is. It's our job to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Martha Coakley for Senate

2010-01-18T21:36:00.002-05:00

Final Forecast Forecast: Toss-Up

2010-01-18T09:39:00.001-05:00

By popular demand, the final Forecast Forecast:

The Forecast Forecast: 37.1F Light Rain or Snow
Toss-up (Temp: Coakley +3.1, Precip: Lean Brown)

See Thursday's post for how I arrive at the forecast.

Looks like a mixed bag on Election Day. Temperatures should be about three degrees above the 30-day median (which is now 34, due to three straight days above 33), which should bode well for turnout. However, there is expected to be some light rain and/or snow--especially late in the day--which could keep soft voters home.

A wildcard is the ability of cities like Worcester, Springfield, Lowell, and Lawrence to get their streets clear. With 6 or more inches of heavy wet snow last night and this morning, if soft voters don't feel safe getting out of their driveways and down the street, they aren't going to try. The other challenge is going to be to keep surfaces safe. Temps tonight are supposed to fall into the mid 20s, so all of the slush and slop will freeze and could make walking tomorrow dangerous. Some voters could just take a pass if their sidewalks are treacherous in the morning, and then they find after things have begun to thaw, it's started to rain or snow again.

Anyway, here is the data, as of 10:00am, January 18:

Channel 4: 35F Chance of Snow Showers
Channel 5: 38F Light Rain/Snow Mix
Channel 7: 34F Light Snow in the afternoon, 1-2" possible
Channel 25: 38F Chance of Light Rali/Snow
NECN: 39F Rain Showers
NWS: 38F Rain or Snow Likely, little or no accumulation
TWC: 37F 60% chance of Light Rain/Snow
WUND: 38F Rain Showers

(NECN: New England Cable News; NWS: National Weather Service; TWC: The Weather Channel; WUND: Weather Underground)

She just can't stop shooting herself in the foot

2010-01-15T23:05:00.000-05:00

You know what's demoralizing? Every time anything good happens to this campaign, Coakley or one of her aides or supporters screws it up by committing some sort of gaffe.

Coakley goes on the offensive against Brown's anti-victim amendment? The ad she runs on the issue spells Massachusetts wrong.

The DSCC runs a good ad attacking Brown's opposition to Wall Street regulation, but all anyone talks about is the image of the WTC.

Bill Clinton comes to town to rally the troops, and I'll bet a dollar to a donut it will be given equal time to Coakley's gaffe tonight calling Curt Schilling a Yankees fan.

There are plenty of other examples.

Is all of that trivial? Yes. But it's not like the news media became interested in trivia just to screw Coakley. The've always focused on the trivial. Our people have to know that they cannot make little mistakes that step on the message. How a campaign allegedly run by our party's best and brightest can be so inept day after day is beyond me.

January 15 Forecast Forecast: Lean Coakley

2010-01-15T22:57:00.002-05:00

Looking at the latest numbers, I'd say things are leaning slightly in Martha Coakley's direction. No, I don't mean the poll numbers, I mean temperature numbers.

The Forecast Forecast: 36.0F More Clouds than Sun
Lean Coakley (Coakley +3.0)
Down 0.1 from Thursday

See Thursday's post for how I arrive at the forecast.

The weather is still pointing to a slight uptick in turnout, however there is one big caveat that wasn't as prominent yesterday. Apparently some models for the weekend storm (Sunday night into Monday) are calling for more snow than earlier forecasts. In fact, Channel 4's weather blog tonight suggests that areas north and west of 495 could get 6-12 inches of snow, with less as you head south and east.

If this is the case, it could depress turnout in critical Coakley areas of Worcester and Springfield (I don't know how Springfield is about clearing their side streets, but Worcester is not very good. One wonders how easy it will be to get around town less than 24 hours after getting a foot of snow).

Anyway, here is the data, as of 10:00pm, January 15:

Channel 4: 34F Mostly Cloudy
Channel 5: 32F Flurries
Channel 7: 35F Partly Cloudy
Channel 25: 35F Mostly Cloudy
NECN: 39F Mostly Cloudy
NWS: 39F Partly Sunny
TWC: 36F Mostly Cloudy
WUND: 38F Mostly Cloudy

(NECN: New England Cable News; NWS: National Weather Service; TWC: The Weather Channel; WUND: Weather Underground)

Patriot, my ass

2010-01-15T16:35:00.000-05:00

Less than six weeks after 9/11, Scott Brown had the chance to vote in favor of a measure that allowed Red Cross workers to take a paid leave of absence to help with recovery efforts.

He voted no:

On October 17th, 2001, Brown voted against a bill that would authorize “leaves of absence for certain Red Cross employees participating in Red Cross emergencies.” The bill gave 15 days of paid leave each year to state workers called up by the Red Cross to respond to disasters. At the time, state workers called for such emergencies were required to use sick and vacation days.

The bill was initially filed before 9/11, and after the attacks, it was made retroactive to 9/11, covering the time spent by state workers who’d assisted with 9/11 recovery work for the Red Cross. Brown’s vote against the measure came a little more than a month after the attack.

The vote was 148-3.

Just remember that the next time Scott Brown suggests Democrats are unpatriotic. He had a chance to do the right thing for those who cared enough to help those affected by 9/11 and he said no.

January 14 Forecast Forecast: Lean Coakley

2010-01-14T22:44:00.002-05:00

Looking at the latest numbers, I'd say things are leaning slightly in Martha Coakley's direction. No, I don't mean the poll numbers, I mean temperature numbers.

The Forecast Forecast: 36.1F (Coakley +3.1) More Clouds than Sun -- Lean Coakley

It's a widely held belief that the higher the turnout on Tuesday, the higher the chances that Coakley will win the election. The thought is that Brown's voters are more motivated right now and will come out to vote no matter what, while Coakley's support is a little softer, and rain, sleet, snow or cold might depress her numbers.

So in the fine tradition of pollster.com, fivethirtyeight.com, swing state project, and others who try to predict elections based on poll aggregation, I am introducing the Forecast Forecast, which will predict turnout (and therefore chances of winning) based on an aggregate of forecasts from eight sources.

The median temperature over the last 31 days is 33F, so a prediction above 33F would suggest a higher turnout, and a prediction of under 33 would suggest lower turnout. Precipitation would drive turnout down, where lots of sun would move it up.

So here is the data, as of 10:00pm, January 14:

Channel 4: 34F Mostly Cloudy
Channel 5: 34F Mostly Cloudy
Channel 7: 33F Sunny
Channel 25: 40F Mostly Cloudy, 30% chance of rain/snow late
NECN: 39F Mostly Cloudy
NWS: 37F Partly Sunny
TWC: 36F Mostly Cloudy
WUND: 36F Partly Cloudy

Based on the eight forecasts available Thursday evening, the Forecast Forecast predicts a temperature of 36.1 with more clouds than sun, and a very tiny chance of rain. Which means the forecast for Tuesday is Lean Coakley.

(NECN: New England Cable News; NWS: National Weather Service; TWC: The Weather Channel; WUND: Weather Underground)

Six days to go

2010-01-13T22:48:00.001-05:00

Six days and an hour or two from now we'll find out if all of the craziness of the last week of this Senate race has been a bunch of nothing, or if Martha Coakley's campaign is the political version of the 2004 Yankees collapse at the hands of the Red Sox. The final result will be nowhere in between. It will either be an historic win or an epic collapse. From this vantage point, here is where things stand...

Coakley's strategy seems clear. If she gets Democratic and Democratic-leaning women out to the polls, she will win. It's been clear since about the 40 minute mark of Monday's debate that this is her strategy. She set the trap by mentioning Scott Brown's sponsorship of an amendment that would allow hospitals and/or hospital workers to refuse to provide emergency contraception to a rape victim based on religious objections.

She followed up with a pretty tough advertisement linking Scott Brown to "Washington Republicans" and mentioning that Brown voted to deny treatment to rape victims.

Brown took the bait by sending his daughters out to hold a press conference defending their dad's honor, then swallowed it whole by following up today with a radio ad featuring his daughters.

In theory, this works out like so: women who traditionally vote Democratic but have not warmed up to Coakley learn that Brown cares more about protecting the Church than he does about them. They figure that there is no way that they can allow someone with those views to become our next senator, so they make sure they come out to vote.

If that isn't enough, Brown isn't even man enough to defend himself, so he hides behind his college-age daughters. (This opinion doesn't come out of the blue from me. In the debate, he responded to Coakley's charge by referencing his daughters. My wife was watching with me and bringing his family into the debate didn't sit well with her at all).

Or at least that's the way it was supposed to work. But this is the Coakley campaign and true to form, they've been stomping all over their message. That attack ad that they revealed immediately after the debate was a bit too strong. It includes an image of a woman crying in a stair well to represent a rape victim and frankly, I think that might turn off as many voters as it brings in. (It reminded me of the Kerry Healey ad from the 2006 governor's race showing the soon-to-be rape victim being stalked in the parking lot ).

Maybe even worse than that, the disclaimer at the end of the ad spelled Massachusetts incorrectly (Massachusettes). So the Coakley story on the 11 o'clock news that night was the misspelling of the ad, which means she completely wasted one of the last seven days of the campaign, at least from a free media standpoint.

Of course, Coakley wasn't in Massachusetts--however you want to spell it--to push the issue. Instead, she went to Washington, DC to raise money from big donors. Now, raising money is part of the deal. I certainly don't fault her for that. But this has become such a high-profile race that Coakley could have raised a boatload of money in Washington without leaving the campaign trail for a day. To compound things, one of her advisers got into an altercation with a reporter from a right-wing magazine, which fueled more bad press.

For his part, Brown is clearly rattled by the revelation of his anti-rape victim amendment. He denied it completely at the debate on Monday. He overreacted by sending his kids out to defend him (as if they have anything to do with the amendment he proposed. Remarkably, he even said that he couldn't remember even filing the amendment, implying, I guess, that the official Senate journal might be incorrect?

He appears to be vulnerable when directly confronted on his record. At the debate, he denied saying that he was skeptical of global warming, even when read back a direct quote. He denied and then claimed he didn't remember the details of the anti-rape victim amendment. The question is whether or not he will have to answer for those. (This is a major reason, by the way, that I thought Coakley should have jumped at the chance to debate him one-on-one).

Of course, it should not have even come to this. When the primary was over, Coakley had a 20-point or better lead in the polls. Brown had little statewide name recognition. If Coakley had taken the three weeks after the primary to do what she is scrambling to do now--define Scott Brown as a cookie cutter Republican out of touch with Massachusetts values--the race would have been over long ago. Instead, she let Brown define himself.

Now, Coakley has to try to convince voters that the handsome man who drives a truck is really some sort of monster. Had she done her job in December, Brown would be the one having to convince voters he is not a monster, but a good guy with a truck.

As terrible as her campaign has been, Coakley is still in the driver's seat. In every poll but one--whether up two points or 15 points--she has polled at least 49%. 49% will win. But she needs all of us who are supporting her to get out and vote on Tuesday.

No Drumlins Nation: 50,000 strong

2010-01-13T17:54:00.000-05:00

This morning at 1:14 am Eastern Time, No Drumlins welcomed it's 50,000th visitor. The lucky reader logged on from Mendocino, California.

Other milestones:

1,000: July 31, 2006
5,000: October 21, 2006
10,000: February 1, 2007
15,000: June 24, 2007
20,000: October 20, 2007
25,000: February 24, 2008
30,000: June 18, 2008
35,000: October 8, 2008
40,000: February 24, 2009

Asian Longhorn Beetle Battle

2010-01-12T07:08:00.004-05:00

With apologies to the great Dr. Seuss...

If the tweetle beetles battle
While the fuddy duddies huddle,
And the huddle o’er the battle
Is a feeble fuddled muddle.

We call that a

Feebly fuddled huddled fuddy duddy tweetle beetle battle muddle.

Inspiration from today's Telegram headline.

Coakley should agree to one-on-one debates...she'd win them

2010-01-08T23:39:00.002-05:00

I just finished watching the replay of tonight's Senate Debate on WGBY-TV in Springfield and I was struck with one overriding thought:

Martha Coakley should agree to debate Scott Brown one-on-one. She won tonight's debate (which no one saw) and she would win again in another debate with the same format.

Frankly, I think WGBY host Jim Madigan should be hired to be the permanent host of these events. He was very good. I've seen him moderate debates in previous elections and I was impressed with him then. I'm still impressed. The format was very freewheeling and allowed the candidates to carry on a conversation. It also allowed the candidates to question one another relatively freely.

Coakley did a very good job asking questions of Brown and trying to pin him down on some issues. He appeared flustered at times--not out of control by any means--but it seemed clear that he was not completely prepared to be challenged directly. Being calm and reasonable is Coakley's strength, and it came through in the handful of confrontations she and Brown had directly.

She needs to do more of it. She ought to call up the Globe or the League of Women Voters, or whoever wants to have one-on-one debates and tell them that as long as it is a free-wheeling round-table (as opposed to a stodgy debate with a panel of questioners), she is on board. She won tonight and would likely win this format again. The best thing she can do to stem whatever momentum Brown has is to get on TV and beat him again.

A couple of specific thoughts on tonight's discussion:

Coakley was successful in attacking Brown on health care. She pointed out that Brown has filed a bill in the Mass. Legislature to cut out the mandates in the Massachusetts health care program. Brown attempted to turn it around as some sort of a gender-based attack, but he seemed to be knocked off his talking points.

(For what it's worth, he also committed a verbal gaffe that is a pet peeve of mine. He suggested that Coakley inferred that he was against women's health issues when the correct charge is that Coakley implied that Brown was against the issues. I realize that it is a peeve of mine and 90% of the viewers wouldn't have noticed, but I'd hate for him to make that mistake in some big policy debate in the Senate chamber).

Brown rolled out a new (or at least new to me) line of attack on the topic of terrorism and the Christmas Day bombing attempt. He repeatedly used some version of this argument against trying terrorists in domestic courts:

"To have us pay for the attorneys for people trying to kill us is wrong."

Well, what does Brown think happens in a military tribunal? The defendant gets a military lawyer. Who pays for military lawyers? Unless we're sending recovery operations out of Guantanamo to dredge pirate booty off the bottom of the sea, we are still paying "for the attorneys for people trying to kill us." It is a ridiculous argument, and Coakley needs to call him out on it directly. She missed her chances to do so.

There must be something about terrorism policy that brings the crazy out in candidates, because Joe Kennedy might have done Brown one better. Kennedy says that because living in a jail is better than living in a cave, affording potential bombers legal rights is an invitation for them to come over here. Seriously. He thinks that al Qaeda will intentionally fail to blow up planes because if they are unsuccessful, they'll get to sleep under a bunk instead of a stalactite?

Finally, Brown badly mischaracterized Obama's tax policy. On at least two occasions he said, "The fact that we have not done an across the board tax cut, and a payroll tax reduction, is wrong." Well, Brown is wrong. Obama did propose--and Congress approved--a payroll tax deduction for the vast majority of Americans as part of the stimulus package. Families like Brown's who likely made over $250,000 per year may not have received it, but 98% of the rest of us did. To suggest that Obama and Democrats did not authorize an across-the-board payroll tax reduction is wrong. Coakley should forcefully defend that as well.

The best way for her to do it is to agree to more debates immediately.

What's the difference between Scott Brown and Elmo?

2010-01-07T07:40:00.001-05:00

When Elmo helps Big Bird count to five, Gordon gives him a pat on the head.

When Scott Brown helps Bob Hedlund count to five, the taxpayers of Massachusetts give him $15,000.

Brown is the Assistant Minority Whip in the State Senate. As such, it is his job to help Minority Whip Hedlund round up and count Republican votes.

There are five Republicans in the State Senate.

The Assistant Minority Whip gets a stipend of $15,000 for his additional duties...helping the Whip count to five.

(I wonder...when Scott Brown helps count to five, is he responsible for the odds or the evens?)

So remember, the next time Scott Brown suggests that he is a fiscal conservative who cares about what happens to our money, what he really means is that he cares about the 15,000 clams we put into his pocket last year because he helped another Republican count to five.

I’ll bet he didn’t need any help counting our $15,000.

Please, Martha. Do something!

2010-01-06T18:15:00.004-05:00

Unfortunately, nothing has happened in the last 48 hours to convince me that Martha Coakley is going to come out of her cocoon and actually run for the Senate seat she allegedly wants to win.

Monday, I wrote that I hoped Coakley was going to use yesterday’s radio debate as a springboard for a two-week blitz on the open Senate seat. My fear was that by staying silent for two weeks, Coakley had allowed Scott Brown to remain competitive in a race that didn’t need to be close.

Well, two days later I think I was wrong about the first point and right about the second.

I only heard part of the debate, but what I heard frustrated me. Most frustrating of all was Brown’s answer to the question of how to deal with the failed bombing of a U.S.-bound airplane on Christmas day. Brown said this:

“It's time we stopped acting like lawyers and start acting like Patriots,” Mr. Brown said.

“If there is a time bomb situation and they know of a person who in fact has information, it should be up to the president to determine what tools he wants to use to gather information,” Mr. Brown said, including waterboarding. “I believe it's not torture.”

Coakley’s response?

“I don't agree with John McCain on much, but I respect him. He was a war hero and he was tortured and he says he thinks it is. So this is one area where Scott Brown can pick and choose what he believes, but this is an area that he is really more like Bush-Cheney than he is like John F. Kennedy,” she said.

No, no, no, no, no! The issue is not about waterboading or Bush-Cheney or any of that. Scott Brown just said that there are times when we should set aside the law in the name of patriotism. He implied that there are times when American ideals and the promise of liberty should be set aside in the interest of security.

Scott Brown said our system of government—our way of life—is not strong enough to withstand the threat of a guy with nitro in his underpants and that we should be willing to set aside our ideals to torture...er, interrogate in an enhanced manner...him and you cannot muster up enough life to defend the way we have operated for 230 years?

You are the Attorney General, the highest law enforcement officer in the state. He is basically saying that you, and Eric Holder, and Barack Obama, and people like me who believe that American laws and ideals and liberties are stronger than any terrorist threat are weak. And your response is that he’s more like George Bush than John Kennedy?

Martha, please, for the sake of those of us who are supporting you and want you to win...stand up for us! Do...something!

Admittedly, I didn’t get a chance to hear the whole debate Tuesday. The venue should have been a slam dunk for Coakley. Moderators Jim Braude and Marjorie Egan are both Coakley supporters. Braude is an unabashed liberal and Egan has made no secret of her hope that a woman becomes the next senator.

Yet for the 30 minutes or so I listened, Brown was the aggressor. On taxes, on terrorism, you name it. Whether you liked his answers or not, he at least had some; Coakley was too equivocal. When Bruade, probably the most liberal commentator in the Boston market, is continually pressing Coakley to actually answer a question, then it’s not going well.

Brown reiterated the contention he makes in his TV ad that he is like John F. Kennedy in that both he and Kennedy believed in tax cuts (for what it’s worth, it’s a very good ad, even though it is misleading as hell). Coakley milquetoasted a response about how the top tax bracket at the time was 91% so it’s different, and the president Brown really should be compared to is George W. Bush...zzzzzz.

What she should have said is: “I too agree with JFK that a 91% tax bracket is too high and would have supported that tax cut. I also agree with Presidents Kennedy and Clinton that the top 1% of earners should pay their fair share, which is why I support rolling back the Bush tax cuts for the rich. Scott, do you think asking billionaires to pay 39% instead of 35% is too much of a burden on them?”

Maybe I’m just being too much of a worry-wart. Maybe Coakley figures that yesterday’s debate doesn’t mean two cents in the grand scheme since WTKK’s listeners are probably overwhelmingly Scott Brown voters anyway. Maybe she’s waiting for next Monday’s debate (the only one to be broadcast live in Eastern and Central Mass.) to get moving.

But the whole thing just doesn’t feel right.

Martha! Olly olly oxen free!

2010-01-04T20:00:00.002-05:00

Hard to believe, but we are going to head to the polls just two weeks from tomorrow to elect our next U.S. Senator. Why is it hard to believe? Because as far as I can tell, there is only one candidate actually running for Senate. Every time I turn on the TV or read the news, I see and hear Scott Brown.

Scott Brown, Scott Brown, everywhere Scott Brown.

I believe--if my memory serves me correctly--that the Democrats nominated a candidate last month. It was Martha-something-or-another. Honestly, it’s hard for me to remember because I haven’t heard from her in weeks.

Too bad, really, because I am going to vote for her. She’s the best candidate in the race. She’s probably going to win. But unless she decides to start campaigning, she’s going to win by a hell of a lot smaller margin than she should. I mean...why should your every day Massachusetts voter brave the cold and the snow to cast a vote for her when she hasn’t found it worth her while to actually ask for a vote?

I’m hoping that this is all a matter of Martha Coakley waiting for the holidays to end, and starting with Tuesday's debate the airwaves and news shows will be wall-to-wall Martha. This has happened to me before--where I’ve wanted my candidate to get off the couch and into the press and it all worked out just fine in the end. Ultimately, I guess it doesn’t matter if she wins by 100 votes or 100,000 as long as she wins.

But allowing Brown to define the race by letting him have unfettered access to voters for the last two weeks seems like a bad idea to me. He has begun to generate some real buzz locally and nationally and that might not have happened if Coakley had tried to squash him immediately. Letting underdogs hang around until the end of the game is never a good strategy.

Happy New Year...here's what's in store for 2010

2010-01-04T18:00:00.001-05:00

I hope everyone had a great New Year's Eve and Day. 2010 has to be better than 2009 (it does, right?). I'm not going to make any hard and fast resolutions, but here is what I hope to do with the blog over the next year...

Continue commenting on local politics -- For better of for worse, it seems like this site has become pretty heavy on state politics. With a huge series of elections coming up this month and again in September and November, I can't imagine that will change.
More local issues -- Looking around the Internet, it seems like there is a real void when it comes to opinion and coverage of really local issues. For instance, as far as I can tell I'm the only regular blogger in Sterling, there are none in Lancaster that comment on local issues, the only regular bloggers from Leominster are focused on personal and cultural items, and the issues-bloggers from Clinton come from a decidedly different political viewpoint that I do. Previously, I have spent a lot of effort on local issues in my four "hometowns," I'd like to get back to that.
Less family -- Since finding Facebook, I've stopped posting personal updates here and started putting that stuff there. I think I'll keep it that way.
More multi-media -- I'd like to pull out the video camera and put some of my commentaries on tape. I am under no illusion that this will bring in more readers...to the contrary, I'm sure.
Continue to stay away from sports -- Those who know me are aware that I am a huge sports fan. Other than the rare rant about the Bruins, Red Sox, or Patriots, I've stayed away from regular sports commentary here. Not that I don't have opinions, but there are two-million-and-six sports sites out there and does anyone really need another?
Stay regular -- More fiber, more...no wait, no personal stuff, I almost forgot. I mean blog more regularly. Probably not daily, but more than six or seven times a month.

That's it. I hope you'll stay around to see how I do.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-24T14:56:00.004-05:00

I heard the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's version of "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo" on the radio three times in a half-hour today, so it must be Christmas. I hope you are as happy to see Santa as Jackson was at his Papa's Christmas Party last Tuesday night.

This post comes with creepy music video:

Trans Siberian Orchestra - Carol Of The Bells @ Yahoo! Video

JFK Jr., Lady Di, and...Scott Brown?!

2009-12-11T14:16:00.003-05:00

It's nice to see that Republican Senate candidate Scott Brown has a healthy self-esteem. In an interview with Chet Curtis last night, he put himself in some pretty exclusive company. When asked something what makes him, he answered (at about the 5:15 mark):

I live every day it's like it's my last. Especially when JFK junior passed away and Princess Di—they’re powerful handsome rich people and they’re dead and they can’t make a difference. Well, I still can. I can work every day and try to make a difference.

That's right, the only difference between the powerful, handsome, rich JFK Jr., the powerful, handsome, rich Princess Diana, and Scott Brown is that Scott Brown is alive.

Right. Otherwise, they're indistinguishable.

Scott Brown, Relic

2009-12-10T18:00:00.000-05:00

Fresh off his rousing victory in the Republican Senate primary, Scott Brown wasted no time in going after Democratic nominee Martha Coakley, unveiling an innovative, fresh line of attack sure to catch the Democrat off guard:

Brown signed the Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) Taxpayer Protection Pledge, a promise not to raise taxes on the American people, and immediately challenged Coakley to do the same.

“When I first ran for state office, I signed a pledge not to raise taxes. Today, as a candidate for U.S. Senate, I am renewing that pledge. Very simply, I will not raise taxes on the American people,” said Brown.

In his wide-ranging press conference, Brown also went on to wish the Buffalo Bills well in their third try at a Super Bowl win, congratulated Bill Weld and Charlie Baker on their innovative plan to roll the Big Dig debt into the Turnpike Authority, and reiterated his opposition to President-elect Bill Clinton's health care proposal.

Hey Scott! 1992 wants its gimmick back.

Live-blogging the Senate results

2009-12-08T19:46:00.012-05:00

I'll be keeping an eye on the returns as they come in, but first, an update from Sterling.

7:50 -- To give you an idea of how slow it was at 6:15 pm when Michelle and I went to vote, we were able to park in one of about 10 spaces in front of the school, instead of the auxiliary parking lot. I've never been able to park there; there are always more than enough voters to fill those spaces. When we entered, there was no line. In fact, I only saw four other voters in the polling place. After casting my vote for Mike Capuano, Jackson read the ballot box and reported that there had been 461 votes cast. That would be just under 16%. I imagine they will not get to 20% turnout.

8:06 -- Watching the WBZ-TV Webcast, following Twitter, and constantly refreshing Boston.com for results. FWIW, Jon Keller is better on TV than he is when he writes on his blog.

8:10 -- Here's the problem with twitter: first "results" from Boston are being retweeted all over the twitterverse: "early Boston returns Caps 33% Coakley 22% Khazei 33% Pagliuca 11%". Which is exactly how percentages would look if there were exactly nine votes cast. Early returns indeed.

8:14: Actually, the Globe site has the same results, but for the town of Gosnold. Which in fact did have only nine votes.

8:33 -- Boston.com is blowing it big time. The graphic and map at the top of the screen shows Capuano with a 23 point lead, while the town-by-town breakdown correctly show the lead is Coakley's.

9:06 -- Well, there wasn't much to that. I change and feed the baby, do a chore or two, and I find out that the race has already been called for Coakley. I'll be interested to see how Sterling and other area towns voted.

9:14 -- For what it's worth, boston.com still hasn't fixed it's results, with 53% of the vote in.

9:50 -- Sterling finally reported in the last couple of minutes (or at least, our results were finally posted by the AP. Coakley 52%, Capuano 22%, Khazei 13%, Pagliuca 13%. On the Republican side, Scott Brown defeated Jack E Robinson 89% to 11%. It looks like 1,183 total votes were cast (732 Democratic votes, 451 Republican), for a turnout of around 21%.

Looking just at raw vote totals, Scott Brown received the most votes in Sterling:
Brown...402...34%
Coakley...381...32%
Capuano...162...14%
Khazei...96...8%
Pagliuca...93...8%
Robinson...49...4%

One year ago this week

2009-12-08T18:01:00.001-05:00

It was one year ago that Mother Nature decided that we'd been having it a little too easy, so she covered everything with an inch of ice and let gravity do the rest. In a lot of ways, we haven't completely recovered.

If you drive North on route 12 out of the center of Sterling you'll notice that the east side of the road was never really cleaned up, and large trees and debris still remain just behind the guard rail. The Municipal Light Department is still working in the northwest corner of town to permanently repair power lines that were patched together last winter. Looking up at the trees in my yard, I still see large branches that are just teetering on the edge of other limbs, waiting for the next round of ice and snow and wind to bring them the rest of the way down.

Coincidentally, the next round may be here soon:

Snow is expected to reach the east slopes of the Berkshires and Connecticut valley between 3 and 5 am Wednesday... and should reach the Merrimack valley between 5 and 7 am. The snow should quickly become heavy at times... perhaps falling at the rate of one inch per hour during the Wednesday morning commute.

The arrival of milder air will cause the snow to change to sleet and freezing rain Wednesday morning... before an eventual change to rain Wednesday afternoon. There is still uncertainty as to how fast this transition will take place.

Snowfall totals of 4 to 8 inches are possible... with the 8 inch amounts likely to occur from the Worcester Hills into southwest New Hampshire. A light coating of ice is also possible.

Be prepared for the possibility of downed tree branches and scattered power outages.

I guess I'll need to get the generator out tonight and fire it up, just in case. I'm not planning on being caught off guard again.

A look back at the 2008 Ice Storm in Sterling.

I'm voting for Michael Capuano tomorrow

2009-12-07T22:44:00.003-05:00

I'm not going to go on and on about why, I just think he's the best of three decent candidates. He has shown both a commitment to progressive values and positions and the ability to get things done for Massachusetts.

Both Martha Coakley and Alan Khazei would also make good senators and the Democratic Party and the people of Massachusetts will be well served if either of them win. But we will be better served if Congressman Capuano is elected, and I will do my part tomorrow by marking my ballot for him.

The elusive Mr. Fur

2009-12-04T18:22:00.001-05:00

It's been nearly two full years since I weighed in on the lair of looniness that is the Telegram and Gazette Letter to the Editor page. But this one got me:

Mr. Fur...spent three days and three nights up in the tree. We tried to entice him with cans of tuna but to no avail.

Finally, we contacted a local arborist with a cherry picker, who will remain nameless, to come and get Mr. Fur down from the tree. At my husband’s insistence, he finally came and rescued Mr. Fur. It took all of 30 minutes and we were charged $375. Although we were forewarned of the cost, such a small amount of time and effort on the arborist’s part could have resulted in a lesser, kinder cost.

Firstly...Mr. Fur?!

Secondly...I was getting a big time Helen and Stanley Roper vibe when reading this story. I can see poor Stanley standing at the base of the tree, holding a can of fish and calling "Come on down, Mr. Fur" day after day before finally calling someone just to get Helen off his case.

And finally, I was happy to see the writer protecting the identity of the cherry picker, so it's friends Thomas the Tank Engine and Roary the Racing Car wouldn't make fun of it when it got back from the rescue.

Previous T&G Letters to the Editor:
Best Letter Ever
In God we trust, in e-mails we don't
"suspiciously left-wing"
T&G Readers are off their meds again
"I like Jasmine Guy"
BREAKING: Election fraud in Auburn
"The sting of unboozed Democrats"
"Why is Mitt Romney ashamed of Massachusetts?"
"hot condiments cause them to be...interested in sex"
Disgust with that nasty Francona grows
It's that dirty Francona's fault
T&G reader takes on terrorism
Worcester: the San Diego of the East
Is State Senator Barrios a Bush Crony
Rem-Dawg Debate Rages in Worcester
Jerry Remy has "lost all touch with reality"

Wednesday's Debate: The Sarah Palin of the Democratic Party

2009-12-02T21:57:00.002-05:00

I was going to live blog tonight's debate, but I bagged on it. Just didn't have the fire.I figured that no one was going to win the race based on tonight anyway, but I suppose someone could lose it. I'm not sure either of them happened, but here are my thoughts...

Mike Capuano and Steve Pagliuca appear to have embarked on a strategy of Mutual Assured Destruction. Capuano is right on this one: Pags is lying about his record. But the two of them go back and forth at each other like schoolyard rivals, and it ends up sullying both of them. Capuano just keeps sniping at Pagliuca for his wealth and ability to run TV ads. For two straight nights, he's accused Pags of being willing to send women into back-alleys to get abortions (for what it's worth, Martha Coakley lent credence to his charge by not disavowing the point when given the chance).

Pags volleyed back by comparing the abortion charge to the Republicans' nonsense about "death panels." He then called Capuano the "Sarah Palin of the Democratic Party." Which is just ridiculous. Pags is not a fighter. He comes across like the nerd who makes fun of the class bully than tries to find a way to keep his nose from getting broken. His charge fell as flat as you would expect.

Of course, the more those two guys fight, the better off Martha Coakley is. I have to say, she is looking better and better to me with each performance. I'm not sure if it's because she is becoming a better candidate or if it's because she is elevated purely by the Capuano-Pagliuca sideshow, but whatever the reason, I would be much more comfortable voting for her next week than I would have been had the primary been held three weeks ago. I still think she's too cautious and I disagree with her on important issues like the PATRIOT Act, but I haven't ruled her out.

As with last night, I thought the other candidate who did well was Alan Khazei. If I were scoring a winner, I'd give tonight's debate to Coakley and give second place to Khazei, but that isn't to say that Khazei did poorly. On the contrary, I think he again made a very good case for his election. He spends too much time talking about PAC and lobbyist money (I really don't think that wins too many votes--certainly not enough to warrant the attention he gives it), but he also articulates more solutions than any of the other candidates.

I'm still not sure which direction I'm headed, but I guess it's about time to get off the fence.

Tonight's debate: Khazei wins; Pagliuca is "proud of Burger King"

2009-12-01T22:43:00.001-05:00

Tonight's senate debate is in the books and my reviews are in: Alan Khazei was fantastic. He was easily the winner. He gave specific proposals on the big issues and has finally found a way to present them without sounding long-winded. Martha Coakley also did very well. If it really is her race to lose, she isn't doing much to lose it. She seems like she's loosening up a little bit and actually showed some warmth and passion when talking about health care. Michael Capuano let his anger show, and it hurt him quite a bit. He was alternately passive agressive and whiny when dealing with Coakley, and downright nasty to Pagliuca. It's almost as if he knows he's not going to win and is getting pissed about it. Steve Pagliuca? You know you're having a bad night when you're relegated to saying "I'm proud of Burger King." Pags, you had a bad night.

Live blog starts...now!

You are looking live at a nondescript studio in Needham where...my God! Ed Harding is going to moderate this debate? Ed Harding? Was Butch Stearns not available? Congratulations to all of the candidates. It doesn't matter how bad you flub an answer or how stupid you sound, you're going to be light years ahead of the moderator on the seriousness scale.

Anyway, on with the show...

The infinite black background makes each of these four look like zombies. Pagliuca looks particularly ghoulish. If the kids were still up, they'd run away screaming.
The first question is on Afghanistan, and I have to admit, that I am resigned to the fact that we're putting more troops in, and none of these guys are going to stop it. In the end, they are going to vote for authorizing funds because this or that will be tacked on to get their votes. Not to mention that it's going to be tough to "vote against funding the troops" when a Democratic president is asking for it.
On the PATRIOT Act, Coakley says we need to "build in the kind of civil liberties that we need." No, we already have civil liberties. We don't start with a law and then find a way to fit in our civil liberties. We start with our civil liberties and find a way to build laws around them. This is one of the fundamental problems I have with the Attorney General (and generally with other candidates that come from a law enforcement background). She is conditioned to fight crime first and worry about liberties second. I guess that's OK if your job is to put bad guys in jail, but that is not the job of a Senator.
And instead of calling Coakley out on it directly, Capuano pulls some passive aggressive nonsense about "I heard three nos and one non answer" and has to be asked three times by Harding who he's talking about. This isn't high school, Mike. If you have a problem with the AG, you need to call her out. Hinting and rolling your eyes and generally being a pissy bitch isn't going to get you one vote. Your point (which essentially was my point above) is completely lost in your childish peevishness. Grow up!
While they go around on this, why isn't anyone directly challenging Coakley on her defense of the PATRIOT Act as AG?
Oh, now we're getting twitter comments scrolling across the bottom of the screen. Hey Channel 5, I have an idea, how about completely distracting from the debate itself by filling the screen with stuff that a bunch of people who aren't running for senate have to say.
While I've been distracted, Janet Wu has been berating Coakley about her personal finances and the other guy with the beard has been trying to get Khazei to admit that he thinks people who buy scratch ticket are immoral and that he wants to restrict civil liberties by opposing casinos. See, this is what I hate. Small-time reporters trying to impress themselves by being tough. You don't appear tough, you appear petty. I can't believe I'm saying this, but Ed Harding has been a bright light so far.
Pags is uncomfortable talking about his political background. He shouldn't be. He's got this question before. In fact, the four questions from Wu and Grizzly Adams were all rehashes from the first debate. A waste of time.
Khazei has been impressive. He has specific plans and is able to articulate them. His answers on Afghanistan and job creation have been better and more specific than Capuano's, and the congressman should be the best candidate on specifics.
Arrgh! They are missing the point on the footbridge at Gillette Stadium, a park and ride lot, and the Nantucket Bike Path (and for what it's worth, a bike path and a park and ride lot help the entire community, so they shouldn't be lumped in with the footbridge). It's not about who gets the end result, it's how many jobs are added to build these projects.
Khazei mixes up TARP and the Stimulus. Capuano and Pags let him know.
How can these guys whiff on the question of what they've done in their own home to save money during the recession. Capuano: light bulbs. What about them? Did you switch to energy saving models, just buy new ones? Pags: We've redoubled our energy efforts and given more money to charity. What? Coakley: We cook a lot more. Grocery shop, eat in, and don't go out as much as we used to. And she has a little smug smile because she knows she got the answer right and the other two muffed it.
And then she comes out with one of the most absurd things I've heard in a long, long time. She claims that one of the reasons she opposed the decriminalization of marijuana was that it would lead to more public transportation workers driving trains and buses under the influence of pot. Where the hell did that come from?
Janet Wu wants to know why Khazei thinks he will be more successful than Deval Patrick has been. Huh? These are the people who bring you the news every day. Scary, isn't it?
More Pags, this time on health care: "There are 45,000 people dying. I talk to them every day." "I see dead people!
Capuano has really developed a dislike for Pagliuca. He's really going after him hard on Pags' charges that Capuano would not vote for health care reform. Really nasty.
I know I'm hammering on Pagliuca--probably too much--but here is a great example of how he just doesn't get it. Coakley gave a really good, personal, heartfelt answer about end-of-life issues. She talked about her experience with her mother, and how they dealt with her mother's terminal leukemia diagnosis. No one was going to give a better answer. Yet Pagliuca jumps in before Harding can ask the next question and spews a series of statistics. He has no sense of when to talk and when to shut up.

The candidates are on to their closing statements, so I'll give you mine: Khazei was fantastic. He was easily the winner. He gave specific proposals on the big issues and has finally found a way to present them without sounding long-winded. Coakley also did very well. If it really is her race to lose, she isn't doing much to lose it. She seems like she's loosening up a little bit and actually showed some warmth and passion when talking about health care. Capuano let his anger show, and it hurt him quite a bit. He was alternately passive aggressive and whiny when dealing with Coakley, and downright nasty to Pagliuca. It's almost as if he knows he's not going to win and is getting pissed about it. Pagliuca? You know you're having a bad night when you're relegated to saying "I'm proud of Burger King." Steve Pagliuca, you had a bad night.

Why sports editors should stay out of politics

2009-11-27T09:44:00.004-05:00

The Globe Sports Editor on duty last night clearly missed the high school civics class on the difference between the legislative and the executive branches.