Massachusetts Politics

Surgical Device Boosted by Deceptive Marketing. On Dec. 13, AG Healey announced that Massachusetts will receive $2.4 million from a medical device company as part of a multi-state settlement that resolved allegations of unlawfully promoting a device used in certain surgical procedures.   In a consent judgment entered that day in Suffolk Superior Court, Boston, Medtronic Sofamor Danek, Inc., and Metronic Sofamor Danek USA, Inc., agreed to resolve claims they had engaged in a deceptive marketing strategy for a device intended to stimulate bone growth. “Companies cannot use deceptive practices to increase their profits, while compromising the safety and well-being of patients,” Healey said.   “With this settlement, we are bringing more than $2 million back to Massachusetts after uncovering this unlawful conduct.” The payment was part of a $12 million multi-state settlement that also involved Oregon, California, Illinois and Washington. Benefits of Four Prescription Drugs Misrepr...

THAT Acting Senate President Harriette Chandler of Worcester expects more senators to pursue the presidency of the upper branch beyond the current crop of candidates, which includes Sal DiDomenico of Everett, Eileen Donoghue of Lowell, Linda Dorcena Forry of Boston, and Karen Spilka of Framingham.   “This is only the beginning,” Chandler said of the presidential machinations during an interview this past Sunday on WCVB’s “On the Record.”   THAT Harriette Chandler , who earned the first of her three university degrees in 1959, is sticking with her decision not to seek the presidency on a permanent basis.   It’s not the heavy workload of the presidency that discourages her from becoming a candidate, but rather the heavy responsibilities of running the “venerable chamber,” because “I am not 20 years old, as you all know.” THAT Utah Senator Orrin Hatch , age 83, is showing signs of breaking an informal, behind-the-scenes agreement with former Massachusetts Governor Mitt ...

There’s no way Governor Charlie Baker can be beat next year, right? He remains the most popular governor in the U.S., according to the latest quarterly survey by Morning Consult. By wide margins, he outpolls each of the three candidates now in the race for the Democrat nomination for governor: Jay Gonzalez, Robert Massie and Setti Warren. And the Massachusetts economy continues to hum.   Just this week, for example, we learned that the unemployment rate here has dropped to 3.6 percent. “Year-to-date, the jobs and labor force estimates indicate a strong and stable economy in the Commonwealth,” said Rosalin Acosta, the state’s Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development. Yup, Baker’s sitting pretty and it’s hard to see how things could turn ugly for him. Unless you happen to read the latest [December 6] forecast from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.   The title says it all: “MTF Forecast: Foundation Advises Beacon Hill – ‘Batten Down the Hatches’.”   The f...

The Roman Catholic Church began to be a factor in Massachusetts politics in the 1640s when the colonial government adopted anti-priest laws.   There were maybe a few hundred Catholics, French and Irish mainly, in Massachusetts at that time.   They were scattered across the colony, lying low, in fear of the Puritans. That the church continues to matter in Massachusetts politics -- only nowhere near the way it did in the heyday of Cardinal Richard Cushing, 50-some years ago -- was apparent on the State House News Service website today, where an obituary appeared under the headline, “Cardinal Law, 86, Leaves Behind Dark Legacy in Boston.”   A photo of a younger, smiling Law accompanied the unflattering write-up in an editorially taunting way. Law’s successor, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, was quoted by the State House News Service as follows: “…Cardinal Law served at a time when the Church failed seriously in its responsibilities to provide pastoral care for her people, and with t...