Massachusetts Politics

Poor Carlo DeMaria, the mayor of Everett, has been getting his brains beat in by one local newspaper for not publicly denouncing disgraced ex-casino mogul Steve Wynn and for standing behind The Wynn Corp. as it fights to keep its Eastern Massachusetts casino license. On Thursday, April 12, the Everett Leader Herald ran an editorial on the front page under the headline, “Mayor Loath to Lose Wynn; Silence Would Have Been Golden.”   You could hear the thunder booming as you read it. “That the mayor, who has younger children,” it said, “has not denounced Wynn and the sexual harassment culture that is pervasive in the business he founded and grew is a mistake, an oversight of mountainous proportion for a man who believes this city is his own and that he has the moral temperament and resolve to lead the way.” One week later, on April 19, in a front-page commentary, the Leader Herald again could not contain its indignation. “We have a mayor,” it cried, “who has yet to say one word about S...

Boston is among the 20 finalist cities in the competition to become the second (after Seattle) headquarters city in the U.S. of Amazon. The old Suffolk Downs racetrack in East Boston and Revere is widely seen as the best of the sites in and around Boston that have been put forward as potential locations for this headquarters facility, or “HQ2,” as it’s been labeled. I grew up in a large family in Revere.   Even though I have not lived there for many years, when someone asks me where I’m from, I still say Revere because I have never been anything other, nor have I ever wanted to be anything other, than a Revere person.   I guess I’m like most folks in that regard: the place where we grow up remains forever special in our hearts and memories.   It holds an outsized place in our imaginations. My love for Revere is possessive.   I don’t want anything bad to happen to it.   So I’m not happy Amazon may be what replaces Suffolk Downs. Amazon’s talking about e...

Each of the three Democrats running for governor of Massachusetts has pledged not to take certain campaign contributions from the oil, gas and coal industries, the State House News Service (SHNS) reported yesterday.  Jay Gonzalez, Bob Massie and Setti Warren are among the latest candidates for public office in this nation to take the "No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge," which has been conceived and promulgated by a group called 350 Mass Action.  350 Mass Action bills itself as "a statewide volunteer network dedicated to eliminating the influence of fossil fuel special interests over our political process and advancing a fair and speedy transition beyond fossil fuels towards a 100% clean, renewable and just energy future."  The pledge requires Messrs. Gonzalez, Massie and Warren not to "accept knowingly" any contributions exceeding $200 from the political action committees, executives or "front groups" of companies whose primary business is extracting, ...

It doesn’t rank up there with the abuse of overtime by State Police officers, but allowing pretenders to go places they shouldn't with bogus service animals cries out for government action.   Which is why I am hoping House Bill 2277, An Act Relative to the Misrepresentation of a Service Animal, soon receives a favorable report from the legislature’s Joint Committee on the Judiciary.   H.2277 would make it a civil infraction to misrepresent a pet dog as a service dog.   Violators would be subject to a fine of not more than $500 and/or 30 hours of community service for an organization that helps persons with disabilities.   A violation of the law would occur under the following conditions: ONE, “An individual expressly or impliedly represents that a dog in his or her possession is his or her service dog or a service-dog-in-training for the purpose of obtaining any rights or privileges afforded disabled persons accompanied by service dogs, but unavailable to people and ...