Lovers, Muggers, and Thieves

Where in the World Is Deval Patrick?

2010-07-23T08:31:00.000-04:00

Matthew Gannon asked two days ago, and we have our answer now. A reader adds, "I really hope he's not hiking the Appalachian Trail."

Well, no. He's not. Thankfully. He skived off to visit Massachusetts troops in Iraq. South Carolina still has us beat.

He got back in touch with the world from Kuwait, reports Glenn Johnson.

Dave Wedge has more.

“The critics will criticize. They always do,” Patrick said today from Kuwait. “But I get to go on these trips when the Department of Defense says it’s time. We’ve been trying to plan this trip for years.

What do you think? Please feel free to comment!

AG Watch

2010-07-21T08:52:00.000-04:00

The Worcester Telegram's Shaun Sutner reports that Millbury lawyer James McKenna is discussing a write-in campaign to run against Martha Coakley for Attorney General. If he wins the GOP primary by write-in, then he will be on the ballot in the general.

Winning the primary, even unopposed, with a write-in campaign will be difficult. A quick glimpse of his chief issues (straight from the Telegram article), after the jump.

He said he would crack down in illegal immigrants with a similar approach to the state of Arizona, which passed a law allowing police officers to demand citizenship identification of anyone they stop.

...

Mr. McKenna also criticized Ms. Coakley for inaction on political corruption cases, noting that federal authorities have brought the most significant corruption charges, including those against former Boston state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson.

He also said he would establish a public corruption strike force.

...

He said he is in favor of the death penalty; opposes abortion except in cases of rape and incest; and that while he is personally against same-sex marriage, would not seek a ballot referendum to overturn it in Massachusetts.

What do you think? Please feel free to comment!

Schooling: MCAS v. Common Core (UPDATED)

2010-07-21T08:27:00.002-04:00

Lyle Moran summarizes what's happening with the education reform vote that may or may not happen today.

Two leaders of the 1993 Massachusetts education reform, former Senate President Tom Birmingham and former Governor William Weld, claim that the current MCAS standards are better than the proposed Common Core standards (AP).

The move was endorsed by former Boston School Superintendent Thomas Payzant, who said the Common Core will "build on the rigorous Massachusetts curriculum frameworks." Payzant once served under Democratic President Bill Clinton.

...

And both [Birmingham] and Weld’s criticisms were echoed by Republican gubernatorial candidate Charles Baker, who served as Weld’s human services and, later, finance secretary.

So, one side claims that MCAS is good enough, and the Common Core will be a step backwards. Supporters claim that the MCAS is good, but Common Core can enhance the MCAS.

Charlie Baker, of course, would like to hold onto the 1993 reform as one of the non-Big Dig policies the Weld Administration (and by extension Baker) achieved. It wouldn't look good if Governor Patrick also had an education reform that improved on the previous plan. So, Baker's opposition to Common Core is pretty much political. Weld, too, if he's trying to help out his former advisor. And does anyone think Weld wouldn't help Charlie Baker?

The Baker campaign also asked Attorney General Martha Coakley to look into charges (by the Baker camp) that Governor Patrick agreed to Common Core to secure an endorsement from the Massachusetts Teacher's Association (AP). David Bernstein confirms how ridiculous this is.

WBUR notes that the Republicans in the Legislature want to delay the school board's vote. Capitol View elaborates: House Minority Leader Brad Jones (R-Middlesex 20) doesn't want to rush this. Which invariably translates to "Let's drag this out so some other minority party members can make this ugly" (see the above paragraph).

I tend to think Common Core will pass today despite the brouhaha.

UPDATE: WBUR reports that it's "too close to call" whether or not MCAS or Common Core is the better education system, according to a new report. Which makes the case for Common Care easy to argue: we'll get federal funding for a policy change that won't weaken our education system, and the funding can only strengthen it.

What do you think? Please feel free to comment!

Pro-Nothing: Tim Cahill's Stance on Abortions

2010-07-20T19:49:00.000-04:00

The Massachusetts Citizens for Life have endorsed Tim Cahill for Governor (HT Mike Rossettie).

According to the MCL press release, the endorsement is because Cahill "holds pro-life positions."

Cahill holds pro-life positions on all aspects of the issue, from abortion funding to informed consent, to partial birth abortion and parental consent. Very important also is his opposition to Physician Assisted Suicide which is currently being proposed in the state legislature, according to McComish.

...

Currently pro-life people across the state are collecting signatures to repeal Obamacare. They welcome Tim Cahills pledge to opt out of the abortion funding in Obamacare.

...

The other gubernatorial candidates have publicly stated their support for the pro-choiceposition. In other words, they support abortion and take anti-life positions on the other life issues.

However, Rob Eno took a look at Tim Cahill's website. He found nothing on abortion. On a May 25th copy of the Cahill site, Eno notes that he states "I believe in and support a women's right to choose. I also believe that abortion should be safe, legal, and rare."

You can see Eno's Red Mass Group post for the before and after screen captures of Cahill's website.

So, what happened? I have a theory, so feel free to have stopped reading a sentence ago, but this is part of a larger picture in which we see Tim Cahill veer wildly to the right in an effort to appeal to and co-opt the Tea Party movement in Massachusetts. He came out against "Romneycare," but only once "Obamacare" was under discussion. As the chief financial officer of the Commonwealth, he stayed silent. He even went on Fox News to bluster in their echo chamber during the debate over the Affordable Care Act.

Now we see him removing the pro-choice language from his website to appear more conservative. The odd part is that his website doesn't have pro-life language on it now. I'm sure it'll be on there tomorrow.

What do you think? Please feel free to comment!

MassHealth v. the Affordable Care Act

2010-07-20T08:51:00.001-04:00

Ezra Klein offers up a look at the Massachusetts healthcare system as opposed to the US health care reform law, because critics of the ACA are leveling their criticisms against Massachusetts.

Before the reforms, Massachusetts had the highest health-care costs in the nation. That's still true after the reforms. Massachusetts has an incredibly powerful hospital industry. Think of the legendary research hospitals in Boston -- Harvard and Tufts and Partners. Their reputation allows them to command huge premiums, and their centrality to the economy ensures them huge political power. Long mentions a survey that found one out of five households in Massachusetts gets some income from the health-care industry.

Some of the attention, however, is the product of politics, not policy. Various Massachusetts observers noted that Patrick has gone to war against the state's insurers -- but not because of the reform plan. Patrick is running for reelection against Charles Baker, the former CEO of Harvard Pilgrim, a large insurer in Massachusetts. So he's making the insurance industry an issue in the campaign. In fact, the insurer whose rates he overturned was ... Harvard Pilgrim. This all seems normal enough as a matter of politics, but because it's Massachusetts, it's become part of a conversation over the state's reforms.

Klein concludes that the feds should stick to all the cost control parts of the ACA, to learn a lesson from Massachusetts. Also, because the ACA had cost control parts, Congress already learned Massachusetts lesson.

What do you think? Please feel free to comment!

Dollar Signs: Massachusetts Incumbents Raising Serious Funds

2010-07-15T07:47:00.000-04:00

David Riley reports that Congressional incumbents in Massachusetts are at an advantage in fundraising.

In the Mass Third, Rep. Jim McGovern has raised $800,000+. The closest Republican rival in terms of fundraising, Brian Herr, plans to report $50,000 in the new quarter.

Holliston's Michael Stopa, another Republican seeking McGovern's seat, said fundraising will ultimately be important in taking on McGovern, yet in the primary, he's focused on other ways to get his name and message out. He expected to appear on the Sean Hannity Show on Fox News last night, has penned newspaper opinion pieces and appears in a YouTube video with 10,000 hits.

"None of those are things the other campaigns can touch," he said. "I think that we're in really good shape as far as the primary is concerned, just doing this with personal funding at this point."

Congressional candidates aren't the only ones doing well. Sasha Issenberg reports that former Governor Mitt Romney is bowling over the competition for the 2012 Republican nomination, including the Wasillan Wonder, Sarah Palin.

Though he's not up for re-election until 2012, Sen. Scott Brown has a hefty warchest, reports Steve LeBlanc.

That leaves Brown with more than $6.5 million in campaign cash in his account -- a daunting obstacle for any candidate considering challenging the Massachusetts Republican when he faces re-election in 2012.

I guess we know why, as Matt Viser reports, Senator Brown is really opposing the DISCLOSE Act:

Dollar signs.

What do you think? Please feel free to comment!

Meet Bathroom Bill: MassTrans Rally Today

2010-07-14T08:31:00.000-04:00

David Bernstein is disappointed in Charlie Baker calling the gender identity equality bill the "bathroom bill."

He proposes a solution to MassTrans, who is rallying at the State House today.

Now, if the MassTrans folks want to cheer me up, here's my advice: co-opt it. Unveil a "Bathroom Bill" mascot today; I'm thinking with a big 'B' on his chest and a toilet lid hat. Bill would be a dopey guy who thinks he can go into the girl's locker rooms, so someone has to explain to him that he's got it all wrong -- and explan to him carefully what the transgender equality bill really does.

And it would be fine with me if Bathroom Bill looks a little bit like Charlie Baker. And, if the guy explaining the bill to him looks maybe just a little bit like Richard Tisei.

What do you think? Please feel free to comment!

Flagging Flaggers Who Flag

2010-07-12T08:33:00.000-04:00

Glenn Johnson reports on one of the benefits to the police of picketing the National Governor's Association meeting in Boston this past weekend.

The police officers who picketed Gov. Deval Patrick this weekend over his civilian flagger policy did so as some of their fellow officers accepted security pay during the National Governors Association meeting that Patrick brought to Boston.

It's... frankly bizarre. The police were hired for overtime pay... because their union was picketing the event.

Couple things:

1. Can you trust the security detail if they're protecting you from their friends and colleagues?

2. Will the police union picket alot more events once it figures out that it can score overtime for some of its members that way?

Massachusetts Liberal reminds us what a class act the President of the Boston Police Patrolman Association, Thomas Nee, is.

But when Nee blusters about Patrick breaking a promise to put a thousand more cops on the street, he's ignoring a big reason for that not happening: a sharp drop in state revenues that has meant an increasingly larger percentage of that scarce cash going for Quinn Bill benefits and expensive police patrols at many construction sites.

What do you think? Please feel free to comment!

'Comeback Kid

2010-07-07T08:30:00.000-04:00

Gene Lavanchy wonders if Tim Cahill's new ads will help him in his Independent run for Governor.

WBUR's Todd Domke and Dan Payne don't think so.

DOMKE: But it looks like more thought was put into his decision to go on the air than went into creating the spot itself. He needed a great ad, but it’s mediocre.

...

He is trying to emulate Sen. Scott Brown without really understanding what worked. Yes, Brown did a TV spot responding to negative ads against him — just talking to the camera, dismissing the ads. But unlike Brown, Cahill didn’t first run ads that established his credibility, his persona, his connection with regular people. Instead, in his introductory ad he complains that he has been unfairly criticized. Voters, suffering in this economy, are not in a mood to feel sorry for politicians.

PAYNE: The RGA TV spots against Cahill ran two months ago. It might seem like just yesterday to Cahill but very few people remember the specifics, except the ads did damage his claim as a fiscal conservative.

(By the way, he’s wrong that the first ad of the race was attacking him. Actually, the first ad was his own. It ran during the Super Bowl and was so ordinary, apparently even Cahill forgot about it.)

...

Strategically, Cahill’s ad is off — he’s obsessed with being an independent. But he’s not explaining what his independent-ness is worth to the voter. It’s a case of “telling me about your grass seed rather than my lawn.”

What do you think? Please feel free to comment!

WRKO Debate Roundup

2010-06-17T07:56:00.000-04:00

Slow news day if people are still talking about the debate, huh? You can watch the debate here (via Katy).

Noah Bierman reports that Cahill kept the attack on Baker during the debate. Smart move. Going after Baker is more beneficial to Cahill than going after Patrick right now.

Although Cahill knows he needs to go after Patrick too. Hillary Chabot reports that both Baker and Cahill want to go mano-a-mano with Governor Patrick by themselves, no third wheel.

Ooh, I know! We'll devote 20 minutes to Baker v. Cahill, then 20 to Baker v. Patrick and 20 to Cahill v. Patrick! That'll be fair.

Except Eli Beckerman points out that a candidate was not invited to the debate, and Beckerman is upset: Dr. Jill Stein, the Green-Rainbow candidate.

... Maybe Finneran only wanted candidates with at least 10% in the last big poll. Or maybe everyone's ignoring the Greens again.

The Massachusetts Liberal finds Finneran to be lacking as a debate moderator.

What do you think? Please feel free to comment!

Meet the New Boss: Charlie Baker's Campaign Strategy

2010-06-16T08:40:00.000-04:00

Jay Fitzgerald urges Charlie Baker to stand up for something.

Most people fear nothing more terribly than taking a position that stands out sharply from the prevailing opinion,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. observed many years ago. “The tendency of most is to adopt a view so ambiguous it will include everyone and so popular it will offend no one.”

Well, that’s fine for “most people” who prefer to live their lives beneath the radar screen of public scrutiny.

But it’s not a trait you look for in a leader.

We tell kids the idea is to be yourself in a world that’s trying to make you like everyone else. We ought to tell that to candidates, too.

It's vague advice, to be sure, but Charlie Baker needs to shape up. Candidate Patrick is emerging again, and as Matthew Roy notes, the man can work a room.

"I was very impressed," John Tisdale said after Patrick finished. Tisdale described himself as a Republican whose focus was more on conservatism than party. "I think (Patrick) fits with my philosophy of taking responsibility for providing things for the next generation."

Not only does Baker need to keep up with that, but he can't even run against the economy anymore. Jerry Kronenberg notes that Massachusetts is bouncing back from the recession. Ouch. Some news in the Kronenberg piece is good for Baker (still bad news!): we're not recovering jobs. Focusing on Had Enough might not be good enough if we recover by November.

Here's what Baker needs to do to stay viable in the race:

1. Own up to the Big Dig. It remains a story the longer Baker doesn't own up to it. He owns up to it, we move on.

2. Let his hair down. Literally. He had his side-part do in perfect shape on the court with his son? I mean, whether he's shooting the basketball commercial or meeting with the public, he's always this polished figure. He wears a suit even when he's not wearing a suit. It's unnatural. I'm not saying buy a barnjacket. I'm just saying, he needs to work on his informal public appearance.

3. Call Governor Patrick out on "headline hunting ploys" and "empty gestures" (see the Fitzgerald article). Call Treasurer Cahill out on more of the same (his wild lurch right of Baker to try and snatch up the Tea Party movement).

What do you think? Please feel free to comment!

WRKO Gubernatorial Debate on 6/16/2010

2010-06-16T08:19:00.000-04:00

Pre-game with Hillary Chabot and Katie Carlin.

Glen Johnson reports on the debate, at least about health care costs. Governor Patrick (D) and Treasurer Cahill (I) slammed Charlie Baker over his time as CEO of Harvard Pilgrim.

What do you think? Please feel free to comment!

Shooting Hoops: Charlie Bakers First Ad

2010-06-15T07:50:00.001-04:00

MassBeacon has the ad if you haven't seen it yet. And I also assume that MRP Victory 2010 is the Massachusetts Republican Party.

Noah Bierman takes a look, as well.

Baker’s 30-second ad, funded by the state Republican Party, works at building his everyman credentials, with a vintage picture of Baker in a Needham High School basketball uniform and contemporary images of the candidate addressing the camera in a Swampscott High School football T-shirt, where his son attended school. The spot leaves out any mention of Baker’s Harvard background, though he played varsity basketball there. And his Republican Party affiliation also goes unmentioned, probably a deliberate omission owing to a tradition of Massachusetts voters preferring less partisan Republicans.

I'm not really seeing Bierman's main thesis, though, which is that the ad is supposed to help get Baker known. I mean, sure, that's the obvious goal to reach for, but I don't think this ad does it well. His entire bio, from the ad, is "Hi, I'm Charlie Baker. I've spent my life here, not going anywhere else. With Bill Weld, I reformed welfare, and I turned Harvard-Pilgrim around."

Really? That's all? It's not telling me much! I understand that this was Baker's first ad (as opposed to an allied third party slinging mud), but I think having the same ad buy with two or three separate ads, each focusing on a specific part of Baker's career, would have been better (i.e. a Weld ad and a Harvard-Pilgrim ad). Baker's a pretty complex guy. I want to hear more.

Also, I hate the basketball angle. If you're going to go for that, you should at least acknowledge it. Nope, just Charlie Baker doing a typical ad, for which he could have worn a suit. Meanwhile, in the background, his son is playing with himself. At least start out with "Let's take five, son!"

And Baker acts like he's still in a suit, not on the court with his son. A consummate professional, apparently, but lacking the warmth that pols try to achieve when they include their families in commercials.

What do you think? Please feel free to comment!

Scott Conway: Working for the State or for Richard Tisei?

2010-06-14T08:52:00.000-04:00

A tipster points me to Scott Conway, whose describes himself in his Twitter bio as "Aid (sic.), and Body Man for Lt. Governor Candidate Richard R. Tisei."

You'll note that this is an obvious campaign account. I personally don't like the "CB_" and "RT_" staff accounts, it's too phony for me, but it's easy to spot them as campaign accounts.

The big deal, though? Tisei's aide and "body man" works for the state. The Herald reports that he worked 15 hours a week in the Senate in 2009.

Of course, state workers are allowed to volunteer for political campaigns in their spare time. But who ever heard of a volunteer "body man"? That's a full-time job. Is Conway working for the campaign, but being paid by the state?

What do you think? Please feel free to comment!

Bad Touch: Jeff Perry Scandal Rocks Mass Tenth GOP Primary

2010-06-14T08:39:00.000-04:00

I'm a little late to the party, but if you don't know what I'm talking about, Jeff Perry is in hot water over what he did or didn't know about a fellow officer conducting strip searches on underage girls.

Dan Kennedy has an excellent round-up of the reporting on the scandal, as well as a follow up of what's been reported this weekend.

The main news articles you should read are George Brennan from the Cape Cod Times and Donovan Slack from the Globe.

The Massachusetts Liberal posits that with the darkening GOP choices, Democrats might be able to keep the seat.

What do you think? Please feel free to comment!

Charlie Baker's Decline

2010-06-14T08:27:00.000-04:00

It's not a good morning in the Baker camp, I imagine.

After months of claiming he was nobody important regarding the Big Dig, the Globe hit hard with a report by Michael Rezendes and Noah Bierman about where you probably don't remember Baker from.

When he launched his candidacy last summer, Baker said he played a “small role in the Big Dig.’’ Days later, his campaign said that, as the state’s budget chief under governors William Weld and Paul Cellucci, he had a “limited role in the financing process.’’

...

But those statements are sharply at odds with a picture of Baker’s financial leadership of the project that emerges from hundreds of pages of memorandums, letters, and other documents culled from his four-year tenure as secretary of the Executive Office of Administration and Finance, from 1994 to 1998. The documents show that Baker was the chief architect of a financing plan to sustain the project during its peak construction years, just as federal support was diminishing substantially.

It's Baker's nightmare scenario: his work on the Big Dig is coming front-and-center in the race.

The Massachusetts Liberal notes that, "To be fair, Baker was a bureaucrat, highly regarded to be sure, not someone with whom the buck stopped. ... But instead of standing up for principle and walking away, Baker soldiered on -- and spent a good part of his current campaign for the Corner Office denying any role in the debacle."

I won't say this is the end of the Baker campaign, but I expect this is what he has to deal with right now, which leaves less time for his tax plan.

Dan from Critical Mass posts an op-ed from Baker about his tax plan. I'm fairly certain that it was overshadowed by the Globe story, though.

What do you think? Please feel free to comment!

Tax Cuts for Businesses: Charlie Baker's New Idea

2010-06-10T08:29:00.000-04:00

At least it's more substantial than wandering around the state asking voters if they've Had Enough.

Glen Johnson reports that Charlie Baker is proposing a tax cut for businesses to spur job growth. He wants to lower the tax rate for "some corporations" from 8.75% to 5%.

Baker also proposed extending the number of weeks an employee must work to be eligible for unemployment insurance. And he said he would like to eliminate a requirement he says punishes smaller businesses who pay higher tax rates as they grow.

Baker aides estimated the plan would cost the state an estimated $175 million per year in tax revenue.

I'm no financial expert, and I'm certainly not a CEO running for office... but $175M sounds like a hefty deficit for these initiatives.

"As governor, I will fight to keep every job we have in Massachusetts, and will fight to create a climate conducive to business expansion and investment in order to make Massachusetts work again," Baker said in a statement after a campaign stop Wednesday in Andover.

I think it's an idea that would work (that it would spur job creation), but... I'll ask this question a million times until November: where will Baker find the $175M in the budget for these initiatives? Budgeting is a zero sum game. The $175M that the state will not receive has to be reflected elsewhere in the budget. It's $175M that the state was counting on.

What do you think? Please feel free to comment!

Money Trail: Impropriety in Massachusetts Campaign Finance?

2010-06-08T20:47:00.000-04:00

Us? I'm shocked!

Brian Mooney reports that Treasurer Tim Cahill, in his independent run for governor, and Attorney General Martha Coakley, up for re-election unopposed, have both received campaign donations from law firms representing the state's pension fund... which they oversee.

Cahill, who chairs the board that oversees the Pension Reserves Investment Trust Fund, is the chief beneficiary, reaping at least $115,495 since his first run for treasurer in 2002, including $16,000 since last July when he announced his independent candidacy for governor. Coakley’s campaign accounts have collected at least $59,750 from the litigators and their relatives. Of that amount, $27,550 went to her unsuccessful campaign for US Senate last January.

What do you think? Please feel free to comment!

Bad Prescription: Governor Patrick's Premium Caps

2010-06-08T20:06:00.000-04:00

Glenn Johnson reports that Deputy Insurance Commissioner Robert Dynan warned against premium caps.

The April 6 e-mail, obtained following a public records request, showed Deputy Insurance Commissioner Robert Dynan warned the caps could cause insolvency at the insurance companies, including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. Dynan also wrote the caps were imposed "against my objections," as well as without his input.

...

"I should have been more careful in the selection of words I used to express my private opinion," Dynan wrote on June 4. "As you know, but others for whom the e-mail was not intended may not, the Financial Surveillance Unit does not and never has participated in rate filings, their approval or disapproval."

...

In a second e-mail to Murphy, dated April 30, Dynan wrote that artificially setting rate limits -- rather than basing them on the projected costs -- could create "the potential for catastrophic consequences to our nonprofit health care industry."

In a lengthy rebuttal sent just two minutes later, Murphy wrote that "negative and conclusory statements about the effect of the division's actions on insurers and markets are unprofessional and counterproductive."

Governor Patrick is campaigning partly on a battle between himself and "Big Insurance," using it to distinguish himself from his rival, former health insurance CEO Charlie Baker.

What do you think? Please feel free to comment!

Barney Frank and FinReg

2010-06-02T08:10:00.001-04:00

It has become clear that Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA 4) is the man who convinced Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) to vote for the Financial Regulation bill in the Senate, reports Jay Fitzgerald. And what's more, Senator Brown actually helped Frank out with negotiation.

Frank indicated that his promises to Brown were easy to make because he agreed with Brown. As it is, getting all the promises in writing - and delivering the letters directly to Senate leaders, as Brown demanded - actually strengthened his negotiating hand in future conference committee votes, Frank said.

And speaking of Senator Brown's concerns (that Massachusetts will be harmed by FinReg), Frank spoke with Mass financial firms yesterday to understand their beef with FinReg.

Frank said he’s personally talked with Abigail Johnson, a top executive at Fidelity Investments, and Joseph “Jack” Hooley, head of State Street Corp., and other local business leaders about their concerns.

Fidelity and Liberty Mutual are worried about provisions that could conceivably label them as “systemic risks” because of their huge size, Frank said. They’re also worried that they could get hit with new fees and restrictions on their limited-purpose trusts.

“They may not get 100 percent of what they want,” Frank said. But he expressed confidence their main concerns will be taken care of in a final bill.

Massachusetts’ financial firms require less regulation than Wall Street firms because they’re more “safe and steady,” Frank said.

Passing FinReg might be a good feather in Frank's cap this November, where he's facing a tough Republican opponent, Earl Sholley or Sean Bielat, and a vocal "Retire Barney Frank" movement.

What do you think? Please feel free to comment!

Scanning the Field: Massachusetts Statewide and Legislative Races

2010-06-01T22:17:00.000-04:00

The AP reports on the crowded races for statewide offices and Congressional seats.

David Bernstein notes that the Republicans are fielding exactly two women candidates, both for statewide office: Karyn Polito for Treasurer, and Mary Connaughton for Auditor.

For all the talk about a Republican revolution, I don't think they're building up enough legislative challenges, and the newsfolk are focusing on the statewide and Congressional races. I know legislative races don't get much in the way of news coverage, but in the Senator Brown era, there should be some news about Republicans taking back the Legislature, right?

Any revolution will need a legislative backbone, but all the best prospects are betting it all on the big races. It makes sense: why be a State Rep when you can run for Congress or Treasurer? But the Republican revolution will fail without legislative support. Making the second party viable is the only way. If you have a Republican Constitutional officer, so what? They'll spar with the Governor on occasion... and that's it. Republican legislators, in a viable minority that has more than a couple dozen members between both houses... that would really shake things up.

Muslims in Massachusetts

2010-06-01T08:24:00.000-04:00

An anonymous poster called me out over the weekend for not reading what Cahill actually said.

Why don't you read what Cahill actually said? He did NOT call all Muslims terrorists. Far from it:

http://www.timforgovernor.com/index.cfm/page/Cahill-blasts-Patrick-for-playing-politics-with-terrorism/cdid/10970/pid/10237

"The overwhelming majority of Muslim-Americans are peaceable people who love this land, but the bottom line is, someone in Boston knew about this before it happened and didn’t speak up. That has to change.

There have been three attempted terrorist attacks on American soil in the last six months. If, God forbid, one of these attacks is ever successful, the grief and suffering that follows will visit us all without discrimination as to ethnicity or religion.

Now is the time for Governor Patrick to look radical Islamic terrorism full in the face, call it what it is, and make sure that federal law enforcement officials who are tracking the Times Square case give our local law enforcement the information they have in real time. Additionally, the Governor must urge the leaders of the Muslim-American community to finally police these rogue elements and help apprehend those who would do us harm where we all work, raise our children, and live our lives. After all, we are all Americans, and we are all in this together.”

Which is fine. No, he's right. I didn't read what Cahill said. And yes, Cahill gave lip service to the fact that "the overwhelming majority of Mulsim-Americans are peaceable people." But his main point is still that Governor Patrick should not have met with this "overwhelming majority" because the meeting was pandering to "special interest groups."

I'm also disturbed that Cahill had to even make this press release at all. He timed it to juxtapose his rant against Islamic extremism with Governor Patrick meeting with the "overwhelming majority" of peaceable Muslims. But no sir, nobody is calling all Muslims terrorists. We just should never speak to Muslims because we are at war and God forbid that Muslim you spoke to attacks these United States.

Meeting with Muslims, ctd.

2010-05-28T08:19:00.000-04:00

The Massachusetts Liberal suggests that Cahill should look elsewhere for evidence of pandering. Like the Mass Senate, or the mirror.

The AP reports that Bay State Muslims are firing back at Cahill. Way to alienate the voters, dude.

Muslim leaders say they will be joined by Christian and Jewish leaders at a news conference Friday to further condemn Cahill, who is trailing Patrick and Republican candidate Charlie Baker in the polls.

Meeting With Muslims: Governor Patrick and Tim Cahill Spar

2010-05-27T21:12:00.000-04:00

The AP reports that Cahill is calling Governor Patrick out for meeting with Muslims this past weekend.

Independent Timothy Cahill on Thursday accused Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick of “playing politics with terrorism” and “pandering” to the Muslim community by meeting with its leaders and supporting their requests.

...

Noting two Muslim-Americans recently were arrested in Massachusetts in connection with the attempted Times Square bombing, Cahill added: “Gov. Patrick should stop playing politics with terrorism and focus on protecting all the citizens of this commonwealth.”

House Minority Leader Brad Jones (R-Middlesex 20) accused Cahill of hypocrisy on the GOP Caucus blog, Capitol View.

Treasurer Tim Cahill really should think before he speaks. Although he’d have you believe different, Treasurer Cahill has long endorsed doing business with known terrorist state, Iran. In fact, when the House held a hearing on divesting the Commonwealth’s interests from Iran, Treasurer Cahill testified against the legislation saying he and his pension staff should have the right to decide where to invest.

I wouldn't even deign to label this the same issue. Cutting ties with Iran is a serious consideration, considering the regime's anti-American stance. On the other hand... I'm pretty sure Treasurer Cahill basically called all Mass Muslims terrorists, which is... unfortunate. I like the response of Patrick's spokesman, from the AP article.

“Deval Patrick is not going to be lectured by a politician who equates meeting with over 1,000 members of the Muslim-American community with `playing politics with terrorism,”‘ said spokesman Alex Goldstein. “As governor, he has been and will remain committed to meeting with all of the commonwealth’s residents, regardless of religion.”

Probing Probation: Mike Rush and Patronage

2010-05-27T07:54:00.000-04:00

Massachusetts Elections 2010 reports that Rep. Mike Rush's (D-Suffolk 10) Republican opponent for the Suffolk, Norfolk Senate seat, Brad Williams, is calling for Rush to address his own role in the growing probation scandal.

Williams says:

“As a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, Representative Rush should have recused himself from all dealings with the Probation Department given his father’s lawsuit. I have built my campaign for state senate as an advocate for higher ethical standards, pension reform and more transparency in every aspect of state government. When a politician on Beacon Hill does not act as a fiduciary for the people they represent, it undermines our political system and the public’s trust,” Williams continued. “As a government official, Representative Rush must be held to a higher standard; he should offer a full explanation of his involvement with the state probation department.”