A Commonwealth of laws?
Or are rules for schmucks? So, today we receive news that because the rich guys lost, the East Boston/Revere casino vote won’t count, after all. Despite the fact that the rules for this process were...
View ArticleSpeaking of the State Lottery system…
From today’s SHNS: STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, JAN. 28, 2014…State Lottery officials asked lawmakers Tuesday to pass legislation enabling the agency to experiment with online gaming operations…. The...
View ArticleThe People’s Pledge: Why direct mail matters
I’ve heard a few people suggest over the past couple days that if the 2012 People’s Pledge was good enough for Liz Warren, it should be good enough for the candidates in the race for AG today. I think...
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A Spectacular Day in the 6th for Congressman Tierney and his supporters
The band was playing, hundreds and hundreds of people were there — and there was just a ton of excitement. That pretty much sums up how today’s rally for Congressman Tierney in Salem went, with...
View ArticleNortheastern paid ZERO pilot funds this past year. ZERO.
For anyone unfamiliar with PILOT funds (payments en lieu of taxes), they’re the chump change cities sometimes ask wealthy “nonprofit” organizations like the city of Boston’s colleges and hospitals to...
View ArticleThe only olympic plan so far would require displacing 700 working class jobs,...
Other than some vague talk about how it’ll be one of the least expensive Olympics evah (suuuure) and the city of Boston won’t be on the hook for anything (when pigs fly), there’s been very little talk...
View ArticleCan we believe Boston won’t be on the hook for Olympic cost overruns?
Boston 2024 has promised at numerous points that Boston won’t be on the hook for any cost overruns. But can we afford to believe them? Let’s ask Seattle what happens when you get involved in a major...
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Did you hear that funny Olympic cost overruns joke? And other items.
A construction company CEO walks into a Boston Bar, promising he’ll get an insurance policy that will make sure Olympics cost overruns won’t cost the taxpayers there a dime. The punchline? The policy...
View ArticleIt’s Official: Boston 2024 isn’t going to tell us the costs until after the...
They’ve come out and said it. (Hey Globe — way to bury the lede.) Organizers on Wednesday also released bid documents and budget plans, though they said they withheld details on potential land and...
View ArticleBoston 2024 hasn’t even spoken with the owners of the land they want to bulldoze
Just in case there were any remaining doubts about just what Boston 2024, the IOC and USOC is all about… read this. Boston 2024 said in its planning documents that it has “engaged all owners in ongoing...
View ArticlePopular support for a Boston Olympics is already dead // Crackdown on city...
It was pretty easy to guess that the meager support a Boston Olympics was receiving in early polls would quickly dissipate as the details spilled out. But who would have guessed it would happen this...
View ArticleWhat’s more important — Hollywood, or the MBTA?
Governor Baker really, really, really doesn’t want to raise taxes to fix the MBTA. Okay, fine, Mr. Governor. So what are we going to do? How about this? The Hollywood tax credit costs $100 million or...
View ArticleIs the USOC about to drop a house on #Boston2024’s bid?
Quick, someone prep the Lollipop Guild; it looks like someone may drop a house on #Boston2024’s bid. The Fat Lady hasn’t sung yet, but the obvious conclusion about Boston 2024 is becoming obvious to...
View ArticleLooking at the future of the Boston Olympics from the 5th Floor of Government...
Bob, Sabutai, Hysterprynne and I sat down with Mayor Walsh and his Chief of Policy/fellow BMGer, Joyce Linehan, today. It was actually pretty great timing for me. I had been working on a post about the...
View ArticleHow Not to Write a Column: the Olympic Edition
Shirley Leung provides a great example today, with her piece headlined, “Dear USOC: We really do want to host the Games.” So, how about it, BMG? Anyone subconsciously harboring deep Olympic desires?
View ArticleThe Biggest Boston 2024 debacle yet: Taxpayers on the hook for 66% of opening...
Click here for a quick WCVB video, or here for all the sordid details at the Boston Business Journal. In case anyone’s bad at math, 66% of an Opening Day stadium would cost taxpayers hundreds of...
View ArticleUnofficial June BMG Democratic Presidential Primary Strawpoll Time!
Now that the Democratic Presidential Primary field is starting to really take shape, I figure it’s time to get a real sense of what BMGers think about the presidential primary at this early date. So,...
View ArticleAnd the winner of the Unofficial BMG June Presidential Straw Poll is…. Bernie...
Hey everyone, here’s the results from the Unofficial BMG June Presidential Primary Straw Poll. With 61% of the BMG vote, participants came out strongly for Bernie Sanders. It appears as if he’s quickly...
View ArticleBernie Sanders is within striking distance of Hillary Clinton in NH
Suffolk has the race polled at 41% Clinton, 31% Sanders. This follows a couple days after another firm had Bernie within 12% of Hillary in NH. These are some pretty astounding numbers for a guy that...
View ArticleThere is an appropriation going on here, and it’s bad for the party
I think the squabble over the word “progressive” in our party is cemented over one thing: To some people, it’s just a word. To other people, it’s the movement they’ve been a part of, starting in the...
View ArticleThe post everyone should read to understand this primary
The context surrounding this election — representing drastically different, competing economic ideologies between Hillary and Bernie — is largely unknown or misunderstood by most Democratic and...
View ArticleThis election isn’t about Hillary and Bernie, at all
I was born in 1984, during the rise of neoliberalism. It’s all I’ve really known all my life. For a long time, I thought it was normal. Expected. Always. It isn’t, and wasn’t. It is an historical...
View ArticleThe Four Ways to Win Democratic Campaigns, and why they spell trouble for...
There are four methods Democratic candidates can generally employ to win campaigns. 1) The first targets groups, often employing identity politics, trying to forge enough ‘pieces’ of the Democratic...
View ArticleThe GE is going to get their Boston HQ rent free.
Fort Point and the “Innovation District” is one of the hottest property markets in the world. There is no end to the number of firms that would like to locate there. So, of course, the GE is going to...
View ArticleTaxing Hospitals in MA. Pigs are flying.
Before I post some big news from today, I want to discuss Partner’s business practices for a minute. The Partners Network makes vast profits almost every year. I’m sure if you lined up all the...
View ArticleParty Chair: Are We Doing this Wrong?
Here’s a question for everyone to think of today, as we’re awaiting news on our next party chair from the smoke-filled halls of a hotel in Atlanta. How many people do we think should get a vote? 477,...
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