Mass Roundup

Mass Roundup Says Goodbye

2010-02-12T02:39:21Z

As they say, “Life comes at you fast.’ Changes in my life, good changes, are forcing me to shut down Mass Roundup. Unfortunately I’m not going to have the time to run the site properly. I want to thank everyone who made the site a part of their online routine. I hope you [...]

House challenger Hudak plans town hall ‘meeting’

2010-02-10T12:19:11Z

Congressional challenger Bill Hudak has pledged that, if he is elected this fall, he will hold free and open community meetings in every city and town throughout the 6th Congressional District at least once a year. Now, he has taken that promise to the campaign trail as well. Tomorrow, Hudak, the Boxford Republican who is challenging Democrat [...]

No website for Scott Brown

2010-02-10T12:18:00Z

Newly sworn in President Scott Brown, who we all know has completely changed the political landscape, owns the Senate, and has given the Rushpublics the majority (59-41) can’t get it up… um, his website up: Looks like newly elected Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) still doesn’t have a web site. Maybe the [...]

Baker puts focus on fixing state government

2010-02-10T12:16:14Z

Republican candidate for governor Charlie Baker last night said the current economic crisis is a huge opportunity to make a positive turnaround in state government. Baker spoke to a crowd of about 50, consisting of members of the Sudbury Chamber of Commerce and local residents at the Wayside Inn. Towering above everyone in the room, his head [...]

Moonbats put (Prius) brakes on Deval Patrick’s run

2010-02-10T12:15:24Z

Count ’em – Deval Patrick now has not one, but two moonbats running against him. How soon they forget, these ungrateful limousine liberals. The way they’re coming after Deval, you’d think he was the one who screwed up the brake pedals on their Priuses. First Grace Ross, the former Green-Rainbow Party candidate, now running as a [...]

Governor’s proposal: Boston would receive $2 million less in local aid

2010-02-10T12:14:22Z

Governor Deval Patrick’s proposed fiscal 2011 budget will decrease total local aid to Boston by about $2.06 million compared to the year before. From the fiscal 2010 budget, Boston received about $382 million, while the governor proposes to give Boston about $380 million from the fiscal 2011 budget. However, the proposed budget, released Jan. 27, would level-fund [...]

Martha Coakley Formally Announces Reelection Bid

2010-02-10T12:12:59Z

Massachusetts Attorney General and former US Senate candidate Martha Coakley has formally announced that she is running for reelection. After her failed bid for the US Senate her staffers mentioned that she was planning on seeking reelection but no formal announcement was made until tonight in an email to supporters. It appears that her campaign [...]

Among The Somerville Dems

2010-02-10T12:12:06Z

Somerville’s seven Ward Democratic Party Committees held their caucuses last night, to elect delegates to the state convention. All other committees aren’t allowed to start holding caucuses until Wednesday, but apparently Somerville is special. (I’m told that it was the only time they could get home-town boy Congressman Michael Capuano to speak, so the state [...]

MassBeacon Blog Casts a “Shunning” on Lowell

2010-02-10T12:10:30Z

During the run-up to the special election to fill the U.S. Senate seat held for forty-seven years by Ted Kennedy, an anonymous blogger created and wrote daily on “kennedyseat.com. ” Outed recently as Conor Yunits a self-professed “writer, political junkie, sports fan, and history buff. Raised in Dorchester and Brockton, Massachusetts… served as director of [...]

Who I am…Why I’m Running

2010-02-10T12:09:19Z

Dear Friends, I write to you today to introduce myself and respectfully ask for your support in my campaign to represent the citizens of the Middlesex, Suffolk and Essex District in the State Senate. From an early age I was raised to realize the value of hard work. My parents taught me that anything [...]

Senator Lockstep casts his first vote

2010-02-10T12:08:32Z

It wasn’t close, so Brown’s vote wasn’t the deciding one. Nonetheless, on his first somewhat controversial vote in the Senate, Scott Brown voted just the way Mitch McConnell and the rest of the Republican leadership told him to. The Senate today failed to end debate on the nomination of union lawyer Craig Becker [...]

State Senator Joan Menard will not seek re-election

2010-02-10T12:07:48Z

Mike Rossettie at Red Mass Group is reporting (update: as is the State House News service), that Senator Joan Menard, a Fall River Democrat who has served in the Massachusetts Legislature for more than 30 years, will not seek re-election to the State Senate. Menard’s staff could not confirm the news in a call placed to [...]

Lawrence mayor skips hearing on $35M bailout for city

2010-02-10T12:06:49Z

Lawrence Mayor William Lantigua was a no-show yesterday at a critical hearing on a $35 million bailout for his cash-strapped city as lawmakers warned a state board will control the funds unless he quits his controversial second job as a state representative. “It’s really telling that this is the most important bill that Lawrence has had [...]

Scott Brown’s vote today could set D.C. tone

2010-02-09T11:46:03Z

U.S. Sen. Scott Brown is expected to take his first high-stakes vote today, weighing in on President Obama’s National Labor Relations Board pick in what could be a litmus test for his independent streak. “This vote could identify early on what kind of a senator he’s likely to be and what it means to be a [...]

Patrick tries to regain grass roots

2010-02-09T11:44:36Z

For Governor Deval Patrick, who was swept into office a little more than three years ago by a popular groundswell, it was a strikingly candid concession. “We had this incredibly rich relationship that we built with the grass-roots network the last time,’’ the governor told 20 supporters at a private home here last week. “And then [...]

Deval Patrick’s rivals speed into the fray

2010-02-09T11:43:22Z

Back when he was but a nice-guy state senator from Wrentham, Scott Brown was one of few politicians who braved wind, cold and rush-hour madness to join an irate Turnpike tollpayer protest in East Boston. That was just before Christmas ’08, when Deval Patrick was talking $7 airport tunnel tolls. Today? Scott’s on the short list for [...]

Secretary’s resignation is dilemma for selectmen

2010-02-09T11:42:19Z

Part-time selectmen’s secretary Deborah A. Morgan is leaving, once a successor is found. The Board of Selectmen announced last night that Ms. Morgan has resigned to accept a full-time job in the private sector, but she has agreed to continue with some of her duties in the selectmen’s office as long as needed. She has been [...]

State explores toll collection options

2010-02-09T11:40:56Z

The Patrick administration confirmed yesterday that the governor had hosted a discussion about replacing toll collectors with electronic sensors on the Massachusetts Turnpike. But aides said that it is too early to say how or whether they could solve the problems that have bedeviled past attempts at better tolling technology. Discuss COMMENTS (2) “I would characterize it as [...]

Republicans draft Sexting Bill

2010-02-09T11:39:56Z

The Republican leader in the Massachusetts House has drafted a bill to ban the sending of sexually graphic instant messages to minors. Representative Bradley H. Jones Jr. said the bill would close a loophole in state law that led the state’s highest court last week to overturn the conviction of a man accused of sending [...]

Transparency at Risk!

2010-02-09T05:09:31Z

While we all still feel a little like kids on Christmas morning after Scott Brown (R-MA)’s swearing in, we have a very serious issue confronting us that we need to stay focused on. Namely, our state legislature is at risk of becoming even less transparent than it already is. Right now, only 16 out of 160 State [...]

Jill Stein launches campaign to regain control of our Commonwealth and our common future

2010-02-09T05:07:52Z

Jill Stein announced her campaign for the corner office to the media and about 50 supporters in front of the State House on Monday morning. She directly confronted the corruption that rules the day on Beacon Hill, vowing to open up the doors of the State House to get the lobbyists out and let the [...]

Lawrence Mayor William Lantigua under fire as lawmakers eye bailout

2010-02-09T05:06:27Z

State lawmakers could vote this week on a plan to help bail out the troubled city of Lawrence. A spokesman says the House Ways and Means Committee may “take quick action” Tuesday after a hearing on the bill that would give Lawrence $35 million to help balance its books. The bill could come up for a House [...]

Gov. Patrick Taps New Mass. Insurance Commissioner

2010-02-09T05:03:13Z

Gov. Deval Patrick has named Joseph Murphy the state’s new Commissioner of Division of Insurance. Murphy has been serving as acting commissioner since last September, following the departure of former Commissioner Nonnie Burnes. Patrick said Murphy will have plenty on his plate including overseeing the state’s ongoing managed competition for auto insurance. The governor said the new [...]

L.G. says Baker ‘undersitmates the public’s intelligence’

2010-02-09T05:01:12Z

Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray, the Patrick administration’s leading aggressor on the campaign trail, charged Monday that Republican rival Charles Baker possessed an inflated sense of his own brainpower, and a distortedly low judgment of the electorate’s – reviving a campaign feud that boiled last week. “He underestimates the public’s intelligence and overestimates his own,” Murray told [...]

Jeff Perry for Congress Campaign Kick-off Party announced

2010-02-09T04:59:25Z

The Jeff Perry for Congress Campaign Kick-off Party will be held on Friday, March 5, 2010 at 7 p.m. at the Cape Codder Resort in Hyannis. Perry is currently serving as the State Representative for the 5th Barnstable District. The evening will feature appetizers and a cash bar. To learn more about State Representative Perry’s candidacy, visit [...]

Governor Patrick touts Web-based senior program at West Roxbury Library

2010-02-09T04:57:56Z

Simply calling it the Facebook for seniors would be misleading — it’s an important tool in getting a generation online. On Friday, Ethos’ AgeWell West Roxbury initiative sponsored a launch party for Connected Living, a Web-based computer program developed expressly with seniors in mind. With it families and loved ones can connect; share and view photos [...]

DeLeo: Toll collectors will still likely be needed

2010-02-09T04:54:00Z

Mass. Turnpike tolls would still likely require toll collectors even under an electronic tolling plan that Gov. Deval Patrick is reportedly considering, Speaker Robert DeLeo said today. “No matter what type of tolling you may have, I think you’re going to need some type of a body, person, at one or two of the booths there [...]

State Senate plan would cut agencies, boost economic development

2010-02-09T04:55:48Z

Senate leadership today will propose a drastic reduction in the number of agencies under the state’s far-reaching economic development bureaucracy, empowering the governor’s economic development chief with enhanced oversight of several quasi-public agencies and opening the door to a state-owned bank. Under legislation developed over the last year with Senate President Therese Murray’s supervision, the state’s [...]

Perry vs Hedlund Primary: By the Numbers

2010-02-06T14:02:37Z

tate Representative Jeff Perry and State Senator Bob Hedlund would both like to be the next Congressman from the Massachusetts 10th Congressional district. There are others, including former state treasurer Joe Malone also eyeing the seat. They will not be a part of this analysis, done for the purposes of the primary itself [...]

Scott Brown, Tim Flaherty campaign logos. Separated at birth?

2010-02-06T14:00:40Z

Three red lines are popular.