Western Mass Politics and Insight

Manic Monday Markup 3/26/2012...

2012-03-26T20:40:00.003-04:00

...And the World:

Another Tory scandal in Britain over being too close to influence peddlers. British Prime Minister David Cameron and his Conservative Party have been caught, seemingly selling out once again. After being caught too close to Rupert Murdoch's British newspapers (a former New International Exec worked for Cameron as a press aide), new revelations Murdoch's own Sunday Times put the PM in another sticky wicket. In a report in the Paywall protected Times, the Conservative Party was caught offering high-profile dinners with Cameron and other higher-ups in the party for generous donors. Cameron has distanced himself from the scandal and offered public lists of visitors to Number 10 Downing Street, his official residence and his private residence nearby. The party official behind the access-selling has also resigned. The new scandal has reignited debates about party funding in Great Britain and the Leader of the Opposition, Ed Miliband, has called for a independent inquiry (rather than a Conservative-run internal investigation) into the propriety of donors' access to high-level party officials.

Cameron is not the only English-speaking premier facing the heat. After devastating losses for Labor in Queensland, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard may face an uphill fight next year when her party faces reelection next year. Consequently, Gillard is already beginning a new offensive to change the public's perception of her. On Saturday, Labor lost 43 seats in the Queensland State Assembly, a shocking loss since the state is usually seen as friendly to Labor. While they had been expected to lose control of the assembly, the bleeding included traditional Labor strongholds like the City of Brisbane. The leader of the Labor party resigned both her leadership position and her seat in Parliament following Saturday's results.

A peaceful transition comes to Africa. In elections held yesterday, Senegal's president since 2000, Abdoulaye Wade, whose controversial run for a third term sparked outrage in this West African country, conceded to his opponent, Macky Sall. This region of Africa is not known for the best adherence to democratic principles, although Senegal has been better than most. Sall is a former protege of Wade, but differs greatly from the president in demeanor. He came back from a second place finish in an earlier election round to defeat Wade in the second round held on Sunday.

The Feds:

The High Court takes on health care reform. Today is only about whether or not the Court has any jurisdiction over the bill now due to its tax implications. Under the Anti-Injunction Act of 1867, the Courts are not to halt a tax until it is collected, which in the Affordable Care Act's case would not be until 2014's taxes are filed in 2015. The justices seemed unreceptive to that argument. The justices appointed an outside attorney to argue for the delay as both the plaintiffs and the defendants in the case rejected the notion that the nineteenth century law. Still it provided for some legal ju-jistsu for Solicitor General Donald Verrilli who argued that the penalty individuals must pay if they fail to get insurance is not a tax for the purposes of the Anti-Injunction Act, but is a prerogative of Congress's taxing power under the Constitution.

For more info about the Supreme Court case on Health Care or really any Court watching, we highly recommend SCOTUSBlog.com. It is non-partisan (no, really!) and is staffed by experts in the Highest Court in the land. And for a rundown of various viewpoints about the case, Greg Sargent's Morning Plum and Happy Hour roundups today has some prime links!

The Federal Trade Commission is seeking legislation to better regulate the collection of people's data that gets scooped up by Internet companies. This occurs as efforts by Senator John Kerry and others gather steam for a similar push from within Congress.

The State of Things:

A report from the New England Center for Investigative Reporting highlights how flat lottery sales coupled with legislative raiding of the account to shore up the commonwealth's budget has left communities with less and less local aide. Communities have lost billions in local aide over the last several years resulting in yawning budget gaps, cuts in services or hefty rises in taxes and fees.

Another third party expenditure obligates Scott Brown to write a check to a Warren approved charity. Time to start raising eyebrows, as least preliminarily. There are two possibilities starting to develop. After the first non-entity of a SuperPAC was caught breaking the campaign pledge, Brown jumped to pay the fine. Some suspected that it may have been a plant. Now the American Petroleum Institute's latest ad is triggering the second one. It seems possible that is evidence of further efforts by Brown's allies to polish his halo by giving him a chance to look so honorable. By contrast, it is possible that Warren's campaign may have taken the right risk in agreeing to the pledge since it could bleed Brown's campaign little by little. However, these ads have been relatively small and not dented much of Brown's $13 million war chest. This one was also a twofer for Warren's campaign as it highlights Brown's past support for oil and gas subsidies that cost taxpayers $4 billion a year.

Also on the Senate campaign front, the Republican claimed in a lazy, bogus online-only Editorial that Elizabeth Warren has not spent enough time in Western Massachusetts. Cow Excrement we declare! Here's the proof!

Federal indictments finally come out of the US Attorney's Office in the Probation scandal. Other than O'Brien and his deputies, nobody else is facing prosecution by the Feds...yet. However, the wife of State Rep. Thomas Petrolati, Democrat of Ludlow, who had a Probation Job for which she was allegedly not qualified, makes an appearance in the indictment along with other legislators alluded to by their titles.

City Slickers:

Technically a county-wide story, but the job is based in Springfield so it counts, but Clerk of Courts Brian Lees's decision to not seek another six year term could set off a hell of a scramble. Among the possible contenders are Chicopee Mayor Michael Bissonnette, Springfield at-large Councilor Thomas Ashe and assistance clerk Magistrate Laure Gentile of Springfield. John DaCruz of Ludlow has already announced for the race. Also mentioned in the article is the race for Governor's Council. Western Massachusetts-based councilor Thomas Merrigan is not running leading others to consider the position, including hardly-missed and barely unindicted former Springfield mayor Michael Albano.

Again another regional story, but it hits the urban centers the hardest and that includes Springfield. The PVTA is facing a budget gap of its own and with no appetite for more taxes legislators are looking for a way to close it through means other than cuts as ridership has actually been ticking up in this notorious non-mass transit region of New England.

Twitter Chatter:

BREAKING: #CheneysOldHeart given 5pm - 6pm slot on Fox News.
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) March 27, 2012

Okay, we admit it. This week is kind of a cop out, but it is still pretty funny. Reports have surfaced that Dick Cheney had a heart transplant leading this tweet from Jon Stewart at the Daily Show. Perhaps the most disturbing thing is that it can be believed.

Take My Council, Please: Cheers & Jeers...

2012-03-22T17:49:00.004-04:00

(WMassP&I)

Monday was a day of minor victories, but also grim financial news and schizophrenic behavior at the Springfield City Council. With three members absent, councilors debated a host of resolutions, put off several measures to committee and even took some further steps on ordinances. Prior to the meeting, bleak numbers from financial officials cast a pall over a rare Committee of the Whole meeting of the City Council. While digging into those numbers must wait for another time, the short version is cuts in services, increases in fees, flat wages for workers and other depressing news, absent a turnaround on state aid and property tax revenue.

At-large Councilor Kateri Walsh, Ward 4 Councilor E. Henry Twiggs and Ward 7 Councilor Tim Allen were absent due to personal reasons.

The agenda itself was a mix of routine announcements, paper pushing and substantive policy. Reports from utilities were accepted from the council as were financial transfers within and to the fire department. The Fire Department's Overtime budget has come in way over budget, partly a consequence of chronic underfunding of the department over the last decade. However, the council also approved transfer of the city's fire-training facility to the commonwealth for $2 million. The transfer will enable Massachusetts officials to train firefighters in neighboring communities nearby rather than sending them to another facility in Stow. The city will continue to use the Grochmal Street facility, which will be rebuilt, at no cost aside from electricity and phone service. City officials said the proceeds from the sale will go into the city's general revenue account.

Area Fire Chiefs Showed up to Support the Transfer of
the training center to the state (WMassP&I)

Two other property transfers in the city's South End were also approved by the Council.

The city also received financial reports for this year that indicate the city will retain about $2 million in free cash at the end of the fiscal year. The council also approved, by a 10-0 vote an authorization for a bond necessary to cap Bondi's Island. The bond is required under state law for the owner of any landfill and as the city's primary dump faces closure by the end of this decade, the city must maintain a bond under Department of Environmental Protection rules in order to assure the facility is properly closed.

Another bond was authorized to pay for design work for Elias Brookings School, one of the school building damaged in last year's tornado. Ward 2 Councilor Mike Fenton questioned the use of bonds, rather than free cash or stabilization reserves, but finance officials seemed to admit the objective was to preserve stabilization. However, officials noted that the bond may not need to be used and payment for the design work could come from another source, avoiding interest payments. Fenton cautioned against the use of this approach in the future, but backed the measure.

Two ordinances were also before the council (with a third brought up to get its second step passage). The two ordinances on the agenda bulked up the large crowd, which was mostly present in support of one of the resolutions before the council. The first ordinance, sponsored by at-large Councilors Jimmy Ferrera and Tim Rooke, sought to extend to thirty days from ten, the amount of time merchandise at a pawn shop must be held before it can be resold. Several pawn shop owners turned out in opposition to the new rule, calling it an unfair burden on business. Ultimately, on a motion from at-large Councilor Thomas Ashe, the measure was sent to committee before any step was taken.

Councilor Rooke
(Springfield Intruder)

Rooke also took the rare step of calling up an ordinance on livery vehicles, discussed at the last meeting, which was not on the agenda to pass it as second step. After Monday's meeting, only one more step is necessary for formal adoption.

The other ordinance was in support of community gardens. Presented by Elder Affairs director Jan Denney, the proposal would establish guidelines for community gardens in the city as well as make available city land for use as a community garden. The ordinance also establishes procedures for community gardens to be recognized by the city, but also rules for upkeep and safety of such gardens. The measure passed first step without any opposition. Ward 1 Councilor Zaida Luna introduced the ordinance as its lead sponsor, Councilor Walsh was absent.

However, the real action may have been on the resolves. The first was a resolves in support of the PCA program and efforts to organize workers in the program. Ostensibly, the program refers to personal care attendants and their role in helping the sick.

Stormont, home of the Northern Ireland Assembly (wikipedia)

Another, timely measure, taken only two days after St. Patrick's Day, urged members of Congress, the President of the United States and the Secretary of State to engage in all efforts to bring about a unified Ireland in line with the Good Friday Peace Accords. Although a resolution such as this is not at all surprising given Springfield's long Irish tradition, it runs aground of a key fact. The Good Friday Peace Accords do not, in fact, call for a reunited Ireland. Rather they only call for that if it is the wish of the people of Northern Ireland. Indeed, the agreement, to which the Republic of Ireland is a party, calls upon all parties to respect the wishes of the Northern Irish if they desire to remain in union with Great Britain. However, referenda may be held to poll the will of the people and set a course forward democratically.

The other two resolutions, although possessing no force and effect, were nevertheless more somewhat more substantive, especially in context of the city's bleak fiscal outlook. Councilor Fenton offered a resolution in support of An Act to Invest in Our Communities. Supporters from communities groups and labor activists, including SEIU filled the council chamber to support the resolution's passage.

The proposed act would reform the state's income tax to yield more revenue from higher income earners while sparing lower and middle income earners. However, this requires a complicated workaround of the state constitution, which prohibits a progressive income tax. Consequently, the income tax would be raised to 5.95% (near where it actually used to be). However exemptions and deductions would be likewise raised to essentially cut back the increase in taxes for lower and middle income earners in actual dollar terms. The added revenue could then be reinvested into education, health and infrastructure programs in addition to local aide. Cuts to local aide are at least partly responsible for Springfield's current budget chasm. The resolution passed unanimously.

Councilor John Lysak (WMassP&I)

However, the council also adopted a different resolution calling on state lawmakers to temporarily suspend the gas tax in the wake of rising gas prices. The measure was sponsored by Councilor Ferrera, Ward 3 Councilor Melvin Edwards and Ward 8 Councilor John Lysak. Although seemingly populist, the resolution was received coolly. A motion to refer the resolution to committee failed and while it passed on a voice vote, two councilors, Fenton, and at-large councilor Bud Williams registered dissent on the record. Both questioned how the council could approve the Invest in Our Communities Act, while calling for calling for the gas tax, a major component of infrastructure funding, to be temporarily abolished. Ward 6 Councilor Ken Shea, who did not register a dissenting voice vote, was similarly perplexed.

It seems impossible to avoid any political motivations beyond boilerplate populism given the sponsors of the resolve. Edwards is in the midst of a primary election against State Senator James Welch and offering a proposed solution to rising gas prices. Sponsorship of such a resolve could easily be turned into a campaign slogan especially since no such repeal is likely and more important an alternative source of income for the lost revenue is not the responsibility of the council and was conveniently left unanswered in the resolve. As for Lysak, it would be expedient to simply lay that down as a result of his membership in the Republican party. However, if Republican party orthodoxy on taxes is the litmus test, Lysak has not always towed the party line. Ferrera, by contrast, is likely just displaying sheer, yet generic, opportunism as per usual to appear as a bringer of good ideas. For more evidence, note that Ferrera tacked his name as a cosponsor onto Fenton's resolution supporting Investing in Our Communities after Fenton explained its purpose.

A Pothole (wikipedia)

Bob Bliss, a spokesman for the Department of Revenue, said that 99.85% of the gas tax goes into the state's transportation fund (the remainder goes to fisheries and game projects). Were that funding cut off, the state would lose its primary sources for transportation infrastructure funding. Moreover, the funding is necessary when the state borrows for transportation projects. In other words, the state would effectively default on its bond. Currently, the commonwealth enjoys a respectable credit rating and suspension of the gas tax could jeopardize that. The gas tax is 23.5 cents. The first 21 cents go to the above programs while 2.5 cents is used for cleanup and maintenance of underground storage tanks.

The gloom of finances aside, the council only real sin may have been the disconnect between the two resolutions on taxes. Aside from the cosponsors whose support is obvious, it is hard to divine what the motivations of other councilors were, if they had any motivations at all given the lack of a recorded vote. Therefore, one can only wonder if the non-cosponsoring councilors that effectively supported the resolve acted out of electoral fear or ignorance.

A proposal to extend the council term to four years was sent to committee as its lead cosponsor, Councilor Twiggs was absent. Resurrected from last year's dustbin, that proposal would require the mayor's signature, if approved by the council, before it could reach the State Legislature and face unknown odds. Unclear, however, is why this proposal is a priority, while correcting the defect in succession following a vacancy in ward seats (a task appointed to Ferrera with nothing to show for it) remains little more than detritus from last year's council.

Tardy Tuesday Takedown 3/20/12...

2012-03-20T13:27:00.004-04:00

Our apologies for no Manic Monday! Plus we will be back this week with some new local stories including an edition of "Take My Council, Please!"

...And the World:

Last summer in what was one of many dress rehearsals for the Occupy movement that shook the world, young Israelis took the streets in opposition to a society that offered opportunities to only the few. The results culminated in some of the largest protests in the country's history. Now it seems, that the movement also had a positive impact on race relations in the Jewish state, which includes a sizable Arab minority, if temporarily. Studies now show attacks on Arab Israelis by Jewish Israelis fell to the lowest level in a few years time.

It is 2012 and no, that does not just mean that it is election time in the US, it is also the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. Among many events, the queen addressed a rare joint session of Parliament in London. The Guardian has a decent smattering of the events and celebrations that have marked and will mark this 60th year of her rule.

Elsewhere in Britain, where the economy has seemingly ground to a halt, George Osbourne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what Britain calls its finance minister, is expected to make his seasonal budget statement. Britain, fearing the effects of a high debt load slashed its budget when the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition took office. However, combined with Euro-crisis unease, the austerity has frozen the British economic recovery, which incidentally lowered tax revenue and kept the deficit outside the government's targets anyway. Now Osbourne, his fellow Tories and very likely angry Lib Dems, who have been forced to swallow cuts they would never normally support, is looking to close the gap a different way--taxing the rich. The coalition government had planned to roll back a 50% tax rate instituted by the last Labour government, but appears to be taking it much slower especially in light of polling that shows, even among Tories, the tax is popular.

The Feds:

Speaking of budgets, Paul Ryan, the ~~Chief Punk~~ Chairman of the House Budget Committee, is at it again. Except this time, he is proposing to renege on last year's debt deal and lower, LOWER, the tax rate on the rich to 25%. There would be only two tax brackets, but it would come at a ghastly price to discretionary spending (which is actually a small part of the budget), Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare would face virtually the same privatization and voucher scheme as in the past. Also confounding is how the plan proposes to maintain the same revenue as under current law, while slashing tax rates. Republicans are gambling people will care more about cutting the debt that assuring Medicare is secure. Right. There's nothing serious about Paul Ryan.

In Illinois Mitt Romney is expected to defeat Rick Santorum in the Republican primary, but that is not expected to end the race. Instead, we will focus on someone else in Illinois. Twenty-five year old Ilya Sheyman of Waukegan, Ill. is running for Congress. Today is the Democratic primary and the former community organizer and MoveOn.org issues director is trying to turn the recent turn in progressive energy to his side and take the nomination from the arguably safer Brad Schneider. The district, which had been somewhat safely Republican for decades was contorted into more Democratic territory during redistricting. If Sheyman captures the nomination tonight and then defeats Republican Robert Dold in the general, it may be a fascinating turning point for both progressive and youth politics. This Nation piece is a little old, but sums up the stakes for the left well.

The State of Things:

'Twas a day of zingers at the annual St. Patrick's Day roast in Southie with fun for all the lads and lasses. Well, maybe not everyone. However, our favorite line has to go to, of course, our gal, Elizabeth Warren. "I actually heard that Scott Brown’s barn jacket cost $600. Wow, here’s a guy who could use a consumer advocate." That and her revealing her own magazine spread for...Consumer Reports. Scott Brown's jokes ranged from sophomoric to edgy (DiMasi going to jail). While some of it was funny others think the breakfast has lost its luster. And yes, Ernie at Blue Mass Group is right, Scott Brown didn't really laugh at any of the jokes about him not told by him.

Oh, and Elizabeth Warren is back on top in a new poll. Whew! Oh, and apparently Bay Staters like Harvard. Not surprising since it is actually in the State Constitution. No lie!

Governor Deval Patrick, Treasurer Steve Grossman and Attorney General Martha Coakley jointly announced the last two picks for the state's gaming commission. James McHugh, a former Appellate Court Judge and Bruce Stebbins, yes Springfield's own Bruce Stebbins, will round out the five member panel. Stebbins, you may recall, served on the Springfield City Council from 2006-2010 and most recently served as the city's business development administrator. Despite his Republican political affiliation, we can think of few better individuals from this region to adequately serve our interests on the gaming commission.

WBUR has a story on a new report about Massachusetts's susceptibility to political corruption. Massachusetts does pretty well, scoring 10th place nationally due its campaign finance laws and redistricting, but flunked on access to public documents and budget transparency.

City Slickers:

Budget apocalypse at City Hall. Declining property values, increased mandatory spending and flat or falling local aid from the state continues to bedevil city finances. Layoffs, increased fees, and zero wage increases for city workers among other horribles will likely be necessary to remain in balance while weaning off reserves to balance the budget.

Elsewhere the council voted in favor of a resolution to reform the state's tax code to reverse cuts in education, local aide and infrastructure. Of course, the City Council also voted on a resolution urging a temporary suspension of the gas tax, which would leave road repairs in the state unfunded. Good one, folks. More on that when we do Take My Council, Please, later this week.

And a nod to the Republican's Pete Goonan, the paper chief Springfield Political Reporter (of sorts). After the Springfield School Committee gave initial approval to distribute free condoms to students 12 or older, Goonan was interviewed by Greta van Susteren. Since Van Susteren's on Fox News, we can only assume that the Network will try to wedge this one (although she seemed somewhat even handed during the interview), but good for Goonan anyway on the exposure.

Twitter Chatter:

Our team is committed to standing w/ @VivekBavda, @Schneider4IL10, & @VoteForTree at Thursday's @ILTenthDem Unity Rally. Join us & RT. #il10
— Ilya Sheyman (@Sheyman2012) March 19, 2012

Despite the enthusiasm for Ilya Sheyman's campaign, there certainly remains a distinct possibility he may lose. However, already anticipating the need for party unity after this rather raucous primary, Sheyman (and we assume his primary opponents, too) are already thinking ahead. Rather than letting whispers and complaints dog the campaign from now until November (a long primary season, no?), Democrats in the Illinois 10th will come together. Not only is it the best thing to do to defeat the Republican, if that is your goal, but it is also mature. Ilya Sheyman who has been attacked for his youth, wins this week's tweet prize for having the right attitude, no matter what happens tonight.

Manic Monday Markup 3/12/2012...

2012-03-12T20:19:00.005-04:00

...And the World:

In Afghanistan an army sergeant allegedly killed sixteen Afghan civilians including many children in an attack that has been described as the worst war crime of the US's ten year military involvement with the country. The attack comes after protests riled Afghanistan following the burning of the Koran and subsequent killing of six American military personnel. Afghan and US officials in Kabul and across the country have been bracing for a violent response from the streets as the Taliban, which had been inching toward negotiations promised retaliation. Condemnation has come from across the world as US officials continue to investigate. Some reports are surfacing about the sergeant's mental health, which interestingly may explain why the Afghan response has, thus far been muted.

Elections! After the coalition government of Slovak Prime Minister Iveta Radicova fell as part of a deal with the opposing Smer Party (which actually had a plurality in Parliament), new elections were scheduled for this weekend. In those elections, former Prime Minister Robert Fico, leader of Smer, emerged with an absolute majority, beating his party's success in 2006 when he first came to office and 2010 when his party secured the most seats, but lost out on forming a government to Radicova's coalition. Radicova had to agree to new elections after her right-wing coalition parties refused to back further efforts to support Greece with which Slovakia shares the Euro. Fico was amenable to the rescue, but refused to offer his party's support unless new elections were scheduled. The squabble caused a minor freak-out for markets and likely due to pressure from all sides, Fico and Radicova agreed to new elections. Radicova's government seemed fairly unpopular anyway as it had engaged in an austerity program before it came into fashion in Europe writ large. Indeed, while Fico has pledged to maintain EU deficit commitments, he has opposed putting more of that burden on rank and file Slovaks. Complicating the election was a the revelation of corruption scandals among Slovak politics that cut across all political parties.

The Feds:

Another week another primary. This time it could be a real three-way as Newt Gingrich finds another electorate that actually thinks the looney curmudgeon could make a good president. Although, confirming the sanity of any who are enthralled by ANY of the Republican presidential candidates may would probably be a challenge for even the greatest of mental health experts.

Two somewhat opposing views on Mitt Romney and the press. First some background. Mitt Romney lies. Not like a politician with grandiose over-the-top hyperbole. He does that, too, but Mitt Romney and his campaign casually spew falsehoods with such regularity that it becomes less surprisingly that Romney is listed as antonym to consistency in the dictionary. Anyway, David Bernstein at the Boston Phoenix says Mitt Romney's act may be wearing thin with a press corp that his staff keeps away with a ten-foot pole. In response, Greg Sargent at the Washington Post says the media is still treating it like the same campaign nonsense. And important note for the folks at home. That $500 billion "cut" Medicare, referenced in Sargent's link, is not a cut. Never was and never will be. It is savings achieved between reduction in waste and abuse and through early detection and prevention. Savings used to pay for the tyranny of "Obamacare" like covering health screenings for senior citizens.
Gah!

The New York Times has an interesting profile/analysis of Chief Justice John Roberts. Essentially, Adam Liptak, the Times' chief Supreme Court reporter argues that Roberts is likely to be on the majority side of the Health Care law case regardless of its outcome. If the Court strikes down the law, it will likely be 5-4, but if it upholds, the law, the article suggests it will probably be at least 6-3. The article also discusses Roberts' apparent decision to keep the Court away from barn-burning issues (with only moderate success we might add), but that the Health Care ruling could be one of those rulings that only comes along once in a generation.

Finally, in the Feds today, Glen Greenwald's look at the legacy of Cong. Dennis Kucinich. Last week, Kucinich, a victim of redistricting lost his party's nomination against fellow Democrat Marcy Kaptur. The fight was brutal and to some extent, Kucinich may have himself to blame, in part for his predicament. However, Greenwald defends the Ohioan for his pacifism and unimpeachable record on Civil Liberties, while knocking the so-called "serious" Democrats that are the un-Kucinich. He further tears down several publications and liberals who were also boosters for the Iraq War. For what it's worth, while we have not always agreed with the one-time Cleveland Mayor and Presidential candidate, his voice will be sorely missed in Congress whether it ever was really wacky or not.

The Justice Department blocked Texas's voter ID law because the harm it would do to disenfranchise voters outweighs its goal to cut voter fraud. Such fraud is nearly nonexistent, leaving the measures to appear as little more than efforts to keep Democratic leaning voters away from the polls. Less insidious than requiring an ID itself are the onerous steps necessary to secure an ID. Such steps may seem like nothing to any driver in the suburbs, but become considerably more difficult for the elderly or the public-transit riding poor.

The State of Things:

The Springfield Republican takes a look at the trials and tribulations of homeowners and residents in Springfield and other communities ravaged by last year's tornadoes, trying to rebuild their homes. The process has been grueling for some as they work with contractors and the housing courts. However, in some parts of the city, the process has barely moved at all. Anecdotally, this seems particularly true in the poorer areas of the city hit.

Also from David Bernstein this week, a story on Scott Brown's success at getting the Massachusetts public to look past the policies Brown supports and instead just like him. While there is no denying that constituent services are critical to ANY elected official's work, it seems unfortunate that Brown would decide that he would make this election all about personality and not about the issues. When his staff is not untangling the government for constituents he's playing basketball with little kids so they have some fond memories before they inherent the crappy world he has helped create. Sorry, that slipped out. We would contest that Brown handled the Blunt Amendment thing well because polling has only yielded a muddled view from Bay Staters, who are unlikely to fall behind the national backlash against Republicans on this. Anyway, if the election is purely about "politics" (in the broader sense of the word) Brown will probably win. If it is about policy, he will probably lose.

City Slickers:

In exclusively Springfield tornado news, DevelopSpringfield, the public/private partnership formed to facilitate recovery in the City of Homes announced team leaders to ensure accountability. Leaders will be equally divided among public and private sectors and given specific tasks to focus on. The push for accountability through leaders is said to be different from prior master plans for the city that have historically gone nowhere.

Twitter Chatter:

WI Judge's remarkable decision declares extreme VOTER ID law "sows the seeds for (state government's) demise as a democratic institution."
— John Nichols (@NicholsUprising) March 12, 2012

In Wisconsin today, a judge overturned that state's new voter ID law is unconstitutional. Now it is important to note that that is under the Wisconsin constitution. Still, the force and energy of the ruling and its operative language tweeted by the Nation's Washington Editor John Nichols, speaks to the risks of voter suppression in attempting to correct the nearly non-existent threat of voter fraud. Wisconsin's law has been fraught with other problems including a decision by the state to try and not tell voters they could request a free ID to the lack of accessibility of some places to get the ID to documentation requirements some American citizens may be unable to meet. Voter ID's have been ruled constitutional by the US Supreme Court, but they cannot impose any cost to voters in keeping with Constitutional prohibitions against poll taxes. Wisconsin officials are likely to appeal the ruling and given the circus last year with the collective bargaining law, one would be wise to not assume this ruling will stand, however important it may be.

BIG, BIG DAY FOR DEMOCRACY! US Justice Department rejects TEXAS VOTER ID law. Judge rules WISCONSIN VOTER ID law UNCONSTITUTIONAL.
— John Nichols (@NicholsUprising) March 12, 2012

Nichols also tweeted about the Justice Department's decision to block the Texas voter ID act. Between the succinct capture of the Wisconsin judge ruling and for noting the critical importance of both these events, Nichols wins this week's tweet prize.

Take My Council, Please: Pushing Paper...

2012-03-07T23:27:00.000-05:00

Every now and then the Springfield City Council assembles and does little more than ministerial duties dressed up as discretionary acts. For example, the city cannot accept a grant or money outside of its own tax base or consistent with a general state law unless the council approves it along with the purpose of the money. Technically, the city can reject the money or disapprove of its purpose, but seldom does the city turn away money. Monday was one of those meetings heavy on process and light on policy or politics. Nothing that needed a recorded vote recorded any opposition. However, rumblings of future trouble may lie in the background.

The rules of the city council dictate the order in which items may be brought before the council for debate, but that may be set aside if no councilor objects. Last night featured this en masses as councilors bounced from items on economic development funding to grant acceptances to ordinance revisions.

On the agenda were transfers within departments to purchase a new event tent at the Barney Estate Carriage House in Forest Park, fund an economic development position and pay for additional office supplies in the audit department. Bracket that last one for now.

Elsewhere the council approved a block of reports on utility work for Verizon and Western Massachusetts Electric. Grants for the Dispatch department to maintain the facility, Fire Department training, at-risk youths (seemingly not the same as the one in the AWAKE controversy), health and human services, the library and for the construction of a parking garage at Union Station.

Pat Burns, the city Comptroller and a report from the Finance Committee both offered grim pictures for the next fiscal year, but the full details will not be known for a few more weeks. The City Council also passed the first step of an ordinance to exempt livery vehicles who operate under contract from the state. This would not apply to "for-hire" livery vehicles like taxis and limousines. Rather it would apply to buses and vans used by private groups to shuttle people to and from events, for example. The bill moved to the committee on ordinances where further discussion is expected.

Councilor John Lysak (WMassP&I)

Ward 8 Councilor John Lysak also offered a resolves calling on the Massachusetts to establish a provision in the state's property tax laws to enable to the city to collect a different (read higher) rate on dwellings with four or more units. Lysak's reasons for the measure would be to relieve some of the upward pressure on business property tax rates. Lysak also notes that it seems ridiculous that multiple family dwellings are taxed lower residential rates while businesses, also investments pay a higher rate. He justified the higher rate on the thinking that multiple family dwellings also consume more city services than single family residences.

The resolution drew opposition from some councilors and the Sears family, notable political Illuminati and owners of Sears Real Estate. The measure was referred to committee, which is itself a somewhat absurd notion since resolves carry little if any weight. However, Lysak was resigned to the resolve's fate and stated that he was merely looking to start a conversation. Among the more bizarre aspects of this situation is that Lysak, allegedly the Council's only known Republican, is pushing for higher taxes, sorta. However, it has also been stated by council insiders that Lysak is, despite his party identification, is to the left of other councilors confirmed to be Democrats.

The earlier matter to transfer funding in the Audit Department came about after the acting head of that department explained that money for salaries in her department were being used to office supplies. The transfer was quite simple, but the money came from salary positions that went unfilled. Indeed, the acting director described herself as the only employee in the Audit Department. While much of the council seemed nonplussed by this fact, others expressed some concern that the part of the city charged with ensuring the city is spending its money responsible has less than a skeleton crew.

The other detail that raised some flags occurred during a discussion started after Ward 7 Councilor Tim Allen suggested that the Council listen a to a report of the finance committee before taking financial measures out of order in the agenda. By taking these measures out of order, the council often spent a great deal of time asking questions of officials that would be answered in the report. At-large Councilor Kateri Walsh correctly noted that Allen could always object and force the agenda be maintained (unanimous consent is needed to go out of order). At-large Councilor Tim Rooke, the chair of the Finance Committee then offered his report on finances.

(WMassP&I)

What was notable about that report was its suggestion to Allen or any interested party that one attend the budget hearings held before Mayor Domenic Sarno will present his budget. Allen and others were more interested in budget hearings with department heads rather than just finance officials. Except, those hearings have not yet happened. The mayors office confirmed with WMassP&I that none had happened and that none were scheduled. Thomas Walsh, the mayor's communication director, did intimate that they would happen, but not when. However, it has been noted that at this time last year the budget meetings had already begun and the mayor will need to present his budget by mid-May at the latest.

There is a rising concern among councilors, or at least ones given to deep contemplation of city business, that the mayor's office may limit these budget hearings. It is at these meetings that some of the most meaningful budget changes occur in contrast to the often blunter and less surgical cuts the council makes while approving the budget. Combined with the administration's dire warnings about the FY2013 budget, this may suggest an effort on the part of the mayor to rush the budget and force the council to either unwillingly or blithely accept a budget that may endanger the city's solvency and rainy day funds.

Manic Monday Markup 3/5/2012...

2012-03-05T18:02:00.001-05:00

...And the World:

In an election that few saw as suspenseful, Russian Prime Minister and one-time President Vladimir Putin was elected once more to be the nation's president with nearly 64% of the vote. Despite new allegations of electoral fraud, it seems doubtful that Putin did not grab a majority of the votes cast. Still many say the entire process is and has been flawed for some time. Opponents of Putin gathered for fresh demonstrations in Moscow. Recent news reports have detailed arrests and detentions of protesters and opposition leaders.

Before coming to the United States for the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Israeli President Shimon Peres offered strong praise for President Barack Obama. The Nobel laureate said security ties between the US & Israel "are the best we've ever had." At the AIPAC conference, President Obama announced that Peres, long-time fixture of Israeli politics who has served as the head of several ministries and as Prime Minister, will be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The award has been given to foreign leaders in the past. Israel's president is more of a figurehead in the country's government. Power is in the hands of the Prime Minsiter, but the role nevertheless has considerable visibility and especially so for somebody with Peres' credentials. Peres said of the Israeli Presidency in an interview with the New York Times covering a broad range of topics, "the president is to charm."

The African National Congress, the ruling party of South Africa since the end of Apartheid, faces a new challenge after it expelled the party's youth leader Julius Malema. Malema is thought to have been plotting a coup to upend Jacob Zuma's leadership of the party ahead of elections next year. Zuma, who as party head also serves as the nation's president (the president is elected by Parliament which is firmly controlled by the ANC), came to power in the ANC after a similar coup with Malema's help against Thabo Mbeki in 2009. Malema, promised supporters that the fight is not over after the expulsion which came after an appellate board upped the penalty for Malema's sowing divisions with the party.

The Feds:

Super Tuesday, tomorrow and Rick Santorum's lead in Ohio is gone, courtesy SuperPAC air raids.

Meanwhile, President Obama, hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged restraint over Iran's nuclear ambitions. He noted the day before in a speech to AIPAC that further sabre-rattling has only helped Iran by inflating the cost of oil ahead of the phased implementation of a new European oil embargo. During his meeting with the Prime Minister, Obama pressed Israel to wait for sanctions to take effect before contemplating an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. Netanyahu only reiterated his country's prerogative to defend itself. Notably, election year politics in both the US & Israel were hovering in the background. Republicans have attempted to paint the president as weak on Israel, an outright falsity, but one that has made the White House posture in such a way to keep often reliably Democratic Jewish vote from straying to the right.

Last week, Olympia Snowe announced she was not running for reelection to the Senate. While the Republican field has been muted at best (only unelected Constitutional officers in the state seem to be serious contenders so far), the Democratic field appears whittled down to Congresswoman Chellie Pingree and ex-governor John Baldacci. However, a big name from the past, former Independent Governor Angus King is expected to get into the race. King's entry has the potential to scrub the easy flip of Snowe's seat into a nail-biter. King, despite his "Independent" moniker, is on the left side of the political spectrum is likely to split the vote potentially giving Republicans room to hang onto the seat. If elected, it seems likely King would caucus with the Democrats unless he did not want any organizational support backing his efforts. However, we opined last week that it is naive to think that King, who supported President Obama in 2008, would be any more able than anybody else to heal the partisan divide.

In other New England Senate news, Connecticut Democrats vying for the seat met for a spirited "conversation" with former Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz and State Rep. William Tong going after frontrunner Cong. Chris Murphy. Video available via the Norwich Bulletin's Livestream.

In California, Governor Jerry Brown is fighting for a temporary tax proposal in order to close the "ever-present" budget hole, which has bedeviled the Golden State for several years now. After failing to get Republicans to agree to put the measure on the ballot, Gov. Brown is pursuing a referendum. There's only one problem. His will not be the only one on the ballot, raising fears voters may reject all of moves to raise taxes temporarily.

The State of Things:

This could go under the Feds, too, but its our Senator saying it, soooo. John Kerry, in a speech before the New England Council, a non-partisan group, tore into Republicans for their "ideological rigidity and stupidity." The remarks seemingly came, in part, as a response to Olympia Snowe's decision to retire. Kerry also noted that the real source of the problem is not Senate parliamentary procedure, but those who have abused them.

A new poll confirms what other more suspect polls have only alluded to. The Republican and Western New England University released a poll showing Scott Brown leading Elizabeth Warren 49-41. Notably, Brown does not have a majority, which puts it in line with earlier polls and the results are within the margin of error. Still, the results seemed odd given Brown's support for the overly broad Blunt Amendment, which failed last week in the Senate. Additional questions raised include Brown's high preference among 18-29 year-olds and the week-long polling window, which seems odd. The youth preference for, Brown, however, seems driven at least in part to less knowledge of Warren.

After redistricting, the hearts of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Massachusetts Congressional districts were combined leaving Cong. Richard Neal with virtually all of Hampden County, Berkshire County and the western limits of Hampshire and Franklin Counties. Neal held a coffee hour in West Springfield to introduce himself to his new constituents on Saturday. Meanwhile, James McGovern of Worcester, whose new district covers Amherst, Greenfield, Deerfield and Northampton, is also in the process of meeting new constituents since new districts were announced. However, like Neal, he may have some competition for the Democratic nomination.

City Slickers:

The Springfield City Council meets tonight. Based on the agenda as is, most of its work appears to be housekeeping. However, new items may make it before the council and even the most piddling order or resolve can be made into the next municipal Armageddon.

However, the committee process is humming along with the General Government committee in particular looking at revamping the City's Residency Ordinance. However, the strict penalties in a draft ordinance written by Ward 2 Councilor Mike Fenton and Ward 7 Councilor Tim Allen are drawing the ire of unions. Moreover, there is still no consensus on what a revamped bill would look like. At-large Councilor Tim Rooke criticizes it all as politics, itself a political statement. A full report is here by the Valley Advocate's Maureen Turner.

Meanwhile, opponents of Biomass, including local activist Michaelann Bewsee and Jesse Lederman and others involved with Stop Toxic Incineration in Springfield and Arise for Social Justice are being recognized for their efforts. Lois Gibbs an activist who organized her community during the Love Canal disaster, presented the award given out by the Toxics Actions Center. In both the Republican and Valley Advocate blurbs, Palmer Renewable Energy, the group behind the plant, remain committed to fighting both the City Council and Zoning Board of Appeals decisions favoring opponents.

Twitter Chatter:

While I was at the gym @AllState became the latest company to distance itself from Limbaugh: al.st/z4XucO Sears has done same thing.
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) March 5, 2012

Among other controversies from last week were conservative talk shown air horn Rush Limbaugh's characterization of Georgetown Law Student-turned women's health advocate Sandra Fluke as a "slut" and a "prostitute." Now Limbaugh is not new to the "crossing the line" category of right-wing vitriol, but in this case, he may not come out unscathed. While Limbaugh offered a weak apology over the weekend and attempted to clarify it further today, the damage is already done. Republicans are scrambling to find a way to distance themselves without upsetting Limbaugh while advertisers are jumping like rats off a sinking ship. The speed of the advertiser exodus has been such that for not the Twitterverse, the well-connected journalist could quickly fall an advertiser or two behind. New York Times Media Reporter and New Media wunderkind Brian Stelter wins this week's tweet prize for well-illustrating the pace of the sponsor evacuation, which quickened even as he stepped away from his desk/laptop for a daily dose of exercise.

The Maine Event...

2012-03-02T16:05:00.001-05:00

**UPDATED 3-3-12** This post has been updated with additional commentary and for grammatical corrections.

"You are not going to go off on a tangent about Olympia Snowe and Maine politics now," you are probably thinking, right? Well, yes and no, but the reasons run deeper than merely dissecting a nearby, but ultimately non-Bay State community.

Sen. Olympia Snowe (wikipedia)

On Tuesday Maine Republican Senator and today's world moderate Olympia Snowe announced that she would not run for reelection. The move sent shockwaves through Washington as Republicans, confident that the Senate would be their, suddenly confronted their likely loss of what would have been an easy win had Snowe stayed in. The move also scrambled Maine politics as both Democratic congressmen from the state, two former governors and others consider the Senate race, while a dozen or so other politicians circled the Congressional seats of those two Democrats.

There was a time when Snowe may have been the most liberal/moderate Republican in the Senate. Certainly after Lincoln Chafee, now Rhode Island's governor, was kicked out of office by Ocean Staters, she may have been. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania may have edged her out in that category, but he became a Democrat in 2009. However, over the last few years and especially in 2011, Snowe had taken a rightward-turn that should have shocked even her longest-standing supporters. Still, Snowe provided critical votes on the stimulus, Dodd-Frank (without demanding banks be coddled as a certain senator to be named soon) and for both of President Obama's nominees to the Supreme Court.

In a statement about her decision to retire, Snowe, 65, was confident she would win reelection (a fact most took for granted), but felt that in the short term the partisanship of Washington led her to beg off another six years in the Senate. While media outlets were not wrong in noting her distaste for how the health care bill passed into law, it seemed hard to not see the greater partisan demons were within her party. Between the increased pandering to tea partyism to likely incessant threats from Madman Mitch, Snowe probably had more than enough from her Republican "colleagues."

Perhaps as a demonstration of that, Snowe became the sole Republican to vote for the absurdly broad Blunt Amendment today, which if made law, would allow ANY employer to deny coverage for ANY health care for reasons of "moral conviction," an undefined term. Ironically, her fellow Maine Republican, Susan Collins, voted for the bill, breaking that senator's record of being the most bipartisan senator of this Congress when it comes to sane votes.

Mitch McConnell, likely before creating another Horcrux

(Image of Voldemort from Wikipedia)

The radicalism of GOP votes stepped up considerably after the Democrats narrowly took back the Senate in 2006. It is our theory that when Mitch McConnell became the leader of his caucus after Bill Frist left the Senate, he was furious that he would not be Majority Leader. Why? Because early on in 2005, he knew he would become Majority Leader. Republican had just triumphed after Bush's reelection. How could things go wrong? Frist was going to keep his promise to serve only two terms (having first been elected in 1994) and therefore McConnell, then Senate Majority Whip would ascend. Then George W. Bush's second term happened. Republicans were falling left and right in 2006 including just enough senators. McConnell's dreams were crushed. But rather than become a cooperative Minority Leader, he became a vindictive one and pushed the Senate into becoming a parliamentary body where members are forced or threatened to remain in lockstep with leaderships.

This kind of behavior is virtually necessary in Canada or the UK and acceptable in the House of Representatives, but never intended for the Senate as Snowe's column illustrates. Democrats are not blameless in this regard, but it seems that McConnell took a behavior that had begun to creep into the Senate in 1980 and 1994 and used it wholesale. Democrats, rightly or wrongly, felt they could not unilaterally disarm and fought fire with fire. Thus the Senate of today.

RI Gov. Lincoln Chafee (I) (Wikipedia)

Before Lincoln Chafee's booting from the Senate, Snowe, Collins and Chaffee were often derided as the "New England Band of Sisters." They were all to the left of most Republicans, again Arlen Specter being possibly the chief exception. However, when the band of sisters was whittled down to the Maine Twins, the independence began to wane. After voting with Democrats on a few key issues, Snowe and Collins stuck closer to McConnell. Snowe and Collins may have hoped to have a replacement for Chaffee when Scott Brown joined them in early 2010, but were probably nonplussed in the end.

After the 2010 elections, Snowe voted with McConnell on votes to gut the Clean Air Act and against even modest tax increases to pay for a new jobs bill (Yes, Collins actually did vote for a tax increase last year). She and Collins both opposed the nomination of Richard Cordray (or anyone else) to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on complaints about the bureau's structure, despite voting for its creation. The theory had to be that she could get teabagged from the right in the primary and so she was protecting herself. However, after getting the support of the state's Tea Party governor, Paul LePage and fielding virtually no challengers, that possibility seemed unlikely. Indeed, before this week nobody, neither Democrat nor Republican were thought to be able to beat her.

Snowe's decision to retire is as much about a breaking point in the partisan madness including voting for things she would never had considered five years ago like the Clean Air Act or refusing to raise the debt ceiling. She likely felt she could no longer vote how she wanted. Still, she has an impressive bipartisan record that goes back to 1994 which, incidentally, was the year Republicans took back Congress under Bill Clinton.

Sen. Scott Brown (WMassP&I)

Despite being rates more partisan than Scott Brown, Snowe's record has consistently been less cynical than Brown's. With the exception of Dodd-Frank, which Brown personally weakened to the benefit of financial firms that donated to his campaign, Brown's most notable "bipartisan" votes, came after Elizabeth Warren emerged as a strong challenger to Brown, including the debt ceiling and Richard Cordray. Conversely, he voted against small business loans and Elena Kagan at a time when he had no opponent.

Many have questioned how much it really matters than moderates have left the Senate. The mainstream media bemoans it (while often misapplying who really is a moderate) while others argue it has become a myth. The latter are right in the respect that if moderates like Snowe were really all that great then they would have stayed moderates on a host of issues post-2006. Now to some extent, with the filibuster goal post moved considerably with the Democrats' loss of six seats in 2010, they mattered less. However, what is really less sad about moderate is that they seemed unable or unwilling to actually lead by example.

Sen. Susan Collins (left) & Sen. Snowe (wikipedia)

When Robert Byrd was on his deathbed, Democrats were forced to wheel him in to pass a Defense bill to meet the filibuster point, while Collins and Snowe waited until Dems reached 60 votes. Another perhaps more pertinent example is Scott Brown. While bemoaning the nonsense of the debt ceiling crisis, Brown made no apparent effort to lobby his fellow Republicans back to sanity even as he voted for it. Perhaps we are now moving the goal posts, but bipartisanship cannot be measured by merely voting one way or another. Rather it should be measured by your dedication to the issue. Saving the country from fiscal default seems fairly patriotic, but either Brown's "independent voice" did not matter or he did not try.

There was a time when it seemed as though both Snowe and Collins did try. Collins, with Snowe thought to back her up, led the charge to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell, ultimately bringing more Republcians on board, including, inexplicably North Carolina's Republican Senator. Scott Brown, by comparison, caboosed his way into that story. But ultimately partisanship became too much for Snowe and Collins. Maybe their commitment to moderation was tempered by the fact that they are women, a trait that they they share, to much smaller extent, with retiring Texas Republican Kay Bailey Hutchinson and Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski. However, New Hampshire Republican Kelly Ayotte breaks that mold along with any semblance of separating her religion from her official duties.

If there is any greater evidence, despite talk of endorsing a Republican, that Snowe is more upset at her party it has to do with her timing. A Democratic win in Maine is not a slam-dunk, but with the state's blue hue, decent Democratic and only two weeks to gather signatures and form a campaign, the situation favors the Dems.

Cong. Chellie Pingree (wikipedia)

Indeed, Maine is in the midst of a political maelstrom. After a couple of days where both of the state congressman took out Senate papers, Mike Michaud, the more conservative of the two decided to stay in the House race. Chellie Pingree, who represents Portland, a much more liberal district is still looking at the race as is the former Democratic governor John Baldacci, but he left on unpopular terms. The wild card is whether an independent will get in the race. Angus King the former governor and Eliot Cutler, a 2010 gubernatorial candidate, could shake up the race considerably. However, and this is not a dig at independents, in the case of King, it does seem like it may be time to let somebody else have a turn at the wheel.

King is reported to have said he would only run if he thought he could do something as if being an independent will really change the partisanship. It takes a certain degree of arrogance to think you can change things where others have failed. Notably, the Maine's politics are not like DC's. Republicans, despite winning the State House in 2010, have not run wild in part because their leadership has opposed the most radical elements of Gov. LePage's agenda. That is why King was successful as governor. Maine Republicans are not crazy and he would quickly find the novelty of his independence is unlikely to change Washington Republicans when he fundamentally disagrees with them as Democrats often do. Cutler is a bit different because he is not the old face King is, but either one could split the left and moderate vote and let in a Republican extremist much like how the 2010 gubernatorial campaign did.

Our observations aside, this is a decision for Mainers. They will make this choice and hopefully those that run will do so to carry on at least the legacy if not the truth of Snowe's work. Being a generally blue state, Maine will not be served by an election that could yield an uber-partisan, although admittedly no Republican or Democrat in contention for the seat seems to fit that bill. As Americans, we can lament Snowe's departure (disagreements aside, we do to some extent), but we cannot lose sight of what moderates really do and what they mean. Anybody can call themselves a moderate or an independent. Still, it is how they actually behave, what they fight for and what else they do in office that gives those terms meaning., not their votes alone.

Manic Monday Markup 2/27/2012...

2012-02-27T15:35:00.029-05:00

We took the week off last week other than the Take Down...late as it is, but packed!

...And the World:

It's a political tussle Down Under as the former Prime Minister and leader of the ruling Labor Party tried to throw his successor on the barbie. Kevin Rudd, who led Labor to victory in 2007, was deposed and replaced by Julia Gillard in 2010, who became Australia's first woman Prime Minister. Labor lost the majority in the snap elections following Gillard's coup, but retained power with the help of the Green Party. Gillard made a deal with the Greens to push a carbon tax, which is unpopular (although misunderstood). Rudd, who challenged Gillard's leadership in part due to her low poll numbers, was trounced in the leadership elections held today. Ironically, the political drama may have done as much as policy to harm Labor and Gillard's numbers. Although he pledged full support to Gillard to allow Labor to govern, there are grave concerns the row could weaken the party over the next year as it prepares for the 2013 elections. Others say Liberals' New Coalition Party and its leader, Tony Abbott, should be worried. In the meantime, Gillard will need to reshuffle her cabinet to replace among others, Rudd, who was Foreign Minister until this month and likely hopes for calm within her party for now.

Germany approves the Greek bailout, a critical step to calming the continent's tempestuous credit markets. However, it may have exacted a political cost on German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The Guardian takes a look at the political career of Vladimir Putin who is expected to win Sunday's election. From his decision to run again for President to the largest protests to rock post-Soviet Russia, the article describes the sense that Putin may be in the twilight of his political career despite another term as Russia's president.

The Feds:

If you are reading this, it is probably already Primary Day in Arizona and Michigan for Republicans. While Arizona is not thought to be competitive as Mitt Romney had invested heavily in the state and before the Santorum ~~surge~~ momentum, Michigan, Romney's home state suddenly became endangered. Polls have fluctuated between our former governor and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum and either one could win tomorrow's primary. NPR has reports from both the Romney and Santorum campaigns on the last day of the race in Michigan.

As Maryland joined the ranks of states enabling Marriage Equality, although not before 2013, New Hampshire may be poised to roll back its historic establishment of equal rights for gays and lesbians. Republicans in the State House have more than enough votes to pass the measure, but they must overcome a veto by Democratic Governor John Lynch who signed the bill establishing marriage equality. They may succeed, but other efforts undertaken by the hard-right legislature have failed to overcome Lynch's veto. Polls in the Granite State support gay marriage and complicating matters further is the 9th Circuits move to invalidate California's gay marriage ban. That ruling stated that there must be a compelling state interest to reinstate a gay marriage ban (as opposed to keeping in place an existing one). That case is likely to be appealed to the Supreme Court.

Darrell Issa, who convened the all-men panel on ~~women's health~~ "religious liberty" admitted that his made-for-TV whupping of the president was not his best performance. Democratic Congresswoman Carolyn Malony had Issa at "Where are the Women?"

The State of Things:

Really? Former Rhode Island Congressman Patrick Kennedy, the son of Senator Edward M. Kennedy asked Scott Brown to stop invoking his father in ads defending Brown's position on the Blunt Amendment. The Blunt Amendment, you will remember, would allow any employer or insurance the right to deny ANY medical care in an employee health care plan for ANY reason of moral conscience. Moral conscience is not defined. Brown essentially told Kennedy that he knows what the late senator would do. The admonition from Patrick Kennedy came after a pair of dueling Ed-Op, one from Brown and one from his likely Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren. Hint! Brown has either published a dictionary with an alternate definition of the words involved or he's lying. Adrian Walker goes further and calls it "sleazy."

Brown's team also unearthed a 1997 bill filed by Edward Kennedy in the Senate and Patrick Kennedy in the House that Brown claims proves his point on Kennedy's position. Alas, this is not true. The 1997 legislation Brown referenced a bill that outlined patience rights to information from their insurer. Rob Rizzuto at the Springfield Republican, talks to a Kennedy staffers and experts to deconstruct Brown's argument, revealing it to be another effort to dissemble on the issue. Key quote, the bill was "an info-enhancing, not an access-denying, provision."

By any measure, Brown must be trying to raise money out of state from conservative circles over this. The politics in Massachusetts are simply not that good for Brown. The evidence? Stephen Lynch, among the state's most socially conservative Congressmen, backs President Barack Obama's compromise after criticizing the original rule. Lynch represents deeply blue-collar areas of Boston and the city's southern suburbs.

A bit of non-Western Mass non-birth control news. Youth in politics! Alex Pratt, a Senior at Littleton High School, is running for the School Committee. Pratt is well known to the Massachusetts online activist left for his work on behalf of bullied students and has been active in his school's student government. Pratt wants to use his experience as a student in the system to maintain quality education despite financial pressures. Recognition of Pratt's candidacy may seem random, but it is incredibly critical that young people become more involved in politics. Pratt has a deep history in politics already, but perhaps more like may get more involved in their own community and provide more of the much-need perspective of younger citizens. Locally, young politicians include Springfield Ward 2 Councilor Mike Fenton, 25, Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse, 23 and Longmeadow School Committeeman Michael Clark, 22.

City Slickers:

Deliberations are underway in the trial of former Springfield Police Officer Jeffrey Asher. Asher is accused of police brutality against Melvin Jones III. The case burst onto the scene after a video of the alleged attack was posted to Youtube and remains a flashpoint in police-minority relations in the city.

A home rule petition long sought by at-large Counilor Tim Rooke could yield million in revenue for the city. The law, if signed by the governor would allow the city to use equipment it owns to capture the license plates of excise tax delinquents and impound offending car to force payment.

Twitter Chatter:

Today we take this late-night tweet from the New York Times Fivethirtyeight blog, curated by Nate Silver for a quick slice of the situation in the polls in Michigan. The purpose of highlighting this tweet is to emphasize several things. First of all, it points out the closeness of this race which should have been a giveaway to one-time native son Mitt Romney. It also show how concisely a tweet can sum up the story of Romney's imploding inevitability. Whether Mitt Romney wins tomorrow or not, in a way it is sort of ironic that a man who slayed dragons like Rick Perry and used his SuperPAC's millions to crush Newt Gingrich, could be cowed by somebody like Rick Santorum who a year ago nobody would have fathomed had a chance. All in 140 characters...or less!

Tardy Tuesday Takedown 2/21/12...

2012-02-21T16:24:00.002-05:00

Happy Belated Presidents Day!

...And the World:

Could Europe's nightmare be over? Well, we have asked that question before, but a definite shift in tone from both European finance ministers and the press suggest that this fix for Greece may be the one that holds. Finally! Europe agreed to a second Greek bailout, which also included a haircut or loss on return on the part of Greece's private debt holders. Greece still needs to implement further austerity measures and must consent to a permanent presence from the EU, IMF European Central Bank among others. There are other concerns as well. Greece's economy and people have been battered by recession and austerity. Moreover, many private debt holders still need persuading. The country will need some serious investment and growth to reach the deal's hope of keeping Greece's debt to GDP ratio below 120%, a still very high number for the small country. A failure to meet even that high target could push the country into default anyway five years down the road.

As Russia's Vladimir Putin, still widely seen as the inevitable winner of this year's presidential election, continues to be buffeted by public criticism and scorn. The one-time President and once again candidate has gone to extreme lengths to stay popular, but after last year's Parliamentary elections were fraught with corruption and vote-rigging, Russians took the streets in huge numbers. One man who has risen to challenge Putin is Mikhail Prokhorov, a wealthy financier. His campaign is catching fire in a Russia that longs for fresh leadership after a decades of Putin.

In Yemen, voters went to the polls and formally repudiated the rule of their former president of 33 years, of Ali Abdullah Saleh. Yemen has endured a particularly painful Arab Spring as skirmishes with guerrilla fighters in the Middle East's poorest country combined with a brutal crackdown by Saleh's regime. Excluding Syria, Yemen has probably endured the most violent and chaotic transformation of the Arab world.

The Feds:

The United States Supreme Court has dove into affirmative action once more. A case from Texas challenging the University of Texas's consideration (it is not an overriding factor, it seems) of race in admissions is being challenged by an applicant who failed to gain admission and went to the University of Louisiana itself. There is currently a majority on the court that could strike down affirmative action in admissions and Justice Elena Kagan is recused. However, the case has its "idiosyncrasies" that could limit its impact and the student alleging discrimination could be bounced out of court for lack of standing. The decision will not be rendered until next term beginning in October, however.

Labor groups can claim some small victories across the country. In Arizona, Colorado and Pennsylvania, anti-worker legislation has been turned back. Colorado's right-to-work legislation was never at any real risk of passage and Pennsylvania's prevailing wage law seems to have scared off supporters. Arizona's law is the most significant as it would have ended collective bargaining entirely for government employees making even Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker seem reasonable. The legislature has frozen movement of the Arizona bill, which is supported by the state's often-the-villain Governor Jan Brewer after firefighters and police turned up the pressure on lawmakers.

Oh, and a super-conservative sheriff in Arizona (not Arpaio) with ties to Western Mass was outed as gay after he threatened to deport his boyfriend if he revealed their relationship. No, really. A supporter of Mitt Romney's he has resigned from Mitt's Arizona campaign, but is enduring in his race for Congress. Really!

An interesting analysis of the US Senate race to succeed Joe Leiberman in our neighbor to the South, Connecticut. Congressman Chris Murphy is leading his fellow Democrats in the race for the nomination in money and support, but he has been carefully avoiding using the term "inevitable." Murphy has the benefit of seeing the excellent national show playing in the media right now about the risks of inevitability called. It's called Mitt Romney. However, it must be noted that Murphy is admirably the antithesis of the intellectual pretzel that is Willard M. Romney.

One more federal story about the outsized power of the uber-rich in today's politics. Rachel Maddow has an excellent rundown of the influence of billionaires finacning of campaigns includingFrank VanderSloot, a Romney backer. The original report on VanderSloot is from Glenn Greenwald, who goes into further detail about how it appears VanderSloot silences his political enemies. We'll leave it up them to explain more since the impression from these report is that VanderSloot's lawyers are on speed dial.

The State of Things:

The Boston Globe has a nice profile of Attorney General Martha Coakley two years after her devastating loss to Scott Brown in 2010 special election to succeed the late Ted Kennedy. The article notes her own embarrassment at losing the seat, but also underlines her decision to get up off the mat and do a job both on the campaign trail for reelection as AG and in advocacy of Bay Staters. Pictures of her career, here. Notably, after last week's Suffolk Poll, she could be poised for a comeback on the national stage or maybe for Governor in 2014.

In senate news, Scott Brown's support for the Blunt Amendment continues to be a risk for him. While he appears to be matching a national Republican strategy to use the issue to attack Obama's "big government" pushing church around, the media seem to have rejected that notion even when they go beyond birth control. Most media reports note the Blunt Amendment's text will allow ANY medical care to be denied for impossibly quantifiable reasons of moral opposition. The Republican article linked above shows the electoral dangers Brown faces with this position, though it could get him more funds raised, although since it is a given he'll outspend Elizabeth Warren, the extra money may not make a difference. Over the weekend, the Boston Globe also highlighted divisions among Republicans on the issue.

Also, the Valley Advocate's Maureen Turner writes up the kickoff of Andrea Nuciforo's campaign for the nomination in the 1st Massachusetts Congressional district. He is challenging Cong. Richard Neal. The campaign comes after much speculation of what redistricting would leave for Western Mass politicians.

City Slickers:

Ward 8 Councilor John Lysak is proposing multiple family dwellings pay a higher property tax rate arguing that such buildings are an investment and not a home. In Springfield, business and residential properties pay separate rates an option that city chooses to exercise under state law. Not all communities elect to do so and instead have one rate, although most urban communities in the state do so. The proposal is opposed by area realtors like the Sears family and would require a statewide law. It could not be passed as a home rule petition exclusive to Springfield.

The Springfield City Council's General Government Committee will be holding a hearing this Thursday on changes to strengthen the city's residency ordinance.

New England Public Radio reports that Springfield's community organizers are trying to boost the city's voter turnout after one of the most abysmal turnouts in the city's history.

Twitter Chatter:

Today we have finally done it. Yes! We have awarded our tweet prize to Scott Brown. It really was inevitable in some way. This tweet comes from Brown's campaign arm and features an adorable baby whose parent (we assume) is signing the petition to get Brown onto the ballot in September (for the primary, however pro forma). However, this is not an exercise in pointing out children lucky/unlucky enough to have Scott Brown supporters as parents because Brown is sharing this week's tweet prize with a frequent winner of this prize. Pay close attention to the bumper sticker on the child's bum. Now look at the text of the tweet. "What do you think the little guy is thinking?"

Well, the Boston Phoenix's David Bernstein, the Tweetsmith of Massachusetts Politics, perhaps nailed the inherent irony of this photograph. While not as crass as our "Dump what's Brown" answer to the tweet, Bernstein nevertheless hit on the same theme. In a tweet unlisted here, Bernstein writes, "that's a dangerous photo caption contest, Senator." Clarifying that he was referring not to some more basic biological need on the baby's mind, Bernstein pointed out the juxtaposition of the bumper sticker on the baby's bottom.

Take My Council, Please: Financial Cobwebs...

2012-02-17T15:46:00.000-05:00

(WMassP&I)

Under normal circumstances, Monday's meeting of the Springfield City Council would have been a quick one. There were few controversial items and councilors seemed in agreement about the diciest issues before them. Rather, since the council had not met since January, a huge amount of dust piled up that needed sweeping. There were questions about why some expenses magically appeared, but for the most they, and of course a cascade of grants, passed with little complaint. If there was any passionate moments, it came as the Council passed a home rule petition to change MCAS testing dates in Springfield.

The city financial team told the council that the city's budget is in flux and will require some repair throughout the rest of the year. Among the measures were additional funds transferred from the last budget's surplus to fund turnover in the city's vehicle fleet, the fire department, the assessors department, veterans affairs, and the election commission. While the capital budget transfers faced some questions from Ward 2 Councilor Mike Fenton, the others were accepted with minimal complaint.

Councilor Fenton
(Facebook)

The fire department deficit came from an overestimation of retirements and exhaustion of the overtime budget after the October snowstorm. Leann Pasquini, the city's budget director, said she did expect some amount of that to be recouped from FEMA, however. The Fire Department's staffing has been a concern for some time, however it has continued to perform, by any measure, very well including a recent year with no fire-related deaths. Staffing is down to 220 sworn firefighters from 390 in the 1990's.

Other funding transfers included an upfront payment to step-up assessments for next year's tax rate setting and an increase in demands for veteran's benefits. Veterans Services Commission Thomas Beltan explained that since the city turns away no veterans that request assistance, the added transfer was simply a function of increased need. The city will received 75% reimbursement from the state in the next fiscal year. Finally, Election Commissioner Gladys Oyola requested additional funding from the council to pay for the March 6th Presidential Primary. She said it was an oversight on her part that led to that primary's exclusion from her budget in June.

The council also accepted grants for the Library and Fire Departments. Helen Caulton-Harris secured another haul for Health and Human Services of over $75,000. Community Development accepted a grant from the state to design a parking garage for the Court Square Hotel. The council sent to committee grants from Comcast received as part of a settlement with the city.

C-5B Galaxy (wikipedia)

The Council also passed resolves opposing the reduction of cargo planes at Westover Air Reserve Base; in support of a Molly Bish license plate bill; and in support of allow employees of the city who have health insurance to opt out if their spouse has a health plan that the employee can be on.

The council also approved an order, worked on by the Public Safety Subcommittee to close Worthington Street near several of downtown's bar. According to at-large Councilor Thomas Ashe, the original order would have closed the street from Main to Dwight, but as an accommodation to bar owners, the closure would only be halfway down the street. The closure would only be in effect Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. Its intent is to curb violence in the entertainment strip along Worthington Street. The measure passed on a voice vote with Ward 8 Councilor John Lysak in dissent. Lysak worried that the measure would harm businesses and he contended that with the closure of Skyplex on Stearn Square, the risk of violence had fallen.

The home rule petition to push the MCAS testing date from March/April into April/May passed on a unanimous council vote, but not before Springfield Education Association President Tim Collins took aim at Mitchell Chester, the Commissioner for Elementary and Secondary Education. Collins attacks Chester for having "not a single thought for students" in opposing city efforts to push the schedule back. He further contended that this would not happen if the district were in Eastern Massachusetts.

SEA President Tim Collins (Urban Compass)

Collins further complained that the Education Commission itself at a meeting last month in Malden, did not even put Springfield educators concerns on their agenda, although they did hear educators out. In response to Chester's contentions that a home rule petition would throw the city out of MCAS compliance and expose students and the district to sanctions, Collins said that his parent union's legal department assured him that nothing of the sort would happen. A home rule petition can create exceptions to general laws, which would in theory excuse the city from the sanctions Chester warned of. WMassP&I reported earlier this week that a spokesman for Chester clarified the commissioner's position as the home rule petition may not be practical, even if it solved the exact legal consequences of a later testing schedule.

Councilors traded some banter on the issue, including a statement of opposition to MCAS testing entirely from Ward 5 Councilor Clodo Concepcion. Collins assured Ward 6 Councilor Ken Shea that unless this bill becomes law, nothing will jeopardize student's testing schedule. In other words, there is no risk to students or the district through the council's action. Testing will remain on schedule unless the legislature approve the petition and the governor signs it. Councilor Fenton proposed an amendment, accepted by the council, that made the petition effective for this year only. As previously written, it was possible for the petition to be interpreted to mean every year.

After the vote, Collins said he was "very pleased" adding, "Up to this point, every local official has come out in favor of this." When asked about the contention from the commissioner's office that pushing these tests forward would leave less room for students between tests, Collins said the shift would still leave students with a break. Collins also said he would appeal to the SEA's parent union, the Massachusetts Teachers Association for help on Beacon Hill moving the bill.

(WMassP&I)

The council's passage of the home rule petition does not send it to Beacon Hill. Mayor Domenic Sarno still needs to sign it before it enters the maw of the Legislature. However, Sarno has yet to make his position known and in a press release dated today, the mayor suggested he was still considering his decision. If the mayor declines to sign it, there is no mechanism for the council to overturn his rejection. Still, the meeting overall presented an uncharacteristic amount of unity, perhaps because everybody could agree on paying for the fire department accepted free money. The home rule petition's success in the council at least was old-fashioned populism, but may still face the hard realities of Beacon Hill political wrangling.

Our One Hundredth: Belittle Women...

2012-02-16T01:54:00.003-05:00

Sen. Brown (WMassP&I)

There are a number of reasons any given Republican may support the Blunt Amendment, a version of the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act. You may actually believe that birth control is evil. You may believe the government should not force an employer to cover anything. You may want to simply gut the Affordable Care Act under the guise of "religious liberty" at all costs. Or you may simply be a fool. Any of these could describe Senator Scott Brown. As he has yet to articulate his reasons beyond "religious liberty," a term that is not defined or quantified or even used in the Blunt Amendment, we cannot be sure which do apply to him.

Support for this amendment, named for Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri, and the fight that spurred it are simply bad politics for Brown on a number of levels. The impetus for this whole debacle was the issuance of a rule from the US Department of Health & Human Services that would require religiously affiliated institutions to provide contraceptives to female employees for free under health care plans. This is an important detail as coverage for contraceptives has already been required under an Equal Employment ruling that mandated that a women's health issue not be treated differently than men's. This rule only applies to the classification of contraceptives as preventative health and therefore, under the Affordable Care Act, free.

Catholic bishops in the United States, including Massachusetts's four bishops whose flock have been subject to essentially this same law for ten years under state law, rebelled after months of planning a careful counterattack. The response put President Barack Obama's White House on the defensive, especially as more and more Democrats began to complain. The White House, turning a fumble into a touchdown (not an original thought) however, announced a change that would shift the burden of covering birth control to the insurance company and thereby allowing religious affiliated institutions to avoid any expense on contraceptives.

The result was not good enough for Republicans and the bishops, but Catholic health groups were placated and, while hedging, Maine's two Republican Senators seem willing to live with the White House's rule. That most other Republicans would remain perturbed is unsurprisingly. As documented by many in the media, Republicans across the country have waged a fight against contraception and the access to it.

St. Michael's Cathedral, Springfield
(Wikipedia)

For Brown to join this fight represents a grave risk with little, if any reward. The public of Massachusetts, which was the epicenter of the Roman Catholic Sex Abuse scandal, is unlikely to show much sympathy for the church, which has been the epicenter of the scandal. Moreover, while Brown is not himself a Catholic, backing a church position now is incongruous to innumerable other votes Brown has taken contrary to the church's position on social and economic justice. However, that is not why this is a dangerous move for Brown. Rather this bill and Brown's support for it highlights Brown's continuing woman problem.

Brown would likely dispute he has a woman problem, but apart from his wife and daughters and the women who seem to go all a twitter when his name is mentioned, the senator has developed a lengthy track record that could make other women shudder. More importantly, the women Brown should be worried about are the suburban women who will likely decide this election.

Justice Elena Kagan (wikipedia)

Brown's woman problem has its roots in his first year when he voted against Elena Kagan. Brown's reasons for voting against Kagan's confirmation to the Supreme Court, however flaky, were probably not a mask for misogyny, but they did raise eyebrows after he himself introduced Kagan to the Judiciary Committee. However, Brown's indifference to the obvious and startling accusations leveled against one-time Congressional candidate Jeff Perry definitely turned heads. Perry, while a police sergeant, allegedly did nothing as a subordinate officer sexual assaulted a female minor. Brown continued to support Perry well after this was made public and offered no public condemnation to our knowledge. Brown's cavalier attitude toward women's issues surfaced again when he waited 10 days after a vote to de-fund Planned Parenthood to issue a press release clarifying his "support" for the reproductive health organization.

However, if the implied indifference to Perry's misdeeds and the tone deaf approach to Planned Parenthood were not enough, it would be the few direct public comments on his likely Democratic rival, Elizabeth Warren that would take the cake. Warren had said during a debate in response to a question from a Republican panelist, that she "kept her clothes on" to pay for college. Brown's response, on a radio show the following day? "Thank God!" The comment spurred an angry reaction among women's groups for the implication that it was better Warren stay clothed read: she's ugly. Of course, Brown's supporters tried to say Warren's comment mocked Brown's hard life, but as observers have noted, Brown did not pose nude out of desperate financial need, but rather on a lark.

For Brown to come down on the side against greater access to contraceptives, whatever religious fig leaf the senator claims, invites at least more questions about whether or not he cares about women's issues. Already women are energized to vote for Warren in a way they never were for Martha Coakley and they will be turning out in a way they did not during a bizarre January election. Why would Brown alienate them further?

Elizabeth Warren in W. Springfield
(WMassP&I)

Not making the situation any better is Warren's response to Brown's position and his subsequent retort to it. Warren took Brown's support for the Blunt Amendment and broadened the discussion beyond contraceptives alone. The Blunt Amendment is not just about contraceptives. It is about allowing an employer to not cover ANY medical care that they have a moral objection to. According to the Congressional Research Service, Congress's nonpartisan research arm, the Blunt Amendment would "permit a health plan to decline coverage of specific items and services that are contrary to the religious beliefs of the sponsor, issuer, or other entity offering the plan or the purchaser or beneficiary (in the case of individual coverage) without penalty." There is no provision for a test of religious beliefs in the amendment and any such test would be impossible to measure.

Warren highlights the risk that families in need of ANY medical care could be on the hook if their employer-paid insurance is riddled with holes. Warren's statement said, in part, "The Blunt-Brown bill is different from previous proposals, taking an extremely broad approach that allows any employer or insurance company to claim any objection and use it to deny any health insurance coverage to anyone, for any health service. The company needs to claim only that it has a "moral conviction," an expansive term that is not defined in the proposed legislation." Suddenly anything could be a preexisting condition if an employer or insurance company can conjure up a moral objection. With such vague language, this effort to defend religious liberty would shred any minimum requirements insurance policies would have to cover.

Brown's response was a predictable shriek of "Elitist!" That does nothing to help his woman problem as it only underscores his disconnect further. Women who worry (or are offended) their employer could deny them critical medical care over nothing short of their own caprice will not be swayed by the religious liberty argument, at least not in this state. Not to mention, as the risks of the Blunt Amendment pile up, including extreme, if unlikely examples like Jehovah's Witness denying coverage for blood transfusions, women will become even less impressed.

Sen. Blunt of the Blunt Amdt (wikipedia)

In fairness to Brown, he has supported the actual bill (as opposed to amendment) version of the Blunt Amendment since August, which was approximately when the contraceptive rule was first proposed. However, the president gave him an escape hatch when the revised contraception rule came out last Friday. Brown demurred and stuck to the zanier position. Brown may think he's cannily gathering votes, but the voters he's reaching with this are probably the blue collar white men who were already going to vote for him. The only other fathomable reasons why Brown would do this is a sincere belief in the issue (which is not one that people say "We disagree, but I like him") or his advisers are playing generic national Republican games.

In either case, for Brown to put himself into the same camp as Sarah Palin on an issue demands that he get his head examined. He may want to get that mental health check before its too late as, in all seriousness, a future employer of his could view mainstream mental health treatment as evil. No, really.

Manic Monday Markup 2/13/2012...

2012-02-13T22:15:00.001-05:00

...And the World:

Against the din of violent protests, the Greek Parliament passed the latest round of austerity measures to secure a critical second bailout from the European Union. The measure passed with 199 well above a majority, but below the number of seats the two governing parties hold in the coalition caretaker government. The defecting members were expelled from their party. However, the approval of the new bailout funds, necessary to prevent a Greek default in March, will not come until the first of the month. As a result, Greeks will remain on the edge of default until that time. New elections are planned for April and the party most likely to win, which voted for the austerity yesterday, has promised to renegotiate part of the agreement. Whatever happens, Greece will need some pro-growth measures and/or stimulus very soon or it will never become solvent.

The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Yousaf Raza Gilani, was indicted by the country's Supreme Court for not pursuing corruption charges against the President, Asif Ali Zardari. The Prime Minister's indictment comes at a time when relations with United States are at their nadir, but also against the background of Pakistan's historically poor history of civilian control over military and intelligence agencies. Zardari, the widower of Benazir Bhutto, is accused of corrupt practices during one of his wife's terms as Prime Minister, and Gilani's failure to pursue the charged with Swiss authorities precipitated the indictment. With elections planned for February, the indictment could push Pakistan and its uneasy democracy to new elections later this year.

The Feds:

President Barack Obama unveiled his last budget before standing for reelection this Fall. Obama's budget has been praised and condemned by many for its "populist" measures. The budget taxes the wealthy and includes measures to improve infrastructure and education. A deficit of less than $1 trillion is projected, the first since the bad economy took a hacksaw to government revenues and activated automatic spending for relief programs like unemployment and food stamps. As Republicans complain about Obama's budget, the President has resoundingly rejected any effort to voucherize Medicare, which was a key component of House Republican Budget Chief Paul Ryan's budget proposal last year and is expected to be again this year. The higher taxes in the budget also serve as a useful way to highlight Mitt Romney's shockingly low tax rate for the campaign ahead.

After last week's furor, contraceptives are here to stay, but so too, it seems, the battle over them. While Catholic bishops opposition was expected, Republicans, too, seem to believe that this matter is still about religious liberty, even though religious institutions have been "liberated" under the President's reasonable, new rule which shifts the contraceptives burden to insurers. Republicans fight on to remove any coverage for something that offends an employer's beliefs, which defies any reasonable notion of employment given that it is the employee who is earning the benefit. It is not a gift from the employer.

Washington State's governor Christine Gregoire signed a law that would make her state the seventh to grant marriage equality to gays and lesbians in that state. That bill will take effect pending a waiting period for opponents to gather signatures to put the measure on the ballot, which they promise to do. The passage of the bill comes after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned California's prohibition of gay marriage on the grounds that the state failed to articulate a reason to abolish that right. However, marriage equality remains under threat elsewhere in the country, particularly New Hampshire, where allegedly small government Republicans stand poised to repeal that state's gay marriage law. The governor, John Lynch, promises a veto.

The State of Things:

Paul Tuthill at Northeastern Public Radio reports that retiring Amherst-based US Congressman John Olver will endorse Congressman Richard Neal in Pittsfield. Olver's district was largely chopped up between Neal and Congressman Jim McGovern. For the most part, Olver's district in western Hampden County and Berkshire was given to Neal's new district. Pictures from the event, here.

The Boston Globe Editorial Board blasted Lt. Gov. Tim Murray for playing along with the cozy corruption that typifies many Bay State cities. The editorial comes after new allegations that Murray built a state organization and raised money with the help of Chelsea's housing authority chief. The problem was that that official was under-reporting his grossly outsized salary. The editorial pointed to politicians like, they allege, Murray, who let the corruption go on due to a resign about how politics in the state work, effecting enabling the corruption to endure.

Any rational human being would think that Scott Brown would sign onto the President's compromise over the contraceptives issue or at least do nothing. No. In fact, Scott Brown, likely banking on gathering the Catholic vote on this issue (or kissing up to Mass Citizens for Life), is signing onto the personal conscience objection bill that would allow an employer to decline to cover ANY procedure they object to. From birth control for Catholics or blood transfusions for Jehovah's Witnesses, employers could impose their religious beliefs on their employees via health insurance. While this may pick up a few of the Ray Flynn (read male Catholic, who probably would vote for Brown anyway) votes in South Boston, it could be his death warrant among middle to upper class women in Suburban Boston that will likely decide this election.

Must read: David Bernstein's breakdown of Mitt Romney's bizarre emulation of Charlie Baker's campaign for governor. If you're not sure, yes, Baker lost to Deval Patrick in 2010.

City Slickers:

Mostly minutiae before the Springfield City Council tonight as lots of housekeeping piled up since their last meeting a month ago.

However, the issue of pushing the MCAS tests back a month remains hot. The Council passed the home rule petition tonight and it now awaits Mayor Sarno's signature to get to the State House. The Republican story is here, but you can read our assessment, including comments from the state officials here.

Sorta a regional issue, but we'll give it a pass since the Springfield City Council voted on a resolution urging the Department of Defense to keep the C-5 planes at Westover Reserve Base. The Republican has a story on the economic impact of the base.

Twitter Chatter:

Some tweets about the budget. The first is from President Obama's communications director, Dan Pfeiffer, mocking Republican reaction to the president's budget, but in a way doing the GOP's position an odd justice. Indeed, the Republican response has been near-unanimous disapproval of the President's budget, however, the biggest part is a complaint about the higher taxes on the wealthy. They prefer to lower taxes for the "job creators" further, but at the expense of everything else, including as mentioned above, Medicare.

By comparison, Ezra Klein, who while a liberal, is really too wonky to be accused of partisan fudging of the facts. However, he points out another GOP hypocrisy. Namely, that the GOP attacks the president's budget to raising the debt to GDP ratio, but that Cong. Paul Ryan's budget also raises the debt to GDP ratio. Except for Cong. Ron Paul, no Republican has produced a budget that would end the deficit immediately (it is worth noting that if the deficit disappeared solely through cuts, it would throw the nation immediately into recession and create a new deficit). They would all need to borrow more to get to the balance point, although even there they are as guilty of gimmicks as Republican claim the president is.

Testing Home Rule...

2012-02-13T14:47:00.003-05:00

Legislators, aides and union officials at Friday's Meeting
(WMassP&I)

With city schools already more than a week behind schedule and many students still living in temporary housing after last year's tornado, Springfield City Councilors and the city's Beacon Hill delegation are looking to delay the city's participation in Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment Systems test. However, the proposal has received a cool reception from state education officials. A spokesman for the Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education seemed to foreclose any delay of more than a few days.

On Friday, at-large Councilor Kateri Walsh, chairwoman of the Intergovernmental Relations Committee held a hearing on home rule legislation allowing the city to push back MCAS testing from March-April to April-May. The proposal is cosponsored by Walsh, at-large Councilor Thomas Ashe, Ward 2 Councilor Mike Fenton and Ward 8 Councilor John Lysak. Representatives Sean Curran and Mike Finn and Senator Jim Welch attended. Staffers from Representative Brian Ashe and Ben Swan and officials from Springfield teachers unions were also present.

The original mover behind this legislation was, according to those present, Springfield Education Association president Timothy Collins. Collins himself was unable to attend the committee meeting as he was in Washington for an event with US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

While there was a consensus among all present that Springfield school children deserved the extra time, however that alone may not make it possible. The Commissioner for Elementary and Secondary Education, Mitchell Chester, seemed to pour cold water on the idea in a letter to Mayor Domenic Sarno dated February 8th. While Chester implied he had limited power to delay Springfield's testing schedule, he suggested that a Special Act would actually lead the city to default on meeting state education requirements. Under any circumstances, failure to meet testing requirements would have severe repercussions for the school district and for students including a loss of funding and a loss of students' chances to meet graduation requirements.

Gov. Patrick in 2010 (WMassP&I)

A home rule petition seems doubly unlikely as would require the Governor Deval Patrick's signature. As the commissioner is an executive appointee, it is likely that the governor would stand by Chester's assessment and veto home rule legislation that would create an exception to statewide policy the commissioner opposes.

While unmentioned in Chester's letter, the officials in attendance speculated that cheating among students may be a concern if Springfield takes the test later than its neighbors, which would take the test on time. J.C. Considine, the commissioner's spokesman, confirmed that the integrity of the test is one, but hardly the sole concern of state education officials

However, the legislative avenue presents other issues as well. Curran, who sits on the Education Committee and would likely have jurisdiction over the city's home rule petition, said that the legislative process itself could delay a home rule petition beyond March. Specifically, he noted that the bill would need to clear several committees with lead times of a week or two all before it could be passed by the House, assuming the Speaker puts it on the calendar at all. A similar process through the Senate would follow.

Councilor Walsh (Facebook)

All officials in the room seemed agreed to pursue a two-pronged effort of home rule legislation and lobbying of the Governor and Chester. Assistant City Solicitor Thomas Moore assured Walsh that if the Council acted on the petition Monday and the mayor signed it soon thereafter, the measure would be in the office of the clerk of the House of Representatives with a day or so. However, the Byzantine bill-making process leaves executive action as the likeliest scenario.

Considine, the education spokesman, described the power of the commissioner to give districts a "temporary extension" for testing as narrow. The commissioner could give districts like Springfield, "a few additional days," but little more than that. Furthermore, he explained, any longer than that would jeopardize the state's ability to get prompt turnaround from contractors grading the test. Given that the subject of the March/April tests, English Language, uses many open response answers, the turnaround time is already tight as answers must be graded by humans rather than a machine. This prompt turnaround has been requested by school districts who want the results to begin planning curriculum for the next year. Considine said test results in past did not come until some schools had practically reopened for the Fall.

Considine did say that Springfield may qualify for an extension of a few days given the weather as the state had done the same for parts of Massachusetts ravaged by an ice storm several years ago. The spokesman also clarified Chester's claim that home rule legislation would cause Springfield to default on its testing obligations. Without speaking to the legal implications of carving out an exception for Sprignfeild, he said an administration of the test in Springfield one month after the state was not practical due to the integrity issues relating to the test and turnaround with graders. Crucially, he also said it may not be fair to students.

At Friday's hearing, teachers union officials said the idea had been circulating among educators across the state that the March/April administration of the Language Arts testing should be pushed further into April and May as officials are proposing for Springfield. However, Considine disputed the notion of any "groundswell" for this change. He noted that Math and Science are tested in May and into June. Pushing testing another month forward could prove burdensome for students. "We have high expectation in Massachusetts and we want every student to demonstrate his skills," Considine said of providing gaps between tests. He also noted that compressing the timeline could complicating testing of disabled students who require more comprehensive administration of tests.

It seems probable that the council will pass the home rule petition at tonight's meeting and that the mayor will sign it. The legislation poses none of the risks, the commissioner's office outlined, unless it becomes law, which seems improbable. Either the legislature or the governor's office could easily kill this bill. However, the debate may spark some broader conversations about how to administer tests after disasters.

US Sec. of Education
Arne Duncan (wikipedia)

Complicating matters further, Massachusetts just received one of the first ten waivers to the No Child Left Behind Act. While the most onerous parts of the bill are waived for the state, it must still meet new goals and obligations worked out between itself and the federal education department. In the meantime, Springfield students will need to make the most of the few days they may receive from Commissioner Chester.

Curran, after Friday's meeting, said he understood the commissioner's desire to keep the state's administration of MCAS "uniform." When asked if the legislation could be fast tracked, he doubted the possibility. "Everybody has home rule legislation they want to see passed," he explained noting that another legislator from elsewhere in the state could object to Springfield's bill leapfrogging other communities' home rule bills. Walsh, the committee chairwoman, noted that some accommodation must be reached noting that one quarter of the state's poorest performing schools were in Springfield. "There's a lot at stake," she said.

Not for Entertainment Purposes...

2012-02-10T14:39:00.001-05:00

Mayor Domenic Sarno (WMassP&I)

Under any circumstances it cannot be said often enough that we do not believe that Domenic Sarno has anything but the best of intentions for the City of Springfield. We have often disagreed with his policies, but when we endorsed his opponent last November, our position was not a personal one. Nor did we think that Sarno lacked the dedication, conviction or affection necessary to govern our city. We simply felt it was time for a change. The voters disagreed and, frankly we were always far more disgusted with their lethargy and absence at the polls than the decisions they made there. Our faith in Sarno's dedication to Springfield remains intact.

However, the mayor's decision this week to impose new rules on the cessation of entertainment as food and beverage establishments in the city is misguided, hurried, counterproductive and doomed to achieve none of its goals while inviting further problems for the city.

Under his authority under the General Laws of Massachusetts, Sarno has promulgated new rules requiring a separate application to maintain entertainment until 2 a.m. in restaurants and bars. Once these rules take effect, entertainment must cease at 1 a.m. unless the permit for the additional hour is approved. Assistant City Solicitor Alesia Days recommended the proposal over the fierce objection of bar owners in the interests of public safety. The theory is that earlier cessation of entertainment will effectively close the bars earlier, even though they may continue to serve liquor until the statutory closing time of 2 a.m. unless otherwise prohibited by their liquor license.

However, it is our view that this process was flawed from the beginning and represents a desperate attempt to contain a very real problem, but via a means that will in fact not correct that problem. Instead it will inflict economic harm to the city's entertainment district and to its property and meals tax base while providing no more safety and security to bar patrons and Springfield Police Officers.

The risks to the city fall into two broad categories. The first is the risk of legal action. While bar owners are not prepared to file suit, yet (there has to be an injury, that is denial of a permit first), the city's case for promulgating these rules may not stand up to scrutiny. The mayor's cited his authority to protect public safety and order and limit nuisances under M.G.L. 181 & 183A to create this new rule. However, the connection between this proposal and the reasons stated, that violence is happening at closing time is defeated by the logical conclusion that violence will merely happen an hour earlier. It is circular reasoning that we will reduce violence by pushing back the effective closing time or limiting the time people will be imbibing because it assumes that people will not start drinking any earlier or will not "pre-game" a bit more before going out.

John Adams Courthouse in Boston, home of the Supreme
Judicial Court of Massachusetts (wikipedia)

Case law on this matter requires substantial evidence to sustain these rules or more accurately to sustain a denial of a permit. The reason why the risk of litigation is so great is that it will likely invite a stream of litigation if the mayor's denials of the new permit are frequent and based on the circular reasons described above. It is unlikely to be a single case initially, unless a bar owner challenges the rule on its face and then succeeds in getting it struck down. That said, we would fully encourage a bar owner with a good record that is denied the extended license, appeal this rule and take it as far as possible, including the Supreme Judicial Court if it will take the case.

The other legal problem may rest in the city's decision to create a separate application. That may be, absent additional statutory authority from either the City Council or the State legislature, beyond the mayor's legal authority. This is different from the oft-cited Under 21 Rule, as there is a broader public policy mandate to prevent underage drinking and the rule making process would have no shortage of evidence to support the rule even if the statutory authority itself is thin. Looking at the evidence ACS Days collected, she had only spurious statistical analysis from the police and an anecdotal description of assigned police resources, which seems unlikely to change based on the department's own testimony. Consequently, it seems possible a court would not look kindly upon the development of a non-statutory application scheme when the evidence for its need is so thin.

Additionally, a court may look skeptically at either the rule or its application in light of the fact that mayor already had to authority modify or pull licenses of problem establishments or those that do not adequate protect patrons and police.

The other risk is the economic damage to the city, which in light of the evidence that Days relied upon, seems far too grave to justify what amounts to a hunch on the part of the police and the mayor. This is a hunch, which incidentally one witness is on record contesting.

Then-Councilor Amaad Rivera expressed a concern that young professionals would have be disinclined to move to Springfield. At-large Councilor Thomas Ashe said that this unfairly harms the many for the actions of the few. Frank Caruso an attorney for bar owners noted that the window the mayor seeks to close is a large part of their clients' business. Daniel Kelly, another attorney, noted that a similar measure in Lawrence yielded few if any benefits. Bar owners and prospective business owners said the earlier entertainment cessation would affect their livelihood and their decision to invest in Springfield. Other speakers noted the impact on wages of employees and the possibility the rule would either drive patrons to drink more sans entertainment or take the party and the violence to their homes, disturbing other neighborhoods.

Gov. Dan Malloy & Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman (CT Gov's Office)

All of the above testimony points to a huge economic risk and damage to the city. Less productive watering holes will garner less rent for their landlords and less property taxes for the city. Less business overall will harm the city's meals tax revenue stream where applicable. Indeed part of the mayor's rationale for this rule was the idea that Springfield with its later closing time is drawing in undesirable elements, notably from Connecticut. However, Connecticut's Governor, Dannel Malloy, has proposed changing his state's last call to 2 a.m., a move that would eliminate the mayor's chief concern about outsiders bringing trouble. It would also have the effect of causing the city to lose out on more business to Connecticut generally, but Hartford in particular, which despite its troubles maintains a larger bar scene than Springfield.

Despite the concerns listed above, each and every one of them would be worth taking if, and only if the policy had any hope of producing the intended results. They do not. Even ACS Days letter to mayor Sarno, while supporting the changes appears skeptical about their success.

As a considerable amount of business flows into neighboring towns and into the Land of Steady Habits, there will remain, in all likelihood, the elements that is most responsible for the violence around closing time. The result will not be less police pulled downtown, merely a change of the time that the risk is greatest. Assuming most bars simply shut down or most patrons leave at 1 a.m. instead of 2, the police will face the same individuals that put patrons and law enforcement alike at risk. Is a police officer punched in the nose by a drunken fool any better off if the assault happens at 1:15 a.m instead of 2:15 a.m.? Does an individual risk less injury from an individual with a weapon because the confrontation happens when the bars let out at 1 instead of 2?

Springfield Police Patch (Source unknown)

The results could be even worse if in fact patrons, however intoxicated or not, endure at the bar past 1, but without the soothing glow of Sportcenter or the ability to blow off steam at the Billard table. These rules will not hobble other distractions that can encourage violent numbskullery. The attractive girl eyed by two guys or the knocked over drink, triggers that could inspire the very violence the mayor seeks to end, are not covered by this new regulation.

There is a possibility, however, that this rule is something of ruse. In other words, it was an action the mayor took to put irresponsible bar owners on notice, but lacking in any intention to deny all, but the worst offending barkeeps, the extra hour of entertainment. Therefore, whether your establishment features the local drag show or a dozens 60 inch screens playing a West Coast Red Sox game, you have nothing to fear from these regulations. You will get your permit promptly unless you blithely allow underage drinking and lax security. Indeed, the speed and odd placement of ACS Days' hearing the day before Christmas weekend may have been a way to expedite this rule with the intention of warning the irresponsible bar owners that do not take the city seriously about curbing problems downtown.

Still, if those who cried foul after the Under 21 regulation (a rule to which we cannot easily objects despite our concerns about drinking age laws generally) passed are correct, there could be grave risk for cronyism and malfeasance, if not by this mayor then by a future one.

(WMassP&I)

Another reassuring sign from the mayor would be a promise to revisit this issue on a regular basis and adjust its terms to comport with changing facts and conditions, including revocation of this rule if it fails or becomes more burdensome than the mayor admits. As we remain certain of the mayor's dedication to the city's overall well being, we expect he will remains focused on the big and small picture of this issue and engage it in the future with all due deliberation and fairness.

Springfield, like any of its urban peers, faces what seem like impossible choices between any number of issues. We can only put our hope that the mayor will use this new authority he has, in effect, granted himself judiciously and sparingly or, in due time reverses himself on this issue. Otherwise we will have no less violence, no less strain on the police department and nothing to show for it but diminished economic development and mounting legal bills.

The Insight: An Eye To-Ward Greater Representation...

2012-02-07T10:00:00.007-05:00

Councilor Edwards (Facebook)

Every individual who runs for office must have some ego. While Ward 3 City Councilor Melvin Edwards is no different, it is quite obvious after only a few minutes with him that he keeps humility in a sizable reserve. If that’s a strength, he is going to need all he can get and more as he takes on Senator James T. Welch in what may be the most highest profile primary race for state office in the area this year.

Edwards, a sophomore member of the Springfield City Council, and among the first batch of ward-elected councilors for the city in over fifty years, is not the council’s loudest or highest-profile member. However, when he does speak, it easy to identify him as among those who may be the body’s conscience, never rushing to a decision and often excoriating councilors, the mayor and others for forcing the body to rush things needlessly.

Whether soft-spoken or eloquently speaking more forcefully at a council meeting or other public venue, it is clear that Edwards possesses a true and real love for Springfield. That passion for the city is not just boilerplate polito-speak. Rather it is the conviction of his tone coupled with factoids about Springfield‘s prouder aspects. (like how Springfield’s Forest Park and Central Park share a connection through fabled parks designer Frederick Law Olmstead). “My passion is for Springfield,” he said during an interview with Western Mass Politics & Insight.

It is no surprise that Edwards's tone moves between a soft conversational and ministerial, but never sanctimonious. His mother was a Pentecostal minister, just one piece of the mosaic that forms his background, which includes roots in Pakistan, the West Indies and Native American tribes. A resident of Springfield for virtually his whole life, Edwards raised his family here with his wife Suzanne.

Councilor Edwards at his desk (WMassP&I)

Edwards won reelection unopposed, like seven out of eight of the city’s ward councilors last year. However, his initial victory in 2009 was made possible by the circumstances of the city’s changing municipal government. The race was the inevitable next step for someone who had gone from sprucing up the Maple Heights/Six Corners neighborhood where he lives to becoming President of the neighborhood civic association. Additional honors of late have included introducing Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren at a fundraiser for her in Springfield last year.

In an interview with WMassP&I, Edwards described his transition from citizen to public servant. Well before ward representation was a reality, Edwards and his wife, tired of the condition of their neighborhood, among the city’s poorest, took to picking up garbage on the side of the road. Their work quickly gained the accolades of other fed up residents and would become the genesis for Keep Springfield Beautiful. It would be that early activism that led others to encourage Edwards to attend and participate in Maple High/Six Corners Neighborhood Council.

At the neighborhood council, Edwards ascended to president, a position he holds to this day. However, even the president of the neighborhood council would find it difficult to get adequate responses from city departments. The police often asked if a gun was involved before sending help on the way, a questionEdwards says is not posed to all neighborhoods calling the cops. Facing these harsh realities where even the head of a neighborhood council could not get the answers he wanted from City Hall, Edwards and Ward 3 would find an opportunity in ward representation. Edwards said that in the run up to the 2009 election, many in the neighborhood came up to him and urged him to take up the challenge and represent their ward at 36 Court Street.

Edwards says his turn toward elected office was one he always intended to take, but fate would send him to work to support his family before he could act on his political ambitions. The all at-large nature of Springfield’s City Council would prove another barrier until it fell by the wayside in 2009.

With the support of the civic association and a neighborhood that already knew him Edwards made the leap to City Hall. He says that the change in attitudes and responsiveness from city officials was massive. City and state departments began responding to his calls and services to Ward 3 improved. At the same time, it had the effect of drawing residents to him as somebody they could reach out to and get responses from 36 Court Street.

Sen. Welch w/ Elizabeth Warren last week
(WMassP&I)

Still, Edwards worries about his limitations as a councilor under the city’s strong-mayor setup. This, along with the considerable realignment of Welch’s district, led Edwards to look to Beacon Hill. Redistricting placed considerably more of Springfield into Welch’s district and dropped Agawam from it completely. The district also includes parts of Chicopee in addition to holding onto West Springfield as a whole. Indeed, while Edwards did pepper in some digs at Welch’s expense throughout the interview, he maintained that his decision to run was not aimed at Welch in particular. “Jim Welch is not the target,” the councilor asserted.

That peppering included references to Welch as following in former State Senator Stephen Buoniconti’s footsteps from West Springfield municipal government to the State House and Senate. Welch was a relatively low-profile state rep when he graduated to the Senate as Buoniconti pursued a failed run as Hampden County’s District Attorney. Welch was also an aide to Buoniconti before taking the latter’s seat in 2004. Due to this and other connections of Welch’s, Edwards often refers to himself as “not a company man,” a phrase Edwards has used during interviews with other publications.

Still, Edwards waived off opportunities for direct attacks on Welch on policy. Rather, he seems intent on promoting a candidacy that mimics his experience and approach in city government. That will begin with a great deal of reaching out. As a ward councilor, Edwards represents less than 20,000 people. A state senator in Massachusetts will represent just under 164,000 once new district lines go into effect. To meet that larger audience, Edwards is planning a listening tour.

Additional challenges lie ahead, however. Welch will almost certainly have a massive fundraising advantage and will leverage his vote for bills or for future senate presidents to get additional backing from his colleagues.

The message Edwards intends to bring to voters is fairly straightforward. Voters, “will have the confidence that I’ve made a decision on the merit.” When asked if maybe he was too honest for politics, Edwards repeated the words his mother once said to him, “I can’t go to heaven for you, but I won’t go to hell for you either.” Put a different way, Edwards does not claim to be perfect, but ultimately expects voters to judge him based on an assurance that he has voted his conscience.

Another issue looming in the background relates directly to the realignment of the district in the new senate maps. Mindful of the voting rights lawsuits that tarnished the state’s redistricting process after the 2000 Census, legislators made Welch’s district majority-minority. Edwards’s decision to run is certainly an intended consequence of mapmakers if not exactly the timing anybody expected given the Springfield area’s tendency to leave incumbents alone, especially in primaries. Edwards pointed out that the state Senate had no black members, despite the leaps and bounds made by minorities in politics, most notably Governor Deval Patrick and President Barack Obama. However, in light of his own diverse background of which African-American is only one component, Edwards does not seem eager to run a campaign on that facet alone.

The Full 2012-2013 City Council (WMassP&I)

Edwards announced run is also a unique step in the history of ward representation in Springfield. One of the goals of the reform of the council was to give more voice to areas of the city that felt they lacked a voice at city hall. This is exactly the empowerment Edwards and his ward felt upon his election. However, ward seats are still elected political positions, which can be springboards to higher office including those who don’t live in the city’s more politically active wards. Under the old at-large council format, it was improbable that a city councilor would even be from ward 3 let alone somebody from that ward running for one of the city’s two senate districts.

Of course that also reminds us of the obvious defects in the city’s charter when a ward vacancy opens up. Unlike when Amaad Rivera replaced Keith Wright in Ward 6, Edwards has no opponent who would be the “runner-up” because in 2011 Edwards was unopposed. Consequently, an Edwards vacancy would throw the decision of making his replacement to the city council upon Edwards resignation from the council unless councilors act to correct the deficiency.

For now, however, Edwards needs to expose himself to a much broader electorate. That will involve a lot of reaching out to people throughout Chicopee, Springfield and West Springfield, many of whom may not know who he is. However, Welch will face a similar dilemma as he introduces himself to new parts of Springfield and Chicopee. Edwards hopes residents of all three cities will give him a chance, however and put the kind of passion he has had for Springfield to work in Boston, “I feel I can make decisions that make a difference.”

Manic Monday Markup 2/6/2012...

2012-02-06T20:13:00.001-05:00

...And the World:

Once again the world is waiting on Greece. While the long elusive deal between Greece and its creditors appears to be gelling, it will require more austerity and reforms from Greece. The country is already facing a deep recession, skyrocketing unemployment and cuts to services. Earlier promises to cut the excessive fat and more than a little muscle from the Greek state has been slow and often stymied by the country's squabbling political parties even as measures are approved by the Greek Parliament. Unlike in Italy, where Prime Minister Mario Monti got to appoint his own cabinet, Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos had to give government ministries to members of the political parties, who do not want to mar their political brand when they face elections later this year. The latest concession calls for the elimination of 15,000 jobs, but the Greek Constitution prohibits layoffs, which will make enacting those cuts extremely difficult. Creditors also want Greece to limit the state's requirements on private sector wages and bonuses before agreeing to take huge losses on Greek debt with interest rates well below what Greece could get on the open market. Again the squabbling among political parties has complicated finalizing a deal.

The situation in Syria continues to deteriorate as both Britain and the United States recall their ambassadors and the US closed its embassy altogether. The closure came as violence has bubbled up into to long-quiet Damascus and attacks mount in other Syrian cities. President Bashar al-Assad has been accused of brutally repressing pro-Democracy efforts in his country to the extent that the country is teetering toward Civil War. Over the weekend, Russia and China vetoed a condemnation of Assad that called for him to step aside. The measure came to the UN Security Council after the Arab League all, but admitted their efforts to stop the violence failed. The veto has received its own wave of condemnation from governments support Security Council action.

Anti-austerity measures in Europe have claimed another government. Romania's Prime Minister, Emil Bloc, resigned ahead of already planned elections in the Eastern European country. While Romania is better off than some of its neighbors, like Hungary which is seeing the National Airline's planes being seized right off of foreign tarmacs, austerity measures remain deeply unpopular.

A new power-sharing arrangement between Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and Fatah, which controls the West Bank formally ends the division between the two Palestinian territories. The two regions, intended to be governed as one, split after Hamas won a majority in Palestinian elections. Gaza was eventually isolated by Israel leaving Fatah and President Mahmoud Abbas to form their own government in the West Bank. The new power-sharing agreement paves the way for new elections, but complicates the relationship with Israel as Hamas does not recognize Israel's right to exist.

The Feds:

New polling from ABC/Washington news offers both encouragement and a warning to President Barack Obama ahead of the November election. It shows Obama ahead of likely Republican nominee and former governor of our own Massachusetts, Mitt Romney. A number of the details deeper in the poll provide dispiriting news for the president, but they are tempered by a recurring factoid of recent polls. The more they learn about Romney, the more they dislike him.

The Senate has passed a Federal Aviation Administration re-authorization bill that damages unions' ability to organize in the transportation industry. Under current law, airline and railway workers (who are covered by a separate labor law than most workers) need only 35 percent of employees to force a unionization election. Republicans last year demanded that the law be changed so that at that election, pro-union forces would need to get a majority of all workers, not simply those that voted. The changes require fifty percent of all employees before an election is held, making the election superfluous and creating a numerically similar outcome to what Republicans demanded. The bill now awaits President Obama's signature.

The damage done to its brand after the Susan G. Komen fund pulled funding for Planned Parenthood (then semi-reversed) is not over, yet. Additionally, The New Republic, pivoting off a 2009 Barbara Ehrenreich article, notes the philosophical hazards of Komen's attitudes, particularly its feminist ones that may have presaged this whole fiasco.

The State of Things:

Despite some news items here and there it has been a slow news week for the Massachusetts Senate race. Nevertheless, the media machine with the help of Scott Brown's campaign press secretary has drummed up something. First up was a report that Scott Brown's daughter, Ayla, received $9500 to sing from her father's campaign at an event, an entirely legal enterprise, but one that raised a few eyebrows. Ayla Brown is allowed under Federal Law to perform for free, but did not do so. Brown's campaign said it was done so as not to make her bandmates uncomfortable, but that just made the whole thing sound cheesier. Elsewhere, Brown's campaign attacked Warren as an elitist for her campaign tracker's tweet about a fifteen year-old car with gull wing doors he saw in Springfield. The tweet seemed innocuous enough and is unlikely to harm Warren's standing in Springfield or the area. However, it is being used to build up Brown's claim that Warren, who attended far less elite schools than Brown, is an elitist. For what it's worth, Brown's campaign tracker lied about his identity to sneak into a Democratic fundraiser last year shortly after Warren declared and Brown's staff has engaged in far more unflattering tweet-escapades.

City Slickers:

Following last year's homicide in a barbershop the City Council's Public Safety Committee is considering an ordinance to further regulate barbers in the city. At the time of the murder and at times before, some had pointed out that some shops keep truly bizarre hours leading some to wonder if illegal activity occurred at some establishments. The committee is also looking in to a group home proposed for the McKnight neighborhood, which many complain already has its fair share.

Springfield Roman Catholic Bishop Timothy McDonnell has joined the chorus of Catholic religious leaders opposed to the federal government's mandate to provide coverage for contraception in its employee insurance plans. The new rule issued by the Obama administration applies to church affiliated groups like colleges and hospitals that minister to all faiths, but not churches or diocesan offices. Bishops believe they may have a case in light of a recent Supreme Court ruling, but that case hinged on a church doctrine to resolve problems internally, and while broadly seen as an expansion of religious freedom may not be enough to overturn the new rule. Additionally, the church seems misguided in its efforts as although the church condemns birth control, its opposition is not of the same kind as it is relative to abortion. Abortion can be condemned regardless of who is involved, but its opposition to birth control is tied into its teachings on marriage, which obviously do not apply to non-Catholics and should in positions that minister to all people. Additionally, it is worth noting that Catholic hospitals in some states already comply, albeit begrudgingly, with a requirement that they offer some contraceptives in limited circumstances.

Twitter Chatter:

This week's tweet prize was going to be a serious insightful one, but then Massachusetts Political Tweetress, @harmonywho offered some much needed political relief with a spin on some local chatter and a long-standing problem that presidential candidate Rick Santorum has had. So we award a tie!

The first tweet prize goes to State Senator Jamie Eldridge of the Acton. Long a member of the Senate more liberal wing, he has engaged in a campaign of late to push the legislature to endorse a constitutional amend to overturn the Citizens United case that brought us SuperPACs. By no means is he the only one pushing this here in Massachusetts or in other states. Indeed, a number of amendments to the constitution have been proposed in Congress, but are nowhere near 2/3 majorities in Congress needed for passage. Still, this issue and its resolution is critical for the preservation of our Democracy. It has shirked our campaign finance laws and essentially legalized bribery by way of calling money speech. For keeping this issue front and center, we recognize Eldridge and others for their efforts.

Meanwhile, @harmonywho's tweet refers to Santorum's longstanding Google problem. Googling Santorum's last name will yield a one-page website with a rather disgusting definition. It was created by sex advice columnist Dan Savage in retaliation for Santorum comparing homosexual relationships to bestiality among other things. This "definition" combined with recent news reports about a possible upset by Santorum in Colorado or Minnesota who hold caucuses tomorrow. Hence, "Santorum Surprise."

Our One Hundredth: Invest...in Hamburgers...

2012-01-31T22:43:00.006-05:00

Elizabeth Warren Greets White Hut Patrons (WMassP&I)

WEST SPRINGFIELD—Cameras and reporters jockeyed for space in the small dining room of the White Hut restaurant on Memorial Avenue. It was official. The race for the United States Senate had truly arrived to the greater Springfield area as Elizabeth Warren greeted voters and sampled the cuisine (hamburger w/ onions) at the legendary burger joint.

Warren arrived at White Hut with State Senator James Welch and Representative Michael Finn, both of West Springfield at about 12:30. She spent the first few minutes of her visit slowly moving down the line of patrons sitting on the stools facing the counter. Warren, who has never run for office before, showed off how much of a natural she is at retail politics, which has surprised many within an often skeptical media. Patrons and staff, in response received her warmly and offered more than a few words of encouragement.

Reporters chatted with patrons and Warren staffers as the candidate conversed with Welch and Finn over some of the restaurants trademark hamburgers. Patrons came and went during the busy lunch hour some bewildered by the mob, some stopping to greet Warren as she and the West Springfield elected officials lunched.

Sen. Scott Brown last summer (WMassP&I)

Meanwhile more than three hundred miles away, the man Warren seeks to unseat, Scott Brown, was making his own moves to secure reelection. Working in tandem with several Democrats and armed with 90+ votes on a procedural action in the Senate, Brown touted the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act. That proposed law would ban members of Congress, their families and their staffs, from using material information they glean from their duties to make stock trades.

Originally, Brown and New York Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand introduced two separate bills, but they have since been merged into one committee bill. Brown’s bill was the weaker of the two and attracted considerably less support than Gillibrand’s, but as Brown is a member of the committee with jurisdiction he has been given equal billing with Gillibrand. Until recently, Brown’s public statements on the bill omitted any mention of Gillibrand. The New York senator’s public comments, by contrast, often alluded to Brown.

The STOCK Act became the latest political football in the Massachusetts senate and the latest in a line of efforts on the part of Brown to appear more moderate since Warren announced in September. Brown has voted somewhat more often with Democrats since last Fall in contrast to the first half of his term. Indeed, Brown hurriedly walked up to President Barack Obama after the State of the Union to pitch the bill. The president had alluded to the issue of congressional insider trading in his address.

Warren w/ Rep. Mike Finn and Sen. Jim Welch (WMassP&am

During an impromptu press conference Warren held after lunch, several reporters asked Warren about the insider trading legislation. Mirroring comments she made on The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell last week, Warren said she is “delighted to see it go forward.” However she added an important caveat. She wants to see the legislation take on stronger language.

Specifically, Warren called on Congress to ban legislators from owning stock. The thinking being that legislators should not be writing laws that could benefit the companies they own through shares. For her part, Warren has committed herself to selling long held shares in IBM once elected to the Senate. Brown, by comparison, is said to own shares in banks that benefited from the weakening of the 2011 Wall Street reform law, concessions Brown extracted from Democrats in exchange for his filibuster-ending vote.

Almost on cue, Warren’s request became a reality and entered the consciousness of the Senate thanks to a Senator Brown. Not the Massachusetts Republican. It was Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio, who announced today that he would propose an amendment to the STOCK Act that would ban the ownership in company shares for elected federal officials. As reported by Greg Sargent of the Washington Post, the Ohioan is quoted saying, “I want to see us go further. Why should members of the Senate vote on issues that affect the oil industry while owning oil industry stock? This is pure, it’s simple, it’s clean, it’s direct.”

Sen. Sherrod Brown D-OH (Official Site)

Whether Sherrod Brown's amendment finds its way onto the bill or not, it has the effect of upending Brown’s good press on the subject. If Scott Brown supports the amendment, Warren gets to one-up him as she pushed for the change from the outside. If he opposes the amendment, Warren can hammer him. Even if the amendment never gets a vote, Warren can still hang it around the Massachusetts Republican’s neck.

For all of the talk of the STOCK Act and the policy that will play a huge part of the campaign, Warren seemed to genuinely enjoy her White Hut outing. She noted that the restaurant had been in business for three generations and that it was encouraging to see a small businesses like that prosper. Warren added that she liked being able to talk to people. When asked what patrons said to her as she greeted them, Warren said they were telling her, “Keep it up, girl.”

Warren also fielded questions about her and Brown's historic anti-SuperPAC pact and her work for Travelers Insurance. Warren consulted for the insurance company on a Supreme Court case which, if decided, differently, could have damaged the effectiveness of compensation funds for victims.

Warren departed for Springfield to meet with Mayor Domenic Sarno and tour tornado damage in the city. That meeting and tour were closed to the press, but was followed by a public visit to Lenox Tool in East Longmeadow.

Manic Monday Markup 1/30/12...

2012-01-30T13:12:00.001-05:00

...And the World:

Greece continues to weigh heavily over the European Union as leaders of the continent again meet to discuss the continuing crisis. Even as the Greek government seems prepared to engage in more reforms, the Euro leaders meeting in Brussels face a general strike and the reality of shrinking economies. As British Prime Minister David Cameron has begun to insist, after getting hammered by Labour in last week's Prime Minister's questions, growth has to be central to freeing Europe from the jaws of collapse. European leaders seem prepared to accept that reality as they meet in the Belgian capital. What to do about it is another matter.

Democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi informally began her campaign for special election to the Burmese Parliament with a swing through the rural parts of the country. Suu Kyi and her party the National League for Democracy are contesting election after significant reforms were made by the military backed, but civilian leadership of Burman, also known as Myanmar. In that visit to Dawei, she said that considerable reforms would need to be made to the constitution, however, she made the caveat that this would only occur once democracy has fully taken root in the country.

The Feds:

Mitt Romney appears poised to scoop up Florida after Newt Gingrich's victory in South Carolina and subsequent substandard debate performances. Mindful of his campaigns at times virulent anti-immigrant rhetoric, Romney has tried to soften his stance on immigration to appeal to Hispanic voters. However, that message is different in Florida than it is in most states as Cubans, who largely vote Republican, make up a huge part of the Hispanic electorate. Consequently, that community's position on immigration is not the same. Still, Romney's is reaching out to Hispanics. He cannot afford to take any chances at letting Gingrich have an ounce of space as the former House speaker has made immigration comments that seem more humane than Romney's.

New Occupy protests in Oakland erupted over the weekend after protesters attempted to turn an abandoned convention center into a new home, further inflaming an already problematic situation in the Bay Area city. Oakland was the site of numerous and violent conflicts with police including one that critically injured a veteran, however, that city's protests have also been unfairly held up as example of the national movement. Oakland suffers from longstanding distrust and division between citizens and officials in addition to crime and poverty. Finger pointing has already begun. The irony may be that even as Occupy provided a perfect outlet for the tension building in that city (coupled with trademark Bay Area radicalism), it had the effect of overshadowing these problems that scream out for attention in a way that they simply do not in other cities. To make matters worse, there is a definite growing moral ambiguity of the situation whether it is needless vandalism by protesters or flagrant disregard for the freedom of the press by the police, among other complaints.

By comparison, Occupy Providence seems to have ended peacefully while Occupy DC faces eviction.

The State of Things:

Technically a national story, but the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act is due for a vote today in the Senate. The bill was introduced originally in the House by two Democrats, but following a 60 Minutes report on Congressional Insider Trading, Senator Scott Brown introduced a senate version. However, his bill was largely ignored after Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York introduced a stronger bill. However, Brown is still calling it his bill, with little or no reference to Gillibrand. For a nice refresher on this subject, and why we feel this way on the subject, consider our past report.

After years of delays and reports, Massachusetts may finally see the first mass transit extension in years begin construction this year. The Green Line of Boston, probably known best in this region by area Red Sox fans visiting the city, is poised to be extended beyond its current terminus at Lechmere in Cambridge into Somerville and Medford. Currently only Commuter rail is an option for travelers. The link is expected to greatly relieve pressure on roads and encourage smart growth in the region. Still its opening is not expected for up to eight years and comes as the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority faces another difficult year as its debt payments and costs wreak havoc on fares and service.

Also in Boston, the city bids farewell to Kevin White, the city's mayor from 1968 to 1984. He was 82. White served through the turbulent years of the busing riots, but is also credited with modernizing Boston and pulling it out of the old world. Corruption scandals launched by then-US Attorney William Weld and the building of a neighborhood-based machine (which current Mayor Tom Menino uses to this day) dim his legacy, but his tenure is on balance seems like one to be proud of. He was even briefly considered as George McGovern's running mate in 1972 before Tom Eagleton was selected, a decision the one-time Democratic nominee for president probably wished he had made differently. When he retired, White taught at Boston University until diagnosed with Alzheimer's about ten years ago. Photos of White here on Boston.com.

City Slickers:

The controversy over the grant funding for AWAKE is not over, but is slated to move on for now. The local outreach group, Alive with Awareness Knowledge and Empowerment, was passed over by the city for a state grant intended for outreach to at-risk youth. The city claims they never provided proof of their work, while AWAKE claims that they did. An effort by the council to slow the process down was undermined as the state undersecretary administering the grant reversed herself and urged speedy approval of the grant, which the council is expected to do today. Some claim the reversal by HHS Undersecretary Marilyn Chase happened to avoid bringing the state executive branch into local political disputes. AWAKE has claimed they were snubbed because they supported Jose Tosado over Domenic Sarno in last year's election.

Eastman Chemical has purchased Solutia in a sale that has some worried about the fate of the Indian Orchard plant. While employment at the facility has fallen in recent years, the plant does provide hundreds of jobs in the area and its closure could be catastrophic to the city. It may prompt a new TIF from the city as well to head off the plant closure.

In another Brown item, this one very local, the office of Senator Scott Brown has confirmed that the senator will meet with local NAACP head the Rev. Talbert Swan. Brown has earlier declined meeting with Swan, leading Swan to respond with disappointment in a letter released to the media. The Valley Advocate's On Springfield blog noted a pattern of Brown ducking meaningful Western Mass meetings. While Brown certainly has his supporters out here, the 413 is largely seen as Elizabeth Warren territory for Brown. The Republican's Rob Rizzuto plans to be in on the Brown-Swan meeting slated for March.

Twitter Chatter:

If you're wondering why there are so many Scott Brown items in today's markup, while aside from it being news, we have not published an "Our 100th" recently and felt it was overdue. We may have a fuller report on the senate race or on one of the candidates' activities soon, but for now, with so much local news we have had to leave it to the big boys (and girls) in journalism. That said, we award this week's tweet prize to Rick Klein, the Washington Editor of ABC World News tonight. Scott Brown has released a new radio ad praising the patriots ahead of this Sunday's Super Bowl. With a whiff of snark and sarcasm, Klein notes Brown's "bold" move to praise the Pats. This ad, however sincere it probably is (unless Brown is a secret Giants fan), fits very nicely into Brown's attempts to emphasize his everymanhood. "He likes the Patriots just like me!" Unlike his opponent, Elizabeth Warren, who...wait, no. She's pretty darn Pro-Pats, too. It also comes as Brown has engaged in a sudden short-term surge of "independence" that materialized almost immediately after Warren entered teh race. Click the link in the text to see the Brown ad on Twitter.

ZBA Burns/Incinerates Biomass Permit...

2012-01-27T00:44:00.005-05:00

**This post has been updated with pictures and for grammar. This post has also been corrected to accurately reflect the comments of one speaker with regard to Massachusetts municipal waste incinerator ban.**

(WMassP&I)

As early as five thirty, a half hour before the zoning board of appeals hearing was set to begin, opponents of a proposed Biomass facility on Page Boulevard were arriving at City Hall. Opponents from across the city and throughout the region poured into the hearing room that more than fifty years ago housed the second of the city's two legislative bodies. As the room filled, supporters of the project were limited to a few seats off to the side. Palmer Renewable Energy's imperious local attorney Frank Fitzgerald opted to stand.

Nobody knew what to expect from the board and between that and the tenor of hearing, many opponents could only guess how the board would rule. Some were mindful of the high hurdle they would need to clear to sustain their appeal. They would need not only a strong argument, but they would need to secure a unanimous vote from the board.

Before the ZBA were three matters. Two involved biomass. The other, the first one, involved an elderly woman who wanted to erect a temporary carport on her property. The ZBA approved it with no opposition.

The real battle lay in the other two petitions. Many had hoped that the biomass issue had died, at least on the city level, when the Springfield City Council revoked PRE's special permit. However, the situation turned against biomass opponents again when Building Commissioner Steven Desilets issued PRE a building permit on the reasoning that a special permit was unnecessary. That led to an appeal from local activist Michaelann Bewsee and two residents that live near the plant's proposed location, William and Toni Keefe. The Springfield City Council, in exercising their prerogative as the authors of the zoning ordinance and issuers of special permits, filed the second appeal.

Michaelann Bewsee
(Michaelann Land Blog)

Bewsee's appeal came first and most of the arguments on the merits were the same for both the council's and her appeals. However, there were issues of standing, that is were Bewsee and the Keefe's aggrieved parties to Desilets's decision? While PRE was expected to attack the council's standing as well, that argument would likely fly directly in the face of established case law.

As would become a consistent problem throughout the hearing, ZBA chair Brenda Doherty implored the crowd to limit discussion of public health and air quality to only how it relates to the hearing. The ZBA's jurisdiction was only zoning and could only consider the public health impacts to the extent they affected standing. Despite that admonition, both sides veered away at times.

As lead petitioner, Bewsee spoke first. She outlined the long, sordid history of the project, particularly its switch from burning construction waste to wood chips. She outlined the project's original plan to burn construction and demolition waste for which the company requested and received a special permit for a recycling center on a 7-2 vote in 2008. Since then the project changed to burning wood chips and the Springfield City Council completely transformed. Following that transformation, the council revoked the permit on the grounds that the project had substantially changed.

Behind the desk are from left Commissioners Walter Gould
Brenda Doherty, Henry Nowick, Maria Perez and Daniel
Morrissey (partly obstructed). Not pictured Commissioner Jose
Gonzelez. (WMassP&I)

Bewsee argued that the building permit was unlawful because Palmer Renewable's air quality permit was being appealed by none other than Bewsee herself and other environmentalists. The city's ordinance and state regulations require that all air permits be obtained before a building permit is issued from the municipality.

Bewsee then explained how Desilets's decision was contrary to city zoning law. Although the Page Boulevard property is zoned Industrial A, which is a very permissive designation, PRE was not merely proposing to engage in "processing," one of the approved activities as of right. Rather the proposed process that the plant involved "incineration," which needs a special permit. She disputed the notion that the wood being used did not qualify as waste. Bewsee also defended her standing to appeal because the plant's emission's would affect her respiratory problems, but perhaps more critically, she defended the standing of the Keefes whose commute would be impacted by the trucks hauling waste wood in and ash out.

Pat Markey in 2007 with Karen Powell (WMassP&I)

Pat Markey, an attorney, former City Solicitor and former City Councilor who cast one of the two votes against the 2008 special permit, made the comment that would define the evening. He told the board that proponents of the plant would offer a bunch of "smoke and mirrors." He broke down the incineration requirement of the city zoning ordinance to its most basic component, "to burn to ash," and reminded the board that anything beyond that simply does not matter.

Other anti-biomass speakers drifted into air quality issues that Doherty tried to reign in. The board also heard from a real estate agent who represented the owners of the former Friendly's on Page Boulevard that worried about the impact on that property's marketability.

Desilets was represented by Lisa DeSousa, an assistance city solicitor who, as Markey predicted, began the first round of dissembling. She said that the plant would not engage in incineration of waste, refuse or offal, but would be burning fuel. That difference, if it existed at all and expounded upon throughout the hearing, would form the crux of the board's final decision. She did suggest, if not all that convincingly, that the air quality permit was actually in effect, as Bewsee and others had not requested a stay pending their administrative appeal of the air permit.

Fitzgerald, the lead local PRE attorney, only confidently assured the board that all i's were dotted and t's crossed. He, too meandered into more detail about the air quality permit than Doherty would have likely preferred, but handed most of the show off to Botson Attorney Thomas Mackie. Mackie had appeared before the council at the revocation hearing and brought his trademark condescension and attitude that defined much of his earlier remarks before the council. Absent, however, were the veiled threats of litigation he hurled at the council, as the appeals board members face considerably different political consequences than councilors. He did display at least a passing respect for Bewsee as the appellant, however.

Attorney Frank Fitzgerald, Center (WMassP&I)

Mackie, however, did continue the subterfuge. He backed DeSousa's analysis and then tried to draw in details of debatable relevance. He attacked Bewsee's petition by way of her not calling the plant an incinerator in her appeal of PRE's air permit before the Department of Environmental Protection. Further he suggested that because the city zoning statutes refers to DEP regulations that the ZBA is obligated to follow DEP rules about incinerators, which he added were banned by the state. Under that theory, the city's requirement that their be a permit for an incinerator cannot apply to PRE's proposal because were it an incinerator, then they would have needed to undergo further review by the DEP. Furthermore, he said the plant was not an incinerator, but a power plant. Under appellants theory as he understood it, he continued, wood stoves would be incinerators. Mackie went on to attack Bewsee and the Keefes' standing. He implied the council also lacked standing, but as their petition was separate (and continued) those comments were never explained. Experts for PRE claimed the traffic increase would be minimal, undercutting the Keefes' standing and that the air impact on Bewsee was too negligible to matter.

On rebuttal, Ward 8 Councilor John Lysak, whose district includes the proposed site, offered an anecdotal response to the traffic argument noting that his constituents frequently encounter considerable traffic at that intersection (Page Boulevard and Cadwell Drive). Markey bolstered that argument by pointing to a city sponsored study that found that the added truck traffic would not be negligible in the heavily industrial area, as PRE's experts claimed.

The Crowd in the Hearing Room (WMassP&I)

However, Markey humbly went for the throat of Mackie's argument noting that incineration was defined separately from the "reduction" of waste products in the zoning statute. However, he maintained that even if the two components were linked, Mackie's allusion to incinerators is irrelevant and deceiving. The zoning ordinace refers not to incinerators, which biomass proponents contended would have entailed further DEP regulation, but incineration. A process versus a specific object. Perhaps, as Markey explained, it was a power plant too, but ultimately it was one that functions via incineration. Given that, it did not matter what the DEP defined as fuel, another Mackie argument. Markey reminded the board the question before them was not one of a interpreting the DEP's statute. Rather their charge was to interpret the commonwealth's zoning statute and the city's ordinance that the state land use (zoning) statute authorized, which does not provide the guidance on fuel that Mackie said the board should follow.

Sylvia Broude of the Toxics Action Center, may have delivered the final blow when she added that the incinerator ban Mackie referred to was in reference to garbage incinerators that burn municipal waste, like things picked up from the curb, not those intending to burn any other waste including wood pellets. She further added that whether the waste wood that would feed the plant, however commodified as fuel, was still fundamentally a waste product. A final speaker added that the waste wood, a term said to be in PRE's documents, is used to avoid carbon accounting, but does not change its status as natural refuse.

Councilors conferring w/ each other before the hearing
(WMassP&I)

During a break, opponents of the biomass plant considered a strategy of continuing the Bewsee/Keefe to another day and allow the council to present to avoid any standing issues. Bewsee moved for a continuance, but Doherty questioned the request leading Bewsee to withdraw it, letting her appeal stand on its own.

The hearing closed and the matter was before the commissioners. Many wondered whether the board would rule that night, but it soon became clear that they would. For supporters of the appeal, many worried that an adverse ruling on Bewsee/Keefe petition could cripple the council's appeal, despite the latter's stronger standing. An adverse ruling before the board would create fresh legal challenges for Bewsee in addition to procedural challenges for city councilors.

There was a brief debate among ZBA commissioners what greenwood before the ruling. Henry Nowick seemed to suggest sympathy to granting the appeal, but was unsure what and where this "greenwood" was. Doherty suggested he recuse himself if he felt he needed that information to rule, a possibility as the board had an alternate that night. Commissioner Daniel Morrissey, however, articulated what would become the board's opinion. Morrissey, himself, an attorney, stated the obvious: in Springfield, the definition is incineration. He viewed PRE's proposal as incineration. Whether it was fuel, waste, greenwood or offal, the process being undertaken at the plant will be incineration. The zoning ordinance, he explained, demands that a special permit be obtained. The other commissioners agreed, including Doherty, who said that incineration is the proposed activity at the plant and that the building commissioner had improperly granted PRE a building permit without the necessary special permit. The motion to grant the appeal passed without objection. The formal acceptance of the vote was quickly drowned out by the roar of cheers from the opponents of the plant who still packed the hearing room.

While PRE's attorney and experts scurried away quickly, opponents were ebullient. Broude, of the Toxics Action Center, was "very pleased" to see the board call this project what it is, incineration. Bewsee, whose history of activism goes back many years said she was "surprised" as Markey had told her sometimes smoke and mirrors work. When asked, as a petitioner who may be dragged into court with the city when PRE appeals, to what level she would take this fight, she replied, "We'll go as far as we have to go!"

Sue Reid (clf.org)

The board did not explicitly mention Bewsee's standing decision, but Markey suggested that in making a ruling on the merits, the board had implicitly rejected questions of standing. "I'm delighted by their decision," Markey added. Sue Reid, Massachusetts Director of the Conservation Law Foundation called the ruling "terrific." Her group, which offered testimony at the special permit revocation hearing May and is involved in the air quality appeal before the DEP, vowed to continue to monitor the process.

Within twenty-four hours of the ruling, the Republican reported that PRE does intend to appeal. However in the same article, City Solicitor Ed Pikula, who had been criticized throughout the process for his legal opinions, suggested that the decision of the ZBA exhausted the administrative appeals and that the city would stand by that decision. This solved a potential problem regarding the City Council's ability to pay for appeals if it had lost before the ZBA or before a lower court. A suit in superior court will likely name the city's zoning board of appeals as the lead defendant.

Because the Bewsee petition was decided on the merits, with the council's standing in little doubt it is fair to say that the council's petition to overturn the permit would be likewise granted. The council continued its petition to reserve the right to make its appeal within ninety days while councilors considered their legal options. Allowing their right of appeal to lapse could be catastrophic if the Bewsee petition is turned back on issues of standing by a superior or an appellate court.

For now, however, PRE has no right to build anything on its property for this project. While it technically does have its air permit, it lacks any special or not-so special permits from the city. More legal battles are ahead, but those familiar with the law note that favorable ruling from the administrative body for the appellants makes PRE's case considerably tougher. They will need to prove to a court that the ZBA's decision was unreasonable in light of the evidence not whether it was the right decision.

Councilor Allen (Facebook)

Still opponents of the plant were ecstatic. A smile overtook the face of Ward 7 Councilor Tim Allen when asked for his reaction to the ruling. "I'm thrilled," he said shortly after phoning the decision into Councilor Lysak who had to leave before the board ruled. "I'm glad that all of the points of view were heard and that this is the decision," he continued. Asked about whether the new zoning ordinance that Allen had worked on over the last term could correct some of the ambiguities that PRE's attorney exploited, Allen was non-comittal. In general, he admitted, without referring to any passages that may or may not relate to biomass "the new zoning ordinance is much clearer" and he expected a vote on it this year.

Speaking about the board's decision, Allen who endured a rough start to this year on the council, waxed a little romantic and noted the groundswell of activism from residents and the support they gave to councilors opposing the plant. "This is a strong example of how democracies are supposed to work," he said.

Biomass Goes Down in Flames...

2012-01-25T22:47:00.001-05:00

On a unanimous vote, the Springfield Zoning Board of Appeals overturned the building permit Building Commissioner Steven Desilets issued to Palmer Renewable Energy's biomass facility slated for Page Boulevard. After nearly two and a half hours of testimony, the Board rejected Desilets and PRE's contention that the wood-burning plant proposed for the site was not "incineration." While other issues, including standing were also debated, the argument ultimately turned on the ZBA's interpretation of the city's zoning ordinance, an implicit rejection of the standing arguments. The board acted on the first appeal before it, that of Michaelann Bewsee and two nearby residents. The City Council's appeal has been continued because councilors wanted to confer with each other to determine whether they should advance their appeal or wait until the sustained appeal of Bewsee and others is adjudicated in court. PRE is widely expected to appeal the ZBA's ruling.

With tonight's action, PRE officially has NO permits from the city. It only has a temporary air permit from the state, but that does not give them any right to build.

We will have more on this story tomorrow!

Manic Monday Markup 1/23/12...

2012-01-23T22:49:00.004-05:00

A late markup this week.

And the World...

Critical new sanctions were imposed up Iran as the standoff over that country's nuclear program continues. Today the European Union passed a series of sanction that will phase in an Iranian oil embargo. The embargo will heavily impact Mediterranean EU members, many of which are unable to sustain the economic damage if Iranian oil is shut off. The Saudis have promised to make up the difference. European nations, despite their new embargo, still urge Iran to come back to the negotiating.

Progress continues in Burma (which some call Myanmar). As sanctions fall on Iran, more are being lifted on Burma. Europe removed some of these sanctions. This comes after Daw Aung Sun Suu Kyi keyed up to run for Burma's Parliament and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and British Foreign Secretary William Hauge visited the country in recent months.

The Feds:

As is old news now, Newt Gingrich dominated the South Carolina Republican primary. His win is, itself, not a surprise, but the scale of the win was surprising. It has shaken up the Republican race going into Florida and threaten Mitt Romney's inevitability. Even as Romney scrambles to reverse himself on releasing his taxes returns, he already lost his double win of the Iowa Caucus and New Hamphire Primary when the Iowa Republican Party finalized the vote in favor of Rick Santorum. Even if he secures the nomination, he has taken considerable damage (and patience) he took great pains to avoid until now.

State of the Union Tomorrow!

Gabrielle Giffords will resign from Congress this week to focus on her recovery. The Arizona Congresswoman is recovery from a gunshot wound to the head she sustained last January. Twelve others were injured and six were killed including a staffer of hers and a federal judge. In her video, embedded below, she thanks Arizonans, but promises that her public career is not over. A new election will probably be held in June. Her last official act will be attend the State of the Union tomorrow.

The New York Times contemplates why iPhones are not manufactured in the United States. The story is a fascinating review of why manufacturing is not in the United States and no, it is not just about the cost of labor.

Mark Kirk, the junior Republican Senator from Illinois had a stroke this weekend and underwent surgery. Kirk, 52, a more moderate Republican was elected in 2010, is among what's left of the moderate wing of the Republican party in the Senate. He is expected to recover, but may face physical disabilities. Kirk holds the Senate seat Barack Obama vacated to become president and was elected in a special election/regular election to replace Obama's appointed successor and for a full term that began in 2011.

The State of Things:

Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren struck an historic agreement to limit third-party groups influence in the election. Already millions have been spent in ads opposing both candidates. Brown and Warren agreed to donate money to the others' charity of their choice equal to half the amount third party groups spend. Early reports suggest the pro-Warren groups have more or less lauded the agreement and are prepared to stand down. American Crossroads, a pro-Brown group headed by Karl Rove was less enthusiastic saying phone-banking, mailers and other activities are allowed. The pledge only covers television, radio and online advertisements. Some question how long it may last and recall the failed pact between Sen. John Kerry and then-Gov. William Weld in the 1996 senate race.

Also last week, Brown kicked off his reelection campaign in Worcester. As expected, he will be using his "deployment" last summer to Afghanistan saying he was sent there. Glen Johnson fact checks that via Tweet.

Govenor Deval Patrick delivered his State of the Commonwealth address tonight with a particular focus on jobs and community colleges are part of the solution. Included in the address was a plan to revamp community college governance which seems similar to a revamp in Connecticut for its non-UCONN public colleges. Patrick also challenge the legislature to take up the long-stalled effort to reduce health care costs in the commonwealth. Proposals were released last year to mixed results, but the governor made a harder push tonight. Patrick is expected to release his budget this week with proposed tax increases on cigarettes and candy. While the cigarette taxes have a good likelihood of passage, the candy taxes have languished in the past. The revenue is necessary to maintain health care funding. Unclear, however, is the fate of the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority. That agency, which serves primarily the Boston area, faces a huge shortfall (again) and needs help or it will face massive cuts.

City Slickers:

The board of appeals considers the Springfield City Council's objection to Steven Desilets's building permit for the biomass plant proposed for Page Boulevard. We've got the details of what to expect!

The Springfield City Council, after scheduling a special meeting to consider the disposition of an $800,000 for intervention programs for at-risk, voted to table the matter again to look into the matter further.

Springfield may follow Boston's example and ban the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products in stores that have pharmacies. The Public Health Council will hold in February, but as in Beantown it is expected to face some opposition.

A story in the Valley Advocate by Maureen Turner looks at the investigation the Springfield Police Department has launched over the death of Tahiem Goffe last year. The article considers the difficult balancing act Hampden County's new district attorney Mark Mastroianni has faced as the NAACP and other groups demanded an independent inquiry into the teen's death.

Twitter Chatter:

There is little doubt that Gabrielle Giffords and her tragic, but inspiring journey will be remembered in history. If Giffords does make a comeback to politics, she may beat this chapter in her life and in history in its impressiveness. For now, however, we leave you with this week's tweet prize winner, Gabrielle Giffords (of course) and her tweet about finishing that Congress on Your Corner that was interupted by gunfire last year. It is a fitting and touching close to her career in the United States House of Representatives.

The Right of Appeal: A Preview...

2012-01-22T14:59:00.005-05:00

**This post has been updated to reflect clarifications of some legal issues in this appeal.**

Biomass Protesters at Revocation Hearing last year
(WMassP&I)

This Wednesday Springfield will see perhaps the highest profile showdown over the proposed biomass facility on Page Boulevard since the Springfield City Council revoked Palmer Renewable Paving's permit. Indeed, this may be more of a nail biter as most of the 2/3 of the council that voted to revoke had telegraphed for weeks that the PRE's project and its changes made it ripe for revocation. Wednesday, however, will be something different. For the first time an independent body will assess the council's decision to revoke PRE's permit. This is very different from the permit granting process PRE faces before the Department of Environmental Protection, where the issue is not the validity of the revocation or Building Commissioner Steven Desilets's permit, but one of air quality.

The Zoning Board of Appeals is a body chartered under Massachusetts General Law to resolve zoning disputes within cities and towns. The matters before it and indeed the people before it are dictated, however, by the city's zoning ordinances. In that way, the mere fact that the council, who is not the only party opposing Desilets's issuance of PRE's permit, is in part due to their own ordinance. Under Springfield zoning, the Springfield City Council approves special permits. While this has often led to some concern that a political, rather than professional, appointed body (which can also be political), approves these permits, it also puts the Council in the game to stop PRE's building permit. Because, in the council's view, its will with regard to the special permit is being subverted by the building permit, they have standing to appeal. Were they merely the writers of the zoning ordinance, they may not be an aggrieved party within the meaning of the state zoning law. In that case, only the private appellants to the building permit could go before the appeals board and, if still dissatisfied, onto court. The private actors consist of nearby residents and several anti-biomass groups like Arise for Social Justice and Stop Toxic Incineration.

Now that the appeal is before the zoning board, whether the appeal of citizens or of the council, the issue will boil down to three basic issues. It seems likely, as with any appellate board, that the board could choose to consider the appeals as broadly or as narrowly as they like. Often times, to minimize the political blowback on themselves, such boards or appellate courts will consider matters as narrowly as possible. They do not always, however. Consider the Citizens United decision from the US Supreme Court.

The overall argument of the appeal is that the building commissioner acted beyond his authority to issue the building permit. It boils down to several arguments.

(WMassP&I)

The first issue is whether Desilets acted in direct contravention of state law when he gave PRE their building permit. Appellants are expected to argue this point first and foremost since it is probably the most airtight argument. Massachusetts regulations say that before a building permit can be issued all other permits must be received first. However, this does not turn on the special permit as its necessity is under dispute anyway. Rather, appellants will likely point out that the commonwealth's Department of Environmental Protection has yet to issue PRE's air quality permit. The Conservation Law Foundation and local groups had opposed PRE's receipt of that permit as well, but were uled to not have standing by a DEP hearing officer considering the case. That hearing officer was overturned by the DEP commissioner who ordered the hearing officer to consider the matter again on the merits. Consequently, there is no air quality permit and remains in litigation.

If the ZBA wants a clean way out, for now at least, they could rule on this alone in favor of the appellants. It seems unlikely that either the Building Commissioner or PRE would appeal that ruling to court due to how cut and dry it is.

However, the other two issues will be presented too. The final two are somewhat related. Is a special permit necessary and is the facility an incinerator? The city Law Department has issued a memo, upon which Desilets relied, that said a special permit was not necessary because the new design was not, as the original now-revoked special permit, a recycling center. It is not using construction and demolition waste as a fuel and therefore is not a recycling center. Consequently, no special permit is necessary. However, the city zoning ordinance may still apply, appellants will argue. The city requires a special permit for incinerators. Because this facility, whatever the purpose, is burning wood chips, it is, as appellants will argue an incinerator. The city requires a special permit for that, which PRE has never received or requested.

Largest Smoke Stack in the World (wikipedia)

These second two issues will undoubtedly reappear if the ZBA chooses to only reverse building permit on Wednesday on the narrowest grounds. Indeed, they will likely reappear before the ZBA, unless the board sides with the building commissioner on the air permit. If the board decides to rule beyond PRE's lack of an air permit, then there will almost certainly be an appeal regardless of who wins on the other grounds. If the ZBA rules in favor of the building commission the citizens groups and the council will appeal. Biomass opponents on the council still have more than enough votes to appeal to court. That raises significant questions about the council's ability to represent itself because they cannot appropriate money, but none of the biomass opponents seem particularly worried about that.

The ZBA will have up to ninety days from the date of appeal (December 7, 2011) to make their decision. An affirmative vote is required. As an appeal is likely, the losers will have 20 days to appeal to court. If the council is on the losing end, it will likely need a special meeting to vote to appeal to court in enough time and survive a Rule 20 invocation.

If the council and the citizens groups win, then it may get more interesting. Who will appeal in that case? PRE has standing to appeal to superior court, but the defendant, if they sue, will no longer be the city council, but the ZBA. This could tidy up some of the legal wrangling as the Law Department would no longer be conflicted by having two adverse plaintiffs (the building commissioner and the board of appeals). However, as Ward 8 Council John Lysak noted at a meeting last year, there may already be conflicts within the law department that could disqualify them regardless. If the Building Commissioner appeals, which in theory he could if the City Solicitor agrees to represent him, then the Law Department becomes conflicted again. Moreover, the ZBA, as the defendant is even more unable to defend itself if the law department steps away. However, the Council and the citizens groups could easily intervene and take control of the case in court.

This situation presents a strange legal disposition. Intra-municipal conflicts such as this one have been rare for fifty years Indeed, the most authoritative case law on the matter stems from the 1920s, 30, and 40s when many of the laws governing municipalities, zoning and the like were originally written. Certainly, it is common for the controversies to arise soon after a law is passed, the lack of significant case law since suggests that these conflicts are intentionally managed away by politicians and officials. This leaves archaic, if valid case law for a legal situation that has itself become rare. One way or another, Wednesday, as important as it may be, is not the last stop on this legal train.

After the Blackout...

2012-01-19T00:29:00.003-05:00

We are pleased to see the outpouring of support for several companies blackout protest of the anti-piracy bills, SOPA & PIPA. Despite today's surge it is critical that everybody understand that this fight is not over, yet. We welcome Cong. Richard Neal's statement of opposition to the bill as written, but we encourage our readers, as other media companies have, to have their voices heard. For the record we can confirm, Neal is joined by Senator Scott Brown, his Democratic opponent Elizabeth Warren, and Representatives Capuano McGovern, Olver & Tsongas in opposing these bills.

Wikipedia, now up & running again, has a handy article on the protest with links to more information and ways to communicate with your members of Congress. Thank you to all of those who have reached out to their member of Congress and urge you to continue to do so. Perhaps now Congress will sit down with both creative communities like Hollywood and the tech communities like Silicon Valley and Route 128 to find a solution that protects copyrighted material from piracy without jeopardizing the freedom and innovation of the Internet.

UPDATED: Statement on SOPA & PIPA...

2012-01-18T13:16:00.004-05:00

**** UPDATED: SEE BELOW ****Congressman Richard Neal has released a statement on SOPA (which is the House version of PIPA and vice-versa), wherein he appears to oppose the current version of the bill. We print it in full below:

"Thank you to those who have made the effort to contact me in regards to SOPA, the Stop Online Privacy Act (H.R. 3261). Committee action on this bill has been postponed, and it is uncertain when or if the bill will be brought up for further debate. I do not like SOPA in its current form. I would like to reiterate my personal belief in the right to freedom of speech. There are few things more uniquely American than the right to voice one's own beliefs."

**The following statement has been posted to the Facebook Wall of Congressman Richard Neal who represents Western Mass Politics & Insight in the United States House of Representatives. The background of this post has been changed to reflect our support of Wikipedia, Reddit, Google and other protests across the Internet.**

Congressman Neal:

WMassP&I would like to express to you our deep reservations about SOPA and PIPA today when dozens of other online sites are blacking out in protest. This blog is fully supportive of the creative community's efforts to stop online piracy. However, the censoring and Internet provisions of these proposed laws that threaten online creativity and freedom go too far. Furthermore, despite some efforts to remove the most offensive sections, we feel that in the end, such provisions cannot be effectively purged from these bills. A new, smarter bill that is written not only at the behest of the creative community, but in collaboration with the technology community is the answer.

We as a nation are quite able to cut back on the violations and theft that imperils artists' ability to live off their creations without turning the Internet into a police state or endangering current and would-be tech companies' ability to innovate & grow.

As one of Springfield's venues for online commentary, discussion, creativity and involvement in our community, we feel it is our obligation to oppose these bills and convey that opposition to you directly. We hope that you will do the same and join the increasing ranks of your colleagues who already stand opposed to these bills. Instead, please seek NEW legislation--made from scratch--that protects the financial viability of creativity in this country but also defends and strengthens the innovation and freedom of the Internet.

-Matt Szafranski
Editor-in-Chief
Western Mass Politics & Insight

You can see our statement on Cong. Neal's page here and here.

Tardy Tuesday Takedown 1/17/12...

2012-01-17T19:36:00.000-05:00

...And the World:

Last week the limelight was on British Prime Minister David Cameron leader of the Conservative Party for his and his government's handling of the Scottish question. This week the focus turns to Ed Miliband, the leader of the opposition Labour party, whose leadership is under threat after agreeing, at least in principle, to some of the austerity measures affecting public employees. One union is openly criticizing Miliband's decision with the threat of fracturing Labour. While Miliband's remarks over the weekend were more of the substance that Labour is not in a position to promise reversing Cameron's harsh cuts should Miliband's party regain Parliament in 2015, it was read as a hard turn to the right. Labor unions in Britain supply, not surprisingly, a great deal of the Labour party's money, and a schism could threaten the party's electoral chances. Unions, for their part, fear that Miliband may be following the path of Tony Blair who often took the unions for granted while taking allegedly "centrist" positions to retain his majority in Parliament. Miliband beat his own brother, David, in 2010's Labour leadership elections with the help of the unions and the left wing of the party.

A war is brewing in the Middle East. Not Iran, but Israel. No, not with Iran! Cyber warfare has taken hold among Israel and some of its neighbors on the part of hackers. Hackers in both Israel, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere have traded claims of stolen credit cards and personal information. In the latest salvo, the Israeli Stock Exchange and leading airline El Al, were attacked.

While negotiators return tomorrow to find a means to cut Greeces debt, European leaders are becoming increasingly pessimistic that Greek leaders can enact the reforms the country needs to move forward. Unlike his Italian counterpart, technocratic Prime Minister Lucas Papademos was unable to appoint his own cabinet. As a result many reforms that have passed remain unimplemented. A Greek default in priced into the market, but only if it is orderly. A disorderly default, which could happen as soon as March, is in all likelihood not priced into markets.

Death toll rose to 11 in the Costa Concordia shipwreck off the Italian coast (via NPR).

The Feds:

With Mitt Romney seemingly unstoppable in his quest to become the Republican nominee, candidates are trying to throw everything they've got at him. A Santorum ad says the former Massachusetts governor is too much like Obama, while a Super PAC new the South Carolina primary calls Mitt a murderer!

Meanwhile, at the last debate Mitt Romney said the President of the United States, Barack Obama did not have a jobs plan. That's right folks! Mitt Romney says the President does not have a jobs plan. None. Zilch. Zero! Therefore it cannot exist! He never proposed one! Pay no attention to those links that clearly prove the president presented a bill and gave a speech on the American Jobs Act! (BTW, h/t to Greg Sargent at Washington Post for the link and also as the link points out Romney does not actually have a plan himself).

Oh, and Jon Huntsman got out of the race and endorsed Mitt Romney. It really doesn't change anything, but Lawrence O'Donnell, gleefully showed how Huntsman's endorsement is not particularly meaningful given how much he's slapped Romney around.

Democrats in Wisconsin have turned in over 1 million signatures in order to recall Governor Scott Walker. Organizers need 540,000 qualifying signatures to force a recall, which even Walker is resigned to at this point. While the effort began after Walker stripped public employees of any meaningful union rights, it has picked up steam as Wisconsinites have seen the damage that Walker's rule has wrought. Like a petition drive to repeal an Ohio union-stripping bill, the petitions were delivered by truck to the state agency responsible for elections. Petitions to recall four state senators were also submitted including against the Senate President who is thought to represent a blood-red district. State Democrats did not initially try to recall the President, Jeff Fitzgerald, because of his district's complexion so a local photographer living in the district launched her own grassroots effort to recall the Walker ally.

The State of Things:

Federal Prosecutors are gearing up to indict several employees of Massachusetts' Probation Department and their legislator patrons. In the Boston Globe article, (behind a pay wall), prosecutors working under Massachusetts US Attorney Carmen Ortiz are believed to be merely dotting the I's and crossing the T's, but an announcement of the indictments has yet to be scheduled. Prosecutors do not discuss ongoing investigations, but Grand Juries, which issue the indictments, often leak via the witnesses called before them.

The Senate race took an interesting turn over the weekend as Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren's campaigns agreed to discuss limiting third-party groups' ads. We first tweeted about the meeting over the weekend, but the Republican followed up with a fuller article. The back and forth started after Brown challenged Warren to denounce third-party ads, but Warren returned with a starker challenge: that the campaigns work out an enforceable agreement to banish the ads. However, many question how the candidates could actually enforce a rule on third party groups who can, post-Citizens United, spend whatever they want. Glen Johnson, Boston.com politics editor, calls it political theater and it may very well be nothing more. Still, it challenged Brown to do more than complain about negative ads without Warren giving him the political high ground by accepting his request for a denunciation of ads opposed to him.

City Slickers:

Its that time of year again! The shaming of tax delinquents brings new calls to property owners to pay up before the city places liens on their property. Many delinquent properties this year include cites of former bars and clubs in downtown Springfield, which has experienced a sudden contraction of eateries and watering holes in the last couple of months.

An interesting development is brewing over a grant that the city council sent to committee at the urging of at-large Councilor Bud Williams last week. The grant is meant to help at-risk youth in the city's troubled neighborhoods. The program was started by the governor's office with the help of AWAKE, a local activist group in Springfield. However, AWAKE did not receive any of the grant money from the city who was given the money from the state to distribute to local groups. Because Chelan and DeJuan Brown, who run AWAKE, were supporters of Jose Tosado in last year's election, some sources say the result was one of political retribution on the part of Domenic Sarno.

Twitter Chatter:

In last night's debate Mitt Romney gave a stammering answer when pressed to release his tax returns. Culled from the muck of his answer last night and a clearer claim today, that may happen by April. Romney has as much admitted that he pays taxes at about a 15% rate because nearly all of his income is "investment" income and thus not eligible for the income tax. That means he pays a lower percentage of his income in taxes than most working stiffs. This may be an interesting and problematic development for the well-healed former governor, if as expected, he goes up against Obama in the Fall. In the meantime, ever Twit-witty Boston Phoenix reporter and the state's top political tweeter, David Bernstein (@dbernstein) brought together two Romney absurdities together in one tweet. Namely, his taxes and his story about hiring illegal immigrants to maintain his property in Belmont. "For Pete's Sake!" we've got to award Bernstein a tweet prize this week!