U.S. State Government

Latest Articles

Patrick Lynch’s labor problem

Unions
For Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch, candidate for governor, labor matters.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | May 19, 2010

Can the Netroots triumph in Rhode island?

On the Hustings
Stories of State Representative David Segal’s nascent, underdog run for Congress invariably make a nod to the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. And rightly so.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | May 19, 2010

Cape Wind: It’s Complicated

Obama gave the green-energy project a green light. Now, a slew of messy coalitions are going to battle over the future of clean energy.
Thousands of years ago, the terrain beneath what is now Nantucket Sound was dry, and populated by the ancestors of the Wampanoag people, who continue to revere it.
By VALERIE VANDE PANNE | May 07, 2010

Poor WGME

Press Releases
As the gubernatorial primary date inches closer, we’re starting to see more and more TV ads showing would-be governors touting themselves and their qualifications for the job.
By JEFF INGLIS | May 05, 2010

Library woes

Plus, Arizona declares war on immigrants
In an attempt to save four Boston Public Library branches that are slated to close due to budget shortfalls, some state legislators from Boston have threatened to block all state funding the library receives if it shutters any of its 26 branches.
By EDITORIAL | April 28, 2010

Tea Party Progressives?

Outsiders are trying to crash the gates of the state’s Democratic establishment — and are starting to succeed
When Democrat Peter Smulowitz celebrated his victory in the special-election primary for State Senate earlier this month in the back room of Masala Art restaurant in Needham, no bigwigs from his party were in attendance.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | May 03, 2010

Brown-nosing and flip-flopping

Scott Brown heeds his boss’s orders; Charlie Baker sides with homophobic party base
Two months ago, when Senator Scott Brown crossed party lines to help pass a jobs bill, the Phoenix noted the political convenience of that supposed show of independence — since other Republican senators were also voting with Democrats, Brown’s vote was unnecessary.
By EDITORIAL | April 23, 2010

GOP’s state convention delivers the bland brand

Dull and Duller Dept.
Massachusetts Republican candidates for office this November might be well-advised to legally change their names and appear on the ballot as “Someone Else,” “Another Option,” or “Available Alternative.”
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | April 23, 2010

Fed up and low down

For once, the beleaguered taxpayers of Maine can’t lose
Just kidding. Of course they’ll lose.
By AL DIAMON | April 21, 2010

Let's get serious

Gambling is front and center on Beacon Hill
The odds are that casino gambling is coming to Massachusetts. The state’s big three — Governor Deval Patrick, State Senate President Therese Murray, and House Speaker Robert DeLeo — are all in favor.
By EDITORIAL | April 16, 2010

Joe Paolino weighs a different kind of mayoral run

The Independent
It had been rumored for some time.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | April 14, 2010

Will Beacon Hill be bullied into enacting a politically correct law?

Freedom watch
A case of high-school bullying in South Hadley ended in tragedy this past January when the alleged victim, a freshman girl, committed suicide. Now, ramped up by the outrage over the case, Massachusetts legislators are in danger of enacting a politically correct law that could have devastating effects on our free speech.
By HARVEY SILVERGLATE | April 12, 2010

Box-office guru comes to Boston

Film school
The Massachusetts House of Representatives recently rejected attempts to cap the tax breaks offered to filmmakers in the commonwealth, which is good for Hollywood studios and for the local economy.
By PETER KEOUGH | April 07, 2010

Say what you mean

A wind farm — and a governor’s legacy — hang in the balance

Not Easy Being Green
With Governor Carcieri’s second and final term coming to an end, it is time to think about the “L” word — legacy.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | April 08, 2010

Cindy Bullens to run for state senate

Rock and Poll
Is Cindy Bullens the first Grammy-nominated musician to run for Maine Senate?
By SAM PFEIFLE | April 08, 2010

Murph’s Last Grasp?

Can Stephen Murphy rally his troops one last time, or is this stab at higher office his last?
The ever-restless Stephen Murphy is at it again, running anew for state treasurer — just a few months after voters re-elected him to the Boston City Council.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | March 24, 2010

The Curse of the Big Dig

Tthe mere mention of the Central Artery Project can derail one's hopes for higher office. Charlie Baker is finding that out now.
Call it the Curse of the Big Dig: virtually every politician with statewide significance who has over the years become intertwined with the Central Artery Project (as it is officially known) has seen his or her dreams of higher office dashed.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | March 17, 2010

Barring the way to public records

More Government Fees
The Maine Legislature is considering a move that will make it more difficult for concerned citizens to find out what their government is up to.
By JEFF INGLIS | March 17, 2010

Patrick's paradox

No shakes as a political operator, Deval has scored with many policies
Governor Deval Patrick may be the incumbent, but he enters the race for the most thankless statewide job in Massachusetts as an underdog.
By EDITORIAL | March 10, 2010

Down ballot drama

Important races to watch in '10
The race for governor and the scramble to replace retiring Representative Patrick J. Kennedy have obsessed Rhode Island's chattering class. But all the talk has obscured an intriguing set of "down ballot" races for lieutenant governor, attorney general, treasurer, and secretary of state.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | March 10, 2010

Get smart

Budget problems? It's the stupidity, stupid.
There are lots of theories about what's wrong with Maine's economy.
By AL DIAMON | March 10, 2010

The Cultural Caucus's big gamble

Formed to be a savior of the arts in the Bay State, a political coalition is playing high-stakes poker by putting casinos in its sights
The recently formed Cultural Caucus, a loose, formal coalition comprising a dozen arts-friendly state legislators, appears poised to christen its political life by inserting itself into what could be the most intense statewide political battle of the spring legislative session: the move to allow casino gambling in Massachusetts.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | March 03, 2010

Workin' man blues

Blue-collar luxury resorts, and other GOP oxymorons
Election years are always times of high anxiety for politicians. That may explain why they say and do so many stupid things.
By AL DIAMON | March 08, 2010

Brown, baby, Brown

The Senator masters the art of playing it safe. Plus, Deval vs. the Legislature.
Senator Scott Brown is getting a lot of praise from the left and abuse from the right for crossing party lines to help pass a jobs bill earlier this week.
By EDITORIAL | February 25, 2010

Donkeys kicking Timilty

Governor's Council
As if Democrats don't have enough problems with attacks from tea-bagging circus clowns, now one local pol is being targeted by fellow donkeys.
By CHRIS FARAONE | February 17, 2010

Baldacci, Dems raise broad-based taxes

What Promise? Dept.
Despite numerous repeated claims that he and his party will not raise "broad-based taxes" while attempting to solve Maine's decade-old budget disaster, Democratic governor John Baldacci and legislative Democrats have done exactly that, and are now expanding those efforts by increasing an additional tax that hits many Mainers.
By JEFF INGLIS | February 17, 2010

Right Click

Conservatives have ruled radio and liberals have dominated the net; but as the Red Mass Group's rise demonstrates, the left's Web supremacy is hardly a sure bet.
Back in February 2007, a few months after a political neophyte named Deval Patrick cruised to victory in the Massachusetts governor's race with help from a political blog named Blue Mass Group (BMG) — which whipped up pro-Patrick sentiment while aggressively rebutting the governor-to-be's critics — I sized up a recent conservative entry in the local blogosphere.
By ADAM REILLY | February 19, 2010

What now?

Kennedy's exit rewrites the political game book.
Representative Patrick J. Kennedy's campaigns were always about something far larger than Rhode Island's First Congressional District, which snakes from Burrillville down through the Blackstone Valley and into Newport.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | February 17, 2010

The next Scott Brown?

John J. Loughlin’s suddenly high-profile campaign to oust Patrick Kennedy
Republican Scott Brown's victory last month in the race for the late Ted Kennedy's Senate seat has every two-bit GOP hopeful in the Northeast claiming the mantle of the pick-up truck populist.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | February 10, 2010