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  • January 31, 2007
    New Council Assignments
    By David S. Bernstein
    New city council president Maureen Feeney has announced the committee assignments for 2007. There's a lot of shake-up, because A) the change in president, B) the death of Jimmy Kelly, and C) the bargaining that went into Feeney's victory. I don't see any evidence that she put anybody in the doghouse.

    The biggest change is Chuck Turner regaining the Education chair from John Tobin.

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  • January 30, 2007
    Southie, start your engines
    By David S. Bernstein
    Maureen Feeney has announced the schedule for the special election to fill Jimmy Kelly's seat on the city council. The preliminary will be Tuesday April 17, and the final on Tuesday May 15.

    The prelim is on an interesting date: Monday the 16th is Patriots' Day, so that makes a huge three-day weekend for full-contact campaigning.

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  • January 30, 2007
    Big changes at BPD
    By David S. Bernstein
    Commissioner Ed Davis announced a bevy of major organizational changes today, an overview of which you can read on the BPD's blog. Many of the changes are good ones in my opinion. Davis is implementing a form of COMPSTAT, the geographically-based review-and-response system that New York City used in its legendary crime turnaround in the mid-'90s, and many other cities have since copied.

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  • January 30, 2007
    How to use the juice?
    By David S. Bernstein
    Rick Klein has a good piece in today's Globe about the clout of the Massachusetts delegation under Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but former Phoenix scribe Seth Gitell goes a step further in the new Boston Mag, warning that Markey, Meehan et al "could squander a huge opportunity if they spend the next few months stuck on Iraq." What he means is that, instead of bringing home the bacon to the Bay State, our congressmen look like they're going to spend their time and energy scrutinizing and criticizing the war -- the kind of oversight functions I outlined last week (and in this sidebar).

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  • January 29, 2007
    Collins & Snowe Endorse McCain
    By David S. Bernstein
    Both Maine Senators have boarded the Straight Talk Express, agreeing to co-chair the Maine operation of John McCain's Presidential "exploratory" committee. The Gang of 14 stick together, I suppose, even though Collins and Snowe both oppose the troop increase that McCain is so fond of.
  • January 29, 2007
    The Week I Missed
    By David S. Bernstein
    Picking out just a few things from the week that was….

    1. By backing out of the BPS superintendent job, Manuel Rivera has popped open a fine bottle of political chardonnay that we’ll be sipping from for quite some time. Regardless of what really caused the turnabout, this is a huge slap at Tom Menino. Menino shut a lot of critics’ yapping pie-holes (including mine) by landing Rivera, showing that the Mayor really can and will bring talented, top-notch people into his administration and give them the authority to do their thing.

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  • January 19, 2007
    Talking Politics Is On Vacation
    By David S. Bernstein
    You'll have to fend for yourselves for a week; this blog will be back in action on January 29.
  • January 19, 2007
    Rob Gray Ditches Romney for McCain
    By David S. Bernstein
    Political consultant Rob Gray was senior advisor and media strategist for the only political campaign Mitt Romney has ever won: the 2002 gubernatorial election. Gray, a Weld/Cellucci aide, friend of Karl Rove, and regular Romney consultant, has just signed on with the enemy, from Mitt's perspective. John McCain announced today that Gray will be a senior advisor focusing on communications and political affairs in New England for McCain's Presidential "exploratory" committee.
  • January 18, 2007
    McCain Must Be Worried
    By David S. Bernstein
    John McCain's signature issue is campaign-finance and lobbyist reform, an issue he picked up after getting embroiled in the "Keating 5" scandal. It's his main legislative achievement, his main appeal to independent voters, and the pillar of his "Straight Talk" public persona.

    So you might think it would be the one issue on which he would not flip-flop.

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  • January 18, 2007
    Odds & Ends
    By David S. Bernstein
    --The conservative Red State blog site has launched a page devoted exclusively to attacking freshman Democrats in Congress, in hopes of defeating them in 2008. New England being full of such newbies (including -- congratulations! -- newly named freshman class president Paul Hodes), this should be worth keeping an eye on.

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  • January 17, 2007
    Vote Approaching On Student Loan Rate
    By David S. Bernstein
    The US House of Representatives is dealing with a procedural vote as I write this, after which they will vote on HR5, the bill to dramatically reduce the interest rate for new student loans.

    I'm interested in how many Republicans break from the party to vote for this one. I've been listening in on much of the floor debate on the bill today, enjoying the GOP reps trying to find ways to explain their opposition to this bill.

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  • January 17, 2007
    Kirwan Staffs Up
    By David S. Bernstein
    Statehouse News reports a number of new appointments in Leslie Kirwan's A&F department:
    UBS investment banker HENRY DORMITZER was named undersecretary and chief of staff. JAY GONZALEZ, who specialized in government financing of capital projects at the law firm Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge, is assistant secretary for capital finance and intergovernmental affairs.

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  • January 17, 2007
    Is Romney's Congressional Liaison Gay?
    By David S. Bernstein
    The Romney "exploratory" campaign today announced that Louisiana Congressman Jim McCrery will be Romney's congressional liaison, ie the guy trying to get other GOP congressmen to endorse Romney.

    Way way back in 1992, the Advocate reported that McCrery was a closet homosexual. McCrery, a staunch gay-rights opponent, has always denied it.

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  • January 17, 2007
    This Could Take A While
    By David S. Bernstein
    Jury selection began yesterday in the Scooter Libby "Plamegate" trial. According to an AP report, Libby's lawyers are "looking for potential jurors who trust Vice President Dick Cheney." Cheney is expected to testify as a witness.
    Libby's attorneys say it's critical they know whether potential jurors view the vice president as credible.

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  • January 15, 2007
    Camenker Defenders Demand Apology
    By David S. Bernstein
    Americans for Truth, an organization created last fall "devoted exclusively to exposing and countering the homosexual activist agenda," is demanding an apology from Mitt Romney for his campaign's character assault on "American hero" Brian Camenker.

    Others on the right, such as the Michigan Cooler blog, are also upset about Romney's attack on Camenker -- and some are using it as an opportunity to launch ugly attacks at Mitt.

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