U.S. Congress

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Careful carving: Keep politics out of redistricting

Plus, Scott Brown and 'DADT.'
The news last week from the US Census Bureau was as expected: Massachusetts is losing one of its 10 congressional districts.
By EDITORIAL | January 12, 2011

Careful carving: Keep politics out of redistricting

Plus, Scott Brown and 'DADT.'
The news last week from the US Census Bureau was as expected: Massachusetts is losing one of its 10 congressional districts.
By EDITORIAL | January 12, 2011

Sam who?

Six weeks on the campaign trail with a barely known Cambodian refugee who's running for Congress
Sam Meas was hardly a household name, even when he was running for the United States Congress seat in Massachusetts's Fifth District — and he's even less of one now that he lost.
By LAWRENCE BERGMAN | October 13, 2010

You call this winning?

Afghanistan complications multiply. Plus, Congress is heading for a weak wrap-up.
President Barack Obama scored.
By EDITORIAL | June 30, 2010

Fighting back

Two cases in federal court here in Massachusetts could help turn the national tide against DOMA
Thanks to a federal law that codifies discrimination against same-sex couples, more than 15,000 legally married couples (and an untold number of children) are being denied basic benefits, such as the right to file their taxes jointly, or Social Security payments and health-insurance subsidies.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | June 04, 2010

Heck of a Guy

Despite a history of illiberal views and a boorish reputation, Guy Glodis enters the Democratic state convention unscathed
Scott Brown’s stunning victory in January’s special US Senate election continues to reverberate through Massachusetts politics.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | May 26, 2010

The high cost of free markets

A lack of regulation invites oil spills and financial collapse
Free markets are not free. They always carry a cost.
By EDITORIAL | May 19, 2010

The way robots should be

Maine’s burgeoning automaton population
While Ray Kurzweil pursues the Nanotech Revolution, robotics researchers in Maine are chasing their own futuristic outcomes. Here’s what’s new on the local robot scene (didn’t know we had one of those, didja?).
By DEIRDRE FULTON | 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

Scott Brown slashing jobs, not adding them

Mass Underemployment Dept.
When he campaigned to retain existing and deliver new employment opportunities for commonwealth residents, Senator Scott Brown was apparently making no promises to urban teens.
By CHRIS FARAONE | April 28, 2010

Elena Kagan’s shaky record

What a Kagan appointment to the Supreme Court could mean for civil liberties
As a potential Obama nominee for Supreme Court justice, Elena Kagan has liberal bona fides and the likely support of the right. But if her record is any indication, she’s more likely to side with the conservative bloc on matters of executive power and war-time presidential authority.
By HARVEY SILVERGLATE AND KYLE SMEALLIE | April 16, 2010

Lynch’s left flank

The Southie Congressman may have pushed progressives too far this time.
US Representative Stephen Lynch has held Massachusetts’s ninth congressional district since 2001 — a fact that has irritated the state’s liberals ever since.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | April 02, 2010

What the health-care bill really means

Reforming the System
On Tuesday, President Barack Obama signed the new health-care bill into law.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | March 24, 2010

Hallelujah!

Health-care reform is a new high-water mark
The Democrats won and the Republicans lost. That, in a nutshell, is the bottom line.
By EDITORIAL | March 24, 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

Judicial ups and downs

Plus poppy hypocrisy, pressuring the Pope, and even more ‘Buttercup’ trivia
It was about time that Rogeriee Thompson was finally confirmed (unanimously, we might add) by the United States Senate for what amounts to an historic spot on the Federal Court of Appeals.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | 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

The Big Hurt: Lightfoot lives!

Plus Weezy tweets and Mayer backpedals
Last week, the world was gripped in the terror of a GORDON LIGHTFOOT death scare when a realistic-looking Twitter obit was picked up by several Canadian papers.
By DAVID THORPE | March 02, 2010

Friends in high places

Barack's Best Buddy
Speakers rarely get as warm a welcome as President Barack Obama's senior advisor Valerie Jarrett received last Thursday at Harvard Kennedy School.
By BETH MACLIN | March 01, 2010

The crying game

House Speaker Robert DeLeo tolerates dissent. Then why do some call him a bully?
If you are wondering why Democrats in Washington can't get anything done, even though they control both houses of Congress, take a look at the glacial pace we often see closer to home on Beacon Hill.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | March 01, 2010

Policy matters

A look at the legal landscape
Identifying and living as a transgender person has intense emotional implications that we touch on in this week's story. But here, as with most social issues, the personal is also political.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | February 24, 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

Might as well jump

Recent retirements of key democrats paint a picture of a powerful Republican rogue wave forming. So why are high-profile Republicans jumping ship too?
Last Thursday, Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island — the last of his legendary clan in Congress — announced that he will not run for re-election.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | February 22, 2010

New and improved Romney

He's more fiscal, less social. And he's got millions. But will GOP voters give a Mitt?
Scott Brown's unexpected victory in last month's special US Senate election captured the attention of the country — and particularly of core Republican voters, who huddled eagerly before their TV screens to watch their hero du jour give his acceptance speech. But even in the midst of his moment in the sun, Brown made sure to thank the other handsome, well-coifed man on the stage, Mitt Romney.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | February 12, 2010

Music to incite the savage beast

‘My Way’ can kill you; Big money quashes ‘Big Money’; and a truly Soopah Bowl
Although your superior correspondents try to avoid situations where we have no alternative but to be totally annoying, there have been times when P+J have agreed to karaoke performances.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | February 10, 2010

Impeach John Roberts

The Chief Justice lied
It is time for an enterprising and courageous member of the US House of Representatives to file articles of impeachment against the chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, John Roberts. The charge: lying under oath.
By EDITORIAL | February 08, 2010

Second choice

The ills of instant-runoff voting
The word "instant" makes me suspicious.
By AL DIAMON | January 27, 2010

Elephant in the Room

Massachusetts Republicans suddenly think this is their year — but if they shoot too high, they might fall hard
Platoons of state Republicans, energized by Scott Brown's stunning victory over Democrat Martha Coakley last week, are setting their sights on November.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | January 27, 2010

Revenge of the Idiots

Letters to the Boston editor, January 29, 2010
To my fellow Massachusetts Democrats: please don’t blame Martha Coakley for this shocking defeat.
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | January 27, 2010

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