THE NORMALLY CONGENIAL dealings of the Massachusetts House of Representatives turned into a scene of vituperative charges and countercharges being hurled across the partisan divide on Wednesday as lawmakers struggled to devise a plan for how to conduct business amidst the coronavirus pandemic. House Speaker Robert DeLeo accused House Republicans of putting House members and […]
Robert DeLeo
Posted inGambling
DeLeo calls Nangle allegations ‘serious and troubling’
HOUSE SPEAKER Robert DeLeo said Tuesday that the allegations against Rep. David Nangle, a member of his Democratic leadership team, are “serious and troubling and, if true, represent a significant betrayal of the public trust.” But DeLeo did not say what, if any, steps the House would take regarding Nangle. Nangle was arrested by federal […]
Posted inOpinion
A New Year’s resolution for the Mass. House
THERE WAS SOMETHING different about the start of this legislative session in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. It wasn’t the composition: Yes, Democrats did manage to flip two seats, but a slightly more overwhelming super-majority isn’t much of a sea change. It was that Democrats were actually willing to stand up and demand a recorded […]
Posted inOpinion
Speaker’s PAC provides incumbent protection
THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S DOMINANCE in the Massachusetts Legislature is a matter beyond dispute. Since 1978, when a constitutional amendment reduced the number of seats in the House of Representatives from 240 to 160, the Democrats’ veto-proof two-thirds majority in that body has never dipped below 123 (17 votes more than necessary for a veto override). […]
Posted inPolitics
Baker tries to nudge House and Senate toward agreement
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER has seen House Speaker Robert DeLeo’s offer of a barebones closeout budget deal to break a logjam on Beacon Hill and, like any confident poker player, raised the stakes a bit to pay for priorities that aren’t strictly speaking deficiency spending. After a private meeting on Monday between Baker, DeLeo, Senate President […]
Posted inPolitics
DeLeo and Spilka on different pages
THE HOUSE AND Senate are circulating proposals for a compromise on an overdue spending bill, and the one idea that has had a public airing would leave out a $50 million infusion to the MBTA that both chambers have already agreed to. House Speaker Robert DeLeo, who five months ago said the T was in […]
Posted inPolitics
Lawmakers botch budget bill negotiations
BY FAILING TO reach agreement on a major spending bill before the winter break, legislative leaders have squandered much of their control over what goes into it, and they have courted more federal scrutiny of the state’s election process. In the wee hours of early Thursday morning, the House and Senate essentially threw in the […]
Posted inTransportation
Concerns on police bias linger after distracted driving vote
OVERWHELMING VOTES IN the House and Senate to enact driver safety legislation belie enduring disagreements within the Legislature over how best to monitor and tamp down racial bias by police. The bill that was sent to Gov. Charlie Baker on Wednesday is now virtually guaranteed to become law, but the legislation was formed in an […]
Posted inTransportation
DeLeo calls off transpo tax debate – for now
HOUSE SPEAKER ROBERT DELEO is putting off a debate over tax legislation to fund transportation improvements until next year, throwing into doubt whether anything will happen in an area that advocates and business groups say is in desperate need of more funding. After expressing some uncertainty Wednesday about his plans to take up the tax […]
Posted inPolitics
Kaufman: ‘No diversity of opinion’ in DeLeo’s inner circle
FORMER REP. JAY KAUFMAN continued his recent lambasting of House Speaker Robert DeLeo during a panel discussion Wednesday about the lack of racial and gender diversity in Massachusetts government. The Lexington Democrat, who spent roughly a decade as DeLeo’s Revenue Committee chairman until last year when he declined to seek re-election, said the leadership ranks […]