Good deeds, they say, are their own rewards and a Dorchester charter school teacher may soon have to settle for that. Nicole Bollerman, a third-grade teacher at UP Academy Dorchester, has received well-deserved praise from around the country since the Boston Globe put the spotlight on her just before Christmas for winning a $150,000 prize […]
Ethics and Open Government
Posted inPolitics
Fix the broken Public Records Law
WE IN THE cradle of liberty think of ourselves as national leaders when it comes to government openness and democracy. After all, Massachusetts colonists used public “broadsheets” to inform people about tyrannical acts by the British crown, sparking the American independence movement. And early on in the founding of our nation, lawmakers recognized that an […]
Posted inPolitics
Reporter’s Notebook
FORMER GOV. DEVAL Patrick’s trade mission to Singapore in December 2013 must have been grueling because an aide who accompanied him on the trip ordered up a massage and what expense records describe as a scalp soother. The records, obtained by a filing under the Public Records Law, reveal that Richard Elam, the executive director […]
Posted inPolitics
Galvin orders DPH public records training
Secretary of State William Galvin is ordering officials at the Department of Public Health to attend training sessions on the workings of the Massachusetts Public Records Law. “In the past 12 months my office has opened no less than 14 appeals based on the response or nonresponse of DPH to requests for public records,” wrote […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
Sweetheart deals?
The state Department of Conservation and Recreation is coming under fire yet again for leasing state land to private entities at below-market rates, but this time even one of the critics is being accused of having his own sweetheart deal with the state. The agency has taken flak in the past for lax oversight of […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
Checking Bump’s mileage
Every St. Patrick’s Day the state’s leading politicians flock to South Boston for a roast that features jokes, songs, and lots of laughs. Most of the pols view the event as good politics, but state Auditor Suzanne Bump regards it as part of her official duties. Bump, unlike the governor, attorney general, and treasurer, billed […]
Posted inPolitics
Temp CFO earns $262,000 for 10 months
A temporary replacement for the chief financial officer at the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency ended up making nearly $262,000 — $34,000 more than the full-time president and CEO – because it took the agency 10 months to fill the job. The temporary replacement was Michael Barone of Barone Associates, who previously served as managing director […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
120 days and counting
The state’s Public Records Law has three major blind spots. The Legislature, which passed the initial law in 1851, exempted itself from the law’s reach in 1897. The judicial branch of government, citing the language of the law and its own regulations, claims its records are all off limits. And the governor’s office, relying on […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Probation jurors go with their heads
Jurors went with their heads rather than their hearts in finding former Probation commissioner John O’Brien and two of his top aides guilty of mail fraud, racketeering, and conspiracy. Their heads told them that a crime had been committed. O’Brien ran a rigged hiring system that was designed to steer politically connected job applicants through […]
Posted inPolitics, The Back Story
PACs and caps
A campaign finance package the Legislature advanced Wednesday afternoon would double the state’s limits on contributions to political candidates. The change would allow candidates to accept $1,000 checks from donors, rather than the $500 they’re currently limited to. The increase appears to be driven much more by the increasing costs of waging competitive campaigns, than […]