Southie's traditional St. Patrick's Day breakfast was anything but traditional yesterday. A testament to the new Boston, a majority-minority city, the breakfast was hosted for the first time ever by a woman, a person of color, a Haitian-American, and a resident of Dorchester...all wrapped up in the energetic and charismatic persona of State Senator Linda Dorcena Forry. …
Continue reading St. Patrick’s Day Breakfast: more love-in, less roast
Today's papers announced the latest entrant in the 2014 race for governor: a Tea Party challenger to Charlie Baker for the Republican nomination. Mark Fisher, a Shrewsbury resident and newbie at electoral politics, runs a metal manufacturing company. His website has a family photo album and an issues list that starts and ends with eliminating Turnpike tolls. …
Continue reading 2014 Mass. gubernatorial primaries up for grabs
Senator John McCain is in Boston today to support Republican Gabriel Gomez' bid for the U.S. Senate race. Gomez, a former Navy SEAL, is expected to step up his attacks on Democratic Congressman Ed Markey for being soft on homeland security. The "soft" votes can be explained, but to so-called independents parachuting late into this …
Political correctness run amuck: President Obama felt compelled to apologize to California Attorney General Kamela Harris for calling her "by far the best looking attorney general in the country." Frankly, the only person who might legitimately feel slighted is Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, a "good looking" woman in her own right. But those who …
Attorney General Martha Coakley told a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce breakfast Wednesday that government's role is not to pick business winners and losers but to create a competitive environment conducive to the development of new ideas and technological innovation. How to do that will be one of several topics explored at an energy summit …
Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray has announced he won't be a candidate for governor or any other statewide office in 2014. We're thus spared the media obsession with his peculiar early morning driving accident in 2011, never explained to the satisfaction of many in the Commonwealth. And we can leave it to the court system, rather …
After 40 hours over 7 days of deliberation, the news is finally in: the jury in the criminal trial of former state treasurer Tim Cahill couldn't reach a unianimous decision about whether he misappropriated public funds for campaign purposes and committed procurement fraud. The judge has declared a mistrial. This outcome raises serious questions about the new 2009 ethics law, …
Elizabeth Warren is a stronger candidate than Martha Coakley was in 2010, but Scott Brown is a far better candidate than he was back then. He was in full campaign mode at today’s New England Council luncheon. His message was clear: he knows that many in the room didn’t vote for him in his 2010 …
Continue reading Scott Brown in full campaign mode at New England Council
Most attorneys general don’t go after political corruption because acting against colleagues can translate into a dead end politically. But Martha Coakley has a new Public Integrity Division, a welcome addition. And she has the new 2009 ethics law, which criminalizes behavior previously treated civilly. Still, there are questions about whether she is being too …
Continue reading Charging Tim Cahill: too much or about time?
Elizabeth Warren is one impressive lady and may turn into a rock star candidate. She spoke yesterday at the University of Massachusetts Boston, invited there months ago by Steve Crosby, Dean of the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies, to speak as an advocate for “reasonable regulatory reform.” The fact that the ballroom …
Continue reading Elizabeth Warren: Senate race off to a good start
Marjorie Arons-Barron 