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Hey folks. Lurker here. Joining the conversation to let you all know that BMG endorsed candidate Mac D'Alessandro just posted a fundraising appeal on dailykos. We have all been working hard and digging deep for Mac. It's time to tap into the national network of progressives. Please help get the word out by heading over to dkos and clicking the recommend button:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyo...
As you may know, it's possible these days to use a custom domain for short URLs. That is, rather than using popular but generic URL shorteners like tinyurl.com or bit.ly, you can set up your own, more personalized domain, so that short URLs that you create reflect your website, your company, or yourself.
We thought this sounded fun. So we have set up the bmg.ma domain for this purpose. It reflects us (get it? BMG plus .ma for Massachusetts?), plus it's nice and short, as a URL shortener should be. The actual URL shortening is done through our account at bit.ly, so bmg.ma itself simply maps to bit.ly. But the short URLs on the bmg.ma domain can map directly to whatever long URL we want. For instance, want to know how to get to the State House? Here's a Google map: http://bmg.ma/9FlQNX
Henceforth, our twitterfeed (which automatically tweets every new BMG front-page post, and if you use Twitter but don't follow us, you should!) will send out short URLs on the bmg.ma domain. We'll also drop bmg.ma shortened URLs into posts, when we're inspired to do so. At the moment, unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be possible to open things up so that you, too, can create bmg.ma short URLs. If that changes, though, we'll let you know!
Well, apparently the Globe has its talons dug deep into the burning question whether various state officials' campaigns have paid required state and federal taxes on investment earnings from campaign funds that were invested in vehicles like certificates of deposit. Not exactly the kind of hot-button issue that makes voters' heads explode, but obviously, taxes owed should be paid.
What's the upshot of all this? Several campaigns - Martha Coakley's, Tim Cahill's, Tim Murray's, and Guy Glodis's - appear to have made more or less the same mistake in terms of not paying the required taxes. The mistakes shouldn't have been made, but they were. The correct reaction is the reaction from the Coakley, Cahill, and Murray campaigns: we screwed up, we owe the taxes, and we are going to pay them. That is how to make the story go away quickly, and for those three campaigns, it seems very likely to do so.
The story that threatens to stick around longer than a day or two comes from the Glodis campaign, which is taking an unusual approach, particularly when the candidate is running for Auditor:
Glodis argued that he did not have to pay federal taxes on income his committee earned. He asserted the Internal Revenue Service code governing political committees allows them to deduct fund-raising expenses, which in his case, he said, were greater than the interest income....
"My committee sought opinions from two separate certified public accountants over a four-year period, both of whom advised the committee that there was no tax liability for interest earned on certificates of deposit because fund-raising expenses exceeded interest earned on the CDs, according to IRS instructions attached to the applicable tax form," said Glodis, whose committee at times has held as much as $428,000 in certificates of deposit over the past four years.
This interpretation appears to conflict with the instructions accompanying IRS Form 1120-POL, the tax return for political organizations. It specifically states: "No deduction is allowed for general administrative or indirect expenses." It does allow deducting for expenses incurred in making investments....
Secretary of State William F. Galvin, whose committee has paid $30,000 to $40,000 a year in state and federal taxes, said he has no doubt the IRS code does not allow deducting for administrative or fund-raising costs. "My reading of the instructions does not allow me to do that," Galvin said. "Believe me, if I thought I was entitled, I would take it."
Big, big mistake on Glodis's part. First, he's practically begging the IRS to audit or otherwise make unpleasant inquiries into the situation. Second, he is begging dogged reporters to figure out who the CPAs were who gave these opinions, and whether they have any connection to Glodis's impressive political operation. Third, he appears to be trying to take advantage of a highly technical interpretation (some might call it a "loophole") in the IRS regulations that ends up being financially very favorable to his campaign - all the while, campaigning for an office whose basic purpose is to make sure that money ends up where it's supposed to be.
Glodis has the money. He'd be smart just to pay the federal taxes and be done with it.
A recent report from the Tax Foundation shows us the importance the personal income tax has in the overall state's finances:
“Massachusetts is the third most income-tax-dependent state in the nation, deriving 36.8 percent of its revenue from its 5.3 percent tax on individual earnings, and nearly cracked the top-ten list of states most dependent on property taxes, according to a new report from the Non-partisan Tax Foundation”
“Massachusetts derives 34.3 percent of its total government revenues from property taxes, 18.4 percent from sales taxes, 6.4 percent from corporate taxes and 4.2 percent from licenses and other taxes, according to the report.”
My heartiest condemnation is reserved for the Cape Cod Commission and the Town of Barnstable for bringing this case in the first place, although a skosh less for Barnstable.
You see, not long ago the Cape Cod Commission sued the Energy Facilities Siting Board claiming they had jurisdiction, if not intelligence or expertise, to decide where the gas company should run a new gas line. The gas company wanted to run it down Old Main Street in Yarmouth, and the CCC wanted it to be under the bike path. Of course,the bike path isn't plowed or maintained in the winter making it difficult to get AT the gas pipe for emergency or maintence. But gee, the houses on Old Main are so NICE...
The SJC affirmed the right of the EFSB to trump the Commission. So naturally, when Cape Wind was OK'd by the EFSB the Commission filed suit to claim jurisdiction. What's the line about doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result?
Now if the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound wants to waste money and time, that's different. Some of its money is sincere, some is sinister, but it's theirs. BUT THE CAPE COD COMMISSION IS EXPENDING SCARCE TAXPAYER DOLLARS on its hubristic quest to rule land and seas. And Barnstable deserves condemnation for joining in this expensive fool's errand.
My take on the fact that Ron Kaufman, MA GOP's representative to the Republican National Committee (and Andy Card brother in law), being a lobbyist for Chavez is not so much about the hypocrisy of Republicans calling out Dems for so-called bad behavior (that is self-evident). No, this is yet another example of activists on both sides being conned by their leaders.
Kaufman lobbying for Chavez is akin to Chuck Schumer or Chris Dodd carrying the water for Wall Street...we are the fools.
(Team Kerry Healey tries to make it 2/2. - promoted by Bob Neer)
It seems like with each new rebrand of the Baker campaign they start with a new commercial and slogan then come out with new attacks. Past attacks have gone nowhere as the details of the half truths become public knowledge. One might also argue that Baker should instead focus on providing voters honest answers to difficult issues. But alas the Baker campaign decided to go a different route. This time the Baker campaign is going hard after the property tax issue. Today in Milton Baker goes on the attack:
He said the property tax was the tax to cut, and Treasurer Tim Cahill endorsed the governor and together they campaigned and governed for the past four years. It is another broken promise of Deval Patrick and Tim Cahill."
Baker said property taxes have gone up in the last four years by 11 percent.
The Baker campaign then puts up a web ad on property taxes which is gleefully posted on BMG. Interesting, right? But when you look at the Property Tax Information in the DOR website you see a different picture. The fact of the matter is Deval Patrick lowered the rate increase on property tax in each year he has been on office. Mitt Romney's last year property tax increased by 5.9%, Patrick lowered the rate to 4.2% in his first term and in 2010 the rate is now down to 3.3%.
The Patrick campaign put out a fact sheet on property taxes and pointed out that even under the largest recession since the great depression the administration for the first time in 20 years has been able lower the rate change three years in a row.
For the first time in twenty years and amid a global economic recession, property tax increases under the Patrick-Murray administration went down three years in a row - from 4.2% in the first year of the term to 3.3% presently, representing a 22% decrease.
Charlie Baker on the other hand didn't fair as well. Baker as you know was the Secretary of Administration and Finance under Weld and Cellucci, as the head finance guy Baker's property tax averaged an increase of 4.38%, that's higher than any under Patrick. To add insult to injury Baker is attacking Patrick when he is fighting to keep property taxes lower in a global recession with less revenue, Baker on the other hand increased property tax at a higher clip when he was presiding over a $1 billion budget surplus. I don't see how Baker could attack Patrick when it was clear that property tax relief was not a priority when he was managing the budget.
It's hard to see Sen. Orrin Hatch's comments regarding the "Ground Zero Mosque" as anything other than a slap right across Mitt Romney's devastatingly handsome face.
Senator Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, said mosque proponents "have every right" to carry out their plans in New York, just as Mormons had a right to build their temple, despite neighborhood opposition.... "I remember when the Belmont, Mass., temple was going up ... the local people got up in arms," he said. "They didn't want a Mormon church there to begin with. They couldn't stop that, but then they tried to stop the steeple with the angel Moroni."
Mitt Romney, as you may recall, lived in Belmont not too long ago. He was a major force behind the building of that temple, despite stiff local opposition that took the matter to the Supreme Judicial Court. But Romney is against the Ground Zero Mosque. According to the awesome Eric Fehrnstrom, speaking on Romney's behalf:
"The wishes of the families of the deceased and the potential for extremists to use the mosque for global recruiting and propaganda compel rejection of this site."
Now, do you think it's a coincidence that Hatch happened to pick the controversy in Belmont to illustrate his point? I don't. There's local opposition to new religious structures generally, and new Mormon temples in particular, allthetime. He could have chosen any of them (I believe the controversy in Phoenix is still ongoing). But Hatch picked the controversy in Belmont, long Mitt Romney's home town, as his example for how local opposition should not win out over religious freedom.
Once, Romney had a different view of the importance of letting religious groups build places of worship. Let's check in with the wayback machine (HT kos diarist).
One particularly blunt affront has left Romney still visibly enraged months after it occurred. His jaw clenches as he tells how he was approached by a local woman after a public meeting between church members and their critics. "One lady, who I'm sure considers herself quite tolerant, came over to me and wanted to know why we just didn't go on back to Utah and build our temple out there," he recalls.
Basically, the lady was saying, "you can build your temple. Just build it somewhere else." Of course, Romney, who I'm sure considers himself quite tolerant, is saying exactly that about the mosque.
The police report claims rolling papers were found and says Jon admitted smoking half a joint, the statement submitted on his behalf in court says that he took a hit from a communal joint, and now he claims no toking.
Jon Golnik, who many have been saying was the strongest candidate against Niki Tsongas, has admitted an arrest for DUI.
The "DREAM Now Series: Letters to Barack Obama" is a social media campaign that launched Monday, July 19, to underscore the urgent need to pass the DREAM Act. The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, S. 729, would help tens of thousands of young people, American in all but paperwork, to earn legal status, provided they graduate from U.S. high schools, have good moral character, and complete either two years of college or military service. With broader comprehensive immigration reform stuck in partisan gridlock, the time is now for the White House and Congress to step up and pass the DREAM Act!
Dear Mr. President,
My name is Lizbeth Mateo and I am undocumented. On May 17th, on the 56th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, I, along with Mohammad Abdollahi, Yahaira Carrillo and two others, became the first undocumented students to risk deportation by staging a sit-in inside Senator McCain's office in Tucson, Arizona, to demand the immediate passage of the DREAM Act. As a result of that sit-in we were arrested, turned over to ICE, and we now face deportation
(I find the "We can do better" slogan to be hilariously self-referential. There's little doubt that Team Baker can "do better" than they've done so far- really, it's hard to see how they could have done much worse. The big question is whether they will. - promoted by David)
It looks like Had Enough and the always amusing yet unattended Had Enough Tour is officially toast.
Wendy's asked, "Where's the beef?'' The dairy industry posed the question, "Got milk?'' And now, Charles D. Baker, Republican gubernatorial candidate, is hoping to coin a slogan of his own, asking voters, "Had enough?''
Baker, in an attempt to rebrand his campaign, rolled out the catchphrase yesterday on a website and bumper stickers and in an online ad, Twitter messages, and in the start of a 10-community tour promoting the notion that voters have "had enough''
How many millions were dumped into that slogan? Boston Magazine coverage of the now infamous tour:
Baker is standing at a lectern with his supporters lined up behind him on tiers of cement steps. But because the turnout is so dreadful, there's almost no one left for him to address. As he begins his speech, he's talking to just a handful of staffers and journalists. There are 13 people sitting at the tables and chairs that occupy the square behind City Hall, but their curious looks make it clear they haven't come for the speech. "These are all his people," a photographer from the Worcester Telegram & Gazette keeps saying. "There's no public here."
Panic move? Awfully late to be changing your message, but the latest rebrand is We Can Do Better. Seems like a watered down version of Had Enough, is Baker conceding that the state has done well and is coming out of the recession stronger than the nation but we can do better? That's a tough sell, especially from the guy that has been telling us something different over the past five months.
We all read the story in last week's Boston Globe about how some legislative candidates are tacking to the right.
Just wanted to bring another example to light: state Rep. Steve Tobin of Quincy, who is running to replace Mike Morrissey in the state senate.
Rep. Tobin in a column in the Braintree Forum this week took a page out of the GOP playbook saying he opposes expanding the Bottle Bill to include water and sports drink bottles, calling it a "tax."
More incredibly, he also said the Bottle Bill is ineffective. "Adding a tax to your water bottles neither equates to fewer water bottles nor decreases plastic production. Furthermore, it is damaging to your quality of life. The result of the proposed bill is an additional tax for you, albeit strategically disguised."
I'm pretty sure the people who spend time cleaning water bottles out our local waterways and roadsides would disagree.
Also, I'm trying to track down the footage, but according to my local sources, Rep. Tobin also tried to favorably compared himself several times to US Sen. Scott Brown during a recent cable access debate.
Sounds like a good Democrat we should all get behind!
DISCLAIMER: I dont live in the district and don't have a horse in this race.
Campaign-speak - the language spoken by professional political types - is a language that resembles English, but that often makes you scratch your head wondering if the people employing it really meant what they appear to have just said.
Consider the case of Amy Goodrich, the Baker campaign spokeswoman who recently declared that Team Baker was "happy to provide a platform" for a guy whose business went bankrupt allegedly because he drained a lot of the cash for personal luxury items while also violating the state's wage laws. She's got another doozy in today's Herald.
See, the Herald story says that a variety of unions are declining to back Governor Patrick because he has taken stands that they don't support. Flaggers, the Quinn bill, slots at the tracks, and some education issues are the big ones. As a result,
Massachusetts unions once wed to Gov. Deval Patrick are divorcing the Democrat as the final stretch of the contentious campaign approaches, with some jumping into the arms of independent Tim Cahill and others refusing to endorse at all with Labor Day looming.... Reached yesterday, [MA AFL-CIO] president Robert Haynes said because of the sour economy and Patrick's failure to pass casinos, the union may endorse another candidate this time around. Similarly, the Boston Teachers Union, which backed the little-known Patrick in the primary in 2006, says it's staying out.
Did you get all that? Patrick has taken stands contrary to what the unions wanted; as a result, they are not backing him.
So here's Amy Goodrich:
"Charlie Baker is the only candidate who's going to stand up to the unions," Goodrich said.
Wait, what? But Amy, Deval Patrick already stood up to the unions. That is why they're not backing him. In contrast, Charlie Baker did not stand up to the police unions, caving to them on both details and the Quinn bill in a transparent (and failed) bid to get their support.
So I gather that "stand up to" in campaign-speak translates to "cave into" in ordinary English. Got it.
(The 37th Middlesex district consists of all or part of the towns of Acton, Boxborough, Shirley, Harvard, Lancaster, and Lunenburg. - promoted by David)
It has been a while since I posted to BMG, so I wanted to give you an update on my summer of campaigning, and to ask for your help.
As someone who got into public service as a volunteer, Democratic Town Committee member and Chair, and then as a School Committee member and Chair, I know that elections are won and lost based on grassroots campaigning and voter contact. That is why my campaign has knocked on 1,000 doors over the last few months, and why I need your help to beat my ultra-conservative Republican opponent who has strong backing from the party and outside organizations. The Republicans are taking advantage of this difficult time for our economy and are using attacks to whip up voter fear and anger, rather than campaigning on the issues.
Please read my release below on my grassroots campaigning philosophy and consider spending a few hours going door-to-door or making phone calls with my campaign so I continue to stand up for our shared progressive values in Boston. If you want to get involved, just send an email to my wonderful Campaign Manager Amy Burke: amy@jenbenson.org. We cannot be complacent and allow the Republican candidates to use fear and anger to win in November.
(Note the awesome new short URLs we can make! :-) - promoted by David)
Last Friday, Congressman Lynch and I went toe-to-toe at a mini-debate moderated by Jon Keller. The 15 minute debate aired on WBZ this morning and is available online.
It was a spirited, substantive debate on the issues -- something we need a lot more of in politics, frankly. I'm sorry it only lasted 15 minutes -- and that, thus far at least, it's the only scheduled debate of this campaign.
First off, I'd like to invite you to view the debate for yourself, which you can do here:
Unlike certain deluded Democrats, Jim McGovern has figured out a basic truth about politics: if you stand up for who you are and what you believe, voters will respect you. The worst thing a politician can do, IMHO, is constantly adapt his or her positions to what seem to be the prevailing political winds.
McGovern doesn't plan to change his beliefs or stance on the issues in the wake of Brown's victory, he said. Besides, he joked, he doesn't have a pickup truck, a spread in Cosmopolitan magazine, or a full head of hair.
"Just because Scott Brown won an election doesn't mean I should change everything I believe in," he said. "It's no secret that I'm a liberal; I didn't poll any of this stuff, but I am who I am."
Hear hear. He's also taking the sensible approach of presenting actual facts to his constituents.
McGovern said voter anger is further fueled by misinformation. He recalled one Worcester man demanding that McGovern name one thing that federal stimulus money has done for that city. McGovern said that he ticked off a list of jobs saved, from teachers to firefighters, and that the constituent was won over.
McGovern is one of the real good guys in MA politics. That's why we've got him on our Act Blue page, and why we urge you to support his reelection.
McGovern was kind enough to chat with me for a few minutes last week about some of the issues of the day. Here's our conversation (I had been meaning to chop it up into bite-size pieces, but just haven't had time).
This is a must read. I want to hear what you all think about this. Essentially, while George Soros operates in the open, and not to support his businesses - the Kochtopus is, in fact, one of the top ten polluters in the world, and using its clout to kill the government to pollute in peace. Again read all about it.
Their idea seems to be if you cannot make it on your own, please die and improve the race. What Jonathan Swift wrote as a satire appears to be close to what the Koch brothers and Grover Nyquist believe, as proponents of social Darwinism.
Again, the path of honor, the path of the Warrior, is that the strong take care of the weak.
The group "one in five Americans" believes our commander in chief is a Muslim, accepts alien abductions as fact, can't find the U.S. on a map, and thinks George W. Bush was a great president. HuffPo spotlights the group and its core beliefs.
Texas Vows To Reclaim Title Of Most Regressive State From Arizona. "Following a series of embarrassingly backward laws recently enacted in Arizona, Texas governor Rick Perry pledged Wednesday to do everything in his power to reestablish his state as the most regressive in the nation."
Candidate To Accuse Opponent Of Racism Just To See What Happens. "With polls showing him trailing in New York's Republican primary race for U.S. Senate, candidate David Malpass told reporters Friday he planned to accuse his opponent Bruce Blakeman of racism just to see if it caught on with anybody. "It couldn't hurt, so I might as well give it a shot," said Malpass ..."
