Blue Mass Group

Meyer S. Frucher, chairman of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange and director of the New York Governor’s Office of Employee Relations from 1978 to 1983, and Joseph M. Bress, who held the same position from 1990 to 1994 and is now vice president for labor relations of Amtrak, have urged that binding arbitration be required for all such disputes in future. Just what the doctor ordered.

Until now, coverage of the 1st Bristol special election in the print press has been limited to one early piece in the Attleboro Sun-Chronicle (of which only a brief stub was posted online), and another article that appeared in both the Norton Mirror and the Mansfield News.  Yesterday, the Boston Globe became the first major Massachusetts paper to write about this race. The Globe casts the candidates as “two Foxborough women with strong ties to the community and similar stances on issues”, but also pinpoints some key differences: On two hot-button issues, they differ. Naughton supports same-sex marriage, while Coppola wants Massachusetts voters to decide the question in a referendum. Coppola supports the death penalty, which Naughton opposes. Prominent Democrats are starting to get involved.  Congressman Barney Frank, whose district covers this house district, has endorsed Naughton.  John Kerry is hosting a fundraiser for her at 21st Amendment in downtown Boston this Thursday evening, 5:30-7:30pm.  If you live in metro Boston and are interested in this campaign, that’s a convenient opportunity to meet Claire and her staff.  Barney Frank will be doing a fundraiser on January 17th, but I’m not sure where that will be. (Disclaimer: I’m the webmaster for [...]

Bill Fisher on how Bush blew the chance for leadership 9/11 offered. Click on “There’s More” for the whole story.

OK, here goes.  I reserve the right to be totally, embarrassingly, wrong. The confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito will be the most contentious since Clarence Thomas and will regularly make the evening news.  They will go on longer than planned because Democrats will insist on more information than Alito and the White House are willing to provide about his views, particularly with respect to executive power (which will dominate the hearings; abortion will be a sideshow).  And Chairman Specter (R-Pa.) will allow the Democrats more running room on that issue than most Republicans would like, since he himself is deeply concerned about the executive power issue.  As a result, Sandra Day O’Connor will remain on the bench when the Supreme Court issues its ruling in Ayotte, an important abortion rights case.  Justice O’Connor’s vote, and consequently the result in the case, will be to invalidate the restrictive New Hampshire law, meaning that once again opponents of abortion rights will be foiled in their efforts to scale back Roe v. Wade and its progeny. There will be talk of a filibuster and renewed haggling over the nuclear option in the Senate.  But it won’t come to that because [...]

Hey, I think I was right about Social Security “Reform” being the <a href=”http://www.bluemassgroup.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=68″>Great Thud of Non-Event in 2005. Gay marriage controversy doesn’t seem to be going away, but more and more we’re tussling over strategy, legalities, and other peripheral issues … the concept itself is getting a little less hot and wedge-y in MA. (And who wants a hot wedgie, anyway?) So here are some general predictions for 2006: Republicans try to hit Dems with “Retreat and Defeat” line on Iraq throughout year, regardless of the facts; the media covers the food fight and not the substance of who has the best plan for what the hell to do with this mess. No predictions for how Dems respond, but a firm prediction that Reid and Pelosi will not go on the offensive on this issue, using the Murtha plan as a sword and shield. More’s the pity. Mitt Romney goes into self-imposed exile from Massachusetts, citing “cooties eeeww.” Democratic Gov. primary is close close close; whoever wins walks away with it in the general, which will make Progs and Establishment Dems both uncomfortable. (Check out <a href=”http://davideisenthal.typepad.com/the_eisenthal_report/2005/12/2006_events_and.html”>Eisenthal, who thinks indie-Mihos is the major challenger to the Dems.) Healey prints [...]

The After Downing Street coalition is holding an event on January 7, in Cambridge, at which Secretary of State candidate John Bonifaz will speak.  Full information on the event, including where to register, is posted on our calendar page. If you’re interested, you should register ASAP!

Thursday, Prof. Edward Glaeser (of Harvard’s Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston) and associates discuss a new report on zoning and housing prices: Among other things, how two-acre-minimum lot sizes make things expensive, but free up space for that <a href=”http://point08.blogspot.com/”>donkey. Who’da thunk? Here’s our calendar event with full info, and here’s the <a href=”http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/01/01/housing_slowdown_blamed_on_local_rules/”>Globe story from today. (Full disclosure: presenter Amy Dain is a pal – thanks to her for the heads up.)