I asked the Comptroller for figures on the total value of contracts for services held by state agencies in Massachusetts. The Comptroller provided figures for fiscal years dating back to 2003. In FY 2003, the total value of state … [Read more...]
A case for keeping the Pacheco Law
GOP gubernatorial hopeful Charlie Baker has listed repealing the Pacheco Law as one of his "Baker's Dozen" proposals for reducing public sector costs. The Boston Globe has editorialzed against the law as "wasteful policy," as has Globe … [Read more...]
How government can regain its capacity to manage the oil spill
Why is this? Have we, in fact, become a “hollow state” in which public agencies have little ability left to do anything other than rubber stamp corporate activities, many of which seem irresponsible if not … [Read more...]
State human services vendors starting their victory dance
...the era of Dickensian, deservedly maligned institutions housing those who are least able to voice their objections to them must come to an end, beginning this June 30 at Fernald."Dickensian," Leo? You would think nothing has … [Read more...]
The Patrick administration’s community care plan doesn’t connect the dots
But let's get back to the overall skimpiness of the plan. It has broad goals, but in key respects, it doesn't say how those goals will be achieved. It's first two goals, for instance, are 1) Help … [Read more...]
Privatization and Public Structures
Alliance of Boston Neighborhoods organizer Shirley Kressel says in a Boston Globe op-ed that the group has filed a bill that would tap the state budget to the tune of $5.5 million a year to run the 10-acre park. By way of comparison, … [Read more...]
DMR community staffing data raises question on ‘equal-or-better’ care for A.T.
You may recall that we reported here that A.T. was transferred out of Fernald in February, apparently against her will, and moved to a newly constructed group home in Bedford. The circumstances surrounding the transfer are currently … [Read more...]
DMR moving elderly Fernald resident against her wish
Meagher maintained that despite U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Tauro's ruling last year that Fernald must remain open to its current residents, the Patrick administration "is trying to subvert that order by reducing the … [Read more...]
Fernald and the folly of unchecked privatization
By way of disclosure, I have been working as a consultant to The Fernald League for the Mentally Retarded, Inc., a nonprofit, family-run organization seeking to keep Fernald open. However, I’ve written this and a previous … [Read more...]
Why aren’t the candidates talking about our hollow government?
[Cross-posted from the Accountable Strategies blog]The book details how Halliburton has used $20 billion in public reconstruction funds to build "city-states" for the thousands of contractors that have overrun Iraq, yet little … [Read more...]
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