For this Democratic primary cycle, what are your favorite, most informative, bold and revealing news pieces? My nominations are:
Number three. “It’s mismanagement to treat them in a harsh, demeaning way and mismanagement to base supervisory decisions on the fear of media criticism”, says Lisa McGovern, former prosecutor in Middlesex. She is quoted in Middlesex DA under fire for management style, by Maria Cramer and Frank Phillips, in July 26th Boston Globe.
This news report really put incumbent Marian Ryan, and everybody else, on notice. Several follow-ups revealed Michael Sullivan, Ryan’s opponent in the Middlesex DA Democratic primary, had troubling conflicts of interest and ethical lapses of his own. But this was the one that started the series and set the tone.
Two for number two. The old adage is that one campaigns in poetry and governs in prose. Yet, on a more practical level, who is financing whom, in the Governor and Attorney General primaries?
Read The Big Spenders, by the Boston Magazine’s David S. Bernstein, about the Governor candidates (Aug 26th), and The hidden attorney general race: gay community v. labor, by the Globe’s Alan Wirzbicki (Aug 14th).
And One: “Massachusetts voters, it seems, are partial to outsiders”, writes David Sharfenberg. “Elizabeth Warren was a law professor and consumer advocate before she won election to the US Senate. And Deval Patrick was a little-known lawyer when he launched his first campaign for governor… The most obvious Democratic heir to the brand, this year, is gubernatorial hopeful Donald Berwick.”
Clearly Berwick has the smarts and the eloquence to match if not outdo anyone on that stage. But why is Berwick not getting as much traction? You can read the Role of political outsider reconsidered and find out (Aug 1st, also in the Globe).
