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A valedictory

December 5, 2022 By the-editors

UPDATE: A slight reprieve. The new date for shutdown will be 12/31/22.

Plans are afoot for the site to be thoroughly crawled and archived. It won’t just disappear. The site will stay up, at least for a while, but for the purpose of archiving, commenting and posting will be disabled on 12/31/22.


Hello friends —

Last call.

Sadly, for those who are remaining on this site, I am taking the site down on December 6, 2022. That is the day that the LLC that gives me some legal protections is dissolved by the Secretary of State; the cost of keeping the LLC ($525/year) for a mostly-moribund site is prohibitive for me right now. It’s a shame that the archive of content will come down; it’s an illuminating history of an era. But such is the way of things; most state-level political blogs of our vintage have vanished. I’ll keep a copy of the archive, of course.

I hope that our readers and participants have long since found satisfactory outlets for their political thoughts and activities. It seems that what constitutes “political activity” will be radically re-shaped in the next 24 months, in any event. All best of luck and good courage to all.

Merrick Garland nails the coffin of the rule of law

November 18, 2022 By SomervilleTom

Merrick Garland announced today that he is appointing a “Special Counsel”.

He’s decided to run out the clock rather than fight to save the rule of law. Two years after widespread evidence of a long list of crimes, Mr. Garland chooses to do nothing.

The rule of law in America is dead.

 

Election Day Open Thread

November 8, 2022 By SomervilleTom

For perhaps the last time, here is the traditional election day open thread.

I invite you to share whatever you like about your vote and polling place.

I’m particularly interested in our collective response to the ballot questions.

 

Primary Day is Upon Us!

September 5, 2022 By Christopher

It wouldn’t be BMG without a primary day open thread so I figured I would start.  One of my favorite political websites has taken a nothing-to-see-here attitude, but there are other contested races.  For the statewide races my votes were for Chang-Diaz, Gouveia, Galvin, Palfrey, and DiZoglio.  I’m also supporting Tara Hong’s primary challenge to my State Representative and helping my friend Eunice Zeigler in her race to succeed Diana DiZoglio in the Senate.  I invite others to weigh in with their preferences, predictions, and observations.

Eric Lesser for Lieutenant Governor

August 28, 2022 By Mark L. Bail

I support candidates first based on what they do or will do.

Who they are comes after.

What Eric has accomplished as state senator is nothing short of amazing. You can look up his record on Wikipedia or his website. Those sources, however, can’t tell you what kind of person Eric is.

I think I can.

Eric was literally a kid when I first met him. He was a high school debater for Longmeadow when I was president of the high school debate league. My East Longmeadow team shared a bus with them. I got to know him talking about school and politics on the bus.

One day, I was reviewing judges’ ballots when Eric and his debate partner Amos came to see me in the judges’ room. Debate judges varied in quality. Some actually understood the stock issues of debate. Others qualified because they had a pulse. Eric and Amos had one of the pulse judges and were handed a loss to a team that had no idea what it was doing.

As a senior, Eric Lesser and his partner won the Connecticut Valley Debate League championship. (Left to Right, Amos Shemesh, Mark Bail, and Eric Lesser)

They told me the story. I looked at the ballot. I knew it was a bad beat. What I still remember was Eric’s gratefulness. They had reason to be angry. Other kids would have lost it. I remember the parent of one irate debater threatening to tell Dan York, a local talk show host, about the unfairness of a debate lost. Eric was thankful that I looked at their ballot, confirmed that they were right, and had been unjustly dealt a loss. Eric excelled at debate, but even then, he stuck out for his appreciation of the situation.

I followed Eric’s post-high school career in the Springfield Republican. He famously joined the Obama campaign, managed the luggage for a dozen people on dozens of airplane flights. (He never lost a bag). He graduated from the campaign to the White House and worked for the President’s advisor David Axelrod and on the Council of Economic Advisors. Read More…

Progressive Mass Shouldn’t Back Stupid Primaries

August 12, 2022 By jconway

Our own Tommy Vitolo (stomv) was a long time climate activist, systems engineer, and wonk blogger right here at BMG before he got into the state house. Since that time he has accumulated a lot of legislative accomplishments on housing, climate, and LGBT issues by working with House leadership and his more moderate colleagues to get things done. This seems to me to be the mark of a reality based approach to progressive lawmaking.

That record of pragmatic progressivism has apparently invited a primary challenge to his left from Raul Fernandez who, like Tommy, is a Brookline selectman and fellow policy wonk (in this case education policy at my graduate alma mater BU Wheelock). This is the rare primary where I happen to know and like both candidates on a personal level, so by no means is this post a dig against Fernandez. I just question the wisdom, timing, and target of his primary challenge.

To Raul’s credit his critique is mostly substantive and wonky hitting Tommy for specific votes around improving transparency on Beacon Hill. I’ve long been on the record here bemoaning our lax rate of permanent incumbency and uncompetitive elections for the legislature. I’ve even been critical of Tommy for votes I disagreed with him on including voting for DeLeo’s last re-election, yet these are not the disqualifying votes begging for a  primary challenger Raul makes them out to be. Particularly one as well financed and staffed as Raul’s.

Tommy does not have a 100% rating from Progressive Mass, which is apparently the main reason the organization is backing this primary which has attracted a lot of outside funding and campaign energy that could be better spent on the Fair Share amendment, protecting undocumented immigrants, and electing a Democrat to the Corner Office. There are also critical elections for Suffolk DA, Auditor, Attorney General, and Lieutenant Governor. Not to mention critical competitive congressional elections in NH, CT, and RI. Any of these efforts would be a better use of time.

At a time when outright anti-democracy candidates are on the ballot in neighboring states and avowed election deniers will win the Republican nominations for constitutional offices in our own state, I question the wisdom of targeting a reliable progressive just because he voted for Ron Mariano. Using that logic previous PM endorsed candidates like Mike Connolly should also be challenged by the organization.

If anything this primary gives truth to the reality that too many progressives cluster in the blue bubbles even within our own state. My own state representative in purple Wakefield is a relatively conservative Republican who is not even getting opposed. His office has yet to get back to me with his abortion stance, although I know from digging he voted against the Roe Act multiple times. I have no idea if PM has even bothered trying to create chapters in districts that routinely send conservative Democrats or Republicans to the statehouse, but this seems like an effort where we are eating one of our own. No offense to PM organizers who are doing important work I largely no longer have time to do, and no offense to Raul Fernandez who is a dedicated educator and activist who should be in the statehouse, but this primary seems really dumb.

More Posts from this Category

Our state thong

January 7, 2005 By Charley on the MTA

You know, I think of myself as a pretty dignified, brie-eating Cambridge liberal ... you know, elbow patches and such. But I can't help but point your attention to this. (Thanks -- I guess -- to the subtly-named "Romney is a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: User Tagged With: massachusetts

Even more on Thomas

January 7, 2005 By David

As expected, today brings a new crop of Justice Thomas commentary.  This one, by Edward Lazarus, argues that liberals shouldn't dismiss Thomas as a lightweight or as a Scalia clone, but that Thomas's radical views and unwillingness to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: User Tagged With: law-and-lawyers

Cheney reveals worst taste in music EVER

January 6, 2005 By David

The NY Daily News reports here that VP (and, alas, VP-elect) Dick Cheney has selected the song "Let the Eagle Soar," by outgoing Attorney General John Ashcroft, to be performed at his inauguration.  If you've never seen the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: User Tagged With: national

Be afraid, be very afraid

January 6, 2005 By David

Josh Marshall has the full text of the leaked memo from Karl Rove's deputy regarding the administration's strategy to destroy Social Security.  It's all scary, but the scariest part is the paragraph on tactics:Our strategy will … [Read more...]

Filed Under: User Tagged With: national

Curious commentaries

January 5, 2005 By David

The yakkity-yak over Clarence Thomas and all other matters relating to the possibly-soon-to-be-vacant Chief Justice's seat continues apace.  Two of today's commentaries caught my eye.First, John Yoo (Berkeley law prof, former Thomas … [Read more...]

Filed Under: User Tagged With: law-and-lawyers

No torture?? Oh, NOW he tells us.

January 5, 2005 By Charley on the MTA

Gonzales promises non-torture policy. ["Well why the hell did I nominate him, then?"]Tune in tomorrow to watch the fur fly. He may get confirmed anyway (a forgone conclusion, according to many Dems). It's yet more kryptonite to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: User Tagged With: national

U.S. Is Global Skinflint

January 5, 2005 By Bob Neer

TheU.S. is being a bad neighbor in the face of one of the worst naturaldisasters in history. Bush is scrambling to portray each successiveinadequate offer, first $15 million, then $35 and now $350 million, asthe best the millionaire in his … [Read more...]

Filed Under: User Tagged With: national

Give ’em enough rope… to climb down

January 5, 2005 By Charley on the MTA

(Read the Guinness chalkboard on the picture at right: it's from May '04. Cambridge City Hall is in the background.)With Sal DeMasi now in charge of the House, and Travaglini on the wedding circuit, it would seem that the prospects of the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: User Tagged With: massachusetts

Good luck with that, Christie

January 5, 2005 By David

From the publisher's note to Christine Todd Whitman's new book: The Republican party is embroiled in a heated and high-stakes battle between its far-right and moderate wings -- with conservatives declaring open warfare on the moderates who … [Read more...]

Filed Under: User Tagged With: national

“See Mitt run”

January 4, 2005 By David

That's the title of this Joan Vennochi column in today's Boston Globe, which generally makes it pretty obvious that the Mittster is running for President in 2008 (not that we were ever in any doubt about that).  In the column, His … [Read more...]

Filed Under: User Tagged With: massachusetts

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