FOR MORE THAN 50 YEARS, the Boston Globe’s award-winning Spotlight Team – not the same people, they do change them – has put a spotlight on corruption, scandal, and inequity in the region. From exposing James “Whitey” Bulger as an FBI informant to revealing slothful schedules of Massachusetts judges to uncovering redlining by mortgage companies […]
Jack Sullivan
Jack Sullivan is now retired. A veteran of the Boston newspaper scene for nearly three decades. Prior to joining CommonWealth, he was editorial page editor of The Patriot Ledger in Quincy, a part of the GateHouse Media chain. Prior to that he was news editor at another GateHouse paper, The Enterprise of Brockton, and also was city edition editor at the Ledger. Jack was an investigative and enterprise reporter and executive city editor at the Boston Herald and a reporter at The Boston Globe.
He has reported stories such as the federal investigation into the Teamsters, the workings of the Yawkey Trust and sale of the Red Sox, organized crime, the church sex abuse scandal and the September 11 terrorist attacks. He has covered the State House, state and local politics, K-16 education, courts, crime, and general assignment.
Jack received the New England Press Association award for investigative reporting for a series on unused properties owned by the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, and shared the association's award for business for his reporting on the sale of the Boston Red Sox. As the Ledger editorial page editor, he won second place in 2007 for editorial writing from the Inland Press Association, the nation's oldest national journalism association of nearly 900 newspapers as members.
At CommonWealth, Jack and editor Bruce Mohl won first place for In-Depth Reporting from the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors for a look at special education funding in Massachusetts. The same organization also awarded first place to a unique collaboration between WFXT-TV (FOX25) and CommonWealth for a series of stories on the Boston Redevelopment Authority and city employees getting affordable housing units, written by Jack and Bruce.
Posted inPolitics
Questions about ballot questions
WITH PRIMARIES OUT OF THE WAY and the November elections bearing down on voters, the push for two of the three referendums on the ballot is beginning to heat up. The onslaught of dueling data is just beginning to hit stride as both sides will tout studies and grab onto fungible facts that boost their […]
Posted inPolitics
The Bay State Trump bump
Yesterday, upon the stair, I met a man who wasn’t there He wasn’t there again today I wish, I wish he’d go away… “Antigonish” by William Hughes Mearns GOV. CHARLIE BAKER consistently polls as one of the most popular governors in the country, some heady stuff for a Republican in […]
Posted inPolitics
Pressley leads changing of the guard
CHANGE HAMMERED ON US Rep. Michael Capuano’s door at about 9:15 Tuesday night after making the rounds at a few other stops. It couldn’t wait. For Ayanna Pressley, the 44-year-old Boston City Councilor who defeated the 10-term incumbent by a surprisingly wide 59 to 41 margin, the result justified the politically risky decision she made […]
Posted inUncategorized
AG: Towns can’t ban medical pot
IN A STARTLING TURNAROUND, Attorney General Maura Healey has reversed her office’s decision that allowed communities to ban medical marijuana dispensaries after opening the door earlier this summer for cities and towns to block the dispensaries from coming to their communities. “The Attorney General’s Office is committed to ensuring that the marijuana legalization law is […]
Posted inUncategorized
Boston moves to the Herald?
DESPITE ALL THE ANGST over Digital First’s $12 million takeover of the Boston Herald earlier this year, employees are about to see a $3,100 boost in their paychecks. The downside is it is coming by way of eliminating paid parking for the tabloid’s staff when the notoriously cost-conscious media chain moves the paper with a […]
Posted inPolitics
Women haven’t come a long way in politics, baby
THERE IS A MINDSET that, with the extraordinary number of women running for office in local, state, and federal elections this year, it’s causing a problem for women’s groups and female voters who have to make a choice. (A Google search found no similar stories about the conundrum for guys when multiple white men run for […]
Posted inEconomy
National Grid lockout of 1,200 workers drags on
As the National Grid lockout of 1,200 gas workers nears two months, there is growing pressure on the company by local officials to end the impasse. But there doesn’t seem to be much awareness by the general public of what’s happening, mostly because warm weather means low demand for natural gas. Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch is […]
Posted inEconomy
Worcester lands the PawSox
IN A COUP THAT WAS three years in the making, Worcester officials were able to woo the owners of the AAA Pawtucket Red Sox to move the team into a to-be-built publicly owned and financed $90 million park that will be the cornerstone of a $340 million major redevelopment in the Gateway City. “Aren’t you […]
Posted inThe Back Story
Anatomy of a smear
SECRETARY OF STATE William Galvin has not survived 43 years in the rough and tumble arena of Massachusetts politics by being meek. So when there’s a threat to his fiefdom, he does what most successful politicians do: He goes on the attack. Galvin, facing a credible primary challenge for the first time in a dozen […]