This story was updated at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday and the numbers stating the makeup of the House were corrected. REPUBLICAN GOV. CHARLIE BAKER won a landslide reelection victory on Tuesday, but he had few coattails on Beacon Hill as his party ended up losing a couple seats in the Legislature. Rep. James Lyons Jr., a […]
Elections
Posted inPolitics
CommonWealth’s election cram sheet
IF YOU’RE TRYING to cram for Tuesday’s election, check out CommonWealth’s election coverage — both news stories and opinion pieces — to get a handle on the issues. GOVERNOR’S RACE Charlie Baker and the incredible vanishing gender gap Gonzalez’s ‘secret’ MBTA document Opinion: For our environmental future, Gonzalez is clear choice by Mark Sandeen and Bob […]
Posted inOpinion
Union ‘loophole’ isn’t a very big one
MASSACHUSETTS IS ONE of seven states to permit labor union political giving while entirely barring corporate contributions – both those from corporate treasuries and from associated political action committees (PACs). Unions are allowed to donate up to a combined $15,000 per election to state candidates, political parties, and PACs. Individuals, meanwhile, are capped at contributions […]
Posted inHealth Care
Researchers at odds on agency’s nurse staffing report
THE HEALTH POLICY COMMISSION’S REPORT early last month on the potential effects of Question 1 was portrayed as an independent, objective analysis, but many of the researchers whose work was cited in the report disagree with at least some of the findings. The commission, an independent watchdog agency set up to monitor and find ways […]
Posted inPolitics
Democrats seek to increase dominance in Legislature
DEMOCRATS, who already dominate the state Legislature, have a good chance of picking up more seats on Tuesday. The numbers are in their favor. Of the 200 seats in the Legislature, only 72, or 36 percent, are being contested. That means 115 Democrats and 13 Republicans are already assured of victory on Tuesday. In the […]
Posted inOpinion
This election could see a millennial wave
THE POLITICAL SPIN CYCLE moves at exponential speeds these days. Where once Republicans were unenthusiastic, now they are supposedly ready to charge to the polls. And millennials, chronically disinterested in the mid-terms, are suddenly alive. According to a recent Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics poll, 40 percent of 18- to 29-year olds (a younger subset of […]
Posted inPolitics
Globe and Herald throw endorsement curves
YES, IT’S A FAIR QUESTION to ask how much influence newspaper endorsements have in an era of declining circulation — or to wonder how much sway they have ever had for that matter. But they’re still an interesting measure of the thinking on important election contests, and Boston’s two daily newspapers offer up some surprises […]
Posted inPolitics
GOP’s Sen. Ross refuses to debate his opponent
IT’S A SCRIPT nearly every challenger in an election follows: Throw the gauntlet down for the incumbent to agree to a series of debates and then try to hold their feet to the fire for as many encounters as you can force to get attention and recognition. It’s a pattern very familiar to Republicans in […]
Posted inPolitics
Actress: Yes on Q3 would send message to nation
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE AS THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT weighs changes to legal definitions around sex and gender, a vote to uphold a Massachusetts law aimed at protecting transgender people from discrimination would send a message to the nation, actress Laverne Cox told a group of educators, transgender students, and parents Wednesday. Cox, a transgender activist […]
Posted inOpinion
Why we’re voting no on Question 1
SHOULD MASSACHUSETTS establish mandated nurse-to-patient ratios in law for all the state’s acute care hospitals? This 25-year-old conflict between the Massachusetts Nurses Association and Massachusetts Hospital Association will be determined at the polls on November 6 as Question 1. We think not. We are university professors who care about Massachusetts health care policy. We both […]