A SUPER PAC with ties to Gov. Charlie Baker filed reports on Tuesday and Wednesday reporting more than $160,000 in donations to 15 Democrats and Republicans, including Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden, Republican Sen. Patrick O’Connor of Weymouth, and GOP Cape and Islands DA candidate Daniel Higgins. Hayden, who Baker appointed to his position […]
Elections
Posted inPolitics
Galvin predicts high voter turnout in primary
FIVE DAYS BEFORE state primary Election Day, nearly 375,000 ballots have already been cast, a figure Secretary of the Commonwealth Bill Galvin said likely predicts high voter turnout. The Legislature just made mail-in voting permanent, after it was used temporarily during the COVID pandemic. As in 2020, mail-in voting is being more heavily used in wealthier […]
Posted inState Government
SJC says Legislature has broad powers on voting
THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT on Tuesday dismissed the major constitutional challenge that has been levied against the new state law allowing voting by mail, formally addressing a legal question that has been hovering over attempts to expand the law for years. The court found that the Constitution, which lays out specific reasons why someone may […]
Posted inThe Download
Healey won’t release campaign questionnaires
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Maura Healey’s campaign won’t release the questionnaires she has filled out seeking the endorsement of special interest groups. A spokeswoman for the campaign initially said the decision about releasing the questionnaires was up to the interest groups. One of the groups, the Massachusetts Teachers Association, said it was leaving the decision to […]
Posted inPolitics
Healey won’t release campaign questionnaires
DEMOCRATIC GUBERNATORIAL candidate Maura Healey’s campaign won’t release the questionnaires she has filled out seeking the endorsement of special interest groups. A spokeswoman for the campaign initially said the decision about releasing the questionnaires was up to the interest groups. One of the groups, the Massachusetts Teachers Association, said it was leaving the decision to […]
Posted inPolitics
Galvin starts collecting diversity data on staff – and numbers are high
FOR YEARS, Secretary of State William Galvin ignored requests for diversity data on his staff, saying he didn’t collect the information. But this year, facing a primary challenge from Tanisha Sullivan, the head of the Boston office of the NAACP, he changed course. At a debate on GBH on August 10, where his past refusal […]
Posted inImmigration, Politics, Transportation
Diehl, through signature effort, finds an issue
REPUBLICAN GUBERNATORIAL candidate Geoff Diehl, whose campaign has been searching for an issue to run on, apparently helped create one. Proponents of an initiative petition overturning a law allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses said on Wednesday they had gathered more than twice as many signatures as they need to put the measure on […]
Posted inCourts, Opinion, Politics
No conviction needed to bar Trump from the ballot
THE CONSTITUTION’S Fourteenth Amendment says that anyone who took an oath to support the Constitution of the United States, but then “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same,” is forever disqualified from public office. What does this mean for Donald Trump after the January 6, 2021 insurrection? If Trump chooses to run for president in 2024, […]
Posted inThe Download
Healey plans overhaul of MBTA management
Maura Healey, the lone Democratic candidate vying for governor, released a transportation plan on Tuesday that would overhaul top management at the MBTA, set aggressive electrification goals, and establish low-income fares “with a pathway to fare free buses.” The plan says Massachusetts cannot have a functioning economy without a functioning transportation system. “Right now, it […]
Posted inPolitics
GOP lieutenant governor candidates split on Trump
IN THEIR FIRST public debate, the Republican candidates for lieutenant governor – Kate Campanale and Leah Cole Allen – both laid out visions for a state with lower taxes and less government intervention. The two were largely positive about the administration they hope to succeed – Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito – […]