"Democrats share stage at debate, forum; Candidates for governor vow to level playing field" by Akilah Johnson | Globe staff June 03, 2014
The five Democratic candidates for governor courted activists online and in person Tuesday, just 10 days before gathering at next week’s convention where the fate of their campaigns will be determined.
The first thing I notice is the total rewrite from what is in my printed piece of slop.
First, the candidates met for a spirited debate early Tuesday afternoon at The Boston Globe, where they discussed overtesting of public school students, Common Core Curriculum standards, a potential ballot question on repealing the state’s casino law, and health care, a debate that was streamed online.
Okay, that paragraph was pretty much verbatim, and that is about all.
They then gathered again, meeting Tuesday night at Roxbury Community College for a forum held by seven Democratic wards in Boston that stretch through the middle of the city and much of the black community.
“We have over 100 delegates from three wards that will be going to the convention,” Victoria Williams, the Ward 12 chairwoman, told the crowd gathered in the college’s media arts center. “Residents of Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, South End, Mission Hill, Dorchester, and Mattapan want to know who the candidates are, how they will tackle the issues facing us, and the agenda they will advance for the next four years.”
About 200 people listened to the five candidates Tuesday night — and three lieutenant governor candidates before them — talk about the need to shrink the achievement gap in education, reform a criminal justice system with a disproportionate number of black men imprisoned, and reduce the number of guns at the root of so much urban violence.
The candidates each discussed their personal efforts to combat racism by leveling the proverbial playing field in jobs, housing, and education.
The two-hour-long forum, called “A Community Conversation with Democratic Candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor,” was moderated by Latoyia Edwards of NECN and Peniel Joseph, founding director of Tufts University’s Center for the Study of Race and Democracy.
Unlike earlier in the day when most of the gubernatorial candidates were uncharacteristically pointed in their criticism of Governor Deval Patrick and the state’s faulty health insurance website, there was near universal praise of the state’s first African-American governor as the hopefuls answered the first question of the night about which of Patrick’s policies best aligned with their platform.
In other words, the Democratic candidates for governor are two-faced!
Donald M. Berwick and Attorney General Martha Coakley both applauded Patrick’s ability to combine efforts to reduce climate change with economic development, pointing to the state’s growing green-tech industry.
I'm tired of the conventional and $elf-$erving bull$hit, sorry. Think Evergreen and A123, readers. They are now located in China after receiving millions in tax loot.
Juliette Kayyem, a former Globe columnist, praised the governor’s work in veterans affairs.
OMG! Doesn't she read the papers?
Joseph Avellone said Patrick has “an exciting vision, and I think we’re on the right path” with closing the achievement gap. And State Treasurer Steve Grossman extolled Patrick’s proposal to limit people in Massachusetts to buying one gun per month.
Yeah, that agenda is being propagandized full bore right now.
There was rousing applause from some sections of the auditorium when Berwick pledged to move Massachusetts to a single-payer health insurance system, which is essentially like Medicare for all. It is a cornerstone issue for his campaign.
He won't be winning then, and I don't want that anymore. Not in Ma$$achu$etts or AmeriKa. Government-run health care is for good states, not corporately-governed ones.
The mention of Coakley’s battle against the federal Defense of Marriage Act and her efforts to end predatory lending in communities of color received an equal response.
Still, there were those delegates in attendance Tuesday night who remained unsure about whom to vote for at next week’s Democratic state convention in Worcester. Democrats must capture 15 percent of delegates’ votes to appear on the ballot in the September primary.
“As a delegate, I think I have a little more thinking to do,” said Shaikh Hasib, who helped coordinate Tuesday’s forum and is a member of the Ward 12 Democratic Committee in Roxbury.
But listening to the candidates’ views on such things as figuring out how to provide funding so that all the state’s youngsters can attend prekindergarten, gave the 26-year-old valuable insight “on where the candidates stood on issues facing urban communities, and I don’t just mean communities of color, but Boston as a whole.”
--more--"
For some reason, the fact that it was a Globe Opinion Debate, sponsored by the Boston Globe's Opinion team was scrubbed, as was all this (hand-typed from print, folks):
The last question of the 60-minute forum even brought out a few sharp elbows among the candidates: What was the biggest policy difference between themselves and the person they considered their biggest rival?
Berwick was sandwiched between Grossman and Kayyem, and both rivals pounced on his answer.
Only problem is the picture on page B1 of my printed paper shows (from left to right), Avellone, Berwick, Coakley, Kayyem, and Grossman.
He was where, Globe?
Berwick said he was the only candidate vehemently opposed to casinos and then brought up what is a key issue to his campaign: his support for a single-payer health care system.
I just perked up! He won't be on the ballot.
"Most of all for me, right now, it's Medicare for all, Berwick said.
His comment generated a free-for-all with candidates interrupting each other.
Democrats? Interrupting each other and acting rude?
Grossman said all Berwick planned was a "conversation" about creating a single-payer system. Kayyem characterized Berwick's plan as a "conversation" and a "commission," two things far from actual implementation.
Related: Kayyem Pepper
Also see: The Kayyem difference
I'm not $eeing it.
"It's not a commission. It's not a conversation," Berwick retorted. "I'm declaring we will move to single-payer if I am governor."
Avellone argued that Berwicks plan would mean a state takeover, resulting in the firing of thousands of people in the health care system.
Isn't he a healthcare guy?
Health care was a heated topic earlier in the debate, with most of the candidates uncharacteristically pointed in their criticism of Governor Deval Patrick regarding the state's faulty health insurance website. There was near universal agreement from the candidates that failed management created the multimillion-dollar fiasco.
See: State Scraps Health Website
Thank you, Obummer!
"This was not just a management failure, this was an embarrassment," Grossman said. Fixing the problem, he said, will cost the state tens of millions of dollars. "We don't have that type of money. We will have to pull money out of the rainy-day fund, money we would have had to invest in universal pre-K or to lower tuition rates."
If so, why is it in the rainy day fund to begin with?
Are we really being well $erved by our "public" $erpents?
But the debate wasn't without levity, especially during the lightning round questions.
Like it's a f***ing game show!??!!
For example, each candidate was asked what he or she thought should be the state snack.
That's a JOKE, right? I mean, THAT is not a SERIOUS STATEMENT, right? They are joking, right?
Grossman said ice cream, the mocha chip being his favorite. Berwick too gave a nod to ice cream, saying "the more chocolately the better." Kayyem said french fries, with Avellone opting for "cold Sam Adams beer."
:-(
Not only is it not a joke, look at the unhealthy junk food they are promoting to an already overweight and obese (yet hungry) population.
And seriously, a BEER is a SNACK! I don't know how well that would go over during kindergarten class.
And Coakley? Well, it would be something healthy.
"Apples," she said.
That was where the print crunched to an end, and based on the absurd question she is correct. Johnny Appleseed and all that, apple pie and America.
Very telling question, Globe, and an important insight to the minds of the candidates. Marty, with all her flaws, is the only one that truly cares about regular people.
For some reason, the fact that it was a Globe Opinion Debate, sponsored by the Boston Globe's Opinion team was scrubbed, as was all this (hand-typed from print, folks):
The last question of the 60-minute forum even brought out a few sharp elbows among the candidates: What was the biggest policy difference between themselves and the person they considered their biggest rival?
Berwick was sandwiched between Grossman and Kayyem, and both rivals pounced on his answer.
Only problem is the picture on page B1 of my printed paper shows (from left to right), Avellone, Berwick, Coakley, Kayyem, and Grossman.
He was where, Globe?
Berwick said he was the only candidate vehemently opposed to casinos and then brought up what is a key issue to his campaign: his support for a single-payer health care system.
I just perked up! He won't be on the ballot.
"Most of all for me, right now, it's Medicare for all, Berwick said.
His comment generated a free-for-all with candidates interrupting each other.
Democrats? Interrupting each other and acting rude?
Grossman said all Berwick planned was a "conversation" about creating a single-payer system. Kayyem characterized Berwick's plan as a "conversation" and a "commission," two things far from actual implementation.
Related: Kayyem Pepper
Also see: The Kayyem difference
I'm not $eeing it.
"It's not a commission. It's not a conversation," Berwick retorted. "I'm declaring we will move to single-payer if I am governor."
Avellone argued that Berwicks plan would mean a state takeover, resulting in the firing of thousands of people in the health care system.
Isn't he a healthcare guy?
Health care was a heated topic earlier in the debate, with most of the candidates uncharacteristically pointed in their criticism of Governor Deval Patrick regarding the state's faulty health insurance website. There was near universal agreement from the candidates that failed management created the multimillion-dollar fiasco.
See: State Scraps Health Website
Thank you, Obummer!
"This was not just a management failure, this was an embarrassment," Grossman said. Fixing the problem, he said, will cost the state tens of millions of dollars. "We don't have that type of money. We will have to pull money out of the rainy-day fund, money we would have had to invest in universal pre-K or to lower tuition rates."
If so, why is it in the rainy day fund to begin with?
Are we really being well $erved by our "public" $erpents?
But the debate wasn't without levity, especially during the lightning round questions.
Like it's a f***ing game show!??!!
For example, each candidate was asked what he or she thought should be the state snack.
That's a JOKE, right? I mean, THAT is not a SERIOUS STATEMENT, right? They are joking, right?
Grossman said ice cream, the mocha chip being his favorite. Berwick too gave a nod to ice cream, saying "the more chocolately the better." Kayyem said french fries, with Avellone opting for "cold Sam Adams beer."
:-(
Not only is it not a joke, look at the unhealthy junk food they are promoting to an already overweight and obese (yet hungry) population.
And seriously, a BEER is a SNACK! I don't know how well that would go over during kindergarten class.
And Coakley? Well, it would be something healthy.
"Apples," she said.
That was where the print crunched to an end, and based on the absurd question she is correct. Johnny Appleseed and all that, apple pie and America.
Very telling question, Globe, and an important insight to the minds of the candidates. Marty, with all her flaws, is the only one that truly cares about regular people.
"Coakley to reimburse Mass. for political travel" by Joshua Miller | Globe Staff May 21, 2014
Attorney General Martha Coakley did not reimburse Massachusetts for more than four years of travel to campaign and political events in a state vehicle, dating back to the month after her 2010 US Senate loss, according to her campaign and a review of state campaign finance filings.
But her campaign said it reimbursed the state Wednesday for $10,820.09 in gas and mileage expenses accrued during her 2010 reelection effort for attorney general, subsequent political events, and her gubernatorial campaign, which she launched in September.
Campaign spokeswoman Bonnie McGilpin said the reimbursement also included interest payments for gas and mileage expenses from 2010, 2011, and 2012. She said the total did not include toll payments.
McGilpin did not answer repeated questions about whether Coakley, who travels with a state trooper in a State Police vehicle as part her executive protection detail as attorney general, had violated any state campaign finance or ethics laws by waiting years to repay taxpayers.
Related: Coakley Violated Campaign Finance Laws
Shouldn't she know better?
The state’s conflict-of-interest law prohibits public employees, including the attorney general, from using public resources for private or personal use....
--more--"
Globe is acting like Grossman's attack dog:
Attorney General Martha Coakley did not reimburse Massachusetts for more than four years of travel to campaign and political events in a state vehicle, dating back to the month after her 2010 US Senate loss, according to her campaign and a review of state campaign finance filings.
But her campaign said it reimbursed the state Wednesday for $10,820.09 in gas and mileage expenses accrued during her 2010 reelection effort for attorney general, subsequent political events, and her gubernatorial campaign, which she launched in September.
Campaign spokeswoman Bonnie McGilpin said the reimbursement also included interest payments for gas and mileage expenses from 2010, 2011, and 2012. She said the total did not include toll payments.
McGilpin did not answer repeated questions about whether Coakley, who travels with a state trooper in a State Police vehicle as part her executive protection detail as attorney general, had violated any state campaign finance or ethics laws by waiting years to repay taxpayers.
Related: Coakley Violated Campaign Finance Laws
Shouldn't she know better?
The state’s conflict-of-interest law prohibits public employees, including the attorney general, from using public resources for private or personal use....
--more--"
Globe is acting like Grossman's attack dog:
"Coakley’s car seen in tow zones during fund-raisers; State officials don’t take issue with it" by Stephanie Ebbert | Globe staff May 29, 2014
Democrat Martha Coakley has run into another flap with her state-issued car, as Republicans caught her state security detail parking in tow zones while she dashed to campaign fund-raisers.
Videos shot by GOP political trackers show the attorney general, the state’s top law enforcement official, parked on two separate occasions in spots clearly marked as tow zones reserved for the Boston Fire Department....
As attorney general, Coakley has a state trooper assigned to protect her at all of her events, not only those that are part of her office duties, and that trooper is responsible for deciding where to park.
The Coakley campaign acknowledged use of the vehicle, and an aide did not dispute the fact that, in both cases, Coakley was attending fund-raisers at the Boston Tennis and Racquet Club on Boylston Street.
In each instance, her driver had placed a placard on the dashboard reading, “Massachusetts State Police Office of the Attorney General Official Business.”
“Like prior attorneys general, Attorney General Coakley has State Police protection and decisions relative to that protection are made by the State Police,” said a Coakley spokeswoman, Bonnie McGilpin.
The department “does not have an issue with where the troopers parked in those instances,” said State Police spokesman David Procopio. “We treat that as part of our public safety mission. We need to have the cruiser as close to the destination as possible.”
“Part of the mission of the State Police is to provide dignitary protection for the attorney general,” said Procopio. “That mission includes protection for the attorney general in all aspects of his or her duties: professional, law enforcement duties, and any other duties, including political.”
Procopio said that, at least in the first instance, the trooper driving Coakley sought permission from firefighters inside the firehouse before parking in the tow zone.
A spokesman for the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance, Jason Tait, noted that candidates need not reimburse the state for security required of their current office.
“Some elected officials are required to have security escorts,” he said. “In those cases, the candidate is not required to reimburse the state or municipality for security.”
The videos were provided by a tracker paid for by the Massachusetts Republican Party, said Robert Cunningham, its executive director. The flap followed two other driving-related mishaps during Coakley’s campaign for governor.
First, Coakley was unable to say how much tax the state takes on every gallon of gas (24 cents). Then, her campaign admitted that she had not reimbursed the state for the cost of gas and mileage for travel to campaign and political events in her state-issued vehicle since her unsuccessful bid for the US Senate four years ago.
The Republican Party has filed a complaint with state campaign finance regulators seeking an investigation into whether she broke the law in waiting four years to repay nearly $11,000 in gas and mileage expenses for campaign events.
Coakley is one of five Democrats running for governor this year. Two Republicans, a Libertarian, and three independent candidates are also in the race.
--more--"
You know, it's not a deal-breaker for me.
Mass. sues Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac over foreclosures
Martha Coakley’s deal with Partners will help contain health costs
Closer look at Partners deal urged
She has already gotten a close enough look, as superficial and shallow as it may be.
The other side of the aisle:
"Mass GOP gubernatorial candidates debate jobs, health care" by Akilah Johnson | Globe staff June 02, 2014
The Republican candidates for governor, Charlie Baker and Mark Fisher, said that promoting casinos as a way to boost the state’s economy is flawed. Baker said the state needs no more than one casino, while Fisher said he would vote to repeal the casino law.
“I never thought casinos were a good thing,” Fisher said. “They can’t bring real jobs to this state.”
Baker said Massachusetts cannot “absorb or figure out how to support as many casinos as we’ve been talking about in recent years. I always thought Mitt Romney had the exactly right answer on this when he was governor, that the state of Connecticut should write Massachusetts a check every year not to get into the casino business.”
The candidates differed on the role government should play in people’s lives, with Fisher saying it should essentially be nonexistent. The minimum wage, he said, should be between the employer and the employee. Health care, he said, is a privilege, not a basic human right.
“If health care is a right, then why does the state have to impose it on us?” he asked. “Where I come from, a right comes from God.”
Baker said “access to health care is a basic right.” And to ensure that everyone is afforded that right, he said, the state’s health care delivery system needs an overhaul, including making the price of care more transparent.
The same person can receive drastically different price quotes for the exact same medical treatment from different hospitals, Baker said. Knowing how much each medical institution charges for a service would “change the whole health care conversation in Massachusetts,” he said.
On climate change, Baker said the state needs to take the most “economically efficient” measures to reduce its carbon footprint, pointing to an energy efficient company that does not receive government subsidies.
Fisher denied climate change exists, calling it “bunk.”
“The science is not there,” Fisher said. “When I was in high school, they were warning us about the coming ice age. Then it was global warning . . . and now we talk about climate change. It’s become politicized, and the scientists are out there making their way, politicizing these things in order to get grants.”
He has to stop huffing and puffing.
Baker said the climate is “obviously changing.”
“There’s data out there to support that,” he said. “And I certainly think the rising carbon dioxide is a man-made, generated activity that plays a role in all of this.”
Oh, Chuck.
Pffffffft (sound of air going out of his whoopee cushion)
Both candidates agreed that Massachusetts needs to improve its economy and create jobs.
Fisher said job growth must come by giving companies the tools to be self-reliant, not government investing in “fad industries.” He pointed to the failed solar panel manufacturing company Evergreen Solar, which was based in Devens.
I agree. There should not be taxpayer subsidies to any industries.
Massachusetts needs to do a better job turning students into residents, retraining them upon graduation, both candidates agreed. Because of the high cost of living and too few jobs, many students flee once they receive their degrees, Baker said.
“As the father of a son who graduated from college and immediately went to work in Chicago, I have personal experience with this,” said Baker, adding that his son lives two blocks from Wrigley Field, splits his $1,500-a-month rent with two roommates, and has a view of Lake Michigan.
In Massachusetts, he said, part of what drives up the cost of housing is the state’s lengthy permitting process for developers.
“I’m back on my hobby horse about it takes too long, the permitting process. Land costs are too high.”
Baker said that drives up the cost of everything for what would be considered moderately priced, affordable housing for people like his son. His suggestion would be to transform empty swaths of land near railway lines into homes.
“Let’s get very aggressive with coming up with ways to get rental property that young people can afford to live in,” he said. “We are losing generations of big thinkers.”
--more--"
Also see:
Baker Close to Christie
Charlie Baker, please quit your job at General Catalyst
New Jersey launches audit related to Charlie Baker donation
Last I saw of it.
Republican Charlie Baker is stealing a key progressive issue
Unions back PAC with anti-Baker website
Better check with your staff on the Globe's mixed messages:
"Staffs in Mass. governor’s race struggle with diversity; Makeup is called vital for building coalitions of voters" by Akilah Johnson | Globe Staff June 02, 2014
Listen to the Massachusetts candidates for governor on the campaign trail and you’ll hear calls for inclusion and praise for the state’s diversity. Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike speak proudly of their intent to embrace all communities and aggressively protect civil rights.
Yet despite the candidates’ campaign rhetoric, their paid staffs do not always reflect the state’s cultural tapestry.
You often find that the myth of Massachusetts is far from the reality. Staffs are also heavily weighted with Jews, but that doesn't merit comment here.
There are candidates with no black staff members, some without Hispanics on their payroll — at least one lacks both — and those who have not hired any Asian staff members.
Among the large field of candidates, Democrats Martha Coakley and Steve Grossman and independent Evan Falchuk have staffs that best reflect the diversity of the state. Republican Charlie Baker has a staff that is almost entirely white. Democrats Joe Avellone, Juliette Kayyem, Don Berwick, and independent Jeff McCormick fall somewhere in between.
Having a diverse campaign staff is not simply about checking boxes for the sake of political correctness, analysts say; it can also be critical to tapping into a broad coalition of voters in a state whose residents are largely white but which has significant pockets of blacks, Hispanics, and Asians in urban areas. They point to Elizabeth Warren’s Senate win in 2012 and Coakley’s loss in the 2010 Senate race as evidence.
Warren dominated the cities when she beat Republican Scott Brown and claimed a Senate seat, the same seat Coakley lost to Brown nearly three years earlier. And Warren did it in part by paying great attention to those cities’ communities of color, which often means having high-level staffers who also connect with the community.
Political operatives say hiring people from diverse backgrounds is a challenge for campaigns, where too few people of color make their way up the political pipeline because they are underrepresented at the ground floor. Entry-level jobs often come with grueling hours and little pay, a combination that specialists say makes it difficult to recruit first-generation college students or those with heavy student loan debt.
Still, there is no excuse not to have a diverse campaign staff, said Kelly Bates, a specialist in political diversity. “At this point, in 2014, it is unforgivable,” she said. “But worse, they lose.”
If a candidate goes to an event in Chinatown or the Vietnamese community in Dorchester or the black community in Roxbury or a working-class community in Western Massachusetts, “the opinion leaders” watch to see whom the candidate arrives with, Bates said.
Even if they don’t know the candidate, voters want to see whom that person surrounds him- or- herself with, she said. “And we’re not just talking about a face,” she said, “but someone who understands the community.”
Joyce Ferriabough Bolling, a political consultant dedicated to increasing the number of women and people of color in politics, said campaigns “are viewed as a microcosm of society. The folks who are running these campaigns need to be able to look at them like most folks who vote do.”
Coakley’s campaign said she “learned lots of lessons from past campaigns,” including her failed 2010 bid. And while there were no black people on her paid campaign in January, three of her current 24 staff members are African-American, the campaign said last week. There are also three Hispanics and two Asian-Americans, according to the campaign.
Grossman, the state treasurer, has a campaign staff of 16, which in includes three blacks, two South Asian-Americans, and one Hispanic, his campaign said.
Falchuk, the independent, reported having 27 staff members on his campaign, including 16 paid interns, as of two weeks ago. Among them are three blacks, one woman of African-American and Caucasian heritage, three Latinos, and two Asian-Americans.
Each first-time Democratic candidate had gaps in the diversity of his or her staff as of last week, according to figures provided by their staffs. Kayyem had no Hispanics on her staff of 18, though a spokesman for her said Sunday night that a Hispanic staff member was recently hired; Berwick had no Asian-Americans on his staff of 25; and Avellone has no blacks on his staff of nine.
All have championed diversity from the campaign trail.
Kayyem told supporters at a rally last month: “My career reflects what is best about our party: access and leveling the playing field with an equal commitment to protecting our communities and our children.” And Berwick, who often introduces himself as the most progressive candidate in the race, said at a March forum, “Government has an obligation to pass a moral test. We established a nation using words like ‘we’re created equal,’ ‘liberty and justice for all,’ ‘equal justice under law.’ ”
Baker, who ran unsuccessfully against Deval Patrick in 2010, the state’s first black governor, has one Asian-American among the 18 employees on his current campaign staff but no blacks or Hispanics, his staff said. At a rally just before the state GOP convention in March, Baker took to the microphone after the party’s Boston chairman highlighted the diversity in the room and said: “You need a state government, and we need a state government, that reflects the greatness of the people of this state.”
Sarah-Ann Shaw, a longtime Democratic activist from Roxbury, said she would expect gubernatorial campaigns to have more people of color on their staffs, especially given the state’s rising Hispanic population.
“I just wonder how and where the candidates get their representatives of color. Do they get them from other campaigns? Are they recommended?” she asked. “It’s important that the people they get know something about the communities they purport to represent, because if you don’t understand the community or who’s who, you could stumble.”
When people of color are hired, diversity advocates say, it is critical that they hold key positions like press secretary or political director. Extending an employee of color’s responsibility beyond outreach to black, Hispanic, or Asian communities ensures that person is not professionally pigeonholed, they say....
Time to pigeonhole this s***.
--more--"
The kind of me$$age that does $inks in:
"Candidates for governor earn big sums in side ventures; Reports give idea of their wealth" by Michael Levenson | Globe Staff June 04, 2014
The candidates for governor each have a familiar job title — be it former health insurance chief executive or state treasurer — but they also pulled in significant sums of money through lucrative side ventures and investments, according to documents filed with state on Tuesday.
Let the conflicts-of-interest begin!
The Statements of Financial Interest, filed with the State Ethics Commission, only require candidates to list their earnings and investments under the heading of “$100,000 or more,” making precise calculations of their wealth impossible. Nevertheless, the documents open a window into their personal finances in 2013, beyond what many discuss on the campaign trail. None of the candidates, despite their focus on the struggles of the middle class, earned less than $100,000 last year. Several, in fact, earned significantly more.
Democrat Donald M. Berwick, best known as the former director of the US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, earned more than $100,000 working for the Leigh Bureau in New Jersey, a firm that organizes paid speaking engagements. On its website, the group bills him as “the United States’ leading advocate for high-quality healthcare.”
He also earned between $60,000 and $100,000 as a faculty member at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, a nonprofit group based in Cambridge, $20,000 to $40,000 as an adviser to the MacArthur Foundation, the charity known for handing out “genius” grants, and $5,000 to $10,000 as an advisory board member of the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation in Washington.
Where can I get a job on a board?
Republican Charlie Baker, who often talks about his experience as the former chief executive of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, earned more than $100,000 as board chairman of Oceans Healthcare in Lake Charles, La., and more than $100,000 as a trustee of Natixis Global Management, a large financial services firm. He also earned more than $100,000 from CDBI Partners, a Delaware-based investment entity that he uses to partner with General Catalyst, a venture capital firm in Cambridge. And he reported earnings of $40,000 to $60,000 as a board member of athenahealth in Watertown.
So he works with George W. Bush's cousin, huh? Wonder if he helped get him the tax break.
Related: Athenahealth stock slips after insider sale
Nooooooooo!
Democrat Joseph C. Avellone went beyond the limited disclosure requirements on his Statement of Financial Interest and reported his precise pay — $1.03 million — as an executive vice president at Parexel International, a biopharmaceutical company in Waltham. He disclosed that his home in Wellesley is worth $1.2 million and his summer home, the address of which he was not required to disclose, is worth $740,000.
I'm glad some people have two places to live when so many are homeless.
Related: This dark horse deserves a closer look
I've $een enough, thanks.
Democrat Steve Grossman stuck to the limited disclosure requirements on his statement, and reported that he earned more than $100,000 as state treasurer last year. The precise amount was $128,016, according to the state’s official online checkbook. Grossman also reported that he owns 49.65 percent of the Massachusetts Envelope Co. in Somerville. The family-owned firm figures prominently in his campaign speeches, lending him business-world credibility beyond his political experience.
Like many candidates, Grossman also disclosed a variety of securities and investments, including a Fidelity mutual fund and a limited partnership interest in Longmeadow Mall.
Democrat Martha Coakley, the early front-runner in the party primary, had perhaps the most spartan disclosure form of any candidates, listing no securities and investments, and no vacation home. She reported earnings of more than $100,000 as attorney general. The precise sum, according to the state’s online checkbook, was $133,409. She also listed her home in Medford as worth more than $100,000.
And she likes apples.
Despite Marty flaws, she is the only one who can really relate to the rest of us.
Independent candidate Evan Falchuk had perhaps the deepest investment portfolio in the field, as he reported holding six different municipal bonds and 59 different securities and investments, including stock in 3M, Apple, Cisco, and Berkshire Hathaway. His salary as vice chairman of Best Doctors Inc., a Boston firm that provides medical advice, was listed as more than $100,000, and he also reported owning a 3 percent stake in the company.
Republican Mark Fisher, a Tea Party movement candidate, reported just two securities and investments — a PIMCO mutual fund and a US treasury bond. He listed his earnings as president of Merchant’s Fabrication Inc., a metal manufacturer in Auburn, as more than $100,000.
Democrat Juliette Kayyem, a former state and federal homeland security official, earned $482,000 as a partner in The Girls LLC, which her campaign described as a Los Angeles-based investment firm that she co-owns with her father, brother, and sister.
Independent Jeffrey McCormick, a venture capitalist, had not filed his Statement of Financial Interest. As an independent, he is not required to file until next month.
Also see:
Baker Close to Christie
Charlie Baker, please quit your job at General Catalyst
New Jersey launches audit related to Charlie Baker donation
Last I saw of it.
Republican Charlie Baker is stealing a key progressive issue
Unions back PAC with anti-Baker website
Better check with your staff on the Globe's mixed messages:
"Staffs in Mass. governor’s race struggle with diversity; Makeup is called vital for building coalitions of voters" by Akilah Johnson | Globe Staff June 02, 2014
Listen to the Massachusetts candidates for governor on the campaign trail and you’ll hear calls for inclusion and praise for the state’s diversity. Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike speak proudly of their intent to embrace all communities and aggressively protect civil rights.
Yet despite the candidates’ campaign rhetoric, their paid staffs do not always reflect the state’s cultural tapestry.
You often find that the myth of Massachusetts is far from the reality. Staffs are also heavily weighted with Jews, but that doesn't merit comment here.
There are candidates with no black staff members, some without Hispanics on their payroll — at least one lacks both — and those who have not hired any Asian staff members.
Among the large field of candidates, Democrats Martha Coakley and Steve Grossman and independent Evan Falchuk have staffs that best reflect the diversity of the state. Republican Charlie Baker has a staff that is almost entirely white. Democrats Joe Avellone, Juliette Kayyem, Don Berwick, and independent Jeff McCormick fall somewhere in between.
Having a diverse campaign staff is not simply about checking boxes for the sake of political correctness, analysts say; it can also be critical to tapping into a broad coalition of voters in a state whose residents are largely white but which has significant pockets of blacks, Hispanics, and Asians in urban areas. They point to Elizabeth Warren’s Senate win in 2012 and Coakley’s loss in the 2010 Senate race as evidence.
Warren dominated the cities when she beat Republican Scott Brown and claimed a Senate seat, the same seat Coakley lost to Brown nearly three years earlier. And Warren did it in part by paying great attention to those cities’ communities of color, which often means having high-level staffers who also connect with the community.
Political operatives say hiring people from diverse backgrounds is a challenge for campaigns, where too few people of color make their way up the political pipeline because they are underrepresented at the ground floor. Entry-level jobs often come with grueling hours and little pay, a combination that specialists say makes it difficult to recruit first-generation college students or those with heavy student loan debt.
Still, there is no excuse not to have a diverse campaign staff, said Kelly Bates, a specialist in political diversity. “At this point, in 2014, it is unforgivable,” she said. “But worse, they lose.”
If a candidate goes to an event in Chinatown or the Vietnamese community in Dorchester or the black community in Roxbury or a working-class community in Western Massachusetts, “the opinion leaders” watch to see whom the candidate arrives with, Bates said.
Even if they don’t know the candidate, voters want to see whom that person surrounds him- or- herself with, she said. “And we’re not just talking about a face,” she said, “but someone who understands the community.”
Joyce Ferriabough Bolling, a political consultant dedicated to increasing the number of women and people of color in politics, said campaigns “are viewed as a microcosm of society. The folks who are running these campaigns need to be able to look at them like most folks who vote do.”
Coakley’s campaign said she “learned lots of lessons from past campaigns,” including her failed 2010 bid. And while there were no black people on her paid campaign in January, three of her current 24 staff members are African-American, the campaign said last week. There are also three Hispanics and two Asian-Americans, according to the campaign.
Grossman, the state treasurer, has a campaign staff of 16, which in includes three blacks, two South Asian-Americans, and one Hispanic, his campaign said.
Falchuk, the independent, reported having 27 staff members on his campaign, including 16 paid interns, as of two weeks ago. Among them are three blacks, one woman of African-American and Caucasian heritage, three Latinos, and two Asian-Americans.
Each first-time Democratic candidate had gaps in the diversity of his or her staff as of last week, according to figures provided by their staffs. Kayyem had no Hispanics on her staff of 18, though a spokesman for her said Sunday night that a Hispanic staff member was recently hired; Berwick had no Asian-Americans on his staff of 25; and Avellone has no blacks on his staff of nine.
All have championed diversity from the campaign trail.
Kayyem told supporters at a rally last month: “My career reflects what is best about our party: access and leveling the playing field with an equal commitment to protecting our communities and our children.” And Berwick, who often introduces himself as the most progressive candidate in the race, said at a March forum, “Government has an obligation to pass a moral test. We established a nation using words like ‘we’re created equal,’ ‘liberty and justice for all,’ ‘equal justice under law.’ ”
Baker, who ran unsuccessfully against Deval Patrick in 2010, the state’s first black governor, has one Asian-American among the 18 employees on his current campaign staff but no blacks or Hispanics, his staff said. At a rally just before the state GOP convention in March, Baker took to the microphone after the party’s Boston chairman highlighted the diversity in the room and said: “You need a state government, and we need a state government, that reflects the greatness of the people of this state.”
Sarah-Ann Shaw, a longtime Democratic activist from Roxbury, said she would expect gubernatorial campaigns to have more people of color on their staffs, especially given the state’s rising Hispanic population.
“I just wonder how and where the candidates get their representatives of color. Do they get them from other campaigns? Are they recommended?” she asked. “It’s important that the people they get know something about the communities they purport to represent, because if you don’t understand the community or who’s who, you could stumble.”
When people of color are hired, diversity advocates say, it is critical that they hold key positions like press secretary or political director. Extending an employee of color’s responsibility beyond outreach to black, Hispanic, or Asian communities ensures that person is not professionally pigeonholed, they say....
Time to pigeonhole this s***.
--more--"
The kind of me$$age that does $inks in:
"Candidates for governor earn big sums in side ventures; Reports give idea of their wealth" by Michael Levenson | Globe Staff June 04, 2014
The candidates for governor each have a familiar job title — be it former health insurance chief executive or state treasurer — but they also pulled in significant sums of money through lucrative side ventures and investments, according to documents filed with state on Tuesday.
Let the conflicts-of-interest begin!
The Statements of Financial Interest, filed with the State Ethics Commission, only require candidates to list their earnings and investments under the heading of “$100,000 or more,” making precise calculations of their wealth impossible. Nevertheless, the documents open a window into their personal finances in 2013, beyond what many discuss on the campaign trail. None of the candidates, despite their focus on the struggles of the middle class, earned less than $100,000 last year. Several, in fact, earned significantly more.
Democrat Donald M. Berwick, best known as the former director of the US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, earned more than $100,000 working for the Leigh Bureau in New Jersey, a firm that organizes paid speaking engagements. On its website, the group bills him as “the United States’ leading advocate for high-quality healthcare.”
He also earned between $60,000 and $100,000 as a faculty member at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, a nonprofit group based in Cambridge, $20,000 to $40,000 as an adviser to the MacArthur Foundation, the charity known for handing out “genius” grants, and $5,000 to $10,000 as an advisory board member of the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation in Washington.
Where can I get a job on a board?
Republican Charlie Baker, who often talks about his experience as the former chief executive of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, earned more than $100,000 as board chairman of Oceans Healthcare in Lake Charles, La., and more than $100,000 as a trustee of Natixis Global Management, a large financial services firm. He also earned more than $100,000 from CDBI Partners, a Delaware-based investment entity that he uses to partner with General Catalyst, a venture capital firm in Cambridge. And he reported earnings of $40,000 to $60,000 as a board member of athenahealth in Watertown.
So he works with George W. Bush's cousin, huh? Wonder if he helped get him the tax break.
Related: Athenahealth stock slips after insider sale
Nooooooooo!
Democrat Joseph C. Avellone went beyond the limited disclosure requirements on his Statement of Financial Interest and reported his precise pay — $1.03 million — as an executive vice president at Parexel International, a biopharmaceutical company in Waltham. He disclosed that his home in Wellesley is worth $1.2 million and his summer home, the address of which he was not required to disclose, is worth $740,000.
I'm glad some people have two places to live when so many are homeless.
Related: This dark horse deserves a closer look
I've $een enough, thanks.
Democrat Steve Grossman stuck to the limited disclosure requirements on his statement, and reported that he earned more than $100,000 as state treasurer last year. The precise amount was $128,016, according to the state’s official online checkbook. Grossman also reported that he owns 49.65 percent of the Massachusetts Envelope Co. in Somerville. The family-owned firm figures prominently in his campaign speeches, lending him business-world credibility beyond his political experience.
Like many candidates, Grossman also disclosed a variety of securities and investments, including a Fidelity mutual fund and a limited partnership interest in Longmeadow Mall.
Democrat Martha Coakley, the early front-runner in the party primary, had perhaps the most spartan disclosure form of any candidates, listing no securities and investments, and no vacation home. She reported earnings of more than $100,000 as attorney general. The precise sum, according to the state’s online checkbook, was $133,409. She also listed her home in Medford as worth more than $100,000.
And she likes apples.
Despite Marty flaws, she is the only one who can really relate to the rest of us.
Independent candidate Evan Falchuk had perhaps the deepest investment portfolio in the field, as he reported holding six different municipal bonds and 59 different securities and investments, including stock in 3M, Apple, Cisco, and Berkshire Hathaway. His salary as vice chairman of Best Doctors Inc., a Boston firm that provides medical advice, was listed as more than $100,000, and he also reported owning a 3 percent stake in the company.
Republican Mark Fisher, a Tea Party movement candidate, reported just two securities and investments — a PIMCO mutual fund and a US treasury bond. He listed his earnings as president of Merchant’s Fabrication Inc., a metal manufacturer in Auburn, as more than $100,000.
Democrat Juliette Kayyem, a former state and federal homeland security official, earned $482,000 as a partner in The Girls LLC, which her campaign described as a Los Angeles-based investment firm that she co-owns with her father, brother, and sister.
Independent Jeffrey McCormick, a venture capitalist, had not filed his Statement of Financial Interest. As an independent, he is not required to file until next month.
--more--"
Didn't go as fa$t as I wanted.
NEXT DAY UPDATES:
I hope this isn't the same debate drill as yesterday.
"One final, cordial Democratic debate before convention; Candidates seek to set selves apart" by Akilah Johnson | Globe Staff June 10, 2014
Many of the issues — immigration, casinos, legalizing marijuana, diversity, transportation — had been well-parsed previously, though there were some pointed comments directed at Coakley....
The debate was moderated by John Nucci, the university’s vice president of government and community affairs, and Rachelle Cohen, the Herald’s editorial page editor. Four Suffolk students asked prerecorded questions about the cost of public transportation, affordable housing, affirmative action disadvantaging white university students, and student loan debt. Two questions were taken from Twitter about welfare fraud and legalizing marijuana.
Kayyem said she would look to Colorado and Washington for models of how to legalize marijuana, cautioning that the US government essentially gave “a wink and a nod” to those states. That could change with a new president and US attorney general making the argument somewhat moot, she said.
Don't want it legal anymore, don't want it for medical either.
Coakley agreed, saying state and federal government rules are not aligned on the issue.
Grossman said he was not in favor of fully decriminalizing marijuana, pointing to the state’s problematic start to medical marijuana.
“That has been a fiasco,” he said. “The process has been absolutely mismanaged.”
It was mismanaged on purpose because the political pooh-bays and their corporate backers never wanted it.
Avellone, who like Berwick is a physician, said Massachusetts must be rigorous in its policies surrounding marijuana, saying the state is not ready for legalizing the drug for recreational use.
Oh, now Avellone is a physician and not a biopharmaceutical executive. What more can one say about the obfuscations, folks?
Berwick emphasized the medical benefits of marijuana to relieve nausea and pain, saying “we have to make sure we’re a compassionate state and get it done right.”
All of the candidates were vocal supporters of Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone's recent executive order ending his city’s compliance with the federal Secure Communities program, saying the law breeds mistrust among the state’s most vulnerable communities. The law calls for holding arrested immigrants for up to 48 hours after they have posted bail or are ordered released, based solely on suspected immigration violations.
Related: A Dollar a Day the Immigrant Way
They do the $hit work no one wants to do, and the state loves them for it.
“Secure Communities is broken,” said Kayyem, a former federal and state homeland security official. She said this was part of a larger conversation on immigration that included giving in-state tuition or driver’s licenses to unauthorized immigrants.
The whole political and economic $y$tem is, and it is beyond repair.
But the candidates were not in harmony on giving immigrants in the country illegally driver’s licenses, a recent push by immigration advocates in Massachusetts and throughout the nation.
“We disagree around this table on the issue of driver’s licenses, which I do believe is a public safety issue,” said Grossman, who along with Berwick and Avellone supports the policy. “Why would you want people driving in Massachusetts without driver’s education, without [a] driver’s test, without insurance?”
Coakley softened her position on the issue of driver’s licenses in March, saying she was open to the idea after opposing efforts in the past.
That's a flip-flop, Marty.
On the Secure Communities Act, she blamed the federal government for being overzealous with a law that was supposed to return foreign criminal predators to their country of origin.
“The evil person here is the federal government,” she said.
Oh, she is SO TEA PARTY!
There are four other candidates in the race for governor, including Republicans Charlie Baker and Mark Fisher, and independents Jeff McCormick and Evan Falchuk.
--more--"
Marty has really been under scrutiny in my Globe (I'll bet they endorse Grossman):
"Rivals warn Partners’ growth will raise costs; Say some hospitals may shut" by Robert Weisman | Globe Staff June 11, 2014
A coalition of Massachusetts health care providers that compete with Partners HealthCare on Tuesday declared its opposition to a tentative pact allowing Partners to acquire at least three more hospitals, saying the expansion would have “profound and negative effects on the cost of health care” and possibly lead to the “extinction” of some hospitals.
Leaders of the group — including executives from Tufts Medical Center, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Lahey Health, and Atrius Health — outlined their “grave concerns” about a deal struck between state Attorney General Martha Coakley and Partners, the state’s largest hospital and physicians network.
“This agreement does not address the issue of costs and the disparity in payments” between Partners hospitals — including Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s — and their rivals, said Tufts Medical Center president Michael Wagner.
The opposition, in the form of letters to Coakley and a top deputy, marks the first time the competitors have publicly challenged the agreement in principle between Partners and the attorney general’s office....
The coalition — which also includes Cambridge Health Alliance, Mount Auburn Hospital, New England Baptist Hospital, Lowell General Hospital, Signature Healthcare, and Anna Jaques Hospital — called on the attorney general’s office to open the deal with Partners for public scrutiny before it goes to a Suffolk Superior Court judge for final approval. The judge could get the deal as early as next week.
The letters suggest the agreement, meant to help control health costs by restraining Partners’ market power, could have the opposite effect by locking in advantages Partners already holds. A longstanding gap between the prices Partners commands for medical care and what others can charge would be preserved or increased under the pact, the competing health providers said, even though the agreement places a cap on health care prices. The rivals also doubt the effectiveness of a provision — also meant to control costs — allowing health insurers to contract separately with Partners’ teaching hospitals and community hospitals.
Related: Why the Nation Doesn't Need Massachusetts Health Care
What do you mean they pay no taxes?
Also see: The AG's Amnesia
I don't forget.
It's been six years, and everyone acts like they don't know what is going on. Talk about pure power!
Coakley’s office announced its agreement in principle last month, but thus far has released only a summary while it negotiates final terms. It would effectively end a five-year antitrust investigation — conducted jointly by her office and the US Department of Justice — into Partners’ market dominance and contracting practices.
Marty $ecuring her political flank!
“Based on the little that has been publicly disclosed,” the competitors wrote, “this continued growth [of Partners] will increase the already high cost of health care in Massachusetts, draw scarce resources away from public investments, place further strains on businesses and employers, and threaten extinction for some hospitals that provide cost-effective services in their local communities.”
Just like Obummercare.
Brad Puffer, a spokesman for Coakley’s office, defended the deal reached with Partners, but said for the first time that the attorney general would be agreeable to some unspecified public comment. He did not address specific points raised by the Partners competitors, noting that terms of the final pact are still being negotiated....
I would hope so, us being the public and all in this bastion of democracy known as Ma$$achu$hits.
--more--"
Also see: Coakley's Replacement
On to this weekend's convention:
"Democrats forced to choose as convention conflicts with Boston pride parade; Many activists irritated by overlap of parade and party’s gathering" by Michael Levenson | Globe Staff June 11, 2014
What’s a good liberal to do?
On the one hand, Democratic candidates and activists want to show their support for the gay and lesbian community by joining the throngs of celebrants marching in rainbow hues for the Boston Pride Parade.
But, lo, the parade falls on Saturday, the same day as the party’s critical state convention in Worcester...
That has created a genuine knot of angst and hurt feelings among gay and lesbian activists and Democrats who have been forced to choose between these two red-letter days on the liberal social calendar....
They were so "upset that the party did not consider the parade when it picked the date for the convention," so “inexcusable.”
--more--"
No offense, but I'm tired of the endless whining for the extremist gay groups. I have better things to do with my time.
Related:
Six Zionist Companies Own 96% of the World's Media
Declassified: Massive Israeli manipulation of US media exposed
Didn't go as fa$t as I wanted.
NEXT DAY UPDATES:
I hope this isn't the same debate drill as yesterday.
"One final, cordial Democratic debate before convention; Candidates seek to set selves apart" by Akilah Johnson | Globe Staff June 10, 2014
Many of the issues — immigration, casinos, legalizing marijuana, diversity, transportation — had been well-parsed previously, though there were some pointed comments directed at Coakley....
The debate was moderated by John Nucci, the university’s vice president of government and community affairs, and Rachelle Cohen, the Herald’s editorial page editor. Four Suffolk students asked prerecorded questions about the cost of public transportation, affordable housing, affirmative action disadvantaging white university students, and student loan debt. Two questions were taken from Twitter about welfare fraud and legalizing marijuana.
Kayyem said she would look to Colorado and Washington for models of how to legalize marijuana, cautioning that the US government essentially gave “a wink and a nod” to those states. That could change with a new president and US attorney general making the argument somewhat moot, she said.
Don't want it legal anymore, don't want it for medical either.
Coakley agreed, saying state and federal government rules are not aligned on the issue.
Grossman said he was not in favor of fully decriminalizing marijuana, pointing to the state’s problematic start to medical marijuana.
“That has been a fiasco,” he said. “The process has been absolutely mismanaged.”
It was mismanaged on purpose because the political pooh-bays and their corporate backers never wanted it.
Avellone, who like Berwick is a physician, said Massachusetts must be rigorous in its policies surrounding marijuana, saying the state is not ready for legalizing the drug for recreational use.
Oh, now Avellone is a physician and not a biopharmaceutical executive. What more can one say about the obfuscations, folks?
Berwick emphasized the medical benefits of marijuana to relieve nausea and pain, saying “we have to make sure we’re a compassionate state and get it done right.”
All of the candidates were vocal supporters of Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone's recent executive order ending his city’s compliance with the federal Secure Communities program, saying the law breeds mistrust among the state’s most vulnerable communities. The law calls for holding arrested immigrants for up to 48 hours after they have posted bail or are ordered released, based solely on suspected immigration violations.
Related: A Dollar a Day the Immigrant Way
They do the $hit work no one wants to do, and the state loves them for it.
“Secure Communities is broken,” said Kayyem, a former federal and state homeland security official. She said this was part of a larger conversation on immigration that included giving in-state tuition or driver’s licenses to unauthorized immigrants.
The whole political and economic $y$tem is, and it is beyond repair.
But the candidates were not in harmony on giving immigrants in the country illegally driver’s licenses, a recent push by immigration advocates in Massachusetts and throughout the nation.
“We disagree around this table on the issue of driver’s licenses, which I do believe is a public safety issue,” said Grossman, who along with Berwick and Avellone supports the policy. “Why would you want people driving in Massachusetts without driver’s education, without [a] driver’s test, without insurance?”
Coakley softened her position on the issue of driver’s licenses in March, saying she was open to the idea after opposing efforts in the past.
That's a flip-flop, Marty.
On the Secure Communities Act, she blamed the federal government for being overzealous with a law that was supposed to return foreign criminal predators to their country of origin.
“The evil person here is the federal government,” she said.
Oh, she is SO TEA PARTY!
There are four other candidates in the race for governor, including Republicans Charlie Baker and Mark Fisher, and independents Jeff McCormick and Evan Falchuk.
--more--"
Marty has really been under scrutiny in my Globe (I'll bet they endorse Grossman):
"Rivals warn Partners’ growth will raise costs; Say some hospitals may shut" by Robert Weisman | Globe Staff June 11, 2014
A coalition of Massachusetts health care providers that compete with Partners HealthCare on Tuesday declared its opposition to a tentative pact allowing Partners to acquire at least three more hospitals, saying the expansion would have “profound and negative effects on the cost of health care” and possibly lead to the “extinction” of some hospitals.
Leaders of the group — including executives from Tufts Medical Center, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Lahey Health, and Atrius Health — outlined their “grave concerns” about a deal struck between state Attorney General Martha Coakley and Partners, the state’s largest hospital and physicians network.
“This agreement does not address the issue of costs and the disparity in payments” between Partners hospitals — including Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s — and their rivals, said Tufts Medical Center president Michael Wagner.
The opposition, in the form of letters to Coakley and a top deputy, marks the first time the competitors have publicly challenged the agreement in principle between Partners and the attorney general’s office....
The coalition — which also includes Cambridge Health Alliance, Mount Auburn Hospital, New England Baptist Hospital, Lowell General Hospital, Signature Healthcare, and Anna Jaques Hospital — called on the attorney general’s office to open the deal with Partners for public scrutiny before it goes to a Suffolk Superior Court judge for final approval. The judge could get the deal as early as next week.
The letters suggest the agreement, meant to help control health costs by restraining Partners’ market power, could have the opposite effect by locking in advantages Partners already holds. A longstanding gap between the prices Partners commands for medical care and what others can charge would be preserved or increased under the pact, the competing health providers said, even though the agreement places a cap on health care prices. The rivals also doubt the effectiveness of a provision — also meant to control costs — allowing health insurers to contract separately with Partners’ teaching hospitals and community hospitals.
Related: Why the Nation Doesn't Need Massachusetts Health Care
What do you mean they pay no taxes?
Also see: The AG's Amnesia
I don't forget.
It's been six years, and everyone acts like they don't know what is going on. Talk about pure power!
Coakley’s office announced its agreement in principle last month, but thus far has released only a summary while it negotiates final terms. It would effectively end a five-year antitrust investigation — conducted jointly by her office and the US Department of Justice — into Partners’ market dominance and contracting practices.
Marty $ecuring her political flank!
“Based on the little that has been publicly disclosed,” the competitors wrote, “this continued growth [of Partners] will increase the already high cost of health care in Massachusetts, draw scarce resources away from public investments, place further strains on businesses and employers, and threaten extinction for some hospitals that provide cost-effective services in their local communities.”
Just like Obummercare.
Brad Puffer, a spokesman for Coakley’s office, defended the deal reached with Partners, but said for the first time that the attorney general would be agreeable to some unspecified public comment. He did not address specific points raised by the Partners competitors, noting that terms of the final pact are still being negotiated....
I would hope so, us being the public and all in this bastion of democracy known as Ma$$achu$hits.
--more--"
Also see: Coakley's Replacement
On to this weekend's convention:
"Democrats forced to choose as convention conflicts with Boston pride parade; Many activists irritated by overlap of parade and party’s gathering" by Michael Levenson | Globe Staff June 11, 2014
What’s a good liberal to do?
On the one hand, Democratic candidates and activists want to show their support for the gay and lesbian community by joining the throngs of celebrants marching in rainbow hues for the Boston Pride Parade.
But, lo, the parade falls on Saturday, the same day as the party’s critical state convention in Worcester...
That has created a genuine knot of angst and hurt feelings among gay and lesbian activists and Democrats who have been forced to choose between these two red-letter days on the liberal social calendar....
They were so "upset that the party did not consider the parade when it picked the date for the convention," so “inexcusable.”
--more--"
No offense, but I'm tired of the endless whining for the extremist gay groups. I have better things to do with my time.
Related:
Six Zionist Companies Own 96% of the World's Media
Declassified: Massive Israeli manipulation of US media exposed
Anymore questions who is behind the agenda-pushing?
Also see: In the race for Massachusetts governor, nobody has ‘it’
I agree.
Also see: In the race for Massachusetts governor, nobody has ‘it’
I agree.
