STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE FORMER STATE Sen. Dean Tran was indicted Friday by a Suffolk County grand jury and charged with two counts of violating state ethics laws, Attorney General Andrea Campbell announced. The newest charges against Tran, who was indicted by then-Attorney General Maura Healey in July 2022 on charges that he stole a Colt […]
Ethics and Open Government
Posted inGovernment, State House News Service
Arroyo pays $3,000 in ethics case
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE BOSTON CITY Councilor Ricardo Arroyo has paid a $3,000 civil penalty and admitted to violating the conflict of interest law by continuing to represent his brother in a civil lawsuit against his brother and the city of Boston after he became a city councilor, according to ethics law regulators. The State […]
Posted inOpinion
Getting business and government on the same page
WE LIVE in an era of tough and intractable problems, ranging from climate change and racial and income inequality, to an alarming erosion of trust in all our institutions and a profound and immediate crisis of democracy. Eighty-four percent of the public believes that we are on the wrong track and a majority are […]
Posted inUncategorized
Woburn case among most egregious in Open Meeting Law report
ATTORNEY GENERAL Maura Healey on Monday released a report summarizing her efforts to enforce the state’s Open Meeting Law last year, with one of the most egregious offenses occurring in Woburn. Healey ruled in July that six members of the Woburn Public Library Board of Trustees held two illegal secret meetings during October the prior […]
Posted inPolitics
Lawmakers eat away at transparency
WE’RE PRETTY SURE it’s not what our friends at State House News Service had in mind when they dubbed their weekly podcast “State House Takeout.” And if lawmakers haven’t budged on the issue yet, it’s not clear that an exposé on a tray or two — or even what appears to be considerably more than that — […]
Posted inThe Download
Lawmakers eat away at transparency
We’re pretty sure it’s not what our friends at State House News Service had in mind when they dubbed their weekly podcast “State House Takeout.” And if lawmakers haven’t budged on the issue yet, it’s not clear that an expose on a tray or two — or even what appears to be considerably more than […]
Posted inPolitics
Transparency sacrificed with consolidated amendments
BACK IN JANUARY, the House Democratic caucus gathered to nominate Rep. Robert DeLeo for another term as speaker. There was no question that DeLeo had the votes, but a small group of lawmakers sought a rules change that would allow the next caucus vote for speaker, whenever that might happen, to be taken by secret […]
Posted inThe Download
Transparency sacrificed with consolidated amendments
Back in January, the House Democratic caucus gathered to nominate Rep. Robert DeLeo for another term as speaker. There was no question that DeLeo had the votes, but a small group of lawmakers sought a rules change that would allow the next caucus vote for speaker, whenever that might happen, to be taken by secret […]
Posted inPolitics
Heroux repurposing mayoral emails for campaign
ATTLEBORO MAYOR PAUL HEROUX, in what may be a violation of the state’s conflict of interest law, is pulling the addresses off the emails he receives in his official mayoral capacity and using them as part of campaign efforts. The practice came to light when a reporter submitted a public records request to Heroux and […]
Posted inPolitics
Chandler no longer “acting”
SENATE DEMOCRATS AGREED to remove the “acting” title from Senate President Harriette Chandler for the remainder of the year before holding an election for a new president, deciding the storm clouds hovering over Sen. Stan Rosenberg were overwhelming the chamber’s business and precluding any comeback by the former president at least this year and maybe […]