The Medford Republican Party

Dead Voters, RIP

2012-02-13T13:34:00.003-05:00

Liberals love to laugh off voter fraud.

Its "a made up problem invented by GOP operatives," Robert Koehier, a self-termed "peace journalist," snickered in the Jan 5 Huffington Post. Regarding ballot hijinks, Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz chuckled: "There is almost none."

But recent news is not so funny. One probe caught on tape shows how easily anybody can vote on behalf of dead Americans. Elsewhere, the total ballots cast by the dead exceeded the winning margins in several high-profile elections. These cases confirm the urgent need for all voters to prove they are alive and to correctly identify themselves via photo ID - just as Americans do on non-election days.

James O'Keefe, the conservative video journalist whose hidden-camera sting operation doomed the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), struck again during the New Hampshire primary. O'Keefe's organization, Project Veritas, dispatched three videographers to the Granite State. On Jan 10, they visited precincts in Manchester and Nashua and asked poll workers, one by one, if their voter rolls bore the names of several deceased people. The poll workers handed out 10 ballots, never once asking for a photo ID.

"Live free or die," a poll worker reassured one investigator she thought was Reynold Caron, who died on October 14, 2011. "This is New Hampshire, No ID needed."

O'Keefe's team members never cast these ballots. They returned them, unmarked, to precinct workers. New Hampshire Democrats seem unconcerned that their voter rolls contain the names of dead people and, absent ID rules, fraudsters conveniently could vote the ballots of the expired. Instead Democrats want to indict these whistleblowers.

"They should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, if in fact they're found guilty of some criminal act," Democratic Governor John Lynch to WMUR-TV in Manchester.

Republicans, however, consider this deadly serious. Following Project Veritas' revelations, Granite State legislators recently began debating two photo ID bills. The easiest way to disenfranchise the dead is to require every voter to show photo ID. Those who lack identification should get it for free and reasonable accomodations can be made for the infirm.

Let's not hear liberals' scratched record about how mandating a photo ID for voters is step one on the road to lynching. If true, then demanding a photo ID at America's airports would make the TSA equivalent to the KKK. Liberals' oft-cited claim that blacks are too befuddled to possess or aquire photo ID is pure racial profiling. Just how lame do they think black Americans are?

ID cards would help cleanse America's increasingly soiled voting system. Photo ID's would allow people to rest in peace rather than rush to the polls every Election Day.

Another Reason Why Texas Prospers

2012-02-13T13:17:00.003-05:00

Rodger A. Keats has it right in his letter of Jan 14 ("Protecting the Election of Democrats") when he describes how a minority-anglo Texas has ruffled the National Democtratic Party. In my 49-year stint as a resident in Texas, I witnessed a 100% Democratic state in the 1950's change to one of the reddist of red states today. Among other states, its economy and job creation are beyond comparison. It has become the absolute opposite of California; it does not need nor require a state income tax;and it pays for a substantial homestead exemption on resident and senior-citizen property taxes.

It appears that Sam Houston had it right in his negotions with the U.S. Congress over the 1845 Treaty of Annexation when he reportedly said in essence that Texas is going to keep ownership of its public lands or we are not going to join, thus laying the groundwork for its economy to become unique among the 50 states. Texas doesn't have a significant share of its area under federal control, as many other states do, and it is able to profit from royalties on state lands on which it encourages development.

Teacher Unions defend the Incompetent

2012-02-12T22:23:00.003-05:00

They have trouble with spelling, grammer and showing up to class on time - and we're not talking about the students.

The City of New York tried to expel 26 teachers from the classroom last year for gross incompetance - such as English teachers who couldn't write or speak the language properly.

But officials maintain that stingent union rules prohibited them from succeeding in just half those cases - even when hearing officers actually agreed with the principal's assessments.

That's because the city has to prove not only that the teachers can't do their jobs but also that they have no shot at ever improving. "What happens is every single thing is litigated or grieved or has had a fuss made about it," said Mayor Bloomberg, who, along with Governor Cuomo, has demanded statewide adoption of new teacher evaluations.

Environmentalism's Appeal: Slow Industrial Progress

2012-02-12T21:14:00.002-05:00

In turning down the Keystone XL Pipeline the President has uncovered an ugly little secret that has always lurked beneath the surface of environmentalism. Its basic appeal is to the affluent. Despite all the professions of being "liberal" and "against big business," environmentalisms main appeal is that it promises to slow the progress of industrial progress. People who are already comfortable with the present state of affairs - who are established in the environment, so to speak - are happy to go along with this. It is not that they have any greater insight into the mysteries and workings of nature. They are happier with the way things are. In fact, environmentalism works to their advantage. The main danger to the affluent is not that they will be denied from improving their estate but that too many other people will achieve what they already have. As the Forest Service used to say, the person who built his mountain cabin last year is an environmentalist. The person who wants to build one this year is a developer.

Environmentalism has spent three decades trying to hide this simple truth. How can environmentalists be motivated by self-interest when they are anti-business? Doesn't that align them with the working classes? Well, not quite. You can be anti-business as a union member trying to claim higher wages but you can also be anti-business as a member of the aristocracy who believes "trade" and "commercialism" are crass and not attuned to the higher things in life. Environmentalism is born from the latter, not the former. It has spent decades trying to pretend it has common cause with the working people. With the defeat of the Keystone Pipeline, this is no longer possible. Too many blue-collar and middle-class jobs have been sacrificed on the alter of carbon emissions and global warming.

I-93 Border Toll will be Considered to Fund Transit

2012-02-12T21:02:00.002-05:00

State Representative Sean Garballey on Tuesday announced that the legislatures MBTA caucus will consider adding a NH/Mass Border Toll to raise funds to help pay for transit funding shortfalls that includes expansion projects such as the Green Line extension into Somerville and Medford.

Click here to read full story.

GOP has first candidate for 9th District seat

2012-01-23T17:46:00.002-05:00

By Brian Boyd

A Plymouth businessman has announced he will seek the Republican nomination for the new 9th Congressional District.

Christopher Sheldon, a management consultant and Plymouth County Charter Study Commissioner, has formed a campaign committee, he announced in a news release Friday.

"Like many from the South Shore, South Coast, Cape and Islands, I am very concerned about the direction of our country and especially our economy," Sheldon said in the release. "I believe in the American dream and I believe that, if we start now, there is still time to get our nation back on track."

He cited professional politicions and partisanship as impediments to solving problems in Washingron, and he said there is a need for someone with business and economic experience who is willing to work across party lines. Sheldon has tentatively scheduled a formal announcement of his candidacy and a campaign kick-off event for March 30.

The new 9th district, created as part of the redistricting process following the 2010 census, encompasses Cape Cod and parts of the South Shore and South Coast, including New Bedford.

U.S. Rep. William R.Keating, D-Mass, who currently represents part of the new district, and Bristol County and District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter are seeking the Democratic Nomination.

Additional Dates for Town/Ward/City Bootcamps

2012-01-23T15:57:00.003-05:00

The MassGOP has added more Boot Camps in addition to the January 28th Boot Camp which was completely booked shortly after the date was announced. The training is intended for Republican Town, Ward and City Committee leaders that want to grow their committee with new members and fresh ideas. The program is completely new and updated for 2012.

The program is being offered by the leadership of the Attleboro Republican City Committee, which has a long history of local Republican success. Elected Republicans representing Attleboro include two State Representatives and a State Senator, the Mayor, the leadership and majority of the members of the City Council including the President, and the leadership of the School Committee.

The Massachusetts Republican Party partnering up again with Howard Bibeault and Susan Blais of the Attleboro Committee is inviting the leaders of the local Town and Ward and City Committees to attend a full day of free training classes. In one day participants can learn how to GROW their Committees with new members and new ideas on how to get Republican Candidates elected.

An all new and updated for 2012 - 65 page Hardcover Reference Book will be presented to each attendee. Subjects covered in the Handbook include:

- GOP History & why we are Republicans
- Positive Energy: It's contagious!
- How to grow a Republican Committee
- Why we need Republican Town/Ward/City Committees
- How to organize, electing your officers, OCPF filings
- Checking Accounts, ByLaws, Membership List
- Membership Recruitment & Membership Drives
- Calendar, Events, Meeting Locations, Agenda and Speakers
- Technology - A world of free tools !
- Candidate Debates, Community Involvement, Voter Registrations
- Fundraising, Donations, Dues
- Finding and supporting Rebublican Candidates to run !
- How to organize your committee (Mandatory by MA State Law this April)
and lots more !

The newly added dates include:

Sunday, February 5, 2012 - 9AM to 3PM (With Lunch and Snacks)
Location: State Senator Ross - Office - 93 Commonwealth Ave, North Attleboro, MA

Sunday, April 22, 2012 - 9AM to 3PM (With Lunch and Snacks)
Location: Labonte's Auto School - 130 Cedar Street, Milford, MA

Sunday, April 26, 2012 - 9AM to 3PM (With Lunch and Snacks)
Location: State Senator Ross Office - 93 Commonwealth Ave, North Attleboro, MA

Saturday, May 19, 2012 - 9AM to 3PM (With Lunch and Snacks)
Location North of Boston Area - Venue to be announced

Anyone considering running for office, and declared candidates and their teams should be planning to attend a Boot Camp ! After noting which boot camp you and your team wish to attend contact the MassGOP at BootCamps@massgop.com.

Time to fix Public Housing

2012-01-21T13:30:00.004-05:00

By Raymond Mariano

The current public housing system is a well-intentioned failure. This system, originally intended to provide temporary transitional support to struggling families, has become the housing of choice for multiple generations of the same family. Such a system promotes reliance on public assistance and creates intergenerational poverty.

With each subsequent generation, the lack of motivation to leave public housing becomes more ingrained. Today, children living in public housing are more likely to become adult residents and raise their own children in public housing than in generations past.

Additionally, the intergenerational reliance on public housing clogs the system with the same families. The result is that thousands of families are forced to remain on an endless waiting list.

The current system is based on the mistaken notion that residents of public housing can't do anything to help themselves and that they are destined to fail. We reject that notion. Rather than believing in our residents and helping them get on their feet, our existing system provides a strong disincentive to work and to accurately report income.

The time has come for a bold new approach. One approach aims to break the permanent cycle of poverty and public housing reliance, as well as transform lives by changing the concept behind providing this public benefit.

With close to 80 percent of Worcester's public housing residents unemployed, we propose a requirement for able-bodied residents under the age of fifty to go to work or attend school full time in order to continue to receive housing benefits.

In order to ensure that residents are provided the necessary tools and resources to meet the school/work requirements, all residents will participate in intensive case-management services, and will be provided with access to resources that will help improve the educational, occupational, financial and health needs of each member of the household.

As an incentive to go to work, all residents will participate in an escrow program to allow them to maintain their rents at a pre-employment level. The increased portion of their rent, that would normally result from their increased income, will be put in escrow to allow the resident a greater chance of self-sufficiency when they leave public housing after a few years.

Too many children living in public housing fail and drop out of school. Poor attendance and dismal graduation rates have become the norm. As a part of this new approach, children will be required to attend school on a regular basis and not exceed the guidelines for absences set by the local school district for their family to continue to receive housing benefits.

Although most public and leased housing residents have the desire and motivation to improve their lives, many lack the skills and knowledge to actually do so. Life 101 is a program specifically designed to provide residents with basic but significant life skills, including training related to healthy relationships, parenting, financial literacy, housekeeping, being a good neighbor and conflict resolution.

In general, public housing children lack resources, family support and a positive father/male role model. Lack of education contributes to a lack of sustained employment among our residents.

Ultimately, our goal is to help make residents self-sufficient and motivate them to move out of public or leased housing and take their place in the larger community. We believe that housing authorities should do more than change the windows and doors every few years. In fact, if we are willing to believe in our residents and provide them with the support they need, we believe that we have the opportunity to change lives.

Raymond V. Mariano is executive director of the Worcester Housing Authority.

Congressmen Told Not to Say "Merry Christmas"

2011-12-21T11:06:00.007-05:00

Rules gag free speech between voters and elected officials.

According to a December 12th memo by the House Franking Commission, congressman in the House of Representatives are not allowed to wish voters a "Merry Christmas" or "Happy New Year" in mail or e-mail.

Congressman use their franking privileges (using taxpayer dollars to pay for postage) to send mail or e-mail to voters throughout the year. However, the Franking Commission, the six-member bipartisan group officially known as the Commission on Congressional Mailing Standards, told legislators that "Merry Christmas" is strictly prohibited.

In addition, the memo also noted that congressman can't use their official social media pages to wish constituents "Merry Christmas" or "Happy New Year." It cited the Rules of Practice which also states congressmen cannot use "colors that give the impression of a holiday greeting."

A Franking Commission spokesman confirmed to The Washington Examiner that members of Congress indeed cannot wish constituents "Merry Christmas" in any official mailing. "Currently, incidental use of the phrase Happy Holidays is permissible but Merry Christmas is not," said Sally Wood. Curiously, these rules do not currenty apply to Senators.

Medford City Committee Chair and State Committeeman Bernie Green urges all of our readers to call or e-mail Congressman Ed Markey and Speaker John Boehner, urging them to reverse the franking rules to allow Christmas and other holiday greetings in mailings to voters.

Recent Capuano Statement on Green Line Funding

2011-12-21T10:36:00.004-05:00

Since Congressman Capuano made his initial comments to the Somerville Board of Alderman on December 8th, he has been under great pressure from Somerville advocates to support the full build out of the proposed Green Line to Route 16. In order to keep the readers of our Blog aware of the political maneuvering going on not only for the present, but for the future as it impacts Medford we ask that you read the editorial letter sent by Congressman Capuano. We continue our efforts to educate those directly affected by the current proposed light-rail expansion, but also participate with other concerned residents of Medford to inform all of the pressure by developers to extend the additional trolley service to Route 16.

To read the Capuano letter click here:

Winchester Residents oppose Freight Train Spur

2011-12-21T10:19:00.003-05:00

According to Winchester Patch Editor Daniel Marra, "Winchester could see freight trains driving through town in the near future." Over 25 residents crowded into the Board of Selectmen meeting room [recently] to oppose the possibility of having freight trains stopping in town. According to Winchester resident Susan Busher, a railroad switch has been established by the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad (MBCR) at Cross Street at the request of Tighe Trucking, Inc. She said "that a railroad siding will be installed that will bring freight trains off the commuter rail for the delivery to the back side of Tighe Trucking at 45 Holten Street." If you haven't weighed in on this issue,and wish to, you should call a member of the Selectmen's Board and/or your town meeting member(s)!

To read the full article click here:

Congress sees the Light over Bulb Ban

2011-12-19T10:20:00.002-05:00

By Howie Carr

The forces of of science and rationalism won a big victory in Congress this week over superstition and religious intolerence, but somehow I doubt the American Civil Liberties Union is celebrating. Here's the headline: "Congress overturns incandescent light bulb ban."

That's right. The ban on 100-watt incandescent Thomas Edison light bulbs, which was supposed to begin January 1st, was put off. Congress has denied the green fundamentalists any funds to impose their eco-sharia law on the rest of us infidels who have figured out that global warming is a scam, or should I say false religion. Is that blasphemy, what I just said? Am I a denier? It's certainly lese majeste, because the ruling classes, Republican and Democrat alike, have embraced this this strange cult.

You can see the fanatical true believers engaged in their bizarre rituals, sorting out their trash and depositing each type at a different altar in the suburban landfills - a different one for cardboard and newsprint and green glass bottles and clear bottles and tin cans and aluminum cans. Like all new cults, the Greens have zero tolerance for the older religions. Just because they believe in global warming , it must be true, and therefore anyone who opposes them is an infidel who must be shunned. They have their own Book of Revelation - the movie "An Inconvenient Truth."

Alas, the inconvenient truth is that the date of the apocalypse keeps getting moved back. Temperatures aren't rising, theyr'e falling, thus the now-famous memo from alleged scientists (actually high priests) about "hiding the decline" in global temperatures. Archbishop Barack Obama,who in 2008 predicted tht his nomination would be the day the sea levels stopped rising, now admits he can't control the weather. Well, even St. Augustine was plagued by doubts. What's ironic about the Church of Green is that these are the same people who want government out of their bedroom, or their uteruses, now want government in your light socket, or your toilet.

As late as the 1960's, Roman Cahtolics were forbidden to eat meat on Fridays. It was a mortal sin - an express ticket to hell - to enjoy a cheeseburger or a pepperoni pizza. Yet, no Catholic pol would have ever dreamed of filing legislation to ban everyone from eating meat on Friday. But the shock troops of this new religion have no such qualms. First they came for your toilets that flushed, next they came for your incandescent light bulbs. Whatever happened to the old saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it?" Or the Hippocratic oath: "First, do no harm." Stopping the light bulb ban, at least temporarily, was a small victory for us nonbelievers. At least we have something to be thankful for this Christmas, or, as the Greens describe this season, "the winter solstice."

States move to Cut early Voting Days

2011-12-18T10:03:00.004-05:00

More than a half dozen states have passed laws to reduce early voting, setting up a clash with civil rights groups and Democrats who claim the rules could disenfranchise minority voters in the 2012 elections.

Among the states with new restrictions: Wisconsin and Florida, presidential swing states that are key battlegrounds in the fight for control of the Senate, narrowly held by the Democrats.

In Florida, nearly 3.3 million Democrats cast in-person ballots before Election Day in the 2008 contest that swept President Obama into power. By contrast, 810,666 Florida Republicans participated in the in-person early voting that year, according to the Florida secretary of State's office. Obama won the state by 3 percentage points.

In five other states - Georgia, Maine, Ohio, Tennessee and West Virginia - this year approved laws shortening early voting, according to the non-partisan National Conference of State Legislatures. With the exeption of West Virginia, Republicans control the governor's offices and legislatures in those states.

The Republican-controlled Legislature in another key presidential battleground state, North Carolina, plans to revisit a proposal next year to reduce early voting voting from 16 days to 10. North Carolina Rep. Bert Jones said he sponsored the bill to cut the state's early voting by six days to reduce the influence of political money in state and local elections. "The longer voting period gives that much more of an advantage to candidates who have more money to spend." said Jones, a Republican. "Ten voting days is still a generous amount of time." Opponents say early voting restrictions, along with new laws in six states requiring photo identification at the polls, will thwart traditionally Democratic voters, including college students, African Americans, and Latinos.

Republicans think their path to victory is through limiting eligible voters'access to the polls." said Obama campaign spokesman Ben MaBolt. "Our goal is to maximize participation." The Obama campaign scored a very key victory last week when Ohio officials certified that the law's opponents had collected enough signatures to get a repeal petition on the November ballot. That delays the implentation of the law.

Obama's political operation, Organizing for America, helped run the petition drive, which collected nearly half a million signatures. Efforts are underway in other states to combat new voting restrictions, campaign officials said. Early voting has surged in recent years. More than a dozen states launched or expanded early voting programs from 2001 through 2010, according to data compiled by Jennie Bowser of the National Conference of State Legislatures. Overall, 34% of voters in the 2008 general election cast ballots before Election Day, up from 22.2% four years earlier, according to data from the Associated Press and Edison Research. Michael McDonald, an elections expert at Virginia's George Mason University, said it's too soon to tell whether the new laws will lower turnout. The changes may lead to longer lines on Election Day, he said. But, "in a high-profile presidential election, people are entusiastic about voting and will often overcome the barriers put in their way.

Today's protesters will be back - as tomorrow's plutocrats

2011-10-16T13:13:00.003-04:00

By Frank L. McNamara Jr.

If what is past is prologue, the recently busted "Occupy Boston" protesters can take solace from what eventually became of their 1960s forerunners, whose example they so conspicuously emulate. (But surely itwould be unfair to call those arrested early this morning sixties wannabees.)

History records that a surprising number of the college professors of the 1960s, after starring in their own movies by protesting the depredations of unbridled capitalism, the military industrial complex, and the Vietnam War, discovered...money! Or, more accurately, the lack of it, going on to become themselves overly compensated Wall Street investment bankers, hedge fund managers, partners of white-shoe law firms, and chairmen and CEO's of companies doing business with that government, including the military that they had so long despised.

I suspect that in due course many of those arrested last night will experience a similiar metamorphosis. The arc between protester and plutocrat is not that long. Those who traverse it will end up contributing disproportionately, just as their sixties counterparts did and do, to entrenched, mostly Democratic, polititions. (Big Business, which controls government and does business with it, likes its government to be Big.) In so doing they will forget that the polititions they support are successors to people like Mayor Menino, enjoying symbiotic relationships with the very public sector unions (in the case of the Boston police union) whose buzz-saw tactics the "Occupy Boston" protestors now deplore.

So, in the final analysis, what can be said of the arrested "Occupy Boston" professors? Or of the entitled plutocrats against whom they protest? Or of the entitled, unionized police who arrested them? Or, for that matter, of the entitled entrenched, politition who ordered their arrests?

That they deserve each other's throats?

That the more things change, the more things remain the same?

How about this: We all desire change and more just society; but the only change worthy of the name is brought about by men and women who are prepared to suffer at the personal level.

Protesters, plutocrats, police, and pols who are at once desirous of fame and money, yet fearful of failure and sacrifice, are not reliable agents of the change we all seek.

Frank L. MaNamara Jr., a lawyer at Bowditch & Dewey, is a former US Attorney for Massachusetts.

The President of Contempt

2011-10-14T18:42:00.004-04:00

By Bret Stephens

Nixon was tricky. Ford was clumsy. Carter was dour. Reagan was sunny. Bush 41 was prudent. Clinton felt your pain. Bush 43 was stubborn. And Barach Obama is...

Early in America's acquaintance with the man who would become the 44th president, the word that typically sprang from media lips to describe him was "cool."

Cool as a matter of fashion sense - "Who does he think he is, George Clooney?" burbed the blogger Wonkette in April 2008. Cool as a matter of political temperment - "Maybe after eight years of George W. Bush stubborness, on the heels of eight years of Clinton emotiveness, we need to send out for ice" approved USA Today's Ruben Navarrette that October. Cool as a matter of upbringing - Indonesia, apparently, is "Where Barack learned to be cool," according to a family friend quoted in a biography of his mother.

The Obama cool made for a reassuring contrast with his campaign's warm-and-fuzzy appeals to hope, change and being the one we've been waiting for. But as the American writer Minna Antrim observed long ago,"between flattery and admiration there often flows a river of contempt." When it comes to Mr. Obama, boy does it ever.

We caught flashes of the contempt during the campaign. There were those small-town Midwesterners who, as he put it at a San Francisco fund raiser, "cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who are not like them." There were those racist Republicans who as he put it at a Jacksonville fundraiser would campaign against him by asking, "Did I mention that he was black?" There was the "you're likable enough Hillary," line during a New Hampshire debate. But these were unscripted disgressions and could be written off as such.

Only after Mr. Obama came to office did it start to become clear that contempt would be both a style and method of his governance. Take the "mess we have inherited." line, which became the administrations ring tone for its first two years.

"I have never seen anything like the mess we have inherited," said the late Richard Holbrooke-a man with memories of what Nixon inherited in Vietnam from Johnson -and about Afghanistan in February 2009. "We are cleaning up something that is-quite simply-a mess ," said the president the following month about Guantanamo. "Let's face it, we inherited a mess," said Valiere Jarrett about the economy in March 2010.

For presidential candidates to rail against incumbents from an opposing party is normal, for a president to rail for years against a predecessor of any party is crass-and something to which neither Reagan nor Lincoln, each of them inheritors of much bigger messes, stooped.

Then again, the contempt Mr. Obama felt for the Bush administration was mearly of a piece with the broader ambit of his distain. Example? Here's a quick list: The gratuitous return of the Churchill bust in Britain. The slam of the Boston police officer who arrested Henry Louis Gates. The high profile rebuke of the members of the Supreme Court at his 2010 State of the Union speech. The diplomatic snubs, of Gordan Brown, Benjamin Netanyahu and Nickolas Sarkozy. The verbal assaults on Wall Street "fat cats" who "caused the problem" of "10% unemployment." The never-ending baiting of millionaires and billionaires and jet owners and anyone else who, as Black Entertainment Television's Robert Johnson memorably put it on Sunday, "tried rich and tried poor and like rich better."

Now we come to the last few days, in which Mr. Obama first admonished the Congressional Black Caucus to "stop complainin', stop grumblin', stop cryin'," and later told a Florida TV station that America was losing its competative edge because it "had gotten a little soft." The first comment earned a rebuke from none other than Rep. Maxine Waters, while the second elicited instant comparisons to Jimmy Carter's "malaise" speech. They tell us something about the president's political IQ. They tell us more about his world view.

What is it that Mr. Obama doesn't like about the United States-a country that sent him hurtling like an American Idol contestant from the obscurity of an Illinois Senate seat to the presidency in a mere four years?

I suspect it's the same thing that so many run-of-the-mill liberals dislike: Americans typically believe that happiness is an idividual persuit; we bridle at other people setting limits on what's "enough"; we enjoy wealth and want to keep as much of it as we can; we don't like trading in our own freedom for someone else's idea of virtue, much less a fabricated contempt of the collective good.

When a good history of anti-Americanism is someday written, it will note that it's mainly a story of disenchantment-of the obdurate and sometimes vulgar reality of the country falling short of the lover's ideal. Listening to Mr.Obama, especially now as the country turns against him, one senses in him a similiar disenchantment: America is lovable exactly in proportion to the love it gives him in return.

Hence his increasingly ill-concealed expressions of contempt. Hence the increasingly widespread couter-contempt.

The Dignified Statesman

2011-10-14T10:26:00.005-04:00

By Brian McGrory

KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine - Patten's Berry Farm is the kind of place a Hollywood producer would want to invent if it didn't already exist, with Mrs. Patten selling corn, apples, and pumpkins on the side of a country road in this impossibly pretty town.

I happened to be chatting about the Patriots with the nice woman at the cash register on a quiet Sunday morning when a gleeming black sedan pulled into the parking lot. The front doors opened and men emerged. The back passenger door opened. When I looked up again, George H. W. Bush, the former president, sat in a wheelchair between his car and mine.

This is not unusual, seeing George Bush, the original George Bush, in this town. He was, until a couple of years ago, a fairly regular golfer at Cape Arundel, a fixture on his power boat, an occasional diner at the Hurricance in Dock Square. He orders lobster rolls at the Clam Shack and roams the aisles of the Bradbury Bros. Market. There is little in this world as authentic as George Bush's love of Kennebunkport, Maine.

As we returned to the car, the former president continued to sit, smiling at something I couldn't see. And then I did - our golden retrievers, two of them, their heads poking through the back window pleading for his attention.

"Beautiful dogs," he said. He asked their names - Baker and Walter - then smiled at the answer. I brought up Ranger, the lessor known of his two springer spaniels from his White House days, a dog he loved that died much to young. He said he has a couple of smaller dogs these days.

I didn't tell him I wrote for a newspaper, not that he would have cared, or that I covered his successor, Bill Clinton, or that I once spent the better part of a day with his son when he was governor of Texas. It wasn't worth clouding a moment this clear.

The president extended his arm to shake hands, with me and Pam, who led me on this produce run. I told him he looked good, because he did, sharp and oddly boyish, even at 87 years old in the confines of a wheelchair.

"Spiritual," he replied, whimsically. "I hope I look spiritual. I'm just coming from church."

When we were done, the former president continued on his quiet errand. I should have felt invigorated by this uniquetly American encounter. What I really felt though, was a deep sense of loss.

Five minutes with George H. W. Bush, and the problems of the present are made more vivid by the virtues of the not-so-distant-past. Say what you will, but the unimpeachable fact is that he knew how to govern. His compromise on a tax hike (which cost him his presidency), combined with the spending caps and cuts he put in place, paved the way for the roaring prosperity of the 1990's and the federal surpluses that accompanied it.

He reached across the aisle to pass the Clean Air Act of 1990 and the Americans with Disabilities Act, two landmark accomplishments that have a profound impact on every day life. The war to oust Saddam Hussein's army from Kuwait had a clear mission and a defined end.

That Washington doesn't exist any more. There are no leaders risking their careers in the name of the common good. There are precious few officials seeking compromise rather than cheap political points. There are no bridges, just roadblocks, no reasonable debates, just frantic threats. The extremes, especially on the right, have overwhelmed the middle, and the result is an economy in a government-prolonged rut.

This wasn't exactly a revelation on the side of a country road in Maine, but a moment of clarity. George H. W. Bush's presidency, maybe even Washington as a whole, was quided by decency and dignity.

You don't outgrow these virtues, you simply abandon them. And to spend even a few fleeting minutes with what we had only makes it more regrettable about what we've become.

Mass. GOP Chairwoman announces Resignation

2011-09-19T20:32:00.002-04:00

By Glen Johnson, Boston Globe

Jennifer Nassour, chairwoman of the Massachusetts Republican Party, is stepping down as she prepares to have a third child. In an e-mail today to members of the Republican State Committee, the local GOP's top echelon, Nassour wrote, "We are thrilled beyond words and our daughters are incredibly excited. We are also mindful of the additional reponsibility in our already busy lives." She announced that she will resign effective October 28th. The mother of two daughters aged eight and five is slated to have her third child in February.

Nassour, an attorney living in Charlestown, campaigned to be chairman in late 2008 and took over in 2009, navigating a split between the liberal and conservative factions within the State Party.

While chairman, she presided over a resurgence in party metabolism and success, culminating with Scott Brown's upset win in the January 2010 special election to replace the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy and a doubling of the House Republican membership in last fall's state elections.

"I wanted to run, originally, because the party really needed a facelift and some new energy, and I think I succeeded," Nassour told the Globe in an interview. "We have no debt, a good reputation, and I've always tried to greet everyone with an open door, whether they are candidates, the press, or members of the party." she added.

The resignation comes as the state GOP gears up for Brown's re-election. At least six Democrats, including Harvard Law School professor Elizabeth Warren, have announced campaigns for next year's Democratic US Senate nomination.

"The 2012 election year is going to require the party to have a chairman who is focused on the job and able to commit long hours of fund-raising and campaigning." Nassour wrote in her e-mail to the members of the State Committee. "However, family must come first. It is my preference to focus on my family and give someone else the opportunity to lead our party through the upcoming election year. By making a change of leadership in 2011, we give a new chairman the time to get up to speed and lead us to victory in 2012."

Among those first mentioned as possible successors is Mary Connaughton, who narrowly lost an election to serve as state auditor in 2010.

FCC Formally Erases Fairness Doctrine

2011-08-26T10:28:00.003-04:00

The Fairness Doctrine, which the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) implemented in 1949 to require broadcasters to present both sides of controversial issues, became less relevent as cable TV exploded in the 1980s. So the FCC dropped the rule in 1987, but it never implemented it - that is, until August 22nd of this year.

The agency formally dumped more than 80 media industry regulations. Other rules the FCC tossed include the "broadcast flag" digital copy protection rule that courts overturned and those pertaining to the cable programming service tier rate.

Monday's action constituted part of the commission's response to an executive order from President Barack Obama implementing a "government-wide review of regulations already on the books" to strike unnecessary rules.

Its ugly, its messy... its democracy

2011-08-26T09:14:00.003-04:00

By Charles Krauthammer

Of all the endlessly repeated conventional wisdom in today's Washington, the most lazy, stupid and ubiquitous is that our politics is broken. On the contrary. Our political system is working well (I make no such claims for our economy), indeed, precisely as designed - profound changes in popular will translated into law that alters political direction.

The process has been messy, loud, disputious and often rancorous. So what? In the end, the system works. Exhibit A is Wisconsin. Exhibit B is Washington itself.

The story begins in 2008. The country, having lost confidence in Republican governance, gives the Democrats full controlofWashington. The new president, deciding not to waste a crisis, attempts a major change in the nation's ideological trajectory. Hence his two signature pieces of legislation: a near-$1 trillion stimulus, the largest spending bill in galactic history; and a health-care reform that places one-sixth of the economy under federal control.

In a country where conservatives outnumber liberals 2-1, this causes a reaction. In the 2010 misterms, Democrats suffer a massive repudiation at every level. In Washington, Democrats suffer the greatest loss of House seats since 1948. In the states, they lose more than 700 state legislative seats - the largest reversal ever - resulting in the loss of 20 state chambers.

The tea-party-propelled, debt conscious Republicans then move to confront their states' unsustainable pension and health-care obligations - most boldly in Wisconsin, where the new governor proposes a radical reorientation of the power balance between public-sector unions and elected government.

In Madison, the result is general mayhem - the drum-banging protestors, frenzied unions, statehouse occupations, opposition legislators fleeing the state to prevent a quorum. A veritable feast of creative democratic resistance.

In the end, they fail. The legislation passes.

Then, further resistance. First, Democrats turn an otherwise sleepy state Supreme Court election into a referendum on the union legislation, the Democrats' candidate being widely expected to overturn the law. The unions/Democrats lose again.

And then last Tuesday, recall elections for six Republican state senators, three being needed to return the Senate to Democratic control and restore balance to the universe. Yet despite millions of union dollars, the Republicans hold the Senate. The unions/Democrats lose again.

The people spoke; the process worked. Yes, it was raucous and divisive, but change this fundamental should not be enacted quietly. This is not midnight basketball or school uniforms. This is the future of government-worker power and the solvency of the states. It deserves big, serious, animated public debate.

Precisely of the kind Washington (exhibit B) just witnessed over its debt problem.You know: the debt-ceiling debate universally denounced as dysfunctional, if not disgraceful, hostage taking, terrorism, gun-to-the-head blackmail.

Spare me the hysteria. What happened was that the 2010 electorate, as represented in Congress, forced Washington to finally confront the national debt. It was a triumph of demorcatic politics - a powerful shift in popular will finding concrete political expression.

But only partial expression. Debt hawks are upset that the final compromise doesn't do much. But it shoudn't do much. They won only one election. They were entrusted, as of yet, with only one-half of one branch of government.

But they did begin to turn the aircraft carrier around. The process did bequeath a congressional supercommittee with extraordinary powers to reduce debt. And if that fails, the question - how much government, how much debt -will go to the nation in November 2012. Which is also how it should be.

The conventional complaint is that the process was ugly. Big Deal. You want beauty? Go to a museum. Democratic politics was never meant to be an exercise in aesthetics.

Not just ugly, moan the critics, but oh so slow. True again. It took months. And will take more. The supercommittee doesn't report until Thanksgiving. The next election is more than a year away. But the American system was designed to make a full turn of the carrier difficult and deliberate.

Moreover, without this long ugly process, the debt issue wouldn't even be on the table. We'd still be whistling our way to Greece. Instead, a nation staring at insolvency is finally stirring itself to action, and not without spirited opposition. Great issues are being decided as constitutionally designed. The process is working.

Notice how the loudest complaints about "broken politics" come from those who lost the debate. It's understandable for sore losers to rage against the machine. But there's no need for the rest of us to parrot their petulance.

What has America become?

2011-08-24T17:51:00.003-04:00

Dear Editor,

Has America become the land of the special interest and home of the double standard?

Lets see: If we lie to Congress, it's a felony and if Congress lies to us its just politics; If we dislike a black person, we're racist and if a black person dislikes whites, it's their 1st Amendment rights; the government spends millions to rehabilitate criminals and they do almost nothing for the victims; In public schools you can teach that homosexuality is OK, but you better not use the work God in the process; you can kill an unborn child, but it is wrong to execute a mass murderer; we don't burn books in America, we now rewrite them; we got rid of the communist and socialist threat by renaming them progressives; we are unable to close our border with Mexico, but we have no problem protecting the 38th parallel in Korea; If you protest against President Obama's policies you're a terrorist, but if you burned an American flag or George Bush in effigy it was your 1st American right.

You can have pornogaphy on TV or the internet, but you better not put up a nativity scene in a public park during Christmas; we have eliminated all criminals in America, they are now called sick people; we can use human fetus for medical research, but it's wrong to use an animal.

We take money from those who work hard for it and give it to those who don't want to work; we all support the Constitution, but only when it supports our political idealogy; we still have freedom of speech, but only if we are politically correct; parenting has been replaced with Ritalin and video games; the land of opportunity is now the land of hand outs; the similarity between Hurricane Katrina and the gulf spill is that neither president did anything to help.

And how do we handle a major crisis today? The government appoints a committee to determine who's at fault, then threatens them, passes a law, raises our taxes; tells us the problem is solved so they can get back to their reelection campaign.

What has happened to the land of the free and home of the brave?

-Ken Huber
Tawas City

Tawas City, MI, is located about halfway up on the shoreline of Lake Huron. The Tawas City Newspaper Editorial... short and to the point...

Sen. Brown to Gov. Patrick - can gas tax plan

2011-08-05T08:44:00.004-04:00

Hiking the state's gas tax now could flatten the tourism industry and blow out budgets for working class families who are already struggling to make ends meet, U.S. Sen. Scott Brown said today in a letter to the governor. "I believe the answer at the state level has to be the same as the federal response: cut spending, don't raise taxes."

Green Line extension put off until 2018

2011-08-03T00:40:00.008-04:00

The long-anticipated extension of the Green Line has been delayed an additional three years, state planners said yesterday, with service to T riders in Somerville and Medford slated to begin in fall 2018 at the earliest.

The reason for the delay is a decision by transportation planners to wait to obtain all or most of the parcels of land and environmental permits the billion-dollar project requires before the state puts major design and construction out to bid, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation said in a statement.

While fall 2018 is the earliest projection, station service extending to College Avenue in Medford could be as late as 2020, the statement said. "Let me be clear: We are behind the Green Line extension," said Richard Davey, general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, in a phone interview. "It will get built."

The agency said it is taking a lesson from the re-opening of the Greenbush Commuter Rail line, which was fraught with delay when planners failed to buy all the land required to complete the project before it was put out to bid. "The Green Line project team aims to prevent the issue that cost the MBTA both time and money," the Department of Transportation said in a statement.

In support of that committment, Davey pointed to a deal to buy a parcel of land owned by Pan Am Railways required for the project, that was closed late last year, he said, and his agency continued efforts to buy two dozen Green Line cars for the extension. Still uncertain is the fate of a 24-hour, 11 acre maintenance facility in the Inner Belt section of Somerville, which planners have yet to acquire.

Nineteen properties in Somerville and Medford must be aquired before federal environmental regulators will sign off, Joseph Pesaturo, an MBTA spokesman, said in an e-mail. The announcement of the delay made in an annual report in the Department of Environmental Protection, came after the agency announced last July that it would push completion back a year, to 2015.

"Obviously it's disappointing," said Marc Draison, executive director of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, which in the last year has undertaken a myriad of public meetings to hash out a second phase of the extension to Route 16 in Medford. While acknowledging the need to buy land and acquire permits, Draison said he suspected underlying financial instability. "We want good roads, we want fast trains, and complete streets," he said. "People want these things, but if you want them, you have to pay for them."

The state is legally bound to finish the Green Line project by the end of 2014 because of a lawsuit that requires the state to build non-automobile transportation projects to ameliorate the environmental impacts of the Big Dig. Davey said he and Transportation Secretary Jeffrey B. Mulllan will work to "turn back the dial" from the 2018 projection.

Mayor Joseph A. Cutatone of Somerville, a long-time Green Line proponent, said he spoke yesterday with Mullen about the delay and will seek answers in coming weeks from transit planners, reiterating the legal obligation the state has to complete the project, and called for Governor Deval Patrick to respond to the delay. He added, "We will hold their feet to the fire, and the governor's administration, to make sure that happens."

GOP Moves to Tighten Vote Rules in 13 States

2011-08-02T22:20:00.007-04:00

Seeking to preserve the integrity of the delegate process, GOP-controlled statehouses nationwide are stiffening voting laws with changes that include requiring valid photo identification, restricting early voting, and imposing stricter rules on those who can register to vote.

Republicans in 13 states - where changes have either been passed or introduced in the past few months - say they are trying to ensure voters are qualified; Democrats counter the moves are politically based and aimed at weeding out young and minority voters - many of whom comprise the party's base.

Recently, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Gov. Rick Perry of Texas joined Kansas and South Carolina, and signed laws that would require valid photo identification before a voter could cast a ballot. Twelve states now require photo indentification to vote. Gov. Rick Scott of Florida signed a bill in May to tighten restrictions on third-party voter registration organizations and to shorten the number of early voting days. The battleground states of Ohio and Pennsylvania are among those considering voter-identification bills.

"If you have to show a picture ID to buy Sudafed, if you have to show a picture ID to get on a airplane, you should show a picture ID when you vote," Gov. Nikki Haley said in May when she signed the South Carolina law. Democrats say there is little proof of voter-impersonation fraud, that the GOP-led laws ring of racism, and target those who tend to vote Democrat.

Democrats also point to state figures showing there are few proven cases of voter impersonation and question why Republicans would want to spend taxpayer dollars on an insignificant problem, considering states' fiscal problems.

"There is not one documented case that has been presented to us, and we had numerous hearings," said Democratic South Carolina state Sen. Brad Hutto . "Republicans have to have some reason to do this because it doesn't sound good to say, we don't want Latinos or African-Americans voting."

State Republicans have long attempted to legislate photo identification requirements and other changes, said Daniel Tokaji, a law professor at Ohio State University and an expert in election law. Previous bills were largely derailed after the Bush Administration fired several United States attorneys whom Republicans had criticized for failing to aggressively investigate voter fraud. "That's what really killed the momentum of more states' enacting voter ID laws," Tokiji said. "Now with the last elections, with the strong Republican majorities in a lot of states, we're seeing a rejuvenation of the effort."

Republicans say increased immigration nationwide has spearheaded the push to make sure elections are legitimate. "Over the last twenty years we have seen Florida grow quite rapidly, and we have such a mix of populations," said state Sen. Dennis K. Baxely, the Florida Republican who wrote the law to tighten third-party registration in his state. "When we fail to protect every ballot, we disenfranchise people who participate legitimately.

"The changes are likey to have an impact on close elections," Tokiji said."Remarkably, most of those significant changes are going under the radar," he added. "A lot of voters are going to be surprised and dismayed when they go to their polling place and find that the rules have changed."

Most measures would require people to show a form of official valid identification to vote. While drivers licenses are the most common form, voters an also request free photo ID's from the Department of Motor Vehicles or use a passport or military identification, among other things. But Democrats say the extra step will discourage voters who will have to pay to retrieve documents, like birth certificates, for proof to obtain a free card.

A few state bills and laws also reduce the number of early voting days, which Democrats also oppose. In the 2008 presidential election, a majority of those who cast early votes did so for President Obama. In Florida, the number of days is reduced but the number of hours remains the same. In Georgia, where photo ID's became a requirement in 2007, minorities voted in record numbers in 2008 and 2010. Turnout among Hispanic voters jumped 140 percent in the state in 2008 and 42 percent among blacks compared with 2004, a change attributed in part to Obama's candidacy. In the midterm election two years later, turnout also rose among Hispanics and African-Americans, according to data from the Georgia secretary of state.

But with the presidential elections in 15 months, Democrats are taking their own offensive. The Democratic Governors Association started a Voter Protection Project in May to educate voters and encourage them to speak out against the measures.

Next Meeting of MRCC July 26th

2011-07-12T14:53:00.002-04:00

The next regular meeting of the Medford Republican City Committee will be held in the Dello Russo Meeting Room at the South Medford Fire Station, 1 Medford Street, on Tuesday July 26th at 7:00PM.

On the agenda will be upcoming filings for the number to be elected from each Ward and the September nominations for each Ward. A progress report on ward membership efforts is also expected.

Maine's New Governor: My kind of Guy

2011-07-07T09:20:00.004-04:00

In case you haven't heard about this guy before, his name will stick in your mind! The new Maine Governor, Paul LePage, is making New Jersey's Governor Chris Christe look like an enabler. He isn't afraid to say what he thinks. Judging by the comments, every time he opens his mouth, his popularity goes up.

He brought down the house at his inauguration when he shook his fist toward the media box and said, "You're on notice! I've inherited a financially troubled State to run. Observe...cover what we do...but don't waste time responding to your every whim for your amusement."

During his campaign for Governor, he was talking to commercial fisherman who are struggling because of federal fisheries rules. They complained that Obama brought his family to Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park for a long Labor Day holiday and found time to meet with union leaders, but wouldn't talk to the fisherman. LePage replied, "I'd tell him to go to hell and get out of my State." The lame stream media crucified LePage, but he jumped 6 points in the pre-election poll.

The Martin Luther King incident was a political sandbag which brought him National exposure. The "Lame Stream" media crucified him again, but word on the street is very positive. The NAACP specifically asked LePage to spend MLK Day visiting black inmates at the Maine State Prison. He told them that he would meet will all inmates, regardless of race, if he were to visit the prison. The NAACP balked and then put out a news release claiming falsely that he refused to participate in any MLK events. He read it in the paper for the first time the next morning while being driven to an event and went ballistic because none of the reporters had called him for comment before running the NAACP release.

He arrived at that event and said in front of a TV camera, "If they want to play the race card on me, they can kiss my ass!", and then he reminded them that he has an adopted black son from Jamaica, and that he had attended the local MLK Breakfast every year that he was mayor of Waterville. (He started his day there on MLK Day.)

He then stated that there's a right way and a wrong way to meet with the Governor, and he put all special interests on notice that press releases, media leaks, and all demonstrations would prove to be the wrong way. He said that any other group which acted like the NAACP could expect to be at the bottom of the Governor's priority list.

He then did the following, and judging from local radio talk show callers, his popularity increased even more: The State employees union complained because he waited until 3PM before closing State offices and facilities and sending non-emergency personnel home during a blizzard. The prior Governor would often close offices for the day with just a forecast before the first flakes. (Each time the State of Maine closes for snow, it costs the taxpayers about one million in wages for no work in return.)

LePage was the CEO of Marden's chain of discount family bargain retail stores before his election as Governor. He noted that State employees getting off work early could still find lots of retail stores open to shop. So, he put the State employees on notice by announcing, "If Marden's is open, Maine is open!" He told State employees, "We live in Maine in the winter, for heaven's sake, and you should know how to drive in it. Otherwise apply for a State job in Florida!"

Here is the Point: Stumbling in the Darkness of Zero Tolerance

2011-06-12T16:58:00.005-04:00

By Rick Greeley

Republican State Committeeman (2nd Plymouth and Bristol District)

When is enough, enough? Every week it seems that another story surfaces surrounding the lunacy of yet another "zero tolerance" policy gaffe. Government agencies, most notably public school districts, often employ so-called zero tolerance policies in order to deal with a particular issue. The purpose of these policies is to appear to lay down the law, as if to say this particular behavior will not be tolerated at all, no ifs, ands or buts about it. And we deal with those who break the rules in such a harse and impartial manner that it will deter others from doing the same.

Click here to read the full story.

Editorial: Stop the Code of Silence!

2011-06-12T15:10:00.003-04:00

Weeks into the DiMasi trial the Democrats are desperate to change the subject. In Federal Court, we have seen the way business gets done on Beacon Hill. There is a code of silence in the Democratic machine. They think if they don't talk about it, it will go away. Well, it's not going away. We've already been through Wilkerson, Galluccio, Buonomo, and Marzelli. Up next after the DiMasi trial will be the probation department scandal and the mess in Lawrence City Hall. The DiMasi trial has shown us how state contracts get rigged, and the probation scandal will show us how political contributions grease the skids for state jobs.

The legislative leaders who voted to re-elect DiMasi as speaker even as federal agents were closing in cannot hide their vote. Those legislators who promoted applicants for state jobs with one hand and took campaign cash with another will not be able to hide. Those who supported the election of Mayor Lantigua in Lawrence, including Governor Patrick, Lt. Governor Murray and House Speaker DiLeo, will need to explain their continuing support and failure to act in the face of a federal investigation.

Editorial: Mr. Markey - Let my People Go!

2011-06-12T14:19:00.005-04:00

The next time Joe Kennedy delivers oil to the elderly and the poor on behalf of his Citizens Energy, he should invite Congressman Markey to accompany him. For several years, Congressman Markey has been in the forefront of opposition to offshore and onshore oil drilling and oil and gas exploration studies. He has also voted against the construction of new oil refineries (there are no oil refineries north of New Jersey). Several years ago, he tried to shutdown the Seabrook nuclear plant but Congress voted against his proposal.

For "protectors of the environment" (who must delight OPEC) like Representative Markey, drilling in Alaska is a no-no, even though it could provide the nation with several years of crude oil independence and an eight-year supply of natural gas. All this by providing access to only 2,000 of Alaska's 20 million acres, - a mere 1/10,000th of the total area.

It should have been no surprise that drilling out a sea at depths at up to 5,000 feet is more dangerous and prone to catastrophe than doing so in the hundreds of safe sites closer to shore that Markey, Pelosi and their allies made off limits.

Weaning ourselves off foreign oil is essential to our national security. Last year, the U.S. consumed 300 billion gallons of oil, nearly two-thirds imported. About 86 percent of the world's oil is produced by foreign state-owned oil companies (as in Egypt and Libya). Exxon Mobil, the world's largest privately-owned oil company, owns only 1.08 percent of the world's oil reserves. Yet Markey consistently attacks them and hampers their oil exploration.

As the top Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee, he circulated a memo to reporters in February stating: "Global unrest shows that oil is still a global commodity, with supplies still concentrated in the Middle East. Increased drilling in the United States would do nothing to immediately impact prices." Maybe so, Representative Markey, but with heating season only four months away how long would you like us to wait?

Barbara A. Laskey

2011-05-20T12:13:00.005-04:00

Barbara A. Laskey a long-time member of the Medford Republican City Committee and Ward One Republican Committee died on Thursday May 19th. Beloved wife of committee member and Voter Registrar Richard M. Laskey, she was 77 years of age. Barbara was the mother of Frederick Laskey, Mother-in-Law of his wife Donna and Grandmother of Daniel, Christopher, Mathew and Geoffrey Laskey all members of the Ward Eight Republican Committee.

Barbara was also survived by her sons Richard M. Laskey Jr. and his wife Josephine, Kenneth Laskey and his wife April, and daughter Elizabeth Monteforte and her husband Alexander. She was a sister of Roland Johnson, Edward Johnson, the late Muriel Johnson, Robert Johnson and Hazel Newcomb. Barbara was also Grandmother to Richard III, Alexander, Kirsten and Emilee.

Funeral Services will be conducted in the First Congregational Church 26 County Road in Chelsea on Saturday May 21st at 11:00AM. Visitation hours will be held from 9:00 to 11:00AM at the church. Services will then conclude at the church. Regrets and sympathies are extended on behalf of the Committee to the entire Laskey family.

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus at MassGOP Fundraiser

2011-05-01T12:50:00.003-04:00

On Thursday evening April 28th, various State Committee Members including Second Middlesex State Committeeman Bernie Green, GOP elected officials, State Representative candidate Jim Dixon and his wife Laura, college Republicans, TARS State President Sean Harrington, and activists from across the state were on hand to hear from the RNC's new Chairman Reince Priebus. Priebus who appeared at one of a series of spring state GOP fundraisers highlighted the importance of supporting the MassGOP but not just to further Republican principles. Rather, he stressed that supporting the party is one way we can support our communities and strenghten Massachusetts.

Priebus also discussed the importance of our National Committee Members Jody Dow and Ron Kaufman saying they are both influential to his chairmanship. Charged with the mission of building trust with state parties, contributers and grass roots activists, Priebus noted that the outstanding debts of the RNC had been addressed and he pledged to be a formidable force in the 2012 elections.

Investigative Journalism still critically needed, Woodward says

2011-05-01T10:41:00.005-04:00

Journalist and author Bob Woodward shared his thoughts and experiences on issues central to the American Presidentcy during at lecture in front of a fully packed Cohen Auditorium on April 25th. Woodward recounted his experiences investigating high-profile stories in Washington and interviewing American presidents and other top figures thoughout his career. The journalist keep his own remarks short in order to make room for extended questions-and-answers with the audience, pairing sobering commentary on serious political issues with humerous anecdotes about famous Washington personalities.

Woodward rose to national prominance for his coverage, alongside fellow Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein, of the Watergate scandal of the 1970s. Woodward told the audience that his biggest concern is "secret government," the concentration of power in the hands of the executive branch and the military and intelligence community that he called "breathtaking."

"Democracies die in darkness, and...if there is no accountability, then we are finished," Woodward said. The Nixon presidency and Watergate scandal, Woodward offered, were symptomatic of this mentality. "The tragedy of that ultimate secret government...was that no one ever said, 'What would be good for the country? What does the country need?"

Woodward spoke about the challenges and responsibilities journalists face in getting around the powerful "message machine" that controls the public face of many political figures, including Presidents. He estimated that the public knowledge of most presidential administrations is only a tiny fraction of the complete picture - "one percent," by former Vice-President Al Gore's calculations, according to Woodward.

Woodward discussed the extent to which journalists , like political figures they cover, can never fully understand the consequences of their actions and their legacies. Woodward added that former President George W. Bush had once commented to him, about his own legacy, "History-we don't know, we'll all be dead."

Several notable persons of interest have come to the Tufts campus in Medford recently after being invited to appear and speak at various venues at the University. Access to most events is limited to the College Students and Faculty, but a few limited opportunities to residents in the community are sometimes available. Among this spring's speakers and lecturers have been entertainer and comedian Bill Cosby, former Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, and journalist and author Bob Woodward. "Of the three" according to Medford City Committee Chairman Bernie Green, "I enjoyed Bob Woodward the most for his insights about various Presidents since Nixon. Cosby was funny, but Pelosi gave a disjointed and boring presentation. I was not impressed by her presence either."

Tufts to build new Sports and Fitness Center

2011-04-14T00:01:00.005-04:00

Tufts University will break ground for the Steve Tisch Sports and Fitness Center on Tuesday, April 12, 2011. The 42,000 square-foot center located on College Avenue in Medford, will feature a dramatic new central plaza leading into the heart of the new facilities, which will adjoin the existing Gancher Center and Cousins Gymnasium.

Click here to read the full story.

Big Labor fights back in Wisconsin and U.S.

2011-04-12T01:07:00.006-04:00

The battle between public unions and taxpayers will define the next decade in most U.S. states, and this past week the union empire struck back in Wisconsin. Big Labor went all-out to seek revenge against Governor Scott Walker's public union reforms, when they made a serious effort to take over the state Supreme Court in that states recent close election between Justice David Prosser and liberal challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg.

At this time it appears that Justice Prosser has won re-election to the state Supreme Court. Until Gov. Walker's collective bargaining reform passed last month, incumbent Justice Prosser was a heavy favorite. Unions then turned it into a grudge match, with the union-backed Greater Wisconsin Committee alone spending $1,363,040 for Ms. Kloppenburg, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. The voter turnout of 1.5 million was nearly double the usual number of voters in a state Supreme Court election. Union efforts were aided by an unfortunate Wisconsin law that lets voters register immediately before casting a ballot. A similiar Minnesota law helped elect Democrat Al Franken narrowly win a Senate seat in 2008. Because identification requirements are scant, the law creates different standards at different polling places and is an invitation to fraud. These problems were apparent long before this last election. In 2008, a 67-page Milwaukee Police Department Report chronicled potentional fraud in the state's tally of voters in the 2004 Presidential election. Questionable voting by absentee ballot, voting by felons and disparities between votes cast and those counted were part of "an illegal organized attempt to influence the outcome of the election," the report noted. Gov. Walker and the GOP legislature blundered by not repealing same-day registration as an early priority.

In the event of a recount, the very liberal state Chief Justice Shirley Abrahanson will decide which circuit court judge will hear the dispute-though she ought to recuse herself. Ms. Kloppenburg interned for her early in her career, and a spat between Ms. Abrahanson and Justice Prosser that included intemperate comments by the latter became campaign foder for Ms. Kloppenburg. The Wisconsin high court is ofter split 4-3, and a Prosser loss will put liberals back in charge. Some Republicans will interpret a Prosser defeat, if it occurs, as proof they should never challenge public union power, but that is precisely what Big Labor wants. Once Prosser began to fight back, he made the race exceptionally close. Unions are never going to easily give up dominence over the public purse. The lesson of Wisconsin is to retool the reform message so taxpayers understand the stakes. The various labor and election reforms being considered or acted upon in other states will clearly be fought across the country for some time to come.

ObamaCare To Tax Home Sales

2011-03-30T12:36:00.008-04:00

"I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes." President Obama, September 12, 2008.

Beginning January 1, 2013, ObamaCare will impose a 3.8% Medicare tax on all unearned income, including the sale of single family homes, townhouses, co-ops, condominiums, and even rental income. In February 2010, 5.02 million homes were sold, according to the National Association of Realtors. On any given day, the sale of a house, townhome, condominium, co-op, or income from a rental property can push middle-class families over the $250,000 threshold and slam them with a new tax they cannot afford.

This new ObamaCare tax is the first time the government will apply a 3.8 percent tax on unearned income. This new tax on home sales and unearned income and other Medicare taxes raise taxes more than $210 million to pay for ObamaCare. The national Association of Realtors called this new Medicare tax on unearned income'destructive' and 'ill-advised' and warned that it would hurt job creation.

Jim Dixon's Rep Race Needs Your Help

2011-03-25T14:11:00.004-04:00

Captain Jim Dixon a commercial airline pilot with American Airlines is running for State Representative in one of the two special elections currently under way for open seats to be filled on May 10th. The more local race is for the 10th Middlesex District seat which became open after then re-elected State Representative Koutoujian was named by Governor Patrick as the interim Sheriff of Middlesex County in January. Dixon, a first time candidate, who ran for the seat against the incumbent in November is making his second effort only months after knocking on doors in the district which includes Waltham, Newton and Watertown.

While four Democrats are beating themselves up in order to win their party primary in April, Jim will have the opportunity to sprint to the May 10th final election. Already volunteers from various local committees in our area have assisted in sending out fundraising letters and starting an effort of literature drops on doors in the district. Money for additional mailings and campaign materials are needed to combat the expected union onslaught and efforts from vested interests in order keep the seat from falling into Republican hands.

Captain Dixon was a special guest at the March 23rd Medford Republican City Committee meeting and was presented with the opportunity to express his concerns for the district and state. Chairman Bernie Green asked those present and is asking all the Ward Members in the city to make a donation of money and if they have the opportunity - volunteer in this special election by donating time such as making phone calls on his behalf from home. For more information you may call the campaign at (800) 582-5340 or visiting his website at http://www.jedixon.com/.

Officials question MBTA Report on Garage

2011-03-25T12:59:00.007-04:00

While Medford City officials have worked for more than a decade to remove the MBTA garage from its current Salem Street location due to multiple complaints of noise and pollution from neighbors, a recent state report stating just the opposite has left many perplexed.

Recently a local group involved in transit issues discovered that Ms. Fichter of Mass DOT misrepresented the Haines Square issue in comments she submitted in the annual Green Line SIP report that was released in January. The citizen group submitted comments asking yet again, as city and local legislative officials have in the past, that the Haines Square car barn be moved out of the city as a substitution for the delay in the Green Line.

Ms. Fitchter, in a patronizing and condescending writing style responded with a false answer, stating that there was opposition to moving the Garage. That statement was included in the Mass DOR report. The falsified report has left some questioning whether officials from Mass DOT are working and acting in good faith when they discuss and report transit issues such as the proposed Green Line extension to officials and citizens in the area.

Click here to read full story.

Boston Municipal Research Bureau Report: School Employees 82% of Budget

2011-03-19T14:02:00.003-04:00

The Boston Public Schools has a $821.4 million general fund budget that serves 56,742 students throughout 134 schools. This year 82% of the budget or $671.6 million will be spent on employee salaries and benefits. Salaries for teachers totals $399.2 million or 49% of the total budget BPS budget. In FY11, $9.1 million is expected to be paid for teacher step increases. Teacher health insurance is budgeted at $52.5 million while the BTU Health and Welfare Fund totals $8.4 million.

Click here to read more details of the BMRB report.

Next Medford RCC Meeting March 23rd

2011-03-16T21:09:00.002-04:00

The next regular meeting of the Medford Republican City Committee will be held in the DelloRusso Meeting Room at the South Medford Fire Station, 1 Medford Street on Wednesday March 23rd at 7:00PM.

State Grant Builds Windmill that doesn't Churn

2011-03-11T12:56:00.005-05:00

Just across from the Chelsea Creek sits a windmill intended to power an entire housing development that is stalled and appears not to have a future anytime soon. The electricity-generating machine doesn't appear to be working either since the blades sit idle.

The State invested $500,000 from the state's Renewable Energy Trust Fund that actually gets its money from a surcharge levied on electricity rate payers.

In fact, the only requirements included in the original Grant was for the designing and building of the windmill, and there were no stipulations that it ever had to work - let alone power the Green Economy.

Click here for the full Story.

Bad Idea - Questionable Motives

2011-03-06T19:13:00.003-05:00

State Representative Bradley Jones (R-North Reading) and James Dwyer (D-Woburn) have introduced HR 1972, to move the Presidential Primary from February to June. The bill also moves the primary for other offices from September to June. The authors suggest that the state would save money by holding one primary instead of two.

The bill if enacted would not affect the deadline for Independant candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, to get on the ballot. That deadline would remain in July. The idea of a Massachusetts presidential primary that late in the year is completely new to the state. Massachusetts has held a presidential primary in every presidential election year starting in 1912, and it has always been in February, March or April.

According to sources, the idea has a problem because, no state is going to be allowed to hold September Primaries for federal office any longer, due to the law Congress passed telling states they must mail overseas absentee ballots at least 45 days before an election.

STATE LABOR DIRECTOR DECLARES WAR

2011-03-06T18:55:00.004-05:00

Obviously, some folks in the Patrick Administration missed hearing about the drubbing Congressman Mike Capuano took for telling union protestors, "Every once in a while you need to get out on the streets and get a little bloody when necessary."

Because there was state Labor Director George Noel, a card carrying member of IBEW Local 1505, who makes $125,000 courtesy of the taxpayers, telling another union protest: "Make no mistake about it. We are at war."

Commenting on Noel's remarks, State GOP Chair Jennifer Nassour said: "Governor Patrick needs to explain why his labor director is at war with the taxpayers and whether he agrees. The Governor has stacked his administration with officials from organized labor and leaves the appearance that organized labor isn't just at the table, but sitting on both sides of the table. Forgive us for wondering whether Governor Patrick represents all people or just special interests like organized labor. This is more of the same and why the Governor failed to get 50% of the vote."

State Employee Perk: Free Tuition

2011-03-06T11:23:00.008-05:00

It's a little known perk, the spouses of full-time state employees are entitled to free tuition at state-run Universities and Colleges. Full-time state workers also get the benefit, but it is the perk for their spouses that surprises many.

The decades old law allows employees and their spouses to attend all state-run schools except the Law and Medical Schools. State records show that 1,200 state employees took advantage of the program, along with 200 spouses of state workers. 'Team 5 Investigates' was unable to find a similiar program in another state.

It is revelations such as this, of unheard of benefits, that makes the average worker in the private sector want to do away with collective bargaining and binding arbitration for government employees. Some suggest that there should be full transparency for all employment agreements at the municipal and state level.

Capuano Calls for Blood at Pro-union Rally

2011-02-23T23:09:00.004-05:00

By Matt Murphy,
State House News Service

Congressman Mike Capuano must have lost the memo from President Obama and Democratic leaders who were demanding more civility in our political discourse and a toning down of incendiary rhetoric after the massacre in Tucson on January 8. Yesterday, at a rally on Beacon Hill, Capuano couldn't resist the urge to stir up a crowd of union members with a call for blood in the pursuit and protection of their political agenda.

Capuano's comments included: "This is going to be a struggle at least for the next two years. Let's be serious about this. They're not going to back down and we're not going to back down. This is a struggle for the hearts and minds in America," Capuano said, refering to the Tea Party counter-protesters as a "couple of nuts in the background."

"I'm proud to be here with people who understand that it's more than just sending an e-mail to get you going. Every once and awhile you need to get out on the streets and get a little bloody when necessary." he continued.

Click here to read full Article.

Mark Steyn to speak in Stoughton February 24th

2011-02-22T23:45:00.003-05:00

Mark Steyn, international best-selling author and human rights activist, will speak on "Relighting the Lamps of Liberty: Standing Up For Freedom in a Darkening World," at Ahavath Torah Congregation, 1179 Central Street, Stoughton, MA on Thursday evening, February 24th at 7:30PM. Steyn's writing on politics, arts and culture is published regularly thoughout the English-speaking world. His columns appear in various newspapers in the US, Canada, the Middle-East, Australia, New Zealand, and in Italy.

Admission is $10 per person. A VIP "meet and greet" with Steyn will be open to donors/sponsors of the event at $100 per person or $1000 per organization at 6:30PM. For more information contact Rabbi Haus at Ahavath Totah Congregation at 781-334-8733 or e-mail at office@torah.org.

Polito Supporters Angered by Remark

2011-02-21T16:54:00.003-05:00

State Republican Party Chair Jennifer Nassour created unnessary anguish among Karyn Polito supporters and others within the Party on February 6th by her response to a question posed on Channel Five's Sunday morning program "On the Record." When asked if she had a comment about a recent complaint by Karyn Polito that - Steve Grossman had received $728,000 from the Massachusetts Democratic Party and that effectively she had received no (financial) support from the (Republican Party) and that it was the significant difference in the race.

Nassour responded by saying "I am so happy with all of our (State Party) efforts in 2010, I think we did a great job; and no amount of money was going to help Karyn Polito who lost by ten points (to win the race), number one and number two, I would have taken a lot of heat from our activists and supporters if I had given money to Karyn Polito a Republican who was out campaigning with Tim Cahill and Independents."

Curiously, Polito who turned out to be the top Republican vote getter in the November election caught the attention of Massachusetts Democratic Party Chair John Walsh who had made a statement that he considered Polito a strong candidate and that it was anticipated by many that she might win the State Treasurers office.

To see the video of the TV5 program, click here.

Medford Presidents Day Celebration a Success

2011-02-21T15:51:00.004-05:00

The Medford Republican City Committee presented its Presidents Day Celebration on Saturday February 19th at the Post 45 American Legion Hall with a program of interesting presenters and speakers recalling some former Presidents and honoring the 100th birthday anniversary of former President Ronald Reagan. A delicious barbecue lunch catered by Redbones of Somerville began the festivities. A program of presentations began with the 'Pledge of Allegiance' lead by Arlington High School senior and TARS Club Chairman Sean Harrington; and a wonderful rendition of 'God Bless America' by Medford High School senior Nicole Avella, daughter of committee member Mathew Avella.

The speaking program began with keynote speaker Don Feder whose topic "What America Means to Me" received a standing ovation from the audience at its conclusion. Former State Auditor candidate Mary Z. Connaughton presented a biography on the life of former President Ronald Reagan and Boston Herald columnist and political consultant Holly Robichaud gave an informative view of efforts by Republicans to train future candidates and their supporters on how to conduct successful campaigns. Ralph Zazula founder of "Show ID to Vote" was offered the opportunity at the end of the scheduled program to explain his efforts to bring about changes in State Law requiring that every voter provide a valid government-issued photo ID in order to vote in any election held in Massachusetts. Passage of such laws requiring an ID in order to vote in the twenty six states that now have such prerequisites have resulted in a reduction in the number of people able to vote fraudulently. Anyone wishing to learn more about this effort may do so by going to: www.ShowIDtoVote.com.

Special introductions from among the attendees included Joseph Boike, newly appointed Republican member of the Arlington Board of Registrars; James Dolan former chairman of the Arlington RTC and candidate for School Committee; Anthony Ventresca, chairman of the Billerica RTC; Helen Hatch State Committeewoman from the 4th Middlesex District and President of the Massachusetts Republican Assembly; Donald Wong, newly elected State Representative and co-owner of the Kowloon Restaurant; Karla Romero, former candidate for State Representative; Frank Addivinola, former candidate for State Representative; David Carnevale, former candidate for State Senate; and Paul Caruccio, former candidate for Governors Council.

Committee to host Presidents Day Celebration

2011-01-17T14:04:00.006-05:00

The Medford Republican City Committee announces its plans to hold a Presidents Day Celebration at Post 45 American Legion Hall 321 Winthrop Street in Medford on Saturday February 19, 2011.

The event is scheduled to start with a Reception at 11:00am. A western-style family-friendly Barbecue Lunch catered by 'REDBONES' of Somerville will be served at 12:00 noon. The meal will include Barbecued Chicken, Sliced Smoked Beef Brisket, Pulled Pork, Potato Salad, Macaroni and Cheese, Cole Slaw or Green Salad, Cornbread, Sandwich Rolls and an assortment of individual sauces.

A speaking program recalling notable Presidents and celebrating the 100th birthday anniversary of former President Ronald Reagan will begin after the luncheon with a keynote speech by former Boston Herald editorial writer and syndicated columnist Don Feder. Among the other featured speakers will be Mary Z. Connaughton former Turnpike board member and recent candidate for State Auditor, Christy Mihos businessman and former gubernatorial candidate, and Holly Robichaud a Boston Herald columnist and a successful political consultant who served on the Massachusetts Republican State Committee for 16 years.

'Presidents Day Committee' co-chairs Susan Lance and Barry Greenspan in addition to soliciting Medford members, are also reaching out to city and town committee members from neighboring communities. Several other recent candidates for public office have expressed their interest in attending.

Medford GOP Committee chairman Bernie Green is encouraging residents and friends of the committee to attend and enjoy the luncheon and speaking program. Tickets are $22 for adults, $18 for children under 12. Please RSVP by February 14,2011.

Click here to learn more and register.

Nassour Re-Elected Chairman of Mass GOP

2011-01-07T14:30:00.003-05:00

Massachusetts Republican Chairman Jennifer A. Nassour running for her second two-year term won re-election over State Committeeman Bill McCarthy of Worcester by a substantial margin at the State Committee meeting held at the Newton Marriott Hotel on Wednesday January 6th.

State Committeeman Bill McCarthy together with others inside and outside of the Party had called for a change in the Party's leadership and direction. McCarthy who is incensed by the state GOP wipeout in the November election, stated on numerous occasions that she hadn't done enough to boost local candidates and focused most of the Party's resources on the Gubernatorial race. Specifically all of the Republican state-wide Constitutional Officers and US Representatives in Congress failed in their bids to get elected. Supporters point out that since becoming chair of the State Party, Nassour has been able to pay-off the debts that had accrued in the previous two-year election cycle by instituting a sound fiscal plan while enhancing the staff and work output.

In campaigning for re-election Nassour outlined her priorities for 2011 and 2012. Namely assisting with the re-election of Republican incumbents and to recruit more challengers to state legislative and congressional districts; conducting robust and strategic fundraising efforts that benefit all GOP candidates; changing the concept of campaign-driven GOTV efforts to a coordinated statewide effort and building the infrastructure to implement it; Increasing the number of registered Republican voters with the aid of re-built city and town committees and allied organizations; and updating the decades old technology and productivity for the benefit of the candidates.

The Republican State Committee elects a new chairman every two years during the January meeting following a presidential or gubernatorial election. There are 80 seats on the Republican State Committee, consisting of a man and woman elected every four years from the 40 state senate districts.

Medford City Committee to meet January 20th

2011-01-07T14:23:00.002-05:00

The next regular meeting of the Medford Republican City Committee will be held at the Medford Public Library 111 High Street on Thursday January 20th at 7:00PM.

On the agenda will be discussion of our Presidents Day Celebration on February 19th, the budget for 2011, Campaign Training and New Technologies, and Membership reach out for the Wards.

Boston Globe: Nassour facing Challenger defends role as GOP head

2010-12-28T12:24:00.005-05:00

By Stephanie Ebbert / December 26, 2010

The same Worcester Republican state committeeman who tried to have the State Republican Party chairwoman removed last month is now challenging her for the post, calling for a series of five debates across the state before the vote.

Bill McCarthy, a Republican activist and political science professor, blasted GOP chairwoman Jennifer Nassour for the party's showing in the November election. Though Republicans picked up seats in the state House, they lost every statewide and congressional election - a disappointment in a year of Republican gains nationally.

McCarthy blames Nassour's focus on the governors race, and he argues she did not do enough to support legislative candidates or to get out the vote. McCarthy said he would focus on redistricting, voter fraud, and the upcoming local elections, as well as rebuilding the GOP grassroots, with an eye toward the Tea Party movement uprising. "The current leadership wasn't as welcoming to the Tea Parties as I am," McCarthy said.

Nassour, who has served a chairwoman for two years, defended her performance and said she paid particular attention to the grass roots, holding training sessions for candidates and for legislators, building up a fund-raising list, and helping to jump-start some 100 new Republican town committees across the state. "This is all about who is best for the Republican Party in Massachusetts and who has the best vision and ideas," she said. "I think that my record speaks for itself. For the first time in 20 years, we actually won seats in the Legislature, having 36 members between the House and Senate is phenomenal for us."

Nassour survived a procedural coup that McCarthy tried to stage at a state committee meeting in November, and she expressed cautious optimism about her reelection. The vote on the chairmanship is planned for January 6th so that the new chairman can participate in the election of the new national chairman the following week, Nassour said. McCarthy is disputing the time frame, suggesting the vote is just after the holidays because Nassour is trying to "fix" the election by scheduling it while people are distracted.

Washington Post: Scanner Companies hiring former federal workers

2010-12-28T11:22:00.002-05:00

By Dan Eggen / December 26, 2010

About 8 in 10 registered lobbyists who work for scanner-technology companies previously held positions in the government or Congress, most commonly in the homeland security, aviation, or intelligence fields, according to a Washington Post review of lobbying-disclosure forms and data.

The extent of the connections to the federal government is particularly notable given the relatively small size of the scanner industry, which is dominated by a half-dozen specialized firms with heavy investments in airport-and border-security technology. Among Washington lobbyists as a whole, 1 in 3 has previously worked in government, according to the Center for Responsible Politics research group.

Many of the scanner companies are also on pace to spend record amounts of money for lobbying this year on Capitol Hill, where they see potential problems as some lawmakers push for limits on airport security practices. Top scanner firms have reported spending more than $6 million on lobbying this year, records show; that doesn't include industrial leaders such as General Electric, which also dabbles in scanning technology and has spent more than $32 million on lobbying this year.

The stepped up lobbying efforts by the industry come amid growing rancor on Capitol Hill over the Transportation Security Administration's use of airport full-body scanners, which are undergoing their first widespread deployment during the holiday travel season. The devices have come under fire from privacy and civil liberties advocates as ineffective and overly invasive because they generate revealing images of passengers.

The agency has purchased nearly 500 of the cutting-edge scanners - at $200,000 or more each - and plans to buy thousands more, meaning any restrictions would pose a major threat to the industry's bottom line. Faced with that threat, the industry made a strong lobbying push over the past two years to help derail any proposed limits, including legislation aimed at restricting or banning the use of full-body scanners by the TSA.

That came after the House stunned the industry last year by overwhelmingly approving a bill by Representative Jason Chaffetze, Republican of Utah who has been named as the incoming chairman of the House homeland-defense subcommittee, forbidding the TSA from using body scanners as primary passenger-screening tools at airports. The vote prompted a frantic scramble by scanner lobbyists to halt the measure in the Senate, according to legislative aides and others familiar with the battle. The effort was bolstered by the failed "underwear bomber" plot, which hastened calls for increased scanner use, last December.

Campaign Training: Vital to Success

2010-12-12T00:27:00.006-05:00

As 2010 ends, plans are underway by the Mass GOP and other Republican organizations to increase the amount of basic and advanced political training for local committee members and candidates in the year ahead. If there was a lesson to be learned from the election losses in Massachusetts in 2010, it was that - most local RCC and RTC are undermanned and poorly advised - on the necessary pre-election campaigning and Election Day activities that are critical if Republicans, wed to long-time core GOP values, are to win the hearts and minds of responsible voters. Without the coordinated efforts by the local committees, outside groups and special interest organizations will continue their often suspicious efforts to 'win' elections for favored Democrats.

The message for all citizens is that this is the time for Massachusetts to join the other states that require a valid Voter ID to be produced - prior to voting. Every member of the state legislature, who makes excuses for further delays, needs to be driven from office. Until the integrity of every election is beyond question, our republic is under threat and our freedoms will soon become only myths.

Candidates for municipal office as well as state legislative office, whether first time or fourth time, need to be familiar with the skills, systems, and techniques necessary to reach out to voters and find the resources to pay for it all. Categories of systems and services such as conventional phone banks or voIP systems; computers, answering machines and cell phones; public, private and GOP data bases; and tables, chairs, lawn signs, bumper stickers-just to name the obvious must be in hand. Campaign Chairs, Finance Directors, Treasurers, Field Directors, Volunteer Coordinators and Consultants must also be in place.

For local committees, expansion of their 'ground game' which includes standouts, demonstrations, lit drops, door bell ringers, and Poll Watchers inside and outside is critical. By adding to our numbers with non-affiliated sympathizers we will be better prepared to deal with the paid thugs who invade our polling stations.

We also plan to provide information for our committee members and to our neighbors thoughout the year so the coordination between local committees and candidates are seamless. Volunteers to staff year-round 'Get out Our Vote' communications to voters must begin.

'Growing Grassroots' Conference in February

2010-12-11T23:55:00.003-05:00

The MassGOP has announced that Registration is now open for the 'Growing Grassroots Conference' that will be held on Saturday, February 5, 2011, at the Double Tree Hotel in Milford which is conveniently located off I-495. The conference will feature training sessions for Republican activists, candidates, and town and city committee members.

Building on the success of the seminars held in several locations across the state during 2010, the conference will feature campaign experts from inside and outside Massachusetts, including an encore session by GOPAC, the national party organization dedicated to training and electing GOP candidates. "We know training is a key element in building our farm team of candidates and our grassroots of activists, and that is why we are excited to build on the popularity of this year's seminars with the party's first ever grassroots conference," said Jennifer Nassour, chairman of the Massachusetts Republican Party.

Conference sessions will cover running for municipal and legislative seats, building city and town committees, how to be a super-star activist, and much more. Sponsored by the Massachusetts Republican Party, the conference seeks to bring together Republicans from across the state for a full day of informative and inspirational sessions. Saturdays sessions will be followed by an optional Sunday morning program of roundtables and group discussions. Those considering attending the conference are advised to keep checking the conference website for more details.

CommonWealth Magazine: Should we subsidize Canadian Hydro?

2010-12-11T21:38:00.004-05:00

By Bruce Mohi / December 2, 2010

Republican Charlie Baker may not have won the race for governor, but his idea to import more hydroelectric power from Canada isn't going away.

Canadian Provinces are eager to do business and several Massachusetts business groups are quietly talking the idea up. They see Canadian hydropower as the best way to keep electricity costs stable while meeting the state's environmental goals on renewable energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. One business group hasn't gone public yet but is drafting legislation that would classify large-scale Canadian hydro as renewable and therefore eligible for renewable energy subsidies paid for by utility ratepayers.

Most people would agree that hydroelectricity is as renewable as rain and a very low emitter of greenhouse gases, but Massachusetts officials chose not to designate large-scale hydro as renewable when they passed the Green Communities Act of 2008. Their decision was based less on concerns about the environmental impact of dam-created reservoirs on habitat and wildlife, and more on the fear that low-cost hydro from Canada would overwhelm the renewable energy market in Massachusetts, depressing demand for more expensive wind and solar projects that the state was eager to jumpstart.

Massachusetts and most other New England states operate a subsidy system designed to encourage the development of renewable energy. Companies that produce qualifying renewable energy generate renewable energy credits, or RECs, for each kilowatt hour of power they produce. The RECs are sold to companies that sell electricity to customers. The state currently requires the electricity sellers to buy RECs equal to 5 percent of their sales. The mandate rises one percentage point a year, so that by 2025 the electricity sellers will have to buy RECs equal to 20 percent of their sales.

During the gubernatorial campaign, Baker said the rising demand for renewable energy and the scarity of supplies mean electricity prices will keep going up. He said the state should designate large-scale hydro-power from Canada as renewable as a way of meeting the state's environmental goals and holding electricity prices down.

But Gov. Deval Patrick said he didn't favor paying subsidies to large-scale hydro produces in Canada who could afford to sell their electricity in New England without subsidies. He also feared the inclusion of Canadian hydo would dampen enthusiasm for home-grown wind and solar projects.

Canadian provinces are eager to become much bigger players in the New England energy market. Quebec-owned Hydro-Quebec is working with Northeast Utilities and NStar to gain approvals for a transmission line that would deliver approximately 1200 megawatts of hydroelectricity to a substation in New Hampshire. Nalcor Energy, which is owned by Newfoundland and Labrador, is developing a hydro power station in Labrador and a transmission line that would deliver the power to Nova Scotia and eventually New England.

A spokesman for Hydro-Quebec declined to comment on whether the company would like to see its hydroelectricity qualify for renewable energy credits. A spokesman for NStar also declined comment.

But sources say the utilities are quietly laying the groundwork for a legislative change. Some industry officials even suggest Hydro-Quebec may need the subsidies to make its power competitive in the New England market.

Hydro-Quebec signed a 26-year power deal with Vermont utilities this summer to supply approximately 225 megawatts of electricity to the Green Mountain state. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Hydro-Quebec President Thierry Vandal was quoted as saying the intial price in 2012 would be 6 cents a kilowatt hour, a third of what Cape Wind power will cost. The Vermont deal also gave Hydro-Quebec a public relations victory when the Vermont legislature passed a law recognizing large-scale hydro as a form of renewable energy. Quebec Premier Jean Charest, at the official announcement of the Vermont deal in August, used the Vermont designation to make his case for expansion into the New England states.

"We do not want large-scale hydro to be discriminated against," Charest said. "Our view is that the United States will not be able to meet the objectives of a low-carbon economy without this energy. So it represents a win-win for everyone."

Timothy E. Donovan, Dead at 78

2010-12-08T00:27:00.002-05:00

Timothy Emmett Donovan a former Medford Republican City Committee Chairman and long-time member of the Ward Four Medford Republican Committee died after a long illness on December 7th at the age of 78. A Medford resident for many years, Timothy was a former Court Officer at the Suffolk Superior Court, former MDC Police Officer and a US Air Force veteran having served in the Korean War. Regrets and sympathies are extended on behalf of the Committee to his wife Margaret, daughters Denise and Patrice and sons Timothy Jr., Christopher and Mathew. Tim was also survived by his brother Michael, his sister Ann and eleven grandchildren.

Funeral arrangements are provided by the Beals-Geake-Magliozzi Funeral Home 29 Governors Avenue in Medford. Visiting Hours will be between 4:00PM and 8:00PM on Thursday. Funeral Mass and burial will begin Friday morning at 9:00AM.

MCFL welcomes House wins

2010-11-28T16:33:00.005-05:00

In an open letter, Anne Fox President of the Massachusetts Citizens for Life advised State Party chair Jennifer Nassour that most of the newly elected Republican House members are proclaimed pro-life supporters. In her November 15th letter Ms. Fox states:

Dear Ms. Nassour,

Along with the rest of the state, we at Massachusetts Citizens for Life have been looking at the election results. There are a couple of important facts to which we would like to draw your attention.

Most of the newly elected State Representatives in Massachusetts are pro-life. We are delighted by this outcome.

In addition, the huge Republican sweep across the country was accomplished by pro-life candidates. The Republican wins in Massachusetts were almost entirely reserved to those candidates who are willing to defend human life.

Looking at the data, it seems obvious that the lack of "surge" in Massachusetts is attributable to the fact that the statewide candidates were led by a man who described himself as "To the left of Obama on social issues" and were coached by professional consultants who told them to steer clear of anything that sounded pro-life. That was bad advice.

For many election cycles now, Republicans have been winning nationally running with pro-life positions. The Republican win of note over that time in Massachusetts was Scott Brown. Senator Brown took pro-life positions on the legislative issues facing the US Senate. The factor which propelled him to victory was his promise to be the "41st vote" against pro-abortion, pro-rationing Obamacare. He was also helped by Martha Coakley's "Shannon O'Brien moment" when Ms. Coakley said that pro-life people should not be allowed to work in emergency rooms.

Keep in mind, as of 10/13/2010 the number of registered Republicans in MA has dropped to a new low of 474,798 voters, representing a mere 11.33% of all voters. If the GOP leadership wants the State Republican Party to remain relevant, they must reconsider their advocacy of candidates who are "left of Obama" and adopt true Republican Principles.

We respectfully suggest that in reviewing your statewide losses, you learn from the local successful legislative races and listen to those newly elected who embraced the value of life. In setting a course for the future, the leadership of the MA State GOP should embrace, and not abandon, the core principle on which it was founded - the defense of Life.

We would respectfully suggest that leaders on the party in this state meet with successful national Republicans to understand better the role of life issues. Of course, we would be happy to meet with you locally as well.

Sincerely,
Anne Fox, President

GOP Chair on hot seat after dismal Election

2010-11-28T15:52:00.005-05:00

State Committeeman Bill McCarthy of Worcester led an effort to oust Massachusetts Republican State Party chairwoman Jennifer Nassour claiming she misspent the party's cash - funnelling $1.2 million into failed GOP candidates for Governor and Congress while ignoring other races.

GOP State Committeeman Bill McCarthy had announced that he would push for a vote to remove Nassour at the November GOP meeting in Newton. McCarthy said "I've spoken to a number of candidates who have won and they either received no help or very little help."

Nassour spent $1.2 million on Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker's ads. She also spent at least $132,000 to help congressional candidates. Baker and the nine GOP Congressional candidates all lost. The GOP more than doubled its seats in the state House of Representatives from 16 to 34 - but that's still too few to influence most House votes.

The chairwoman of the state Republican Party used rulings by the party's parliamentarian, secretary and lawyer at the November 17th meeting, who said that McCarthy had not followed the procedure outlined in the By-Laws to call for a 'Special Meeting' to remove the chair, in order to stop any effort to replace Nassour prior to the required election for Party Chair at the yet to be announced January 2011 meeting.

Click here to see related story.

TARS Come to Medford

2010-11-13T16:18:00.003-05:00

Trent Sullivan a sophomore at Medford High School has announced the formation of the Medford High School Teenage Republican Club also known as TAR's. Sullivan reported that the first official meeting for the Medford Teenage Republicans, which is applying for it's Charter from the National Federation of Teenage Republicans has already been held with eleven students attending the first meeting and more expressing an interest to join.

As previously reported in August teens from several New England States met in Arlington to organize the New England Federation of Teenage Republicans and later the Massachusetts Assembly of Teenage Republicans and also select Officers to create an umbrella for the young Republicans in the various New England States to organize existing Clubs and start new ones.

In an e-mail update, Trent who is the Interim Chairman of the new Medford HS Club stated his hope to interact to work with and communicate closely with the Medford Republican City Committee. Committee Chair Bernie Green, who met Sullivan at the NFTAR and MATAR organizational meeting in August stated that he would "welcome the opportunity to work closely with the Medford TAR's group" and hopes that Sullivan and the members of the new Club will feel welcome to attend the business meetings of the City Committee and report on their activities to our members. Green noting Sullivan's request for speakers to appear at their meetings said he would be happy to provide a list of notable speakers. City Committee Treasurer Mark Crowley revealed recently that he had been an active member of a TAR's group when he was a student at Melrose High School and was familiar with their goals.

Upgrades in Voter ID Laws Needed

2010-11-07T12:03:00.009-05:00

With the November elections over many problems and questions concerning voting procedures in Massachusetts, and in other States across the country, still need to be addressed. One change that should be put in place now - is a requirement for a Voter ID - to be presented by all who wish to excercise their right to vote.

The federal Help America Vote Act mandates that all states require identification from first-time voters who register to vote by mail and did not provide verification with their mail-in voter registration. Twenty six states have broader voter identifiation requirements that what HAVA mandates. In these states, all voters are asked to show identification prior to voting. Eight of these states specify that voters must show a photo ID; the other eighteen states accept additional forms of identification that do not necessarily include a photo. In no state is a voter who cannot produce identification turned away from the polls - all states have some sort of recourse for voters without identifiation to cast a vote. However in Georgia and Indiana, voters without ID vote a provisional ballot, and must return to election officials within a few days and show a photo ID in order for their votes to be counted.

Click here to view video.

Next Meeting of Medford GOP Wednesday October 27th

2010-10-26T14:02:00.002-04:00

The next meeting of the Medford Republican City Committee will be held at the South Medford Fire Station, 1 Medford Street, in the DelloRusso Community Room on Wednesday October 27th at 7:00PM.

Reports of sub-committees on Membership Outreach, President's Day and Election Day and Candidates are on the agenda.

In Memorium: Mildred Fay Jefferson MD

2010-10-20T10:27:00.008-04:00

As postings on 'Citizens for Life' and other organizations accumulate tributes and recollections from those within and outside of the many pro-life organizations across the nation, that Dr. Jefferson devoted much of her time and effort to, express the loss of a "brilliant spokesman", "exceptional speaker" and as a "close friend" who impacted their lives; it was announced that her closest cousin, a Baptist minister, plans to have her funeral and burial held in Texas. She will be buried with her parents. The following quote best summerizes her views on human life:

"I am at once a physician, a citizen and a woman, and I am not willing to stand aside and allow this concept of expendable human lives to turn this great land of ours into just another exclusive reservation where only the perfect, the priviliged, and the planned have the right to live" - Mildred Fay Jefferson

Dr. Mildred Jefferson, dead at 84

2010-10-16T20:25:00.007-04:00

Mildred Fay Jefferson a Doctor and life-long activist died at her home in Cambridge yesterday at age 84. Doctor Jefferson, whose father was a Methodist minister, was born in Pittsburg Texas in 1926. Despite growing up in the Jim Crow era, she nevertheless became the first African American woman to graduate from Harvard Medical School in 1951. In addition, she was the first woman to become a member of the Boston Surgical Society, the first woman to be a surgical intern at the Boston City Hospital and the first woman to receive the prestigious Lantern Award for Patriotism from the Massachusetts State Council Knights of Columbus. In addition, she also received twenty-eight honorary degrees. Jefferson served as a general surgeon with the former Boston University Medical Center as well Assistant Clinical Professor at the BU Medical School.

In spite of all these accomplishments, she is probably best known for her support for the right-to-life movement. Jefferson helped found the National Right to Life Committee and served three terms as its president. She was a member of Black Americans for Life and led the Right to Life Crusade for the last 33 years. She was held in high esteem by Feminists for Life and other pro-life feminists. At the time of her death Dr. Jefferson was serving on the Board of Directors for more than 30 pro-life organizations. Years ago, she ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for United States Senator in Massachusetts. More recently in August, Jefferson was named as an adult supervisor to the newly formed Massachusetts Assembly of Teenage Republicans and the New England Federation of TARS.

Standout for Dave Carnevale - Sat, October 16

2010-10-12T11:08:00.002-04:00

Join Dave Carnevale, Republican candidate for State Senate running against Pat Jehlen, for a show of support in Medford Square on Saturday, Oct. 16 @ 9:30-1:00. Just bring yourself and any friends! Even if you can only come for a short time, please don't hesitate, any and all help is appreciated!

For more info, contact info@davecarnevale.com

Campaign 2010: Dembrowski impressed by Brazilian voting Procedures and Technology

2010-10-04T19:06:00.010-04:00

Dr. Derry Dembrowski a candidate for US Congress in the Seventh Congressional District commented, after observing the turnout of thousands of native Brazilians who appeared at Framingham High School in Massachusetts over the weekend to vote in their Presidential Election, that he was very impressed by the turnout and how sophisticated the process and their 'state-of-the-art' voting machinery was in comparison to some of the equipment and methods used in Massachusetts and in other States across the country. Dembrowski added that the process was both secure and instantaneous.

In an interview with Brazilian TV reporter Luciana Almeida of BTN, Dembrowski stated "I am very impressed by the turnout of Brazilians who cherish their mandatory right to vote." According to the BTN reporter, officials were expecting over 12,000 to show up and vote. Dembrowski remarked that unlike Massachusetts, voters in Brazil are required to present their Voter ID before being allowed to vote.

When asked about Americans voting overseas, Dembrowski noted that although our military fights to protect the rights of citizens in other countries to vote and change their leaders, few act to protect the right of our military men and women to vote in a safe and secure manner and be assured that their votes will be counted on time back home. Most members of the military wishing to vote use paper Absentee Ballots which is an archiac (World War II type) absentee voting system; and because of the time required to return them to their communities, large numbers of the military ballots are not counted.

Asked about his prediction about the upcoming election in Massachusetts and whether voters will turnout in large numbers Dembrowski answered "I hope so," adding "Americans should value their right to vote" and use that right to change their government.

Examiner Editorial: Obamacare is even worse than critics thought

2010-10-02T02:01:00.004-04:00

Six months ago, President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rammed Obamacare down the throats of an unwilling public. Half a year removed from the unprecedented legislative chicanery and backroom dealing that characterized the bill's passage, we kow much more about the bill than we did then. A few of the revelations are:

Click here to read more.

Dembrowski Reception at Lucia's Ristorante

2010-10-02T01:42:00.003-04:00

Supporters and interested voters from Winchester and the surrounding communities in the Seventh Congressional District are invited to attend a reception with Dr. Gerry Dembrowski which will be held at the Lucia Ristorante, 13 Mt. Vernon Street in Winchester on Tuesday October 5, 2010. The reception is scheduled to start with a dinner followed with remarks by the candidate.

For further information or to make reservations RSVP Jessbarnes@gerry2010.com.

QUESTION 2: Repeal and Reform 40B

2010-10-01T16:32:00.004-04:00

Recently groups interested in preserving Chapter 40B have begun suggesting that the proposed repeal and reforms to 40B will greatly impact seniors and low income families. This is patently false and misleading. Chapter 122B and Chapter 40R provides for various agencies and housing authorities to build and provide permanent housing for seniors, low and moderate income earners, and disabled individuals - even though the State Auditor has reported that the Legislature has not fully funded them for several years.

The proposed changes would repeal an existing State law that allows a qualified organization or developer wishing to build housing the ability to circumvent local zoning laws and regulations that are often based on natural and man-made infrastructural limitations and the impact to local communities, by including government-subsidized housing that includes low and moderate income income units to apply for a single comprehensive permit, thus shortening the time needed to prepare a response to such proposals. Developers can force a City or Town to allow such developments even if the local ZBA denies the comprehensive permit as unreasonable and inconsistent with local needs such as the costs related to overcoming natural limits such as topography and the ability to supply water and treat waste.

Most low and moderate income based units included as part of such developments are phased out after a 20-30 year period and revert to market pricing. The time limits are favored by developers because sooner or later when the subsidized housing units revert to market pricing the State will insist that the local community allow new housing development and increase the population further to meet the latest State standard.

Click here to read further details.

Campaign 2010: Jehlen admits to breaking Law

2010-09-30T11:03:00.018-04:00

State Senator Patricia Jehlen (D-Somerville) who currently serves as the Chair of the Committee on Elder Affairs, at a recent forum where remarks on the issue of road testing of seniors seeking to renew their drivers licenses included an admission that she had broken the Law when she acted on her Father's behalf and used the Internet to renew his license when she knew he had medical issues and perhaps he should have been forced at the time to forgo his driving privileges.

Campaign 2010: Dembrowski and Markey talk about Term Limits

2010-09-27T13:13:00.002-04:00

Both candidates for election to the Seventh Congressional District, challenger Dr. Gerry Dembrowski (R-Woburn) and incumbent Ed Markey (D-Malden) responded to the "Question of the Week: Should there be term limits for Representative to Congress" which was posed by the Belmont Citizen-Herald. Their answers were posted this Monday morning by the local CNC owned newspaper. While Markey's response noted the founding fathers constructed a system - (elections) - Dembrowski responded that Democracy is not well served when any politician continues to serve in (one) office for a lifetime.

Click here for full story

Campaign 2010: South Carolina's DeMint becoming Force for Change

2010-09-17T16:32:00.012-04:00

Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina following the party's throttling in the 2008 elections has been working to shake up the seniority rules in the Senate that he feels are perpetuating a broken culture of parochial spending within the party. When his fustrations over the rules boiled he decided to challenge the status quo, forming a fundraising committee with the idea of highlighting candidates he considers true conservatives, and calling out those he doesn't. His Senate Conservatives Fund ranks his colleagues on their positions, often with unflattering scores. Two years later, DeMint has done as much as anybody to incite the tea party uprising and bitter infighting that has roiled the GOP primaries this year. He has used his newfound celebrity and fundraising strength to fuel a string of upstart conservatives who were opposed by the party as too extreme or unelectable. He's also become one of the more influential Republican power brokers in Washington, with a loyal following of conservative activists and a goal of purging the party of what he calls weak-kneed Republicans.

His latest and most hostile fued within the party machine came in Deleware, where DeMint openly fought with Republican leaders in a contest between moderate Republican Rep. Michael Castle and tea party favorite Christine O'Donnell. While Republican leaders openly attacked O'Donnell's campaign - the state party chairman called her a fraud who couldn't get elected dogcatcher - DeMint gave her money and a key endorsement. She pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the year, just after another stunning result in Alaska in which underdog Joe Miller beat Sen. Lisa Murkowski. DeMint maintains that the only way for Republicans to regain the majority is to stand more firmly by its beliefs, not to shy away from them, even if that means short-term losses. Insiders are concerned that Sen. DeMint and Gov. Palin may be pushing the party to far-right to win in November and control the direction of Congress next year.

Campaign 2010: Tierney claims he was Ignored

2010-09-14T01:18:00.007-04:00

A quick check among several of the communities named in a story posted on Monday by local CNC Newspapers revealed that an allegation made by Mr. Tierney of Framingham that the GOP Town Committees in the Seventh Congressional District ignored his candidacy actually showed that no contact was ever received from him or his representatives. The response by the Belmont Committee Chair quoted in the story is typical in that most committees expect candidates to make the first move. Tierney admitted in some instances to not attempting to make contact with several committees because he believed them to be inactive committees.

Medford Republican City Committee Chairman Bernie Green responded to the suggestion that his Committee was inactive by saying "If Mr. Tierney really wanted to reach most of the committees he named he could have checked on the Internet. Most of us have Web-sites or Blogs that list our contact information and several are on Facebook or other sites that also have Links to us." Green added "While some of his 'street work' (sic) was underway He could of checked with some of the cable access channels and discovered that Medford video tapes its meetings and distributes them for broadcast."

Green who is also a State Committee Member representing several of the communities named and one community in the District not named called Tierney a RINO who is the 'straw man' in the race hoping to confuse voters with fabrications and distortions. "Even his home town of Framingham didn't believe in his candidacy" he added.

Full Story

Dembrowski Reception at Great Manderin

2010-09-10T09:14:00.003-04:00

Supporters and concerned voters from the communities from the eastern end of the seventh Congrssional District are invited to attend a reception for Dr. Gerry Dembrowski which will be held at the Great Manderin Restaurant 186 Cambridge Street at the 'Four Corners' intersection in Woburn on Sunday September 12, 2010. The reception which is scheduled to start at 5:30PM includes an 'all you can eat' buffet. A Donation of $25 is asked from those who make their reservations by September 10th and $35 from those who wish to pay at the door. For further information or to make reservations RSVP Helen Hatch at helenhatch@yahoo.com subject line: Gerry.

Winchester Republican Fundraiser Set

2010-09-10T08:53:00.002-04:00

The Women's Republican Club of Winchester and the Winchester Republican Town Committee will again co-sponsor their Annual Cocktail Party and Fundraiser which will be held on Friday September 17, 2010. The social scheduled to start at 6:30PM will offer an assortment of tasty morsels and snacks for the enjoyment of the attendees, some of which are home-made. A sip or two of a pleasing beverage will add to the pleasure of meeting and socializing with friends and associates.

Several candidates for elected office have been invited and are expected to make remarks. The invited guest speakers include: George Georgountzos, Esq., candidate for State Representative, David Carnevale candidate for State Senate for the 2nd Middlesex District, Bill Campbell, Esq., candidate for Secretary of State, Dr. Gerry Dembrowski candidate for US Congress and State Senator Richard Tsei candidate for Lt. Governor.

The annual event is expected to provide funds that will be donated to various campaigns by the two groups. For further information call Susan Lance at 781-874-9521.

Reminder: Next meeting of Medford GOP this week (Thur, Sept 9)

2010-09-07T10:30:00.001-04:00

The next meeting of the Medford Republican City Committee will be held at the Medford Public Library, 111 High Street on Thursday September 9th at 7:00PM. Wards 1-4-6-8 are requested to caucus and report their officer elections.

Attorney General candidate Guy Carbone of Belmont has been invited to appear at the September meeting in the Magoun Room. Carbone a practicing Attorney and former MDC Commisioner, is running a write-in/sticker campaign and has announced plans to mail out 70,000 stickers across the State to likely voters which he hopes will write-in his name or attach a sticker to the Primary Ballot in September. In order to appear on the Ballot for the General Election Carbone needs to garner more than 10,000 votes and prevail in the Primary.

Governors Council 6th District candidate Paul Carruccio, a local businessman, has also been invited to appear and meet members of the Committee and interested voters in the Community.

Next Meeting of Medford GOP - September 9th

2010-08-08T00:23:00.004-04:00

Republican Teens Organize

2010-08-07T23:54:00.010-04:00

Teens from several New England States met in Arlington on August 2nd to elect officers and begin a process defining their objectives and fullfilling the legal requirements necessary to receive approval from the National Federation of Teenage Republicans and meet various Republican State Party requirements. While some local High School TARs Clubs have been charted in the Northeast, no state-wide or regional body exists to spawn the creation of additional local Clubs.

The August evening meeting was led by Sean Harrington, the Arlington High School student who has received much media attention concerning his call for the display of an American Flag in each Arlington classroom and more recently for the recitation of the 'Pledge of Allegiance' at the beginning of the school day. A battle now mostly won in early August by a carefully crafted vote of the Arlington School Committee ensuring that the voluntary recitation by any student so desiring will have the opportunity to do so each school day. The vote of the School Board also prevents the punishment of any student, teacher or administrator for not saying it.

The students who also previously attended a meeting of the National Federation of Teenage Republicans (TARS), which later included a tour of the Capitol in mid July, and meetings with several elected officials including U.S. Senator Scott Brown and Congressman Ron Paul. Incoming Arlington High School senior Sean Harrington who was an in-studio guest on several local Radio Talk shows when the story of his efforts were first reported, more recently made Fox News Network appearances on 'Fox and Friends' and the Glenn Beck TV programs.

Medford Republican City Committee Chairman and State Committeeman Bernard Green and Dr. Mildred Jefferson have been named as adult supervisors to the new Massachusetts Federation of Teenage Republicans and the New England Federation of TARS. Working with the National Federation Jefferson and Green will attend meetings, provide assistance and supervise their activities.

Area Candidates Shift into High Gear

2010-08-07T22:49:00.011-04:00

With the September 14th Primary only weeks away and the November General Election following closely behind, local Republican and Independent candidates for State Representative, and Republican candidates for State Senate, State-wide Constitutional Office and the U.S.Congress are shifting into high gear.

The summer calendar of 'social' activities have included BBQ feasts and finger food extravaganza's held at private homes; "Meet and Greet" events at local eateries and pubs, VFW Halls and Country Clubs; and 'Entertainment programs' such as the one held at the North Shore Music Theatre by 6th District Congressional Candidate Bill Hudak.

'Retail Politics' underway include a whill-wind of door-to-door reach-outs to voters at home, at food markets, post offices, senior citizen events, and at parades and religious festivals.

A flood of Lawn Signs are beginning dot the Landscape and Stand Outs on street corners across the area are becoming more frequent as the Primary and General Election days arrive. Meanwhile calls to likely voters are asking for support and reminding some of the convenience of Absentee Ballot voting in advance at local City or Town Halls.

Billboard Advertising has also begun to appear on behalf of Dr. Gerry Dembrowski who is a candidate in the 7th District for U.S. Congress against Cong. Ed Markey. The first two billboards (the new electronic type) were 'lit up' on August 1st facing northbound traffic of I-93 in Stoneham and facing southbound traffic on I-93 in Medford.

Plans to jump into the frey and add to the building momentum include 'stand-outs' on street corners in Medford which are being scheduled now for August and early September by the Medford Committee. The Committee is reaching out to local candidates seeking to add sign holders from around the area to it's volunteers. Anyone wishing to participate is asked to call any Officer or contact the Committee by e-mail at MedfordGOP@gmail.com.

Green Elected to State Committee

2010-08-07T17:04:00.003-04:00

Medford City Committee Chairman Bernie Green was elected as State Committeeman for the Second Middlesex District at a caucus held in the Winchester Town Hall on June 21st. The meeting of elected members in the Senatorial district from the organized Town and Ward Committees in Somerville, Medford, Winchester and Woburn was held to fill the position which had been open for nearly two years.

After serving a four year term as State Committeeman from 2004 to 2008, Green narrowly lost re-election in March 2008. The current term will expire in April 2012. Two days later, the newly elected State Committeeman attended the Massachusetts State Committee business meeting held on June 23rd in Newton at which his election was ratified by the State Committee members in attendance.

Reminder: Next Medford GOP meeting on Wednesday, July 14

2010-07-13T09:16:00.001-04:00

As a reminder, the next meeting of the Medford Republican City Committee will be held at the South Medford Fire Station, 1 Medford Street on Wednesday July 14th at 7:00PM. Wards that have yet to hold or report their biennial election of Officers is still on the agenda. A recess to allow the remaining Wards time to caucus and select Officers for the 2010-2012 term is planned for the early part of the evening’s business. William ‘Bill’ Campbell, candidate for Secretary of State has been invited to speak during the meeting.

The Massachusetts Health-Care 'Train Wreck'

2010-07-07T10:31:00.001-04:00

The future of ObamaCare is unfolding here: runaway spending, price controls, even limits on care and medical licensing.

From the Wall Street Journal

President Obama said earlier this year that the health-care bill that Congress passed three months ago is "essentially identical" to the Massachusetts universal coverage plan that then-Gov. Mitt Romney signed into law in 2006. No one but Mr. Romney disagrees.

As events are now unfolding, the Massachusetts plan couldn't be a more damning indictment of ObamaCare. The state's universal health-care prototype is growing more dysfunctional by the day, which is the inevitable result of a health system dominated by politics.

In the first good news in months, a state appeals board has reversed some of the price controls on the insurance industry that Gov. Deval Patrick imposed earlier this year. Late last month, the panel ruled that the action had no legal basis and ignored "economic realties."

Read more

Next Meeting of Medford GOP - July 14

2010-07-02T15:29:00.000-04:00

The next meeting of the Medford Republican City Committee will be held at the South Medford Fire Station, 1 Medford Street on Wednesday July 14th at 7:00PM. Wards that have yet to hold or report their biennial election of Officers is still on the agenda. A recess to allow the remaining Wards time to caucus and select Officers for the 2010-2012 term is planned for the early part of the evening’s business. William ‘Bill’ Campbell, candidate for Secretary of State has been invited to speak during the meeting.

All are welcome!

Medford City Hall closed to "observe" Bunker Hill Day

2010-06-17T17:32:00.003-04:00

In this time of economic crisis, with governments at all levels facing budget pressure, Medford City Hall was closed today (June 17) in "observance of Bunker Hill Day," according to the city's website. While private sector workers throughout the city punched the clock today and earned their keep, the government of Medford was idle.

It's insulting enough that this "hack holiday" meant no one was working on Beacon Hill. However, the bigger question: Why does the city of Medford, firmly planted in Middlesex county, "observe" a Suffolk County holiday?

The Massachusetts Senate voted recently to eliminate this "hack holiday" along with that other bogus holiday, Evacuation Day. (see article) It's time Medford does the same.

Mass GOP Town Committee Bootcamp

2010-06-14T11:54:00.001-04:00

The Mass GOP will be holding a a FREE hands-on Boot Camp. This comprehensive program is for any Republican Town/City/Ward committee members who want to grow their committee with new members and new ideas.

CLICK HERE to learn more

Please email khughes@massgop.com to sign up.

Upcoming Dates and locations are:

Saturday, June 19, 2010- 10 am to 4 pm (With Lunch & Snacks)
American Legion, 41 Wendell Ave, Pittsfield, MA

OR

Sunday, June 27, 2010 11:00 am to 5:00 pm (With Lunch & Snacks)
American Legion, 437 Newport Ave, Attleboro, MA

Reminder: Next Meeting on Thursday, May 20

2010-05-17T11:25:00.002-04:00

As a reminder, the next meeting of the Medford Republican City Committee will be held this Thursday, May 20, at 7PM. The location is the Medford Public Library (111 High Street).

Election of Ward Committee officers is on the agenda.

We hope to see you there.

Medford Holds Tea Party Rally (Medford Transcript)

2010-04-26T09:12:00.003-04:00

Medford Holds Tea Party Rally
(From the Medford Transcript)

Medford — If you asked Medford resident Bernie Green why he was standing on the corner of Salem Street and the Fellsway last Thursday afternoon, his answer would be simple and straightforward: “The sign says it all.”

Green, the chairman of the Medford Republican City Committee, was referring to the sign he was holding as part of the Tea Party demonstration on April 15. The hand printed sign featured a quote from President Thomas Jefferson, which read, “When Injustice Becomes Law, Resistance Becomes Duty.”

“That’s why we’re here today,” Green said. “Our government is becoming more and more intrusive in our lives and with our liberties, and people have had enough.”

— For more on this story, check out this week’s Medford Transcript April 22 edition.

See how much of your wealth Democrats are redistributing

2010-04-12T19:02:00.003-04:00

A handy tool from Fox News that shows how much you and your family - based upon your income -are having absconded for redistribution by the Obama stimulus program.

From Fox News;

Enter your income for calculation.

Topic:Economic Stimulus
Total Allocated Cost:$862,000,000,000 *

In February 2009, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. In early 2009, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the Recovery Act's combined spending and tax provisions would cost $787 billion. In early 2010, CBO updated its estimate of the cost of the Recovery Act. It now estimates that the Recovery Act will cost $75 billion more than originally estimated - CBO now anticipates that the 2009 Stimulus will increase deficits by $862 billion over ten years.

About Our Calculations

Relative Tax Burden: The share of the total federal income tax paid by everyone in each adjusted gross income group.

Average Taxpayer Share: FOXNews.com is projecting the share of a program's cost for one individual in each specified adjusted gross income category. The projections are based on many assumptions with respect to future income groups, future tax burdens, future federal revenues by source, and other details. The assumptions underlying these projections may be modified from time to time to reflect changed circumstances.

Note for Annual Income $250,000 and Above: The top income category, $250,000 or more, has no upper limit and includes extremely high-income individuals who raise the average share of program costs for most people in this category.

Demonstrations abound in area

2010-04-11T19:30:00.000-04:00

A large number of Tea Party rallies and demonstrations are planned across the country including several in local communities in the area. A large rally is planned on the Boston Common on April 14th. Called the Tea Party Express, several notable speakers are scheduled to appear on the Common including Governor Sarah Palin. The Boston event will take place between 10AM and 1PM near the intersection of Charles and Beacon streets. Attendees from across the region are planning to attend with several travelling by buses to the site.

Medford will be the host City for one of several Tea Party demonstrations that will be held across the State on April 15th. Residents and neighbors from other communities are expected to converge at the heavily traveled intersection of the Fellsway (Rt 28) and Salem Street (Rt 60) between 4PM and 6PM. The largely non-partisan demonstration attracted a sizable number of Republicans, Democrats and Independent voters when a similar protest was held at the same location last year. The purpose of the event is to show the continued and large opposition to changes in the laws by Congress allowing increased government intervention in the lives and liberties of all citizens. Members of Republican Committees and Tea Party Groups in other communities have been advised about the demonstration hoping to further increase participation.

Members of a group calling themselves the 'Lucidicus Project' are planning a protest demonstration in front of Congressman Ed Markey's District Office in Medford Square on April 16th.

Chairman's message: Tea Party standout 4/15

2010-04-01T12:46:00.001-04:00

Barry Greenspan is leading our effort to organize another Tea Party standout at the corner of Salem Street and (Rt 16) the Fellsway. He has sent out 'Press Releases' to several local papers announcing the "Standout" on April 15th. The event is announced to begin at 4:00PM and end at 6:00PM.

Hand-made signs are great, a few sticks are available. Barry has some topics and phrases for those who need assistance. A few tri-corner hats (if inexpensive and available) would garner attention! Additional suggestions are welcome.

Spread the word - Medford on April 15th.

Bernie

Would the Founders Love ObamaCare?

2010-04-01T12:35:00.001-04:00

Daniel Henninger
Wall Street Journal

The resistance to ObamaCare is about a lot more than the 10th Amendment.

The left-wing critics are right: The rage is not about health care. They are also right that similar complaints about big government were heard during the New Deal and the Great Society, and the sky didn't fall.

But what if this time the sky is falling—on them.

What if after more than a century of growth in the national government, starting with the Progressive Era, the American people are starting to push back. Not just the tea partiers or the 13 state attorneys general seeking protection under the 10th Amendment and the Commerce Clause. But something bigger than that.

The Democratic left, its pundits and academics criticizing the legal challenges to ObamaCare seem to be arguing that their version of our political structure is too big to change.

That's not true. The American people can and do change the nation's collective mind on the ordering of our political system. The civil rights years of the 1960s is the most well-known modern example. (The idea that resistance to Mr. Obama's health plan is rooted in racist resentment of equal rights is beyond the pale, even by current standards of political punditry.)

Powerful political forces suddenly seem to be in motion across the U.S. What they have in common is anxiety over what government has become in the first decade of the 21st century.

The tea party movement is getting the most attention because it is the most vulnerable to the standard tool kit of mockery and ridicule. It is more difficult to mock the legitimacy of Scott Brown's overthrow of the Kennedy legacy, the election results in Virginia and New Jersey, an economic discomfort that is both generalized and specific to the disintegration of state and federal fiscs, and indeed the array of state attorneys general who filed a constitutional complaint against the new health-care law. What's going on may be getting past the reach of mere mockery.

Constitutional professors quoted in the press and across the Web explain that much about the federal government's modern authority is "settled" law. Even so, many of these legal commentators are quite close to arguing that the national government's economic and political powers are now limitless and unfettered. I wonder if Justice Kennedy believes that.

Or as David Kopel asked on the Volokh Conspiracy blog: "Is the tax power infinite?"

Full column

Announcement from Green Line Extension Project Team

2010-04-01T11:44:00.000-04:00

Dear Green Line Extension Friends -

As part of the upcoming Preliminary Engineering phase of the Green Line Extension project, MassDOT will assemble a group of local citizens, MBTA officials, municipal representatives and business representatives to form the Green Line Extension (GLX) Design Working Group. This working group will advise MassDOT on the design of six new stations proposed for the neighborhoods of Brickbottom, Gilman Square, Lowell Street, Ball Square, College Avenue, and Union Square, as well as the Community Path, relocation of Lechmere Station and construction of a vehicle maintenance facility. Working group members will review design plans, gather and share local input and help plan public design events. On average, the group will meet quarterly, although there may be more frequent meetings as Preliminary Engineering begins. MassDOT is committed to a strong public outreach process that will help create a Green Line Extension that best meets the needs of future riders, the corridor municipalities and the MBTA.

To help make this working group as productive as possible, MassDOT is asking interested individuals to fill out a brief application to be considered for membership on the GLX Design Working Group. MassDOT is seeking individuals who live in the three project corridor municipalities (Cambridge, Somerville and Medford), are familiar with the neighborhoods around the proposed facilities, and are users of the MBTA system. For more information and a copy of the application, please visit the Green Line Extension project website here. Hard copies of the application will also be available at your local library or town clerk’s office or can be requested by calling or emailing Regan Checchio (617-357-5772, rchecchio@reginavilla.com).

Interested parties should send their application, along with contact information, to Ms. Katherine Fichter at katherine.fichter@state.ma.us or at MassDOT, 10 Park Plaza, Suite 4150, Boston, MA 02116. All applications should be received by April 30, 2010. We anticipate announcing the members of the group in mid-May.

Please share this email and application with anyone who may be interested in this project.

Thank you for your interest and cooperation.

The Green Line Extension Project Team

Antonette Marcella

2010-03-28T16:52:00.000-04:00

Antonette Marcella a long-time member of the Medford Republican Committee and former Ward Five Treasurer died unexpectedly on Friday morning March 26th. Beloved Wife of the late Louis Marcella, she was ninety-two years of age. A resident of Medford for the past 57 years, Antonette was a cafeteria worker at Medford High School for 25 years and retired in 1988. Regrets and sympathies on behalf of the Committee are extended to Antonette's daughter Judith Marcella our City Committee Secretary, her son Michael Marcella also a member of the Ward Five Committee and to her entire family.

Obituary as appearing in today's Boston Globe;

Antonette (Luongo) Marcella

MARCELLA, Antonette (Luongo) Of Medford formerly of East Boston, March 26. Beloved wife of the late Louis. Devoted mother of Judith and Michael Marcella both of Medford. Sister of Alfred Luongo, Grace Zuccaro, Helen Pellecchia all of East Boston, George Luongo of South Boston, Frank Luongo of Florida and the late Carmela Luongo. Also survived by many loving nieces and nephews. Funeral from the Dello Russo Funeral Home, 306 Main St., MEDFORD, Tuesday at 9 AM followed by a funeral mass celebrated in St. Clement Church, 71 Warner St., Medford, at 10 AM. Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to attend. Visiting hours Monday 4 - 8. Services will conclude with burial at Oak Grove Cemetery, Medford. In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be sent in Antonette's name to the American Diabetes Association , 330 Congress St., 5th Floor, Boston, MA 02210 or Boys Town, 13603 Flanagan Blvd., Boys Town, Nebraska 68010. For directions, obituary, and guestbook dellorusso.net Dello Russo Family Funeral Homes 781-396-9200 Medford-Woburn-Wilmington

Medford Republican City Committee Candidate Forum videos

2010-03-28T15:16:00.001-04:00

Medford Republican City Committee Candidate Forum video - recorded Wednesday March 17, 2010
KAMAL JAIN - Candidate for Auditor
Pt. 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtsDYBCnTmk
Pt. 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2tHhbLM3no

DR. GERRY DEMBROWSKI - Candidate for 7th Congressional District
Pt. 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V5PdO2CJxg
Pt. 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29iqenoNlkI

DAVE CARNEVALE - Candidate for State Senate - 2nd Middlesex District
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EVENjAD18Y

KARLA ROMERO - Independent Candidate for State Rep. - 35th Middlesex District
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm5AS5eZPiQ

2010-03-21T23:00:00.001-04:00

March Meeting Features Candidates

2010-03-21T18:32:00.001-04:00

Several candidates for state-wide, regional and local elected offices were on-hand for a room filled audience at the South Medford Fire Station that required several to stand in the rear on March 17th.

Kamal Jain a Lowell business consultant seeking the Republican nomination for State Auditor at the April party convention led off the evening's speakers. Armed with charts showing the large gap between the statutory budget and the actual spending, Jain advocated for the need to have transparency requiring full disclosure of expenditures on-line by all governmental agencies.

Dr. Gerry Dembrowski a Woburn chiropractor running for Congress in the seventh Congressional District against Edward Markey outlined several legislative and financial policies that the incumbent has been responsible for that has contributed negatively to the current economic conditions in the district and across the country.

David Carnevale owner of a Medford beverage importing business running for the State Senate in the 2nd Middlesex District opposing Pat Jehlan noted that he is chaffing against several anti-business and spending bills she has voted for that in his opinion does not serve the best interests of the district.

Karla Romero a Malden resident running for State Representative in the 35th Middlesex District against long-time incumbent Paul Donato wants to see changes in the distribution of State aid.

The meeting which was video-taped by a multi-camera crew for later broadcast on Medford and Malden Cable channels concluded with the unanimous re-election of the City Committee Officers for an additional two-year term. Re-elected were Bernard J. Green as Chairman, Brian Connolly as Vice-Chairman, Judy Marcella as Secretary and Mark Crowley as Treasurer.

Howard Stern:"I will never vote for a Democrat again"

2010-03-19T16:29:00.000-04:00

Next meeting of the Medford Republican Party, Wednesday, 7PM

2010-03-15T19:37:00.000-04:00

As a reminder, the next meeting of the Committee will be held on this Wednesday March 17 at 7:00PM, in the Dello Russo Meeting Room at South Medford Fire Station, 1 Medford Street.

On the agenda will be the Election of City Committee and Ward Officers for the next two years.

Guest speakers will include Gerry Dembrowski candidate for Congress (7^th Congressional District vs. Edward Markey), Kamal Jain candidate for State Auditor, and David Carnevale of Medford candidate for State Senate (2^nd Middlesex District vs. Patricia Jehlan) will present their views and be asking for support. Please attend and encourage the candidates with your presence.

Scott Brown warns left wing to abandon health care coup

2010-03-13T10:34:00.001-05:00

Big Government fails in California, free markets thrive in Texas

2010-03-09T07:40:00.001-05:00

The American Big Government Experiment has failed, as the Soviet one did previously. A cautionary tale for Massachusetts, if we are not too far gone already to heed it.

Calif., not Texas, made own mess

By Michael Barone
Tuesday, March 9, 2010

“Stop messing with Texas!” That was the message Gov. Rick Perry bellowed on election night as he celebrated his victory over Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in the Republican primary for governor. In his reference to Texas’ anti-littering slogan, Perry was making a point applicable to national as well as Texas politics and addressed to Democrats as well as to Republicans.

His point was that the big government policies of the Obama administration and Democratic congressional leaders are opposed not just because of their dire fiscal effects but also as an intrusion on voters’ ability to make their own decisions.

No one would include Perry on a list of serious presidential candidates, including himself. But in his 10 years as governor, the longest in the state’s history, Texas has been teaching lessons that the rest of the nation should heed.

They are lessons that are particularly vivid when you contrast Texas, the nation’s second most populous state, with the most populous, California. Both were once Mexican territory. Both have grown prodigiously over the past half-century. Both have populations that today are about one-third Hispanic.

But they differ vividly in public policy and in their economic progress - or lack of it. California has gone in for big government. Democrats hold large margins in the legislature.

Those Democratic majorities have done the bidding of public employee unions to the point that state government faces huge deficits. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s attempt to reduce the power of the Democratic-union combine was defeated in 2005 when public employee unions poured $100 million - all originally extracted from taxpayers - into TV ads.

Californians have responded by leaving the state. For the first time ever, it appears that California will gain no House seats or electoral votes from reapportionment.

Texas is a different story. Texas has low taxes - and no state income taxes - and a much smaller government. Its legislature meets for only 90 days every two years, compared to California’s year-round legislature. Its fiscal condition is sound. Public employee unions are weak or nonexistent.

But Texas seems to be delivering superior services. Its teachers are paid less than California’s. But its test scores - and with a demographically similar school population - are higher. California’s once fabled freeways are crumbling and crowded. Texas has built gleaming new highways.

Full column

What part of "IT'S A NEW TAX!" don't Democrats understand?

2010-03-08T07:18:00.005-05:00

In an article Debate around meals tax heats up in yesterday's Boston Globe, Eric Moskowitz reports how many towns have seen a greater windfall than expected, that people did not stop eating out and have paid the tax, but strangely many of us still oppose this tax. They just don't get it.

The only reason this tax has not had the expected effect of depressing business at restaurants is that many of us that oppose this idiotic NEW TAX decided not to hang our local business owners out to dry. I contemplated going over the border into Melrose to eat, or up the road to Stoneham, but I am friendly with the owners of my favorite Medford eateries, and could not bring myself to abandon them. This does not make it OK for pro-tax Democrats to nickel and dime me(literally, in the "adding 15 cents to every $20 restaurant tab" used by the author) with NEW TAXES during a Democrat created and fueld recession.

Taxes are meant to fund the necessary services of government, and the supporters of the NEW TAX dutifully employ the usual stock Democrat talking point to thus justify it; “Unfortunately, I think some of the chamber of commerce organizations, the business organizations, see this as a threat when it’s not a threat,’’ Geoffery Beckwith, executive with the pro-tax Massachusetts Municipal Association said. “The greater threat is to have municipal services such as police, fire protection, or schools erode more because of a lack of revenue."

Well, a few things here. First of all, any NEW TAX is a threat from our current state(and now City) government. The threat is the NEW TAX will increase over time, and become a permanent NEW TAX as is the norm in ths corrupt Commonwealth. Second, why is it that policemen, firemen, and teachers (who thanks to the MTA are more secure in their jobs than toll takers) are always threatened when tax money dries up? Why are Mayor McGlynn and Deval Patrick's personal cars and staff members safely insulated from any economic shortfalls, but first responders and teachers are permanently endangered(I'll answer that one for you, that is how pro-tax folks - commonly called "Democrats" - generate sympathy for unconstitutional NEW TAXES)? And third, does anyone really think that Patrick at the state level and McGlynn locally will not still come up with a budget shortfall, no matter how much new revenue is dumped into the public sector sink-hole?

"It's .15 on a $20 tab." "It's a new cup of coffee." "It's not a threat."

It's a NEW TAX, and in the age of aggressively growing, out of control, unaccountable state and local government, every NEW TAX is a threat. Expect the 7% tax on meals to become the law of the land for perpetuity from here on out, and even a .75% "correction" to the 6.25% sales tax in the future to make 7% the rate for all sales in Massachusetts, meals or otherwise. And then expect Mayor McGlynn to have our city engage in more unsafe borrowing schemes, and Deval Patrick to beg money from the state to pay for normal operating costs again next year anyways. Because tax-and-spend Democrats can never have enough money, they are always one new electronic toll, one casino scheme, or one ".15 on a $20 tab" tax away from being back in the black, but in reality, any new funds generated will be siphoned away to welfare programs and to line the pockets of Massachusetts politicians.

Nick McNulty
Medford GOP

With the bang-up job the Government has done fixing our economy, just imagine what they will be doing to our healthcare system

2010-03-05T17:05:00.002-05:00

OT workers line pockets with stimulus dollars

By Joe Dwinell
Friday, March 5, 2010

Highly touted Bay State job creation programs have stimulated a pile of pocket-padding overtime for state workers and detail pay for cops even as the unemployment rate continues to climb, a Herald payroll analysis shows.

Three civil engineers with the Department of Conservation and Recreation racked up overtime tallies last year of more than $100,000 each working “night and day” on bridge projects, officials say.

One of the engineers propped up his $76,000 salary with added hours to secure a lofty $205,000 in take-home pay last year, according to the newly released state payroll obtained by the Herald.

Two other civil engineers pocketed an extra $117,000 each in OT on top of their modest salaries.

Full story