MassFiscal Applauds Challenge to Unfair Campaign Finance Law
Lawsuit will seek equal protection for all those seeking to make their voices heard.
Boston, MA: The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, a nonpartisan, nonprofit advocacy group dedicated to promoting better government and right-of-center fiscal and economic policy solutions, today expressed support for the Goldwater Institute's efforts to seek equal protection in state campaign finance law.
"Current state campaign finance regulations don’t guarantee equal protection under the law,” said Paul Craney, the group’s executive director. “As many on both sides of the aisle have noted, something is wrong when unions can donate to one candidate up to $15,000 while individuals are limited to $1,000 and businesses are forbidden to donate anything at all. Under state law, businesses are even prohibited from organizing a PAC that contributes to candidates, which are permitted at the federal level.”
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February 24, 2015
MassFiscal Calls for MBTA Receivership
Boston, MA: The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, a nonpartisan, nonprofit advocacy group dedicated to promoting better government and right-of-center fiscal and economic policy solutions, today announced its support for the Pioneer Institute's recommendation that the MBTA be placed into temporary receivership and its board be eliminated in order to fix the massive financial and operational problems that currently plague the organization.
"The MBTA doesn’t need more cowbell or theatrical press conferences from their outgoing general manager. Rather, the MBTA needs to focus on gaining the public’s trust and performing basic services like ensuring the trains run on time, all while looking toward the future by implementing basic performance based metrics,” said Paul Craney, the group’s executive director. “A clear path toward these remedies would be through receivership. As has been done successfully with other Massachusetts entities before, receivership should be implemented so that necessary reforms can get underway as soon as possible.”
February 17, 2015
Column: Baker Handles Storm With Poise
With the whopping $765 million dollar budget gap, former Governor Deval Patrick left his successor and Bay State taxpayers on the hook for a state government that has a spending problem.
Like a proverbial runaway train, state government continues to function and move along no matter who is governor or when they are sworn in. In some ways, this is a good thing, but much of what happens is poorly prioritized. The first task for new governor Charlie Baker and his team, then, is try to slow the train down, because continued spending will widen the gap further and risk damage to the state’s economy.
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February 04, 2015