THE PIONEER BLOG

Steve Poftak

The Secret Weapon in the Auditor's Race

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I blogged a few days ago about the crowded field for the Auditor’s race and the relatively lonely Treasurer’s race. And now our crack Pioneer field research team has discovered one candidate with a crucial edge in the Auditor’s competition. Behold: Sorry, Suzanne, Mary, Mike, Earl, and Kamal. You can’t hope to match this.

Jim Stergios

Opportunity for Coakley in March

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While the Democratic party “commentariat” has had afield day with the AG’s campaign for US Senate, a funny thing happened. Ten days after the election, her office released an intriguing Investigation that showed nuance well beyond the campaign talking points on why health care is so expensive. A. Prices paid by health insurance companies to hospitals and physician groups vary significantly within the same geographic area and amongst providers offering similar levels of service. B. Price variations are not correlated to (1) quality of care, (2) the sickness or complexity of the population being served, (3) the extent to which a provider is responsible for caring for a large portion of patients on Medicare or Medicaid, or (4) whether a […]

Jim Stergios

Secretary Reville does Mel Gibson

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At the January 26 Board of Education meeting that dealt primarily with the Gloucester charter school mess, Secretary Reville does his best imitation of Gibson in Conspiracy Theory. He notes “a number of attempts to distract us from the focus that we ought to have,” people who “[cloak] themselves in talk about de-politicizing the process,” “the well-worn tools of political assassination, innuendos, and threats of various kinds.” There are those who seek to “diminish the courage” and perseverance he has to do what’s in the best interests of children and to maintain the “integrity of the board.” It’s bizarre, then, to watch a Republican Senator (Bruce Tarr), a Democratic Representative (Anne-Marie Ferrante), and the Inspector General Gregory Sullivan, who comes […]

Jim Stergios

Ugh…

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Well, the Board of Higher Ed approved the acquisition of the Southern New England Schools of Law. Budget crisis + new way to expend $50 M over five years + uncertain outcome + cuts in other core services + lots of other bad stuff = good policy idea Man, that’s new math. Video here.

Jim Stergios

Stim Engine Falters

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Dear Patrick Administration PR Dream Team: The tried-and-true Friday night information dump (alias PAFNDAS) has been tried and tried, and is now tired. Please note: it really pisses reporters off. Sunday, January 31, Exhibit A. Somehow that jobs-related press release did not work out so well. Saturday, February 2, Exhibit B. Suggestion to the Guv’s talented staff, when people are really hurting, you need to use real numbers and show seriousness of purpose. Here are just a few problems with the stim numbers you’re using: – The 14,000 number far overstates the impact by including lots of p-t work, and also by using the federal money to pay small portions of state salaries, and calling those jobs “retained.” That’s not, […]

Steve Poftak

One of These Pols Is Not Like The Others

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The Phoenix’s David Bernstein trolls through the most recent OCPF filings to figure out who is sitting on a warchest. In the $1m+ plus club are a bunch of the usual suspects — various Congressmen, the LG, etc. — but one name jumps out: State Senator Mark Montigny is sitting on ~$1.2 million. The next closest state legislator is Thomas Petrolati, with less than half that. Curious. And one other oddity — the LG has close to $1.1m on hand, while Governor Patrick has only $634k. My hunch is that the Gov has other money squirreled away in party-affiliated accounts, so it may be a bit deceiving. Still, gives you an idea of who is working at raising money. One […]

Steve Poftak

Is Steve Grossman That Intimidating?

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Our state will have two downballot constitutional races this year, for Treasurer and Auditor. The Auditor’s race is attracting candidates — Guy Glodis (just today!), Suzanne Bump, and perhaps one or two more for the Democrats, Mary Connaughton for the Republicans, and Kemal Jain for the Independents. Meanwhile, Steve Grossman is hanging out there all alone on the Treasurer’s ballot. Are the promise of deep pockets and the whispers of inevitability really stopping others from running? Ask Governor Reilly and Senator Coakley how that worked out. Its not as if Grossman’s 2002 Gubernatorial candidacy was a juggernaut. (Nothing personal against Grossman, I just want a competitive race.) One challenger has already dropped out and another (Boston City Councillor Steven Murphy) […]

Steve Poftak

Would you take both sides of the deal?

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One of my secret vices is an addiction to sports radio. And a regular feature of that genre is mindless trade talk — “We should trade David Ortiz and a coupla prospects for Hanley Ramirez/Albert Pujols….” Of course, if you consider the other party’s point of view, that’s a preposterous idea. With this in mind, we examine the comments of Lowell School Superintendent Chris Scott. To provide some context, there are discussions in Lowell about what to do with the students in a charter school up there that is facing the possible loss of its charter. From their trade group web site, it appears that Superintendents don’t like the Charter school funding formula which they view as sending money out […]

Steve Poftak

Richard M. Freeland Delivers the Goods

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The Board of Higher Ed staff has just put out a recommendation that the board approve the UMASS law school. The document hardly qualifies as analysis, as its largely a cut and paste job of the original UMASS application. Here’s my favorite passage: staff finds that the proposed University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Juris Doctor meets review criteria and that the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth will be able to start and operate a law school that can achieve ABA accreditation in a reasonable timeframe. This is predicated on attainment of enrollment goals [Emphasis added] Well, of course, and my getting rich is predicated on me making a lot of money. That doesn’t mean its going to happen. One would hope that […]

Jim Stergios

Gavin to Gavin

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Robert Gavin of the Globe covered our new report Failure to Thrive underscoring the collapse in firm size and the failed policy focus the state has had for 20+ years on relocating firms to Massachusetts. I hope Kofi Jones (spokeswoman for the state’s economic development office) didn’t miss the point. Yes, Gov. Patrick, and all the Governors before him for the last quarter century, have “support[ed] and retain[ed] home-grown businesses and spurr[ed] innovation in Massachusetts.’’ But most of it has been summits (here insert “regional competitiveness councils”) and talk — and, again, not just this Governor. Two takeaways: (1) Governors have long spent way too much energy picking winners and losers (biotech tax credits, film tax credits, etc.) and paid […]

Steve Poftak

Flatline

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In 2001, the US economy went through a recession. From 2002 – 2007, the US economy created hundreds of thousands of jobs. Unfortunately, Massachusetts did not share in this growth, losing close to 440,000 jobs during that period. Coming out of this recession, shouldn’t we try to figure out how to increase the number of jobs in this state? To do that, Pioneer is looking backwards at the last eighteen years to try and figure out how jobs were created and lost, and to extract lessons for the future. Our first paper, Failure to Thrive, examines the drivers of job creation and job loss over the 18 year period from 1990 to 2007. I invite you to give the paper […]

Steve Poftak

A Responsible Board of Higher Ed Would Ask

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Pioneer has weighed in on the UMASS-Dartmouth law school issue — here and here. And we’ve gotten swept up in the collective reponse, which seems to consist most of ad hominem attacks. Has anyone asked about the management team that will lead the law school to accreditation? The cornerstone of any private sector business plan is the quality of the management team. As put forward by the University, their proposal is remarkably thin on the management team. They note faculty members at UMass that have law degrees but are silent on the specific skills of managers. Has anyone asked why the proposal never provides any information on the current achievement levels of the SNESL student body or an assessment of […]

Steve Poftak

Answer This Before You Expand the Convention Center

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The Convention Center Authority has convened a panel of Boston’s great and the good to examine the prospects for expanding the BCEC. That group is tasked to expand upon a consultant’s report that leaves a lot of big questions unanswered. I’m hopeful that at least some of the group (Hi Sam! Hi Mike!) takes it upon themselves to ask some hard questions. These might include: 1) What is a realistic assessment of the number of conventions that the BCEC misses out on solely because of facility size? The formal presentation to group suggests that the number is in the hundreds (see last slide here), but in a separate presentation (slide 18 here), the number appears to be closer to 70 […]

Jim Stergios

Close Hughes?

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Pioneer has always taken the view that the state should close failing schools (including charter schools). They should also take corrective action including perhaps closure when schools prove incapable of living up to fiduciary basics like handling money and reporting results honestly. Some charter supporters have urged us to come out and support shutting Hughes down. Some are worried about the bad PR for charters. I am of a different view. If the facts demonstrate failure (academic or fiduciary), then, yes, by all means close it. But I know enough from all the work we do in Springfield and our other cities that you don’t jump to conclusions from Boston. The Hughes case is way beyond a “misunderstanding.” But will […]

Jim Stergios

Gentle tap on the shoulders

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The governor gave everyone a less than gentle reminder of why he got elected, and why he will be a tough competitor throughout this campaign. Going after the consolidation of parole and reining in the judiciary’s probation system — these are tasks not for the meek or weak of heart. Kudos to him for putting it out there. Good messaging, hits some of the people he would enjoy hitting, as the Globe pointed out, and allows him to point the finger at Senators and Reps — i.e., good political strategy — because he will need their approval to consolidate parole (currently a $20 M exec function) and probation (a $100+M judicial function) in any executive branch office.