Oped: Better Government

Realistic investment assumptions and paying down unfunded liabilities more aggressively are indispensable if we are to achieve public pensions that are solvent, fair to employees and attract qualified and capable individuals to public service.

Establishing an independent office in Massachusetts like the CBO, to be run by the inspector general would pay for itself. Improved decision-making and accountability promote both efficiency and public trust.

Friday, September 14, 2012 Circulation:108,548 By Tom Nash Tom Nash is news editor at MuckRock, a Boston-based, online public records request service that is partnering with Pioneer Institute on its government transparency initiative. What happens when the watchdog is part of the...

Future archeologists who stumble upon the annals of local government, circa 2012, may find this era remarkable for the things we tried to get rid of: enormous sodas, small plastic water bottles, public swearing, fatty food, loud leaf blowers. Chelsea, Lynn, and...

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2012/07/06/boston-neighborhood-borders-crowdsource/ For a select group of Boston residents, there’s nothing more important than their neighborhood and its identity.  And there are many places, where you are absolutely, positively in a specific neighborhood — Broadway in South Boston, Blue Hill Ave in Mattapan...

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2012/06/25/wonks-wanted/ Interested in public policy?  And I mean real public policy, not the Twitter-Blogosphere-Message war of campaigns, but the nuts and bolts of how government provides services, allocates resources, and implements changes (or at least tries to). If so, I’d point you...

http://runningahospital.blogspot.com/2012/06/right-leaning-states-as-laboratories-of.html I laughed a bit when I heard a local radio reporter refer to the “right-leaning” Pioneer Institute in her story about suggestions the organization made to the Massachusetts legislature during the current debate between the Senate and the House on their...

http://www.commonwealthmagazine.org/The-Download/239-Tribe-and-tribulation-for-Indian-gaming.aspx Since Gov. Deval Patrick signed a law authorizing casino gambling last year, a giant contradiction has been hanging over the race for the state’s three casino licenses. The law carves out a license for the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe in the state’s...

http://www.heraldnews.com/opinions/x465804200/GUEST-OPINION-With-process-lite-is-a-full-time-Legislature-even-necessary The Legislature’s new “process-lite” operating style reached new heights with  the recent health care cost containment bill. This legislation — which  restructures 18 percent of the state’s economy, impacts every citizen, promises  over $100 billion (yep, billion) in savings, and changes...

http://www.wickedlocal.com/ashland/news/x465800201/Massachusetts-releases-details-on-tax-credit-recipients?zc_p=1#axzz2NcNYjWOG The state for the first time has released details on who benefited from eight  major tax credits worth $171.2 million last year. State agencies previously kept recipients of some of these tax breaks  confidential, but now must report them annually under...