Oped: Transparency

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...

http://www.wickedlocal.com/wayland/news/opinions/x1347550267/Morisy-Poftak-Transparency-and-reality?zc_p=1#axzz2NcNYjWOG Motherhood, apple pie and transparency seem to be things every politician  supports. But Massachusetts stretches the gulf between rhetoric and the reality.  The Commonwealth’s public records law looks great — public entities must respond  within 10 days, there’s an appeals process,...

http://www.commonwealthmagazine.org/The-Download/222-Warren-takes-a-pounding-but-keeps-on-ticking.aspx Elizabeth Warren continues to take a pounding about her alleged Native American ancestry, but does it matter? A poll released this week by David Paleologos of Suffolk University indicates Warren and US Sen. Scott Brown are still running neck and neck...

http://holliston-hopkinton.patch.com/articles/marty-lamb-supports-state-house-ethics-reform On Monday, in front of the State House as the Senate prepares to debate the budget this week Marty Lamb, Republican candidate for the State Representative in the 8th Middlesex District, endorsed Tom Keyes’ Legislative Integrity Plan. “When the public doesn’t know...

http://andover.patch.com/articles/vispoli-supports-keyes-legislative-integrity-to-plan Monday, in front of the State House as the Senate prepares to debate the budget this week Alex Vispoli, Republican candidate for the State Senate in the Second Essex and Middlesex district, endorsed Tom Keyes’ Legislative Integrity Plan. “As a father...

http://www.pharmacychoice.com/News/article.cfm?Article_ID=884991 May 11Gov. Deval Patrick has ushered in the return of Taxachusetts taxing and spending more than ever, new figures show. The latest state numbers show Massachusetts has taken in a record $17.21 billion in income and sales taxes and other levies during...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/04/mitt-romney-homeland-security-massachusetts_n_1467940.html Mitt Romney ran for governor of Massachusetts as the man who saved the 2002 winter Olympics. While much of his focus had been on righting the games in Salt Lake City after its organizing committee became mired in a U.S. bribery...

News outlets examine a variety of state health policy issues, including articles from California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Oregon. Reuters: Revenue Wilted, States Rely On Cuts To Meet Budget Trapped in a revenue wasteland, U.S. states...

http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/2012/04/18/another-take-budget-buster-report-health-law-was-more-expensive-one-analyst-says/P3MWkYqHtZG5MMYUGX6PvM/story.html Josh Archambault appreciates that there are other people in the state, besides him, trying to calculate the overall cost of the 2006 Massachusetts law requiring most residents to have health insurance.  And, he said, he thinks a report out last week...

http://seattletimes.com/html/opinion/2017712347_will12.html Two policies of the Obama administration illustrate an axiom: As government expands, its lawfulness contracts. Consider the administration’s desire to continue funding UNESCO and to develop a national curriculum for primary and secondary education. In 1994, Congress stipulated that no U.S....