Hubwonk Ep. 6: COVID-19 and Commerce: Main Street’s Concerns with Governor Baker’s Course

Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on
LinkedIn
+

In this episode, Host Joe Selvaggi is joined by Pioneer Research Analyst Rebecca Paxton to get reactions to Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker’s phased reopening, from the leaders of two statewide business organizations, NFIB and Retailers Association of Massachusetts. The guests share their concerns and disappointment with Gov. Baker’s plan, contending that good policy requires us to trust business leaders to protect the needs and safety of their clientele.

Guests:

Christopher Carlozzi is Massachusetts State Director of NFIB. Aside from working directly with NFIB members across New England, he worked to enact legislation that would help small businesses in both the Massachusetts and Rhode Island Legislatures. Carlozzi spent 3 years working in the Massachusetts General Court for Assistant Minority Whip, State Representative John Lepper and has managed two United States Congressional campaigns in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Carlozzi received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Jon Hurst has served as President of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts (RAM) since 1990. As CEO of the 4,000-member statewide trade association, Hurst manages the member services, education and public affairs of the organization.

Hurst also serves as Chairman of the Board of the MA Retail Merchants Workers Compensation Group, Inc., a non-profit group organized by RAM in 1991. He also heads the Retailers Association of Massachusetts Health Insurance Cooperative, the first non-profit small business health insurance cooperative authorized in 2012 by the state.

Hurst has served on various state advisory boards, including current roles with the Economic Development Planning Council, the Statewide Healthcare Quality Advisory Committee, the Health Policy Commission Advisory Council, and the Workforce Competitive Trust Fund Advisory Committee. Hurst has served on numerous non-profit boards, including the Beverly YMCA, Beverly Main Streets, the National Retail Federation, and also served as Chairman of the National Association of State Retail Association Executives.

Get new episodes of Hubwonk in your inbox!

Related Content

Rationing Vital Therapies: Should Healthcare Experts Decide Who Lives?

Joe Selvaggi talks with senior health care fellow Dr. William Smith about his new book Rationing Medicine: Threats From European Cost Effectiveness Models to Seniors and Other Vulnerable Populations, and the book’s cautionary warning against embracing European standards for valuing life saving therapies.

Transparent Home Buying: Real Estate Auction Platform Informs and Empowers Everyone

Joe Selvaggi talks with Tim Quirk and Kevin Caulfield, cofounders of Boston based technology startup, Final Offer, about the way in which their recently launched platform disrupts the traditional home buying process by providing a real time transparent auction for each sale.

Inventing Racial Classifications: Legacy and Limits of Discriminatory Labels

Joe Selvaggi talks with George Mason Law Professor David E. Bernstein about his book Classified: The Untold Story of Racial Classification in America, discussing the ways in which racial definitions once used for past abuse and exclusion have evolved to become a central feature used to describe modern society.

Accessing Healthcare Anywhere: Lessons For Liberalizing Telehealth

Joe Selvaggi talks with Josh Archambault about the benefits of state policies to enable interstate telehealth that empowers patients to reach their healthcare professionals in other states, and for providers to offer service anywhere they are needed.

Silicon Valley Bust: Bank Failure’s Causes, Cures, and Culpability

Joe Selvaggi talks with financial market and monetary policy expert Dr. Norbert J. Michel about the causes for the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and the what its demise portends for depositors, the banking sector, and the regulatory regime that governs it.

Public Union Constitutionality: Returning Government Accountability to the People

/
Joe Selvaggi talks with Philip K. Howard about the legal theories in his newly released book, Not Accountable: Rethinking the Constitutionality of Public Employee Unions, which questions whether the structure of public employees unions frustrates the will of the people, and abrogates the responsibility of elected officials to an unelected and unaccountable privileged class.