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Elizabeth Warren – selectively smart

/2 Comments/in , , /by Taylor Armerding

Politicians have all sorts of ways of avoiding questions they don’t like. There’s VP Joe Biden’s recent, “Don’t mess with me,” threat to a reporter. There’s the standard, “That’s a great question … “ followed by an answer or a speech about something entirely off the topic and unresponsive to the question. But it seems like false humility is gaining some traction too, as in: “I can’t answer your question because I’m not smart enough.” The Boston Herald reports that Elizabeth Warren, seeking to unseat Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, wasn’t very responsive recently when she was asked by Jim Braude on the Jim & Margery radio show about “the symbolism of President Obama tapping GE president Jeffery Immelt to serve […]

A Scorecard for MassDOT

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I keep seeing trial balloons for a gas tax hike. And I keep thinking they’ve got the process wrong. MassDOT should be telling us how they are doing first before asking for money. The 2009 reforms put a process in place to report consistently on key performance measures but MassDOT is only doing it in part, and only on a yearly basis. They’ve done a far better job of communicating tactical successes — innovative projects and reform-related events. Without this strategic communication, MassDOT will struggle to make the public case that they are managing our assets and our money more wisely than in the past. When you’ve got Big Dig cost overruns and MBTA service failures as part of your […]

MassDOT, Scorecards, and the Gas Tax

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In my last post, I put together a model of what MassDOT communicating results to the public might look like. (And I know it’s not perfect — weigh in below with suggestions for improving it.) But getting this part right is the foundation of any discussion of a gas tax. It has to look like a contract — you taxpayers pay this, and MassDOT will give you value in return. Without refocusing the transportation agency on consumer-centered metrics, why would the public think that an increase in the gas tax will lead to service improvements?

Inspector Clouseau-style accountability

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I noted two weeks ago that recent MCAS data don’t tell a pretty story on urban achievement gaps. Since 2007, the Commonwealth’s performance on national (so-called NAEP) assessments is not so great, flatlining for almost every subject and grade tested. (Note: Stay tuned for the latest round of NAEP data, which is to be released this fall.) The Commonwealth’s Board and its Department of Elementary and Secondary Education sure have lots of task forces, committees, and extra-long board jawboning sessions. (Board meetings have almost doubled in length; I’ll let you decide if the same can be said on substance.) I certainly wish some of the words and time of these officials would go toward programs that have a record of […]

Unemployment – It’s Worse Than You Think

/1 Comment/in , /by Steve Poftak

Massachusetts has done relatively well (or maybe less bad is more apt) in terms of unemployment. Our current rate is 7.4 percent, far better than the national average of 9.1 percent. But even with a rate of 7.4 percent, that means we’ve got about 130,000 more unemployed people than our pre-recession level of unemployment. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics.