CHARLES BAKER JR WANTS TO RUN FOR MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR....LOOK AT HIS REAL RECORD!

Charles Baker Jr. leaving a multi-million dollar job at Harvard Pilgrim to take a massive cut in pay to be governor? I welcome his statements on all he has advocated for the insurers not in the interest in those in need of healthcare or businesses attempting to provide affordable health care to their employees.

Imagine Baker in the race, he is the face for ungovernment reforms,no accountability, no oversight inefficiency, waste, and mismanagement in government. Look at his dismantling record in the Human Services Secretariat State Delivery System that lacked care, compassion, concern,and fiscal accountability. As State Chief Budget Guru, look at his decision making and enabling the Big Dig to flourish with a lack of accountability and oversight. We need to hear all Baker did not do.

The Harvard-Pilgrim almost demise with an insider state Government Bailout, that Baker became the head? Private Sector Worker to Government Manager back to Private sector Company once under his purview.

New York Times reportedly selling the Boston Globe and Worcester Telegram at a fire sale by July 8. Liquidators, speculators, and low ball bidders-the feast and cheap deal of the century has arrived.


This news is a New England disgrace.

The newspaper of record for New England and the paper of record for Worcester County is going in fire sales potentially to some liquidators, speculators, or become victims of some sort of get rid sale scheme. This calamity is being dictated by absentee failed management owners of the deteriorating New York Times.

Government must step in immediately at the highest levels. There needs to be an immediate post audit and oversight hearing here in Massachusetts. There must be a true independent financial and performance. audits.

The congressional delegation should do more than lip service as press freedoms are being compromised now in this region as is happening throughout the country with no intervention.

The disgrace will result less transparency in communications. We are witnessing another failure and example that requires government regulation to insure competition in the media to preserve first amendment rights. Newspapers should have not become the tools of Wall Street stock greed and moguls monopolistic unfair expansion goals. This is a failure of the unregulated free market left alone to act like robber barons.

Government acted quickly with blank checks to bail out the selfish banks, insurers, wall street brokerage houses, and the auto industry. Yet, that which affects our democracy, civil rights, free speech, and first amendment rights be dammed!

From Bad to Worse, Massachusetts Legislature watering down more already weak ethics legislation

Inefficiency, Fraud, and Abuse of the Special Interest will only continue.

Change and a real disinfectant is needed by government.

How low and out of control can government go before there is outrage by the citizens and a real reform movement begins?

I suggest that so called good government groups such as Common Cause stop trying to become insiders with the politicans and really lead an all out reform movement.

STATE BUDGET FRAUD CONTINUES ON BEACON HILL....WASTE, FRAUD, ABUSE, INEFFICIENCY, AND MISMANAGEMENT CONTINUES TO BE COVERED UP


The yearly legislative Budget Process becomes another bad nightmare.

There should be no cuts in any state services or budgets. There should be expansion.

All that is needed is an assault on inefficiency, waste, mismanagement, fraud and abuse. Concentrate on the purchase of services from vendors, contractors, providers,patronage unneeded positions, consultants,underground economy and the special interests.

Accountability, oversight, and post audit continues to not be implemented in the budget process.

The mistrust in government continues leaving the taxpayers to dig deeper to finance the state budget fraud. Time for the governor and legislature to stop acting like emperors who have not clothes by leaving all egos at the door and doing their elected job.

CUT Massachusetts STATE EMPLOYEE WORKFORCE TO SOLVE THE STATE FISCAL CRISIS!

PROTECT THE MASSACHUSETTS TAXPAYERS FOUNDATION AND BEACON HILL INSTITUTE WHOSE MEMBERS RECEIVE STATE CONTRACTS OR GET GRANTS!

BLAMING THE STATE WORKERS AND NOT THE SPECIAL INTERESTS WHO ARE THE REAL CULPRITs IS A GROSS COVER UP THAT THE MEDIA MUST EXPOSE.


Michael Widmer of the the misnamed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation is directly responsible for the state fiscal mess because of bad guidance and inefficiency, waste, of and mismanagement of his members who get state contracts. The Beacon Hill Institute who is for hire by special interests seeking State Contracts or avoiding regulations are way off base in attacking state employee workers.

The problem is both Michael Widmer and David Tuerck are part of the problem. Over the years, they have failed to support oversight and accountability in government starting with the Big Big Dig fraud, abuse and by contractors providers,and vendors waste of tax dollars.

The misdirected are the state employees who have been victimized and scapegoated by the likes of Widmer and Tuerck who continue to be wrongly held having credibility by a misguided press that the media should expose are the cause for the Massachusetts Fiscal Crisis.

(Note: this entry is being written as a response to a Boston Globe news article)

Boston Globe New York Times Owners Locked in Battle with Employees Threatening Our Regional Press Freedoms

Tom Mashberg former union official at the Boston Herald has commented on the current Boston Globe owners threat to shut down the newspaper. Mashberg offers advice to both Globe managers and union members as he had to deal with a similar desperation in 2005 to allegedly keep the struggling Boston Herald afloat. His comments appear to be sincere and I would like to take them as such.

It is common knowledge that Herald employees that are still employed have made many sacrifices to keep the publication alive and breathing. However, an interesting point to what appears to be different from what is going on with the Globe and Employee Unions is an apparently lack of candor on the part of the New York owners. This only adds fuel to an increasing bonfire of credibility.

Mashberg states the differences between the Boston Globe and Boston Herald in dealing with the crisis facing their survival. This has caused a wedge to any solution to keep the Globe a viable newspaper from death.

Patrick J. Purcell is a local based publisher of the Herald who makes decisions. Some say Purcell is joined at the hip and has been accused of being a Rupert Murdock media mogul front guy though never openly proven. This may have some suspicion as the Herald which closed its own printing plant displacing many workers is printed at a Murdock owned printing plant in Chicopee and not Boston. Also, the Murdock empire recently purchased a Massachusetts regional newspaper chain and Purcell is performing management services? Additionally, the Herald employees have traditionally always received survival wages from a most long timestruggling newspaper management.

This states the difference in the survival mode of what the Herald endures versus the antics what the New York Globe is doing. Mashberg says the Herald publisher lets the union review Herald books every three months. No one makes a lot of money at the Herald he states including the publisher.

Trying to have sympathy for the New York Times owners is most difficult. The management of the Globe took bonuses despite losing over $50 million last year. Those in New York did the same as well as the owners getting shocking rewards despite losing billions in stock value. This should not have been done and smacks of another AIG, Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch fiasco without the taxpayer bailout as yet.

Now Globe mangers are threatening to shut down the newspaper unless more and more concessions are given up by a beleaguered workforce. This is scaring the remaining advertisers and does not help a sincere survival process lacking opening up all financial books to the union. This private business has placed the public eye on itself and should therefore open its books to the workers, advertisers, and general public to insure validity of what is going on.

The public knows that newspapers are drying up all over the country because of the new media of the internet, blogs, and cable news. The time has come for total transparency and oversight by Globe and the New York owners. Or, is this a game to file bankruptcy, take a tax loss for a toxic asset, or sale to a liquidator at 1, 5 to 10 cents on the one billion dollar plus previously paid for the newspaper and thus removing the union entities?

The politicians crying because of the pending potential demise should view the Boston Globe and the cancer plaguing the newspaper industry. We are watching a serious threat to press freedoms, free speech, transparency, oversight, and accountability in Government, Business, and Labor.

(Note: Published also on John Gatti Jr. Blog at The New England News Forum Website)

FORUM ON GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY AT NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY LACKS THE REAL PANELISTS WHO HAVE TALKED THE TALK AND WALK THE WALK ON GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT. A REAL DISCUSSION WITH SOLUTIONS IS NEEDED TO RESTORE FAITH IN GOVERNMENT AT ALL LEVELS

Northeastern University recently hosted a forum on Government Accountability and Transparency that needed a real discussion and solutions for government credibility at all levels under siege.

The business of government accountability and oversight limits itself to two factions.

One is the Special Interests and organizations who profit at the expense of the taxpayers and citizens. Then the others who wear masks and state they profess to be for accountability and oversight thereby also profiting in fundraising and employment. These types rarely go beyond the cursory.

Then there are the others to name a few and leave no one out who state the facts and investigate to determine the truth even at their own peril or challenges to their careers. They include Peter Scannell, Harry Markopolos, Peter Howe, John Strahanich, David Kassel,Wendell Woodman, John Coughlin, Claire Donahue, Tom Moorman, Joe Bergantino, Tom Hammond,Steve Cotton, Larry Overlan to name a few of the many who could be the real panelists with real facts and not part of the usual establishment who parade in when a so called good government advocate is needed in a crisis of government confidence.