Hose Speaker Sal DiMasi likes the idea of a gasoline tax as being fairer than the massive toll hikes approved by the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority.Now there's a surprise.My only quarrel with Barbara Anderson and the anti-tax army is that I really don't

The auto makers met Congress yesterday and it's hard to figure out which institution is in greater disrepute.Once upon a time "Engine" Charlie Wilson, a General Motors boss allegedly proclaimed "What's good for General Motors is good for the country" (act

Nature hates a vacuum -- and so apparently do politicians.Here we are two weeks past the end of a two-year campaign for the White House and one ambitious Massachusetts politician is already talking -- well maybe just mumbling -- about the gubernatorial ra

Hey Max Stern, have you ever heard of pro bono?Just when you thought you've heard the last twist in the soap opera that is Dianne Wilkerson's life, the soon-to-be-ex-state senator comes up with a new one.Accused of accepting $23,500 in bribes to influence

The Washington Post's Howie Kurtz catalogs the media's effort to chronicle Obamania with a headline that is sure to re-open the "liberal media bias" argument that has been simmering a back burner since Nov. 4 after being a full boil during the last few mo

The Turnpike Authority is jacking up tolls that will hit his Winthrop district hard. The state is facing a a very rough fiscal year during which many of the toughest decisions will fall on the House Ways and Means Chairman.In the wide world, the economy i

The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority has secret plan to raise the gas tax. And they unveiled it yesterday.It will now cost west suburban commuters up to $500 a year more to use the Turnpike.North Shore commuters could see their commuting costs jump as mu

Better late than never, Jim Marzilli has opted to get off the public payroll.Dianne Wilkerson, can you take a hint?More blogs about Politics. var sc_project=1947180; var sc_invisible=1; var sc_partition=17; var sc_security="083b12b0";

I've been pretty lenient on Arlington's Jim Marzilli so far in the discussion of the Beacon Hill swamp that threatens to consume both the House and Senate.Not any more.Reports that Marzilli traveled to Germany in an official capacity to attend a conferenc

I must admit I was feeling pretty good when a link to one of my Joe the Plumber posts showed up on something called Martin Eisenstadt's Blog.Wow, I thought, an aide to McCain thought that what I said about Joe the Plumber was worth linking to! I even sugg

There's a certain surreal quality to what's happening on Beacon Hill these days.The governor is talking about eliminating the Turnpike Authority and jacking up tolls to pay for the Big Dig -- by putting the extra burden on people who don't use it daily.Th

Here we are, one week removed from the election and weeks before the inauguration of Barack Obama and the 2012 speculation have already begun.Enough!The Sarah Palin Rehabilitation Show is on the road and on the airwaves. Mike Huckabee has his own show on

House Speaker Sal DiMasi has a heck of an appearance problem on his hands.On the same day the Speaker launches a vigorous public defense of what is becoming an increasingly embattled rule, the Globe obtains e-mails that seem to seriously undercut his argu

I know I'm confused about the size of that financial bailout package. I've heard the number as $700 billion or $750 billion. And that's without throwing in the "sweeteners" like the tax break for the makers of arrow heads.Nor, apparently, does it include

Looking for a sign abut the real Barack Obama? This comment -- in response to the pressing question of how he will fulfill the most pressing campaign promise of all, getting a dog for his girls -- says a lot."Obviously, a lot of shelter dogs are mutts li

It's a variation on the argument that Richard Nixon made to conceal the Watergate tapes and that George Bush has used to avoid talking about waterboarding. It's not something that inspires great confidence when it's used to avoid a subpoena for official r

Now that the joy of the Obama victory -- and being on the winning side of every vote I cast, a first for me -- has passed, it's time for some reflections on what those victors have to look forward.An argument can be made that Barack Obama has won the boob

Forty-four years ago, a senator from Arizona lost an election -- but ushered in a new political era.Tonight, another senator from Arizona lost an election and may have ushered in a new era too.There are not enough superlatives to describe President-elect

Well, Thomas Hobbes got two out of three right.After a seeming eternity and a race that covered the landscape of triviality from cleavage to Joe the Plumber, we've arrived at the pivotal moment. What David Axelrod and Steve Schmidt say and do is no longer

This is not the sort of pre-Election Day headline most elected officials would want, even those running unopposed.And a headline like this, coming less than one week after Sen. Dianne Wilkerson was arrested for allegedly taking bribes for her conduct of s