Secretary of State

Campaign roundup: Apparently the Secretary of State's office is shortstaffed, because Bill Galvin has to do everything himself

Mike Ball reports on Jim Henderson's press conference outside Suffolk Law School. Who he? He's the independent running against Bill Galvin, who didn't want to see his shadow and participate in a forum at the school. OK, OK, Galvin tells the Globe because he couldn't take 90 minutes out of his busy day for a debate.

Video from a congressional forum sponsored by the Republican Jewish Coalition in Brookline last night. One of the attendees was parodist un-birther Hudak, who withdrew his Tierney's-mean-to-me lawsuit yesterday.

Campaign roundup: Bill Galvin has an intense fear of public speaking

That's one possible explanation for why the Prince of Darkness refuses to debate his opponents.

Speaking of debates, Frank and Bielat debate at 3 p.m. today on WBUR. You can submit questions.

Campaign roundup: Bill Galvin emerges from burrow, sees shadow, six more weeks of fall

Mike Ball reports on a rare live public appearance by Secretary of State for Life Bill Galvin.

Hey, West Roxbury and Jamaica Plain peeps: Today's the very special preliminary election for city council, so go vote.

Court says Massachusetts can go after out-of-state companies trying to sell securities via e-mail

The Supreme Judicial Court today upheld a $25,000 fine against a New Jersey company for offering to sell securities to a Massachusetts resident without first registering with the state.

Bulldog Investors, of Saddle Brook, NJ, sued the Massachusetts Secretary of State's office over the fine, arguing it was not subject to Massachusetts law in the case and that merely sending a Massachusetts resident e-mail with background info on its products was not itself an offer to sell him some securities.

The court rejected the arguments, starting with:

Jill Stein interview

Adam Reilly posts an interview with the Green candidate for secretary of state. No time limits set by the Prince of Darkness (but also no questions about the Mass. Greens' vehement anti-Israel platform, either).

Democratic rebellion against the Dark Prince

After watching the debatelet between Secretary of State Bill Galvin and Green challenger Jill Stein (held at a Cheneyesque undisclosed location at Galvin's insistence), Bob concludes he cannot support the Democratic incumbent and so will vote for Stein:

Galvin is not fit to hold the Secretary of State's office. He doesn't appear to respect the fundamental premise of our system of government: the people are sovereign. ...

The shortest debate ever

Well, not counting the infamous "You called me a lizard!" debate between Ray Flynn and David Finnegan back in the day, that is. So set aside 16 minutes to watch the debate between Secretary of State Bill Galvin and Green opponent Jill Stein.

Secretary of State seems like another one of those colonial-era holdovers that has no business being an elective office, but whoever holds it does oversee elections (as in: play with electronic voting machines) and has some say over corporate governance in Massachusetts.