Neil
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On the article Braintree Family Swings Support From Lynch to Gomez
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On the article O'Malley, Coppinger, Tamer Back John Connolly for Mayor
Neil
9:24 am on Friday, April 5, 2013
ReplyI want to know if John Connolly is taking money from corporate education reform becuase I want to know his vision for public education in Boston.
I think it's wrong to expect taxpayers to fund education controlled by private interests and funded by the public through taxes.
Charters do not participate in the Boston school assignment program. They are not accountable to the school board. They get more of our money to run schools for fewer kids, and *on average* they perform no better the public schools.
We have some of the best public education in the United States in Mass. and we have some schools that are not doing well enough. Why is the answer to close the school, sell the building or lease it to someone else, and overpay them to educate? Why aren't we mitigating the top 2 or 3 drivers of poor student learning performance instead -- poverty and esl?
The privatization of public education is an enormous failure of vision and I don't want to be a party to it.
Make charters accountable to taxpayers through the management structure, include them in the public school assignment plan, and fix the funding formula so non-charter public school students don't get shortchanged.
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On the article GOP Candidates Begin Senate Primary Battle at Tewksbury Forum
Neil
10:53 pm on Sunday, March 10, 2013
Didn't Gabs Gomez run for Scituate Town Selectmen in 2003? It was a three way race. He came in third: He lost. It says above this is his first run for office. That is false.
I think his campaign staff is Mitt Romney's team. You'd be well advised to FACT CHECK EVERYTHING they tell you.
He seems like a decent man.
We sent George Bush Harvard Business School, CEO President the Washington. Then we tried to send Romney Harvard business School, private equity guy to Washington. Gomez is both, Harvard Business School and private equity -- I 've had enough of those guys.
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On the article Who Would You Vote For: Menino or Connolly?
Neil
3:45 pm on Wednesday, February 27, 2013
ReplyConnolly seems impulsive. He was to driven, or so he says, by his disappointment in BPS reform. So why isn't he trying to become the superintendent or chair of the school board? Education improvement is a big project that take time, and no one person dictates.
And who knows what else he gives two whiffs about. This is a big city with lots of moving parts. I'd like him to be responsible for parts of the city then we'll see how he does.
And there's this, Connolly is at-large counselor in my district. He is no where near as available as the city Councillor for my district. He's smart -- Roxbury Latin, Harvard, and my guess is he's hard working but I'd like to hear that from someone who's worked with him but he doesn't seem to like being around people. I could be convinced otherwise but I don;t see it now.
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On the article For V-Day, DA Conley Seeks Support for Coppinger's Domestic Violence Legislation
Neil
11:30 am on Thursday, February 14, 2013
ReplyEd Coppinger and DA Conley are arguing that a longer prison sentence for a two-time offender will create a disincentive for that person, having been convicted once of assault & battery on a family member, from doing it again? I disagree. I think this fallacy.
Violence is a learned behavior, often modeled behavior by parents when kids are young. It's frequently a generational inheritance. The threat of a very long prison sentence for someone who we have reason to believe learned to resort to violence does not give them the tools to learn alternatives to violent responses.
In the USA, we imprison a bigger percentage of our population than any other country in the world. While most legislatures are reconsidering mandatory minimum sentences and long incarceration in a "Tough on crime" regime, DA Conley and Rep. Coppinger, in trying to come up with a good remedy for this societal domestic violence problem, seem to be choosing a failed approach.
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On the article Pic: Coppinger Got Really, Really Old During the Blizzard
Neil
11:16 am on Tuesday, February 12, 2013
ReplyEd, Can we count on you to support the Guv's budget? I hope so. It's not a big bite but it adds up to big investment in education and transportation.
Under the plan, a median income family of 4 ($60,000/year) would pay + $91/year more based on the 1% increase in income tax and 1.75% decrease in sales tax.
The expanded deduction and reduction in sales tax would make our tax system more progressive. Let's invest in our future here in the Commonwealth, not drown it in a bathtub.
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On the article Winslow is First Official Republican Candidate for U.S. Senate
Neil
9:16 am on Monday, February 11, 2013
ReplyRepublican Dan Winslow is a lawyer and a politician. He's a huckster and an anti-labor guy who worked in Mitt Romney's cabinet. He is skilled at making proposals that conceal his main intent and which present as progressive ideas -- so don't take what he says on face value; there's always an angle.
Winslow is adept at getting media coverage with a gimmick but it's not clear that he turns it it anything that actually advances a worthy cause.
Good for him for getting into the race for US Senate with only one term as a state rep under his belt. He's using the race to get statewide name recognition to run for governor.
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On the article Coppinger's Agenda Ranges from Child Sex Abuse Offenders, Raising Dropout Age
Neil
8:39 am on Wednesday, February 6, 2013
ReplyI hope Rep. Coppinger supports the Governor's budget to fund transportation and education in the Commonwealth.
Under the budget, a median income family of 4 earning $60,000 a year would pay $91 a year more in income tax (increased 1%) and sales tax (cut 1.75% ! ).
The money funds repairs and expansion of highways, roads, bridges; and renewing our aging public transportation across the state, which has chronic funding problems; and it invests in new transportation project that will attract private investment.
The budget funds education at all levels pre-K, K-12 and public university. No investment more than education provides a ladder to opportunity.
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On the article House GOP Wants to Make Tax Hikes Harder to Pass
Neil
8:38 am on Monday, January 28, 2013
The Mass GOP is not governing. They're playing politics. Fluff.
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On the article House GOP Wants to Make Tax Hikes Harder to Pass
Neil
8:36 am on Monday, January 28, 2013
ReplyThis a reactionary response from the MA Republican party. Have they learned nothing about how to be constructive? The Mass. GOP, like the national GOP is the party of NO.
Our democracy calls for a simple majority -- half plus one -- except in cases like ratifying treaties and impeaching Presidents.
What's amazing to me is that the Mass GOP could be so stupid to go this way now after years of record obstruction in the US Senate that's made the Republican party less popular than head lice. (Seriously, that from a recent poll.)
Scott Brown was the 41st vote in the US Senate and that gave Mitch McConnell a lock on obstructing all legislation, he said, in order to make Obama a one-term president. Mitch failed, but he also blocked legislation that would put people back to work.
Under the governors plan, a median income family of 4 making $60,000 would pay $91 a year more income & sales tax.
Income up would be up 1% and sales tax would be down 1.75%. We'd have money to fix the public transit and expand it, fix the highways local roads and bridges, and more money for education.
Neil
3:35 pm on Wednesday, May 15, 2013
If this article reads like fantasy it's because it is. Don't fall for Gomez' fairy tales.