In the summer of 1864, during the crisis of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln was facing a reelection campaign. The political and military conditions of the Union were dire. Lincoln did not think he would win reelection. He wrote out the following and sealed it in an envelope, asking his Cabinet members to sign…
Author: Maurice Cunningham
Professor Cunningham Ph.D., J.D., is author of Dark Money and the Politics of School Privatization. He retired in 2021 as associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts at Boston but he continues his research into dark money in politics. His two reports on the dark money threat to public education are available on the Network for Public Education website: Merchants of Deception: Parent Props and their Funders, and “A Citizen’s Guide to the School Privatization Movement” (forthcoming). His work has been distributed through the Independent Media Institute and has appeared in The Bucks County Beacon (PA), Shepherd Express (WI), Alternet, Tampa Bay Times, The Daily Progress (VA), Idaho Education News, New Hampshire Bulletin, The Detroit Free Press, and The Portland Press-Herald (ME), and at Diane Ravitch’s Blog, dianeravitch.net.. His work on dark money in Massachusetts has earned him the 2017 Distinguished Public Service Award from the Massachusetts Association of School Committees and the 2018 MTA President’s Award from the Massachusetts Teachers Association. Education historian Diane Ravitch has named Professor Cunningham to her "Honor Roll" on her education blog. He can be reached at maurice.cunningham153@gmail.com.
Publications that focus upon Massachusetts Politics include two co-written chapters in the edited volume The Politics of Massachusetts Exceptionalism: Reputation Meets Reality. He has also written “Defeating ‘Death with Dignity’: Morality and Message in a Massachusetts Referendum” in American Catholic Studies (2014); “Massachusetts Politics 2012” in New England Journal of Political Science (2012); “A Christian Coalition for Catholics?: The Massachusetts Model,” Review of Religious Research (2009); and “Massachusetts Republicans: the 2004 Challenge to Democratic Legislative Hegemony,” in New England Journal of Political Science (2008).
UnKoch Tufts
Massachusetts has a new Center for State Policy Analysis at Tufts University to provide analysis of pending legislation and that’s good news. The center is being funded by Charles Koch and that’s bad news. The basics of the new center are laid out in CommonwealthMagazine in New Tufts Center to Offer Independent Analysis of Legislation,…
One of #Mapoli’s Biggest Influencers is John Arnold of Texas
Here’s a little something from Matt Stout’s story in today’s Boston Globe, After Centuries of Picking One Candidate per Office, Should Voters Rank their Preference Instead? Concerning the fundraising of The Ranked Choice Voting 2020 Committee: John Arnold has pumped some of his billions into Massachusetts policy and politics in recent years. John…
Charles Koch Buys into National Parents Union
There’s millions of dollars sloshing around Massachusetts Parents United and National Parents Union these days. Some of it is from Charles Koch. That’s the takeaway from a recent story in the Walton-funded online publication The74: The Koch connection was apparent when Charles Koch put a proxy on the board of National Parents Union….
Abraham Lincoln: “We can not have free government without elections”
This morning the president of the United States threatened to delay (cancel) an election he is obviously losing. I’m not going to comment, but Abraham Lincoln already has, in his post-election Response to a Serenade of November 10, 1964: It has long been a grave question whether any government, not too strong…
Gov. Baker’s School Reopening Panel–Waltons Win Again?
With the national coronavirus situation grim Massachusetts is doing better and is preparing to reopen—including schools. Governor Charlie Baker’s reopening panels (No Place for Heroes) have been long on C-suite types (Zoom!) and short on front line workers. In the case of the school reopening panels, a solid five of the five “parent” members are…
Right Wing Reopeners Move on Schools. And, Is Charlie Baker More Like a Commie or a Fascist?
A new prong of the Reopen movement has launched in Massachusetts with a splashy website and professional media push debut but preesenting the same old question: who is funding it? And then there is the burning question the Foley Hoag partner David R. Geiger poses in CommonwealthMagazine: is Governor Charlie Baker more like a Chinese…
Attorney General Maura Healey Strips the Bark off WalMart. It’s Ugly.
Attorney General Maura Healey has joined the attorneys general of several states in demanding accountability of WalMart over its failure to protect workers from coronavirus. The AGs sent a letter to WalMart CEO Douglas McMillon on June 2 and its allegations are scorching. But first some context. You may be asking, how are the WalMart…
Oyez! Oyez! Approach the Bar for The Case of Charles Koch v. Charles Baker!
Today the Fiscal Alliance Foundation, associated with the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, announced a lawsuit on behalf of business owners and clergy claiming that Governor Charlie Baker lacks the authority to keep businesses or religious services shut down during the coronavirus crisis. That’s not the interesting part. The interesting part is that the legal representation is…
Governor Baker’s Reopening Panel Follies
When Governor Charlie Baker made his appointments to the statewide reopening advisory panel it was laden with CEOs and C-suite types, with no workers. We may be tossing around terms like “heroes” for front line workers like nurses, grocery workers, and housekeeping staff but the governor’s reopening panel was No Place for Heroes. Workers are…