This week Pioneer Institute introduced a two tier structure of democracy for Massachusetts that we’ll call the Beamer vs. Beater Theory of Democracy. If you’re driving a Beamer you get all the voting rights of full citizenship. If you’re driving a Beater, you get some voting rights but don’t get to vote for school committee…
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).
Dinner with Cupid: Matching the Boston Globe with Teachers the Editors Can Romance
The Boston Globe yearns for a more submissive teachers union. Its Sunday editorial Time for a Reset on Education Funding included a call for the Massachusetts Teachers Association to acquiesce and “If not, perhaps a group of teachers who don’t share MTA’s combative mentality could contribute some constructive ideas.” Who could the Globe have in…
A Must Read Piece on MassFiscal from Andy Metzger at CommonwealthMagazine
Compliments to Andy Metzger of CommonwealthMagazine on Fact Checking New Poll on Voter Tax Attitudes, his story today on Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance’s “poll.” The story includes information that a professional political analyst would see and serves the lay reader very well. Let’s get into the good stuff. A group that generally sees eye-to-eye with Republican…
Proposing a New Pollster for Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance: Me!
The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance is out with a new poll and as usual it’s gazing up helplessly at worthless but I have a great idea – Mass Fiscal should hire me as its pollster! I’m definitely qualified. At the end of every semester at UMass Boston the students get a chance to fill out forms…
Picking Winners and Losers in Boston’s “Public” Schools: the Un-Virtuous Cycle
This week’s two Boston Globe stories on “public” schools in Boston prompted yesterday’s post Boston: Two Different “Public” School Systems? An article by Tom Edsall on The “Rotten Equilibrium” of the Republican Party illuminates some further aspects of how the city’s Oligarchs pick winners and losers in the schools. A brief summary of the post…
Boston: Two Different “Public” School Systems?
Two recent Boston Globe stories raise serious questions about how public schools in the city of Boston are funded – and by “public” I mean the traditional public school system versus charter “public” schools. The premise is that we have one public school system but do we really? The first story, by James Vaznis, was…
Can Eugene McCain, Dark Money Slots Parlor Impresario Turned Weed Dealer, Snooker Small Towns Rubes?
On December 27 the Globe’s Stephanie Ebbert wrote a fascinating piece about dark money practitioner Eugene McCain’s conversion from front for suspect gambling interests to upright small town weed dealer. What could go wrong, right Holyoke and Lee? To boil down Ms. Ebbert’s story, McCain is seeking pot licenses to operate in Lee and Holyoke…
Naming Rights: How Should the Media Describe Dark Money Groups?
One coverage issue the local media should be reconsidering is how to describe dark and gray money political advocacy groups – operations like Democrats for Education Reform, Massachusetts Parents United, Stand for Children, and the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance. The number one issue citizens should know in considering the positions of such groups is, who is…
MassFiscal Injects Voter Suppression into the Race for GOP Chair
“Never let a disgraceful idea die a quiet death” must be on the masthead over at the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance because it is ramping up its shameful voter suppression campaign. It poses this question for candidates for chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party: will they bow to MassFiscal’s campaign to intimidate minorities or stand tall…
The MassFiscal Precedent!
Last week I called upon the Office of Campaign and Political Finance to disallow testimony from the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance on the “incidental expenditures” rule making because MassFiscal has ignored OCPF’s directive in CPF 16-20 to disclose a single donor. OCPF disregarded my advice, which is just fine. Their call. But there may be a…