LONGMEADOW—Some months ago, a stone-faced Senator Eric Lesser appeared on a split screen with Governor Charlie Baker during a committee hearing on the early vaccine campaign. Lesser laid into Baker, for a botched website rollout among other errors. His Excellency expressed visible frustration.
On the heels of a devastating Boston Globe report about Governor Charlie Baker and Health & Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders and the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home, a legislative panel is weighing in. Like previous investigators, the Special Joint Oversight Committee on the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke COVID-19 Outbreak lays into former Superintendent Bennett Walsh. Beyond him, the target of blame is oblique on an individual level.
In a windowless State House room on March 4th, State Senator Jo Comerford chaired a Joint Committee on Public Health hearing on COVID-19 preparedness. Diligent but never overwrought, she grilled health officials including Public Health Commissioner Monica Bharel. Unbeknownst to participants, the prior week’s Biogen
About a month after taking office, State Senator Adam Gomez, the newest member of the upper house of the Massachusetts legislature has unveiled his office staff. Last week in a press release, Gomez laid out his four-person team split evenly between the State House and
BOSTON—Under the cloud of the coronavirus, Massachusetts legislators took the oath of office marking the start of the 192nd General Court. Some reps and senators—all returning incumbents—took the oath of office through the miracle of Zoom. Others, universally masked, did so in person albeit in
Springfield politicos are no strangers to the Rumbleseat, a Chicopee pub just across the city line. Some have even held fundraisers here. Earlier this month, Ward 1 Councilor Adam Gomez sat at an outdoor high-top seat counter, as he had many times before. Come January,
UPDATED 3:51PM: Due to a transcription error, a quote of Neal’s was incorrectly rendered. It is now correct. SPRINGFIELD—An epic battle (mostly) in the 413 came to a close Tuesday as US Representative Richard Neal handily won re-nomination after year-long battle with Holyoke Mayor Alex
UPDATED 6/12/20 11:32PM: To clarify when and how Dan Allie joined the 4th Hampden Race. While some campaign activities remain on ice. One thing that marches forward unabated is the ballot itself. Secretary of the Commonwealth Bill Galvin has released his office’s list of candidates
WESTFIELD—For a few hours in the western Pioneer Valley Tuesday, humans walked the earth much like they did only a few months ago. Polling places throughout the region seemed almost normal, save the masked sign-holders. Voters—or their mailed ballots—were there too, selecting the region’s next
The race for the 2nd Hampden & Hampshire Senate seat is quite unlike any other for both the region and the candidates. Campaigning under the shroud of the novel coronavirus has voided rallies, standouts, debates and almost every visible element of the race, save yard