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Comments
In other news: water is wet
By Obvious
Mon, 12/23/2013 - 5:52pm
In other news: water is wet
Every dem in mass that's running for a
By anon
Mon, 12/23/2013 - 6:57pm
Powerful position get money from unions. Mainly SEIU. warren, markey, and deval all received large sums from unions.
Question. Are taxed funded unuion (teachers, cops, firefighter) allowed to donate to local election?
Because they shouldn't. It creates an environment where election are being swayed by tax consumers (union employees) vs tax contributors (regular citizens).
Not like this
By anon
Mon, 12/23/2013 - 7:18pm
Walsh got way more money from unions proportionally than the people mentioned. The unions bought him the election by giving him a huge cash and GOTV machine at the end of the election and Connolly was not able to effectively counter it. We'll see if that's just because they supported his positions or whether there is a more specific expectation in terms of the BPD, BTU, BFD contracts.
I agree
By anon
Mon, 12/23/2013 - 8:20pm
Only time will tell, but it's sad that the peoples voice is so mute compared to union funding. Regardless I wouldn't have voted for Conlley, I think he sacrificed his kid education for a political position. But once again, only time we'll tell. But I see him pulling his kids from BPS and moving now that it not politically beneficial to keep his kid in poor schools.
Sacrifice his...what?
By Sally
Tue, 12/24/2013 - 12:45am
Wait a minute...is THAT what we BPS parents have been doing all this time? Crikey--why did no one TELL ME?!!
I wouldn't send anybody my future kids
By anon
Tue, 12/24/2013 - 8:02am
To BPS. As someone who attended both private and BPS, BPS hs a f'n shit hole.
And as somebody with a kid in BPS
By adamg
Tue, 12/24/2013 - 9:57am
I'm glad you;ve made that decision. I wouldn't want BPS kids exposed to your spawn.
Not that' I'm much of a grammar pedant
By SwirlyGrrl
Tue, 12/24/2013 - 10:51am
... but you are not exactly making a case for private schools with your unedited posts.
Um...yeah
By Sally
Tue, 12/24/2013 - 12:30pm
I wouldn't send anybody your future kids either.
Win for most incoherent post. And yes--my BPS -Ivy League kid sends you a tip of the hat.
I know, right?
By anon
Tue, 12/24/2013 - 9:56am
Just think of Connolly's poor kids - they're attending a turnaround school in the BPS so are now doomed to a life of failure and misfortune. It's like a Greek tragedy or something.
My 3 kids went from Connolly
By anon
Tue, 12/24/2013 - 8:41am
My 3 kids went from Connolly's kid's school (the Trotter) to BLS to Ivy League colleges. And, unlike their counterparts in suburban and private schools, they went to college with a worldly sense of the rich diversity of an urban population. Guess, I really sacrificed them , huh?
Sure, but WHICH Ivy League colleges
By anon
Tue, 12/24/2013 - 9:58am
What, Brown or Penn? If they didn't go to Harvard, then yes, you clearly sacrificed their futures for personal reasons.
If you do really well at BLS....
By Michael Kerpan
Tue, 12/24/2013 - 11:10am
... you have a really good chance of getting into Harvard/
I like what you did there
By Waquiot
Tue, 12/24/2013 - 11:19am
I was going to make a similar point about the kid the Globe reporter befriended who got into Yale. Yale? Yeah, it is a college.
Urban Baby called...
By Sally
Tue, 12/24/2013 - 12:32pm
They want their snarky post back!
BLS isn't really a public school.
By Pete Nice
Tue, 12/24/2013 - 11:43am
Like a library would be. You need to take a test to get in. And most of the kids probably don't grow up in an "urban" enviornment. And less than 1% get some sort of special education benefits there. Basically as private as you can get without charging tuition.
Oy.
By Sally
Tue, 12/24/2013 - 12:41pm
Have you been there? Despite the mystical aura that hovers over it, it is very much a public school though yes, of course it has a lower special needs population and to some extent a different racial and income demographic. I think you'd be surprised though. It's pretty bare bones. And wth is an "urban environment?"
Oh I've been there all right.
By Pete Nice
Tue, 12/24/2013 - 3:35pm
And no, it really isn't like other public schools. If you live in Newton, you get to go to North or South. If you live in Weston, you get to go to Weston High School, etc ,etc. I don't know what an urban environment is, but the person above mentioned it. I assumed they meant like Madison Park rather than Brookline High (which is basically a Boston Latin with more rif-raff)
I really do think BLS keeps the busing situation alive, as it placates enough Boston residents to not care enough about what happens to the rest of the kids that don't get into the school.
You're picking nits here.
By Sally
Tue, 12/24/2013 - 4:28pm
If you grow up in the city of Boston, you live by definition in an "urban environment" and if you attend any Boston public school, from the Trotter to BLS, you're exposed to a pretty broad slice of Boston. And about a third of the kids at BLS qualify for free or reduced price lunch. You just sound to me as if you know what you're talking about.
You haven't kept up with the news, I guess
By adamg
Tue, 12/24/2013 - 10:00am
The Trotter's no longer a "turnaround school" - it's improved so much it's now a top-tier school, thanks partly to all the money and resources the city and state put into it, but also due to dedicated parents like, yes, John Connolly.
If you follow the money
By Waquiot
Mon, 12/23/2013 - 8:10pm
It looks like the funds were mostly from private sector unions. AFSCME gave $100,000, which don't get me wrong is a lot, but is half of what the Laborers' Union gave. The National Association of Government Employees, which I don't think represents any city employees, gave $20,000. The Boston Firefighters Credit Union gave $60,000, which seems odd unless they are truly a branch of IAFF Local 718. SEIU 509 gave a bit, but they are more affected by state laws, so perhaps payback to Walsh for efforts on Beacon Hill. That's still a minority of the $1.2 millions donated.
No, most of the money seems to have come from the building trades unions, Marty's origins. One could claim that this means that building projects in the city will have to be built with union labor, but that was the way under Menino. This was a source of tension at the Greater Boston Labor Council. The private unions loved Menino since they prospered under him, while the public unions hated him since, in their view, he squeezed them.
Side note
By anon
Mon, 12/23/2013 - 8:25pm
The argument where tax consumers shouldn't be allowed to donate is BS. Developers looking for breaks, employees supporting a mayor who helps out their business, residents who like the brand new playground built in their neighborhood - everyone in the city is a 'tax consumer' and to claim otherwise is maker/taker nonsense. Public sector unions are just one element of a city budget.
I said
By anon
Mon, 12/23/2013 - 8:48pm
"Tax funded Unionized" consumers, not "tax consumers", everyone is a tax consumer. But not everyone's income, and future income is based of off public policy and taxed funded unionized payroll.
It reduces the majority from being able to voice our opinion!
There is more un unionized residents in boston than there are unionized residents. Call me crazy but I thought our democracy was "for the people, by the people" not "for the unions by the unions."
But then again I'm socially liberal and fiscally moderate, so I guess I don't understand your socialist ideals.
good one
By anonism
Tue, 12/24/2013 - 8:38am
now please sign up for a UH account; more people will pay attention. and Merry Christmas!
What?
By anon
Tue, 12/24/2013 - 9:53am
Democracy means that because 5000 more people voted for Walsh, he won. The fact that Connolly didn't win doesn't mean 'the majority' didn't get to voice its opinion.
I voted for Connolly and think he was the better choice, but no-one had their right to vote impacted here.
Menino did not take city worker $
By Anon
Tue, 12/24/2013 - 10:48pm
For what it's worth, Menino did not take money from city employees as a city councilor or mayor.
Where would you draw the line?
By Bob Leponge
Mon, 12/23/2013 - 10:39pm
Where would you draw the line? Who of the following should be forbidden from donating money to political candidates?
None of the above
By markk
Tue, 12/24/2013 - 12:50am
Once you pay a municipal employee (or any other for that matter) for their services, that money is theirs to do with as they please. That includes contributing to political candidates within the established limits. The source of the money is irrelevant. The same goes for all the others listed above.
Note that I'm specifically referring to individual contributions, as that is what's in the above list.
Markk pretty much said it.
By Pete Nice
Tue, 12/24/2013 - 7:41am
The police officers all get paid and agree to give a portion of those paychecks to a union. That union can then do what they want with the money they collect.
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