Middleboro Review et al

MASS FISCAL’s day in court — HEFFERNAN’s hire questioned — Election day in ATTLEBORO and LYNN 03/06/2018 06:55 AM EDT By Lauren Dezenski  ( ldezenski@politico.com ; @LaurenDezenski) with Brent D. Griffiths ( bgriffiths@politico.com ; @BrentGriffiths) GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. MASS FISCAL GETS ITS DAY IN COURT -  The right-leaning fiscal watchdog  Mass Fiscal Alliance  gets its first hearing in front of the state's highest court today over the so-called union loophole that allows unions to donate upwards of $15,000 to a single candidate while individuals can only donate $1,000. Mass Fiscal has been fighting this measure in the state's campaign finance law for years on multiple  fronts   -  but this is the first time a case related to it will be heard in front of the Supreme Judicial Court. The group has specifically cited the infusion of cash seen in the 2013 Boston mayoral race when unions bundled hundreds of thousands of dollars to...

02/21/2018 07:25 AM EDT By Lauren Dezenski  ( ldezenski@politico.com ; @LaurenDezenski) with Brent D. Griffiths ( bgriffiths@politico.com ; @BrentGriffiths) AMHERST'S DEMOCRATIC DEPARTURE -  The State House delegation from the Pioneer Valley in western Massachusetts is going through yet another shift - Rep.  Solomon Goldstein-Rose , an Amherst Democrat, announced yesterday he is ditching his Democratic Party affiliation. Goldstein-Rose said in his announcement the move is not a rebuke of the state Democratic Party, but instead, a chance "to be truer in letter to the nonpartisan spirit he has sought to embody through his legislative work." The took most by surprise, including Rep.  Ellen Story  who preceded Goldstein-Rose and represented the Amherst-based district for 24 years. As Story put it to  NEPR  yesterday, "I just don't completely understand his reasoning for this. Yes, it is difficult." The now-unenrolled state rep. has also just o...