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A proposed ballot question that would revive rent control in Massachusetts after a 32 year hiatus could “really shake the real estate market and upend local tax systems, the potential impact on municipal finance of the rent control ballot question is large and underappreciated,” Evan Horowitz, the Executive Director of Center for State Policy Analysis at Tufts University told a panel of state budget writers yesterday.

Horowitz did not take a position for or against the ballot initiative, but only advised of the potential impact.

Rent control advocates recently collected the required signatures to secure a spot on the 2026 ballot after failing to do so in 2024.

State Representative Samantha Montaño asked Horowitz if the policy would have the same impact if the law required local opt-in rather than statewide mandate: “It would still have an impact in the communities that adopted it, but the communities would be aware of the impact when they were choosing whether to adopt it or not,” Horowitz replied.

“Yes it will still have pretty dramatic impacts on property values and therefore on municipal finances in any community that adopts it,” Horowitz added.

According to the pro-ballot question organization Keep Mass Home “predatory landlords are pushing workers and seniors out of their communities, forcing people to work multiple jobs just to pay the rent, and making it impossible for young people and families to save money for the dream of owning a home.”

“Government imposed rent control was a failed experiment that voters rejected in 1994 for good reason. It made housing more expensive, less available, and far worse in quality” Paul Craney of Mass Fiscal said in August.

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Ahhhhhhh, the tolerant Left. Yes, some lady whacked me with her tripod at the pro-invasion rally in Plymouth (clip below).

But the most important interview I conducted Saturday was with a well spoken man who admitted that deporting only those with criminal records is effectively amnesty for millions of illegals.

Clips below and we’ll have the full uncut video up at our YouTube channel soon.

OK WITH AMNESTY

BOOMERS RUN WILD

HIT WITH TRIPOD

Links:

12/9 Empty flagship retail location get auctioned off on the sidewalk in Boston’s wealthy Back Bay neighborhood

12/8 Ruthzee Louijeune explains how raising tax rates on commercial property is a tax break

12/5 A walking tour of downtown Boston’s crumbling commercial real estate sector

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A ten fold increase in the tax on income earned by multi-national corporations with a presence in Massachusetts, could ripple into Main Street businesses if a bill pushed by the same organizations that successfully passed the “millionaires tax” becomes law.

“Less people buying subs at local subs shops” is how John Cantalupo of Ernst & Young, described the threat during an online event today hosted by the Massachusetts Opportunity Alliance.

Only Minnesota and Illinois have a similar 50% foreign income tax rate without what Karl Frieden called an “apportionment” standard, that accounts for the amount of income that could be applied to other jurisdictions.

Advocates predict the tax could generate up to “hundreds of millions of tax dollars each year” according to the Left leaning Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center.

Frieden warned that Minnesota and Illinois could face years of litigation challenging the tax that he called “unconstitutional” based upon the practice of taxing foreign and domestic taxes differently.

Companies heavily dependent on intellectual property, for instance biotech, software, medical technology and defense contractors might consider relocating out of state if the so-called GILTI tax was adopted according to event host Jim Stergios.

“Due to ‘profit-shifting’, a practice common among large, multinational corporations. International profit-shifting involves complex accounting maneuvers that make a corporation’s U.S. profits appear instead on the books of related companies located in offshore tax havens,” Mass Budget claimed in March.

Pointing to a five year job loss trend Stergios said Massachusetts needs to “return to a leadership position…we want that back.”

The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center analysis does not account for the potential subsequent economic activity that may be discouraged as a result of the higher tax. The current tax is 5% in Massachusetts.

Frieden acknowledged that New Hampshire taxes foreign corporate income at 50%, the same rate proposed by the Raise Up Coalition, but only after accounting for the apportionment factor - the amount of income that could be attributed outside of the taxing jurisdiction.

The proposal before the Massachusetts legislature does not include an apportionment provision, which would significantly reduce the burden of the tax and potentially avoid the long legal battle cueing up in Minnesota and Illinois.

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An extremely receptive and enthusiastic crowd of approximately two hundred people came out to hear from GOP gubernatorial hopefully Mike Minogue in Falmouth last night as his campaign brushed aside calls from his rivals to schedule a debate “at any time, any place.”

“If he is scared to debate in a Republican primary, then he will fold like a cheap suit against Maura Healey,” Holly Robichaud strategist for Brian Shortsleeve said.

“Mike Minogue is hiding in the basement and Brian Shortsleeve is hoping he stays there,” added Logan Trupiano of the Mike Kennealy campaign.

“The time for debates will come,” Minogue aide Michael Gorecki said, “Mike’s getting out and meeting everyone right now. Today we’re on the road meeting voters across Plymouth County and Cape Cod.”

The Tuesday evening event was one of the first truly public events of the Minogue campaign, as the candidate has been mostly appearing at closed or invitation only affairs since announcing October 1.

On Monday Kennealy renewed his call for a three way debate between the corner office rivals with Shortsleeve swiftly accepting Kennealy’s “at any time, any place” challenge.

The very well attend event at the posh Cape Club was sponsored by multiple Town Committees and hosted by GOP State Committeeman Jay McMahon of Bourne.

Minogue, who has donated $3.5M to his own campaign, delivered a passionate stump speech touching on the topics of immigration and healthcare while describing his life journey, including references to his Catholic faith.

Minogue took a handful of questions from the attendees as a group and spoke with supporters one on one at the conclusion of the event.

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Mike Kennealy renewed his call for a three way gubernatorial GOP debate late yesterday implying his rivals were “worried” about debating him, while Mike Minogue and Brian Shortsleeve battled into the evening to see who could claim credit to be the first to pay their convention speaking fee to the nearly broke MassGOP.

In a new video dropped late Monday afternoon Kennealy taunted his rivals: “Mike, Brian, what are we waiting for? What are you guys worried about? Lets make this [debate] happen.”

According to OCPF the Republican State Committee ended November with a balance of $460.73.

In mid-October Kennealy outlined a - no notes - rebuttals allowed - debate format that would prepare the candidates for their eventual 2026 opponent:

“A year from now, our party’s nominee for Governor will be in the midst of several debates against Maura Healey, an experienced politician who has won three contested statewide general elections. Our party needs to nominate a candidate who can actually debate and defeat her.”

Neither the Minogue or Shortsleeve campaigns choose to respond to the Kennealy debate offer but instead issued competing statements on the payment of the 2026 convention speaking fees.

“My stance on debates is simple: anytime, anywhere,” Kennealy said in October.

Shortly after 8PM, Minogue was heralding a statement from MassGOP Chair Amy Carnevale, after Minogue apparently become the first to pay his convention speaking fee.

“As the first gubernatorial campaign to contribute its fee for speaking and associated benefits at the Convention, I want to thank Mike Minogue for showing his confidence in the Convention as a defining moment for our Party and the voters of Massachusetts,” Carnevale said in statement distributed by the Minogue campaign.

“I’m proud to be the first candidate for Governor to go all-in on the Massachusetts Republican Convention. We’re in it to win it,” Minogue declared on X.

Within the hour Shortsleeve followed up with a social media post declaring:

“For decades I have worked to help support the MassGOP and our candidates. Today, I am paying the MassGOP Convention speaking fee to show my commitment both to winning this race and to our party.”

The fee has been rumored to be approximately $50,000 but neither Carnevale or the campaigns mentioned an exact amount.

Carnevale’s statement does not appear on the MassGOP X account - in fact the party has not posted to X since before Thanksgiving and has been limping along financially since at least June. The Democratic State Committee finished November with $172K according to OCPF.

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Ahead of a Boston City Council hearing today to consider Mayor Wu’s tax shift proposal, various City Councilors and unions gathered to a press for passage of the home rule petition, especially in the reluctant state senate where the proposal died last year.

We asked Boston City Council President Ruthzee Louijeune: How is Wu’s tax shift proposal a proportional tax break for commercial property owners?

“What this proposal would do instead of experience a 5% decrease this shift would ah, reduce slightly the extent of the decrease that commercial property owners see in their tax bill but it would still be a decrease,” Louijeune explained.

The Wu proposal would raise tax rates on Boston commercial property for the next three years, the City budget grew 4.4% this fiscal year and 8% the prior year.

During the hearing Councilor Sharon Durkan asserted that “commercial owners don’t care about what happens here...its just the cost of doing business.”

Wu predicts a 6% drop in the commercial sector next year, official data released by the City late last week indicate commercial values fell 3.9% and 2.9% over the last two years. Residential values are up 2.7% and 4.6% over the same two year period.

Last week we conducted a walking tour of crumbling downtown Boston commercial real estate values, where some properties have fallen as much as 60% of pre-pandemic highs.

“I do believe we are in a post-covid era,” Louijeune stated when asked who is responsible for crashing downtown values, a trend she asserted is effecting cities nationwide.

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An online gubernatorial straw poll conduced by a well respected GOP activist appears to have been manipulated by a bot attack according X’s artificial intelligence agent known as Grok.

In one startling 42 minute stretch on Sunday, the total number of votes cast more than doubled according screenshots of the poll we acquired.

Chester Tam hosted the unofficial, unscientific poll on X for the third month in a row starting Friday and running till Sunday night.

No one has accused Tam, a highly regarded and popular GOP activist, of misconduct.

As of Sunday morning with 12 hours until the poll closed, approximately 1200 votes had been cast, consistent with the two prior polls that concluded with 919 and 1362 total votes cast.

Yet by Sunday night 8,579 votes had been cast, all coming in rapid chunks in the final hours.

With 9 hours and 42 minutes left in the polling Kennealy and Minogue were tied at 42%, Shortsleeve trailing at 16% with 1798 votes cast.

42 minutes later Shortsleeve had 59% with Minogue at 21% and Kennealy 20% with the total votes cast having more than doubled to 3,709.

Over the next 24 minutes another 1,193 votes were cast pulling Minogue up to 35% and dropping Kennealy to 16% (screenshot below).

Minogue won the poll with 46% with Shortsleeve at 44.5% and Kennealy a distant third at 9.5%.

“Groks independent assessment (not my personal opinion): 95%+ confidence that the major spikes aligned with patterns typically seen in automated/coordinated (non-organic) voting activity.” Tam wrote in a post powered by Grok.

Kennnealy’s communications director Logan Trupiano wrote on X:

“This is by far the grossest SCAM I’ve ever seen in politics. Kennealy leads by a wide margin until the last day. Then suddenly: THOUSANDS of votes come in on the last day. GROSS. A slap in the face to the grassroots. Minouge and Shortsleeve blatantly bought votes.”

Jessica Machado, a well know internet personality who asked her “ besties” to vote for Kennealy posted on X last night:

“I noticed today the latest poll had some unnatural activity, including jumps in votes that were disproportionate to other polls @islantstudio has hosted. While I don’t believe Chester has done anything wrong, I am truly suspicious of both @ShortsleeveMA and @MikeMinogueABMD camps artificially inflating their numbers. Fellow voters noticed this as well, including a follower of mine who kindly went to the poll and voted. I am really disappointed.”

Mike Minogue told WCVB that it was not his “grade to give” when asked about the performance of Donald Trump as President adding he’d be “compassionate” with people in Massachusetts illegally, but that law enforcement should be targeting “criminal elements that need to be removed.”

“I’m so focused now on what is going on in Massachusetts…we want a Governor that is going to work with DC to try to maximize our funding and if DC does something that helps our state as a governor, I’ll support it,” told WCVB’s On the Record broadcast Sunday at 11AM.

Pressed for answer on Trump’s performance by Sharman Sacchetti Minogue said “its not my grade to give, I think that…I think the most important issue in the last election Sharman, was the closing the border.”

Sacchetti asked: “Are you trying to distance yourself from President Trump?”

Minogue: “I am a Republican and I’m a Mike Minogue Republican.”

Despite a focus on Massachusetts, Minogue got caught up in a discussion relative to federal immigration policy, indicating that as Governor he would evaluate enforcement actions if data indicted a majority of deportees were aliens without criminal records.

A function clearly beyond the scope of any Governor.

Co-host Erika Tarantal pressed Minogue on the reported 63% of Massachusetts illegals that been arrested by ICE with no criminal record, Minogue responded:

“I think that’s something that we said evaluate and those are the things that you get to the bottom of. And a leader and as the Governor if that were the case I would be all over it, I would be transparent and I would solve it, I would go in and make sure that we are working together to target those [criminals].”

Disseminating porn to kids can land you in jail for up to 5 years under state law, but school and public library employees are specifically exempt from prosecution even if the material lacks any educational value to the child.

State Representative John Gaskey wants to change that.

“There needs to be a voice of reason, even if mine is the only one,” the Carver Republican says, describing the bill as “a moral stand to protect children.”

The bill does not criminalize common sex education materials, but does target content lacking educational value of only prurient interest of minors.

Distributing porn to kids would otherwise be a crime for anyone else, but state law carves out an exemption for a “bona fide school, museum or library, or was acting in the course of [your] employment as an employee of such organization.”

Gaskey acknowledges that the bill has become a “hot button” issue, especially as school districts have been embroiled in controversy regarding sex ed curriculums.

“While our ill-informed detractors want to characterize our efforts as merely banning books, we are seeking consistency of definitions and actions. Our children’s safety deserves no less,” said DeeDee Dorrington of ProtectKids25, a group backing House Bill 2042 originally filed by State Representative David Vieira.

Earlier this year Gaskey attempted to attach the bill as an amendment to a piece of foster-care legislation but House leadership denied his motion on procedural grounds.

Gaskey said the Massachusetts Teachers Association is significant opponent of the legislation. In his view schools should “focus on academics and allow the family and community to shape the world view of the kids.”

Specifically the bill strikes the last sentence of Section 28, Chapter 272: “It shall also be a defense in a prosecution under this section if the evidence proves that the defendant was a bona fide school, museum or library, or was acting in the course of his employment as an employee of such organization or of a retail outlet affiliated with and serving the educational purpose of such organization.”

In a rare setback for pro-invasion advocates the Yarmouth Select Board last night voted to defeat a sanctuary resolution for “Fair Treatment” by a vote of 3-2, while referring the matter to legal counsel for review.

Cheryl Ball, who led the citizen opposition to the resolution called the measure a “trojan horse.”

The proposed resolution was similar to the wording adopted by the Barnstable Town Council in August, including:

“The Yarmouth Selectboard does hereby affirm the Town of Yarmouth’s commitment to the values of freedom, justice, and equality for all Yarmouth residents and visitors and to supporting residents and visitors in leading lives of peace and dignity free from fear, harassment, and violence.”

“Inside of that resolution is the word visitor and its a linguistic word that I think is used to extend the protections offered to citizens to illegal immigrants that are residing here in Yarmouth,” Ball said.

Ball then detailed multiple illegal immigrant “visitor” arrests in Yarmouth and Cape Cod including the members of an international gun trafficking ring busted earlier this year.

The Board vote 3-2 to defeat the motion but also approved a motion by Selectman Mark Forest to send the matter to Town Counsel for legal review almost guaranteeing the matter will be taken up once again by the full Board or Town Meeting in the future.

The resolution also called upon the Town to “protect the civil liberties, safety, and human rights of all Yarmouth residents and visitors regardless…immigration status.”

Full meeting, public comment starts at the 27 minute mark.

Is it ever acceptable for an elected official or their staff to edit an official government livestream to delete a politically awkward or personally embarrassing moment?

When an aide to Governor Maura Healey took a rather loud self-described “digger” while tripping over TV cable during a late November press conference the event came to a brief pause as the Governor, noticeably concerned, inquired as to the well being of the staffer.

Leaning in and stepping away from the podium the Governor asked, in a now twice deleted scene, which we have since acquired: “Someone fainted?”

But today a viewer of the state’s livestream wouldn’t know anything about that - because the Governor’s office memory holed the incident out of two different YouTube videos of the event, raising questions of when, if ever, is it appropriate to delete a section of a government livestream?

Not to equate this with the missing 18 minute gap in the infamous Watergate tapes, but should viewers expect that a government livestream be an uncut C-SPANesque representation of the event?

The edit [posted below] can be seen in the stand alone video of the event at the 2min 59 second mark, while the first three minutes of livestream has been truncated to delete the “digger” incident altogether.

Consequently the livestream is approximately two and a half minutes shorter than the stand alone video.

According to the Herald, “The press conference went on, and a slightly shaken, and perhaps mildly embarrassed staffer was left unscathed.”

The Governor can be heard saying, “lets make sure we paused this, I’m sure we paused this” as the audio is cut first and then the video.

In the deleted scene Lt Governor Driscoll, Secretary Tepper and Secretary Augustus can all be seen to crane their necks looking to the back of the room.

The Governor and the Lt Governor then walk directly to and thru the camera line to investigate.

Edited stand alone video, edit at the 2min 59 second mark, total video length 25 min 42 seconds:

Truncated livestream is 23 minutes:

At last night’s Plymouth School Committee meeting multiple Plymouth parents objected to the adoption of a video-based 8th grade sexual education curriculum they charged school officials had attempted to keep hidden from public inspection.

“I never thought I’d be speaking at a school committee meeting pleading with adults to not feed children a source that encourages sexual exploration, the use of pornography and masturbation, but here I am today to do exactly that,” Jessica Fitzgibbons told the Committee.

Kathy Bom Conselho, a mother of six children, said it took over a month to schedule an in person review of the curriculum because it was not available online or able to be sent by email.

Multiple members of the Plymouth School Committee asserted at last night’s meeting that the transparency issues had now been resolved and that the course had been significantly revised since first proposed.

Several parents objected to the inclusion of instruction from Amaze.org and references to Amaze’s YouTube Channel.

“They gave me a binder of information, in the binder was a print out, six slides per page, easily over a hundred pages…so I sat there and they [school staff] watched me read it for two hours,” Bom Conselho testified.

“Why is it so hard for parents to access this curriculum?” Bom Conselho asked.

According to Massachusetts Informed Parents the “threat to these families is the sexualization of children - in this case, through a new 8th grade sex ed curriculum.”

Plymouth plans to roll out the program to 8th graders this year and 6th and 7th grade next school year. Parents are able to opt-out their children from of the program up to one week prior to the start of the sex ed module. The district spent $56,000 for consultants to advise on the curriculum.