June 22nd Show

new show check it out.

music played on today's show: "Working Class Hero"-Green Day, "Uncle Sam Goddamn"-Brother Ali, "Justice Is Coming"-Typical Cats, "Volunteers"-Jefferson Airplane, "War"-Bob Marley, "Mean Talking Blues"-Woody Guthrie

What is socialism?
What is democratic socialism?

Solidarity Announcements:

Jun 22, 7:00 PM - 9:30 PM AND STILL WE RESIST!! A compelling, theatrical telling of authentic personal stories by those directly affected by the criminal justice system. A collaboration of theater artists and social justice advocates working with ex-prisoners and their loved ones to bring a powerful, articulate, personal voice of prison experience to the public for the purpose of healing, education, empowerment and social change. Join us and bring friends!Refreshments will be served/contributions are welcome.www.throughbardedwire.com Send email to throughbarbedwire@yahoo.com for additionalinformation. Other Contact Information: Jason - 617/266-6710.
Community Church of Boston, 565 Boylston, Boston (Copley Square) More details...


Jun 23 MARXISM, REPARATIONS AND THE BLACK FREEDOM STRUGGLE-Why Reparations are Essential to Class Struggle.... Monica Moorehead will talk about an important book on Reparations; she is the editor of the book, a New World View Forum book on African American history and resistance. Essays cover the meaning of the on going Katrina catastrophe; and building Black-Brown unity and solidarity against oppression. Send email to boston@workers.org for additionalinformation.
The Action Center, 284 Amory Center, Jamaica Plain More details...


Jun 23, 1:00 AM - 5:00 AM Brookline Climate Action Day Fair-Tomorrow's Climate--Today's Challenge Brookline's first Climate Action Day will have over 40 environmental exhibitors, food, festivities, music by the Jill Stein, Ken Selcer & Friends Band, Stingy Brim and other local groups, and kids' activities including a Dragon Parade,puppets,and environmental storyteller David Eggleton. Congressman Barney Frank, State Rep. Frank Smizik, Ross Gelbspan and Mindy Lubber will speak. Other options will be a Green Building tour and an organized bike ride starting at 11:00am at the Coolidge Corner Branch Library. For more information, visit http://www.townofbrooklinemass.com/conservation. Send email to reitaennis@excite.com for additionalinformation. Other Contact Information: Reita Ennis, 617-233-2605.
Brookline Town Hall Plaza,333 Washington St., Brookline More details...


Jun 23, 7:00 PM - 11:00 PM "Start the Music, Stop the war": an Evening of Culture + Protest! Save the Date Now that Congress has voted to escalate the Iraq War, it's time for us to kick off our summer protests with something a little bit different.Join United for Justice with Peace for a 6:30 pm anti-war parade (led by the Second Line Social Aid and Pleasure Society Brass Band) followed at 7pm by an Evening of Music, Culture and Protest at the newly Regent Theater.The goals of the event are to make a statement againist the war and to help activate those oppposing the war who don't express their opposition through demonstrations. Featuring Kemp Harris, Soul of Change, Jake Brennan, The Second Line Social Aid and Pleasure Society Brass Band, In the Public Interest, Ketchup, Mr. Them, and More!! $20 General Admission, $10 College Students and Low Income; $5 High School Students (Prices include restoration Fee.) Order Now!! Send email to pshannon@afsc.com for additionalinformation. Other Contact Information: 781/643-4747.
THE REGENT THEATER, 7 Medford St., Arlington Ma More details...


Jun 26 THE NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION TO RESTORE LAW AND JUSTICE In Boston, in Washington and around the country we will demand an end to torture, the closing of Guantanamo, the restoration of habeas corpus and fundamental freedoms.From the ACLU office we will proceed to the JFK Building. If you can arrive at noon and want to wear an orange jump suit, email jmargolis@earthlink.net or call 617/482-3170x314. Send email to BCorr@ACLUM.org for additionalinformation. Other Contact Information: Nancy Murray: 617/482-3170x314.
Assemble outside the ACLU office at 12:30 (211 Congress at High in Boston) More details...


Jul 1, 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM Citizens Summit and Protest March when Bush Meets Putin This event is still on the UJP Web page but here are more details: The following will be speaking at the beginning of the march in front of the Captain Lord Mansion on the Village Green, Ocean Ave.: David Swanson, founder of After Downing Street" and attorney John Kaminski, president of Maine Lawyers for Democracy as well as Melida and Carlos Arredondo of Military Families Speak Out. Music will include Pat Scanlon and Band. Others to be announced.All permits have been granted. This protest will focus on the immediate withdrawal of American troops as well as calling for the impeachment of Bush and Cheney. Speakers will talk about why it is important to hold the leaders accountable for the illegal war, was crimes, the mutilation of the Constitution and the evisceration of habeas corpus, torture, warrantless surveillance, nuclear proliferation and the overall abuse of power. Send email to jamillaelshafei@yahoo.com for additionalinformation. Other Contact Information: susie justed: 631/875-5936.
From the Village Green on Ocean Ave. to Bush Compound, Kennebunkport More details...


Jul 13, 7:00 PM ASSEMBLING PEACE V An alternative, fun and energizing anti-war event/party/mixer/concert to benefit the Greater Boston Stop the Wars Coalition. $10 donation - no one turned away for lack of funds. Performers include The Gary Backstrom Band - Master lead guitarist and vocalist; Jimmy Ryan - amazing electic band that has been touring the country; The Grass Gypsies, Andrew Alexander, Boston\'s own Pavoratti, and more. Tables will be set up for information tables (no fee.); massage room of the main room,and a kitchen which will be serving food. Upstairs there will be wine, beer and fair trade coffee plus a stage for various acts. The program will focus on diversity both in the performers and speakers all centered on the peace and justice themes.A benefit for stop the wars. Send email to vinniechops@hotmail.com for additionalinformation. Other Contact Information: Brian O\'Connell: 617/947-8983.
Spontaneous Celebrations, 14 Danforth St. Jamaica Plain, MA More details...

Forwarding from Providence Rhode Island AFSC..
If you could help get the word out about this, that would be great. We just found out about the visit and details are very sketchy (like time of day!) and time is very short, but RI folks have begun to organize a welcome party. The gist of the plan is this:
1) Reserve a park in downtown Newport for a peace festival. We are looking for street theater, music, speakers. Audience: media and the community. Time: midday
2) Try to find out where and when Bush will be in town and get a permit for as close as possible. Folks can go directly there or go over from the big event. Since we probably won,t be allowed where he can see us, it is a symbolic event.
3) Message: 1: Immediate withdrawal of all occupying forces in Iraq; 2) Reparations for the destruction and corporate pillaging of Iraq so that Iraqi people can control their own lives and future; 3.)Full benefits, adequate healthcare (including mental health), and other supports for returning servicemen and women. 4)No military action against Iran.
4) There will be additional planning at the next RICCP meeting on Wed June 20 and an additional meeting Sat. June 23. If you have suggestions, etc please contact Mark Stahl, who I cc,d on this email. He will be chairing those meetings and I can,t make either of them.
5) Please help spread the word with a Save the Date announcement and we will keep you in the loop about details.

Nurses, Doctors Announce “Scrubs for SiCKO” Campaign in Conjunction with Debut of Michael Moore’s Film to Spark Genuine Healthcare Debate

Unprecedented National Coalition Will Work to Recruit Caregivers in “SiCKO Scrubs” to Attend Each Film Premiere Theater

Nurses and Doctors Begin Bus Tour Today to Build Support for Campaign

Tour Comes to Manchester New Hampshire Friday, June 22, 2007
12 Noon – Screening of “SiCKO” at Palace Theater in Manchester, NH
2:15 p.m. – Town Hall Meeting with Moore and RNs, Physicians, Patients
3:30 p.m. – Press Conference with Michael Moore

Planning to spark a fundamental change in national healthcare politics, nurses from Massachusetts and throughout New England have joined an unprecedented national coalition of nurses and doctors organizations which today announced plans to rally around the openings of Michael Moore’s “SiCKO” on June 29 to press the campaign for single-payer healthcare, guaranteeing comprehensive, quality healthcare with an expanded and improved Medicare for all. The Coalition is also planning a special preview screening, town hall meeting and press conference with Michael Moore as part of the national “SiCKO” bus tour, which will land in Manchester, New Hampshire on Friday, June 22, beginning at 12 noon.

Calling it “The Scrubs for SiCKO Campaign,” organizers will recruit registered nurses and doctors to every theater in the nation where “SiCKO” opens to ensure that caregivers – in SiCKO scrubs—are in the audience.

The caregivers will distribute information and urge movie goers to join the drive for a fundamental overhaul of the nation’s dysfunctional healthcare system - as is so brilliantly described in “Sicko”. They will urge the audience to help pass single-payer/Medicare for all types of legislation such as HR 676 now pending in Congress and several states, and make it a central focus of the Presidential campaign.

Nurses and doctors are serving as co-hosts of “SiCKO” premiers across the nation.

Participating groups include the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, Physicians for a National Health Program, New York State Nurses Association, Massachusetts Nurses Association, United Steelworkers (USW) Health Care Workers Council, Communication Workers of America, Health Professionals and Allied Employees/AFT, United Nurses and Allied Professionals (Rhode Island) and the New England Nurses Association. The Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions is also working with the coalition.

“SiCKO” profiles a number of Americans with insurance who have been denied needed care by their insurance company, describes how the insurance-based healthcare system is structured to keep it that way, and provides examples of other industrialized nations where insurance companies do not stand in the way of medical care.

The campaign will highlight the need for reforms that prevent insurance companies from denying care, and send a strong signal to politicians in Congress, state capitals, and the Presidential race who are promoting insurance-based reforms.

HR 676 and similar bills in several state legislatures, including SB 755, the Massachusetts Healthcare Trust bill, will have one public entity collecting and dispensing all revenues for care delivered by our current, mostly private hospitals, clinics, and doctors, similar to how Medicare works. The system is universal, assures comprehensive benefits, guarantees freedom to choose your provider, and controls costs. It also drastically curbs administrative costs - and the waste caused by insurance company profits and paperwork.

Web Site: www.massnurses.org


Iraq Moratorium Day

This last Monday the long-rumored "Iraq Moratorium Day" campaign was officially launched with some big name backers including Labor Against War, Progressive Democrats of America, and a bunch of celebrities. United for Peace and Justice will likely sign onto the project at their conference next weekend, and may well link their major fall mobilization to the project.

The idea is for escalating actions every third Friday of the month, starting on September 21. It is a very watered down call to action (see: http://iraqmoratorium.org/ ) even compared to the Vietnam era events it takes its name from (in Vietnam the original call was for a general strike, but they changed it to "Moratorium" to make it more palatable... it was still a MAJOR event in Vietnam antiwar history). Their call is for all sorts of small, decentralized actions, including a vague call for "school closings."

http://iraqmoratorium.org/

TAKE ACTION ON THE BIOLAB THIS WEEK!

Beginning today, people around Boston will be contacting the Boston City
Council to ask them to schedule hearings about the Biolab.

We are asking that three hearings be scheduled:

--> Transportation
---> Preparedness
----> Evacuation

We would like the transportation hearing to be scheduled in JULY.

COULD YOU to take a few minutes to call and email one or more of the

Councilors listed below? Contact information and a sample call script are
below. Working together to flood their offices with calls this week will
let the City Councilors know that the people of Boston have serious

concerns about BU's biolab.

=*=*= PLEASE CALL AND EMAIL =*=*=

STEPHEN MURPHY, Chair of the Public Safety committee, 617-635-4376,

Stephen.Murphy@cityofboston.gov

Other Councilors on the Committee:

MICHAEL FLAHERTY, Vice chair, At Large, 617-635-4205,
Michael.F.Flaherty@cityofboston.gov

FELIX ARROYO, At Large, 617-635-3115, Felix.Arroyo@cityofboston.gov

SALVATORE LAMATTINA, District 1, E. Boston, Charlestown, City Hall/Beacon
Hill/Islands, 617-635-3200, Salvatore.LaMattina@cityofboston.gov

CHARLES YANCEY, District 4, Dorchester & Mattapan, 617-635-3131,
Charles.Yancey@cityofboston.gov

//StopTheBiolab.org

-----------------------------------------

¡TOMA ACCIÓN CONTRA EL BIOLAB ESTA SEMANA!

Empezando hoy, la gente de Boston van a contactar el Ayuntamiento para
pedirles a programar las vistas del ayuntamiento sobre el Biolab.

Pedimos que ellos programan tres vistas:
--> La transportación
---> La preparación
----> La evacuación

Queremos que la vista de transportación se lleva a cabo en JULIO.

¿PUEDE UD. toma algunos minutos para llamar y mandar unos e-mails a uno o
más de los concejales enumerados abajo?

Trabajando juntos para hacer muchas llamadas a las oficinas del concejales
esta semana mandará un mensaje a los Concejales – que la gente de Boston
tienen preocupaciones graves sobre el Biolab de la Universidad de Boston.

=*=*= POR FAVOR LLAMAN Y MANDAN E-MAILS A: =*=*=

STEPHEN MURPHY, Director del Comité de la Seguridad Pública, 617-635-4376,
Stephen.Murphy@cityofboston.gov

Concejales en el Comité:

MICHAEL FLAHERTY, Vicedirector, "At Large", 617-635-4205,
Michael.F.Flaherty@cityofboston.gov

FELIX ARROYO, "At Large", 617-635-3115, Felix.Arroyo@cityofboston.gov

SALVATORE LAMATTINA, Distrito 1, E. Boston, Charlestown, City Hall/Beacon
Hill/Islands, 617-635-3200, Salvatore.LaMattina@cityofboston.gov

CHARLES YANCEY, Distrito 4, Dorchester & Mattapan, 617-635-3131,
Charles.Yancey@cityofboston.gov

http://stopthebiolab.org

Enterprise Rent-A-Car workers protest plan to subcontract their jobs to new staffing company (from Indymedia)
by Rand Wilson
Email: rand (nospam) mindspring.com (verified)
Phone: 617 929-6000 19 Jun 2007
Enterprise Rent-A-Car workers filed an unfair labor practice charge on June 15 after managers told shuttle van drivers and car prep workers who work at the company’s East Boston airport location that their jobs would be subcontracted to Houston-based ParkWest Staffing Services. Management also announced that all current Enterprise car drivers would have to apply to for jobs at other Enterprise locations.
“All we are trying to do is have a voice at work and a union contract that spells out our wages and working conditions,” said Enterprise shuttle van driver Jonny Arevalo. “Now management is depriving us of our rights by making us all apply for our jobs with a new company. It’s outrageous!”

The Enterprise workers are asking for continued support from the community and the labor movement to save their jobs and win management recognition of their union. A June 23 day of action is planned for people to show support for the Enterprise workers.

The unfair labor practice charge – given to the National Labor Relations Board’s New England Regional Office – claims that the subcontracting maneuver was brazen and illegal retaliation against the employees for a long history of engaging in activities to improve their wages and working conditions. The National Labor Relations Act prohibits management from closing facilities or subcontracting work to avoid dealing with workers as a group.

In a June 13 memo to employees, Enterprise Regional Vice President Mark Jewell stated, “We wish to emphasize this decision has been in the works for several months and has nothing to do with recent union activities.”

Workers at Enterprise have been organizing a union with IUE-CWA Local 201 of the Communications Workers of America to improve their wages and working conditions. The workers have also been working with the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (MassCOSH) and several community groups to improve their working conditions and fight discrimination in hiring and promotions.

On May 29, the Enterprise workers requested management recognize their union. When management refused, the workers petitioned the NLRB on June 4 to conduct a government-supervised election. A hearing on their petition is scheduled for June 18 at the NLRB in Boston.
(Pictures from the action may be viewed at: http://picasaweb.google.com/wilsonforworkingfamilies/EnterpriseWorkersDe)

The drive for collective bargaining grows out of frustration with Enterprise management who have routinely ignored workers’ grievances about discrimination, health and safety conditions, and abuse of wage payments and scheduling issues. With support from MassCOSH, Jobs with Justice and the Chelsea Collaborative the workers have been organizing to win improvements at work.
See also:
http://www.local201IUECWA.org

Seattle Students Shut Down School Board
Demanding Military Recruiters Out of Schools
By Philip Locker, Dylan Simpson, and Marianne Mork
June 21, 2007
www.yawr.org

"What do we want? Recruiters out! When do we want it? Now!" chanted
over 70 antiwar protestors as we marched into to the Seattle School
Board meeting Wednesday night. The spirited protest, called by Youth
Against War and Racism (YAWR), demanded the school board finally take
real action against military recruitment in our schools. As the local
TV news King 5 said, it was "intended to be political high theatre,
and it certainly was effective." Another reporter commented: "it was
the most dramatic anti-military recruitment rally to date."

YAWR is calling for military recruiters to be banned from Seattle
public schools. But to stay within the legal paramaters of the "No
Child Left Behind" law, we are demanding that all recruiting be done
at a district-wide recruitment fair once a semester. This would create
equity between the access to students that the military, college, and
job recruiters have. Currently, military recruiters have a massive
budget and a huge advantage over college and job recruiters. A
district-wide recruitment fair would also stop military recruiters
from carrying out their predatory tactics within our schools and
disproportionate targeting of schools that are predominantly made up
of poor and minority students.

Student activist Kristin Ebeling said: "Our public schools should not
be military recruitment stations for the Iraq war. Instead of wasting
$500 billion on a war for oil and empire, we need money for jobs and
education."

High school students, teachers, parents and community activists
rallied outside the school board for an hour. With the start of the
meeting the rally moved inside, energetically chanting and sitting in
at the front of the room. To bring the reality of the war home, some
students enacted a "die-in," lying across the floor covered in blood,
while the school board politicians huddled at the side of the room.

Addressing the board and the whole room, Shanay Salas and Ramy Khalil
from YAWR then explained our demands to restrict military recruiters.
We urged that the board amend its agenda for 10-15 minutes to discuss
our proposed policy. Unfortunately, the board refused to discuss our
policy, nor would they start the meeting until we ended the sit-in and
moved away from the front of the room.

Board member Darlene Flynn condescendingly lectured the students:
"This is what democracy looks like, but it's not what a school board
meeting looks like, and we have to have a school board meeting." This
statement, ironically exposing the undemocratic nature of the board,
brought loud jeers from the demonstrators. With the protestors holding
their ground, the board hurriedly left and reconvened in a back room
closed to the public.

This comes against the background of the board refusing to enforce
their own policy to restrict military recruiters that was passed two
years ago. After a city-wide student walkout of 800 students on April
18 to protest military recruitment, attending numerous school boards
meetings and sub-committee meetings, and still having the board refuse
to let us speak, we decided to take matters into our own hands and
organize a sit-in. However, the meeting could have easily continued if
the school board had simply been willing to grant our modest request
to discuss our proposed policy at their meeting for 10-15 minutes.

Since the board refused to listen to the public, we decided to
continue the meeting and took public testimony from those who had
already signed up to testify. A number of school bus drivers spoke
about their struggle to unionize to overcome the terrible wages and
conditions they face, which the board is refusing to support. While
some members of the audience complained that we had disrupted an
official board meeting, an overwhelming majority of the crowd voted to
support our decision to continue the meeting in defiance of the board
members.

While school board members claim that they cannot implement our policy
because it would mean losing $40 million a year in federal funds, the
fact is that our policy was carefully constructed to remain within the
legal confines of the No Child Left Behind law. By restricting
military recruiters to a recruitment fair on equal grounds with
college and job recruiters, this policy would have absolutely no
effect on federal funding.
(See relevant section of No Child Left Behind and our proposed policy
at: http://groups.google.com/group/novapeaceclub)

Wednesday's school board action was a major success in bringing real
pressure to bear on the board and raising the issue of military
recruitment in the public consciousness. All the local TV news gave
very prominent coverage to the protest (see list of links below). But
to win we will need to keep up the pressure on the school board and
build an organized, active antiwar movement. This fall YAWR is
organizing a major student walkout, which we are trying to spread
nationally, to show that business as usual will stop until the
military is out of Iraq and out of our schools.

Get active with Youth Against War and Racism and the fight against
military recruiters! Please come to the next YAWR meeting on Sunday
July 1, 4-6pm, at Uptown Espresso (2504 4th Ave and Wall St.) where we
will be planning our next steps.

Contact us at: www.yawr.org * redeye76bw@hotmail.com * (206) 526-7185

We want to thank all the organizations that made this protest
possible: Nova High School Peace and Justice, Lake Washington High
School Peace Club, Renton High School Youth Against War and Racism,
Seattle Central Community College Students Against the War, Team
Victory, and Socialist Alternative.

Please donate! Support YAWR's need to make leaflets, posters, buttons,
and T-shirts by sending donations payable to Youth Against War and
Racism to 5032 21st Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98105.

Support First Student Bus Drivers! We fully support the struggle of
the First Student bus drivers to win a union and decent wages,
benefits and conditions. It is an outrage that the school board will
not stand on the side of workers' basic rights. We are calling on
antiwar activists, students and workers to come to a rally in support
of the First Student bus drivers on Friday June 22, 9am – 12pm, at 130
South Kenyon Street.

Links to Mainstream Media Coverage
KOMO 4 Video coverage: http://www.komotv.com/news/8105247.html (click
WATCH THE STORY below the picture)

King 5 Video coverage:
http://www.king5.com/video/featured-index.html?nvid=153224

Seattle Times: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003756523_assignment21m.html

2 key CEOs give Patrick a fund-raiser
State policies could affect firms' profits

By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff | June 21, 2007

Governor Deval Patrick picked up about $25,000 in political donations this week at a fund-raiser thrown by the chief executive officers of two highly regulated companies whose financial standings and profits could be affected by decisions pending before the new administration.

Edmund F. "Ted" Kelly, the chief executive of the insurance giant Liberty Mutual Group, and Thomas J. May, his counterpart at NStar, cosponsored the breakfast event at the Sheraton Boston, which was attended by Patrick and about 50 executives from both firms.

While not uncommon during previous administrations, Patrick's use of two heavily regulated industry giants to raise political funds stands in sharp contrast to his campaign promise to change the way business is conducted on Beacon Hill and to free politics from special interests.

Both firms have stakes in sweeping policy issues that are before regulatory agencies controlled by Patrick. In the next few months, the Patrick administra tion will make decisions on proposals that could bring wholesale changes to the way the state auto insurance industry makes money. NStar, while always looking for rate increases, is also keenly interested in proposed safeguards to protect utilities' profits as energy conservation increases.

Asked whether the governor saw any conflict between Monday's fund-raiser and his campaign promise to change the state's political culture, his press secretary, Kyle Sullivan, said Patrick and his regulators would not be swayed by the donations.

"Policy and regulatory decisions in this administration are based solely on what is in the best interest of the citizens of the Commonwealth," Sullivan said in a statement released to the Globe. "We have some of the toughest campaign finance laws in the country, and we strictly adhere to them."

Jeffrey M. Berry, a professor of political science at Tufts University, said the fund-raiser is a clear indication that Patrick has succumbed to the realities of political life, which includes what he called the unsavory campaign finance system.

"It looks like he's been housebroken," Berry said. "Words are cheap, and his rhetoric now appears to have been empty slogans. His supporters are going to be a little disappointed. But it is rare for politicians to follow through on changing politics as usual. Politics as usual has a lot of attraction once you are in office. Governor Patrick is not immune from the temptation."

During his campaign, Patrick repeatedly denounced the "culture of Beacon Hill" and promised to restore citizens' faith in state government. As an example of the culture, he pointed to the coziness between public officials and Big Dig contractors, which he said undermined the state's oversight of the project. He particularly cited contractors' political donations to elected officials and their funding of awards to honor state officials who oversaw the construction. "It now all gets caught up in the political culture of Beacon Hill," he said in May 2006.

Patrick has a deep background in corporate America, as a former general counsel at Coca-Cola and Texaco and a former board member at Ameriquest, a controversial subprime lender.

The fund-raiser by May and Kelly reflects a growing relationship between Patrick and the state's business leaders. May, who also serves on Liberty Mutual's board of directors, and Kelly were part of a small group of business executives who last month met privately over lunch with Patrick to discuss a host of business issues.

None of the participants would comment about the meeting. But a source said the talk turned tense at one point as several took issue with his push to close so-called corporate tax loopholes. The session ended on a friendly note, with Patrick assuring the business leaders that his door was open to them, the source said. Others at the session included New England Patriots' owner Robert Kraft, former Bank of America chairman Charles K. Gifford, retired advertising executive Jack Connors, and former Fidelity Investments' chief operating officer Robert L. Reynolds.

During last year's campaign, Liberty Mutual gave generously to Patrick's Republican opponent, former lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey.

After the election, Liberty Mutual was one of several corporations that made a $50,000 donation to fund Patrick's inauguration -- another event that raised questions about the new governor's repeated promises to return state government to the people.

Kelly's Boston-based insurance firm, which has national and international operations, is lobbying heavily for Patrick's insurance commissioner, Nonnie Burnes, to adopt a competitive rate-setting system for auto insurance and to revamp the high-risk drivers pool. Both moves have divided the auto insurance industry and have drawn strong criticism from consumer advocates and urban lawmakers.

On Friday, just three days before the fund-raising event at the Sheraton Boston, Burnes wrapped up a hearing on auto insurance and is now trying to decide which changes -- if any -- the administration should adopt. NStar, the biggest combined electric and gas utility in the state with more than 1.3 million customers, regularly appears before the state Department of Public Utilities board to get rates approved.

In recent weeks, the Patrick administration has also begun to push for the most radical overhaul of state utility regulation in a century -- a policy called "rate decoupling" that is intended to ensure utilities' profits don't fall if they promote energy conservation -- that could have major ramifications for NStar's $3.5 billion in annual revenues and more than $200 million in net profits.

The utility is eager to make sure it maintains access to and good relations with Patrick, to ensure that NStar and its shareholders get the best possible outcome from rate decoupling.

Kelly and May declined to speak to the Globe about their political fund-raising for Patrick.

"It's not anything we're going to get into," said Caroline Allen, NStar's spokeswoman, when asked why May cosponsored the event. "We support Governor Patrick and his agenda."

Neither Allen nor John Cusolito, a Liberty Mutual spokesman, would provide the Globe with the exact amount that was raised, referring questions to Patrick's staff. "We encourage our employees to be politically active," Cusolito said. "So demonstrating support for the governor and other elected officials is not unusual for us." He said Kelly did not attend the fund-raiser because of a scheduling conflict.

Steve Crawford, a spokesman for the Patrick campaign committee, said the figure exceeded $25,000. That is a significant amount for Patrick's political committee, which has only $133,000 in its checking account, according to Crawford, a paltry sum for a sitting governor.

Peter Howe of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
© Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

Boston gets 200 new youth jobs
Advocates happy, but say 'drop in the bucket'
Christopher Loh, cloh@bostonnow.com

A Boston financial institution announced it is providing 200 jobs for Boston teens this summer.

John Hancock Financial Services CEO John DesPrez spoke about his company's $450,000 contribution to the city's summer youth outreach effort. "The training will assist in getting the teens off to a terrific start as they begin planning for college and careers."

DesPrez' announcement follows Mayor Thomas Menino's recent call for teen employment opportunities and comes in the wake of city violence already totaling 30 homicides this year.

David Jenkins of the United Youth and Youth Workers of Boston said the jobs are a good step but only a "drop in the bucket" in addressing the violence.

"If this city is serious about attacking this problem of youth violence," said Jenkins, "the first preventive measure would be funding youth jobs."

Jenkins and his organization are campaigning for $8 million from the city's budget to help fund youth employment this summer. The $8 million, Jenkins said, would be a major step in decreasing street violence - creating the most city jobs since 2000.

More News Links:
articles about democrats:
Democrats Twiddle Thumbs While Iraq Burns
"Left Wing" Democrats Vote to Fund Iraq War

Nantucket ICE raid

New Orleans

Boston's new school superintendent

Cheney vs. the Oversight office

Shut Down Guantanamo?

Bloomberg Quits the Republicans


Published on Fri, Jun 22, 2007