MASSterList: Long waits | ‘Clearly deliberate’ | Calvin's place

MASSterList: Long waits | ‘Clearly deliberate’ | Calvin's place

DUH? YOU'RE IN CHARGE CHARLIE!  Baker on missing State Police payroll records: It was ‘clearly deliberate’

From the Globe’s Matt Stout and Matt Rocheleau: “Governor Charlie Baker said Monday that the act of not disclosing years of payroll records for an entire division of the State Police was ‘clearly deliberate,’ and a top state finance official demanded to know if other state agencies were failing to reveal other key documents.” The controversy involves, of course, the now infamous Troop F, the State Police division currently under investigation for alleged overtime abuses by troopers. In an editorial, the Globe is urging Attorney General Maura Healey to investigate the long-missing payroll records as well. WBUR has more on Baker’s comments yesterday.

Fyi: Comptroller Thomas Shack said he intends to ask State Police and Massport why his office was kept in the dark about the Troop F payrolls, though he stressed he didn’t know if “nefarious” motives were involved, report the Globe. Fyi II: When are we going to start referring to Troop F as F Troop? We can’t get the latter out of our minds, sorry to say.

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DUH? YOU'RE IN CHARGE CHARLIE!  Baker on missing State Police payroll records: It was ‘clearly deliberate’ From the Globe’s Matt Stout and Matt Rocheleau: “Governor Charlie Baker said Monday that the act of not disclosing years of payroll records for an entire division of the State Police was ‘clearly deliberate,’ and a top state finance official demanded to know if other state agencies were failing to reveal other key documents.” The controversy involves, of course, the now infamous Troop F, the State Police division currently under investigation for alleged overtime abuses by troopers. In an editorial, the Globe is urging Attorney General Maura Healey to investigate the long-missing payroll records as well. WBUR has more on Baker’s comments yesterday. Fyi: Comptroller Thomas Shack said he intends to ask State Police and Massport why his office was kept in the dark about the Troop F payrolls, though he stressed he didn’t know if “nefarious” motives were involved, report the Globe. Fyi II: When are we going to start referring to Troop F as F Troop? We can’t get the latter out of our minds, sorry to say. Boston Globe

CHARLIE BAKER IS INCAPABLE OF GOVERNING!  MBTA eyes raising parking fees for some, lower fees for others Desperate for new revenues to plug a projected deficit, the MBTA is now mulling a plan to raise parking fees at T stations by a total of $7 million, but it hasn’t decided yet exactly who will get hit with the fee increases. Bruce Mohl at CommonWealth magazine reports that the T appears to be considering “a form of congestion pricing” for parking garages, i.e. fees would go up at busy facilities and down at less crowded parking lots. SHNS’s Andy Metzger (pay wall) confirms that the two-tiered fee approach is under consideration. But is it really “congestion pricing”? Looks more like old-fashioned supply-and-demand pricing, i.e. jacking up prices where demand is high and supply is low and lowering prices where demand is low and supply is high. COULD RMV SERVICE GET ANY WORSE?  THE ANSWER IS YES! Fate almost worse than death: RMV wait times top five hours for new driver’s licenses The Globe’s Adam Vaccaro reports that motorists yesterday faced “crushing waits” as long as five hours at Registry of Motor Vehicles offices on the first day of the new “REAL” driver’s license system. The waits were longer than what Baker administration officials had anticipated. OK, so it’s only one day. Let’s see how it goes in coming days and weeks. But you have to wonder: Are we witnessing another botched rollout of a new program?  Boston Globe GateHouse GOBBLE! ANOTHER PAPER BITES THE DUST INTO THE BIN OF POOR QUALITY AND INADEQUATE COVERAGE! GateHouse buying Gardner News, one of the oldest family-owned papers in New England Considering the fate of other newspapers here and elsewhere, it’s amazing the Gardner News held out this long. From a report at the Telegram: “GateHouse Media LLC, owner of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, is acquiring The Gardner News. Kirk A. Davis, chief executive officer of GateHouse Media, made the announcement to employees Monday morning in Gardner. ... The Gardner News, which has been one of the oldest family-owned newspapers in New England, began publishing in 1869.” Telegram CLICK ON LINK FOR MORE!

POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: BALLOT QUESTION wrangling — STATIE pay troubles — New arrivals on the GREEN LINE

POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: BALLOT QUESTION wrangling — STATIE pay troubles — New arrivals on the GREEN LINE

WHERE WERE YOU CHARLIE? ASLEEP? YOU'RE IN CHARGE!

- "Concealment of State Police pay records was 'clearly deliberate,' Baker says," by Matt Stout and Matt Rocheleau, Boston Globe: "Governor Charlie Baker said Monday that the act of not disclosing years of payroll records for an entire division of the State Police was "clearly deliberate," and a top state finance official demanded to know if other state agencies were failing to reveal other key documents. The charge by the state's chief executive follows a Globe report showing that neither the State Police nor the Massachusetts Port Authority had publicly filed information on payouts for Troop F with the state comptroller since 2010."

- "Plotting their path to challenge Baker, Democratic gubernatorial candidates make pit stop in Pittsfield," by Dick Lindsay, the Berkshire Eagle: " Ella Dudley and Karen McComish know how to strike when the iron is hot. On Sunday afternoon, the two juniors at Mount Greylock Regional High School personally asked the three Democratic candidates for governor their stand on gun control and the teenager-led campaign to make America safe from gun violence. Setti Warren, Jay Gonzalez and Bob Massie responded to the teens by calling for a halt to assault weapon production in Massachusetts, as the state already bans ownership of such high-powered weapons."

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