Construction worker blues | Time is short for Healey rivals | SCOTUS-Harvard showdown | Quick Hits
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Construction: Just another low-wage industry now?
Or so says a disturbing new report by the University of California Berkeley Labor Center.
Nearly 40 percent of all construction workers and their families are forced to enroll in one or more federal relief programs, such as food stamps, to make ends meet. That’s higher than the already ridiculous 31 percent of workers across the country now depending on such programs.
No Mass. numbers were available, but neighboring Connecticut, a reasonable proxy for the Bay State, weighs in with 39 percent of its construction workers receiving some sort of aid.
The rise in construction workers needing federal assistance correlates with the decline in union membership over the past half century – no surprise there.
Next time someone rolls out the tired argument that unions are bad for business, just point out to them that millions of square feet of new offices, condos, apartments and shops are being built each year in Boston, a labor stronghold.
Time running out for Healey primary rivals
State Sen. Sonia Chang-Díaz and Danielle Allen, a Harvard professor, have roughly a month to shake up the dynamics of the Democratic primary race for governor before it’s lights out, one top politico says.
Granted, it’s been less than a week since AG Maura Healey announced she was running for governor. Still, Chang-Díaz and Allen need to challenge Healey soon, with the attorney general becoming the instant front-runner after last week’s big announcement.
How? Chang-Diaz or Allen should stake out an issue, like affordable housing, and then ask Healey to join the chorus as a side player.
So far, Allen is showing more signs of life, with an attention-getting call for an “exit ramp” for local mask and vaccine mandates as infection rates drop.
Yet in her chat with political analyst Jon Keller on Sunday, Allen wasted time taking jabs at Gov. Charlie Baker, who’s not running for re-election and not the one Allen needs to beat for the Dem nomination.
File under: Missed opportunity
When a candidate acts like a clown, talks like a clown and …
Boston Herald political columnist Joe Battenfeld raises an interesting question about media coverage of GOP gubernatorial contenders, a field of exactly one at this point, i.e. Geoff Diehl.
“Will all Republicans be treated as clowns and jokes by the media in this state?” Battenfeld asks.
Well, here’s a quick answer: If they act like clowns, why shouldn’t they be treated like clowns?
Diehl passed the clown test with flying colors when he recently showed up at Boston City Hall with anti-vaxxers in a bid to drown out Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s rollout of a vaccine mandate. He came across as an Althea Garrison-like candidate running for some lower-level city office, not as a candidate for governor of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the whole thing looked silly.
Diehl has tried to position himself as some sort of crusader for individual liberties, but to pull stunts like this during a pandemic that has killed more than 865,000 people is worse than clowning around. It’s pathetic.
Bold prediction: More embarrassment ahead for Harvard
We’ll leave it to the legal experts to parse the meaning of the latest challenge to the use of affirmation action in college admissions by Harvard.
But the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to hear a challenge to the admission policies at the Ivy League school will be bound to generate more bad PR for Harvard.
The lawsuit, which contends the university’s admissions policies effectively discriminate against Asian-American candidates, may have fallen short in the lower courts.
But along the way, the legal battle triggered large document dumps that cast a less than inspiring light on the admissions process at Harvard, including the university’s preferential treatment of students whose wealthy parents are donors, or went to Harvard, or often both.
Can’t wait to see what drops next!
Quick Hits:
-- If we’re not going to send U.S. troops to Ukraine (and we shouldn’t), what purpose is this serving? “Pentagon Puts 8,500 Troops on ‘High Alert’ Amid Ukraine Tensions” (NYT).
-- The real reason supermarkets are bare: “US Food Supply is Under Pressure, From Plants to Store Shelves” (WSJ)
-- A troubling trend: “After South Shore Plaza shooting, mall workers demand greater safety measures” (Globe)
What is Contrarian Boston?
I have fielded emails over the past couple weeks asking what Contrarian Boston is about.
Here’s a link to our mission statement – you can find it in the “about” section.
For a more prosaic, nuts-and-bolts description, read on.
An online newsletter, Contrarian Boston publishes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. In Contrarian Boston you’ll find analysis of the day’s news, and original reporting as well.
Our focus is:
· Politics and all levels of governance, good and bad, with an emphasis on state and local, with some national mixed in;
· Economic growth and business, especially real estate, housing and new development projects;
· The media and why it does what it does;
· Education, from school board spats to the doings of multibillion-dollar university endowments;
· And whatever else catches our fancy.
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Have a news tip? Is there an issue you would like to see explored? Interested in writing up a news item or short opinion piece? As Contrarian Boston gets on its feet, I would like to add more news and a wider range of commentary as well.
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Thanks for reading and see you Wednesday.