04.22.2025/Vacation Edition

A tidal wave of empty office space | Mass. pols play fast and loose with public records law | Vacation edition | Quit hits |

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Greetings from sunny Florida

We’re taking a break this week with family in St. Augustine.

Lots of cool history to take in, as the town was founded by the Spanish in 1565, long before Plymouth and Jamestown.

Photo by Maddie DiFilippo on Unsplash

Contrarian Boston will return to its regular publishing schedule next week.

State of secrecy: Bay State pols make a mockery out of government transparency laws

By Colman M. Herman

The Massachusetts Public Records Law — the state’s counterpart to the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) — is designed to help citizens, no matter who they are, no matter what they do, get copies of most government records for whatever reason and without having to offer any explanation.

The underlying core notion of the law is that democracy is at its best when things are done out in the open for everyone to see. When it works as it’s supposed to, the Public Records Law can help weed out waste, corruption and incompetence.

But the cold hard reality is that the Massachusetts Public Records Law does not work as it’s supposed to — not by a long shot.

There are many reasons for this abysmal situation, including a governor who claims she is not covered by the Public Records Law as a result of case law, and a legislature and a judiciary that are not covered by statute — all of which have received considerable attention in the media.

Bill Galvin

But another huge deficiency in accessing public records in Massachusetts has received very little, if any, attention in the local media. It is an issue that can be laid at the feet of Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin.