Contrarian Boston/03.13.2024

Pot shop scandal leads to embarrassment for industry leader | Ousted MassGOP chief launches dark money group | Boston mayor braves neighborhood wrath with new development rules | Newton teachers union dead broke | Reporters hit the picket line as labor activism grows | Quick hits |

New Podcast Episode: Unpack the challenges of discussing social media with your children on 'Deep Dives,' where Dr. Stuart Ablon shares with host Jill Shah expert guidance for navigating these difficult conversations. 

Cash crunch: Newton teachers union short hundreds of thousands of dollars in the wake of its bitter strike

The Newton Teachers Association has declared its recent headline-grabbing strike an astounding success, even urging members to spread the word about it in the classroom.

But behind the scenes, the NTA is facing a “short-term cash flow issue” after racking up $800,000 in state fines and other expenses during the illegal, two-week work stoppage, according to a union fundraising appeal obtained by Contrarian Boston.

Five weeks after the strike ended, the Newton teachers union has only managed to raise $200,000 in contributions towards the approximately $800,000 in bills and fines it piled up during the strike, wrote NTA President Mike Zilles, in the fundraising appeal.

And in a bid to raise additional cash, the union is asking teachers to dig deeper, including chipping in an addition $25 for the NTA caps the union passed out during the strike.

Don’t have or don’t want to cough up the extra $25? Well, no problem - the union is also looking for volunteers for a group that will sell NTA “swag” - whatever that could possibly be.

Meanwhile, local, state and national union dues for full-time Newton teachers now tops $1,000 a year per member.

“The number of donations has begun to dwindle as the strike has fallen out of the news,” Zilles wrote. “As you can see, we are still far from the raising the full amount that we spent on the strike.”

The NTA’s biggest expense is the $350,000 in state fines the union accumulated for the illegal work stoppage: teachers, police officers and other public employees can collectively bargain, but are barred from walking off the job.

The union also owes another $275,000 to cover Newton’s expenses during the strike, including police and fire details.

That’s before we get to the roughly $175,000 the union forked over for “signs and literature, meals … NTA logo hats, etc.” according to the NTA’s fundraising appeal.

High hopes dashed: Bungled campaign for local pot license lands state cannabis biz chief in court

Umm, looks like the fix was definitely not in here.

CannaVana forked over $180,000 to pay for a lobbying blitz aimed at convincing Tewksbury officials to award it a license to operate a pot shop in town.

David O’Brien, head of the Massachusetts Cannabis Business Association, allegedly guaranteed to CannaVana that he could procure the coveted pot shop license by working his personal connections in the Merrimack Valley town, the cannabis retailer contends in a lawsuit.

Now CannaVana wants its money back, arguing that O’Brien and his business associates waged a campaign of comic ineptitude that wound up angering the very town officials they were supposed to be winning over, according to legal documents reviewed by Contrarian Boston.