Keller: Not listening in Cambridge

That much-maligned 2024 election autopsy forked over by the Democratic National Committee last week –- with all the aplomb of a teenage boy surrendering his porn stash to Mom –- may be a worthless piece of trash.  But it was right about one thing: “listening can indicate where voters are.”

Unfortunately, some “progressive” Democratic leaders too often flunk Listening 101. (Harvard students: that’s like getting an A-). They can’t even manage to listen to one of their heroes, the late Congressman Barney Frank, who spent much of his life trying to tell them the unwanted truth about their ideological blunders.

Among them: liberal tone-deafness about “fear of violent crime,” which Frank noted in a 1992 op-ed column had become “more and more a factor in American life” during the 1970s and 1980s along with “the notion that the Democrats were soft on crime.” 

Because right-wingers had so effectively racialized fear of crime, the perception had developed that “Democrats were so much the prisoners of special interests that we wouldn't even support tough anticrime measures lest we offend some of these groups,” wrote Frank. “For many swing voters specifically, Democrats appear unwilling to stand up firmly against criminals because we fear alienating black voters. Of all the political misperceptions from which we liberals suffer, this is the worst -- the least accurate, the most socially pernicious and the most politically corrosive.”

10:00 | Gov. Maura Healey joins Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll and labor leaders "to celebrate the establishment of the first rideshare drivers' union in the United States, the App Driver’s Union," according to the governor's office, which disclosed Monday that the union was certified by the state Department of Labor Relations on Friday, "marking the largest private sector bargaining victory since the 1940s and first union of gig workers in the country." | State House steps, Boston

10:30 | The Lottery Commission meets. Treasurer Deb Goldberg chairs the meeting. | For access email [email protected]

11:00 | Mayor Michelle Wu attends the Titans of Boston Tech event. | Klaviyo, 125 Summer Street, Downtown

11:00 | Gov. Maura Healey attends the annual Medal of Liberty and Medal of Fidelity Ceremony with First Lady Joanna Lydgate, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, Adjutant General Major General Gary Keefe, Veterans Services Secretary Eric Goralnick, Public Safety and Security Secretary Gina Kwon, Deputy Public Safety Secretary Sue Terrey, members of the Massachusetts National Guard, legislators, veterans and military families. | Memorial Hall, State House, Boston

12:15 | Mayor Michelle Wu delivers remarks at the luncheon for 2026 Boston Public Schools valedictorians. | Fenway Park, 4 Jersey Street, Boston

1:45 | Gov. Maura Healey proclaims May 26 as Frantzdy Pierrot Day. Pierrot grew up in Massachusetts and will represent Haiti in the World Cup. Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, Boston City Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune, and state and local officials also attend. | Grand Staircase, State House, Boston | Livestream

MILLIONAIRES TAX: The voter-approved millionaires surtax continues to bring in billions of dollars, with the most recent figure putting the number at $3.1 billion this fiscal year. That’s with another two months to go, but some analysts say the surplus is linked to the stock market, and warn against relying on it for ongoing budget items. – Boston Globe

JOBLESS RATE: The Massachusetts unemployment rate stayed at 4.7% in April. The rate is higher than the national rate, but Massachusetts employers added roughly 8,500 jobs. – State House News Service

PAROLE BOARD: The independently elected Governor’s Council is taking heat for its rejection of Gov. Maura Healey’s nominee to the Parole Board. The nominee was a former prosecutor, Vincent DeMore. – Boston Herald

Jobs continue below the fold — post a job

PREMIUM HIKES: Health insurers are asking to hike rates roughly 13% in 2027 – another year of a double-digit increase – as negotiations get underway between health plans and state regulators. – CommonWealth Beacon

ENERGY REPORT: Newton’s City Council is interested in obtaining energy use data of its residents, though the city’s legal departments raised concerns about small residential properties and single-family homes facing a requirement to report the data. – Newton Beacon

IN MEMORIAM: Former state Rep. Benjamin Swan, a civil rights leader who stood with Martin Luther King Jr., died on Monday. He was 92. – MassLive

HEALTH GROUP RESTRUCTURING: Brown University Health’s leadership team in Massachusetts is undergoing changes as the Rhode Island organization seeks to pull in Saint Anne and Morton hospitals it acquired after the collapse of Steward Health Care. – Boston Business Journal

BOSTON FIREFIGHTER: A wake for firefighter Robert “BK” Kilduff Jr. is set for May 31 in West Roxbury. A funeral for the 53-year-old will take place June 1 at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. He died Saturday while responding to a fire in Dorchester. – MassLive

NEW BEDFORD DEFICIT: The costs driving New Bedford’s budget deficit are health care, pensions and a trash contract as Mayor Jon Mitchell proposes closing a fire station and hiking property taxes. – New Bedford Light

Dams are failing across Massachusetts

Elizabeth Warren v. Maxine Waters: Top Democrats split over housing bill

MBTA commuter rail schedule for World Cup goes into effect

Possible 2028 Democratic presidential contenders chatting up Sen. Warren

Joan Kennedy’s Back Bay apartment lists for $2.6 million

Do you have an open role you'd like to feature here? Click here to place a job board order, or email Dylan Rossiter, Vice President of Affiliated News Services, at [email protected].

Civic Science Fellow in Science, Engineering, and Technology, American Academy of Arts & Sciences

Director of People & Operations, Charles River Watershed Association

District Staff Assistant, US House of Representatives – Office of Congressman Jake Auchincloss

Organizer, SHARE/AFSCME

Senior Counsel – Records Access Officer and Information Management, Massachusetts Water Resources Authority

Litigation Attorney, Disability Law Center

Director of Grants, More Than Words

Executive Assistant, Massachusetts Law Reform Institute

VIEW ALL JOBS