Keller: Our persistent inferiority complex

Ask your Senator to support S. 1114 and S. 1124 for Clean Slate legislation because an old CORI should not mean a lifetime of blocked opportunities.

Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin and assorted party functionaries will be in town this week as they consider Boston to host their 2028 convention.  

They will be expertly guided around the Athens of America by a gaggle of our top politicians, which is too bad. 

It would be better for all of us if they got lost.

We realize attention spans are shorter than ever these days. But it’s only been 22 years since the Democratic Convention last invaded North Station, not long enough to erase the memory of what a waste of time it was. The Menino administration predicted the thing would generate $154 million in economic benefits to the metro area; a follow-up study by a local think-tank pegged the actual number at less than ten percent of that. 

As the late great Bob Uecker put it in the movie “Major League” describing a pitch five feet off the plate: “Juuust a bit outside.”

Even before the road-closing, local-business-damaging nightmare on Causeway Street, Boston’s seemingly insatiable desire to prostrate itself on the altar of a mega-project of dubious economic merit was drawing eye-rolling online comment. “Boston has the saddest inferiority complex I've ever seen,” wrote one poster on a lengthy 2003 thread discussing the phenomenon. “Its leaders are obsessed with becoming ‘world class.’”

And now they’re back at it again, shoveling free meals into the DNC visitors and twisting themselves into knots trying to justify the looming fiasco of the World Cup soccer matches, just weeks away now from paralyzing Foxboro-area traffic and epically ripping off the suckers who want to see it live.  To what end?

Mass General Brigham is committed to world-class care backed by the latest advances in medical research. Innovation across our system delivers the best possible outcomes and enhances the patient experience.

9:30 | The Advisory Board to the Comptroller holds a virtual meeting with plans to review a draft report of the Statewide Single Audit for Fiscal Year 2025, which is conducted by the audit firm CliftonLarsonAllen. | Access

10:30 | U.S. Senate candidate John Deaton plans to deliver more than the 10,000 signatures that are required to secure a spot on the ballot this fall to the secretary of state's office. | Elections Division, One Ashburton Place, Room 1705, Boston

10:30 | Boston Mayor Michelle Wu kicks off the 2026 coffee hour series in the city’s neighborhoods. | Elliot Norton Park, 295 Tremont Street, Chinatown

11:00 | Gov. Maura Healey meets with Treasurer Deb Goldberg. | Room 227, State House, Boston

11:00 | Senate Democrats meet in a private caucus where they will likely privately discuss fiscal 2027 budget amendments ahead of the state of public deliberations Tuesday. | Senate president's office and virtual, State House, Boston

11:45 | Boston Mayor Michelle Wu offers remarks at a topping-off ceremony for the FieldHouse+. |  315 Mt. Vernon Street, Dorchester

12:15 | Treasurer Deb Goldberg returns the Bronze Star Medal of Staff Sergeant Walter Frye Sr. to his son, Walter Frye Jr. during a ceremony recognizing the veteran's military service. Frye enlisted in the Army at age 20 and served during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, according to Goldberg's office. He received the medal in 1951. It was recovered and traced back to his family as part of Treasury efforts to connect military honors with their heirs. | Treasurer's Office, Room 227, State House, Boston

…In the afternoon, Gov. Maura Healey joins Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, and MassDems Chair and Boston 2028 President Steve Kerrigan to welcome Democratic National Committee leadership, including DNC Chair Ken Martin, to Boston as part of the 2028 DNC site visits….

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AUDIT LATEST: Auditor Diana DiZoglio plans to agree on a narrow set of categories for her legislative audit in a bid to allow her lawsuit against Beacon Hill leaders to move ahead. – Axios Boston

SENATE BUDGET: Senators have 1,158 amendments to adopt or dispense with as part of their debate of the $63.3 billion budget this week. – MassLive

TEACHER JOB CUTS: Roughly 70 school districts have proposed budgets that include 1,410 cuts to education employee jobs, according to the Massachusetts Teachers Association. – Boston Herald

POINT32HEALTH PROFIT: Point32Health, the parent company of Tufts Health Plan and Harvard Pilgrim, reported an operating profit in the first quarter, $86 million, after an operating loss totaling $39 million in the first quarter of 2025. – Boston Business Journal

EX-JUDGE SUES: George D. Pappas, who served as a federal immigration judge in Chelmsford, is suing the Trump administration, saying he was illegally fired and discriminated due to his age and his Greek citizenship. – Boston Globe

REMOTE DEBATE: Gerry Martin, elected to the Springfield City Council in November, has filed an order to end remote participation in council meetings that have been allowed since the Covid pandemic. – MassLive

ORLEANS JUDGE: Judge Robert A. Welsh III, the first justice of Orleans District Court, is heading to Boston this week for arraignment on domestic violence-related charges. The chief justice of state trial courts moved the case to Boston due to a potential conflict of interest in district court. – Boston Herald

NO CONFIDENCE VOTE: Employees of the Berkshire Regional Transit Authority say they have lost confidence in the agency’s leadership, pointing to low morale and poor communications. – Berkshire Eagle

RAISE REPEAL: A repeal of raises for Quincy’s mayor and City Council is on the agenda for the council’s Monday night meeting. – Patriot Ledger

Trial of AG Campbell’s brother begins Monday

Incumbents win ‘acrimonious’ Plymouth races

North Reading native who worked for Biden-Harris on what he told DNC autopsy team

No more Nantucket mudslides? Gazebo owner pushed out

Rent control dies in Providence

JFK’s D.C. home before White House sells for more than $6 million

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Organizing Director, Committee to Protect Cannabis Regulation

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Director of Planning and Development, City of Newton

Assistant Attorney General, Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General

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