The Mirra Memo

04/11/2025

The big city politicians trying to enforce compliance with the MBTA Communities Act have no idea how this will impact the small towns its being forced upon.

And they have no clue how it's going to impact small towns, nor do they seem to care.

03/27/2025

Opposition to MBTA Communities Act has been so loud that dozens of bills have been filed to reign it in.

Here's how to make sure we're heard.

Legislators have submitted dozens of bills to curtail and even repeal the misguided and unpopular law.

03/15/2025

So does this mean the state will cover the costs of this unfunded mandate?

Not exactly.

So what exactly does that mean?

02/27/2025

Here's how your State Rep voted on allowing State Auditor Diana DiZoglio to do her job.

When 72% of us voted YES on Question 1 we voted for allowing her to audit the legislature. This makes it a law, no different than if the legislature had passed it, and yet the House has chosen to ignore the law and the will of the voters.

Rule change to allow Auditor DiZoglio to do her job was shot down along, you guessed it, party lines.

01/22/2025

The MBTA law is creating a lot of anger, but it's not going to create a lot of new housing.

So how and why did Beacon Hill pass a law that was so poorly conceived?

01/14/2025

One of the best pieces written about MBTA Communities Act that I've seen, written by Wakefield Town Councilor Ed Dombrowski, who provides the solution Beacon Hill should pursue:

If the state is truly interested in solving the housing crisis, put away that “stick” of cutting off funding and threatening lawsuits. Instead, bring out the “carrot” and incentivize us, financially and otherwise, to think creatively about ways we can better address housing affordability within our own communities, respecting our infrastructure and autonomy. Otherwise, if we stay on the current trajectory, there’s an obvious question any municipality is right to ask: What is the state going to take away from us next?

Tom Duggan and I will be discussing MBTA Act on his podcast Paying Attention this Thursday.

It sets a dangerous precedent for the state to further usurp local control.

01/11/2025

What should happen to a politician who pays hush money to a mistress?

You might want to remove any partisan glasses before answering

01/10/2025

Wanted to thank my good friend Tom Duggan for letting me co-host his show Paying Attention where we discussed local issues from taxes to homelessness to inequality, insight and analysis you won't get anywhere else!
Next up: we'll be discussing MBTA zoning and how it affects your community.

11/12/2024

Voters once again prove smarter than the "experts" running political parties.

When are they going to learn? Competition works, central planning (and rigging primaries) doesn't.

11/10/2024

Is this part of a longer trend? Maybe, but both parties can learn something from this electtion.

Charts and data are telling a story, will the parties listen?

10/29/2024

A rare race for State Senate in a district that has switched parties.

A purple State Senate seat that has switched parties has another spirited election.

10/25/2024

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dry8C-2oDv8&t=2s

Only 44% of Americans say they have a "great deal" or "quite a bit of confidence" that the results of the 2024 election will be accurate. But party affiliation is a big part of the story. If you break down that 44%, only 1 in 4 Republicans have high confidence, compared to nearly 3 out of 4 Democrats. The reasons that so many Americans currently lack trust in elections differ on the political left and right, but a representative democracy like ours relies on all voters having a high level of confidence in the results of an election no matter who wins. Without it, people stop voting, losing candidates don't concede, winners can't lead effectively and the transition from one administration to the next is no longer guaranteed to be peaceful. In this episode, we hear what leads people on the left and right to lack trust in the integrity of U.S. elections. We meet a county clerk who ran for office because of his concerns about fraud and mail voting. Now he’s administering his first presidential election and trying to convince other voters to trust the system. Then we explore the recommendations of a group of Democrats and Republicans who came together in search of common ground around restoring trust in elections.

Guests:
Lenny Mirra, Republican former Massachusetts State Representative, “Red” member of the Braver Angels Trustworthy Elections Initiative leadership team (https://braverangels.org/trustworthy-...)

Catherine Roeske, city clerk of Oak Creek, Wisconsin (https://www.oakcreekwi.gov/government...)

Aaron Davidson, Clerk of Utah County, Utah (https://vote.utahcounty.gov/home)

Jay Young, Senior Director of Voting and Democracy, Common Cause (https://www.commoncause.org/issues/st...)

Reena Bernards, creator of Common Ground Workshop, “Blue” member of the Braver Angels Trustworthy Elections Initiative leadership team (https://braverangels.org/trustworthy-...)

Only 44% of Americans say they have a "great deal" or "quite a bit of confidence" that the results of the 2024 election will be accurate. But party affiliati...