News Features

Beacon Hill's Most Beautiful: 25 power players who keep the Golden Dome in style

By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN AND MIKE DEEHAN | November 8, 2012

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Politics in Massachusetts can be an ugly business.

We spend a lot of our time reporting on the unattractive aspects of Beacon Hill behavior: the rough-and-tumble campaigns, the back-room bartering, the seamy allegations, and the too-common disgraces.

So, the Phoenix and political news aggregator MassterList decided to team up and show you another side of life under the Golden Dome — the beautiful side.

We took nominations from MassterList's thousands of news-junkie subscribers, and assembled a secret team of political insiders to vote on them in the most Beacon Hill way we could imagine: in complete anonymity, behind closed doors, and without a whiff of accountability.

The result? Twenty-five individuals who brighten the State House halls with style, attitude, and even — if such a thing exists on Beacon Hill — inner beauty.

Let us know who you think we left out!

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Grossman for Treasurer
There are two impressive candidates running for state treasurer in Tuesday’s Democratic primary.
Tapped out
The freedom to vacation before wrapping up vital work is just one perk of holding statewide office.
Chaos Theory
In less than two weeks, when Massachusetts voters elect Martha Coakley to the US Senate — let's not pretend that Republican state senator Scott Brown has any chance of pulling off the monumental upset — they will trigger a massive domino effect that has the state's political class buzzing with anticipation.
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Grossman for Treasurer
There are two impressive candidates running for state treasurer in Tuesday’s Democratic primary.
Tapped out
The freedom to vacation before wrapping up vital work is just one perk of holding statewide office.
Chaos Theory
In less than two weeks, when Massachusetts voters elect Martha Coakley to the US Senate — let's not pretend that Republican state senator Scott Brown has any chance of pulling off the monumental upset — they will trigger a massive domino effect that has the state's political class buzzing with anticipation.
Bay State's top lobbyists
Nearly everyone in Massachusetts felt the pinch of the recession in 2009 — even Beacon Hill lobbyists had to tighten their belts.
Lynch’s left flank
US Representative Stephen Lynch has held Massachusetts’s ninth congressional district since 2001 — a fact that has irritated the state’s liberals ever since.
Mayor-Select Marie?
Tom Menino, just a few months into an unprecedented fifth term as Boston’s mayor, has raised eyebrows by hiring State Representative Marie St. Fleur of Dorchester to the newly created, $120,000-a-year position of chief of advocacy and strategic investment.
Library woes
In an attempt to save four Boston Public Library branches that are slated to close due to budget shortfalls, some state legislators from Boston have threatened to block all state funding the library receives if it shutters any of its 26 branches.
‘There are no rules’
On April 19, the Globe first reported that arbitrators had awarded the Boston firefighters union a 19-percent raise. By the next morning, both the Globe and the Herald were citing Menino administration figures of a $74 million cost.
Boston Phoenix 2010 Endorsements: Steve Grossman, Martha Coakley, and Barney Frank
Far too often, politics is the act of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. This election, voters have the unique chance of choosing a candidate who is a perfect fit for the office he seeks. That is why we endorse Democrat STEVE GROSSMAN for treasurer.
A Race Well Run
Five months ago, when Massachusetts failed to win a Race to the Top education grant from the federal government, the Phoenix took the legislature and teachers' unions to task for being too timid and politically motivated to do the right thing.
Generation X: Letters to the Boston Phoenix Editor, January 7, 2011
Your article, “ Gen X Goes to Washington ” (November 26, 2010) was great. I’m glad this topic is finally being discussed.
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