Look, I’ll confess: my own taste in political journalism tends toward the slash-and-burn, preferably with a strong ideological point of view. Left is better, but right will do in a pinch.

CommonWealth magazine’s mission is pretty much the opposite of that. It’s nonpartisan. It’s wonky. It delves seriously into middle-class quality-of-life issues such as public schools, economics, and the way criminal justice is — and isn’t — meted out in Massachusetts.

You know what? It works. Published by the Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth (MassINC), a nonpartisan think tank, the thick quarterly excels at defining issues and politics for the approximately 9500 opinion leaders on its free mailing list.

Perhaps one sign of the magazine’s credibility is that few political reporters would dare write about a subject without first looking to see what CommonWealth had to say. “I often check their Web site or check the magazine because they go deep, and you need that,” says Jon Keller, the WLVI-TV (Channel 56) political reporter and Boston magazine columnist. “They also have such a nice sort of calm, non-ideological perspective. It’s just real, straightforward journalism.”

And now CommonWealth has something to celebrate. Its new issue is a fifth-anniversary special, including articles that are a bit shorter and sprightlier than the usual marathon workouts. The meat of the book consists of four lists of five: five people to watch, five moments of truth, five good ideas that went nowhere, and five who made a difference.

The “moments of truth” list — key events that helped shape the last five years — is particularly perceptive, comprising the Kerry-Weld Senate race of 1996, the Patriots’ decision to remain in Foxborough rather than move to Connecticut, the 1999 state-budget standoff, the Fleet-BankBoston merger, and education reform.

For CommonWealth, such quick hits seem almost gossipy. The magazine’s forte is the long piece on issues and political leaders, carefully researched and respectfully but smartly written. Veteran journalist Bob Keough, who’s been the editor for the past year and a half, explains his mission this way: “The daily newspapers don’t want to write about issues and policy. They want to write about who’s up and who’s down and who’s gored whose ox. That gives us a lot of running room.”

Not everyone is thrilled with CommonWealth’s approach. About two years ago the magazine published a story that officials of the Massachusetts Teachers Association believed was insulting — so the MTA ceased its financial support of MassINC. “All I expect is a fair shake,” says MTA spokesman Andrew Linebaugh. “We don’t expect you to buy our line hook, line, and sinker. But we felt that we were unfairly characterized.”

Keough argues that CommonWealth’s willingness to offend a funder/advertiser (MassINC’s donors get ads in the magazine) is evidence of the integrity of its journalistic mission. “We’re not afraid to lose sponsors,” he says. Pointing to the list of funders published on the magazine’s back cover, he adds, “These are not people who are off-limits — not by a long shot.”

Former Democratic political operative Tripp Jones, who as MassINC’s executive director also functions as CommonWealth’s co-publisher, sees the magazine as the “third leg” of his organization’s tripod, the others being research and public education.

Though CommonWealth targets an elite audience, it will soon be more widely available. Currently, about the only place you can buy it is at the downtown Borders. In the last few days, though, Keough says the magazine has struck a deal with a major distributor, which will stock it in Borders’s 10 Massachusetts stores. Next stop: Barnes & Noble.

CommonWealth magazine, which sells for $5 a copy, is available on the Web at www.massinc.org. Free registration is required.

Issue Date: April 26 - May 3, 2001