Governor’s Council Fiasco Claims First Political Casualty

The Governor’s Council mishandling of the nomination of Joe Berman to a Superior Court judgeship has been a front page story for close to a month.
       
This morning it claimed its first political victim.

And it wasn’t Joe Berman.

Councillor Jennie Caissie has been positioning herself as a potential running mate for Charlie Baker for several months. 

After all, it has been well known that Baker wanted to name a woman to help balance out the ticket.  (And by picking a running mate before December 31st, Baker can tap the donor base twice – once in each calendar year.  So time has been running short.)

But three weeks ago Caissie aggressively interrogated Berman on his role as a member of the New England ADL Board.

Last week, after panning her performance at the Berman hearings, the Boston Herald editorial page acidly noted: “And to think some in the GOP were foolish enough to tout [Caissie] as lieutenant governor material.”

That was the last impression voters – and Baker --  read before Baker’s decision.

This morning, Baker chose Karyn Polito, a former candidate for Treasurer. 

Would Baker have chosen Caissie otherwise?

We’ll never know, but it’s hard to think that her performance at the high-profile Berman hearings did anything to help her chances.

Unemployment's "Only" at XX%

In response to the current crisis, conversations drawing parallels to the Great Depression (or, as it may soon be known, World Depression I) usually end with this one: "How bad can things be? Unemployment's not 24 percent like it was then."

But it took some time for unemployment to reach those levels.

Indeed, at the end of 1930, more than a year after the 'start' of the Great Depression -- commonly believed to be October, 1929 -- unemployment stood at just 8.7%. Today, the rate stands at 7.6%.

It was not until 1932, two-and-one-half years after the "Crash", and after a second banking panic (in the spring of 1931) that the unemployment rate reached 23.6%, peaking at just over 24% in 1933.

Which is not to say that we are currently headed for 24% unemployment, or even anything like it. The aggressive steps that the Administration is taking seem likely to reverse the downward drift.

But it's way to early to say that we know where the bottom is for the unemployment rate in this down-cycle.