Readers put DeLeo, legislators on blast

The Herald’s report on House Speaker Robert DeLeo’s $4,745 Chinese takeout order and the Legislature’s exemption from public records laws is resonating with readers, watchdogs and other media.

The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance wrote: “DeLeo is able to end term limits for his position, pass a 40% pay raise, pass an AirBnB tax without a vote, pass a budget within 24 hours of it becoming public, and pass a billion dollar bond bill which future generations will have to pay for without any opposition because he buys loyalty using every available lever — including taxpayer funded Chinese food. He buys their votes one wonton at a time.”

Commonwealth Magazine wrote: “Give the Boston Herald credit for continuing to stir the pot on the Legislature’s stubborn refusal to consider ending its exemption from the state’s public records law. … The Herald pummeling doesn’t stop with egg roll-gate. The paper uses the example to call out the Legislature’s new interest in helping strengthen the shaky state of journalism. A bill cosponsored by Sen. Brendan Crighton and Rep. Lori Ehrlich would establish a state commission to examine the plight of communities ‘underserved by local journalism.’ … The irony of the journalism commission proposal paired with the Legislature’s stand on public records was a fat meat ball over the middle of the plate for Mary Connaughton, director of government transparency at the Pioneer Institute. ‘How can we keep them honest if they keep us in the dark?’ she asks in a column accompanying the articles.”

Herald reader “seethrufaded” wrote: “Us poor slobs out here in the private sector can’t even expense a pizza when working nights or weekends. It pays to ‘work’ in government.”

Herald reader “Jon Carry” wrote: “They are laughing at us and we continue to vote them in. What is it going to take?”