Politics is a enterprise of doing favors, even when it typically means skirting the legal guidelines you’re presupposed to implement.
It is dangerous, however doubtlessly rewarding, particularly when the favor is returned.
An ideal instance is the strong that Attorney General Maura Healey, a Democrat candidate for governor, delivered final week to John Henry, proprietor of the Boston Red Sox and the Boston Globe.
Be good to Henry and the Boston Globe, which Henry’s spouse Linda runs, and the paper will return the favor, not solely with pleasant protection, however maybe with an endorsement as nicely.
The problem earlier than Healey was whether or not it was lawful for the Red Sox to discriminate in opposition to followers at Fenway Park by requiring them to pay for merchandise, food and drinks with bank cards and never money.
The coverage was questioned after the Red Sox introduced its cashless coverage earlier than the opening sport earlier this month. It added that followers with out bank cards should load onto a Mastercard at a Cash-2-Card kiosk on the park.
So if you ship your youngsters off for a scorching canine or popcorn, you should be sure that they’ve your bank card or have purchased one on the ballpark. Cash is now not king. Plastic guidelines, at the very least at Fenway.
Healey, who’s main state Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz within the race for the Democrat nomination for governor, was requested in regards to the cashless coverage throughout an look on WGBH radio on April 25.
She mentioned her workplace was wanting into the matter. “I know it’s a problem because not everybody has moved to plastic,” she mentioned.
She mentioned, “Now Fenway’s got a system that they’re putting cash on cards, but the question is whether that really is equitable and fair to people. So, it’s something that my office is currently looking at and engaging them on because we want to make sure that people have an ability to use cash at the park.”
In one of many speediest legal professional common opinions in historical past, Healey the subsequent day gave the Red Sox the inexperienced gentle to require the plastic solely on purchases.
She mentioned she made her determination after speaking with unnamed Red Sox officers. She didn’t point out whether or not the topic of fairness or discrimination got here up.
“I don’t think this is a big deal,” she informed the Globe on Tuesday.
“As long as there are systems that allow for the use of cash through these cards, that’s going to — we think — work out.”
Despite Healey sucking as much as the Red Sox — and the Boston Globe — the statute on the matter is sort of clear. It is against the law to ban money funds.
It is Section 10A of the General Laws handed and signed into regulation in 1978.
It reads: “No retail establishment offering goods and services for sale shall discriminate against a cash buyer by requiring the use of credit by a buyer in order to purchase such goods and services. All such retail establishments must accept legal tender when offered as payment by the buyer.”
This is probably not an enormous deal to Healey. But it is a sign of what she is keen to do to win favor with John Henry and the Globe. It can also be an indication that Henry and the Red Sox don’t imagine that the regulation applies to them.
But the foremost level is that Healey, the state’s chief regulation enforcement officer, is keen to politicize the workplace and skirt the regulation to do a favor for individuals who may also help in her marketing campaign for governor.
It’s referred to as quid professional quo. Scratch my again and I’ll scratch yours.
What does Chang-Diaz take into consideration this? What do GOP gubernatorial candidates Geoff Diehl and Chris Doughty need to say?
What do the three Democrats and the lone Republican operating to succeed Healey as legal professional common assume?
What do you assume?
Peter Lucas is a veteran Massachusetts political reporter and columnist.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”