A conversation with Greater Boston Chamber CEO Jim Rooney

Mass General Brigham is proud to have five hospitals nationally ranked by U.S. News & World Report. This honor reflects our commitment to enhancing patient care, teaching and research, and taking a leadership role as an integrated health care system. Thank you to our hardworking staff across the system who make a difference in our patients’ lives every day.

With just over a decade under his belt leading the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, Jim Rooney is a familiar face on and around Beacon Hill.

The former MBTA official, chief of staff to late Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and past head of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority has led the chamber -- which represents almost 1,200 member companies -- since July 2015. Rooney, who grew up in South Boston, now also chairs the Board of the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives and recently relaunched a national coalition of chambers of commerce to advocate for the economic value of research funding across the country.

From a seat in the State House Library on a quiet, mid-August day, Rooney reflected on his time leading the Chamber and his hopes for the next decade. Rooney also discussed the "competitive complacency" he sees plaguing Massachusetts, issues he's keeping an eye on this legislative session, and why he thinks tax policy should be top of mind.

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11:00 | Boston Mayor Michelle Wu delivers remarks at the graduation ceremony for Boston Police Department Recruit Class 65-25. | Agganis Arena, Boston University, 925 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston

6:00 | Boston mayoral candidate Josh Kraft hosts panel discussion with Meek Mill and his father Robert Kraft, co-founders of the REFORM Alliance, an organization "dedicated to transforming probation and parole by changing laws, systems, and culture." The moderator is Rachael Rollins, the former DA and US Attorney for Massachusetts. The event is invite-only and closed to the general public. | Roxbury Community College Auditorium (Media & Arts Center Building), 1234 Columbus Avenue, Boston

KPMG found Applegreen’s financials do not meet MassDOT’s goal to sustain or increase revenue, while Global Partners’ proposal does. Yet, MassDOT still chose Applegreen and is now rushing a secretive 35-year lease, handing critical public infrastructure to the foreign company, ignoring conflicts of interest and public records requests, risking $900M in guaranteed rent. Taxpayers deserve transparency, oversight, and accountability before this billion-dollar deal is finalized.

KELLER AT LARGE: 8:30 a.m., WBZ-TV. Political analyst Jon Keller's guest is Patrick Tutwiler, Gov. Maura Healey’s education secretary. They discuss the debate over in-school cellphone bans, the potential for teacher strikes this year, and conflict over literacy education.

NBC10 BOSTON: 9:30 a.m., NBC 10. Reporter Matt Prichard interviews Bernadette Jordan, consul general of Canada in Boston.

Sometimes, no response amounts to an answer. Suffolk County Sheriff Steve Tompkins on Thursday ignored shouted questions from reporters asking whether he would resign his job, considering that he is now fighting federal extortion charges. He strode past them and ducked into a waiting car outside the Moakley Courthouse in South Boston. Earlier, he had spoken in the courtroom, appearing at his arraignment to simply say, “Not guilty.”

Pols these days apparently aren’t incentivized to step down as they face charges. Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson resigned her seat in July, two months after pleading guilty to public corruption and seven months after an early-morning arrest. Chris Flanagan, a Cape Cod state rep, was arrested in April, charged with wire fraud, and is still in his House seat.

Both had initially pleaded not guilty, and both stayed in office amid calls to resign from other pols. In Tompkins’ case, Gov. Maura Healey and other Democrats have seemed reticent to say whether he should step down as the case plays out in court. If the Fernandes Anderson and Flanagan cases are any indication, such calls don’t carry the weight they used to anyway.

Tompkins’ attorney, Martin Weinberg, whose website calls him “Highly Revered & Recommended,” did most of the talking on Thursday. “Not every person charged with a crime is convicted,” he said, providing his own future plans, even if Tompkins is mum about his. “Because we believe in the system, we're not going to try it out here in the media. We are going to have a trial." The next court date is Oct. 16. — Gintautas Dumcius

KEATING BACKS MARKEY: Rep. Bill Keating has endorsed Sen. Ed Markey for reelection, adding his name to a list of others who back Markey’s 2026 bid. The list includes New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell and Sen. Julian Cyr, but notably does not include the names of Reps. Seth Moulton and Jake Auchincloss. – WPRI

AUCHINCLOSS IN WSJ: Rep. Jake Auchincloss gets a big WSJ profile, written by the newspaper’s chief economics commentator and headlined, “This Democrat Thinks Voters Seeking Order Will Make or Break Elections.” (The print edition headline is “One Democrat’s Way Out of the Wilderness.”) – Wall Street Journal

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Air conditioners and fans are working hard as the hot and humid weather settles in across New England. In Massachusetts, customers use approximately 30% more electricity on average during the summer months to keep their homes and businesses cool, but heat waves and long stretches of sweltering weather can drive that number up even higher. No matter what electric rates are, when your usage increases, so does your bill — READ MORE

DATA CENTERS: State officials are creating a regulatory framework for a sales and use tax exemption for qualified data centers, which are becoming a big business. – State House News Service

VOTER FRAUD: Fidelina Santiago, a Lawrence city councilor, pleaded guilty to voter fraud charges, ranging from voting unlawfully to interfering with a voter. She was one of two indicted in 2023. - WCVB

PROCTOR APPEAL: Michael Proctor, the state police trooper who lost his job over misconduct in the Karen Read investigation, is appealing to the Civil Service Commission, which plans hearings on the matter next week. – MassLive

CITY HALL VOLLEY: Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and challenger Josh Kraft exchanged jabs over property taxes, and Wu’s tax shift proposal that the Senate killed last year. Kraft said he would rather seek budget cuts than a tax shift to commercial properties. – Boston Herald

PUBLIC HEALTH INDEPENDENCE: Public health officials from eight states met this week to consider a regional collaboration as a replacement to Trump administration oversight of services. – Boston Globe

NEW RATE: Cheaper electric rates are on the table for the coldest months of the year from National Grid and Eversource for households that use a heat pump. – WBUR

BOSTON BID: A business improvement district (BID) for Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood is inching forward, but some property owners, including BXP, formerly known as Boston Properties, have not verbally agreed to the proposal. – Boston Business Journal

Boston Fed president appears open to interest rate cut, citing inflation concerns

This Somerville firm is helping Mass. climate goals

Land protection pace would double under Healey plan

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Program Coordinator I, Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General

Director of Campaigns, Massachusetts Public Health Alliance

Vice President for Environmental Justice, Conservation Law Foundation

Director of Administration and Finance, Town of Acton

Building Commissioner, Town of Southborough

Websites Project Attorney, Massachusetts Law Reform Institute

Research Director, Boston Municipal Research Bureau

Grant Writer, Barnstable County Sheriff's Office

Vice President for Clean Energy and Climate Change, Conservation Law Foundation

Temporary Family Child Care Organizer, SEIU Local 509

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