Big Pharma has a new scheme that will make them even more money: undermining patients' bargaining power and blaming anyone who gets in their way. If we want to solve the Rx cost crisis, we need to hold Big Pharma accountable. To find out how, go to saveourbenefitsma.org.
For more than a decade, Brian Golden helped oversee Boston’s building boom from inside City Hall. At night, the redevelopment agency chief saw his family in Newton, where they had moved for its school system.
Now Golden, 60, is wading into Newton politics through a City Council run. Without an opponent, he’s a lock for the job, which comes with a two-year term.
It’s a return to politics for Golden, who served in the House, representing Allston-Brighton and part of Brookline, for six years. “You look at federal, state, city, it’s so rough and people have turned away. And in the spring I was looking around, no one was running for this seat. I just thought, ‘Hey, it’s not good for democracy that no one is willing to do these jobs,’” he said.
He also pointed to his five children – three are still in the school system – and residential roads in tough condition. “It’s nuts and bolts stuff, just wanting to make sure the enormous tax bill I pay every year is money well spent,” he said.
There is also the emotional component: His late father Paul was a police officer who walked the affluent streets of Newton while raising the family in Allston.
Greg Reibman, president of the Charles River Regional Chamber, recently hosted a virtual forum with Golden and two other City Council candidates who are running uncontested campaigns. “It is really unusual,” Reibman said. But with civil discourse having worsened in the last decade, “I can see why people don’t want to be part of that experience,” Reibman said. Despite that, Golden appears to know what he’s getting into, according to Reibman.
Golden said people have pressed him on why he’d want to jump into the bloodsport of Newton politics and join a 24-member council. “But on the flipside you need people to govern. I was encouraged to run by people who thought my background in public sector work might make sense,” he said.
After his stints in state and federal government, Golden landed in 2009 at the Boston Redevelopment Authority – now known as the Boston Planning and Development Agency – and spent 12 years at the helm of an entity that approved tens of millions of square feet of development in the city. He left in 2022, joining Keegan Werlin LLP as a real estate attorney.
“It’s not lost on anyone that we have underbuilt housing in eastern Mass. for over a generation,” Golden said. “Newton can’t solve that problem by itself but it can do its share.”
He added that while he is pro-development, “it will be going hand in hand with trying to achieve community support from the neighborhood that would host development.”
Asked whether a City Council run is a precursor to a mayoral campaign, Golden said, “That thought doesn’t occupy any space in my head right now. Not even vaguely.”
During the virtual forum, he said he would let the chips fall where they may during his time in office. “I’ve been through really rough races and I sweat a lot when I was a state legislator back in the day. Very different place in life right now,” he said. “So if this works out for me, great. If it doesn’t, that is terrific, too.”
What other elected positions in Massachusetts are going uncontested this cycle? Let me know if there’s one in your area: [email protected].
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HAPPENING TODAY
9:00 | Massachusetts Public Health Council holds a public meeting. Agenda includes updates from and a vaccine Q&A with Public Health Commissioner Robbie Goldstein, a vote on a request from Emerson Endoscopy and Digestive Health Center, Inc., and an informational presentation from the Bureau of Family Health and Nutrition. | Agenda & Access
9:00 | Boston Foundation and Social Finance host a forum on scaling the clean energy workforce to meet the state's net-zero goals. Climate Chief Melissa Hoffer delivers remarks, followed by a panel of leaders in government, higher education and business discussing the Massachusetts Climate Careers Fund and strategies to create and fill thousands of climate jobs statewide. | Edgerley Center for Civic Leadership, Boston Foundation, 75 Arlington St., 3rd Floor, Boston
10:00 | Funeral service is held for Sen. Edward Kennedy of Lowell, who died last Wednesday at the age of 74. | McDonough Funeral Home, 14 Highland St., Lowell
11:30 | Gov. Maura Healey holds a press conference to "address illegal car meetups taking place across the state." | Governor's Office lobby, State House Boston
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SEPTEMBER’S CITY HAUL
Frank Baker, in his comeback bid for Boston City Council, reported raising $96,000 in September. It’s a staggering number in local politics, and the best fundraising month of his political career, which goes back to his first run in 2011.
Baker stepped away from his Dorchester-based district seat in 2023, but then decided to run for one of the four at-large seats on the ballot this year. His top donors last month included developer Jay Cashman and J. Derenzo CEO David Howe, and contractor Lee Kennedy.
With no mayoral contest on the ballot this November, Baker’s fight to regain a seat on the 13-member body is the most closely watched campaign, pitting him against Henry Santana, who is running for a second two-year term.
Baker is a critic of Mayor Michelle Wu, while Santana is considered a Wu ally. Henry, who saw a fundraising assist from Wu last month, pulled in $14,000. He received contributions from the teachers and police patrolmen unions, as well as former Senate President Robert Travaglini.
At the end of September, Santana had $11,000 in cash on hand, compared with Baker's $110,000 in cash on hand.
FROM BEACON HILL
HEALEY ON ‘STREET TAKEOVERS’: Ahead of a press conference at the State House on “illegal car meetups,” Gov. Maura Healey called the chaotic “street takeovers” that took place in Boston and elsewhere as “destructive, dangerous, and against the law.” – Boston Globe
VETO OVERRIDES: House lawmakers plan a formal session Wednesday to override some of Gov. Maura Healey’s fiscal 2026 budget vetoes, which totaled $130 million. The proposed overrides include restoring nearly $20 million in charter school reimbursements and $25 million in supplemental nursing home rates. – State House News Service
NEW LEGISLATIVE DIRECTOR: The governor’s new legislative director has a familiar last name in Springfield politics: Thomas Ashe, who has worked inside the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security for the last six years. – Western Mass. Politics and Insight
NEWS NEXT DOOR
TAKING AIM AT TECH: Rep. Jake Auchincloss is targeting Big Tech and arguing Democrats should make it a top issue. He called Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and the Chinese Community Party, through TikTok, as an “unholy trinity.” – Axios Boston
SURGERY CENTER: Mass General Brigham is teaming up with Regent Surgical Health to build a $7.5 million ambulatory surgery center in Cambridge. – Boston Business Journal
ORDERED RELEASE: A federal judge in Boston ordered the release of a Brazilian immigrant who was nabbed by federal immigration officers after showing up for an appointment. It’s the third time in a week that a judge has done so and noted that the Trump administration is ignoring immigration law. – Universal Hub
CLEAN ENERGY: It may not be all doom and gloom for the Massachusetts clean energy sector’s boom as it faces Trump administration headwinds, according to Scott Kirsner. – MassLive
ICE IN BURLINGTON: Elected members of Burlington Town Meeting backed a resolution that criticizes an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility there for “inhuman treatment of detainees.” – GBH News
OVER BUDGET: Chatham’s select board and council on aging are shocked after the renovation of the town’s Center for Active Living is set to go over budget by $2.6 million. – Cape Cod Chronicle
AIR TRAVEL EFFECTS: The government shutdown is causing air traffic control shortages and disrupting flights across the country. – WBUR
DEAD IN THE WATER: A research project that would have employed New Bedford fisherman and studied the effect of offshore wind projects on fish is a victim of federal Department of Energy cuts. – New Bedford Light
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CFO, Girl Scouts of Central and Western MA
Victim Compensation Claims Manager, Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance
Manager of Financial Assessments, Center for Health Information and Analysis
Program Assistant, Clean Air & Water, Conservation Law Foundation
Chief Financial and Operations Officer, Massachusetts Housing Partnership
Executive Director, Massachusetts Housing Partnership
Economic Development DirectorManager of Financial Assessments, City of Haverhill
Program Director, Building Electrification Accelerator
Chief Executive Officer, Berkshire Hills Music Academy
Chief of Projects & Planning, City of Cambridge
