Dear Editor,
The core duty of state government is simple: serve all residents fairly and efficiently, in the open. Taxpayers expect Beacon Hill to focus on things that uplift everyone — better roads and transit, workforce development, support for small businesses. Instead, the steady growth of the state’s administrative apparatus keeps replacing direct public service with a fragmented web of boards and commissions.
Many of these bodies were created to fill real gaps. But consider the scale: Massachusetts governors appoint citizens to more than 700 boards and commissions. A state Senate review of nearly 400 of them found dozens that no longer meet, no longer file reports, or have effectively outlived their missions — some appear never to have convened at all. A September 2021 state audit warned that the sheer number of boards “may result in duplicative work.” Every dollar spent sustaining these structures is a dollar not delivering direct results to working families.
Good governance demands that public boards stick to broad, neutral mandates. A workforce board serves everyone best when its singular aim is lowering barriers for every job seeker and small business owner, regardless of background. When outreach is partitioned along identity or cultural lines, public policy fractures into competing interests instead of uniting taxpayers behind shared goals. Treating every taxpayer equally isn’t just fair — it’s the most effective way to make state programs deliver.
This hits home locally. Taxpayers expect Beacon Hill to prioritize roads, municipal aid, public safety, and relief for families facing rising living costs. Every dollar feeding the bureaucracy is a dollar not fixing local roads, supporting neighborhood schools, or easing the burden on main street businesses. Cities and towns need direct investment, not a bigger administrative apparatus in the capital.
As candidates ask for our votes, hold them to a higher standard of fiscal discipline. Demand a commitment to streamlined, transparent, neutral governance. It’s time for the state to audit its own administrative growth, consolidate overlapping bodies, and refocus every agency on its core mission: serving all taxpayers equally and well.
George Ferdinand
Tewksbury
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