A once-obscure Democratic state senator from sleepy Ashland, unelected by most voters, has emerged as the most powerful public official in Massachusetts, topping even Gov. Maura Healey in clout and impact.

Senate Majority Leader Karen Spilka tells the governor, the House speaker and even the mayor of Boston what to do and right now stands as the biggest obstacle to transparency in the Legislature.

Most voters don’t know her and certainly never voted for her, yet Spilka, who represents the 2nd Middlesex/Norfolk District, controls the agenda in the state and how taxpayer money is spent.

Spilka was reelected without opposition in 2024, getting just 68,762 votes — a tiny fraction of the population of Massachusetts.

But she has managed to stay relatively scandal-free, unlike several of her Senate President predecessors who moved on.

While Spilka does not appear to have statewide ambitions, the position of Senate president has traditionally been a launching pad to lucrative lobbying careers.

And there really is no reason for Spilka to quit or run for governor, because she holds more power than any lobbyist or the current occupant of the Corner Office, Maura Healey.

When House lawmakers this week announced a breakthrough $4 million funding initiative to tackle Boston’s Mass and Cass drug issue, Spilka, who has feuded with Wu, was conspicuously absent, casting doubt about whether the funding will ever be approved.

Spilka and her fellow Democratic state senators stopped Wu’s commercial tax hike plan last year, angering the mayor and prompting her to challenge two senators who publicly blocked it. But Wu notably did not put up a challenger to Spilka.

The Ashland senator is also engaged in a very nasty public dispute with Auditor Diana DiZoglio over the voter-approved audit of the Legislature.

DiZoglio has compared Spilka to a monarch, saying she “rules and reigns over Massachusetts, just like a Queen.”

Spilka, with a straight face, retorted that the Legislature’s actions are of course democratic — a ridiculous assertion considering the way she runs the Senate.

She also denied not wanting the Legislature to face the voter-approved audit which DiZoglion is leading.

“We have really worked hard to increase transparency,” she said.

Spilka has often been in conflict with House Speaker Ron Mariano, and essentially nothing happens in the Legislature without Spilka’s approval. If Mariano were a Simpsons character, it would be Homer.

While staying away from scandal, Spilka is after all a creature of the Massachusetts Democratic hackerama, and has as bad a case of Trump derangement syndrome as any other liberal Democrat.

She raised eyebrows earlier this year by comparing President Donald Trump’s illegal immigration crackdown to the Holocaust.

“I’ve been open and honest that this moment, what is happening across our country, reminds me of what my family experienced in Poland in the 1930s leading up to World War II,” she said at the annual “Immigrant Day” celebration at the Statehouse.

“When people targeted my family with violence because they were Jewish. Like this government today, even targeting now because of people’s looks, their accents, the way they speak, and that is unacceptable.”

The developer of a major Massachusetts offshore wind farm is suing its turbine manufacturer seeking to force it to stay with the project.

Vineyard Wind filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Massachusetts against GE Renewables. That comes after the parent company for GE Renewables said it would be terminating its contracts for turbine services and maintenance at the end of April.

GE Vernova says Vineyard Wind owes it $300 million for work it performed. But Vineyard Wind counters that the manufacturer remains on the hook for about $545 million to make up for a catastrophic turbine blade collapse in July 2024 and the delays that caused.

Fiberglass fragments of a blade broke apart and began washing onto Nantucket beaches in July 2024 during the peak of tourist season. GE Vernova agreed to pay $10.5 million in a settlement to compensate island businesses that suffered losses.

The lawsuit states that the project already has been significantly damaged by GE Renewable’s “inexcusably poor performance,” and allowing the contractor to back out now would case irreparable harm. Craig Gilvarg, spokesman for Vineyard Wind, said Friday that the lawsuit is meant to ensure that GE Renewables fulfills its obligations to the project “and to the people of Massachusetts and New England who are relying on the significant power and economic benefits this project is already providing.” He said Vineyard Wind is expected to provide $3.7 billion in savings to electric customers over the life of the project.

GE Vernova said the company is exercising its right to terminate agreements for nonpayment for work performed.

“The company remains committed to the safety of the wind farm and stands by our performance and our contractual obligations,” the company said in a statement. “We will vigorously defend our position through the appropriate legal process.”

Construction finished on Vineyard Wind in March, making it the first project to reach this stage during President Donald Trump’s time in office. It had already been providing power to the grid for over a year as more turbines were finished. It is expected to reach full operations in the coming months.

According to the lawsuit, GE Renewables is the only company able to perform the remaining work, and it would be virtually impossible to find another turbine supplier willing to take its place. A hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

GE Vernova has said that insufficient bonding at one of its factories in Canada was responsible for the blade coming apart and that there was no indication of a design flaw. Sixty-eight out of the 72 blades that had been installed at Vineyard Wind at the time were removed and replaced. Vineyard Wind said that set the project behind nearly two years.

The Trump administration has been particularly critical of the project because of the blade failure.

It was one of five major East Coast offshore wind projects the Trump administration halted construction on days before Christmas, citing national security concerns. Developers and states sued, and federal judges allowed all five to resume construction, essentially concluding that the government did not show that the national security risk was so imminent that construction must halt.

Vineyard Wind is a joint venture between Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, located 15 miles (24 kilometers) south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, Massachusetts. It has 62 turbines that will generate a total of 800 megawatts. That is enough clean electricity to power about 400,000 homes.

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Paul Richmond will be the voice of poetic experience when he serves as the western part of the state’s representative to the Massachusetts Poetry Olimpics, an annual competition for bards across the commonwealth.

After participating in last year’s inaugural contest, the Wendell resident was tapped by the founder to serve as the regional lead for poets spanning from the Worcester area to the New York border.

“In order to have a democracy, people need to have their voices and feel free to speak their voices,” he told the Greenfield Recorder. “Poetry and stories … allow people to think about things they might not necessarily agree with.”

The Massachusetts Poetry Olimpics (MAPO) divides the state into three regions — western, central and eastern. Poets compete in individual and team competitions in four events in as many months: Elegy May, Villanelle June, Sonnet July and Free Verse August. Each poet is encouraged to submit to every category.

Interested scribes living in the western Massachusetts district should submit their work to Richmond, via paul@humanerrorpublishing.com. Submissions are open the month the particular event is held. Participants must register (tinyurl.com/MAPO2026) by April 30.

Richmond said last year’s competition enabled him to meet poets from every corner of the state.

“It was kind of nice,” he said.

Last year, Richmond submitted his poem “Revolution” for Free Verse August. It was named a “poem of importance.”

The MAPO is the brainchild of Springfield resident Lawrence Green, who said he selected Richmond as the Western Massachusetts representative due to his ties to the local poetry community.

“I admire him greatly,” Green said.

Green conceived the idea for the MAPO to help take his mind off of the everyday stress he experienced while his son was battling liver cancer at Boston Children’s Hospital. He has always enjoyed the thrill of competition and used to pretend to be in the Olympics with neighborhood kids growing up, though he was always more of an artist than an athlete. He started pitching the MAPO idea and it took off.

Connolly Ryan, part of Team Western Massachusetts, was the 2025 Top Poet. CONTRIBUTED

“It got so many people that I was throwing it out to excited,” Green recalled. “I said, ‘Let’s go.’”

A Buffalo native and military veteran, Green credits poetry as a grounding force that helped him navigate the challenges of his service.

“It basically saved my life, to be honest,” he said. “There’s nothing worse than war, and I’m a big advocate for peace.”

He mentioned this state’s rich history of poetic excellence, having fostered the talents of Elizabeth Bishop, W. E. B. Du Bois and E.E. Cummings. He said he hopes to help reignite the state’s nurturing of wordsmiths.

The competition’s participants will remain anonymous, as will the judges — with one from each district. All stages of the competition will be broadcast by regional studios. Event winners will be presented with medals at a ceremony that will be broadcast live in September.

Richmond, who has been writing poetry for at least 25 years and has published nine books, said last year’s ceremony was held in Fitchburg and another mid-state location is being sought this year. Awards will be given to individuals, as well as to regional teams based on cumulative points.

More information is available at: www.massachusettspoetryolimpics.com/