Andy Updegrove writes “ODF turned into nothing but a forgotton political football in the Massachusetts Senate today when Senator William Morrissey pulled his own amendment to S 2256 and replaced it with something even worse: http://www.consortiuminfo.org/newsblog/blog.php?ID =1745 The new amendment takes power away from the Governor and hands it to Secretary of State William Galvin, but goes even farther. Unlike Peter Quinn’s original bill, which would have affected only the Executive Agencies, the new version would give Galvin power over every agency, department, and even municipality in Massachusetts.
So the battle has gone well beyond a spat over who can set format standards that affect other parts of the Massachusetts government, and bloomed into a grab for as much IT power as the Secretary of the Commonwealth can get.
Will Romney push back? Not likely, it seems. Most folks here think he’s angling for the White House in 2008, which will put him up against (among other forces) the lobbying budgets of large, well financed software companies. A hint of what he may do is suggested by the title of a CRN interview posted today: “Mass. Gov Backs OpenDoc Policy But Distances Himself From Decision”.”
Link: ConsortiumInfo.org
