From our You Never Call, You Never Write desk
There’s been a lot of hoopla about the Super PAC called Mass Forward, which has been ad-whacking gubernatorial candidate Martha Coakley (D-The Weeds) on behalf of gubernatorial hopeful Steve Grossman (D-Everywhere Else). State lawmakers passed a law last week forcing independent expenditure groups to disclose their donors, and the latest ad from Mass Forward does.
Freeze-frame with disclosure:
Of course the name that jumps right out at you – and the local dailies – is Shirley Grossman. Subsequently this Matt Stout piece appeared in the Boston Herald delivered to the hardreading staff this morning.
A woman with the same name as the mother of state treasurer and gubernatorial candidate Steve Grossman is among the top donors to a Super PAC backing his candidacy.
But the Grossman campaign is refusing to confirm whether the Shirley Grossman listed as a leading contributor to the Mass Forward Super PAC is Grossman’s mother, whose name is also Shirley Grossman . . .
Grossman’s campaign acknowledged that the candidate’s mother has the same name, but otherwise declined comment.
But here’s what’s on the Herald website (and in later editions of the paper) now, complete with That’s Just So Mean! photo:
Steve Grossman’s mom a top donor for Super PAC
State Treasurer Steve Grossman’s 92-year-old mom is a leading donor to a super PAC backing his gubernatorial campaign, the candidate confirmed last night.
“I can tell you, having had the first and only conversation I’ll have with my mother about her contribution this afternoon, she said, ‘Yeah, it was me. I do what I believe is appropriate with my money.’ I said you’re entitled to do what you want, I don’t want to know anything else.”
Grossman said he made the call after donor names were released in a PAC ad, and news broke on Bostonherald.com that his mother was a donor. He said neither he nor his campaign aides were previously aware of her donation, which prompted their cryptic response yesterday, when they would only confirm that Shirley Grossman is his mother’s name. He said he didn’t ask how much she donated.
Crosstown, the Boston Globe had the bright idea of going straight to the source from the start, resulting in this Akilah Johnson piece:
New law identifies Super PAC donors
A new state campaign finance law forced the release of the top five donors to a political action committee supporting state Treasurer Steve Grossman’s gubernatorial bid. Among them: his mother.
“I’m not young. I’m old, and I haven’t been able to do anything for the campaign, and I believe in Steve,” Shirley Grossman said in an interview. “I thought it over. I’m 92 years old. What could I do? I can’t go house to house.”
So, she decided to write a check to the Mass Forward political action committee.
On Monday, she wouldn’t say how much she had contributed, describing it only as “a lot of money.”
The moral of this story: Call your (or someone else’s) mother.
It's Good to Live in a Two-Daily Town 
Horrible ad. When they say Mass Forward it sounds like Mass Hole. It doesn’t come across as sincere, and since Coakley got an “F” from the NRA, it’s hardly a truthful ad in its implication that Martha is some kind of Six Shooter Queen who wants to hand out guns with free school lunches. Plus, the grieving mothers don’t look sad, they look like they’re mad and going to give someone a beat down. It’s just a crappy ad. Grossman’s old mother got ripped off. And if there was no coordination between him and his Mama, I have a bridge from Boston to Cambridge to sell you.