An MBTA bus heads to Salem Depot through snowy conditions. (Photo: David Moisan)

ALEC affiliate Pioneer Institute is targeting both Massachusetts Sen. Marc Pacheco and the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority. They must be doing something right.

Rumors that the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority’s bus costs are out of control have reached a fever pitch lately, thanks to claims by Greg Sullivan, current Pioneer Institute Research Director and former Massachusetts Inspector General, and the circulation of the ALEC-affiliated Pioneer Institute’s 2013 report on the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority’s (MBTA) bus maintenance costs. Even Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick has been attacked as part of this manufactured controversy.

The Pioneer Institute – an affiliate of the far-right State Policy Network – marshals its statistical “evidence” in a way that shows accurate fact-finding is not its goal.

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