Dear Al, In a front-page article last Sunday, the Boston Globe revealed how military industry lobbyists and insiders have been given control, with almost no accountability and transparency, of a $177 million fund set up to refurbish the 6 military bases in the state.  The official in charge, Mo Cowan, is a lobbyist for Lockheed Martin, and the committee that spends the money doesn't even take minutes of its meetings! Unbelievable? No, this is happening right now in our state! Once the $177 million in borrowed money is spent, it will have to be paid back with interest by state taxpayers -- though the U.S.military budget is already the largest in the world and hardly needs any additional funding from the citizens of our state! Write a letter to the editor protesting the unaccountable and non-transparent spending of state taxpayer's money on improvements to military bases! The Globe article quoted me in opposition to the bill along with State Sen. Jamie Eldridge, one of two state senators to vote no in response to a call by Massachusetts Peace Action in January to oppose the "Military Bond Bill" that authorized the fund. While our money is being spent on military projects the Pentagon hasn't asked for, 3,897 Massachusetts families have applied for Emergency Shelter in the past 9 months due to inadequate funding for housing.  And the backlog of unmet repair needs in the state’s public housing projects is approximately $1 billion.   Where are the priorities of our elected officials? Meanwhile, these same state legislators are ignoring the Budget for All resolution (H.3211 and S.1750), which would fund human needs, invest in jobs, ask the rich and corporations to pay their fair share, and cut bloated military spending, even though the Budget for All was passed by a 3-to-1 margin in 91 cities and towns across the state.   Please come to the State House for a Budget for All lobby day on May 22. This tool will help you write a letter to the editor about the unaccountable and non-transparent spending of state taxpayers' money on improvements to military bases that the Pentagon did not ask for. For a peace economy, Cole Harrison Executive Director

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