The Boston Herald
Tuesday, February 4, 2003
Finneran warns gov could wait weeks
for budget-cut OK
by David R. Guarino and Elizabeth W. Crowley
Legislative leaders yesterday shrugged off new criticism
from Gov. Mitt Romney over his stalled budget fix-it, saying Romney might have to wait
"many weeks" to see his plan even come to a vote.
House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran said the realities of a
200-person Legislature means a lengthy delay to legislation authorizing $143 million in cuts
to help fill the $650 million spending gap.
"Members are saying, 'Gee, we'll give the governor a fair
opportunity, we're in a cooperative partnership mood,' but it may take a few, several, many weeks to
get through some, if not all, of the elements (of Romney's plan)," Finneran said.
"In the meantime, time's-a-wasting."
Finneran said the pain of any cuts gets worse every day and
said Romney has the luxury of autocratic rule in the Corner Office.
"He only has to convince one person. He doesn't even have to
consult or convince (Lt. Gov.) Kerry Healey," Finneran said.
Romney, appearing flustered by the sudden stall to his
vaunted budgetary fix-it, picked up his rhetorical criticism of lawmakers.
At a Tewksbury press conference, Romney accused lawmakers of
budgetary doublespeak, saying split complaints about his cuts being too harsh or not deep
enough mean he's right on target to fill the $650 million gap.
"With so many people saying, 'Gee, you should cut more,' and
with so many others saying, 'You've cut too much,' I'm probably somewhere in the middle
and that's probably the place to be," Romney said.
Romney last week proposed $343 million in cuts - including
$114 million slashed from local aid - to fill the $650 million spending gap for this fiscal year.
While much of the cuts were unilateral given the expanded emergency budget-cutting powers
given the governor, Romney needs lawmakers to approve $143 million.
Among those cuts: changes to Medicaid eligibility rules, a
gutting of the state's affordable housing trust fund and the so-called Clean Elections account for
public financing of campaigns.
House leaders stalled the proposal Friday, telling Romney he
should have cut more on his own before looking for help.
Yesterday, the Republican governor dismissed those suggestions.
"Those (cuts) which I laid out, were, in my view, the most
effective and the least disruptive to our citizens," he said. "Certainly, there are other cuts I could
make but they would be far more disruptive, potentially more painful."
But Finneran cautioned that Romney should watch the clock
and consider making further cuts that don't require legislative approval, saying that, with
the fiscal year running to a close, the pain of cuts gets worse daily.
"In a true fiscal emergency, we don't have the luxury of
time," he said.
Meanwhile, housing advocates rallied at the State House
yesterday, urging lawmakers to block the $8 million cut to affordable housing.
"We're in a tight fiscal place but this is not where cuts
should happen," said the Rev. David Olson of the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization.
And educators said Romney must keep his promise not to cut
basic school aid, despite suggestions it should be on the chopping block.
"It's absolutely the wrong direction to go in; we need
investment, not further cuts," said Sheldon H. Berman, president of the Massachusetts Association of
School Superintendents.
The Boston Globe
Tuesday, February 4, 2003
Finneran pay maneuver stalled
Sought increases for lieutenants
By Frank Phillips and Rick Klein
Globe Staff
A month after vowing to conduct business more openly, House
Speaker Thomas M. Finneran yesterday moved to raise the pay of as many as six of his
lieutenants as he quietly pushed a bill giving legislative leaders more authority
to dole out the extra pay to their loyalists.
A handful of House members blocked the speaker's maneuver
when they determined at the end of the otherwise uneventful session that he was trying to
move the bill with many members oblivious to its impact. They said Finneran
had said from the rostrum minutes earlier no controversial matters would be
taken up.
"The fact that he would try to sneak through a pay raise, in
this fiscal climate, is really shocking," said state Representative Ruth B. Balser, a Newton Democrat.
Finneran's effort came on the same day he announced his new
committee assignments, removing from key panels members who had crossed him. Five of
the 17 members who supported the speakership bid of Representative Byron
Rushing last month were assigned to the Committee on Personnel and Administration,
which has not met in years and performs virtually no duties.
"The only reason he did this was to warn anyone who wants to
be independent," said Rushing, a Boston Democrat who lost his seat on the
powerful Ways and Means Committee.
The bonus pay push came just weeks after a public outcry
over an automatic pay raise legislators received this year. While the overwhelming majority of
senators declined the raise, saying they could not take the money while others
suffered cutbacks, Finneran left it up to individual House members to decide
whether to accept it. About half of the 160 House members took the raise.
Finneran defended his pay proposal yesterday, saying there
will be no net cost increase to the state because House leaders have found other places to reduce
spending, including in its contract with WGBH to televise proceedings. He said
he shared all of his plans with his Democratic colleagues in a caucus on
Friday, as part of his broader plans to revamp the committee structure to make
committee work more relevant.
"What I'm proposing is not novel, and there's nothing
inappropriate about it," Finneran said.
But several House members said that during the caucus
Finneran spoke only broadly about savings they could realize in House operations and restructuring
the committee lineup. He did not mention specific pay increases, they said.
Finneran did not detail the raises in an interview with the
Globe last night. But House members told the Globe that the speaker was seeking to give $7,500
bonuses to four handpicked committee vice chairs, and to double to $15,000
the extra pay that two chairmen receive. The legislative base salary is
$53,381 a year.
The bill he sought to admit to the House yesterday would
have lifted the requirement that state law be changed to award additional bonus pay to
members, and instead left it to the speaker and the Senate president to
determine who receives supplemental pay through the more informal joint
rules of the Legislature. The change is significant in part because, under
the change, no longer would the governor have the opportunity to veto an increase.
Representative Jay Kaufman, a Democrat from Lexington who
historically has battled with Finneran, was in the House chamber at the end of the session
yesterday in which members had congratulated Joseph Sullivan, the Braintree
legislator who is leaving to head the state Lottery.
Kaufman noticed Finneran, as members streamed out of the
chamber, attempting to gavel through the admission of a bill on a voice vote. Kaufman
grew curious and rose to object. Because Finneran's legislation is a late-filed bill,
the House rules require a four-fifths majority if a member demands a roll call.
Finneran withdrew the bill after Kaufman objected.
It is not clear whether Finneran will attempt to resurrect
the legislation later this week. House dissidents, who number about a dozen, vowed to battle
Finneran on the pay increases. They are appealing to the House's 23 Republican members to join
them in trying to turn back the raises. They need 32 votes to block the bill.
But the Republicans did not appear last night to be raising
any questions. That may be because traditionally, when a vice chair of a committee is awarded an
extra $7,500, the ranking Republican minority member on the panel gets an
equal stipend. House Democrats said the following members stood to receive
$7,500 raises in pay: Joseph F. Wagner of Chicopee, taxation chairman; Peter
J. Koutoujian of Newton, health care chairman; Vincent A. Pedone of Worcester, vice chair of science and
technology; Kevin J. Murphy of Lowell, vice chair of education; Frank M. Hynes of Marshfield, vice chair of
transportation; and Christine E. Canavan of Brockton, vice chair of health care.
The moves by Finneran yesterday created friction among House
members, especially those who had opposed his autocratic style and hoped he would
become more inclusive this year. When he was elected last month, Finneran
inspired hope when he said: "There are a number of us who feel that for
whatever reason that they have been disenfranchised. I will work to the best of
my abilities, however limited they may be, to make sure that I not just
diminish but actively work to eliminate that feeling."
But yesterday, Representative Harriet Stanley, who was
stripped of the chairmanship of the health care committee, said Finneran told her in a phone
call yesterday morning that the fact that she voted against him on key votes
contributed to the loss of her chairmanship. Stanley opposed the speaker on
last year's tax increase and on efforts to overhaul the state's anti-snob-zoning
statute.
"In my heart I believed the true test to be on the Finneran
leadership team was talent and hard work, and I'm disappointed to learn otherwise," said
Stanley, a West Newbury Democrat. "It was made clear to me that I had a
choice between being on the leadership team and serving my constituents.
That choice is easy."
State Representative Douglas W. Petersen, who was receiving
$7,500 as vice chair of the taxation committee, was removed. The Marblehead Democrat, who
backed Rushing's challenge, was given a seat on the natural resources committee, which he once
chaired until Finneran removed him after he refused to back the speaker's efforts not to fund the Clean Elections law.
Finneran defended his assignments, saying he tried to be as
fair as possible, but acknowledged not everyone would be pleased.
"I did the best I could," Finneran said after delivering the
news to Democratic lawmakers at a closed-door caucus. "Some will be absolutely thrilled and some
will be disappointed. But I think it's a good mix."
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
Return to top
The Boston Herald
Tuesday, February 4, 2003
Finneran paves way for pals' pay raises
by Elizabeth W. Crowley
House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran yesterday punished
opponents by sending them into the oblivion of obscure committees while opening the door for pay
raises for his loyalists.
In a move slammed by critics as a back-door pay hike,
Finneran filed a bill that would enable lawmakers to boost committee stipends and shower his
lieutenants with more money.
It would repeal all limits on how many committee chairmen
and vice chairmen in both the House and Senate receive stipends in addition to their regular
legislative pay - as well as the amount of those stipends.
Currently in the House, stipends range from $15,000 for
members of Finneran's leadership team and for several committee chairmen, to $7,500 for
other committee positions. That's on top of the $53,380 salary House members
make.
"Everyone recognizes when they are appointed to a paid
position on Tommy Finneran's team that he expects them to toe the line," said Rep. James Marzilli
(D-Arlington). "This just expands his team of loyalists. There would be no limit
to it."
Finneran's move came after a pay hike last month for
legislators - a raise dozens of members rejected as a nod to the disastrous budget problems facing
the state.
"Now we are back at square one with this back-door sleazy
attempt to raise salaries without a floor debate or even any public discussion," said Pam Wilmot,
executive director of Common Cause Massachusetts.
Finneran said yesterday, "There is nothing inappropriate
about it. There will be no net costs. It will be at a lesser cost than the present committee
structure," he said.
His aides said he lopped more than $200,000 off the House
budget this year by renegotiating a contract to televise House sessions.
House sources said Finneran promised some of his favorites
that he plans to boost by $7,500 apiece the stipends for the health care, education, science and
technology and transportation committees.
But critics said Finneran will have trouble selling pay
hikes in the form of bigger stipends.
"At a time when we have to close a $2 billion to $3 billion
budget deficit and people and programs everywhere are being cut, it is just dead wrong to try
something like this," said Paul C. Demakis (D-Boston).
Also yesterday, Finneran rewarded loyalists such as Rep.
Marie St. Fleur (D-Boston), Rep. Peter Larkin (D-Pittfield) and Rep. A. Stephen Tobin
(D-Quincy) with new paid positions and yanked several opponents off committees.
Rep. Harriet Stanley (D-West Newbury) was thrown off the
health care committee and replaced by Rep. Peter Koutoujian (D-Newton). Stanley was
among the eight Democrats who defied Finneran last year by voting against the
$1.2 billion tax hike package he championed.
"Busted. The speaker explained to me in very candid terms
that I needed to be with leadership (on votes) more often than I was," Stanley told the State House
News Service.
Rep. Byron Rushing - the South End Democrat who challenged
Finneran for the speaker's seat last month - was pushed off the powerful Ways and Means
Committee where he wanted to stay and transferred to the Taxation Committee.
And Finneran stacked the rarely heard from Personnel and
Administration Committee with House dissidents who voted for Rushing.
The as-yet unpaid positions on that committee read like a
Finneran enemies list: Reps. Gloria Fox (D-Boston), Ruth Balser (D-Newton), Barry R. Finegold
(D-Andover), Frank I. Smizik (D-Brookline) and Carol A. Donovan (D-Woburn).
