CLT
UPDATE
Thursday, April 17, 2003
The only thing clear is their game
plan
Normally, a letter from the co-chairman of the Taxation Committee to the Department of Revenue would hardly be headline fodder.
But at a time when legislative leaders have virtually ruled out tax hikes to close a $3 billion budget gap, [Taxation Committee co-chairman Sen. Cynthia] Creem's inquiry has raised some eyebrows on Beacon Hill....
Yet some State House observers see mounting evidence that a growing number of lawmakers want to at least consider tax increases during the Legislature's looming budget debate....
Yesterday, a House task force on revenue options issued a report outlining the potential effects of raising dozens of local and state taxes.
According to the report, Massachusetts lost a "staggering" $2.5 billion in tax revenue last year even though the Legislature passed a record-setting $1.2 billion tax package.
The report says raising the income tax from 5.3 to 5.4 percent would generate around $113 million in revenue, while increasing the sales tax from 5 to 6 percent would raise approximately $750 million....
"I don't see how we can avoid serious cuts without some consideration of revenues of some sort," [State Rep. Deborah
Blumer, D-Framingham] said. "If it comes down to choice, I will come down on the side of people and making sure that essential services remain in place."
Blumer said many of her constituents have written to her in recent weeks to express support for hiking fees and taxes instead of cutting programs and services....
State Sen. Richard Moore, D-Uxbridge, said public opinion will ultimately decide whether tax increases are an option this year.
The MetroWest Daily News
Thursday, April 17, 2003
Tax hikes a possibility
[House Ways and Means Chairman John H. Rogers] predicted that a House task force report on tax options will go down in flames.
But he said the public will ultimately decide if it can stomach the cuts.
"If they think they like this budget, they can live with it," he said.
The Boston Herald
Thursday, April 17, 2003
House leaders side with gov on some of his budget cuts
The House is expected to take up its budget budget proposals next week. Indications are it will keep state government intact and cut local aid far more deeply than Romney's proposal. Legislative leaders still reject talk of increased state taxes -- though there is justified skepticism of their sincerity -- but their budget is likely to force higher taxes, new fees and reduced services at the municipal level.
A MetroWest Daily News editorial
Thursday, April 17, 2003
Legislature poised to reject reform
Gov. Mitt Romney abruptly backed away yesterday from plans to quietly ratchet up the sales tax on used cars, after the Herald began making inquiries about a proposal critics decried as a "sneaky" tax hike on those who can least afford it....
Anti-tax activists frowned on the possibility that Romney, who has struck a strict anti-tax stance, would seek to impose new taxes on poorer people - the ones most likely to be buying used vehicles.
"Any increase in taxation, even if based upon a logical formula, is an assault on already overburdened taxpayers," said
Citizens for Limited Taxation chief Barbara Anderson.
The Boston Herald
Thursday, April 17, 2003
Romney backs off proposal to hike tax on used-car sales
New taxes "would go down in flames" on the House floor, [House Ways and Means Chairman John Rogers] forecast. Legislators remain spooked by the 45 percent of voters who sought to abolish the income tax outright last year.
But how about that veritable menu of taxes that a House task force just put out, ranging from abolishing various sales taxes to a higher income tax?
Mere ideas, which "I expect ... to be summarily rejected by the vast majority of the House," Rogers said.
Let's hope so. The anti-tax mandate is clear....
It's good for us that Romney is keeping the heat on the House, and Finneran and his crew are playing it smart in response.
The Boston Herald
Thursday, April 17, 2003
Heat's on House but speaker keeps cool
by Wayne Woodlief
Democratic leaders in the Statehouse aren't interested in government reform if it means diminishing their authority or giving credit to a Republican governor....
Notice how there's little talk of developing a compromise with the governor.
That's because Finneran and Travaglini are at the head of a No Reform Death March designed to keep state government exactly as it is running inefficiently, powered by special interests and thin-skinned legislators at leadership's beck-and-call, and all paid by tax increases.
The Democrats are on course to overpower taxpayers with the devastating effects of huge budgetary cuts and local aid reductions. That's why they're going to extremes to dismiss the governor's proposals....
Finneran's playing a game of chicken with the public: huge budget cuts or a big tax increase. Neither extreme is needed, however, if Romney's ideas are included in the mix.
A Lowell Sun
editorial
Wednesday, April 16, 2003
Who needs reform?
The House budget will not call for new taxes, [House Ways and Means Committee Chairman John Rogers] told reporters during a meeting in his office. He has huddled with each of his colleagues in the 160-member House and says there is no will to increase taxes....
"If anyone offers an amendment to raise taxes, I expect it to go down in flames," Rogers said.
His declaration came on the same day that a special House task force on local, state and federal revenues published a menu of potential tax increases and their projected
yields.
In addition, the task force, in a 62-page report, said increasing the sales tax from 5 to 6 cents would generate $750 million, rolling the income tax back to 5.95 percent would produce $1 billion, and every penny added to the per-gallon gas tax would yield $33 million. The report also identifies numerous business taxes that, if repealed or rolled back, would generate significant new revenues for the state....
Rogers' comments came as the Massachusetts Municipal Association hit the radio waves Wednesday with an ad campaign aimed at raising awareness of the impact of local aid cuts and calling for the use of reforms, reserves and revenues to minimize the budget cuts. The association's revenue plan includes the options of raising the income tax to 5.9 percent or adding a penny to the five-cent sales tax.
State House News Service
Wednesday, April 16, 2003
[Excerpt] Rogers: House budget to include fees,
many Romney ideas, no new taxes
Massachusetts must expand its work requirement for welfare recipients to cover 9,000 more families or risk losing ten of millions of dollars in federal assistance, a top Romney administration official told legislators Wednesday. A leading House Democrat called the claim "premature."
Testifying before the Legislature's Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee, Wagner said 13 percent of Massachusetts welfare recipients, primarily those with children over age 6, presently work. The federal standard is 50 percent and Wagner said there's talk in Washington D.C. of upping it to 70 percent. Most other states also require welfare recipients to work if their children are over age 1 or 2, state officials said....
Massachusetts is one of only 10 states that continue to operate welfare programs under waivers, with seven of those waivers due to expire this year. "We need to prepare for life after our waiver," said Wagner....
Sen. Susan Tucker (D-Andover), the co-chairwoman of the committee, also is hopeful that the waiver will be extended. "It seems to me that the states know best the needs of their own populations," she said. "The waiver absolutely could be extended although that's unclear."
State House News Service
Wednesday, April 16, 2003
[Excerpt] Welfare chief: Adopt tougher work requirements
or risk losing federal aid
Finneran's proposal would allow him, through a simple vote of the House, to create new "leadership" positions that might earn $7,500 or $15,000 additional pay yearly, or to raise the levels of bonus pay, or both.
Already 51 of the 160 House members receive bonus pay. But the stark irony is that the system does not promote leadership, it rewards
followership. Loyal foot soldiers are rewarded, and since Finneran can give the money or take it away essentially unilaterally - as he has done - most state representatives are as loyal as sheep....
Finneran has no right to become the one-man paymaster of the House. If the sheep in his membership won't stop him, that is all the more reason for Romney not to join the flock.
A Boston Globe editorial
Thursday, April 17, 2003
Finneran's rewards
Romney said the $1 billion tax increase approved by the Legislature last year is responsible for the reduction or elimination of refunds this year.
"As the reality of last year's tax increase sinks in, it is imperative to remember how important it is to hold the line on raising taxes again this year," said Romney.
Gov. Romney's News Release
April 15, 2003
As they rush to file returns, taxpayers hear from Romney
Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
The State House News Service yesterday reported on
the release of the House task force on revenue's 62-page list of tax hike
"options," noting that "rolling the income tax back to 5.95 percent would produce $1
billion." It went on: "The report also identifies numerous business taxes that, if repealed or rolled back, would generate significant new revenues for the
state."
All of a sudden, tax rollbacks have a new meaning.
"Rolling back" a tax is now being defined as increasing it to a
higher level where it once had been before being decreased or
eliminated.
Hiked taxes are no longer tax increases: now they're
calling them tax rollbacks!
If this catches on, George Orwell would be so proud.
But -- they'd have us believe -- those tax "rollbacks"
are "off the table" anyway. According to the Boston Herald, House Ways
and Means Chairman John Rogers anticipates that "the public will ultimately decide if it can stomach the cuts."
He stated, "If they think they like this budget, they can live with it."
The MetroWest Daily News further recognized the
"slash-and-burn" draconian cuts strategy that we predicted was in the
works back in January: It depends on carefully cultivated public panic over "blood in the
streets" leading to an uproar pleading for tax hikes. "State Sen. Richard Moore, D-Uxbridge, said public opinion will ultimately decide whether tax increases are an option this year."
The "No Reform Death March," as the
Lowell Sun termed the Legislature's obstinacy, is just one more tactic intended
to bring out divisions of "The Sky Is Falling" storm troopers to
picket the State House.
Meanwhile, Massachusetts has not only
"the BMW of Medicaid programs" but, we learned today, one of the
nation's Cadillac welfare programs despite welfare reform, and the state is risking
the loss of
federal funds if it doesn't comply with federal guidelines. But, legislators
like state Sen. Susan Tucker persist in whistling past the graveyard: "The waiver absolutely could be extended although that's
unclear," she concluded.
"Absolutely could ... although that's
unclear"? "Unclear" is certainly an understatement.
With that kind of clarity, she could as well
be talking about the coming tax hikes ... or should I say tax
"rollbacks"?
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Chip
Ford |
The MetroWest Daily News
Thursday, April 17, 2003
Tax hikes a possibility
By Michael Kunzelman
State Sen. Cynthia Creem, D-Newton, says she was merely "doing her homework" when she sent a list of questions about potential tax increases to the state Department of Revenue earlier this month.
Normally, a letter from the co-chairman of the Taxation Committee to the Department of Revenue would hardly be headline fodder.
But at a time when legislative leaders have virtually ruled out tax hikes to close a $3 billion budget gap, Creem's inquiry has raised some eyebrows on Beacon Hill.
Creem, who is serving her first term as the Taxation Committee's co-chairman, said the letter is part of a "fact-finding mission" and doesn't suggest she or any of her Senate colleagues are eager to raise taxes.
"Before we start cutting core services, I want to know all the options," she said. "I haven't concluded what options I personally support, but I am certainly open to all of them."
Gov. Mitt Romney has vowed to veto any proposal to increase taxes, and the leaders of the House and Senate have repeatedly warned that the public won't stand for any tax hikes this year.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman John Rogers renewed that vow yesterday, announcing that the House's budget plan wouldn't call for raising any taxes.
"If anyone offers an amendment to raise taxes, I expect it to go down in flames," the Norwood Democrat said, according to the State House News Service.
Yet some State House observers see mounting evidence that a growing number of lawmakers want to at least consider tax increases during the Legislature's looming budget debate.
"(Creem's) letter does raise eyebrows because legislative leaders have said that taxes are off the table," said Romney spokeswoman Nicole St. Peter.
Yesterday, a House task force on revenue options issued a report outlining the potential effects of raising dozens of local and state taxes.
According to the report, Massachusetts lost a "staggering" $2.5 billion in tax revenue last year even though the Legislature passed a record-setting $1.2 billion tax package.
The report says raising the income tax from 5.3 to 5.4 percent would generate around $113 million in revenue, while increasing the sales tax from 5 to 6 percent would raise approximately $750 million.
State Rep. Cory Atkins, a Concord Democrat who served on the task force, said the report merely identifies a "list of options" and doesn't endorse any tax hikes.
"There may be a call for that later, so we're just doing our yearly homework," Atkins said. "Most of my colleagues are torn because we all know how devastating the cuts are going to be, and we feel our constituents won't be aware of that until it happens."
Tax increases may be an anathema to many legislators this year, but advocates for social service programs haven't been shy about supporting them.
Today, for example, a group of health care advocates is scheduled to gather at the State House to protest Romney's proposed budget cuts and to pledge support for raising taxes.
Marcia Hams of Health Care for All, which organized today's event, said closing corporate tax loopholes and raising the income tax back to 5.85 percent would offset the need for deeper cuts.
"A lot of legislators feel that the kinds of cuts we're talking about are just not supportable," she added.
State Rep. Deborah Blumer, D-Framingham, is expected to address the gathering, although she stopped short of saying she would join the group in supporting tax hikes.
"I don't see how we can avoid serious cuts without some consideration of revenues of some sort," Blumer said. "If it comes down to choice, I will come down on the side of people and making sure that essential services remain in place."
Blumer said many of her constituents have written to her in recent weeks to express support for hiking fees and taxes instead of cutting programs and services.
"Two or three months ago, I wasn't seeing that," she said. "People understand that the numbers (in Romney's budget) don't add up."
State Sen. Richard Moore, D-Uxbridge, said public opinion will ultimately decide whether tax increases are an option this year.
"It has got to be a real grass-roots kind of groundswell," he said. "We need to be hearing from people in our district, not just the advocates who come into the State House."
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The Boston Herald
Thursday, April 17, 2003
House leaders side with gov on some of his budget cuts
by Elizabeth W. Crowley
Siding with Gov. Mitt Romney on some of his reforms while continuing to criticize the "gimmickry" in his budget plan, House leaders yesterday vowed that their own budget will contain the "raw truth" but no new taxes.
House Ways and Means Chairman John H. Rogers said the budget he releases in a week will include some of Romney's "good ideas."
Among the reforms the House will accept:
l Eliminating the Metropolitan District Commission and folding its role into other state agencies;
l Revamping the sprawling Health and Human Services sector;
l Boosting eligibility requirements and co-payments for Medicaid.
But the Norwood Democrat warned the savings from those reforms won't come close to what Romney has predicted.
He said far deeper cuts will be needed to close a $3 billion deficit in the coming year.
A spokesman for Senate President Robert E. Travaglini - who has spoken fondly of the century-old MDC - said he is open to getting rid of it.
"He has said all along that if its mission were maintained he doesn't have a problem with a name change," Travaglini spokesman Ann C. Dufresne said.
Two days ago, Romney accused legislators of throwing up smoke screens to obscure their distaste for smaller government and thirst for higher taxes.
But yesterday the governor reverted to old form and spoke admiringly of his legislative counterparts.
"The idea that they are looking aggressively at reforms is very encouraging," he said. "That is the way to balance a budget . . . draconian cuts and taxes are not."
Romney rejected the notion that legislators are trying to soften up the public for tax hikes by promoting an unpalatable menu of cuts to education and human services.
"I don't think you're going to see in either house an appetite for taxes," Romney said. "I take them on their word on that."
Rogers predicted that a House task force report on tax options will go down in flames.
But he said the public will ultimately decide if it can stomach the cuts.
"If they think they like this budget, they can live with it," he said.
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The MetroWest Daily News
Thursday, April 17, 2003
Editorial
Legislature poised to reject reform
We're starting to see the Legislature's response to the reforms proposed by Gov. Mitt Romney, and it's not encouraging.
Facing a gaping budget deficit and carrying a mandate from voters, Romney approached state government like a CEO should. He looked for underutilized assets, like $190 million sitting in an unused Mass. Turnpike account solely to serve as a cash reserve to secure bonds, and millions of dollars in surplus state real estate frozen in place by cumbersome regulations. By merging transportation agencies, the cash reserve account could be freed up. By transferring the surplus land to the pension fund, it could be liquidated more easily and an estimated $180 million could be saved in next year's budget.
But the leaders in the Legislature don't want that money, which they criticize as "one-time accounting gimmicks."
Romney proposed sweeping changes in state government organization, reforms he said would reduce waste, streamline operations, make agencies more responsive and clean out patronage havens.
But the leaders in the Legislature don't like those changes either. They complain that they don't have enough information to weigh the proposals, as if Romney was describing some organization they'd never had contact with instead of the state government they are supposed to help run. They complain that the savings Romney projects are exaggerated or unproven, as they probably are.
If the Legislature's complaints about Romney's reforms were preliminary to the release of more credible numbers or proposals for making Romney's reforms more effective, we'd be pleased. The governor doesn't have all the answers, and we'd welcome other proposals that would achieve similar savings through the significant restructuring of state government.
But the Legislature seems intent on rejecting Romney's reforms, not improving on them. In the last two weeks, task forces appointed by House Speaker Thomas Finneran have recommended against restructuring public higher education, closing under-utilized district courts, reforming the inequitable system of funding court budgets and making state employees pay more for health insurance.
The House is expected to take up its budget budget proposals next week. Indications are it will keep state government intact and cut local aid far more deeply than Romney's proposal. Legislative leaders still reject talk of increased state taxes -- though there is justified skepticism of their sincerity -- but their budget is likely to force higher taxes, new fees and reduced services at the municipal level.
Romney remains popular, while the Legislature has been an object of derision for years. Legislators could start to reverse that perception this year by acting as an agent of reform, willing to shake up the status quo and dislodge the politically connected in order to protect critical services from the revenue crunch. But if all they do is bash Romney's reforms, protect the bureaucracy and pass the pain to the cities, towns and schools, the legislators will have disappointed the citizens once again.
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The Boston Herald
Thursday, April 17, 2003
Romney backs off proposal to hike tax on used-car sales
by Elisabeth J. Beardsley
Gov. Mitt Romney abruptly backed away yesterday from plans to quietly ratchet up the sales tax on used cars, after the Herald began making inquiries about a proposal critics decried as a "sneaky" tax hike on those who can least afford it.
Without fanfare, the administration has been pursuing a plan to tax used car sales according to the car's higher retail value - dropping the past practice of calculating the tax based on the trade-in value, which is usually thousands of dollars lower. That change, detailed in a Registry of Motor Vehicles memo obtained by the Herald, would have raised $10 million for the state by forcing 300,000 used-car buyers each year to plunk down hundreds of extra sales tax dollars on every sale.
Romney spokeswoman Shawn Feddeman yesterday first denied the administration was pursuing such a plan - then reversed course after being told of the Registry memo dated Tuesday night.
"We have abandoned the plan," Feddeman said. "Frankly, it looks like a tax increase."
In his budget, Romney spends the $10 million that would have been raised by the tax hike, which Romney's budget document describes as a "loophole closing."
The abandonment of the plan means the Registry will be required to cut $10 million from its budget, Feddeman said.
The under-the-radar sales tax hike was in the works even as Romney last week was making political hay of House leaders' decision to float - but not approve - a similar formula change that would result in hefty increases in the unpopular auto excise tax.
The sales tax hike was slated to take effect April 1, but had been delayed "shortly" because - among other reasons - the need for "communication with the public," according to the memo.
Had the plan been implemented, the sales tax on a 2000 Honda Accord would have risen from $657.50 to $767.50 - an increase of $110, or 17 percent.
Buyers of a 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee would have seen their tax bills jump from $925 to $1,068.75 - a hike of $143.75, or 16 percent.
For a 2001 Mercedes-Benz convertible, the tax change would have tacked an extra $246.25 onto the average sales tax bill of $2,498.75.
The prospect of a sales tax hike had left auto dealers livid, warning of a chilling effect on the only retail sector that's humming despite the widespread economic crash.
"That's outrageous," said Ernie Boch Jr., head of Boch Automotive Enterprises and a self-described fan of Romney. "It's extremely sneaky, and I'm very disappointed in the governor."
Anti-tax activists frowned on the possibility that Romney, who has struck a strict anti-tax stance, would seek to impose new taxes on poorer people - the ones most likely to be buying used vehicles.
"Any increase in taxation, even if based upon a logical formula, is an assault on already overburdened taxpayers," said
Citizens for Limited Taxation chief Barbara Anderson.
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The Boston Herald
Thursday, April 17, 2003
Heat's on House but speaker keeps cool
by Wayne Woodlief
Hey, Speaker Thomas M. Finneran and his House leadership must figure that if you can crush a bill for expanded gambling and slot machines with a velvet-glove approach, why not make nice to throw Republican Gov. Mitt Romney off balance, too?
It was good riddance to a gaming bill that could have addicted, corrupted and emptied the pockets of many people. And as House Minority Leader Bradley Jones (R-North Reading) put it, King Tom and his crew did it not by twisting arms but by gentle persuasion. That included polling the members and releasing the count before the vote, a strategy with a momentum of its own.
"The suasion has been at play, quietly and softly and not so quietly and softly in some cases," Jones said. "That's OK, Mr. Speaker," said a frustrated Jones, outmaneuvered again.
But the gentle approach - and some inspired debate by Rep. Dan Bosley (D-North Adams) and others - worked to all but kill the slot machine bill. The Senate could revive it, but that would be a very bad bet.
Sentiment for slots at the racetracks may be stronger there. But the Senate is not eager to do anything that might prolong House-Senate budget conferences as in the past. That could make the Legislature look irresponsible. "And make us punching bags for Romney," warned Senate Majority Leader Frederick Berry (D-Peabody).
Berry said the gaming expansion idea's fate in the Senate "remains unclear; foggy."
So it made sense to also use the soft sell to fireproof the Legislature against a citizen bonfire Romney was trying to stoke. The governor had said on Monday, "The House leadership is looking at Draconian cuts and potentially even (higher) taxes, but they're not serious about reform."
That's a trap no pol ever wants to be thrust into. And the smooth, forceful Romney is ready to press his case on the talk show circuit, in interviews and public appearances
So yesterday - just two days after House Ways and Means Chairman John Rogers (D-Norwood) accused Romney of "misleading ... unreliable" numbers, Rogers turned the other cheek.
He embraced key elements of Romney's plan to streamline state government. Oh sure, he'll merge the Metropolitan District Commission into the Department of Environmental Management to end duplication in running all those rinks and parks, Rogers told radio talk show host Peter
Blute. Wow. The MDC, gone! After all these years of legislative protection.
Yep, he'll accept the governor's reforms in the health and human services bureaucracy, Rogers said. Romney aides liked that one. They want to close down 36 spread-out offices and create "a single point of entry for those who need state services . . . one caseworker who can walk a person through the alphabet soup of food stamps, job training, elder services, etc.," said spokeswoman Shawn Feddeman. They'd better check the available mass transit in executing it.
Rogers and aides also said the House committee will accept Romney's proposal to raise more money for Medicaid by increasing user co-payments based on their income. And they OK'd various fees that Romney claims will bring in hundreds of millions in new revenue. (House budget writers say there's little real proof for those claims, but that in a pinch, they're worth a try.)
Rogers repeated his assertion that taxes are off the table for the budget - with its deep cuts instead.
New taxes "would go down in flames" on the House floor, Rogers forecast. Legislators remain spooked by the 45 percent of voters who sought to abolish the income tax outright last year.
But how about that veritable menu of taxes that a House task force just put out, ranging from abolishing various sales taxes to a higher income tax?
Mere ideas, which "I expect ... to be summarily rejected by the vast majority of the House," Rogers said.
Let's hope so. The anti-tax mandate is clear. And as Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation chief Mike Widmer said, Romney won't get all the reforms he wants now, but "over a four-year term, with the improved services and efficiencies he proposed, the reforms should be meaningful."
It's good for us that Romney is keeping the heat on the House, and Finneran and his crew are playing it smart in response.
Wayne Woodlief is a member of the Boston Herald staff.
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The Lowell Sun
Wednesday, April 16, 2003
Editorial
Who needs reform?
Democratic leaders in the Statehouse aren't interested in government reform if it means diminishing their authority or giving credit to a Republican governor.
That's the signal coming out of the Statehouse, where House Speaker Tom Finneran and Senate President Robert Travaglini are leading the parade to discredit Gov. Mitt Romney's state government reorganization plans.
They say little will work, the numbers don't add up, and that they'll have to come up with their own plans to close the state's $3 billion spending gap.
Notice how there's little talk of developing a compromise with the governor.
That's because Finneran and Travaglini are at the head of a No Reform Death March designed to keep state government exactly as it is running inefficiently, powered by special interests and thin-skinned legislators at leadership's beck-and-call, and all paid by tax increases.
The Democrats are on course to overpower taxpayers with the devastating effects of huge budgetary cuts and local aid reductions. That's why they're going to extremes to dismiss the governor's proposals. It has no bearing that some of Romney's plans were originally proposed by Democrats years ago.
There's a lot of merit in what Romney is trying to do. Merging the state's highway departments, reorganizing higher education, streamlining the court system, and requiring state workers to pay a higher percentage of health care costs will produce efficiencies and cost savings.
If approved, Romney says he can limit local aid cuts to cities and towns to about 5 percent in 2004, or $238 million.
But last week, eight Finneran-appointed task forces reported that none of the governor's plans are workable. Each dismissive "no" moves the Legislature closer to the "T" word.
Finneran has already launched a public campaign to warn of local aid cuts of as high as 20 percent. If that happens, a third of Massachusetts' 351 municipalities could be in hock.
Finneran's playing a game of chicken with the public: huge budget cuts or a big tax increase. Neither extreme is needed, however, if Romney's ideas are included in the mix.
Sadly, Democrats are intent on discrediting the Who Romney and the What reform without answering a basic question Why not?
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The Boston Globe
Thursday, April 17, 2003
A Boston Globe editorial
Finneran's rewards
House Speaker Thomas Finneran wants total freedom to grant bonus pay to favored House members without the current requirement for statutory approval, which gives the governor a voice.
Finneran's proposal would allow him, through a simple vote of the House, to create new "leadership" positions that might earn $7,500 or $15,000 additional pay yearly, or to raise the levels of bonus pay, or both.
Already 51 of the 160 House members receive bonus pay. But the stark irony is that the system does not promote leadership, it rewards
followership. Loyal foot soldiers are rewarded, and since Finneran can give the money or take it away essentially unilaterally - as he has done - most state representatives are as loyal as sheep.
The proposal passed the House Monday on a vote of 100 to 50. Assuming it passes the Senate, Governor Romney should veto it for three reasons.
First, Romney has earned the label of reformer. But all his proposals for government reorganization will look pale if he winks at so blatant a power grab.
Second, Romney must indeed work with the Legislature and its leadership, but he must also show he is a player. If he lies down on this fight, he can expect to be steamrolled by the legislators all year.
Third, he might win. The 50 votes opposed to Finneran's proposal were tantalizingly close to enough to sustain a veto. If the same people voted, only one vote would need to change.
Finneran's apologists try to make a separation-of-powers argument, saying the House should be able to manage its own affairs. But the House is not an empire, or even a duchy.
American democracy, thanks to the genius of the Constitution, does not really work as separated powers but, in presidential scholar Richard Neustadt's phrase, as "separated institutions sharing powers." So the governor participates in the legislative process through the veto, and courts can review legislative action. The Legislature, for its part, is not bashful about setting all kinds of strictures on the executive and judicial branches - including setting pay levels.
Finneran has no right to become the one-man paymaster of the House. If the sheep in his membership won't stop him, that is all the more reason for Romney not to join the flock.
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The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Executive Department
News Release
April 15, 2003
As they rush to file returns, taxpayers hear from Romney
Governor promises to hold the line on higher taxes,
calls on Legislature to pass reforms
On tax filing day, Governor Mitt Romney visited the South Boston Postal Annex to tell taxpayers that he will hold the line on taxes. Romney also challenged the Legislature to reject the "false choice" of deep spending cuts or higher taxes by adopting the reforms proposed in his budget.
Romney also addressed the allegations from members of the House leadership that his reforms do not save as much money as the Administration estimates.
"Let's put the numbers to a test," said Romney. "Pass my reforms and I'll deliver the savings. Even if one thought the savings would be smaller, that's no reason to abandon the reforms. If a reform saves money, let's take it."
He added, "This is not a choice between deep cuts or higher taxes. There is another way. My plan calls for reform. It's hard to say goodbye to the old way of doing things, but people are demanding change."
As Romney spoke with taxpayers, he released a list of "common-sense" reforms that are part of his budget.
Among the reforms are eliminating duplication by merging the Turnpike Authority with the Highway Department, consolidating the Metropolitan District Commission and the Department of Environmental Management into one unified parks system, closing underutilized courts and bringing public sector employment benefits in line with the private sector.
Romney said the $1 billion tax increase approved by the Legislature last year is responsible for the reduction or elimination of refunds this year.
"As the reality of last year's tax increase sinks in, it is imperative to remember how important it is to hold the line on raising taxes again this year," said Romney.
In addition, Romney's budget takes a regional approach to education, economic development and health and human services in order to improve service delivery.
"Given our fiscal crisis, we have a unique opportunity this year to make permanent changes to state government that make sense, save money and make us more efficient," Romney said. "Let's not squander that opportunity, but instead work together to achieve reform once and for all."
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U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or
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information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For
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