CLT
UPDATE
Tuesday, January 6, 2004
"Revenue's rising, so let's
spend more ... because we can!"
Just days after Romney's team announced his first full-blown State of the State address would take place Jan. 15, Finneran's office rushed to alert the media the speaker would deliver his own version of the annual leadership speech - tomorrow.
Finneran almost always delivers his "speaker's address to the citizens" around Valentine's Day or even later - but when asked yesterday if he pushed up the date this year to deliberately step on Romney's toes, Finneran said "no" six times in a row....
Meanwhile, Travaglini made a surprise announcement yesterday that the Senate would begin steamrolling through Romney's vetoes over the next 10 to 15 days - a time when the Legislature rarely does anything.
"This whole action isn't being driven by his State of the State address, I can assure you of that," Travaglini said. "At the end of the session, we indicated it was unfinished and that we were likely to take action in the first few weeks of the new session."
But Senate Republican Leader Brian Lees accused Travaglini of rolling out veto overrides to deal Romney a "symbolic" defeat at a time when he'll be relishing a statewide media spotlight.
"They're being childish, babyish and not liking the fact that Romney is a leader in his own right," Lees (R-East Longmeadow) said.
The Boston Herald
Tuesday, January 6, 2004
Dems cast shadow on Romney spotlight
House Speaker Thomas Finneran said Monday he intends to hold onto the job of House Speaker next year.
If he succeeds, Finneran will become the longest serving Speaker of the House in state history....
If he wins reelection in November and is reelected Speaker by his colleagues in January 2005, Finneran would set the record in May 2005. He has already served longer as speaker than such storied Massachusetts politicians such as Leverett Saltonstall (1929-1936), Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill Jr. (1949-1952), and even John Hancock (1779-1780).
During his tenure, which has spanned one of the state's most prosperous periods and one of its darkest budget crises, Finneran has become labeled, both admiringly and derisively, as "speaker for life." He earned that moniker after his colleagues lifted a term limits rule that threatened the length of his rule.
State House News Service
Monday, January 5, 2004
Finneran will seek House speaker's job again in '05;
record run possible
More good news for the Massachusetts economy. Tax collections for December were up 4.3 percent -- or about $60 million -- compared to last December, according to figures released yesterday by the state Department of Revenue.
During the first six months of the current fiscal year, the state took in $396 million -- or 5.7 percent -- more than during the same period last year.
At the halfway point of the fiscal year, the state has collected $356 million more than budget writers had predicted.
Associated Press
Tuesday, January 6, 2004
Tax collections up again in December
The Massachusetts economy is starting to stir, but the extra dollars flowing into the state's coffers won't be enough to spare Beacon Hill from another round of painful budget cuts, state officials said after reviewing new revenue figures released yesterday....
Yesterday's revenue report showed that the Commonwealth collected $1.45 billion in December, an increase of $60 million over December 2002.
Last month's revenue brings the total for the first half of the current fiscal year to $7.37 billion, $396 million more than at the same point last year and $356 million more than the state expected to collect....
In the coming days, the Legislature will also decide whether to override Romney's vetoes of two spending bills in November. The governor signed the bills after trimming $80 million, saying that approving the entire amount "might cause more cuts next year."
The Boston Globe
Tuesday, January 6, 2004
Revenue up, but further cuts loom
State collects $356m more than expected
News of rising tax revenues will greet state lawmakers tomorrow as they return to take up overrides of Gov. Mitt Romney's last-minute vetoes of $80 million in spending measures.
State Senate President Robert E. Travaglini, D-Boston, signaled yesterday that the Senate is ready to take up pressing unfinished business from last year - namely Mr. Romney's Nov. 26 vetoes....
For the first six months of fiscal 2004, which ends June 30, income tax collections were up 7.6 percent. Corporate and business receipts, meanwhile, spiked 29 percent in the first half of the fiscal year.
The Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Tuesday, January 6, 2004
Romney vetoes likely to fail
Lawmakers back tomorrow
Legislators return to work tomorrow for the second half of the 2003/2004 session with plenty to accomplish before its official end on July 31, if they want to compile a record worthy of voters' support in November.
Passage of a fiscal 2005 budget- balanced without raising taxes - is top of the list. While the economic picture is improving, many analysts are predicting at least a $1 billion deficit for fiscal 2005 which must be closed through further reform and restructuring instead of burdensome new taxes and fees.
There's plenty left on the government restructuring and reform "to do" list, too....
Instead of whining about Romney's efforts to recruit Republican candidates to challenge them this November, incumbent lawmakers who back this reform agenda will be making the case for their reelection.
A Boston Herald editorial
Tuesday, January 6, 2004
Lots of work ahead as re-election looms
A poorly balanced political process is the enemy of this fragile governmental balance. If too-powerful industrialists force factories on old open squares, we lose city parks. If developers become too powerful and raze old neighborhoods, entire communities can be lost, as we saw with Boston’s West End.
A significant political imbalance exists in Massachusetts. It is subtle and out of public view, but imposes great burdens on the commonwealth’s citizens.
I’m not referring to the lopsided ratio of Democrats to Republicans in the Legislature. Those individuals are duly elected. Instead, I refer to the overwhelming influence of public employee unions here.
Ninety-one percent of executive branch employees in Massachusetts are unionized, compared to 35 percent of state employees nationally and less than 15 percent of all other workers in the commonwealth. Public employee unions enjoy a legislatively granted labor monopoly over Massachusetts state and municipal employment that is unique among the 50 states.
Like any monopoly, a labor monopoly creates political imbalance. The first victim of monopoly is competition. This lack of competition imposes a hidden tax on every citizen of the commonwealth....
And along with this return to governmental balance would come a tangible benefit for every Massachusetts taxpayer: repeal of the hidden monopoly tax.
The Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Monday, January 5, 2004
Public employee union monopoly unbalances ecology of government
By Eric Kriss
Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
It appears that the acknowledged "Speaker for
Life" has taken the title seriously -- even to the point of now
attempting to upstage the governor. This mere mortal has lost control of
his giant ego ... but then it's his sheep who empower his delusion, our
"representatives." Who, outside of the People's Republic,
would believe any of this is possible. Elsewhere in the United States of
America, it's not even conceivable.
So the "Speaker for Life" is going to
inform us tomorrow about the state of the state, from his perspective;
the governor gets to follow him up later this month. Just think,
Finneran inaugurated this strange "Speaker's State of the
State" address only a few years ago -- it was unheard of
before that and probably still is in other states -- and this year he's
moving it up ahead of the governor's official address.
Arrogance?
Meanwhile, revenue has returned -- and the Bacon Hill
pols taste more spending opportunities.
The state Senate is preparing to bury Romney's vetoes
in the next week or two. "Senate President Robert E. Travaglini vowed to unravel Romney's spending
cuts," the Boston Herald reported, "the Senate would begin steamrolling through Romney's vetoes over the next 10 to 15 days - a time when the Legislature rarely does anything."
Imagine that? At last the Legislature is actually
going to do something. A good reason to be careful what you wish
for, and why we say it's probably better when they stay home and collect
their salaries and perks for doing squat.
As the Herald editorial points out, "There's plenty left on the government restructuring and reform
'to do' list." But the revenue's rising back up, so don't hold your
breath expecting anything constructive to be accomplished. "The
Best Legislature Money Can Buy" is going to revert to character and
do what it does best: it's going to spend everything it expects will
come in and then some, then come back and tell us it needs more from us
when the money runs out.
We're going "cyclical" again, folks and
it's starting right now. The economy is coming back and the
Legislature is gearing up to spend us into the next "fiscal
crisis" all over again.
Mark this date down on your calendar as Day One of
the next fiscal crisis, arriving about 2012 like clockwork.
Thank goodness for people in government like A&F
Secretary Eric Kriss, who's looking ahead at the big picture, learning
from the past and looking to the future and how to manage it, proposing
to do something differently. This is far too complex a concept for those
who relish the best job they'll ever land anywhere, so long as they can
tread water and hold onto it, as state legislators.
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Chip
Ford |
The Boston Herald
Tuesday, January 6, 2004
Dems cast shadow on Romney spotlight
By Elisabeth J. Beardsley and Steve Marantz
Gov. Mitt Romney returned from vacation yesterday to a double-blast from top lawmakers as House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran moved to steal the governor's State of the State thunder and Senate President Robert E. Travaglini vowed to unravel Romney's spending cuts.
Just days after Romney's team announced his first full-blown State of the State address would take place Jan. 15, Finneran's office rushed to alert the media the speaker would deliver his own version of the annual leadership speech - tomorrow.
Finneran almost always delivers his "speaker's address to the citizens" around Valentine's Day or even later - but when asked yesterday if he pushed up the date this year to deliberately step on Romney's toes, Finneran said "no" six times in a row.
"No politics whatsoever," Finneran said. "I just thought - better to really start the session off right away, first available day."
"Sounds like Paul Wolfowitz wrote that press release," cracked Rep. James Marzilli (D-Arlington), referring to the deputy defense secretary who pushes President Bush's "pre-emptive strike" doctrine.
Romney's aides avoided the subject. "I don't really have a comment on that," said Romney spokeswoman Shawn Feddeman. "I assume he wants to update his members on the House's agenda."
That agenda, Finneran said, will focus on fiscal discipline, economic development and the affordable housing crisis.
Meanwhile, Travaglini made a surprise announcement yesterday that the Senate would begin steamrolling through Romney's vetoes over the next 10 to 15 days - a time when the Legislature rarely does anything.
"This whole action isn't being driven by his State of the State address, I can assure you of that," Travaglini said. "At the end of the session, we indicated it was unfinished and that we were likely to take action in the first few weeks of the new session."
But Senate Republican Leader Brian Lees accused Travaglini of rolling out veto overrides to deal Romney a "symbolic" defeat at a time when he'll be relishing a statewide media spotlight.
"They're being childish, babyish and not liking the fact that Romney is a leader in his own right," Lees (R-East Longmeadow) said.
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State House News Service
Monday, January 5, 2004
Finneran will seek House speaker's job again in '05;
record run possible
By Michael P. Norton
House Speaker Thomas Finneran said Monday he intends to hold onto the job of House Speaker next year.
If he succeeds, Finneran will become the longest serving Speaker of the House in state history.
The Mattapan Democrat, whose district covers parts of Milton and Boston, was first elected Speaker in April 1996, succeeding former Rep. Charles Flaherty of Cambridge. Critics complain his grip on House matters is too controlling, but Finneran has far more admirers than detractors in the 160-member House.
"I do intend to run for Speaker again," Finneran told the News Service after speaking with students at Marshfield High School. "Those are my intentions. That's very, very clear to the members."
If he wins reelection in November and is reelected Speaker by his colleagues in January 2005, Finneran would set the record in May 2005. He has already served longer as speaker than such storied Massachusetts politicians such as Leverett Saltonstall (1929-1936), Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill Jr. (1949-1952), and even John Hancock (1779-1780).
During his tenure, which has spanned one of the state's most prosperous periods and one of its darkest budget crises, Finneran has become labeled, both admiringly and derisively, as "speaker for life." He earned that moniker after his colleagues lifted a term limits rule that threatened the length of his rule.
Former House Speaker Thomas W. McGee of Lynn, a Democrat, ran the House from 1975 through 1984 and holds the longevity record for a job that is demanding, complex and rewarding. Everett Democrat George
Keverian, after a battle for the post, took over in 1985, promising more open House proceedings.
An attorney, Finneran is often rumored as a potential mayoral candidate in Boston. He sometimes hosts radio talk shows and has indicated an interest in that field as well. On Monday morning, he insisted he does not contemplate his length of tenure much. "I don't give it a great deal of thought," he said.
A graduate of Northeastern University and Boston College Law School, Finneran has served in the House since 1979. After chairing the Banks and Banking Committee, he was tapped by Flaherty to serve as House Ways and Means Committee chief. He moved from that post into the Speaker's job in 1996, wresting the speakership away from the more liberal heir-apparent, former Majority Leader Richard Voke of Chelsea..
Rep. Daniel Bosley (D-North Adams), a member of the House since 1987, said he still harbors thoughts of becoming Speaker some day. Bosley said he was not surprised by Finneran's statement of intention.
"I think he's going to be Speaker for as long as he wants to be Speaker," Bosley said. "It would be very difficult for anybody to oppose him. I fully expected him to run again. He's fully engaged in the issues.
Based on recent discussions, Bosley said, the Speaker seems energized by Gov. Mitt Romney's effort to recruit Republican challengers and unseat sitting Democrats. "He's been focused on the election and however this Romney opposition turns out, with the recruiting of candidates," Bosley said of Finneran.
What about his own ambitions? Bosley said professionals in all occupations should set their goals high.
"Sometimes there are things I would like to do," said Bosley, who just finished a three-year stint in the leadership of the Council of State Governments. "We'll see what happens. Sometimes things work out and sometimes they don't. Who knows?"
Bosley said he still enjoys chairing the Government Regulations Committee and looks forward to a second round of electricity industry reform and continued screening of perennial gaming expansion bills.
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Associated Press
Tuesday, January 6, 2004
Tax collections up again in December
More good news for the Massachusetts economy. Tax collections for December were up 4.3 percent -- or about $60 million -- compared to last December, according to figures released yesterday by the state Department of Revenue.
During the first six months of the current fiscal year, the state took in $396 million -- or 5.7 percent -- more than during the same period last year.
At the halfway point of the fiscal year, the state has collected $356 million more than budget writers had predicted.
House Speaker Thomas Finneran said there is a general sense on Beacon Hill that the state is experiencing a moderate economic recovery.
"It's better news than we've been enjoying for the past 30 months or so," Finneran, D-Boston, said.
Finneran cautioned that the recovery is still "a little iffy" and said lawmakers should expect to demonstrate fiscal discipline as they craft the new state budget.
Revenue Commissioner Alan LeBovidge credited strong personal and corporate estimated tax payments for the higher revenues.
"These payments reinforce that the corporate profit picture continues to improve and indicate that individuals have recognized significant capital gains during the year," he said.
Sales and use tax collections were down 1.6 percent, or $5 million, to $309 million and business tax collections increased 6.6 percent or $13 million to $204 million for December.
Income tax collections increased 7.3 percent, to $807 million, over last December while withholding tax collections totaled $673 million, a decrease of 0.5 percent.
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The Boston Globe
Tuesday, January 6, 2004
Revenue up, but further cuts loom
State collects $356m more than expected
By Scott S. Greenberger, Globe Staff
The Massachusetts economy is starting to stir, but the extra dollars flowing into the state's coffers won't be enough to spare Beacon Hill from another round of painful budget cuts, state officials said after reviewing new revenue figures released yesterday.
The numbers were released as Governor Mitt Romney and lawmakers are set to begin what is likely to be another trying budget season. Romney's aides are crafting the blueprint for the next fiscal year, which the governor is scheduled to unveil on Jan. 28. Romney is expected to focus on the budget in his State of the State Address, which he will deliver on Jan. 15, and House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran will probably do the same in a speech scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.
In the coming days, the Legislature will also decide whether to override Romney's vetoes of two spending bills in November. The governor signed the bills after trimming $80 million, saying that approving the entire amount "might cause more cuts next year."
Yesterday's revenue report showed that the Commonwealth collected $1.45 billion in December, an increase of $60 million over December 2002.
Last month's revenue brings the total for the first half of the current fiscal year to $7.37 billion, $396 million more than at the same point last year and $356 million more than the state expected to collect.
If it still exists at the end of the current fiscal year in June, the unforeseen tax windfall would be a boon to Romney and legislators, who could carry it over into the next fiscal year to help close a budget deficit expected to be between $1 billion and $2 billion. To deal with budget shortfalls over the past three years, the state has slashed about $3 billion in spending on health, education, and other programs and has raised taxes and fees.
Emerging from an afternoon meeting with Romney, Senate President Robert E. Travaglini described the revenue numbers as encouraging, while House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran characterized the revenue report as "better news than we have been enjoying for the past 30 months or so."
"There is a general sense that there may be a modest economic recovery underway," said Finneran, who is still hobbling on crutches after undergoing hip surgery last month.
But legislative leaders and administration officials cautioned that the latest revenue report also continues a troubling trend: While the state collected more in capital gains and corporate taxes than it did in December 2002, it received less in income withholding and sales taxes, which are viewed as the most accurate barometers of the state's fiscal health.
Revenue Commissioner Alan LeBovidge said the anemic numbers in those areas point to a jobless recovery in Massachusetts.
"If companies were hiring a lot of people, you'd expect the withholding to really take off. That is not happening," said
LeBovidge, noting that the state relies on income and sales taxes for about 80 percent of its overall tax revenue. "It's still not the robust, `Wow, we're back' kind of economy."
LeBovidge said corporations are earning more, judging from the tax numbers. The question is when they'll begin to start hiring and where.
"It doesn't do me any good if they hire people in Bangladesh," he said.
Representative John H. Rogers, the Norwood Democrat who is chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, also threw cold water on the prospect of carrying a huge amount of extra tax revenue into the next fiscal year. Rogers pointed out that the state's revenue projections for the first half of the fiscal year were so low it was easy to exceed them. The target numbers are much higher in the second half of the year, and the state might miss them if its recovery remains sluggish, leaving it with even less than the $356 million in extra money it has in hand now. "When you widen the strike zone, it's easy to throw strikes," Rogers said. "The strike zone is going to be significantly narrowed in the next two quarters."
The cautious comments emanating from Beacon Hill yesterday contrasted with a State House hearing last month, after which Romney budget chief Eric Kriss predicted that rising tax revenues would significantly shrink the projected 2005 budget shortfall. Though Kriss warned that "we're still looking at significant cuts in some areas," he declared that "we're looking at real economic growth for the first time since 2000."
At that time, Kriss said the administration expected to have as much as $489 million in extra money it could carry over into 2005.
Other witnesses at the hearing offered even rosier predictions: The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation said it expected the state to collect about $620 million more than projections, while the Beacon Hill Institute projected a final tally of about $730 million.
As it formulates its 2005 budget, the administration is also hoping to generate cash by rejiggering the payment plan for closing the $13.4 billion hole in the state's pension fund.
Last month, Romney said that moving back the deadline for paying off the unfunded liability, the gap between the retirement benefits the state will owe its workers and the assets it has to pay those benefits, would save the state $150 million this year. Legislative leaders have resisted that change, however.
Globe correspondent Matthew Rodriguez contributed to this report.
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The Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Tuesday, January 6, 2004
Romney vetoes likely to fail
Lawmakers back tomorrow
By Shaun Sutner, T&G Staff
News of rising tax revenues will greet state lawmakers tomorrow as they return to take up overrides of Gov. Mitt Romney's last-minute vetoes of $80 million in spending measures.
State Senate President Robert E. Travaglini, D-Boston, signaled yesterday that the Senate is ready to take up pressing unfinished business from last year - namely Mr. Romney's Nov. 26 vetoes. Mr. Travaglini told Statehouse News Service that the Senate plans to consider veto overrides in the next 10 to 15 days.
Meanwhile, in a speech at Marshfield High School yesterday, state House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran, D-Boston, listed "fiscal discipline," housing production and job creation as his top priorities for 2004.
Mr. Finneran also thanked students for get-well cards he received after hip replacement surgery last month.
Tomorrow, Mr. Finneran will kick off the year with his semi-annual address to the commonwealth in which he is expected to outline his 2004 agenda.
Mr. Finneran's emphasis on tight finances was seen by some observers as a reference to the need to keep the reins on state spending in light of recently rising revenues, a result of the improving economy and stock market.
Income tax collections in December were up 7.7 percent from December 2002. while corporate and business tax receipts rose 6.6 percent.
For the first six months of fiscal 2004, which ends June 30, income tax collections were up 7.6 percent. Corporate and business receipts, meanwhile, spiked 29 percent in the first half of the fiscal year.
"The speaker is reading into the fact that revenues are up and that gets everyone wanting to spend it 10 times," said state Rep. Patricia A.
Walrath, D-Stow, one of Mr. Finneran's top fiscal advisers.
However, Ms. Walrath said that the speaker likely will push for overrides of much of the $50 million that Mr. Romney vetoed Nov. 26 from the Legislature's $100 million economic stimulus package.
Even with the apparent recovery of the state's long-ailing finances, state government is still in tough fiscal shape, with a projected budget deficit for fiscal 2005 of more than $1 billion because of rising Medicaid and pension costs, Ms. Walrath said.
"If you're adding to things that turn out to bring in more money that's a more favorable response than if you're adding to make the structural deficit bigger," said the lawmaker, who also represents Bolton, Lancaster and Hudson.
The House and Senate will meet tomorrow in formal sessions for the first time since Thanksgiving eve.
Charles R. Rasmussen, a spokesman for Mr. Finneran, said the House, which initiates overrides, likely will begin taking up vetoes next week, with other legislation to follow.
With Democrats dominating both chambers, vetoes selected by legislative leaders for overrides likely will be overridden.
Up for overrides are dozens of spending items in the stimulus bill and a $111 million supplemental budget that the governor trimmed by $30.2 million.
Key line items include:
State Sen. Harriette L. Chandler, D-Worcester, said she will push to restore funding for the immigrant health care benefits.
"These are 2,500 legal immigrants we're talking about," she said.
Mrs. Chandler also said she was cheered by Mr. Finneran's reference to housing, which she interpreted as support for the compromise affordable housing bill she developed as co-chairwoman of the state Legislature's Housing Committee.
The legislation, an overhaul of the 33-year-old law known as "Chapter 40B," is stuck in the state House Ways and Means Committee.
With the speaker's support, some observers expect it to emerge for floor debate this session, possibly in March.
"We can't have housing production without an affordable housing law that's up to date and that meets the needs of the commonwealth," Ms. Chandler said.
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The Boston Herald
Tuesday, January 6, 2004
A Boston Herald editorial
Lots of work ahead as re-election looms
Legislators return to work tomorrow for the second half of the 2003/2004 session with plenty to accomplish before its official end on July 31, if they want to compile a record worthy of voters' support in November.
Passage of a fiscal 2005 budget- balanced without raising taxes - is top of the list. While the economic picture is improving, many analysts are predicting at least a $1 billion deficit for fiscal 2005 which must be closed through further reform and restructuring instead of burdensome new taxes and fees.
There's plenty left on the government restructuring and reform "to do" list, too. First, the Turnpike Authority's days should be numbered. As unprecedented highway spending on the Big Dig winds down, it's past time lawmakers assessed the efficiency of having two state agencies manage the state's highways.
And while no one on Beacon Hill wants to see further local aid cuts, there's no reason why municipal reforms shouldn't be approved this spring to help get cities and towns back on their feet. Elimination of the antiquated filed sub-bid law and authorization of a design/build method of construction, among other changes, deserve support.
We expect Gov. Mitt Romney to push ahead with a courts consolidation plan, too. This is truly rolling a rock uphill if the results of his efforts to eliminate the Boston Municipal Court are any example. (In response, the Legislature expanded rather than eliminated that court's jurisdiction). Still legislators will be hard-pressed to explain the BMC override votes last year and retaining underutilized district courts this year, all the while decrying underfunded school districts.
Pension reform, too, must be tackled. Legislators at a minimum should support changes to the state pension system to avoid obscene payouts like that granted to former University of Massachusetts President William
Bulger. And extending the pension liability payment schedule would serve to minimize the immediate budget impact of full-funding.
The death penalty should be brought up for a vote once Romney's death penalty commission makes its recommendations. On election day, it should be clear which lawmakers support the sentence given to triple-murderer Gary Sampson and want that same quality of justice available in state courts, and which lawmakers do not. Craftsmanship is key here to guarding against wrongful executions, but it can be done.
The eyes of the nation, and certainly of the presidential candidates, will be on the Legislature as they act on gay marriage pursuant to the Supreme Judicial Court's order. A vote for civil unions coupled with a vote to move a constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of a man and woman forward, will demonstrate legislators' willingness to take a stand - at last - on even the toughest issues.
Instead of whining about Romney's efforts to recruit Republican candidates to challenge them this November, incumbent lawmakers who back this reform agenda will be making the case for their reelection.
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The Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Monday, January 5, 2004
Public employee union monopoly unbalances ecology of government
By Eric Kriss
Eric A. Kriss is the secretary of the state Executive Office for Administration and Finance.
I spend much of my time thinking about balance. In difficult fiscal times like these, balance usually refers to making sure state expenditures don’t outstrip revenues.
But balance has a much broader meaning in the context of government. It is an ecological-like concept about stable relationships, enduring institutions, and ultimately our civic aspirations.
A poorly balanced political process is the enemy of this fragile governmental balance. If too-powerful industrialists force factories on old open squares, we lose city parks. If developers become too powerful and raze old neighborhoods, entire communities can be lost, as we saw with Boston’s West End.
A significant political imbalance exists in Massachusetts. It is subtle and out of public view, but imposes great burdens on the commonwealth’s citizens.
I’m not referring to the lopsided ratio of Democrats to Republicans in the Legislature. Those individuals are duly elected. Instead, I refer to the overwhelming influence of public employee unions here.
Ninety-one percent of executive branch employees in Massachusetts are unionized, compared to 35 percent of state employees nationally and less than 15 percent of all other workers in the commonwealth. Public employee unions enjoy a legislatively granted labor monopoly over Massachusetts state and municipal employment that is unique among the 50 states.
Like any monopoly, a labor monopoly creates political imbalance. The first victim of monopoly is competition. This lack of competition imposes a hidden tax on every citizen of the commonwealth.
The monopoly tax blatantly manifests itself in the commonwealth’s anti-outsourcing law. The so-called Pacheco law, named for Taunton state Sen. Marc Pacheco, virtually prevents private industry from competing to provide services currently performed by state employees.
In the last decade, only six state functions have been outsourced. A proposal to contract out the operation of some MBTA bus routes that would have saved an estimated $60 million over five years was struck down under the law. A deal under which a private company would have cleaned and maintained MBTA bus shelters for free and guaranteed the T a revenue stream from the sale of electronic advertising met a similar fate.
The message to private industry is clear: The commonwealth is not interested in doing business. It’s no surprise that in the decade the law has been in place, no other state has chosen to adopt similar legislation.
In the Department of Environmental Protection, administrative law judges — that’s right, judges — are unionized. When DEP attempted to institute performance standards for the
ALJs, the union alleged an unfair labor practice.
Judges are in the union, so why not lawyers? Well over half the lawyers in the executive branch are unionized. The result is split loyalty for professionals whose client — the governor — may pursue policies perceived to be contrary to the interests of their union.
The monopoly tax is taking its toll right now, as the Romney administration crafts our fiscal 2005 budget proposal. In the last few years, the Legislature has approved three early retirement plans; the most recent passed this year over the governor’s veto. While early retirements save money in the short run by decreasing the number of employees, enhanced retirement packages add to the commonwealth’s massive unfunded pension liability.
One of the reasons for using early retirements instead of layoffs to achieve workforce reductions was the looming threat of “bumping,” a right contained in all executive branch collective bargaining agreements.
When a unionized state employee is laid off, he or she can bump, or take the position of, another employee in the same or a lower job title with less seniority. That employee then bumps another in a chain that can last eight to 10 weeks. The result is a train wreck in which remaining employees often occupy positions for which they are minimally qualified.
Early retirements avoid this cascading disruption, which would bring agencies to their knees.
But as the commonwealth enters another difficult budget cycle, we will have to divert an additional $138 million from important services just to fund the extra pension costs associated with these three recent early retirements. Earlier this year, our proposal to eliminate bumping rights was summarily rejected.
The heart of public sector unions’ labor monopoly has long been the belief that public employees earn less than their private sector counterparts. That may once have been true, but according to a 2002 Bureau of Labor Statistics report, public employees in eastern Massachusetts now earn 20 percent more than their private sector counterparts in comparable positions.
Reducing the power of the public sector union monopoly is not anti-worker, just as mitigating the power of an industrial monopoly isn’t anti-business. Adopting policies that are more in line with the National Labor Relations Act and other states would free us to provide incentives for excellence, reward performance and enhance the commonwealth’s ability to retain our best employees.
And along with this return to governmental balance would come a tangible benefit for every Massachusetts taxpayer: repeal of the hidden monopoly tax.
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