CLT
UPDATE
Friday, January 16, 2004
Another dark-of-the-night House
conspiracy succeeds
Just minutes after Gov. Mitt Romney's State of the State address, the Massachusetts House went to great lengths - adjourning until Friday but then unexpectedly returning - to pass a bill that business leaders see as a tax hike....
Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, who joined House lawmakers on the rostrum to lobby for the ad hoc reconvening of the House, hugged House Republican Leader Rep. Bradley Jones (R-North Reading) after Jones agreed not to block the House session from continuing past 9 pm. Only a handful of lawmakers were on hand.
Jones was visibly annoyed that the House had returned after adjourning and initially balked at meeting past 9 pm, but then relented. To advance the bill in the shadow of Romney's high-profile speech, Medford Mayor Michael McGlynn joined Menino and his aides on the House floor in openly lobbying Jones and the few legislators who did not charge out of the chamber when the address was completed....
Afterwards, House Clerk Steven James said the sudden second meeting was allowable under House rules. The House may meet by unanimous consent at a time earlier than stipulated in an adjournment order, James said. He cited an instance in 1991 when the House did so. James said he did not have time to elaborate on the parliamentary principles involved, but would be willing to do so next week.
One important question remained hanging Thursday: what constitutes "unanimous consent" when most House members believe their body is not due to meet again until a given later date, and no notice is given of leadership's intention to call the House back into session? No answer was available Thursday night.
The Senate, which approved the bill earlier Thursday, was waiting for its return and quickly sent it to Romney's desk.
State House News Service
Friday, January 16, 2004
Adjournment doesn't stop House,
Menino from advancing key tax bill
Despite a legal requirement to arrive at a consensus revenue estimate - a reform adopted in the 1990s - it's often a contentious debate. But with the governor and House and Senate leaders now working off the same balance sheet, a tough budget process should go more smoothly.
The three will base their budget plans on a revenue take of $15.8 billion, or $1 billion more than this year....
Raising taxes will simply slow the state's economic recovery and Gov. Mitt Romney took that option off the table in his speech last night anyway. Papering over the structural deficit in the hopes revenue growth exceeds expectations will leave the state vulnerable to another fiscal crisis when the economic cycle turns bad again. Higher fees, last year's budget
saviour, are simply tax wolves in sheep's clothing.
Romney's zero-based budget approach is a good start - figuring out what the state should be spending on services rather than taking this year's figure and tacking on inflation.
A Boston Herald editorial
Friday, January 16, 2004
Revenue agreement a start
Declaring the state of the Commonwealth to be "much stronger" than it was during last year's budget crisis, Governor Mitt Romney last night proposed state university scholarships for top MCAS performers and full-day kindergarten, parenting classes, and other aid for struggling school districts.
In an annual State of the State address notable for its specifics, Romney told legislators and other state leaders gathered in the House chamber that staying on "the road of reform" will generate much of the money for his education initiatives, which would cost about $56 million in fiscal 2005 and nearly $100 million when they are fully implemented in four years. He argues that rising state revenues will help him to add money to education and aid to cities and towns after cuts last year....
Last night, Romney pointed once again to "reforms" as a way to generate major savings. Among other changes, the governor said he would like to merge the Turnpike Authority with the Highway Department, which he says would give the state a one-time windfall of $190 million and then $20 million annually; scrap "burdensome construction and bidding rules" for state and local building projects; and allow private employers to compete for state work. The governor has pushed all three ideas before.
"When we eliminate waste in government, we can do more for people," Romney said....
Romney said his budget would increase health and human services spending by $500 million, but advocates said most, if not all, of that amount would be devoured by rising health-care costs in the Medicaid program, and wouldn't result in new services or programs -- or even restore the cuts of the past three years in agencies such as the Department of Public Health and the Department of Youth Services.
"It's like the governor claiming he increased payroll at his company by giving one person a $100,000 raise and cutting everybody else's paycheck," said Stephen Collins, who heads the Massachusetts Human Services Coalition. "The governor is being disingenuous at best."
The Boston Globe
Friday, January 16, 2004
Romney looks to boost school aid, scholarships
Says reforms would cover much of costs
Democrats generally applauded Romney's proposed education initiatives, but again, questioned why he had not supported similar programs last year.
The Massachusetts Teachers Association dismissed Romney's plan as a "drop in the bucket compared to the quarter of a billion dollars in state education funding that was cut last year."
The Boston Herald
Friday, January 16, 2004
Doubting Dems advise: Don't listen, watch
Gov. Mitt Romney played let's make a deal in his State of the State address last night, proposing a host of new education programs and a modest increase in local aid, all of which are near and dear to the hearts of legislators.
And the catch? Well, in order for the state to afford all of that - and without raising taxes - the governor also called for a host of reforms in the way the state does business.
"Quite simply, reform is about putting people first," Romney said. "Putting people first is harder than it sounds. We have to put people we don't know ahead of political friends we do know, schoolchildren ahead of teacher unions and taxpayers ahead of special interests."
A Boston Herald editorial
Friday, January 16, 2004
Mitt to legislators: Let's make a deal
He sounded pleasant, but the message Governor Mitt Romney delivered last night to the Democrats who run the Legislature had a clear political warning: Don't stand in the way of what he described as "reform." ...
For example, Romney talked of funding his new education initiative by generating money from reforms in state government, including a merger of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and the state Highway Department. The choice he drew was clear: If lawmakers try to save the Turnpike Authority, they will deprive the Commonwealth's school children.
"Let's choose our children," Romney said....
Democrats are agitated that Romney is targeting their seats, yet their hold remains firm on the Legislature: There are just 23 Republicans in the 160-member House and six in the 40-member Senate.
One potential response to Romney, the Democrats say privately, is to politically attack him and organize for the fall elections, counting on winning a showdown. The other course is to meet his policy challenges and craft their own "reform" agenda.
The Boston Globe
Friday, January 16, 2004
Analyis: Address opens struggle with Democrats
Gov. Mitt Romney laid out an ambitious - and expensive - plan for pumping hundreds of millions of new dollars into education, local aid and health care in his State of the State speech last night.
But Romney said the cash-strapped state can afford it, if reluctant lawmakers would just go along with his reform plans....
"We don't need fancy celebration parties," Romney said. "We don't need a Turnpike thinking about building a pie-in-the-sky monorail, and we sure don't need to pay toll takers more than we pay teachers."
The governor also jabbed at the state's unions, blasting the "inefficiency, waste and excess" of the monopoly that state workers hold over construction projects, and proposing to give school principals the ability to hire and fire teachers at will.
The Boston Herald
Friday, January 16, 2004
Romney gets bullish:
Gov says reforms will cover spending plans
Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
While the rest of the state was understandably
distracted by the governor's State of the State speech last night, some
in the House and Senate were conspiring to sneak through a tax hike
while nobody was looking ... including most legislators.
Even as guests, dignitaries and most members of the
House were emptying from the House chamber after the speech -- following
official adjournment of the House -- a few conspirators quietly
remained behind plotting in the shadows. Once alone, they quickly invoked a
dubious House rule and reopened the House session, despite having just
minutes before sent the rest of its members happily packing home until the announced
next informal session on Friday.
Meanwhile, Senate co-conspirators gathered in their
lair awaiting the victim of the House conspiracy to be delivered into their
hands. Once the business tax hike passed by what little remained of the House
it was whisked over to the Senate. There it was quickly
rubber-stamped and dropped on the governor's doorstep. Gov. Romney has ten days to act
on it.
Just two days ago, the Boston
Globe reported, "Senate President Robert E. Travaglini, in an unusual attempt to upstage a governor a day before the State of the State address ... urged Romney to avoid a
'political agenda or personal attacks.'" As with fund-raising
events, arrogant legislative leaders prefer to keep secret
political agendas all to themselves.
State House News Service reporter Michael Norton
further pointed out:
Afterwards, House Clerk Steven James said the sudden second meeting was allowable under House rules. The House may meet by unanimous consent at a time earlier than stipulated in an adjournment order, James said....
One important question remained hanging Thursday: what constitutes "unanimous consent" when most House members believe their body is not due to meet again until a given later date, and no notice is given of leadership's intention to call the House back into session? No answer was available Thursday night.
Again, "The Best Legislature Money Can Buy"
has betrayed democracy, made a greater farce of its whimsical
rules, and failed its constituents. In the dark of night,
while most citizens were distracted by a ceremonious event, the Bacon
Hill Cabal leadership conspired to put a fast one over on the public and
its own members -- and in so doing demonstrated once again its disdain
and contempt for both.
Will the sheep who purport to represent us at
election time go quietly into the night ... silently stand in the
shadows, eunuchs humbled before the scoundrels they've empowered? Even though
we all recognize that being a legislator isn't honestly the fulltime job
they portray it to be, we should expect any legislator to be more
aware of his or her surroundings -- especially considering the company
they not only keep but continually elevate to lead them. Last night's
cuckold
legislators, which includes most of the House, should be ashamed and righteously
outraged at least over this abuse
of themselves if not the democratic process.
If there is no revolt in the House over this callous abuse of power -- in a year in which many of the flock will
face credible challengers -- then these members' self-worthlessness
will provide voters with clear justification in November to fire them and hire
someone more conscientious who possesses even a modicum of self-respect.
*
*
*
Budget representatives from the governor's office,
the House and the Senate have agreed on the required revenue estimate
for Fiscal Year 2005, anticipating $15.8 billion from tax revenues
alone. That's $1 billion more than this year.
Still that's not enough. They're telling us a billion
more will still leave a "gap" in state spending of
another billion dollars!
The state anticipates spending a billion dollars more
next year than this year, but More Is Never Enough (MINE) ... and never
will be.
Last night Governor Romney proposed what on initial
analysis appears to be about $700 million in additional spending.
Gimme Lobby special interest advocates shriek in unison, "Still not
enough!"
The governor's proposed "Legacy of Learning" plan would
increase K-12 school funding by $100 million and higher education by $70
million. "The Massachusetts Teachers Association dismissed Romney's plan as a
'drop in the bucket compared to the quarter of a billion dollars in state education funding that was cut last
year.'" More Is Never Enough ... and never will be!
The governor's budget will "increase health and human services spending by $500
million." An insatiable spokesman for the human services industrial
complex replied: "'It's like the governor claiming he increased payroll at his company by giving one person a $100,000 raise and cutting everybody else's
paycheck.... The governor is being disingenuous at best.'" More
Is Never Enough ... and never will be!
Regardless of how you feel about throwing even more money at so-called education, give them credit: the governor and his
advisors have co-opted an effective tactic used far too long by greedy tax-and-spend lobbyists.
If the Legislature again this year insists on saving
the Turnpike Authority at any expense over his reform agenda, the governor is saying
that choice will deprive the Commonwealth's school children.
Romney said, "Let's choose our children."
"We have to put people we don't know ahead of political friends we do know, schoolchildren ahead of teacher unions and taxpayers ahead of special interests."
Governor Romney has thrown down the gauntlet,
positioned the status quo career politicians to confront trade-offs,
face reform or suffer the consequences ... put their money where their
mouths have been for so long. The most direct route to Romney's reforms
is to pit the unions and insatiable special interests against the
children.
If state government reform doesn't finally come this
year, the pols will instead maintain their self-serving status quo only
at the expense of the children.
We need reform now "for the children."
|
|
|
Chip
Ford |
PS. Remember when
you hear about a $1 billion "deficit," a $1.5 billion "budget
gap," or a $2 billion "hole in the budget," they're
talking about the increase they want but can't have.
The budget next year will increase -- just as it did this year
-- only not by as much as those feeding at the public trough
would like.
State House News Service
Friday, January 16, 2004
Adjournment doesn't stop House,
Menino from advancing key tax bill
By Michael P. Norton
Just minutes after Gov. Mitt Romney's State of the State address, the Massachusetts House went to great lengths - adjourning until Friday but then unexpectedly returning - to pass a bill that business leaders see as a tax hike.
The legislation allows cities and towns to minimize soaring residential property tax bills by passing more of the property tax burden onto owners of commercial and industrial properties. Municipal leaders say it provides critical tax relief. Business groups strongly oppose the bill.
Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, who joined House lawmakers on the rostrum to lobby for the ad hoc reconvening of the House, hugged House Republican Leader Rep. Bradley Jones (R-North Reading) after Jones agreed not to block the House session from continuing past 9 pm. Only a handful of lawmakers were on hand.
Jones was visibly annoyed that the House had returned after adjourning and initially balked at meeting past 9 pm, but then relented. To advance the bill in the shadow of Romney's high-profile speech, Medford Mayor Michael McGlynn joined Menino and his aides on the House floor in openly lobbying Jones and the few legislators who did not charge out of the chamber when the address was completed.
For a time, it appeared Menino's direct lobbying would not pay off. And when the House adjourned at 8:23 pm, it looked like the bill was on hold, at least until the scheduled informal session on Friday at 11 am. That time had been set by vote of the House at the end of Thursday's normal session.
Four minutes later, House Majority Leader Salvatore DiMasi (D-Boston) reopened the session, declaring he has received unanimous consent to do so. The move brought no objection from Rep. Mary
Rogeness, an East Longmeadow Republican monitoring House activity on behalf of the minority party. The tax bill was then amended, without any debate.
Afterwards, House Clerk Steven James said the sudden second meeting was allowable under House rules. The House may meet by unanimous consent at a time earlier than stipulated in an adjournment order, James said. He cited an instance in 1991 when the House did so. James said he did not have time to elaborate on the parliamentary principles involved, but would be willing to do so next week.
One important question remained hanging Thursday: what constitutes "unanimous consent" when most House members believe their body is not due to meet again until a given later date, and no notice is given of leadership's intention to call the House back into session? No answer was available Thursday night.
The Senate, which approved the bill earlier Thursday, was waiting for its return and quickly sent it to Romney's desk. Romney opposes new taxes and while the bill allows some residential tax relief, it does pave the way for taxes to be raised on commercial property owners. He has 10 days to act on the bill.
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The Boston Herald
Friday, January 16, 2004
A Boston Herald editorial
Revenue agreement a start
The white smoke finally appeared over the office of Administration and Finance Secretary Eric Kriss on Wednesday, signaling an agreement with legislative leaders on a revenue estimate for the next fiscal year.
Budget watchers wondered when, and even whether, such a deal would be reached, much like Vatican observers await the naming of a new pontiff.
Despite a legal requirement to arrive at a consensus revenue estimate - a reform adopted in the 1990s - it's often a contentious debate. But with the governor and House and Senate leaders now working off the same balance sheet, a tough budget process should go more smoothly.
The three will base their budget plans on a revenue take of $15.8 billion, or $1 billion more than this year.
Still, that's a billion dollars fewer than the state took in in fiscal 2001 and leaves a gap to fill of at least $1 billion.
An agreement to fiddle with pension funding, backloading payments to later years and changing the revaluation date to account for gains made in 2003, will ease the pressure a bit. A prudent use of some reserve funds is appropriate. But the rest will require the use of those most old-fashioned of budget-balancing tools: reforms and spending cuts.
After three consecutive lean budget years, that news will be as welcome to legislators as the proverbial skunk at a garden party, but the alternatives are much worse.
Raising taxes will simply slow the state's economic recovery and Gov. Mitt Romney took that option off the table in his speech last night anyway. Papering over the structural deficit in the hopes revenue growth exceeds expectations will leave the state vulnerable to another fiscal crisis when the economic cycle turns bad again. Higher fees, last year's budget
saviour, are simply tax wolves in sheep's clothing.
Romney's zero-based budget approach is a good start - figuring out what the state should be spending on services rather than taking this year's figure and tacking on inflation.
Reforms which were discarded by the Legislature last year will help, too, though their fiscal benefit kicks in more fully in the future. But what legislator hoping to get reelected will vote to retain the Turnpike Authority if the alternative is more cuts in local aid?
The choice is really that stark.
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The Boston Globe
Friday, January 16, 2004
Romney looks to boost school aid, scholarships
Says reforms would cover much of costs
By Scott S. Greenberger, Globe Staff
Declaring the state of the Commonwealth to be "much stronger" than it was during last year's budget crisis, Governor Mitt Romney last night proposed state university scholarships for top MCAS performers and full-day kindergarten, parenting classes, and other aid for struggling school districts.
In an annual State of the State address notable for its specifics, Romney told legislators and other state leaders gathered in the House chamber that staying on "the road of reform" will generate much of the money for his education initiatives, which would cost about $56 million in fiscal 2005 and nearly $100 million when they are fully implemented in four years. He argues that rising state revenues will help him to add money to education and aid to cities and towns after cuts last year.
The governor also pledged to overhaul the state's troubled school building assistance program. There are currently more than 300 projects on the state's waiting list and Romney promised to "jump start" more than 100 of them through "construction reform and a refinancing program."
"Make no mistake, these are still difficult times. We still face deficits. We still face hard choices," said Romney, who walked a red carpet from his State House office to the century-old chamber for the address. "But, if we stay on the road of reform, placing the interests of people first, we can do some good things this year, some very good things."
Romney's speech was markedly different from those of the last three years, when state officials have been focused on cutting programs, not expanding them.
Romney called his education initiative the "Legacy of Learning" program. Overall, he said, the roughly $24 billion budget blueprint he will unveil in two weeks would increase K-12 school spending by $100 million, or about 2.6 percent, and boost higher education spending by $70 million, or about 9 percent. Neither increase would bring spending back to fiscal 2003 levels.
Romney, who was interrupted numerous times by applause, also repeated his pledge not to raise taxes and promised "a modest increase in local aid" to cities and towns.
Senator Robert A. Antonioni, the Leominster Democrat who chairs the Education Committee, called Romney's education proposals "ambitious" but said, "the big question with all this stuff is how you're going to pay for all this."
"He has some expensive things here," Antonioni said. "Where you come up with the money is going to be the $60,000 question -- or the $1 billion question."
The administration and Democratic lawmakers differ on how large a budget gap the state will face in fiscal 2005, mostly because they hold different views of how much it will cost to maintain current programs and services. Romney says the state will have a $1 billion gap, while Representative John H. Rogers, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, predicts a gap of $1.5 billion.
Last night, Romney pointed once again to "reforms" as a way to generate major savings. Among other changes, the governor said he would like to merge the Turnpike Authority with the Highway Department, which he says would give the state a one-time windfall of $190 million and then $20 million annually; scrap "burdensome construction and bidding rules" for state and local building projects; and allow private employers to compete for state work. The governor has pushed all three ideas before.
"When we eliminate waste in government, we can do more for people," Romney said.
Several of Romney's initiatives stalled last year in the Democrat-dominated Legislature. Since taking office, Romney helped push University of Massachusetts president William Bulger from office, persuaded lawmakers to overhaul the Metropolitan District Commission, and has taken on state employees unions. Romney's broadside against waste last night elicited a standing ovation, but Democratic leaders remain skeptical that the changes he is proposing will produce the savings he promises. Many of them are wary of the merger of the two highway departments.
"We've got a billion-dollar problem. I would hope he has more imagination than that," said Representative Peter J. Larkin, the Pittsfield Democrat who is a key lieutenant of House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran. "We are not afraid of reform, but they have to be real, they have to be substantive."
Romney said his budget would increase health and human services spending by $500 million, but advocates said most, if not all, of that amount would be devoured by rising health-care costs in the Medicaid program, and wouldn't result in new services or programs -- or even restore the cuts of the past three years in agencies such as the Department of Public Health and the Department of Youth Services.
"It's like the governor claiming he increased payroll at his company by giving one person a $100,000 raise and cutting everybody else's paycheck," said Stephen Collins, who heads the Massachusetts Human Services Coalition. "The governor is being disingenuous at best."
Some outside the chamber greeted the governor's education proposals, which were cheered by lawmakers, with a more measured tone.
Jeff DeFlavio, the student member of the state Board of Education, praised Romney's scholarship proposal and predicted it would attract many takers. Still, he wondered whether students in affluent suburbs, who tend to score higher on the MCAS tests, would benefit instead of students in poorer cities who tend to score lower on the exams. Romney's proposal is to pay the tuition of students whose MCAS scores rank in the top 25 percent statewide, not in each school.
"Where are the kids living who need a full ride to higher education? It's going to be in Springfield rather than Belmont," said
DeFlavio, a senior at Belmont High School. "It's really important to have those numbers before we can say whether it's a really great idea or not." It sounds like it has a lot of potential."
Shawn Feddeman, Romney's spokeswoman, acknowledged that students in wealthier districts were likely to qualify disproportionately for the scholarships. Nevertheless, she said, the program would be "an incentive to do better on MCAS and attract some of the best and brightest to our state universities."
In addition to education, which dominated last night's address, Romney also pledged to deal with the state's high auto insurance premiums and to "tackle our housing crisis," reiterating his campaign promise to double the number of annual housing starts to 32,000 by the end of his first term.
"Our housing is expensive for one primary reason: We don't build enough of it," Romney said. "I look forward to working with the Democratic and Republican leadership and the members of the Legislature to create new laws that remove the barriers to building more housing."
Romney concluded his remarks with a tribute to the 16 Massachusetts military men who have been killed in Afghanistan, Iraq, and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since Sept. 11, 2001, mentioning all of them by name.
"These heroes we remember, we extol, we salute," he said.
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The Boston Herald
Friday, January 16, 2004
Doubting Dems advise: Don't listen, watch
By Steve Marantz/Analysis
Democratic lawmakers were sitting on their hands a third of the way through Gov. Mitt Romney's State of the State address last night - their figurative gloves off.
One Democrat -Rep. Vincent A. Pedone (D-Worcester) - actually booed when Romney ripped the Turnpike Authority for throwing "fancy celebration parties."
Watch Romney's feet, not his mouth, Democratic leaders said.
"The governor's rhetoric is 180 degrees opposite the reality of his actions," said Rep. John H. Rogers (D-Norwood), House budget chief.
Rogers cited a litany of cuts Romney made last year that were inconsistent with the goals he professed last night, including $100 million from local aid, $20 million from third-grade class size reduction, $25 million from kindergarten expansion, $50 million from school transportation, and $23 million from local police and firefighters.
In all cases, Rogers said, Democratic lawmakers stepped in to restore Romney's cuts.
Moreover, Romney said he would not raise taxes, but last year he proposed $90 million in additional taxes on the insurance industry, and $10 million on used car sales - both opposed by Democrats.
"Ironically, now he wants to reform auto insurance rates," Rogers said.
Romney's plan to merge the Turnpike with the highway department will yield a one-time windfall of about $210 million, but it will shift the cost of the Big Dig from the federal government and tollpayers to state taxpayers, Rogers said.
Democrats generally applauded Romney's proposed education initiatives, but again, questioned why he had not supported similar programs last year.
The Massachusetts Teachers Association dismissed Romney's plan as a "drop in the bucket compared to the quarter of a billion dollars in state education funding that was cut last year."
One program providing full tuition to the top two students in each Massachusetts high school was vetoed last year by Romney, and overridden. But last night Romney proposed a full ride for high school students in the top 25 percent of MCAS scores.
"The challenge is how do his education plans square with his promise to fully fund local aid and with our budget constraints," said Sen. David P. Magnani (D-Framingham), education chairman.
Magnani pointed out that Romney cut special education funding last year, forcing towns and cities to pick up the costs.
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The Boston Herald
Friday, January 16, 2004
A Boston Herald editorial
Mitt to legislators: Let's make a deal
Gov. Mitt Romney played let's make a deal in his State of the State address last night, proposing a host of new education programs and a modest increase in local aid, all of which are near and dear to the hearts of legislators.
And the catch? Well, in order for the state to afford all of that - and without raising taxes - the governor also called for a host of reforms in the way the state does business.
"Quite simply, reform is about putting people first," Romney said. "Putting people first is harder than it sounds. We have to put people we don't know ahead of political friends we do know, schoolchildren ahead of teacher unions and taxpayers ahead of special interests."
A cynic would say, "Lots of luck, Governor."
But 2004 is young and so is this administration, and surely it's not the time for cynicism - not yet.
Romney framed the issue well. It is what this budgetary game always comes down to. Last year he won some modest reforms - the abolition of the Metropolitan District Commission and a revamping of the Human Services bureaucracy.
This year he wants more - the merger of the state highway department and the now autonomous Massachusetts Turnpike Authority.
"We don't need two sets of managers, two legal departments, two public relations departments and two sets of books to manage one set of highways," Romney said. "We don't need a Turnpike thinking about building a pie-in-the-sky monorail. And we sure don't need to pay toll takers more than we pay teachers."
Romney also touched what has become one of the third rails of state government, the so-called Pacheco law, which brought a halt to most privatization efforts.
"Right now we virtually prohibit any private employer from competing for state work; state workers are given a monopoly. And monopolies mean inefficiency, waste and excess," he said. "Competition brings out the best in everybody."
It was a gutsy move on Romney's part, once again putting the reform agenda up front. The issue now becomes whether the spending pieces Romney offered up - more money for early childhood education, school building assistance, human services and scholarships for public school students to attend state universities - will be enough to buy legislative support for the reforms needed to help balance the state's books.
Lawmakers love to spend. They live to spend. Will they clip the wings of some of their old best friends in order to do that? Romney is betting that perhaps under the pressure of an election year they might find that kind of courage.
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The Boston Globe
Friday, January 16, 2004
Analyis: Address opens struggle with Democrats
By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff
He sounded pleasant, but the message Governor Mitt Romney delivered last night to the Democrats who run the Legislature had a clear political warning: Don't stand in the way of what he described as "reform."
In his upbeat State of the State address, Romney was as optimistic as President Reagan, but he borrowed a phrase from President Clinton. The governor said he was "putting people first," a Clinton campaign motto in 1992.
"When we politicians forget that the people come first, we forget the great lesson of America. And, we begin to hear calls for reform. Quite simply, reform is about putting people first," Romney said.
With the speech, Romney returned to a struggle with Democratic lawmakers over who owns the reform agenda and what reform really means. The only consensus is that the word has powerful political connotations and that at this point Romney has the upper hand. He uttered the word "reform" more than 10 times.
"Reform is an incredibly loaded word," said Elizabeth Sherman, a research fellow at the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. "It is like mother and apple pie. It is a winning theme and very hard to be against it."
For example, Romney talked of funding his new education initiative by generating money from reforms in state government, including a merger of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and the state Highway Department. The choice he drew was clear: If lawmakers try to save the Turnpike Authority, they will deprive the Commonwealth's school children.
"Let's choose our children," Romney said.
His assault on the authority and some of its controversies -- its canceled Big Dig party, its sale of land to Harvard University, proposals for "pie in the sky" monorails -- were clearly aimed at its chairman, Matthew
Amorello, although he did not name him. It stirred a few boos from the Democratic lawmakers.
Amorello, forewarned that Romney would target his agency in the speech, decided to attend nonetheless, state officials said last night. The controversial, $205,000-a-year MTA chairman has moved into Romney's cross-hairs now that William M. Bulger has been forced from the University of Massachusetts presidency.
"We don't need fancy celebration parties," said Romney, using a line that elicited both applause from his supporters and boos from some hardline Democrats.
No matter how much pomp and ceremony filled the House chamber last night, including an invocation from Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley, it was clear from Romney's speech that the battle is joined. The speech was delivered at the beginning of an election year in which Romney is working hard to field Republican challengers to run against many of the Democrats who were seated before him last night.
Senate president Robert E. Travaglini, in an unprecedented challenge to a governor before his speech, this week set the tone, when he called on Romney to "avoid symbolic attacks" and what Democrats say are unrealistic claims that Romney would save millions with his proposals.
At times last night, Democrats appeared perplexed as to how to respond. A significant number did not join in the applause that frequently interrupted the speech. Travaglini refrained after Romney's attack on the turnpike and
Amorello, a former state senator.
Democrats are agitated that Romney is targeting their seats, yet their hold remains firm on the Legislature: There are just 23 Republicans in the 160-member House and six in the 40-member Senate.
One potential response to Romney, the Democrats say privately, is to politically attack him and organize for the fall elections, counting on winning a showdown. The other course is to meet his policy challenges and craft their own "reform" agenda. For example, House Speaker Thomas Finneran proposed an early childhood education
initiative last week. Romney "has some good ideas; a lot of us want to work with him," said Representative Barry
Finegold, an Andover Democrat. "I wish he would work on getting the job done, rather than create a hostile environment."
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The Boston Herald
Friday, January 16, 2004
Romney gets bullish:
Gov says reforms will cover spending plans
By Elisabeth J. Beardsley
Gov. Mitt Romney laid out an ambitious - and expensive - plan for pumping hundreds of millions of new dollars into education, local aid and health care in his State of the State speech last night.
But Romney said the cash-strapped state can afford it, if reluctant lawmakers would just go along with his reform plans.
The governor shrugged off a looming projected deficit in excess of $1 billion - striking a tone of bullish optimism.
"Today, I'm proud to report that the state of our commonwealth is much stronger," Romney said. "We're moving again, with purpose and determination, in the right direction."
In the 25-minute speech televised live from the House chamber, Romney touched on school funding, job creation, the housing crisis and reforming everything from the highway agencies to union monopolies.
In a move apparently aimed at seizing the popular mantle of education leader, Romney laid out a sweeping "Legacy of Learning" initiative that would boost K-12 school funding by $100 million and higher education by $70 million, and include:
While vowing to balance the budget without new taxes, Romney said he would propose a "modest" increase in local aid to cities and towns, in contrast to waves of cuts over the past year.
Romney also warned the state's gigantic outlay for health and human services will grow by another $500 million this year.
"Quite simply, reform is about putting citizens first," Romney said. "This is not the time to take our foot off the gas pedal."
The governor bored in on his pet project to merge the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and Highway Department - a proposal roundly rejected by lawmakers last year.
Creating a single highway agency could save $20 million a year - plus $190 million in one-time savings - Romney said, even as he hammered at the spectacles of symbolic excess that have come to characterize the tenure of Turnpike chief Matt Amorello.
"We don't need fancy celebration parties," Romney said. "We don't need a Turnpike thinking about building a pie-in-the-sky monorail, and we sure don't need to pay toll takers more than we pay teachers."
The governor also jabbed at the state's unions, blasting the "inefficiency, waste and excess" of the monopoly that state workers hold over construction projects, and proposing to give school principals the ability to hire and fire teachers at will.
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