CLT
UPDATE
Wednesday, February 5, 2004
Dem's desperately dirty Senate
campaign
deserves a response
Millis Democrat Angus McQuilken has accepted more than $9,000 in donations from at least 19 different labor unions, but the groups also are rallying support for him in ways that do not show up on his campaign finance reports.
Under the umbrella of the Coalition for Taxpayer Protection, a group of labor unions have sponsored a radio advertisement that highlights McQuilken's stances on taxes and education while casting a negative light on his opponent, state Rep. Scott Brown, R-Wrentham.
Meanwhile, the Massachusetts Teachers Association has spent at least $11,092 this month to mail brochures to voters that tout McQuilken's candidacy, according to the Office of Campaign and Political Finance....
The Coalition for Taxpayer Protection, which was formed last summer, includes Council 93 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees as well as the Massachusetts Organization of State Engineers and Scientists....
Stephen Crawford, a political consultant who produced the ad, said its purpose was to spell out each candidate's position on issues of importance to the council.
"I know it accurately portrays the voting records and positions of both candidates," said Crawford, who once worked as a spokesman for former Gov. Michael Dukakis....
Barbara Anderson, executive director of Citizens for Limited
Taxation, said she fears that voters will confuse the name of the coalition with the name of her group, which has endorsed Brown.
"These people, the unions, are Public Enemy Number One when it comes to taxpayer protection," she said. "(The ad) certainly gives the wrong impression to the casual listener."
The list of unions that have donated up to $500 apiece to McQuilken's campaign includes Local 646 of the
AFSCME, the Massachusetts Nurses Association, the Boston Carmen's Union, several chapters of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the Boston Teachers Union and the Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts.
The MetroWest Daily News
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
McQuilken backers not always evident
Rep. Scott Brown must overcome a near perfect storm of obstacles to win a seat in the state Senate when voters go to the polls in the Norfolk, Bristol and Middlesex District a week from today. But if anyone can, it's this 24-year veteran of the Army National Guard and accomplished fighter in more than a few political wars.
Brown is an avowed fiscal conservative and tax cutter. He opposed freezing the income tax roll-back, fought against giving unfettered power to House Speaker Tom Finneran to grant leadership pay raises and stood solidly behind ballot questions to implement English immersion and Clean Elections....
Brown's record shouldn't get lost in all the shenanigans and distractions which have marked this special election. Democratic power brokers, fearful of losing Cheryl Jacques' Senate seat, plotted to ensure the special election would fall on Super Tuesday, guaranteeing a heavy Democratic turnout....
All of this would make a lesser candidate wilt in despair, but Brown has only grown more determined.
It's a leader with that kind of determination Romney and the voters of the Norfolk, Bristol and Middlesex District need in their corner. The Boston Herald is pleased to endorse Scott Brown for Senate.
A Boston Herald editorial
Tuesday, February 24, 2004
Brown for Senate, the battle is joined
A panel of federal judges ordered Massachusetts House leaders yesterday to redraw the Boston legislative map, determining that the plan crafted by House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran and his lieutenants was designed to protect their own political futures at the expense of black voters' constitutional rights.
The ruling gave House leaders six weeks to come up with a new map before the court creates a plan for them. The decision also barred the state from holding elections in the 17 House districts until the map is approved by the court....
Finneran was described in the ruling as keeping the redistricting process "on a short leash," and he declined to comment yesterday....
"The House was comfortable with manipulating district lines," the court ruled. "This sad fact speaks to the totality of the circumstances."
Finneran, on the stand and in written testimony, also told the court that he had nothing whatsoever to do with the process of redistricting, a stance that the three-judge panel found hard to believe, saying "the circumstantial evidence strongly suggests the opposite conclusion."
The Boston Globe
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
Boston's districts must be redrawn
House map is ruled to be racially unfair
All the proof state Board of Education member Roberta Schaefer needed to OK controversial new charter schools were the letters before her from public school students.
Schaefer ridiculed the letters against a proposed school in Marlboro for their missing punctuation and sloppy spelling - including a misspelling of the word "school" in one missive.
"If I didn't think a charter school was necessary, these letters have convinced me the high school was not doing an adequate job in teaching English language arts," Schaefer said.
Despite the letter-writing campaign, which Schaefer said was orchestrated by school officials, the Marlboro-based Advanced Math and Science Academy Charter School as well as new charter schools in Cambridge, Lynn and Barnstable were approved yesterday.
The Boston Herald
Tuesday, February 24, 2004
Gaffes spell doom:
Students’ sloppy letters aid charter schools’ approval
"Teacher union: Annual increases not a 'raise.'" – from a story in the February 21 North County Times in California, which details the position of the Oceanside Teachers Association that the $1.5 million in automatic step and column increases to teacher salaries next year do not constitute pay raises.
Does that mean if the next step had a lower salary, it wouldn’t be a pay cut?
Education Intelligence Agency
February 23, 2004
EIA Communiqué - Headline of the Week
With Governor Mitt Romney refusing to help cover Democratic National Convention costs, Mayor Thomas M. Menino has come up with a new idea: send the state a bill....
Menino is making his push for tax relief in the midst of a politically charged stand-off over which public entities should be responsible for convention-related costs. Perhaps $10 million of the convention's $65 million budget will have to be covered by some combination of city and state tax dollars.
Menino wants the state to pay, but Romney is refusing to go along and is insisting that all costs be borne by the private sector, the federal government, and the city of Boston....
House Republican leader Bradley H. Jones Jr. of North Reading ... noted that the convention wasn't thrust on Menino and that the mayor knew the state's tax arrangement when he lobbied national Democrats to choose Boston.
"You wanted the convention," Jones said.
The Boston Globe
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
Menino eyes billing state for DNC
Says city should get half of the extra tax revenues
Update on the Prop
2½ attack
See
CLT Memo of Feb. 23, 2004
H.4519 -- formerly H.4470 but now renumbered --
went to the Senate on Monday and remains there. Sen. Bob Hedlund
(R-Weymouth) was prepared to object if it had come to the floor, which
it didn't. If it does pass in the Senate and then is returned to the
House, Republican members are prepared to debate it and get a roll
call vote.
Barbara and I are scheduled to meet with Governor
Romney at 11:00 tomorrow morning and invited to attend a news
conference with him at 11:30, when we expect he will announce his
intent to veto this assault on Proposition 2½ if it is adopted by the
Legislature and sent to him.
Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
When I first heard the attack radio ad early
yesterday morning on WRKO "comparing" state Rep. Scott Brown's
positions with those of Angus McQuilken -- both of whom are running for
the Senate seat vacated by Cheryl Jacques in a special election next
Tuesday -- I was disgusted. Not only did it egregiously distort Rep.
Brown's record (100% rating with CLT) and praise McQuilken for how much
more he would spend, but then it had the audacity to claim to be
sponsored by some group called "the Coalition for Taxpayer
Protection"!
We decided to investigate who or what was behind
funding these ads. A call to the state Office of Campaign &
Political Finance revealed that OCPF had never heard of the group, that
the committee wasn't filed with them. Perhaps it is an "individual
expenditure committee," I was told.
I called MetroWest Daily News State House reporter
Michael Kunzelman, who's covering the senate campaign , but he'd never
heard of the group either. He decided to look into it as well.
By late-morning, Barbara, Chip Faulkner and I had run
it down. It is a front organization that includes public employee
unions AFSCME and MOSES -- hardly a coalition for taxpayer protection!
What they are doing apparently is perfectly legal, as long as it isn't
specifically coordinated with any (read McQuilken's) campaign.
In response, CLT issued our statewide news release --
"Support
for Brown Grows."
The desperation exhibited in such an over-the-top despicable
tactic -- misnaming a group that's entire existence is based on a desire
to tax and spend more a "coalition for taxpayer protection" --
is nothing short of fraud. If this election means that much to them,
then we'd better pay attention.
Please get out and vote next Tuesday if you are
in Rep. Scott Brown's senate district:
NORFOLK, BRISTOL AND MIDDLESEX SENATE DISTRICT —
Franklin, precincts 2 to 4, inclusive, Millis, Needham,
Norfolk, Plainville, Wellesley, precincts B, F and G, and
Wrentham, in the county of Norfolk; Attleboro, wards 1 and 2, ward 3, precinct A, and
North Attleboro, in the county of Bristol; and Natick, precincts 6, 7, 9 and 10,
Sherborn and Wayland, in the county of Middlesex.
If you have friends or family in that district, give
them a call too!
You can find out more about Scott Brown's Senate
campaign here.
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*
*
"With Governor Mitt Romney refusing to help cover Democratic National Convention costs, Mayor Thomas M. Menino has come up with a new idea: send the state a
bill." This is not a new idea -- it's always been the goal
of a scheme that's been fermenting
since Menino first conceived of putting Boston and himself in the
national spotlight.
We predicted this inevitable result back in
early-December, 2002, and we then began to document the steps taken to
reach its ultimate goal. As usual, we were and are right -- but when
you're dealing with Bay State pols, their pledges and their promises
until they get what the want, skepticism and cynicism never fails to
provide accurate prognostications.
You can follow the timeline from dream to taxpayer
bailout
by clicking the below link:
Boston DNC Convention 2004:
Anatomy of an inevitable taxpayer mugging
Menino hasn't got his anticipated taxpayer bailout --
yet -- but he's methodically setting his pieces in place. What do
you suppose the Democrat majority will do when Gov. Romney ultimately
vetoes the Legislature's inevitable bailout bill in the midst of its
"fiscal crisis"?
We will see, sooner or later, I assure you.
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Chip
Ford |
The MetroWest Daily News
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
McQuilken backers not always evident
By Michael Kunzelman, News Staff Writer
Millis Democrat Angus McQuilken has accepted more than $9,000 in donations from at least 19 different labor unions, but the groups also are rallying support for him in ways that do not show up on his campaign finance reports.
Under the umbrella of the Coalition for Taxpayer Protection, a group of labor unions have sponsored a radio advertisement that highlights McQuilken's stances on taxes and education while casting a negative light on his opponent, state Rep. Scott Brown, R-Wrentham.
Meanwhile, the Massachusetts Teachers Association has spent at least $11,092 this month to mail brochures to voters that tout McQuilken's candidacy, according to the Office of Campaign and Political Finance.
McQuilken was not required to disclose the cost of the radio ad or the MTA mailings on his campaign finance report because they are both "independent expenditures," produced without his knowledge or cooperation, said McQuilken's campaign manager, Sonia Chang.
"The MTA puts up a very clear wall between themselves and a campaign when they're going to make an independent expenditure," Chang said. "We've had almost no contact with them since the (Feb. 3) primary."
Brown's campaign, however, yesterday called on McQuilken to "adhere to the spirit of the law" and disclose all of the financial support he has received from special interests.
"We're up front about our agenda," said Brown campaign manager Rob Cunningham. "Angus is trying to hide his from voters."
Pamela Wilmot, executive director of the Common Cause Massachusetts government watchdog group, said interest groups frequently use independent expenditures to skirt the $500 annual limit on individual donations to legislative candidates.
"If you make an independent expenditure on behalf of a candidate, there are no contribution limits," she said. "A lot of times, they're not reported at all, even though they should be."
Dominick Ianno, executive director of the Massachusetts Republican Party, said the number of unions that have endorsed and financially supported McQuilken is "very telling about where he stands."
"I certainly think it's suspect that so many expenditures made on Angus' behalf are not out in the public realm," he said.
The Coalition for Taxpayer Protection, which was formed last summer, includes Council 93 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees as well as the Massachusetts Organization of State Engineers and Scientists.
The coalition's radio ad, which started airing yesterday on WRKO and
WEEI, stops short of endorsing McQuilken's campaign. But it is easy to discern which candidate would earn its members' support.
"One politician on Tuesday's ballot wants to cut state receipts even further," the ad states. "Scott Brown is running in the special election and sponsored a bill that could cost the state another $450 million."
The ad goes on to state that McQuilken "thinks cutting state revenue means cutting vital programs," and notes that he wants to "fund full-day kindergarten statewide," while Brown "voted to cut millions of dollars for kindergarten."
Stephen Crawford, a political consultant who produced the ad, said its purpose was to spell out each candidate's position on issues of importance to the council.
"I know it accurately portrays the voting records and positions of both candidates," said Crawford, who once worked as a spokesman for former Gov. Michael Dukakis.
Last month, the coalition sponsored a radio ad that criticized Gov. Mitt Romney for devoting only 56 seconds of his 30-minute State of the State speech to talking about new jobs.
Barbara Anderson, executive director of Citizens for Limited
Taxation, said she fears that voters will confuse the name of the coalition with the name of her group, which has endorsed Brown.
"These people, the unions, are Public Enemy Number One when it comes to taxpayer protection," she said. "(The ad) certainly gives the wrong impression to the casual listener."
The list of unions that have donated up to $500 apiece to McQuilken's campaign includes Local 646 of the
AFSCME, the Massachusetts Nurses Association, the Boston Carmen's Union, several chapters of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the Boston Teachers Union and the Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts.
"I'm proud to have the support of teachers, nurses, firefighters and police officers," McQuilken said. "If these organizations want to fight alongside me for education and sensible fiscal policies, then I'm glad to have them."
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The Boston Herald
Tuesday, February 24, 2004
A Boston Herald editorial
Brown for Senate, the battle is joined
Rep. Scott Brown must overcome a near perfect storm of obstacles to win a seat in the state Senate when voters go to the polls in the Norfolk, Bristol and Middlesex District a week from today. But if anyone can, it's this 24-year veteran of the Army National Guard and accomplished fighter in more than a few political wars.
Brown is an avowed fiscal conservative and tax cutter. He opposed freezing the income tax roll-back, fought against giving unfettered power to House Speaker Tom Finneran to grant leadership pay raises and stood solidly behind ballot questions to implement English immersion and Clean Elections.
He'll be a solid vote for Gov. Mitt Romney's agenda of merging the Turnpike Authority and the state highway department, capping public employee pension benefits and abolishing anti-competitive public construction laws. His opponent, Angus
McQuilken, has refused to endorse any of Romney's reforms and won't rule out raising taxes to fund an ambitious big-government agenda.
Brown's record shouldn't get lost in all the shenanigans and distractions which have marked this special election. Democratic power brokers, fearful of losing Cheryl Jacques' Senate seat, plotted to ensure the special election would fall on Super Tuesday, guaranteeing a heavy Democratic turnout.
Then, of course, John Kerry's remarkable comeback injected the excitement of having a real contender as hometown boy in the presidential primary, ensuring even more Democrats will be roused March 2 from their pre-fall election sleep.
And as luck and four Supreme Judicial Court justices would have it, the gay marriage question got tossed like a live grenade into the middle of this Senate race. (Brown is against gay marriage but supports benefits for same-sex couples; McQuilken supports full implementation of the SJC decision.) Of course, most voters in the district will be more directly affected by quality of life and pocketbook issues.
All of this would make a lesser candidate wilt in despair, but Brown has only grown more determined.
It's a leader with that kind of determination Romney and the voters of the Norfolk, Bristol and Middlesex District need in their corner. The Boston Herald is pleased to endorse Scott Brown for Senate.
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The Boston Globe
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
Boston's districts must be redrawn
House map is ruled to be racially unfair
By Raphael Lewis, Globe Staff
A panel of federal judges ordered Massachusetts House leaders yesterday to redraw the Boston legislative map, determining that the plan crafted by House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran and his lieutenants was designed to protect their own political futures at the expense of black voters' constitutional rights.
The ruling gave House leaders six weeks to come up with a new map before the court creates a plan for them. The decision also barred the state from holding elections in the 17 House districts until the map is approved by the court.
The long-awaited ruling effectively throws this year's legislative campaigns into chaos, Secretary of State William F. Galvin said yesterday, because redrawing the districts may require changing dozens of adjacent districts. The decision also adds another divisive issue to a legislative agenda that includes the debate over gay marriage and the annual fight over the state budget.
In a ruling that chastised House leaders, the three-judge panel criticized "the House's willingness to turn a blind eye to the racial implications of its single-minded effort to protect incumbents at virtually any social cost."
The House Redistricting Committee "made African-American incumbents less vulnerable by adding black voters to their districts and made white incumbents less vulnerable by keeping their districts as `white' as possible," the Boston-based panel, led by Judge Bruce M.
Selya, said in its ruling. "Its actions evinced a willingness to move district lines simply to safeguard incumbents' seats, without regard to other objectives. This course of conduct sacrificed racial fairness to the voters on the altar of incumbency protection."
At one point during the redistricting process, House leaders boasted that they had created a minority-dominated Roxbury district with no sitting incumbent. But they altered the district on the House floor to help a white incumbent who was considering a run for reelection.
The 2001 redistricting process followed a 2000 Census that showed what the judges called "a burgeoning minority population" in Boston. But the plan devised by Finneran and other lawmakers was a step back from the plan in place during the 1990s, the ruling said, noting that the number of white-dominated districts increased by one after the 2001 redistricting. Voting rights groups that brought the case hailed the ruling, and said they plan to watch Finneran and his colleagues closely as they set about crafting a new redistricting plan for the state's capital city.
"Gerrymandering is alive and well in Massachusetts," said Pamela H. Wilmot of Common Cause Massachusetts.
James E. Cofield Jr. of the Black Political Task Force, which brought the suit with several other groups, said: "Now it's back to the drawing boards for the Legislature, and we will attempt to help them during their process, as opposed to just reacting after they finish, which happened the first time around. Hopefully, they will be attentive to our suggestions."
In 1987, the Black Political Task Force sued the Legislature in US District Court on similar grounds and also won, forcing lawmakers to redraw the district map in an election year, 1988. After much fiery debate, the new map was approved in time for Election Day.
In light of the two recent cases and a spate of similar rulings nationwide, Wilmot said her group will now urge passage of an amendment to the state constitution to take the redistricting process away from the Legislature and give it to an independent commission. Arizona, for example, has an independent commission in charge of legislative and congressional redistricting.
"We're constantly in courts going over redistricting plans, and courts are redrawing lines time and again," Wilmot said. "It goes to the conflict of interest that people who benefit from the process are drawing the lines." On Feb. 10, a three-judge panel in Georgia ruled that state's House and Senate legislative districts violate the Equal Protection clause of the US Constitution. A similar ruling came down roughly a month earlier in Arizona, and congressional district maps have been thrown out in recent months in Colorado and Texas.
Finneran was described in the ruling as keeping the redistricting process "on a short leash," and he declined to comment yesterday.
Finneran's Redistricting Committee chairman, Representative Thomas M.
Petrolati, issued a brief statement defending the ultimate plan enacted by the House. "While I respectively [sic] disagree with the Court's decision I will work with the members of the committee, with all due diligence, to meet the requirements of the court within the time the court has set," Petrolati wrote.
During the trial last fall, Finneran, a Mattapan Democrat, insisted that the redistricting plan did not unfairly divide minority neighborhoods, but he conceded that his aides tried to ensure that sitting representatives were not harmed by shifting demographics revealed by a new census.
When the lines were redrawn, Finneran's district shed three overwhelmingly minority neighborhoods and took on three that were at least 95 percent white, including areas of Milton. Even as Boston for the first time emerged as a "majority-minority" city in the 2000 federal census, Finneran's district went from 74 percent minority to 61 percent minority.
"The House was comfortable with manipulating district lines," the court ruled. "This sad fact speaks to the totality of the circumstances."
Finneran, on the stand and in written testimony, also told the court that he had nothing whatsoever to do with the process of redistricting, a stance that the three-judge panel found hard to believe, saying "the circumstantial evidence strongly suggests the opposite conclusion."
The court ultimately warned House leaders not to "rob Peter to pay Paul" by generating a new legislative map that would diminish other minorities' representation in order to help African-Americans.
Galvin held a press conference yesterday to urge prospective candidates in Greater Boston to cease collecting signatures for their nominating petitions until district lines are made clear. Under state law, a candidate must collect 150 signatures from registered voters inside the district and submit them to municipal clerks, which was to have taken place this year by April 27, Galvin said. The House has until April 6 to fashion a new map for the Boston districts, but Galvin said the process of collecting signatures should take only about two weeks. "The impact of this decision is quite dramatic," Galvin said. "We would hope the Legislature moves expeditiously to remedy the deficits found.... It's our hope that while the Legislature has been given a six-week period that they will in fact use a lot less time to create these new districts."
George Pillsbury of BostonVOTE, which was also involved in the lawsuit, said the process could move forward speedily if Finneran and his colleagues simply adopt the plaintiff's proposal, which would focus on the districts held by Finneran and representatives Shirley Owens-Hicks, Elizabeth
Malia, and Marie St. Fleur.
"The case is really all about four districts," Pillsbury said. "This should not change the entire state map."
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The Boston Herald
Tuesday, February 24, 2004
Gaffes spell doom:
Students’ sloppy letters aid charter schools’ approval
By Kevin Rothstein
All the proof state Board of Education member Roberta Schaefer needed to OK controversial new charter schools were the letters before her from public school students.
Schaefer ridiculed the letters against a proposed school in Marlboro for their missing punctuation and sloppy spelling - including a misspelling of the word "school" in one missive.
"If I didn't think a charter school was necessary, these letters have convinced me the high school was not doing an adequate job in teaching English language arts," Schaefer said.
Despite the letter-writing campaign, which Schaefer said was orchestrated by school officials, the Marlboro-based Advanced Math and Science Academy Charter School as well as new charter schools in Cambridge, Lynn and Barnstable were approved yesterday.
Opponents vowed a renewed campaign against the controversial public schools, which compete with traditional districts for state education dollars.
"We're going to pursue this legally and through the Legislature," said Kathleen Kelley, president of the Massachusetts Federation of Teachers.
Opponents are backing a bill that would impose a three-year moratorium on new charter schools, including the ones approved yesterday.
Board Chairman James Peyser reaffirmed his support for charter schools, which he called a crucial element to education reform.
"We have an urgent obligation to create more opportunities for students to achieve at high levels," he said.
Peyser abstained from voting on the Community Charter School of Cambridge and KIPP Academy Lynn Charter School. The two schools have ties to his employer, New Schools Venture Fund. He said the state Ethics Commission cleared him to vote, but he wanted to avoid the appearance of conflict.
The school in Barnstable faced no major opposition because it is a Horace Mann charter school and operates within the existing school district.
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The Boston Globe
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
Menino eyes billing state for DNC
Says city should get half of the extra tax revenues
By Rick Klein, Globe Staff
With Governor Mitt Romney refusing to help cover Democratic National Convention costs, Mayor Thomas M. Menino has come up with a new idea: send the state a bill.
Menino is proposing that the state give Boston half the extra money it collects in taxes when 35,000 delegates, members of the news media, and well-heeled Democratic donors open their wallets for their four-day visit in July. The mayor sees it as a simple matter of fairness.
"We don't share in any of the growth dollars," Menino said yesterday, shortly after giving a speech at the annual meeting of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau. "We have to look at those issues. Some adjustments will have to be made."
Menino, who has repeatedly griped that Boston is an economic engine for the state but does not reap the financial benefits, said an analysis he commissioned concludes that the convention will generate $154 million for local businesses. That could translate into as much as $7.5 million in income and sales taxes, which go to the state.
"The economic benefits of the DNC are tremendous," Menino said in his speech. "Now, if Boston could only get its fair share of the tax revenue, I'd be much happier."
Menino's measure is expected to be greeted skeptically on Beacon Hill. Aides to top lawmakers on the Legislature's Taxation Committee immediately raised concerns about how additional revenue can be measured, because late July is a popular tourist season in New England, even in years when there's no convention in town. Even Democratic leaders in the Legislature have been hesitant in recent years to grant special tax benefits to individual cities, including Boston.
"This can potentially open up a Pandora's Box," said Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a business-backed research group. "The Legislature has been very leery of giving any local-option revenue-raising powers."
Menino is making his push for tax relief in the midst of a politically charged stand-off over which public entities should be responsible for convention-related costs. Perhaps $10 million of the convention's $65 million budget will have to be covered by some combination of city and state tax dollars.
Menino wants the state to pay, but Romney is refusing to go along and is insisting that all costs be borne by the private sector, the federal government, and the city of Boston.
The mayor is facing significant pressure from city workers' unions over all convention-related expenses. Nearly all of the city's 17,000 employees are now working without contracts, and several of Boston's largest unions have vocally criticized the mayor for being more willing to spend money on a political celebration than on their salaries.
Menino has argued in vain in the past for a greater share of state tax revenues. He lobbies perennially for a 1 percent tax on meals that would go directly to city coffers. He has looked for state support for previous city-financed special events, including Sail Boston in 2000 and the presidential debate that same year at the University of Massachusetts at Boston.
Together, those events cost the city $1.6 million, but virtually none of the economic benefits were felt in city tax collections, said Lisa Signori, the city's chief financial officer. Instead, Boston got its only support from the state in the form of annual local aid payments, like those it gets every year.
"We can't continually have these events and have the state get all the benefits," Menino said. "It doesn't make a lot of sense. We have to think differently when it comes to financing."
The legislation Menino is drafting, which he may seek to have included in the state budget this spring, would not be convention-specific and would cover a range of other special events that are financed in large part by individual cities, the mayor said. It is unclear, however, what criteria would be set up to determine which events would be covered.
Romney's press secretary, Shawn Feddeman, sounded a skeptical note about Menino's idea, given Romney's reluctance to see state tax dollars support a political convention. But she said the governor looks forward to reviewing the measure once it's formally introduced for consideration by the Legislature.
Senator Cynthia Stone Creem of Newton and Representative Paul C. Casey of Winchester, who lead the Joint Committee on Taxation, did not return calls yesterday. But aides to both lawmakers said they anticipate problems in finding a system to measure the revenue Menino is eyeing and in finding a way such a law could be administered by the Department of Revenue.
House Republican leader Bradley H. Jones Jr. of North Reading said he's concerned that if Boston gets half the tax revenue from this convention, other cities will be looking for similar arrangements for all manner of special events.
He noted that the convention wasn't thrust on Menino and that the mayor knew the state's tax arrangement when he lobbied national Democrats to choose Boston.
"You wanted the convention," Jones said. "I'd certainly give the mayor an opportunity to make a presentation, but at first blush, I have my concerns about it."
Menino said he will wait to file the bill until after the study of the convention's economic and fiscal impact is completed by the Boston Redevelopment Authority, and professors Alan Clayton-Matthews of
UMass-Boston and John J. Havens of Boston College.
Havens and Clayton-Matthews said their research clearly shows that hotel, restaurant, and tourism dollars will flow to establishments in cities and towns throughout the region, but that the state will be the only government entity to see a significant uptick in tax collections.
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