CLT
UPDATE
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
Surplus revenue piles up: pols work
to squander it, again
State tax receipts ballooned during the just-ended fiscal year as corporate profits fattened and more workers found jobs, state data released yesterday showed, underlining the strength of the state's building economic recovery....
State officials recently had projected a budget surplus for the year of about $700 million - and preliminary figures show revenues exceeded even that estimate, coming in at $712 million above what lawmakers had used to create a spending plan for the just-begun fiscal year.
State leaders already have begun arguing about what to do with the surplus - spend it, cut taxes or set it aside in a reserve fund.
The Boston Herald
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
Christma$ in July for Mass.:
A surprise tax surplus pours into state
Further evidence of the culture of greed that seems to permeate public service in Massachusetts comes via reports issued last week by two different panels. Both lend considerable support to Gov. Mitt Romney's demand that rather than fuel further spending by the state, recent revenue surpluses be returned to taxpayers in the form of a reduction in the income tax rate from the current 5.3 percent to 5 percent....
An Eagle-Tribune editorial
Tuesday, July 6, 2004
Wanted: A lid for government's largess
Taxpayers shelled out nearly $107,000 in just four days of overtime to cops assigned to police their fellow union members protesting in front of the
FleetCenter....
Barbara Anderson, executive director for Citizens for Limited Taxation found the figure appalling.
She laughed, saying, "$107,000 for the police to police the police who are picketing because they don't have a contract. What a zoo. It's insane." ...
Menino had sought the federal court ruling so that construction could begin for the four-day DNC extravaganza planned for later this month.
"The whole thing was his idea," Anderson said, noting that he must be embarrassed. "Everything that goes wrong just falls in his lap."
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, July 7, 2004
Police pickets cost city $107G in cop OT
House Speaker Tom Finneran gathered business leaders at the State House yesterday to tout his plan to amend the Constitution with a requirement that 1 percent of state revenues be set aside in a stabilization fund. It deserves the support of the Constitutional Convention....
There's nothing inconsistent about supporting tax cuts and Finneran's savings goal, as some contend. Prudent management - and the state's economic health - demand both.
A Boston Herald editorial
Wednesday, July 7, 2004
Rainy days won't go away
At a time when terrorism threatens us, the need for highly skilled police officers is greater than ever. So what do you call a system that makes less able candidates police officers at the expense of those who scored highest on an objective test? Most people would call it foolish. In Massachusetts, it's called civil service....
The civil service laws that govern public sector hiring in Massachusetts are broken. Taking a look at how other states are dealing with this issue would go a long way toward telling us how to fix them. It's time we got to work.
The Boston Globe
Wednesday, July 7, 2004
Civil service rules force bad hires
By John O'Leary
A Malden firefighters union official charged yesterday that reduced staffing contributed to the death of a 73-year-old woman who was trapped in her first-floor apartment as flames engulfed the building....
A fire official who was in charge at the scene denied staffing was to blame for Bettano's death, saying there were no smoke detectors in the apartment and more firefighters would not have changed the tragic outcome.
"The woman died before we were even able to get to the fire," Deputy Fire Chief Thomas Walsh said.
The Boston Herald
Thursday, July 8, 2004
Jakes blame budget cuts for Malden senior's death
The Massachusetts Legislature overwhelmingly approved a proposed constitutional amendment yesterday to safeguard the state's rainy-day reserves by earmarking 1 percent of tax revenues each year for the fund, marking a major victory for its chief sponsor, House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran.
Michael J. Widmer -- president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a business-backed watchdog group -- lauded the Legislature for having the foresight to provide for leaner times.
"This is one of the most important steps the state can take to ensure its long-term fiscal stability," he said.
The Boston Globe
Thursday, July 8, 2004
Rainy day amendment gets initial OK
Measure step closer to 2006 state vote
Bureaucratic quibbling aside, consumers will be stuck paying higher taxes if a proposed Internet hotel tax becomes law. That sure sounds like a textbook tax increase to us....
Romney administration officials protest that they are merely closing yet another tax loophole, an excuse that is wearing exceedingly thin....
OK, he's right that it's not a new tax, it's simply a higher tax. And it makes about as much sense to charge taxes based on the full room rate as it would charging sales tax on the full cost of an item on sale in the local mall.
Shhhh, don't tell the governor and Legislature we made that analogy. We fear they'll take the sales tax idea and stick it in the next loophole bill - thus sticking it to consumers once again.
A Boston Herald editorial
Friday, July 9, 2004
Hotel tax 'loophole' sham
Hundreds of aging schools would be refurbished or replaced under a plan that was headed toward passage late last night in the Legislature, as the House voted to approve $1 billion in borrowing and the Senate was expected to follow suit in the next several days.
The measure aims to clear a 420-project waiting list for state money and shore up a program that has been swamped by communities seeking to replace crumbling schools built at the beginning of the baby boom. The typical waiting time for state construction dollars has increased to 10 years from two to three years in the late 1990s.
The Boston Globe
Friday, July 9, 2004
OK nears on $1b for aging schools
Repair or replacement at 420 sites in Mass.
Lobbyists and legislative backers of a bill that would allow undocumented students to attend public colleges and universities at in-state tuition rates are optimistic that there is growing support at the State House to override the governor's recent veto of the measure.
Indeed, in Massachusetts, the difference in tuition for in-state and out-of-state residents can be thousands of dollars. For example, an in-state, full-time student attending a state college such as Worcester State or Framingham State this fall would pay $970 in tuition, while out-of-state residents would pay $7,050....
Jadya, a 19-year-old undocumented student living in Framingham, dreams of being a surgeon in an emergency room. But
Jadya, who agreed to be interviewed on the condition that only her first name be used, said that if the bill is not passed within the next year when she is a senior, she will have to return to Brazil for college.
The Boston Globe - West edition
Sunday, July 11, 2004
Tuition bill veto may face override challenge
Measure would cut college costs for illegal immigrants
Nine members of the politically prominent Asselin family shared a jail cell yesterday after they were arrested at dawn for allegedly sharing more than $1 million in cash, gifts and services swindled from the Springfield Housing Authority.
In the largest corruption crackdown in the city's recent history, six members of the family, including state Rep. Christopher P.
Asselin, were rousted from sleep at their oceanside vacation home on Cape Cod. Three others were arrested by federal agents at local homes and businesses for allegedly siphoning public dollars and materials meant for the low-income residents of the city's public housing agency.
The Springfield Republican
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
FBI arrests Asselin clan
A month after filing a $52 million package of grants and loans to rescue the city of Springfield from fiscal ruin, Gov. Mitt Romney on Friday morning slashed $30 million from the bailout package sent to his desk by the Legislature just after midnight.
State House News Service
Friday, July 9, 2004
Romney slashes Springfield bailout bill
Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
The good news is that tax revenue continues to pour
in faster than anticipated; the economic recovery is coming on strong.
The bad news is that the Bacon Hill Democrat pols
refused to budge on respecting the voters and finally -- after fifteen
years -- rolling back the "temporary" tax and restoring the
income tax rate to five percent as so ordered by their employers.
Meanwhile, the pork, patronage and plunder continue,
the waste and mismanagement live on, and new spending and entitlement
programs are brainstormed and pushed forward.
The Legislature can't fund its last round of
taxpayer-funded giveaways created during the Roaring '90s, like the
school building assistance boondoggle which now requires a billion
dollars in state borrowing to satisfy, but among other things it's
pushing to add college tuition benefits for illegal aliens.
In a reprise of the Roaring '90s, the Legislature can
spend, spend, spend; but it "can't afford" to keep its promise
-- after a decade and a half -- and finally restore the income tax to
its traditional 5 percent, as mandated by a huge majority of voters four
years ago.
Legislators will do anything -- anything -- to
avoid returning our hard-earned money. The latest gimmick is House
Speaker Thomas Finneran's proposed constitutional amendment to
automatically deposit 1 percent of tax revenue annually into the state's
savings account, the so-called "rainy day fund."
Only four years ago our tax rollback was belittled as
returning to a taxpayer "only enough to buy a slice of pizza a
week, a can of Pepsi." Wouldn't you like to be able to deposit that
1 percent of your salary into your own savings account? Do you
too need a constitutional amendment to do it, or could you do it all by
yourself with just what you save on that "slice of pizza a week, a
can of Pepsi"?
Throughout the Roaring '90s we called for finally
rolling back
the state income tax rate before unlimited spending got the state in
trouble again. During the more frustrating peak of exploding revenue and
spending, we were joined by the Beacon Hill Institute. In September of
1997, BHI's executive director, David Tuerck, wrote a Boston Herald column
that could be a blueprint for where the Legislature is taking us all over
again, at its and our peril: "State should return $ to taxpayers."
The Legislature didn't pay heed then and seven years
later here they go again, paving the way for the next cyclical economic
downturn "shock," already constructing the foundation for the
state's next "fiscal crisis."
"The more things change, the more they
remain the same" ... or, "Those who fail to learn from history
are doomed to repeat it."
*
*
*
While the Legislature is planning for the state to
bail out the City of Springfield from it's self-inflicted "fiscal
crisis" and "junk bond status," one of that city's
leading political dynasties has been taken down by the feds for skimming
over a million bucks from the city's housing authority for "most
vulnerable among us." State Rep. Christopher
Asselin and eight of his family clan were jailed yesterday in a
100-count federal indictment.
The Springfield Republican reports Rep. Asselin's
response to his arrest:
But Asselin said in a statement he had no intention of resigning.
"I did nothing to betray the trust my constituents placed in me and hope to convince them of that in September and November," he said.... "I benefited from my family's good name in the past and will not run away from it today or during the
campaign... I am confident that when the evidence is heard in a court of law, I will be acquitted."
Have you ever heard anything else from an
indicted pol ... until conviction and the slam of the cell door behind
them?
|
|
|
Chip
Ford |
The Boston Herald
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
Christma$ in July for Mass.:
A surprise tax surplus pours into state
By Jay Fitzgerald
State tax receipts ballooned during the just-ended fiscal year as corporate profits fattened and more workers found jobs, state data released yesterday showed, underlining the strength of the state's building economic recovery.
Economists brushed off concerns about low percentage gains in sales tax receipts, which rose just 1.1 percent, because consumer spending - and thus sales taxes - remained relatively strong during the recent recession.
Economy watchers found the year-end 9.5 percent jump in corporate taxes more encouraging, as it indicates Bay State businesses' bottom lines were healthy. The state took in a total $1.675 billion in corporate and business taxes in the 12 months ended June 30.
A 3.9 percent jump in income withholding taxes was even more important, since that's the single biggest source of state revenue. Income withholding taxes brought in $7.368 billion, the revenue department reported.
Some of that increase is due to a recent increase in payroll jobs. But some of the overall increase of $804 million in various income-tax receipts is also due to last year's strong stock market performance, which boosted capital gains and financial service workers' pay, said Michael Goodman, an economist at the University of Massachusetts' Donahue Institute.
All in all, Goodman said, increased tax receipts "reflect the good news we've heard recently about the local economy."
Some of last fiscal year's higher receipts also reflect payments made by scofflaws who cashed in on a one-time tax amnesty. The amnesty made the overdue tax collection category the year's biggest gainer. It jumped by nearly 29 percent, to $263 million.
Analysts say the state still has a way to go before it reaches the $16.6 billion it netted in fiscal 2001, before tax receipts plunged to $14.2 billion in fiscal 2002, reflecting the economic downturn.
"We've got to keep in mind it (the recent jump in receipts) follows a very serious decline," said Andre Mayer, head of research at Associated Industries of Massachusetts.
Yet a rebound appears well underway, as total state tax receipts increased by $978 million, or 6.5 percent, in fiscal 2004, ending June 30, the revenue department's preliminary numbers show.
State officials recently had projected a budget surplus for the year of about $700 million - and preliminary figures show revenues exceeded even that estimate, coming in at $712 million above what lawmakers had used to create a spending plan for the just-begun fiscal year.
State leaders already have begun arguing about what to do with the surplus - spend it, cut taxes or set it aside in a reserve fund.
"These year-end numbers are encouraging," said Revenue Commissioner Alan
LeBovidge. "We finished the fiscal year with improved collections in virtually every type over last year."
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The Eagle-Tribune
Tuesday, July 6, 2004
An Eagle-Tribune editorial
Wanted: A lid for government's largess
Further evidence of the culture of greed that seems to permeate public service in Massachusetts comes via reports issued last week by two different panels. Both lend considerable support to Gov. Mitt Romney's demand that rather than fuel further spending by the state, recent revenue surpluses be returned to taxpayers in the form of a reduction in the income tax rate from the current 5.3 percent to 5 percent.
First there was the revelation by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation that the commonwealth paid out $12.7 million last year to 4,900 retiring state workers for sick leave not taken during their tenure in government. That's an average of $2,600 per retiree, but the figure is deceptively low because those who took early retirement (more on that scam later), will be paid what they're owed over three years.
In private industry, sick leave is a benefit that's to be used when the employee is ill and unable to come to work. Too often in the public sector it's regarded as additional vacation time. Buyback provisions have been negotiated to encourage workers not to cheat.
And it gets worse. According to the MTF, state employees are entitled to buy back only 20 percent of their unused sick time. But in some cities they can buy it all back. In Boston, for instance, 904 retirees collected $12.6 million last year for unused sick time. Fifty-nine collected more than $50,000, and two were rewarded with payments of more than $100,000.
Where is the logic there? Sick time is for when you're sick. Most count themselves lucky if they don't have to use those sick days. In government, they count the money.
Then there was the report delivered to Romney by his Commission on Prison Reform. A key finding, according to the Associated Press: "Managers of the state's prison system need to scale back on the benefits afforded to correction officers, who average 52 paid days off a year and are among the highest paid in the country."
Consider the following statistics:
Of the $428 million a year the state spends to maintain its correctional facilities, 73 percent goes to pay salaries and benefits. The national average is 65 percent.
Massachusetts correctional officers are the third highest paid in the country, behind only those in California and New Jersey.
The staff-to-inmate ratio in Massachusetts is the second highest in the country.
Bay State correctional officers take an average of 17.5 days of sick leave per year. In California, which has the country's largest prison system, the average number of sick days taken is 12.75. In the Federal Bureau of Prisons it is 5.25.
The state pays the salary of Massachusetts Correction Officers Federated Union President Steve Kenneway and four other union officers -- a figure that totals $455,000 a year. "This practice is highly unusual and raises numerous legal, ethical and administrative questions," the report understates.
Unfortunately, such giveaways are not unusual in Massachusetts, where public employees unions have a strong hold over the Democratic leadership in the Legislature and obtaining a job covered by one of these lucrative contracts is often a matter of knowing the right person rather than knowing what you're doing.
Early retirements are just the latest plum to be awarded by the state and its municipalities. They're sold as a means of saving money, but too often the person who leaves is quickly replaced by someone whose salary and benefits will soon equal or exceed that of the retiree. In the meantime, with average life expectancy on the rise, the cost of paying that retiree's pension and health benefits will likely continue for decades into the future.
Again, at one time many considered themselves lucky to retire healthy at 65. Now many people, particularly those in the public sector, feel entitled to retire at 55 or 50, collect their pension, and start a second career. There's nothing wrong with wanting that kind of deal; there is a problem when government -- which is always claiming to be on the verge of fiscal collapse -- goes along.
According to the MTF report, the number of state retirees soared over the past two years from 1,255 in fiscal 2002 to 4,900 in the fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2003. Some may have felt overworked. The majority, we suspect, found the early retirement deals they were offered too good to pass up.
Think about it the next time you glance at the amount deducted from your check for the state income tax or have to write a check to pay your property taxes.
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The Boston Herald
Wednesday, July 7, 2004
Police pickets cost city $107G in cop OT
By Franci Richardson
Taxpayers shelled out nearly $107,000 in just four days of overtime to cops assigned to police their fellow union members protesting in front of the
FleetCenter.
"Had the patrolmen gone to arbitration as Mayor Thomas Menino and the city had repeatedly urged, none of that spending would have been necessary," said Seth
Gitell, Menino's spokesman.
Barbara Anderson, executive director for Citizens for Limited Taxation found the figure appalling.
She laughed, saying, "$107,000 for the police to police the police who are picketing because they don't have a contract. What a zoo. It's insane."
While it's unclear how many officers worked extra details, picket line overtime ranged from more than 400 hours on June 8, which cost $14,738.51, to roughly 1,200 hours during the last day of protest, June 11, when the city paid out $44,860.86.
On June 9, the city shelled out $17,321 and another $30,029.45 on June 10 for a total cost of $106,950.57, according to figures released to the Herald yesterday.
Scores of cops lined up in front of the FleetCenter to delay preparations for the Democratic National Convention.
The police union, which claims it has gone without a raise for years, railed against Menino for refusing to negotiate a better contract. The city had offered an 11.9 percent raise over four years.
The union eventually was ordered by a federal judge to disband the picket line but Boston Police Patrolmen's Association president Thomas Nee said the number of cops assigned to police the protest was excessive.
Nee said at times the number of uniformed officers on protest duty equalled the off-duty officers picketing.
"There's no reasonable explanation why so many officers were deployed," Nee said. "We were just exercising our First Amendment rights and it was all without incident."
Menino had sought the federal court ruling so that construction could begin for the four-day DNC extravaganza planned for later this month.
"The whole thing was his idea," Anderson said, noting that he must be embarrassed. "Everything that goes wrong just falls in his lap."
Beverly Ford, spokeswoman for the Boston Police Department, said Commissioner Kathleen O'Toole did not find the overtime cost excessive.
"We apply the same strategy to policing that we would with any demonstration," she said. "They were considered demonstrators and they have their rights."
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The Boston Herald
Wednesday, July 7, 2004
A Boston Herald editorial
Rainy days won't go away
Enforcing fiscal discipline on Beacon Hill has always been a bit of a crap shoot. Preparation for the next fiscal crisis ought not be left to chance.
House Speaker Tom Finneran gathered business leaders at the State House yesterday to tout his plan to amend the Constitution with a requirement that 1 percent of state revenues be set aside in a stabilization fund. It deserves the support of the Constitutional Convention.
According to the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, in fiscal year 1991 just some $59 million was set aside in the rainy day fund. By fiscal year 2001, the fund had grown to some $2.3 billion, reflecting an average annual deposit of some $230 million.
Under the Finneran plan, based on recent revenue estimates, a more conservative $150 million would be taken off the top of state revenues each year and set aside.
Although Finneran laments that reserves were spent too quickly to ease the recent fiscal crisis - before the state's rainy day turned into a deluge - at least the money was used as intended, cushioning the impact of a severe revenue drop. In fiscal year 2002, some $1.4 billion in reserves was withdrawn and spent. In fiscal 2003, some $240 million in reserves were used to plug the budget hole.
There's nothing inconsistent about supporting tax cuts and Finneran's savings goal, as some contend. Prudent management - and the state's economic health - demand both.
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The Boston Globe
Wednesday, July 7, 2004
Civil service rules force bad hires
By John O'Leary
At a time when terrorism threatens us, the need for highly skilled police officers is greater than ever. So what do you call a system that makes less able candidates police officers at the expense of those who scored highest on an objective test? Most people would call it foolish. In Massachusetts, it's called civil service.
On a recent civil service exam for Boston Police, 492 candidates scored 95 or above. But only one of these 492 top scorers landed in the first 75 positions on the civil service hiring list. Boston's finest apparently doesn't have room for Boston's best.
Civil service began as a merit-based system to root out patronage and corruption. Candidates took a test, and those with the highest scores went to the top of the list. But this noble idea is almost foreign to the current system. Massachusetts now tests for merit, then ignores the results.
On a recent Springfield police exam, 296 candidates passed. But the top three candidates on the hiring list ranked 172d, 284th, and 241st, on the exam. On the 2,000 Boston firefighters exam, 29 candidates scored 100 percent (or better, with bonus points for experience and education). None of these 29 top scorers was among the top 200 names on the hiring list.
Unfortunately, rather than picking the cream of the crop, communities are often left scraping the bottom of the barrel.
Why are those with such low scores hired? Because Massachusetts hands out a slew of "absolute preferences," which effectively trump test scores, to veterans, disabled veterans, the sons and daughters of police officers injured in the line of duty, town residents, and more. One-third of all hires to the Worcester police force aren't even hired off the civil service exam lists, entering through the cadet program instead.
In contrast to Massachusetts's contorted system of absolute preferences, most other states take the more reasonable course of adding a few points to certain candidates' exam scores, providing a balance between maintaining excellence in the work force and recognizing the sacrifice of veterans and others.
Clearly, how you score on the civil service exam makes almost no difference whether you land a public safety job in Massachusetts. Cities and towns are not even given the candidates' actual scores. And if a municipality doesn't pick from the top of the non-merit-based hiring list, candidates can appeal to the Civil Service Commission.
Many people wrongly assume that racial preferences are the primary culprit undermining merit. They are not. In fact, the rules around hiring sometimes work against minority candidates.
In 2003, Brockton wanted to hire some police officers who could speak Portuguese. The number 6 candidate on the civil service list was a white individual who scored 75. Number eight was a minority candidate scoring 97.
Both spoke Portuguese and were Brockton residents; neither was a veteran. Why would a minority who scored 22 points higher go to the back of the hiring bus? The state was simply following the rules dictated by absolute preferences when it sent out this topsy-turvy list.
The minority candidate is not the only loser; the city of Brockton also loses. Of the 996 police candidates who passed the test, the number six candidate was outscored by 976 of them. So Brockton has someone who barely passed the exam responding to 911 calls, handling evidence in murder trials, and trying to break up gangs.
As bad as civil service is for police, fire, and corrections, it is even worse outside of public safety. The state stopped giving tests for most job titles years ago. As a result, roughly half the civil service work force exists in a bizarre legal limbo as "provisional appointments." Dysfunction is too kind a word to describe the madness and chaos that ensues from applying civil service rules to the non-public safety work force.
Three states -- Georgia, Florida, and Texas -- have eliminated civil service for all but public safety with positive results. Virtually all other states provide only bonus points rather than absolute preference. Both are good ideas.
The civil service laws that govern public sector hiring in Massachusetts are broken. Taking a look at how other states are dealing with this issue would go a long way toward telling us how to fix them. It's time we got to work.
John O'Leary is the former chairman of the Massachusetts Civil Service Commission
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The Boston Herald
Thursday, July 8, 2004
Jakes blame budget cuts for Malden senior's death
By Casey Ross
A Malden firefighters union official charged yesterday that reduced staffing contributed to the death of a 73-year-old woman who was trapped in her first-floor apartment as flames engulfed the building.
"We happened to be running with 19 men yesterday and unfortunately this woman passed away," union President Brian Parow said, adding that full staffing is 22 firefighters. "We would have had more men on the scene and rescue would have been there a lot earlier."
Rosie Bettano, who often used a wheelchair, was found dead in the kitchen of her 17 Madison St. apartment Tuesday after firefighters tried unsuccessfully to penetrate a wall of flames.
A fire official who was in charge at the scene denied staffing was to blame for Bettano's death, saying there were no smoke detectors in the apartment and more firefighters would not have changed the tragic outcome.
"The woman died before we were even able to get to the fire," Deputy Fire Chief Thomas Walsh said.
Parow said budget cuts that have struck communities statewide forced the department to reduce the number of firefighters on duty and take an engine out of service.
Concerns about the impact of such reductions took center stage yesterday as neighboring Melrose prepared to close two of its three fire stations and the Stoneham fire chief penned a letter to selectmen saying his department will struggle to provide help to bordering towns.
"The mutual aid system is going to be hampered tremendously," Stoneham Chief Lawrence Lamey said in an interview yesterday. "It's a very serious situation."
Fire officials said the budget cuts of the past three years are causing problems statewide, with several communities laying off firefighters and relying heavily on their neighbors to help with emergencies.
David Lafond, president of the Fire Chiefs Association of Massachusetts, said the mutual aid system, designed to provide assistance in extreme circumstances, is being overburdened by budget cuts.
"Some communities are being forced to use mutual aid on a regular basis, which is essentially abusing the system," he said. "We're at the breaking point.
In Melrose, fire officials laid off three firefighters, lost another to retirement and will be forced to handle fires with only one engine. The town closes two of its three fire stations today.
"We could easily be put in a very precarious situation," Fire Capt. John White said yesterday. "When we send firefighters into a burning building ... we have to do it with less men and we can't ensure there's going to be a continued water supply."
In the Malden blaze, firefighters rescued a man from a second-floor apartment, but could not save
Bettano, who was heard screaming for help by teenagers who tried to save her before the fire department arrived.
Investigators believe Bettano may have accidentally started the fire while she was cooking.
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The Boston Globe
Thursday, July 8, 2004
Rainy day amendment gets initial OK
Measure step closer to 2006 state vote
By Raphael Lewis, Globe Staff
The Massachusetts Legislature overwhelmingly approved a proposed constitutional amendment yesterday to safeguard the state's rainy-day reserves by earmarking 1 percent of tax revenues each year for the fund, marking a major victory for its chief sponsor, House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran.
The measure, which must also be approved in the next legislative session before appearing on the November 2006 statewide ballot, passed 181 to 12 in a joint session of the Legislature, prompting Finneran to predict its easy passage at next year's Constitutional Convention, when lawmakers also consider a proposed ban of same-sex marriage.
"This was, I think, a very big step forward for Massachusetts," a triumphant Finneran said in an interview after the vote. "It's a serious proposal, and it's reflective now of about 14 or 15 years of some pretty hard fiscal experience, going back to 1991, up until the present. I think this is an essential tool for the fiscal well-being of Massachusetts, and to the extent that we can assist the fiscal well-being, you actually improve the quality of life for 6 million people.
"I put this very high on the list" of career accomplishments, he said.
Finneran argues that the provision would guarantee a financial cushion for the state when the financial cycle swings into a downturn. First, it would require lawmakers to set aside 1 percent of state revenues for the rainy day fund, or roughly $160-million a year. Then, it would require a three-fifths majority in both the House and the Senate if lawmakers want to spend more than 50 percent of the rainy day fund's value.
The fund, which hit a peak of $2.3 billion in June 2001, has decreased dramatically during the past three years, as deep drops in tax revenues forced lawmakers to dip into reserves, rather than hike taxes or cut popular programs and services.
Michael J. Widmer -- president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a business-backed watchdog group -- lauded the Legislature for having the foresight to provide for leaner times.
"This is one of the most important steps the state can take to ensure its long-term fiscal stability," he said.
Finneran exerted plenty of muscle to shepherd his pet bill through yesterday, including a prolonged effort to block a vote on an amendment measure that would require the Legislature to make sure that all citizens have access to health insurance coverage.
Finneran, an opponent of the healthcare proposal, threatened to add a rider to that measure that would have effectively killed it unless backers agreed to allow for a vote on the rainy day legislation first. Backers of the healthcare bill agreed, but only after Finneran, his lieutenants, and Republicans promised not to interfere with a vote on the matter next Wednesday. The healthcare measure has more than enough backers to make it through to next year's constitutional convention, all sides agreed.
"The speaker committed to not interfering in any way with the healthcare vote from happening next Wednesday, so we took him at his word," said Representative Ruth B.
Balser, a Newton Democrat.
Finneran said it was a worthwhile trade. "This is what happens," he said. "You don't always win around here."
Healthcare advocates said they were still very worried that Finneran would not live up to his promise, as occurred during the same-sex marriage debate this spring, when the speaker offered a surprise amendment in the opening minutes of debate, less than 12 hours after pledging to avoid any such trickery.
It's by no means certain that voters would ultimately approve the proposed constitutional amendment if it did make it to the voting booth. In 2000, there was a ballot question that would have mandated universal healthcare coverage by July 2002 and would have established stringent controls on health maintenance organizations, including a requirement limiting the amount of money spent on executive pay and administration. Voters turned back the question by a margin of 52 percent to 48 percent, after the HMO industry spent about $5 million on television advertisements panning the measure.
Currently, about 10 percent of state residents, or between 500,000 and 600,000, have no health insurance coverage, and the number grows by scores daily. The advocacy group Health Care For All estimates that about 78,000 children are among the uninsured, and about 45 new children join that group daily.
In the late 1990s, the Legislature passed laws to ensure that all children in the state have insurance coverage, but over the past few years, as a fiscal crisis has devastated state spending and created a $3 billion deficit, such programs have only received about half of the dollars necessary to get children off the waiting list.
In addition to taking up the universal health care measure yesterday, the Legislature also soundly rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would have called for the elimination of the Governor's Executive Council. Established in 1628 as a check on the power of the colonial governor, the nine-member body consumes roughly $400,000 annually and has seen its main responsibilities reduced to approving judicial appointments.
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The Boston Herald
Friday, July 9, 2004
A Boston Herald editorial
Hotel tax 'loophole' sham
Bureaucratic quibbling aside, consumers will be stuck paying higher taxes if a proposed Internet hotel tax becomes law. That sure sounds like a textbook tax increase to us.
In a state where tourism is the third biggest industry with an economic impact of some $11 billion a year, it is pennywise and pound foolish to raise taxes on hotel rooms booked through Web sites like Expedia.com or Travelocity.com for the relative pittance of $18 million.
The plan, backed by Gov. Mitt Romney, passed the House and now sits as part of a larger bill before a legislative conference committee.
It would require that the state's 5.7 percent hotel tax rate be paid on the full cost of a hotel room, not on the discounted rate offered by the Internet hotel brokers.
Romney administration officials protest that they are merely closing yet another tax loophole, an excuse that is wearing exceedingly thin.
Revenue Department spokesman Tim Connolly even protested to the Herald, "It's not a new tax.
"The law now says 'room occupancy' tax. That's what we are enforcing, the current law," Connolly added.
OK, he's right that it's not a new tax, it's simply a higher tax. And it makes about as much sense to charge taxes based on the full room rate as it would charging sales tax on the full cost of an item on sale in the local mall.
Shhhh, don't tell the governor and Legislature we made that analogy. We fear they'll take the sales tax idea and stick it in the next loophole bill - thus sticking it to consumers once again.
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The Boston Globe
Friday, July 9, 2004
OK nears on $1b for aging schools
Repair or replacement at 420 sites in Mass.
By Scott S. Greenberger and Anthony Flint, Globe Staff
Hundreds of aging schools would be refurbished or replaced under a plan that was headed toward passage late last night in the Legislature, as the House voted to approve $1 billion in borrowing and the Senate was expected to follow suit in the next several days.
The measure aims to clear a 420-project waiting list for state money and shore up a program that has been swamped by communities seeking to replace crumbling schools built at the beginning of the baby boom. The typical waiting time for state construction dollars has increased to 10 years from two to three years in the late 1990s. The Legislature adjourned at about midnight without giving its final approval to the plan and the other major bills under consideration last night.
Representative John H. Rogers, the Norwood Democrat and chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, called the plan "great news for school districts and cities and towns trying to plan for the future."
"Every generation of legislators heretofore has punted, when they knew they should not have," Rogers said. "This generation of legislators, working with Treasurer [Timothy P.] Cahill, will pass major reform that has been desperately needed for a long time."
In a rush to complete their business before this month's Democratic National Convention, legislative negotiators also reached a deal to restructure the state's transportation agencies by weakening the role of but not eliminating the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which Governor Mitt Romney had sought to merge with the state Highway Department. The transportation bill would convert the $205,000 a year Turnpike Authority chairman job held by Matthew J. Amorello to a $107,000 a year general manager, all by 2007. The legislators also shelved a proposed tax break for commuters who spend at least $150 a year on tolls and tokens.
In other action, negotiators agreed to a $52 million bailout package for financially troubled Springfield and neared agreement on revamping state construction rules.
Because it concerns nearly every city and town in Massachusetts, the state's stalled school-building program is a politically potent issue in this election year. Early this year, Romney put forward a different plan, and last night's action sets up a clash between competing visions of how the problem should be solved.
The centerpiece of the Legislature's plan is the idea that the state should move toward setting aside 1 cent of the 5 cent state tax on each $1 of sales to pay for school buildings. Over the next seven years, Massachusetts would gradually raise the portion of the sales tax dedicated to construction aid, until one full penny is earmarked for the program by fiscal year 2011.
To help clear the waiting list, the state would immediately borrow $1 billion and take $150 million out of its reserves. A new authority would be set up to manage the sales tax money, and it would borrow an additional $2.5 billion to $3 billion to enable the state to pay for all the projects on the list in 3 years.
The amount of sales-tax revenue dedicated to school construction in fiscal 2005 would be $396 million, roughly equal to what the state would pay without any changes to the program. The one-time payment of $150 million from the state's reserves would be in addition to that figure.
Massachusetts already reserves 1 cent of the sales tax for the MBTA, and the measure approved last night would further restrict future lawmakers and governors by dedicating 1 cent for schools. But it would also place a ceiling on the amount of state money available for school construction, taming a program that is devouring an ever-greater share of state resources.
Aging buildings and skyrocketing enrollment in some school districts have increased the demand for state construction aid. Massachusetts kept up with the demand during the economic boom of the late 1990s, when its coffers were overflowing with tax revenue.
But as its fiscal situation worsened -- and the demand for new construction continued unabated -- the waiting list grew: In 1998, there were only 122 projects on the list. Last year, the state closed the list to new construction projects.
Both the Legislature and Romney would continue the moratorium until the waiting list is cleared, a goal that would be met in 3 years under the Legislature's plan and five years under the governor's plan. But Romney's plan relies on refinancing to clear the waiting list, not money from the reserve fund or sales taxes.
Romney wants to borrow money for construction projects over a 40-year term, instead of the current 20 years, saying his approach would save the state $150 million this year and allow it to pay for its share of every project on the waiting list by fiscal 2009. Romney said the longer term makes sense because schools typically last for at least 40 years.
Legislative leaders argued that the governor's approach would burden future generations. They say that spreading payments over 40 years, instead of the 25 years in the Legislature's plan, would cost the state an additional $2.48 billion in interest. Cahill, who helped Democratic leaders craft their plan, said a survey by his staff showed that states typically amortize school bonds over 25 years or less.
Last night, Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom declined to comment on the lawmakers' school construction plan, saying the governor would examine the Legislature's proposal when it reaches his desk.
Both lawmakers and Romney say it is critical for the state to curb the construction costs of public buildings. Last night, legislative negotiators neared agreement on a separate package to revamp laws governing the way schools, courthouses, roadways, and other public projects are built.
Under the measure, the state and local governments would be required to hire project managers on developments valued at $1.5 million or more.
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The Boston Globe - West edition
Sunday, July 11, 2004
Tuition bill veto may face override challenge
Measure would cut college costs for illegal immigrants
By Franco Ordoņez and Eun Lee Koh, Globe Staff
Lobbyists and legislative backers of a bill that would allow undocumented students to attend public colleges and universities at in-state tuition rates are optimistic that there is growing support at the State House to override the governor's recent veto of the measure.
State legislators have about three weeks to reverse the governor's decision. Proponents who have been following the bill said they hope there is enough bipartisan support to make that a reality, having won 39-0 support in the state Senate.
The House leadership has taken note of the bill's support. Charles Rasmussen, a spokesman for House Speaker Thomas Finneran, said last week that the measure is under consideration for a veto override, but he noted that it was just one of several measures under consideration by House leaders. It is still too early to say what the House will do, he said.
The measure has won support from local legislators and could be a significant boost for immigrant families living in the western suburbs.
"I'm hopeful. A lot of legislators feel this is an important piece of the budget," said state Representative Karen
Spilka, an Ashland Democrat and a member of the Legislature's Joint Education Committee. "Otherwise these people are going to end up in dead ends."
Governor Mitt Romney vetoed the bill late last month, stating that he could not support an initiative that he said would promote more illegal immigration.
"The Commonwealth should not make it easier for illegal aliens to violate federal immigration laws," said Shawn Feddeman, a spokeswoman for the governor. "And we shouldn't excuse those violations of the law by giving illegal aliens the same benefits we provide our own citizens."
Romney's decision was a blow to advocates and lobbyists who have been pushing the bill for years. They argue that, regardless of a family's immigration status, children should not be punished for decisions made by their parents.
"It's kind of like being refused an education," said Hugo, an undocumented student from Brazil living in Marlborough, who said he will not be able to attend college in the United States unless he can pay in-state tuition rates.
"You just want to go higher, and do better, and learn more stuff. You want to be educated," said Hugo, who spoke on the condition that his last name not be used. "But this keeps it away from you. I try to keep my hopes up that things are going to change, but it's really taking its toll."
Hugo graduated this year third in his high school class. He was a National Honor Society student, and has won local, state, and federal awards, including the President's Award for Educational Excellence.
He has been accepted to Worcester State College, but without proper documentation, he does not qualify for in-state tuition, which is considerably lower than what nonresidents pay.
Indeed, in Massachusetts, the difference in tuition for in-state and out-of-state residents can be thousands of dollars. For example, an in-state, full-time student attending a state college such as Worcester State or Framingham State this fall would pay $970 in tuition, while out-of-state residents would pay $7,050.
State Senator Jarrett T. Barrios, a Cambridge Democrat who supported the measure, said he was surprised the governor vetoed the measure, particularly after similar legislation had already passed in a number of other states, including California, Illinois, New York, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas.
"It passed in Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas," Barrios said. "We're not talking about bastions of liberalism here. This is a not a partisan issue. If these states didn't see it as investing in children's futures, they saw it as a good economic investment. It just makes sense that you would want to educate your future work force."
But opponents of the measure lauded Romney's decision to veto the bill, saying that giving undocumented immigrants access to in-state tuition rewarded law-breakers and could hurt legal immigrants and low-income residents.
"The proponents like to put a human face on this," said James
Staudenraus, eastern field director of Federation for American Immigration Reform, a Washington-based group that pushes for tougher immigration law enforcement. "They take an illegal alien student, top in the class, high-achieving, who would not go to college if we didn't provide this break to them. But there is another human face to this, and it's the kids who have worked hard, obeyed the rules, and who also deserve their chance at college. Seats are limited."
Ali Noorani, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, which estimates that the bill would affect 400 eligible Massachusetts high school seniors each year, charged the governor with turning his back on the immigrant community. But, he said, after speaking with roughly a dozen legislators whom he said have expressed support for a veto override, he has become more optimistic that the override will succeed.
"It has a little more momentum and buzz than we realized because legislators are realizing this is a national issue," Noorani said.
Staudenraus, citing a Federation for American Immigration Reform study, estimated that Massachusetts could lose millions if undocumented students were allowed to pay the lower rate.
Supporters of the measure counter that Massachusetts actually stands to gain from the legislation, because it would receive tuition from students who would otherwise not attend college. The Massachusetts Board of Education and state legislators pushing the bill estimate that the state could take in an additional $2 million a year.
"It's either this in-state tuition rate, or no college," said state Representative Marie P. St. Fleur, House chairwoman of the Joint Education Committee and a sponsor of the bill.
Some educators say not passing the bill is denying the American dream for thousands of students. And, they say, considering all the pressure placed on children to excel in school, it is only fair to give them an opportunity to continue their education.
"We tell them all these positive things," said Genoveffa Grieci, who heads the English as a second language and bilingual department at Framingham High School. "And then they graduate from high school. And then what? They go to work at McDonalds? They go to clean houses? Why should they work hard? They feel there is no future."
Jadya, a 19-year-old undocumented student living in Framingham, dreams of being a surgeon in an emergency room. But
Jadya, who agreed to be interviewed on the condition that only her first name be used, said that if the bill is not passed within the next year when she is a senior, she will have to return to Brazil for college. If that happens, she said she is not sure she will be able to fulfill her dreams.
"I wouldn't be able to achieve my higher expectations in Brazil," she said. "I can graduate in Brazil, but if you have a degree from a Boston university, that is really something. I could get a better job."
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The Springfield Republican
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
FBI arrests Asselin clan
By Jack Flynn and Stephanie Barry, Staff writers
Nine members of the politically prominent Asselin family shared a jail cell yesterday after they were arrested at dawn for allegedly sharing more than $1 million in cash, gifts and services swindled from the Springfield Housing Authority.
In the largest corruption crackdown in the city's recent history, six members of the family, including state Rep. Christopher P.
Asselin, were rousted from sleep at their oceanside vacation home on Cape Cod. Three others were arrested by federal agents at local homes and businesses for allegedly siphoning public dollars and materials meant for the low-income residents of the city's public housing agency.
In a 100-count indictment the Asselins are accused of plundering the state's third largest housing authority for a decade - stocking their homes with stolen furniture and appliances and shaking down contractors for bribes and kickbacks. The lawmaker's father, Raymond B.
Asselin, 67, was even accused of skimming $2,000 in quarters from the laundry machines at the housing agency that he ran for 34 years.
The sweep came two years after the authority emerged as a target of a long-running federal investigation. In addition to the Asselin family, the authority's former assistant director and three contractors were charged.
All but one defendant - a contractor who fell ill - pleaded innocent in U.S. District Court yesterday and were released. The group faces charges ranging from racketeering to bribery and extortion.
Maximum penalties for the charges range from five to 20 years in prison. Federal officials are moving to seize four homes, $300,000 in cash and Raymond Asselin's BMW under federal racketeering laws.
Raymond Asselin abruptly retired last spring, six months after his family's homes and his office were raided by federal investigators.
The arrests marked the first time in decades that an area legislator has been indicted in office. In a state with a rich history of political corruption, Rep. Christopher P.
Asselin, the 35-year East Springfield Democrat, also appears to be the first lawmaker arrested along with his parents and siblings.
Issued by a federal grand jury last week, the 127-page indictment also alleges Christopher accepted illegal contributions and gifts including a computer, leather chair and payments on an in-ground pool for his backyard. The charges were made public yesterday, two months before Asselin faces two opponents in a Democratic primary.
The legislator walked into court yesterday handcuffed and with matted hair, wearing a white Polo T-shirt, blue shorts and untied boat shoes. He pleaded innocent to 23 charges, and later said he would continue his campaign for re-election.
His brother James - who pleaded guilty in March in a separate city corruption probe and will begin a 41-month prison sentence later this month - also pleaded innocent to new charges yesterday.
The family's patriarch, Raymond Asselin, was identified in the indictment as the leader of the alleged decade-long stealing spree. He appeared in court yesterday wearing a sweat shirt emblazoned with the letters
"NAHRO," or National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials, an organization that named him "man of the year" in 2002.
The Asselins and their co-defendants arrived at U.S. District Court around noon escorted by federal agents in a multicar caravan. Christopher Asselin's wife,
Merylina, 33, arrived separately - after agents allowed her to drive her two children home from the Chatham vacation house.
Sources said Raymond Asselin became faint when agents herded the family out on the lawn at his Cape Cod home and explained that all the adults would be arrested. An ambulance crew arrived and pronounced Asselin fit for the return trip to Springfield.
Another defendant, housing authority chemical supplier Paul Bannick, 76, of West Springfield, was admitted to a local hospital for unconfirmed reasons before he could be arraigned yesterday.
Other family members arrested yesterday were: Raymond's wife, Janet K.
Asselin, 68; Joseph T. Asselin, 40, and his wife Melinda, 41, both of Amherst; Maria Asselin
Serrazina, 39, of Ludlow and Raymond Asselin Jr., 42, of Springfield.
Raymond Asselin's former top assistant at the authority, Arthur G.
Sotirion, 55, of Springfield, and two contractors - John Spano of West Springfield and Peter Davis of Newburyport - also pleaded innocent to racketeering and bribery charges. Sotirion is identified throughout the indictment as one of the primary conspirators with the elder Asselin in the alleged scam.
Among the perks accepted by housing authority executives and the families, according to the indictment:
$14,000 toward the purchase of a boat; the money came from a company run by William Pappas, the indictment states
$3,000 for work on Asselin family cars from G&R Associates, a Springfield contractor
A $630 payment for catering services for Christopher Asselin's fund-raiser from G&R Associates
Two $50,000 payments to Sotirion on behalf of his brother, who was not identified in the indictment
Microwaves, washing machines and a stove for the home of James Asselin, who also received a new van from Pappas' company.
The head of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of the Inspector General yesterday said the Asselins turned the housing authority into a center for corruption in Springfield.
"Today this community is retaking the Springfield public housing authority back from the profiteers and defrauders," said Kenneth M. Donohue at a press conference.
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State House News Service
Friday, July 9, 2004
Romney slashes Springfield bailout bill
A month after filing a $52 million package of grants and loans to rescue the city of Springfield from fiscal ruin, Gov. Mitt Romney on Friday morning slashed $30 million from the bailout package sent to his desk by the Legislature just after midnight.
Romney, who had argued the city's capital access capacities were questionable, says the city has successfully made two borrowings since he filed his bill in early June. Because its access to credit markets is no longer such a question mark, Romney says $30 million in loans he had recommended are no longer needed.
"I believe that $22 million is sufficient to address the budgetary imbalance of the city," Romney wrote in a bill-signing message he filed Friday.
The governor approved the bulk of the bill, including provisions that place city operations under a state-run fiscal control board.
Rep. Cheryl Rivera (D-Springfield) said Romney aide Eric Kriss has worked "very hard" with Springfield lawmakers and the city mayor on fiscal issues, but she disagrees with the decision to reduce the state-backed loan authorization and will begin lobbying support for an override.
"The bill has changed but the city's finances really have not changed," Rivera said. "We are at junk bond status. My understanding is the city obviously needed the $50 million to stabilize."
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