CLT
UPDATE
Friday, October 13, 2006
When will Deval
divulge his
"property tax relief" plan?
Gov. Mitt Romney had a recent and all-too-rare
opportunity to make a spending veto stick and that’s good news for Bay
State taxpayers. But it’s a troubling reminder of what legislative
spending, left unchecked, could mean for our state finances.
In this case, lawmakers wanted to siphon $450 million out of the state’s
rainy-day account to balance the books. But that transfer would have
effectively authorized a slew of pet projects approved earlier in the
summer (including $150,000 for that infamous study of the winter moth
worm) which the governor had vetoed....
Without Romney’s veto, the transfer would have drained nearly a quarter
of the balance of the stabilization fund. In this rare case he was able
to put on the brakes. But that only happened because legislators have
gone home. Taxpayers can’t always count on that.
The Boston Herald
Thursday, October 12, 2006
A Boston Herald editorial
It’s not raining . . . yet
The governor’s actions, irreversible unless legislators
convene an increasingly unlikely special session, strike at the core of the
difference in fiscal philosophies between the Democrat-run Legislature and the
more fiscally conservative executive branch.
Romney Communications Director Eric Fehrnstrom said, "The first rule of fiscal
discipline is don’t take money out of the Rainy Day Fund when it’s not raining.
Gov. Romney is not going to be a party to the Legislature’s overspending."
The Legislature whipped the bill through much of the legislative process in
under 24 hours last week, reporting it from committee Wednesday night and
marking it for the governor’s desk Thursday afternoon....
Anticipating the argument that a transfer from the stabilization account is
needed to bring the state budget into balance, Fehrnstrom said, "If the
Legislature thinks the budget is out of balance, they should come back and make
cuts."
State House News Service
Thursday, October 5, 2006
Romney nixes $450 Million transfer
from supplemental budget
Senate Ways and Means Chairwoman Therese Murray said Thursday
that Gov. Mitt Romney’s veto of a $450 million transfer from the stabilization
account to the General Fund leaves "unfunded mandates in the budget." ...
Murray was responding to comments by Romney Communications Director Eric
Fehrnstrom criticizing what he called the Legislature’s overspending. Fehrnstrom
said later that Romney had in fact vetoed more than $450 million, but lawmakers
put the spending back.
State House News Service
Thursday, October 5, 2006
State Capital Briefs [Excerpt]
Murry hits back on veto of $450M Rainy Day transfer
There’s no question that on the basics - tax policy, business
costs and education standards and access - Healey has the upper hand over
Patrick on being pro-business. And as she pointed out in her Chamber speech
yesterday, the defense a governor is forced to play on Beacon Hill against
bad-for-business policies is as important as a pro-business offense. Heck, if it
took a court ruling or two - and a couple of tough Herald editorials - to get
Gov. Mitt Romney on the right side on the retroactive capital gains tax fight,
where would Deval Patrick have come out?
The Boston Herald
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Campaigns short on bold new ideas
By Virginia Buckingham
Addressing over 400 business types and civic players in the
Marriott Copley hotel, the three candidates [for governor] splayed their
platforms, hitting on fiscal management proposals and education.
With just under a month until the Nov. 7 election, Patrick has been leading
substantially in polls, but encountered problems last week when revelations
about his efforts to secure parole for Benjamin LaGuer, a man DNA tests show
raped his neighbor in 1983.
A CBS4 Fast Track poll released Wednesday showed Healey narrowing the lead to 18
points, seven points down from the 25-point edge Patrick held in a CBS4/Boston
Globe survey released Oct. 1. Mihos appeared stuck, at 7 percent close to where
he’s been for weeks. And Green-Rainbow candidate Grace Ross continued to hover
on the bottom rung, at 1 percent....
Citing her own "no-new-taxes" pledge, Healey said, "Both of my opponents here
this morning took a very different pledge. They signed a pledge to the unions,
the special interests that control Beacon Hill. And I have a deep concern that
that pledge will end up in making us less competitive here in Massachusetts in
the long run. There’s a direct correlation between spending and taxes." ...
"This state is on her knees," Mihos said. "It is eminently unaffordable."
The convenience store franchise owner held up his proposal to freeze property
values, for tax purposes, between purchases and sales, saying he was confident
he could garner enough support for a constitutional amendment.
State House News Service
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Trio of Guv candidates meet with business group
Chip Ford's CLT Commentary
Governor Romney this week vetoed the Legislature's
$450 million raid on its personal slush fund -- the so-called "Rainy Day
Fund." You know, that fund we "need for emergencies" when the
economy again begins to slow, even at the cost of the voters' tax
rollback mandate. Despite the monthly revenue report issued by the
state commissioner of revenue that the state is way over anticipated
revenues: "Preliminary revenue collections for September were
$2.070 billion, an increase of $129 million or 6.6 percent over last
September. September collections passed the $2 billion mark for the
first time," Commissioner LeBovidge
reported on Oct. 2.
And because our fulltime Legislature -- "The Best
Legislature Money Can Buy" -- has been out since July, "in the
district" campaigning for reelection as if they need to break a sweat.
The governor's veto this time prevailed, only because legislators
weren't around during their extended biennial (election year) vacation.
Boston Herald columnist Virginia Buckingham yesterday
opined: "Heck, if it took a court ruling or two - and a couple of
tough Herald editorials - to get Gov. Mitt Romney on the right side on
the retroactive capital gains tax fight, where would Deval Patrick have
come out?"
She made a good point -- but she forgot one of the
most motivating forces for repeal of the retroactive capital gains tax;
a consistent and primary advocate against that obscene legislation:
Citizens for Limited Taxation, at the forefront of repeal from the
beginning and even before.
Governor Romney even thanked CLT and it members with a personal
letter for our advocacy! [See also: CLT Update, Nov.
19, 2005, "Joined
by CLT members, Gov calls for fairness on retroactive cap gains tax"]
"The convenience store franchise owner held up his
proposal to freeze property values, for tax purposes, between purchases
and sales, saying he was confident he could garner enough support for a
constitutional amendment," the State House News Service reported of
unenrolled gubernatorial candidate Christy Mihos. It looks like he
has finally recognized that if elected somehow he can't do it
unilaterally, by fiat, as CLT had told him early on. "Christy's
Proposition 1" is a pipe dream.
But Democrat candidate for governor Deval Patrick
refuses to honor the voters' mandate and roll back the state income tax
to 5 percent. He professes that instead he wants to relieve our
property tax burden.
When will he give us taxpayers a plan -- detailed or
anything whatsoever -- explaining just how he intends to accomplish
that? Say what you want about Christy Mihos; at least he
laid out his plan to be reviewed and challenged.
When will Deval Patrick divulge his alleged "property
tax relief" plan?
 |
|
Chip Ford |
The Boston Herald
Thursday, October 12, 2006
A Boston Herald editorial
It’s not raining . . . yet
Gov. Mitt Romney had a recent and all-too-rare opportunity to make a
spending veto stick and that’s good news for Bay State taxpayers. But
it’s a troubling reminder of what legislative spending, left unchecked,
could mean for our state finances.
In this case, lawmakers wanted to siphon $450 million out of the state’s
rainy-day account to balance the books. But that transfer would have
effectively authorized a slew of pet projects approved earlier in the
summer (including $150,000 for that infamous study of the winter moth
worm) which the governor had vetoed.
In fact, the governor vetoed nearly $600 million in proposed spending
this summer, all of which the Legislature overrode. Why would he OK a
rainy-day transfer to cover any of it?
But that didn’t stop Senate Ways and Means Chairman Therese Murray
(D-Plymouth) from crying foul, telling the State House News Service the
veto will leave "unfunded mandates."
Well, of course it will, Senator - but the mandates are largely a
creation of the Legislature! As Romney’s spokesman, Eric Fehrnstrom,
noted: "If the Legislature thinks the budget is out of balance, they
should come back and make cuts." We won’t hold our breath.
Without Romney’s veto, the transfer would have drained nearly a quarter
of the balance of the stabilization fund. In this rare case he was able
to put on the brakes. But that only happened because legislators have
gone home. Taxpayers can’t always count on that.
Return to top
State House News Service
Thursday, October 5, 2006
Romney nixes $450 Million transfer
from supplemental budget
By Jim O’Sullivan
Gov. Mitt Romney vetoed on Thursday a $450 million transfer to the
state’s general account from its Rainy Day Fund, but signed off on
nearly all the rest of an $89 million supplemental spending bill passed
last month by the Legislature.
Parts of the legislation Romney approved include $4.4 million to
compensate public higher education campuses for waiving active National
Guard members’ tuition and fees, $5 million for bulletproof vests for
state and municipal police officers, nearly $9 million for the
Department of Revenue, and close to $8 million for Treasurer Timothy
Cahill's office. Romney vetoed out language establishing an
International Education Fund.
Romney also authorized $10.5 million, marked for Fiscal Year 2006, but
carried forward to be spent in FY ’07.
The governor’s actions, irreversible unless legislators convene an
increasingly unlikely special session, strike at the core of the
difference in fiscal philosophies between the Democrat-run Legislature
and the more fiscally conservative executive branch.
Romney Communications Director Eric Fehrnstrom said, "The first rule of
fiscal discipline is don’t take money out of the Rainy Day Fund when
it’s not raining. Gov. Romney is not going to be a party to the
Legislature’s overspending."
The Legislature whipped the bill through much of the legislative process
in under 24 hours last week, reporting it from committee Wednesday night
and marking it for the governor’s desk Thursday afternoon.
Democratic budget committee aides said the $450 million was needed to
balance this year’s budget. Romney, the legislative aides said, used
$200 million in onetime revenues to balance the budget.
Anticipating the argument that a transfer from the stabilization account
is needed to bring the state budget into balance, Fehrnstrom said, "If
the Legislature thinks the budget is out of balance, they should come
back and make cuts."
Since their formal sessions expired by statute on July 31, lawmakers
have hesitated to reconvene formally, despite a capital bond bill that
both Democratic leaders and Romney agree is necessary. Neither bond
legislation nor vetoes can be addressed during informals.
Earlier this week, Information Technology chief Louis Gutierrez tendered
his resignation to Romney over the bond bill’s failure to pass,
complaining that he was "presiding over the dismantling of an IT
investment program."
State Revenue Commissioner Alan LeBovidge reported Monday that the state
lags fiscal 2007 benchmarks by about a million dollars to date, though
September intakes passed the $2 billion mark, an all-time high for that
month.
Return to top
State House News Service
Thursday, October 5, 2006
State Capital Briefs [Excerpt]
Murry hits back on veto of $450M Rainy Day transfer
Senate Ways and Means Chairwoman Therese Murray said Thursday that Gov.
Mitt Romney’s veto of a $450 million transfer from the stabilization
account to the General Fund leaves "unfunded mandates in the budget."
The money was to be used to balance the Fiscal Year 2007 budget, with
large amounts for $58 million in health care spending, $30 million for
nursing homes, and $53 million for Chapter 70, Murray said.
She said, "He can’t have it both ways. He can’t say he’s not going to
move the money but sign a budget that has these things included in it,
unless he wants to tell the cities and towns that their schools are not
going to get the money we put in, and I assume he doesn’t want to stand
up and say that."
Murray was responding to comments by Romney Communications Director Eric
Fehrnstrom criticizing what he called the Legislature’s overspending.
Fehrnstrom said later that Romney had in fact vetoed more than $450
million, but lawmakers put the spending back.
Return to top
The Boston Herald
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Campaigns short on bold new ideas
By Virginia Buckingham
The egg concoction on the plates was something new, but the crowd
gathered at the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs
breakfast forum yesterday was the same old, same old. And the
gubernatorial candidates’ ideas on the economy? Older still.
It was Boston’s reputation as a stagnant, insular, and some would say
incestuous, breeding ground of inside dealers and special interest
powerbrokers which Deval Patrick took a gentle rhetorical shot at
yesterday. Boston, he essentially said, you’ve got an "attitude"
problem.
"We need to start looking out," Patrick noted, relating a conversation
with a Democratic State Convention delegate who criticized the presence
of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama at a pre-convention rally. "We don’t need
any outsiders," the delegate told Patrick. "Oh, yes we do," Patrick
answered.
Do we ever.
(And sorry, Christy, you don’t qualify. A guy’s who’s been appointed to
two powerful state boards by a governor is, by definition, an insider.
And a guy who can’t resist referring to his female opponent’s hair and
clothes and this state as on "her" knees is the worst kind of "old
boy.")
I also have my doubts that Patrick, the candidate of the unions and the
Beacon Hill powerbrokers (past and present) will stamp an "outsider"
imprimatur on his administration. Yet, after 16 years in the corner
office, the GOP is losing its claim to be the party of change.
So here’s the issue. Neither Patrick nor Healey wowed the admittedly
insider-heavy business crowd yesterday with a soaring economic vision.
Has the nation’s well of creative economic ideas run dry or just our own
parochial sources?
There’s no question that on the basics - tax policy, business costs and
education standards and access - Healey has the upper hand over Patrick
on being pro-business. And as she pointed out in her Chamber speech
yesterday, the defense a governor is forced to play on Beacon Hill
against bad-for-business policies is as important as a pro-business
offense. Heck, if it took a court ruling or two - and a couple of tough
Herald editorials - to get Gov. Mitt Romney on the right side on the
retroactive capital gains tax fight, where would Deval Patrick have come
out?
But I doubt I was the only one needing to swill more weak coffee to get
excited about the consensus among Healey and Patrick that the state
needs more trains to outlying burgs where housing is cheaper. And
one-stop shopping for permitting? Be still my heart, what a brilliant
idea.
Our competitors aren’t just in Connecticut and New Hampshire but in
Lahore and Shanghai, we were informed by Patrick. Really? Perhaps the
new governor will lead trade missions of business leaders abroad where
he or she can open doors, sign sister state agreements and find you
don’t even have to point out Massachusetts on a map thanks to Harvard
and Mass. General Hospital.
There were a few bright moments in yesterday’s otherwise repetitive
forum. Patrick’s notion of Massachusetts as an incubator of renewable
energy businesses was cool and Healey’s knowledgeable riff on Canadian
pipelines and provinces was impressive. I noticed Healey’s focus on
improving the English language skills of legal immigrants made
employers’ ears perk up too.
But the mostly warmed over proposals and rhetoric in Patrick’s and
Healey’s economic stump speeches made the eggs the most exciting part of
yesterday’s event. We’re short on new faces, as Patrick rightly noted.
And as a result, we’re woefully short on new ideas.
Return to top
State House News Service
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Trio of Guv candidates meet with business group
By Jim O’Sullivan
Deval Patrick signaled Wednesday that he may shift the largely upbeat
tone of his campaign, as Kerry Healey continues to drill him over his
defense of criminals.
"We will respond as and when we have to," the Democrat said in response
to a reporter’s question about whether he had a negative ad prepared. He
said, "Listen, there’s a whole lot that this administration and this
lieutenant governor have to answer for … There is a lot of distance
between the rhetoric of the lieutenant governor and her actions, and I
do intend to call that out."
A Healey ad released Wednesday hammered Patrick over not revealing all
the facts about his advocacy on behalf of a convicted rapist until
contradicted by press reports. Patrick said Wednesday he thought her
campaign was trying to exploit the case for political gain.
Healey, the Republican lieutenant governor whom a new opinion survey
shows whittling Patrick’s advantage, told reporters, "I think you have
to choose sometimes in life whose side you’re going to be on, and again
and again I’ve chosen to be on the side of the victim and victims of
crimes and Deval Patrick has chosen to be on the side of the criminal."
Patrick has stood by his record as both a prosecutor and a defense
attorney and said Wednesday that Healey, a criminologist, "lives in the
world of theory." Of the new Healey ad, he said, "If I had the current
administration’s record, I’d try to change the subject as well."
Before addressing the criminal justice issues during media scrums, the
top two gubernatorial contenders, along with independent Christy Mihos,
brought their visions for improving the state’s business climate to the
Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Wednesday, clashing over the income
tax rate and each other’s approaches to the economy.
Addressing over 400 business types and civic players in the Marriott
Copley hotel, the three candidates splayed their platforms, hitting on
fiscal management proposals and education.
With just under a month until the Nov. 7 election, Patrick has been
leading substantially in polls, but encountered problems last week when
revelations about his efforts to secure parole for Benjamin LaGuer, a
man DNA tests show raped his neighbor in 1983.
A CBS4 Fast Track poll released Wednesday showed Healey narrowing the
lead to 18 points, seven points down from the 25-point edge Patrick held
in a CBS4/Boston Globe survey released Oct. 1. Mihos appeared stuck, at
7 percent close to where he’s been for weeks. And Green-Rainbow
candidate Grace Ross continued to hover on the bottom rung, at 1
percent.
Each candidate tried to appeal to the business-heavy crowd.
Citing her own "no-new-taxes" pledge, Healey said, "Both of my opponents
here this morning took a very different pledge. They signed a pledge to
the unions, the special interests that control Beacon Hill. And I have a
deep concern that that pledge will end up in making us less competitive
here in Massachusetts in the long run. There’s a direct correlation
between spending and taxes."
Healey drew guffaws when, answering an audience question about whether
her "no-new-taxes" pledge extended to fees, she replied, "Taxes and fees
are different things." Romney has faced criticism from the business
community over corporate tax loophole-closings they say amount to new
fees.
Healey said she found the proposal to erect a liquefied natural gas
facility on Outer Brewster Island, a controversial plan opposed by local
officials and environmentalists, "probably the least objectionable" of
the several LNG options before the state.
Talking with reporters, Healey said, "We heard that Deval Patrick has no
intention of making it more affordable here in Massachusetts for working
families or companies."
Repeating what has become a common refrain in his speeches, Patrick said
Democrats should be more comfortable working on behalf of the private
sector, and pointed to his hope that government will help strengthen the
state’s renewable and alternative energy industry.
Using "us" as a substitute for Democrats, Patrick said, "The difference
between us and the right is, or ought to be, that we understand there’s
more than one bottom line." He touted his corporate work at Texaco and
Coca-Cola, "as well as various boards."
Patrick hit current state policies he said "make doing business in
Massachusetts expensive and frustrating," repeating a widespread
complaint of policymakers that the permitting and regulatory processes
governing commercial and residential developments are too slow. Healey
also said she wanted smoother permitting.
Patrick said, "We live in a netherworld right now where we complain
about the pace of regulation but then we starve the agencies of the
resources they need to do what we ask them to do."
Patrick also re-stated his support for standardized testing as a
graduation requirement, repeating his proposals for others on top of it;
Healey’s campaign has flatly said Patrick opposes the tests as
prerequisites. Calling his answer "especially for the lieutenant
governor," Patrick looked at Healey from the podium and said, "I’m going
to say this one more time, I’m going make sure you hear me: I support
the MCAS."
Democrats have circulated video of Healey during a 2000 House race
saying she opposed MCAS as a graduation requirement. She now supports
it.
With a lead over Healey as broad as 25 points in polls released late
last month, Patrick has carried the optimistic tone that helped him in
the primary into the general election. But attacks on his judgment and
depictions of him as soft on violent criminals have eaten into
Democrats’ confidence. Some have questioned privately why Patrick has
not changed into fighting mode.
At a press conference Monday, Patrick said his campaign was striving as
much as "humanly possible" to maintain a positive tone. A new Patrick ad
criticizes the administration’s record on the Big Dig, rising property
taxes, and economic failures like job loss.
Patrick Communications Director Richard Chacón said the campaign had
been trying to direct attention toward the administration’s record.
"This is not really any kind of shift. We welcome that there are more
who recognize … and are paying attention to this administration’s
record," Chacón said.
In his often playful remarks, Mihos rejected criticisms that he has been
a "junkyard dog" attacking Healey, saying the administration’s record is
"fair game" because it has failed to revive the economy sufficiently,
leaving the state with a population drain.
"This state is on her knees," Mihos said. "It is eminently
unaffordable."
The convenience store franchise owner held up his proposal to freeze
property values, for tax purposes, between purchases and sales, saying
he was confident he could garner enough support for a constitutional
amendment. Mihos wants to increase affordable housing stock, install
slot machines at the state’s racetracks and pursue Big Dig contractors
aggressively to recoup what he says was misused payouts.
"We’ll go after everything like a businessman would, not like a
politician would," he said.
He reeled off a number of one-liners, noting that Chamber members had
joined calls for Mihos to step down from the Turnpike Authority board.
"This is just a wonderful opportunity to be back here," Mihos said to
laughs and applause, later calling Chamber President Paul Guzzi "my new
best buddy."
Answering speculation he is motivated by a "vendetta" against the state
GOP with which he’s had a stormy familial relationship, Mihos said, "How
can you be mad at the Republicans? I mean, you’ve got to pity them
sometimes."
One question Guzzi put to both Mihos and Healey, and tailored slightly
differently for Patrick, drew smiles from all the candidates. He asked
the candidates to say something they liked about their opponents.
Mihos said, "I like Kerry Healey. We’ve been together socially. She’s
very warm. She's not what they say she is, stiff or anything like that,
she's a very warm person.
Saying Healey, "refuses to even look at me," Mihos pressed on: She's
very well dressed and very well coiffed, and I really do like her a lot,
I respect her."
Healey credited Patrick with being "an eloquent speaker."
Asked what he’d learned from his opponents, Patrick said he "respect[s]
the vigor of their campaigns," admired some of their ideas and would
attempt to implement some of them.
Return to top
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this
material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes
only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
|