CLT UPDATE
Friday, February 20, 2009
Taxpayers abused nonstop for another week
The real estate developer chosen by
Governor Deval Patrick to distribute billions of dollars in federal
stimulus money has been receiving a state pension ever since he was
fired from his job at a state development agency in 1995, according to
state records.
Jeffrey A. Simon, 58, was tapped by the governor on Wednesday to the
newly created job of director of infrastructure investment, which will
pay him $150,000 a year....
But what the résumé posting did not say was that Simon was terminated in
1995 from his state job overseeing the redevelopment of Fort Devens.
The governor and his staff also did not disclose that, under a
Massachusetts pension law intended to protect patronage hires from
retribution, his firing entitled him to begin collecting an enhanced
state pension while he was in his mid-40s....
State retirement records show that Simon has been paid $29,000 to
$32,000 a year since December 1995 with his enhanced, early pension. He
has collected $403,751.84 in all, according to state records.
The Boston Globe
Friday, February 13, 2009
Patrick stimulus chief was fired from state post
Simon has been receiving pension since 1995
“Jeffrey comes to us with an extensive background in real
estate development and job creation. He has more than three decades of project
management experience,” Patrick said....
Sen. Mark C. Montigny, who has been sharply critical of the state’s botched Big
Dig construction oversight, said, “There’s so much temptation to spend quickly
when you have a crisis to hide behind.”
The Boston Herald
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Deval Patrick appoints spending czar
The Ipswich man chosen by Gov. Deval Patrick to oversee the
state's disbursement of federal stimulus money has received more than $400,000
in enhanced state pension payments under a special law that has triggered calls
for reform.
Developer Jeffrey Simon bought credit for five years of Ipswich School Committee
service — years when he did not contribute to the retirement system — so he
could accumulate more than 20 years of collective state work experience,
Treasury spokeswoman Francy Ronayne said Thursday.
The extra time allowed Simon to start collecting $29,000 annually in 1997, when
he was 47 years old. The payments have since grown to $32,000 and were credited
back to when Simon was 45.
Retirement records show that if Simon had not been credited for the extra time,
he would have received only $14,000 per year, starting when he reached age 55.
Associated Press
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Stimulus czar used Ipswich link to boost his pension
Republican lawmakers sharply criticized yesterday Governor
Deval Patrick's choice of real estate developer Jeffrey A. Simon to oversee the
distribution of billions of dollars in federal stimulus money, citing the state
pension he has been receiving since he was fired from his job at a state
development agency in the mid-1990s.
"Symbolically, the governor couldn't have picked a worse person for the
position," said Senate minority leader Richard R. Tisei of Wakefield. "It
highlights what's wrong with Massachusetts government, people cashing out and
serving their own interest, instead of the public interest.
"This is the person who will be distributing all the federal stimulus money,"
Tisei said. "Doesn't it make you feel a little unsure the money is going to be
spent properly?"
Said House minority leader Bradley H. Jones Jr.: "I have to think with the
nature of the economy and the people being laid off that there was someone they
could have chosen who didn't bring the pension issue with them. It speaks to the
vetting. Either they didn't know or should have known. Or they did know and
thought he was so exceptional they didn't care. Shame on them either way."
The Boston Globe
Saturday, February 14, 2009
GOP hits Patrick stimulus chief
Gov. Deval Patrick last week named developer Jeffrey Simon to
be his “stimulus czar,” and along with impressive skills Simon brings something
else to the job - yet another example of the need for pension reform....
Last week a House panel considering pension reform issued recommendations that
don’t quite go far enough....
Rather than pick over every loophole and exception enacted piecemeal over the
years to protect the politically powerful, it would be faster just to blow up
the system and start from scratch.
A Boston Globe editorial
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Speed up pension reform
Communities already staggering from local aid cuts could be
floored by a budget knockout if taxpayers get stuck with tuition bills for cops
when Gov. Deval Patrick cuts an estimated $8 million to $14 million from the
state-financed Quinn Bill.
The Quinn Bill, enacted in 1970 to pay police who further their education but
long criticized as an expensive perk, is being targeted by Patrick in his latest
budget proposal.
“This is already being called the Great Recession and this will just hit cities
and towns harder,” said Geoff Beckwith, executive director of the Massachusetts
Municipal Association....
The state’s share of Quinn Bill payments next fiscal year is expected to be
$54.5 million, a figure the governor wants to trim by about $12 million.
The Boston Herald
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Deval Patrick eyes slicing police tuition perk
Cities, towns may shoulder fiscal ‘burden’
P.J. O’Rourke famously said that giving money and power to
politicians was like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. If he’s right,
it’s going to be a long time before anyone on Beacon Hill sobers up.
President Obama’s $800 billion “stimulus” pork barrel is rolling billions -
perhaps as much as $11 billion - to Massachusetts pols. Obama has told Gov.
Deval Patrick and Beacon Hill to spend it all, and to spend it fast.
As for waste, earmarks and the like, well, National Public Radio asked House
Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) about the relative lack of oversight
and the potential that billions might get wasted. Obey’s answer: “So what?”
“So what?” For Beacon Hill, it’s a fantasy come true! ...
We are the watchdogs we’ve been waiting for....
Whatever, Patrick has laid bare the unwritten ethical standard of Massachusetts
pols: If you’ll promise to catch us, we’ll promise not to rob you blind.
Otherwise, all bets are off.
The Boston Herald
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Sobering thought: Blank check for Beacon Hill
By Michael Graham
As state lawmakers consider hiking taxes on your booze and
gas, three of them failed to file their state income tax returns - including one
who sits on a committee overseeing tax collections.
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Local politicians skip out on taxes
Trio delinquent on state returns
Moonbats of Massachusetts, what about the children?
It is with deep regret that I must report to you that in this new tax season
more than 99.99 percent of the Beautiful People in Massachusetts are again
refusing to do the right thing on their income tax returns and voluntarily pay
at the old, higher rate....
But strangely, every year, when all they need to do is have the accountant check
off a single box on their income-tax forms to solve the problems created by the
Cheney presidency, the Yes-We-Can types adamantly refuse to part with a few
extra bucks....
Here are the latest DOR numbers. As of yesterday, 640,783 individual taxpayers
had filed their 2008 returns. Of those 640,783, exactly 293 opted to pay at the
higher 5.85 percent rate.
Back me up on the math here. If 640,000 is the number, then 6,400 would be 1
percent, and 640 would be one-tenth of 1 percent. And 293 is less than one half
of one tenth of 1 percent. So the percentage so far this year is one-twentieth
of 1 percent....
When it comes to their own money, moonbats toss around quarters like manhole
covers. They wouldn’t pay a nickel to see an earthquake - that’s why the Globe
is losing a million dollars a week. Their former readers are all liberals, which
is to say, misers.
But what about the children, moonbats?
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Liberals’ voluntary taxes amount to zilch for state
By Howie Carr
Massachusetts could become the first state with its own
Hummer tax under a plan floated by Governor Deval L. Patrick yesterday that
would charge higher registration fees for gas-guzzling cars and offer discounts
for those that do less harm to the environment....
But opponents say such fees could penalize families and small businesses that
need big cars or trucks and already pay higher fuel prices....
Patrick said his administration is looking at the Registry of Motor Vehicles fee
structure to create "differential fees based on the efficiency of the vehicle or
the emissions of the vehicle."
"Big gas-guzzlers will pay more for their registration," he added. "Plug-in
hybrids would pay less, and you'd have a range, that kind of thing."
The Boston Globe
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Hummers might face extra fee
Governor's plan:
Target gas-guzzlers, encourage eco-friendly vehicles
After months of private rumination and public mixed signals,
Governor Deval Patrick will propose a 19 cent increase in the state's gasoline
tax today, in an attempt to solve the increasingly complex maze of problems
confronting the state's aging and debt-ridden transportation system.
Patrick's plan would give Massachusetts one of the highest gas taxes in the
nation, but it may avert an unpopular increase that would have raised the cash
toll at the airport tunnels to $7, according to two administration officials who
spoke on condition of anonymity....
Tax opponent Barbara Anderson called the whole debate a "silly game"
meant to scare people with the threat of high tolls to build support for a gas
tax increase.
The Boston Globe
Friday, February 20, 2009
Patrick seeks hike of 19 cents in gas tax
Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
What a week! Who can
keep up with all the new threats, outrages, scams, and hypocrisy
squeezed into just this one week in Taxachusetts? And it's only
just begun, taxpayers.
As one scam was exposed,
the next tax proposal was leaked, followed by an outrageous exposé
of pols not paying their taxes, with more tax stings announced, and on,
and on, and on . . .
Each
day I thought the scandalous news couldn't be topped, that it was time
to put together this update -- but before the day ended another
bombshell exploded in our midst. Before the smoke had cleared and the fires were
put out, before damage and casualty assessments could be compiled, the bombardment from atop
the heights of Bacon Hill resumed at dawn.
It has
not yet relented. This afternoon Gov. Deval Patrick held a news
conference and presented once again not legislation but -- some sort of
proposed blueprint of the belated transportation bill he expects to
file, one day soon, perhaps.
According to the State House News Service's breaking news story:
.
. . Massachusetts Republican Party Chair Jennifer Nassour and House
Republican leaders checked in with their own statements.
"When tolls go up, the blame will rest squarely on the Patrick
Administration for squandering two years and waiting until the 11th
hour to propose a flawed transportation plan," Nassour said. "A gas
tax increase should be off the table, and the Democrats should get
serious about passing real reforms. Massachusetts families should
not be asked to pay the highest gas tax in the nation in order to
keep feeding the gluttonous appetite of state government."
Republican leaders said they were "disappointed and dismayed" with
the "tax and spend" proposal.
"It's difficult to comment on something that still hasn't been put
to paper yet," said Rep. George Peterson, the assistant minority
leader in a statement. "We've been waiting 18 months for a
comprehensive transportation plan. Today we were only provided with
a presentation." . . .
When Gov. Patrick announced
his proposed gas tax increase, he dragged out and dusted off that tired
old tax-and-spend shibboleth heard whenever a new tax or tax hike is
imposed: His 19 cents per gallon gas tax hike would cost the average
driver about $8 a month, only the cost of "one large cup of coffee per
week."
Do you realize how many cups of coffee we've been forced to give up over
the past decade or two to pay for "minor" tax increases? Taxachusetts
has likely affected the GDP of coffee-growing nations around the world!
And that's from just "a cup of coffee a week." Let's not forget the
damage we've inflicted on local pizza shops by our forced sacrifices of
"just a slice of pizza a week" to pay for even more tax hikes!
 |
|
Chip Ford |
|
|
State
income tax repeal ballot question:
Defeated 70-30% in November. |
|
 |
|
The Results Are In |
The Boston Globe
Friday, February 13, 2009
Patrick stimulus chief was fired from state post
Simon has been receiving pension since 1995
By Andrea Estes and Frank Phillips
The real estate developer chosen by Governor Deval Patrick to distribute
billions of dollars in federal stimulus money has been receiving a state
pension ever since he was fired from his job at a state development
agency in 1995, according to state records.
Jeffrey A. Simon, 58, was tapped by the governor on Wednesday to the
newly created job of director of infrastructure investment, which will
pay him $150,000 a year. The governor promptly posted a summary of
Simon's résumé on his website after the appointment, listing a
distinguished career as a real estate specialist in government and the
private sector, with expertise in redeveloping military bases.
But what the résumé posting did not say was that Simon was terminated in
1995 from his state job overseeing the redevelopment of Fort Devens.
The governor and his staff also did not disclose that, under a
Massachusetts pension law intended to protect patronage hires from
retribution, his firing entitled him to begin collecting an enhanced
state pension while he was in his mid-40s.
Simon could not be reached for comment. His retirement records do not
include a reason for his dismissal from the agency where he worked in
the mid-1990s, the Massachusetts Government Land Bank. His official
résumé suggests he left the Land Bank because he was recruited for a
similar job by the government of Bermuda.
A spokesman for Patrick, Joe Landolfi, provided a statement last night
that said the administration knew Simon had departed state government.
The statement did not address the questions of Simon's pension or his
dismissal from the agency, however.
"Mr. Simon was fully vetted prior to being offered the position of
director of infrastructure investment. He disclosed that he retired from
state service more than a decade ago," Landolfi said. "He is eminently
qualified to serve in this critical role, and we are confident he will
successfully ensure federal stimulus funds are invested responsibly and
transparently."
State retirement records show that Simon has been paid $29,000 to
$32,000 a year since December 1995 with his enhanced, early pension. He
has collected $403,751.84 in all, according to state records.
Simon will forgo the pension payments while he serves in his new state
job, according to administration officials.
Patrick has called for pension reform. Pensions such as the one Simon is
receiving have been criticized by some who say some former state
officials are taking advantage of statutes intended for another purpose,
but the Legislature has not changed the law.
The state retirement board has balked at paying benefits to some workers
who sometimes lose their jobs just after recording their 20th year of
service. In 2007, then-House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi fired his
executive assistant after she worked almost exactly 20 years to the day.
In 2002, the retirement board rejected a claim by Peter Forman, chief of
staff for Acting Governor Jane Swift after board members questioned
whether he had really been fired.
A handful of Big Dig managers who worked at the Massachusetts Turnpike
Authority also left the agency with pensions at a relatively young age.
Simon, who also worked in the 1970s for Senate President William M.
Bulger and for the Massachusetts Land Bank in the 1970s and 1980s, did
not have the required 20 years of state service when he was fired.
So to qualify for his early pension, he took advantage of another quirk
in state law - the ability to include pension credit for nonstate jobs.
Simon asked the Essex County retirement board to have time he served as
a $150-a-year member of the Ipswich School Committee added to his
pension.
The board refused, but Simon appealed to a state administrative judge,
who eventually ruled in his favor and awarded him five years of School
Committee time.
The Boston Herald
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Deval Patrick appoints spending czar
By Hillary Chabot
Gov. Deval Patrick has tapped real estate executive Jeffrey Simon as the
state’s spending czar to oversee doling out the Bay State’s portion of
the $790 billion federal stimulus.
Simon, who will earn $150,000 and report to Patrick and finance chief
Leslie Kirwan, was chosen because of his experience on several large,
complex infrastructure projects including heading up the redevelopment
of Fort Devens, the governor said.
“Jeffrey comes to us with an extensive background in real estate
development and job creation. He has more than three decades of project
management experience,” Patrick said.
Simon, who is currently president of the Boston-based Simon Properties,
vowed to use the money wisely when he starts as infrastructure
investment director this week.
“We’re going to put people back to work, building worthwhile projects
that will benefit us all far into the future,” Simon said.
Patrick recently contracted with accounting firm Deloitte & Touche for
$400,000 to help dole out the federal cash as well.
Further, Senate President Therese Murray (D-Plymouth) and House Speaker
Robert A. DeLeo (D-Winthrop) announced a joint committee that would also
oversee spending yesterday, while Patrick detailed a Web site that will
reflect every dollar received and show how the state uses the cash.
Sen. Mark C. Montigny, who has been sharply critical of the state’s
botched Big Dig construction oversight, said, “There’s so much
temptation to spend quickly when you have a crisis to hide behind.”
But Patrick said, “We intend to do everything we can to ensure that the
public agencies overseeing these projects do so with the integrity the
public deserves.”
Massachusetts could get up to $2 billion in infrastructure alone, with
at least $1.6 billion in Medicaid assistance and additional funding for
education aid and safety net programs like food stamps.
Associated Press
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Stimulus czar used Ipswich link to boost his pension
By Glen Johnson
The Ipswich man chosen by Gov. Deval Patrick to oversee the state's
disbursement of federal stimulus money has received more than $400,000
in enhanced state pension payments under a special law that has
triggered calls for reform.
Developer Jeffrey Simon bought credit for five years of Ipswich School
Committee service — years when he did not contribute to the retirement
system — so he could accumulate more than 20 years of collective state
work experience, Treasury spokeswoman Francy Ronayne said Thursday.
The extra time allowed Simon to start collecting $29,000 annually in
1997, when he was 47 years old. The payments have since grown to $32,000
and were credited back to when Simon was 45.
Retirement records show that if Simon had not been credited for the
extra time, he would have received only $14,000 per year, starting when
he reached age 55.
Simon served on the Ipswich School Committee from 1987 to 1995, acting
as chairman from 1987 to '90.
The Salem News was unable to reach Simon for comment yesterday.
A Patrick spokesman said Simon disclosed his pension before his
appointment Wednesday. The payments have since been suspended. The state
is now paying Simon $150,000 a year for the stimulus work.
"Mr. Simon was fully vetted prior to being offered the position of
director of infrastructure investment," said Joe Landolfi, the
governor's communications director. "He disclosed that he retired from
state service more than a decade ago. He is eminently qualified to serve
in this critical role, and we are confident he will successfully ensure
federal stimulus funds are invested responsibly and transparently."
Simon received the pension boost because he retired under Section 10 of
the state's pension law. It allows an enhanced payment to employees who
have more than 20 years of government service and retire, resign or lose
re-election.
Former Sen. James Marzilli has asked to boost his pension from $14,000
to $27,000 annually under the same law since resigning office last year
after being arrested for allegedly groping and sexually harassing women
in downtown Lowell. Marzilli remained on the November ballot, even
though he did not return to work after his arrest last spring. He lost
re-election.
Patrick and House Speaker Robert DeLeo have made pension reform a
priority this year, citing similar cases.
Retirement board overruled
State records show the Essex Regional Retirement Board challenged
Simon's request for the extra pension time, but it was overruled in
court. The Patrick administration cited Simon's disclosure, and the
court's upholding of the extra pension credit, as evidence Simon had
done nothing wrong.
According to a biography on the state's Web site, Simon began his
development career in the 1970s working on the redevelopment of closed
military bases. He served as executive director of the Massachusetts
Government Land Bank, a state agency created specifically to finance the
purchase and redevelopment of former military bases in Massachusetts.
He headed the agency through the mid-1980s, when he went into the
private sector and started Simon Properties.
In the early 1990s, he returned to state service to head the state's
redevelopment of Fort Devens.
"After four years as the director of Fort Devens, he was asked by the
Government of Bermuda to head up the redevelopment of four bases in
Bermuda," says the biography.
Around that time, Simon sought to claim his pension by "buying back" his
school committee time through an after-the-fact retirement contribution.
The payments began after he succeeded in court.
In his new job, Simon will oversee infrastructure projects paid with the
state's share of the nearly $800 billion federal stimulus program.
"These investments are to rebuild Massachusetts and get people back to
work," Patrick said in announcing his appointment. "Jeffrey Simon's job
is to assure that is done right, with transparency and accountability."
The Boston Globe
Saturday, February 14, 2009
GOP hits Patrick stimulus chief
By Andrea Estes and Frank Phillips
Republican lawmakers sharply criticized yesterday Governor Deval
Patrick's choice of real estate developer Jeffrey A. Simon to oversee
the distribution of billions of dollars in federal stimulus money,
citing the state pension he has been receiving since he was fired from
his job at a state development agency in the mid-1990s.
"Symbolically, the governor couldn't have picked a worse person for the
position," said Senate minority leader Richard R. Tisei of Wakefield.
"It highlights what's wrong with Massachusetts government, people
cashing out and serving their own interest, instead of the public
interest.
"This is the person who will be distributing all the federal stimulus
money," Tisei said. "Doesn't it make you feel a little unsure the money
is going to be spent properly?"
Said House minority leader Bradley H. Jones Jr.: "I have to think with
the nature of the economy and the people being laid off that there was
someone they could have chosen who didn't bring the pension issue with
them. It speaks to the vetting. Either they didn't know or should have
known. Or they did know and thought he was so exceptional they didn't
care. Shame on them either way."
Simon, an Ipswich real estate developer, was named by Patrick Wednesday
to the newly created $150,000 post of director of infrastructure
investment. His resume, posted online, highlighted his experience as a
real estate professional, with special expertise in redeveloping
military bases.
It also mentioned his work for the Massachusetts Government Land Bank in
the mid-1990s, helping to redevelop Fort Devens, but it did not say he
was fired from that state job in 1995. Under a Massachusetts law
intended to protect employees from patronage-related retribution in a
change of administration, Simon was able to collect an enhanced state
pension while in his mid-40s. He has collected more than $400,000 in the
last 13 years.
His termination from the Land Bank took effect three years and a day
after he started in the job, entitling him to a pension based on his pay
during those three years, when he received the highest salary of his
state and local public service.
Simon could not be reached for comment.
Yesterday, administration spokesman Joe Landolfi called Simon "well
qualified."
"He was very successful in helping develop Devens," Landolfi said.
"Spending a fraction of the money we could receive in federal stimulus
funds to have a seasoned real estate developer make sure the money is
spent honestly and with transparency is well worth it."
Though Simon's official resume suggests he left the Massachusetts
Government Land Bank because he was recruited for a similar job by the
government of Bermuda, he was fired from the land bank by Michael Hogan,
then its executive director.
Hogan declined to comment yesterday on his decision to fire Simon, whose
title was director of development for the Fort Devens project.
"The governor was looking for a change; that's why I went over to the
Land Bank," said Hogan, who took over as executive director in February
1995.
According to those who worked on the project, Simon went through a
bruising, bare-knuckles battle with local officials and the local news
media while crafting a plan to convert the former US Army base into a
massive private and public development. Governor William F. Weld, who
had strong support in the Republican strongholds around Fort Devens, was
then feeling the heat from his political supporters in the area.
Weld asked Hogan, the former mayor of Marlborough and then head of the
Massachusetts Office of Business Development, to take over the Land Bank
and quell the discontent. After months of reviewing the project, Hogan
fired Simon.
Hogan, who is now chief executive officer of the real estate firm A.D.
Makepeace, will find himself in the awkward position of having to appeal
to Simon to fund two projects with the federal stimulus money:
infrastructure improvements for a technology park in Wareham and a
residential complex in Plymouth.
Stephen Tocco, who oversaw the Land Bank as Weld's economic development
secretary, praised Simon, saying he had shown strong skills in the
difficult process of converting Fort Devens from an Army base to the
private complex it is now.
"I thought he did a very good job," said Tocco, who left his Cabinet
post before Hogan fired Simon. "I was impressed with him. He was very
capable." He said he has worked with Simon on other base-closing and
development projects.
The Boston Herald
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
A Boston Globe editorial
Speed up pension reform
Gov. Deval Patrick last week named developer Jeffrey Simon to be his
“stimulus czar,” and along with impressive skills Simon brings something
else to the job - yet another example of the need for pension reform.
Simon, it turns out, has collected more than $400,000 in enhanced
pension payments since he was fired from his last state job, head of
redevelopment of the former Fort Devens, The Associated Press reported.
Simon was allowed to “buy back” credit for five years he served on the
Ipswich School Committee - a period when he did not pay into the state
pension system - which gave him the 20 years he needed to qualify for a
pension bump under Section 10 of the state retirement law. Instead of
collecting $14,000 a year beginning at age 55, Simon collected $27,000 a
year starting at age 47. It has now grown to $32,000, although payments
were suspended after his recent appointment.
These exceptions and others have been targeted for reform by critics of
the commonwealth’s out-of-whack pension system - and with good reason.
But while individual reps and senators have tried over the years to rein
in the madness, it is only in the face of some truly egregious abuses
that the Legislature has pledged to act.
Last week a House panel considering pension reform issued
recommendations that don’t quite go far enough.
For instance, under Section 10 individuals can seek a pension boost if
they are fired or lose re-election. The House panel recommended tossing
out that exception for elected officials, but the rule can also be
exploited on behalf of appointees.
The House says reform of pension rules for quasi-independent authorities
like the MBTA need to be reviewed and “consideration” given to aligning
them with other agencies. “Consideration” won’t cut it.
And the House demurred on a pension cap, citing the average state
pension of $23,000. But a cap is necessary to rein in the growing number
of six-figure golden parachutes.
Rather than pick over every loophole and exception enacted piecemeal
over the years to protect the politically powerful, it would be faster
just to blow up the system and start from scratch.
The Boston Herald
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Deval Patrick eyes slicing police tuition perk
Cities, towns may shoulder fiscal ‘burden’
By Joe Dwinell and Hillary Chabot
Communities already staggering from local aid cuts could be floored by a
budget knockout if taxpayers get stuck with tuition bills for cops when
Gov. Deval Patrick cuts an estimated $8 million to $14 million from the
state-financed Quinn Bill.
The Quinn Bill, enacted in 1970 to pay police who further their
education but long criticized as an expensive perk, is being targeted by
Patrick in his latest budget proposal.
“This is already being called the Great Recession and this will just hit
cities and towns harder,” said Geoff Beckwith, executive director of the
Massachusetts Municipal Association.
Only the federal stimulus plan, he added, can save Bay State mayors and
town managers now. “This is essentially an unfunded burden,” Beckwith
said.
Many communities have contracts with police unions that force taxpayers
to make up any shortfall with Quinn Bill payments if the state touches
the program. Such is the case in Lowell, where the Mill City could face
an extra $350,000 owed to cops.
“We’re on the hook for that money,” said Lowell City Manager Bernie
Lynch. “It just adds to our budget problems.”
Boston is not on the hook because there is no such contract provision,
said the mayor’s spokeswoman Dot Joyce.
If the Legislature backs Patrick and cuts the Quinn Bill, Boston cops
will be out $2.34 million, she said.
“It’s disconcerting,” said Thomas Nee, president of the Boston Police
Patrolmen’s Association. “Everything is being cut . . . the whole
package is a nightmare.”
Nee also is praying federal stimulus money - with $3.3 billion for cops
nationwide, he said - will keep young patrolmen from being laid off, let
alone have their tuition bills unfunded.
He said the thought of sending young cops home without jobs is making
him “sick.” He said he is working with Vice President Joe Biden to
secure new funding for cops on the beat.
The governor’s office told the Herald last night the administration is
struggling to “solve a budget deficit of approximately $6 billion” over
this year and next year’s budgets. “Deep cuts,” Deputy Press Secretary
Rebecca Deusser said, are the only solution.
The state’s share of Quinn Bill payments next fiscal year is expected to
be $54.5 million, a figure the governor wants to trim by about $12
million.
Boston paid out $21 million last year in Quinn Bill salary bonuses,
according to the 2008 final payroll obtained by the Herald. The payments
ranged from a high of $35,000 to a low of $663 for the 1,400-plus
officers who qualified.
Under the Quinn Bill, officially called the Police Career Incentive Pay
Program, cops get extra pay for completing advanced degrees in law
enforcement or criminal justice.
The Boston Herald
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Sobering thought: Blank check for Beacon Hill
By Michael Graham
P.J. O’Rourke famously said that giving money and power to politicians
was like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. If he’s right,
it’s going to be a long time before anyone on Beacon Hill sobers up.
President Obama’s $800 billion “stimulus” pork barrel is rolling
billions - perhaps as much as $11 billion - to Massachusetts pols. Obama
has told Gov. Deval Patrick and Beacon Hill to spend it all, and to
spend it fast.
As for waste, earmarks and the like, well, National Public Radio asked
House Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) about the relative
lack of oversight and the potential that billions might get wasted.
Obey’s answer: “So what?”
“So what?” For Beacon Hill, it’s a fantasy come true!
And so just hours after the announcement of a stimulus deal, Patrick was
ready to spend. His Web site, www.mass.gov/recovery, posted 78 pages of
ready-to-spend government projects for our review.
Transportation reform? Pension reform? We’ve been waiting for Patrick’s
proposals for more than a year. But blowing through billions of federal
tax dollars? Beacon Hill can do that in a single morning. In between a
late breakfast and an early lunch.
And they know it, too. Something is happening. Perhaps it’s one too many
political scandals. Maybe it’s watching the third consecutive speaker
leave the House of Representatives in shame.
Whatever the reason, Massachusetts pols confronted with this
multibillion-dollar bonanza are admitting that they can’t handle it.
Like alcoholics who have just inherited a packy, they’re worried things
might really get out of hand.
And so the governor hired developer Jeffrey Simon to be the “spending
czar.” House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo and Senate President Therese Murray
announced plans for an 18-person Federal Stimulus Oversight Committee.
In the past, we would have assumed the purpose of such a committee was
to create 18 more $100,000 pension recipients. But not this time.
What we appear to be seeing at the moment is the Bay State version of
“Confessions Of A Shopaholic.” Beacon Hill is essentially admitting that
it can not be trusted to spend this money.
Think about it. In most states, the idea of a “spending czar” for roads
and bridges would sound ridiculous. Isn’t that why you elect governors
and legislators?
But here in Massachusetts, the opposite is true. It’s the idea of just
giving this money to our pols that is laughable. Barack Obama hands $11
billion to the same public servants who oversaw the Big Dig and he
expects them to spend it wisely?
And so it’s no coincidence that Patrick himself mentioned our Big Dig
legacy when announcing the new appointment - an admission undermined by
the fact that Patrick just picked Big Dig enabler Jim Aloisi to head
transportation.
The most telling admission, however, may have been when Patrick urged
citizens to follow every dollar on every project. Not the inspector
general or the governor’s staff. No, the job of policing our pols has
been handed over to you and me.
We are the watchdogs we’ve been waiting for.
Is it that he knows his administration can’t be trusted with this money?
Or that Beacon Hill has lost all hope of ever gaining our trust?
Whatever, Patrick has laid bare the unwritten ethical standard of
Massachusetts pols: If you’ll promise to catch us, we’ll promise not to
rob you blind. Otherwise, all bets are off.
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Local politicians skip out on taxes
Trio delinquent on state returns
By Hillary Chabot
As state lawmakers consider hiking taxes on your booze and gas, three of
them failed to file their state income tax returns - including one who
sits on a committee overseeing tax collections.
Sen. Robert O’Leary (D-Barnstable) failed to file his 2006 state income
tax returns, according to the state Department of Revenue. O’Leary, who
is on the legislative revenue committee, was out of the country on
vacation with his daughter this week, according to his staff.
“He’s paid his taxes, but I guess some paperwork got lost,” said O’Leary
aide Micaelah Morrill.
Other tardy legislators include Rep. Demetrius Atsalis (D-Hyannis), who
failed to file in 2007, and Rep. Rosemary Sandlin (D-Agawam), who didn’t
file in 2006, according to state documents obtained by the Herald.
Both representatives said they filed on time, and Atsalis’ accountant
even went so far as to blame the DOR.
“They are an unbelievably bad organization,” said Russell Sadler,
president of Sadler Financial Group in Plymouth. Atsalis filed in
October after receiving an extension to calculate taxes on a sky-high
$7,700 per-diem payment.
“That probably explains why I never got my stimulus check,” Atsalis said
when reached yesterday. “I don’t owe anything, if anything they owe me.”
Sandlin, who collects two paychecks as a representative and as an Agawam
school committee member, also said she filed on time, though her
accountant admits the paperwork may be lost.
While Sandlin has a receipt authorizing the 2006 filing, her accountant
couldn’t find anything proving she filed.
“That’s the issue we’re dealing with now,” said Paul Mancinone, adding
Sandlin has since sent in her tax returns. “She’s in full compliance
now.”
DOR spokesman Robert Bliss said the agency has nothing from the three
lawmakers and called accusations of poor organization, “absolutely
untrue.”
Failing to file taxes has tripped up several state pols recently. Rep.
Marie St. Fleur’s delinquent tax returns basically sunk former Attorney
General Tom Reilly’s bid for governor after he tapped her as his running
mate. Former Sen. Dianne Wilkerson, who was fined $50,000 last year for
failing to file her taxes, resigned after she was arrested on charges of
accepting bribes.
The Boston Herald
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Liberals’ voluntary taxes amount to zilch for state
By Howie Carr
Moonbats of Massachusetts, what about the children?
It is with deep regret that I must report to you that in this new tax
season more than 99.99 percent of the Beautiful People in Massachusetts
are again refusing to do the right thing on their income tax returns and
voluntarily pay at the old, higher rate.
All year long, the Hope and Change crowd sanctimoniously lectures those
of us who work for a living about how mean-spirited we are because we
begrudge paying our “fair share” to help the layabouts who have “fallen
through the cracks.”
But strangely, every year, when all they need to do is have the
accountant check off a single box on their income-tax forms to solve the
problems created by the Cheney presidency, the Yes-We-Can types
adamantly refuse to part with a few extra bucks.
As you know, a few years back, as a gag, the Legislature passed a bill
allowing the state’s pony-tailed, trust-funded liberals to voluntarily
pay at the old 5.85 percent income tax rate, rather than at the reduced
5.3 percent rate.
Considering that in 2000, 40 percent of the electorate voted against
cutting the state income tax, you might have expected hundreds of
thousands of the blow-in drifters now squatting in Cambridge and
Brookline and Amherst to voluntarily ante up.
But no. The state, it appears, is teeming with Leona Helmsleys. Taxes
are for the little people, not the Beautiful People.
Here are the latest DOR numbers. As of yesterday, 640,783 individual
taxpayers had filed their 2008 returns. Of those 640,783, exactly 293
opted to pay at the higher 5.85 percent rate.
Back me up on the math here. If 640,000 is the number, then 6,400 would
be 1 percent, and 640 would be one-tenth of 1 percent. And 293 is less
than one half of one tenth of 1 percent. So the percentage so far this
year is one-twentieth of 1 percent.
Moonbats, I beseech you! Send in some more of the dough from Pater’s
trust fund. Otherwise, how can we offer alms to the neediest among us,
like Deval Patrick’s unemployed neighbor with the new made-up
$120,000-a-year state job, and the Bulger hack who’s been collecting for
15 years and now was just handed a brand new $150,000 made-up state job?
Actually, the state claims the Beautiful People are twice as likely to
check the higher-rate box this year, but two times zero is still zero.
Even sadder is how much the commonwealth has collected from these 293
individuals - exactly $24,098.
Again, these are rough calculations, but I think that works out to just
under $90 per filer. If $90 is .55 percent of your taxable income, you
made about $18,000 in 2008.
That’s not a lot of taxable income. That’s why they all invest in
municipal bonds - no taxes.
Theories abound as to why Beautiful People are so damn cheap, whether
it’s evading taxes (see Geithner, Rangel, Daschle and now maybe Emanuel)
or giving next to nothing to charity (see Biden, Kerry, et al.). Perhaps
- make that probably - they’re just a bunch of phonies and hypocrites.
See, when you attend a candlelight vigil, everyone in your social circle
can see how righteous you are. Ditto, putting a bumper sticker on the
back of your Prius that says, “Vote Yes on the Override for the New $200
Million High School.” But no one in your own exalted bow-tied social
class ever sees your tax returns, so why bother?
When it comes to their own money, moonbats toss around quarters like
manhole covers. They wouldn’t pay a nickel to see an earthquake - that’s
why the Globe is losing a million dollars a week. Their former readers
are all liberals, which is to say, misers.
But what about the children, moonbats?
The Boston Globe
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Hummers might face extra fee
Governor's plan:
Target gas-guzzlers, encourage eco-friendly vehicles
By Noah Bierman and John C. Drake
Massachusetts could become the first state with its own Hummer tax under
a plan floated by Governor Deval L. Patrick yesterday that would charge
higher registration fees for gas-guzzling cars and offer discounts for
those that do less harm to the environment.
The suggestion comes as Patrick prepares to unveil a fuller version of
his much-awaited plan tomorrow to fix the state's destitute road and
public transit systems. While he would not release details yesterday,
Patrick said at a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce appearance that any
gas tax increase would be coupled with a freeze on toll rates.
Environmentalists applauded the registration proposal, saying it would
encourage people to buy smaller and more fuel-efficient cars, which are
increasingly seen as key to curbing global warming. Similar proposals
have been proposed in Massachusetts since at least 2001, but without the
backing of a sitting governor.
"The social costs of larger vehicles include not only the additional
pollution, but also higher crash risks to other vehicles," said state
Representative William Brownsberger, a Belmont Democrat who is
cosponsoring two bills that would penalize expensive and heavy cars with
higher taxes or fees. Advocates also justify the fee by noting that
heavier cars do more damage to roads.
But opponents say such fees could penalize families and small businesses
that need big cars or trucks and already pay higher fuel prices.
A similar plan has been proposed in other states, including California,
but has yet to pass, said Charles Territo, spokesman for the Alliance of
Automobile Manufacturers, which represents 11 car companies, including
the Big Three American carmakers.
Territo points out that low mileage cars are already less expensive than
big cars in most cases.
"Consumers that have these vehicles already pay more," said Territo, who
said his group would oppose such a plan in Massachusetts.
Patrick said his administration is looking at the Registry of Motor
Vehicles fee structure to create "differential fees based on the
efficiency of the vehicle or the emissions of the vehicle."
"Big gas-guzzlers will pay more for their registration," he added.
"Plug-in hybrids would pay less, and you'd have a range, that kind of
thing."
Patrick's office declined to elaborate on the proposal or say whether it
would appear as part of his overall transportation plan. Ann Dufresne, a
spokeswoman for the Registry, said state transportation officials have
been discussing a gas-guzzler fee program, "but I think they're still
trying to flesh that out now."
Patrick said yesterday that he was continuing to look at raising the
state gas tax, but did not commit to it. When asked about it during the
Chamber event, he threw the question back to the audience, asking by a
show of hands whether the crowd favored a gas tax increase or higher
tolls. The crowd chose the gas tax, which has generally been a more
popular proposal in the business community.
But Patrick cautioned that even if lawmakers raise the gas tax, the
state would probably collect less money in the future as drivers buy
more fuel-efficient cars and need less gas. Because of that, he is also
considering a replacement that would charge drivers a fee for every mile
they drive.
That's another reason environmentalists support the Hummer fee. If the
gas tax is eventually phased out, a new fee would keep the pressure on
consumers to buy more fuel-efficient cars.
"It allows for technology to evolve every year because it's always
taxing the most polluting and it's always incentivizing the most
efficient," said Matt Elliott, a clean-energy advocate in New Jersey,
where the idea is also being debated.
The federal government already has a gas-guzzler tax on new cars, passed
in 1978. But sport utility vehicles and trucks are exempt, so it affects
mostly high-performance luxury vehicles, such as Aston Martins and
Lamborghinis, that have high costs and very poor mileage. Any car that
gets more than 22.5 miles per gallon - the vast majority of sedans and
coupes - is exempt.
At least one influential player in the state transportation debate
worries that adding an environmental component to the debate could
complicate it, and ultimately delay important plans to fix roads and
transit systems.
"There's painful steps that need to be taken to fix our transportation
system," said Stephen J. Silveira, a lobbyist who chaired the
Massachusetts Transportation Finance Commission. "Once you bring the
environmental aspect into them, you add a whole other layer of debate
which makes this harder to get to at the end of the day. And this is
hard enough."
The Boston Globe
Friday, February 20, 2009
Patrick seeks hike of 19 cents in gas tax
Proposal could avert turnpike toll increase;
Would also reorganize state transit agencies
By Noah Bierman
After months of private rumination and public mixed signals, Governor
Deval Patrick will propose a 19 cent increase in the state's gasoline
tax today, in an attempt to solve the increasingly complex maze of
problems confronting the state's aging and debt-ridden transportation
system.
Patrick's plan would give Massachusetts one of the highest gas taxes in
the nation, but it may avert an unpopular increase that would have
raised the cash toll at the airport tunnels to $7, according to two
administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The increase would nearly double the state's gas tax, which is now below
the national average, from 23.5 cents to 42.5 cents per gallon. Adding
in the 18.4 cent federal levy, drivers would have to pay just under 61
cents in taxes on every gallon of fuel they purchase.
The proposal, which would raise about $500 million a year, would help
the MBTA stave off a threatened combination of drastic fare increases
and service cuts, strengthen regional bus and rail systems, and wean the
state from a constant stream of borrowing to pay for basic road and
bridge operations, the officials said.
The proposal would also reorganize the state's transportation system,
putting all the bureaucracies that run roads, buses, trains, and
airports under the governor's control in an attempt to reduce overlap
and inefficiency.
Patrick would also adopt numerous structural changes proposed by an
influential state panel, including cuts in future MBTA fringe benefits
that have been especially costly. The Turnpike Authority, a continual
target of public anger, would disappear.
The secretary of transportation, who reports to the governor, would
oversee four divisions: highway, rail and transit, aviation and port,
and the Registry of Motor Vehicles.
The current Massachusetts Port Authority would retain some independence
within the rail and port division, including the Massport board of
directors, in order to meet obligations under federal aviation rules,
according to administration officials.
The plan, which Patrick is scheduled to formally unveil in a speech this
afternoon, will be filed with the Legislature in a more detailed bill in
the next few days, the officials said.
If approved, the gas tax increase would be the second since 1991.
But even as Patrick supports freezing tolls on the turnpike, the
authority's board may be forced to vote on an increase Tuesday. The
board has been putting off a vote, but members have said they need to
approve some type of increase this month to avoid what could be a costly
downgrade by credit rating agencies.
A two-step toll-increase plan, discussed at last month's board meeting,
is on the agenda that was delivered to board members yesterday.
The plan would impose a 25 cent increase at the Allston-Brighton and
Weston booths, bringing the cash toll to $1.50, and a $2 increase at the
Ted Williams and Sumner tunnels, bringing it to $5.50.
Those rates, effective at the end of March, would be repealed if the
Legislature passes a gas tax increase before that deadline. But if the
gas tax does not go up by then, the board would raise cash rates even
further, to $2 at the booths and to $7 at the tunnels in July.
"The Turnpike Authority has run out of time," said Mary Z. Connaughton,
a board member who supports eliminating tolls entirely and replacing
them with a higher gas tax.
Representative Joseph F. Wagner, a Chicopee Democrat who cochairs the
Joint Committee on Transportation, said late yesterday that he had yet
to read a specific plan and was skeptical of anything pulled together so
soon before an unpopular toll vote.
"This has been talked about since the fall of 2007," Wagner said. "I
think it should have been put together well ahead of now."
Patrick has struggled with the state's transportation crisis since he
took office in 2007, with billions of dollars in inherited debt, much of
it from the $15 billion Big Dig, hanging over the transportation
agencies.
The Turnpike Authority and MBTA are burdened by high operating costs
that continue to grow with generous pension benefits and salaries won by
unions over the years.
A state report said the state would need an extra $15 billion to $19
billion over the next 20 years for its transportation system.
Neither a gas tax nor toll hikes are popular among commuters, according
to a Boston Globe poll conducted in December.
But the gas tax was the most palatable among the unpopular options.
When asked to choose between raising tolls or the gas tax, respondents
chose the gas tax by 48 percent to 42 percent.
Support has been building in the Legislature for a gas tax increase, but
many lawmakers worry that higher taxes would be hard for residents to
absorb during a recession.
"Most likely, we will [need a gas tax increase] at the end of the day,
but we're not willing to go there yet," Senate President Therese Murray
said in January as she announced a similar reorganization plan.
Tax opponent Barbara Anderson called the whole debate a "silly
game" meant to scare people with the threat of high tolls to build
support for a gas tax increase.
But many transportation advocates and government specialists say the tax
increase is inevitable, given the scope of the problem.
"Our transportation system's in desperate shape," said Michael J. Widmer,
president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation and a member of the
state Transportation Finance Commission.
"Two authorities are teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. The roads and
bridges across the state are in desperate need of repair."
Patrick first promised in 2007 to deliver a transportation overhaul that
would consolidate the various transportation bureaucracies in an attempt
to save money and run them more efficiently.
That plan never materialized.
Last fall, with the threat looming of $7 tunnel tolls, he promised to
eliminate the Turnpike Authority and shift many of its functions to the
agency that runs the seaport and Logan International Airport.
That plan has been abandoned because fixing the system "requires a more
aggressive step," an administration official said. "We're not fooling
around on the edges."
As the transportation debate has continued, the problems have grown
worse. The MBTA is now projecting a deficit next year of more than $150
million.
The agency has canceled contracts to buy new commuter train equipment
and was told recently that the federal government would not fund a key
expansion project until finances improve.
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