– MEMO --
To:
Members of the
Massachusetts Senate
May 18, 2009
Re: Quiz
Q. What
do these seven men have in common: Sal Albano,
Ted Aleixo, Nick Costello, John Houston, Arthur
Lewis, Paul Sheehy, Tom White?
A.
These seven incumbent Democrat state senators
were defeated in 1990, after the 1989-90 Dukakis
income, sales and gas tax hikes.
1. Nick
Costello lost his primary election to reformer
Jim Jajuga. The other six lost to
Republicans in the general election:
2. Sal
Albano to Charley Shannon
3. Ted
Aleixo to Erv Wall
4. John
Houston to Matt Amorello
5. Arthur
Lewis to Chris Lane
6. Paul
Sheehy to Nancy Sullivan
7. Tom White
to Arthur Chase
In 199o, voter
anger was partly distracted and diffused by a
ballot question cutting the Dukakis taxes.
We don’t expect a tax issue on the 2010 ballot.
We’d like to see voters focused on the real
problem, the state Legislature, which chooses
revenues over meaningful reforms.
The resistance of
the Legislature, so far, to stopping pension
abuses is a clear indication that most
legislators care more about their own benefits
than they care about important public services –
and – that they fear the public employee
unions more than they fear the voters. If the
commonwealth is to be saved, this must change.