CLT UPDATE
Friday, July 10, 2009
The 2010 Ballot Question: Had enough yet?
Barbara Anderson, head of
Citizens for Limited Taxation, is now urging like-minded voters to
focus instead on unseating incumbents. “Distracting the voters with a
ballot question,’’ she told State House News Service this week,
“prevents the necessary things from getting done.’’
A Boston Globe editorial
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Politics: If you can't join 'em, beat 'em
Gee I hate it when the Globe agrees with me, especially for
the wrong reasons. . . .
Online reader's comment
in response to the Globe's above editorial
By Barbara Anderson
Thursday, July 9, 2009
A month away from the deadline to file initiative petitions
for the 2010 election, an influential Bay State anti-tax agitator is urging
disillusioned Massachusetts residents to channel their anger at incumbents, not
single issue ballot questions.
“We don’t want our members to go out and waste their time,” said Barbara
Anderson, president of Citizens for Limited Taxation. “We’d be
actively pointing out to them that you can spend a lot of time, money and effort
getting a question on a ballot ... just to have the Legislature kick you in the
teeth.”
Anderson’s anger stems in part back to a successful 2000 drive that saw voters
overwhelmingly move to roll the state’s income tax back to 5 percent from 5.95
percent. When the economy slumped in 2002, the Legislature froze the rollback at
5.3 percent, where it has stayed since.
“This is maybe the last chance we have in November 2010 to turn things around in
Massachusetts. That requires defeating incumbents,” Anderson said in a phone
interview. “Until they start fearing the voters, nothing’s going to get done
here. Distracting the voters with a ballot question prevents the necessary
things from getting done.”
State House News Service
Monday, July 6, 2009
Ballot drives emerge,
group urges voters to take aim at incumbents
Charles D. Baker entered the growing field of gubernatorial
candidates yesterday, announcing he would step down as president and CEO of
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care to seek the Republican nomination.
Baker, 52, a Swampscott resident, has spent the past 10 years heading the
Wellesley-based nonprofit after stints in the administrations of Govs. Paul
Cellucci and William Weld....
Citizens for Limited Taxation's Barbara Anderson also put her trust in
Baker.
"I think if anybody can save Massachusetts, it's Charlie Baker," she said.
Anderson met Baker in 1981, just after he graduated from Harvard and became a
spokesman for the Massachusetts High Technology Council, a backer of the
controversial Proposition 2½.
She said he has all the attributes to be a great governor.
"Charlie just had a natural talent about him," Anderson said.
She also said Baker has keen insight into the biggest issue of the day — health
care — and a wide range of experience.
"I personally was thinking of him as president of the United States, but you
have to start somewhere," Anderson said.
But any governor will face the challenges of an unwilling Legislature.
"Unless the voters do something about the Legislature, it doesn't matter who the
governor is," she said. "(Lawmakers) do as they darn well please."
The Salem News
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Baker announces run for governor
For several longtime political observers, the current climate
is unlike anything they have seen since at least 1990, when incumbents were
bounced from office in the wake of tax increases. In Charlie Baker, they see
William Weld; in Deval Patrick, Michael Dukakis.
“It feels like 1990,’’ Weld said in an interview yesterday. “It feels like a
time when a horse coming out of the pack, either on the outside or the rail,
might have a shot.’’
“There’s an anti-incumbent feeling, and it’s pretty strong in Massachusetts,’’
said Holly Robichaud, a Republican political consultant....
“It’s almost like blood in the water,’’ said Paul Watanabe, a political science
professor at the University of Massachusetts at Boston....
The current atmosphere, largely created by the fiscal downturn, is exacerbated
by a series of scandals that have shaken public confidence in state government
and sent panicky politicians seeking cover through a series of reform
measures....
“I’m actually thinking that this could be a watershed year for Republicans in
Massachusetts,’’ said former lieutenant governor Kerry Healey, who was the
Republican nominee in 2006. “There’s no [better impetus] for a grassroots revolt
than corruption and taxation, and that’s what we are witnessing in Massachusetts
right now.’’
The Boston Globe
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Politicians ready to party like it's 1990
Crisis, scandals revive electoral buzz
It’s back to the future, as GOP hopeful Charles Baker looks
to morph Gov. Deval Patrick into tax-and-spend liberal Mike Dukakis while
casting himself as the second coming of Republican superhero William F. Weld.
The winning race Baker strategists envision counts on voters seeing the state
the way they did in 1990 when Weld roared into the Corner Office amid voter
anger at Dukakis fiscal policies: Massachusetts as Taxachusetts.
“Once you let the Legislature know you’re willing to raise taxes, they’re going
to do it,” said a top Baker adviser, previewing the GOP heavyweight’s talking
points. “Raising taxes as a first option was one of (Patrick’s) biggest
mistakes.”
Although voters won’t necessarily hear the name Michael Dukakis from Baker, it
will be a subliminal suggestion, advisers indicated.
The Boston Herald
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Taxes take center stage in gov battle
Race raises specter of William F. Weld, Mike Dukakis
State revenues took yet another plunge last month, ending the
financial year $180 million below even the dourest projections and forcing
leaders to choose between draining the state’s reserve account and making
further cuts in a budget approved just last week....
“June is the final exclamation point on this unbelievably bad year,’’ said
Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a
business-funded government watchdog. “This is the worst year-to-year tax drop .
. . in more than 50 years. Maybe ever.’’ ...
“We still have challenges,’’ Patrick said in a brief interview yesterday, when
asked about the shortfall. “We’re not out of the woods yet.’’
The Boston Globe
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Mass. revenues plummet again
It's about time that we all go to work for the government.
"Work" is a somewhat fluid term in this case, since it will involve fewer hours,
more holidays, longer weekends, more vacation, more sick time, more personal
time, more funeral leave and, of course, fewer years on the job than just about
any career other than one in professional sports.
Let's just call it "employed" by the government. It'll be tough, but I know we
can do it.
Because really, this dealing with life in the private sector is so, so
unfair....
How much better to be in the gilded surroundings of government employment — the
only remaining place where economic reality is for other people. During good
times, things are really good because, well, government employees should share
the benefits of a robust economy. During bad times, things are just a little
less good because, well, they're providing such critical services and "the
children" will die if they have to take a pay cut.
The new state budget, which took effect Wednesday, should tell you all you need
to know about where you should be "working."
The Eagle-Tribune
Sunday, July 5, 2009
For public employees, economic reality means little
By Taylor Armerding
The financial system collapsed. Housing prices
cratered. Unemployment is at a record high for the last quarter-century.
The Democratic president has a solidly positive job rating.
And yet we Americans have not suddenly become collectivists....
Last month’s Washington Post-ABC poll reported that Americans favor
smaller government with fewer services to larger government with more
services by a 54 percent to 41 percent margin - a slight uptick since
2004. The percentage of independents favoring small government rose to
61 percent from 52 percent in 2008....
It’s still possible for American attitudes to shift. But Americans seem
to be recoiling against big government when it threatens to become a
reality rather than a campaign promise....
But these numbers suggest that they are responding more negatively to
Democratic proposals that have a chance at passage than they did to
Democratic platform planks that were, until last year, only political
rhetoric.
The Boston Herald
Friday, July 10, 2009
Polls don’t toll for far left
By Michael Barone
Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
It's been an interesting
week for Massachusetts political junkies like us. What happened
this week ensures that 2010 will be exciting, perhaps even provide more
"change" by its end, change we can believe in perhaps more than the
change the current tax-borrow-and-spend regimes have left in our
pockets.
There will be a race for
governor unlike any we've seen since 1990, with just as much at stake.
Our survival as subjects of Taxachusetts will depend on its outcome.
This week lifelong Democrat
state Treasurer Tim Cahill dropped out of the Democrat Party, changed
his voter registration to unenrolled. He's expected to announce
his candidacy for the corner office after Labor Day, as in independent.
Over the past months he's become an outspoken fiscal conservative the
way many Democrats used to be.
Unpopular among Democrat
insiders, chances are he'd be shut out of the party's requirement that
he receive 15 percent of the vote at its convention to appear on the
ballot in a Democrat primary. Apparently he saw the handwriting on
the wall -- and his only alternative was to abandon ship before walking
the plank at the point of a sword.
Cahill made his move the
day before Charlie Baker, Jr. announced his candidacy for governor as a
Republican. Christy Mihos, already an announced candidate, and
Baker will seek the Republican Party nomination at its convention and
likely face off in a Republican Party primary election.
Undoubtedly Gov. Deval
Patrick will run unopposed among Democrats, representing especially the
most radical leftwing element among his tax-borrow-and-spend party of
takers.
All this sets up a real
dynamic for change, and inspiration for lower-office potential
candidates. Both Baker and Mihos recognize that reaching the
corner office without a major change in the Legislature will prove just
as meaningless as such Republican successes in the past, have
acknowledged publicly that to turn things around they'll need help.
For either of them to make a difference, similar change must occur
simultaneously in the Legislature. Both have pledged to assist in
that mission as well, for without help, like Republican governors in the
past, success will be little but symbolic.
CLT's mission message is
getting out there: Without serious change in the Legislature
Massachusetts is doomed.
Nothing else matters at
this critical juncture in our state's history. Petition drives are
meaningless so long as this arrogant and insulated cabal which controls
Beacon Hill remains in power. If they're allowed to feel
invincible they will only grow stronger, become less accountable if
that's possible. Some, many, must be reminded that they
work for us, at our pleasure.
There is speculation that
some Beacon Hill insiders will, behind the scenes, push for a ballot
question of their own simply to distract voters on the 2010 ballot --
give voters a useless means of venting their frustrations instead of on
them. Term Limits has been rumored to be attractive, or 6-Month
Legislative Sessions. Then the pols can run in favor of it, but
after being reelected kill it as they did the last time voters adopted
term limits.
2010 is the year. It
is the time for real change, and it arrives not a moment too
soon. If it doesn't come then, how much more of our income and
liberty will be taken from us? How much less will we be expected
to survive upon only by the grace and whim of the ruling elite?
Revenue into the state's
coffers is still dropping. While the Beacon Hill pols talk about
potential further cuts becoming necessary, we all know that crowd is
really looking at more tax hikes; sooner rather than later.
Despite the second-largest tax increase in state history just being
imposed -- a 25 percent sales tax increase and bevy of others that'll
take over $1 billion more from what we have remaining to
ourselves upon which to survive -- that gas tax hike is still looming,
the other shoe waiting to drop. It's only a matter of time, once
the public adjusts to the last massive round of tax hikes. Gov.
Patrick's still pushing for his 19¢ per gallon gas
tax hike and Bacon Hill "needs" still more of our money -- after
all, we still have a little remaining to be taken.
Massachusetts is a different creature from the other 49 states, but can
the national trend -- as reported by Michael Barone of the
Washington Examiner -- be that much different here? Buyer's
remorse seems to be sweeping the nation, regret for having turned the
entire federal government over to the tax-borrow-and-spend Washington
Democrats.
As both President Obama's
and Governor Patrick's polling numbers drop, their negatives increase,
positives decrease, more Americans are steadily becoming disenchanted
with the Democrat-controlled U.S. Congress and the direction they're
taking our nation. When this happened in 1994, so many Democrats
lost in the Clinton mid-term election as to turn control of Congress over
to the Republicans in the "Gingrich Revolution." This could well
happen in 2010 nationally. While an unlikely outcome here in
Massachusetts, so far out of step with the nation, the spillover could
and should elect more challengers to state legislative seats across the
state. It happened here in 1990 after the devastating experience
of Dukakenomics, the result of his "Massachusetts Miracle." Have
Bay Staters had enough yet of one-party domination? Will they by
November 2010?
The stakes have never been
greater. Oh yeah, the coming 16 or so months leading up to
sink-or-swim Election 2010 are going to be exciting.
 |
|
Chip Ford |
|
The Boston Globe
Thursday, July 9, 2009
A Boston Globe editorial
Politics: If you can't join 'em, beat 'em
The trouble with direct democracy is that most issues are too complex to
be boiled down to a simple yes-no question. Nevertheless, ballot
initiatives have been a favorite tool of the antitax movement in
Massachusetts - from a 2000 measure to cut the state income tax to
subsequent efforts to eliminate it entirely. Fortunately, at least one
key activist has come to understand the limits of that approach.
Barbara Anderson, head of Citizens for Limited Taxation,
is now urging like-minded voters to focus instead on unseating
incumbents. “Distracting the voters with a ballot question,’’ she told
State House News Service this week, “prevents the necessary things from
getting done.’’
Hear, hear. People who are dissatisfied with the status quo in
Massachusetts should focus instead on sending new voices to Beacon Hill.
Online reader's comment response
to the Globe's editorial (above)
By Barbara Anderson
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Gee I hate it when the Globe agrees with me, especially for the wrong
reasons. The problem isn't that "most issues are too complicated" for us
simple voters; maybe they are, but we usually do a better job than
legislators who must deal with the complexity of pleasing their
leadership, their contributors, the unions, lobbyists etc. while always
looking out for their own privileges. But it's time, right now, this
election cycle, to remind legislators who's the boss, by reminding them
we do the hiring and firing. We only need ballot questions because our
"representatives" don't get things done. It's time for voters to get
focused on this: our legislators need to fear Election Day.
State House News Service
Monday, July 6, 2009
Ballot drives emerge,
group urges voters to take aim at incumbents
By Kyle Cheney
A month away from the deadline to file initiative petitions for the 2010
election, an influential Bay State anti-tax agitator is urging
disillusioned Massachusetts residents to channel their anger at
incumbents, not single issue ballot questions.
“We don’t want our members to go out and waste their time,” said
Barbara Anderson, president of Citizens for Limited Taxation.
“We’d be actively pointing out to them that you can spend a lot of time,
money and effort getting a question on a ballot ... just to have the
Legislature kick you in the teeth.”
Anderson’s anger stems in part back to a successful 2000 drive that saw
voters overwhelmingly move to roll the state’s income tax back to 5
percent from 5.95 percent. When the economy slumped in 2002, the
Legislature froze the rollback at 5.3 percent, where it has stayed
since.
“This is maybe the last chance we have in November 2010 to turn things
around in Massachusetts. That requires defeating incumbents,” Anderson
said in a phone interview. “Until they start fearing the voters,
nothing’s going to get done here. Distracting the voters with a ballot
question prevents the necessary things from getting done.”
Anderson, like others disillusioned by recent scandals on Beacon Hill
and angry over both budget reductions and a $1 billion tax package
signed into law last week, have likened this year to 1990, when
Republican Bill Weld swept into the governorship and 16 GOP senators
took office, giving him a short-lived veto-proof Senate.
Her call, which Citizens for Limited Taxation issued in a new memo to
supporters, comes as the Republican Party considers an initiative to
impose term limits on elected officials, a citizens group pushes
petition to eliminate tolls on the Mass. Turnpike and Tobin Bridge, and
the head of a failed campaign to eliminate the state’s 40B affordable
housing law seeks to reprise the effort with a different result.
Rep. Karyn Polito (R-Shrewsbury), who has filed a bill to amend the
state constitution to impose 12-year term limits on legislators, said
she would also support the Republican Party if it chose to pursue an
initiative petition to accomplish that goal. She would consider signing
on to the effort, she said
“I am deeply concerned about the corruption of our institution. Too much
power is being concentrated on the top,” she said.
Nick Connors, executive director of the state Republican Party, said a
party subcommittee is considering a term limit ballot initiative, as
well as other potential ballot proposals, but that no decision had been
made about whether to file. Connors declined to specify the other
proposals.
Voters have until Aug. 5 to file initiative petition proposals, along
with 10 valid signatures, with Attorney General Martha Coakley. If the
attorney general certifies a petition as ballot eligible by Sept. 2,
campaigners must gather 66,593 signatures and certify them with
Secretary of State William Galvin by the first Wednesday in December.
After that, the Legislature has until the first Wednesday in May 2010 to
act on the petition or allow it to proceed to the ballot. If they allow
it to proceed, organizers must gather an additional 11,099 signatures by
July 2010.
Citizen-sponsored proposals to amend the state constitution follow the
same procedure but must also win approval of 50 lawmakers in two
consecutive legislative sessions, meaning such a proposal could not be
on the ballot until November 2012.
As of Monday, no petitions had been filed with the attorney general’s
office. One 2008 petition drive backer, Carla Howell, whose Center for
Small Government led an unsuccessful push to repeal the state income
tax, said she had heard “nothing firm” about potential 2010 ballot
questions.
Although some Beacon Hill observers have called for a constitutional
amendment to term-limit legislators –Peter Lucas, a former reporter and
columnist who works for the MBTA, suggested term limits in a Boston
Herald op-ed over the weekend; Polito filed her proposal last month –
Howell questioned whether the proposal could muster enough legislative
support to make the ballot.
Polito said she hoped her colleagues could support the measure because
it wouldn’t apply retroactively.
“It’s not punitive,” she said. “Being a 12-year limit from the time it’s
enacted ... does not create a dynamic where current members would be
penalized.”
Asked whether she would personally abide by the 12-year limit she staked
out in her proposal, Polito hedged, saying term limits should apply to
the Legislature as a whole, not individual members.
“I view myself as one of the reformers in the Massachusetts state
Legislature,” she said, saying she would not “turn myself out as an
individual member.”
Backers of the developing petition to eliminate tolls by Jan. 1, 2012,
under the moniker Citizens Against Road Tolls (CART), are already
preparing for a fall signature drive, assuming certification by the
attorney general. A spokesman for the group, Eric Toller, said a
transportation bill, enacted last week, was a “temporary solution to
what is a permanent problem” and that there are still “some equity
issues” with the state’s transportation finance system.
CART is the only group that has officially filed with the state’s Office
of Campaign and Political Finance to organize a ballot drive, completing
the paperwork on June 24. Its headquarters is listed on State Street in
Springfield.
Toller said the group was exploring ways the state could make up for
lost revenue should the tolls comes down, including via a gas tax or
adopting the federal prevailing wage for highway work.
“We’ve been conducting research over the last six months. What we’re
finding is, these numbers aren’t as frighteningly large as people are
being led to believe,” Toller said. “The lost revenue would be very,
very manageable.”
The group’s web site, www.closethetolls.org, features a map of
Massachusetts overlaid with a bulldozer and a note calling to collect
100,000 signatures by December 3.
The proposal’s language, which Toller said was being updated to reflect
the new law eliminating the turnpike, instructs the turnpike to set
aside funds necessary to pay off bondholders by April 1, 2011. Toller
said the proposal had been “positively received” by members of both
parties in the Legislature.
One campaign poised to make a comeback is a push led by Arlington
resident John Belskis to repeal the state’s Chapter 40B housing law. The
law, intended to expand affordable housing development across the state,
has been fiercely criticized, including by the state inspector general
for issues that include developer profits and zoning density. Belskis
sought to repeal the law last session but his committee fell short of
the signature threshold by more than half.
“We were amateurs. We’ve learned a lot,” Belskis said in a phone
interview. “It will be a much better effort this time. We were naïve
about the process.”
Belskis said the group would more aggressively distribute petitions
across the state and aim for 100,000 signatures to ensure the proposal
survives the signature-gathering process.
The Salem News
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Baker announces run for governor
By Stacie N. Galang
Charles D. Baker entered the growing field of gubernatorial candidates
yesterday, announcing he would step down as president and CEO of Harvard
Pilgrim Health Care to seek the Republican nomination.
Baker, 52, a Swampscott resident, has spent the past 10 years heading
the Wellesley-based nonprofit after stints in the administrations of
Govs. Paul Cellucci and William Weld.
"Leaving the company is not an easy decision for me, but there is no
middle ground," he said in a press release. "I am either the CEO of
Harvard Pilgrim, or I'm building a campaign organization. I cannot do
both."
Baker faces incumbent Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick and Republican
candidate Christy Mihos.
Mihos was on the North Shore yesterday trying to make inroads with North
Shore Republicans. He stopped off at New Brothers Deli in Danvers for
supper and later spoke to the Swampscott Republican Town Committee.
State Treasurer Timothy Cahill, who parted ways with the Democrats this
week, has also shown interest in the race. He is expected to announce
his plans after Labor Day.
Baker told reporters at a news conference yesterday afternoon that he
would regret — for quite a while — if he "chose to sit idly by and not
participate."
"I believe my ideas and experience, having served at the state level,
having served in the private sector and having served at the local
level, are very well-suited for the task," he said.
He agreed to being labeled a "liberal Weld Republican," fiscally
conservative but liberal on such social issues as gay and abortion
rights.
He said he would focus on job creation as governor, saying the state is
losing too many adults 18 to 45 years old.
"It's a pretty dark picture, and I don't think we're doing the things we
need to do to make that picture better," he said.
Baker said the Republican Party provides a vital check and balance on
the state political establishment.
Though his name has been bandied about for governor, until yesterday,
his candidacy was little more than draftcharlie.com, a simple Web site
with a short biography and call for supporters.
Four years ago, Baker, then a Swampscott selectman, decided against a
run for governor. He expressed concern the campaign would be too big a
sacrifice for his family.
Yesterday, the father of three stepped squarely into the race.
At Harvard Pilgrim, Baker oversaw a $2.81 billion budget in 2007,
according to nonprofit tax filings from 2007, the most recent year
available. He earned nearly $1.4 million in pay and benefits in 2007,
the tax filings said.
Michael Goldman, Democratic consultant and well-known supporter of the
governor, said Baker's entry in the race was "not unexpected."
But the newest candidate won't find the process easy.
"I think he's going to find that a run against Christy Mihos and
(campaign manager) Dick Morris is not the most pleasing experience that
one could have," the Marbleheader said. "I think it's going to be a very
rough primary."
And Baker won't be able to bring the outsider message that Gov. Mitt
Romney used in his bid for office.
"I happen to think Charlie Baker is very nice," Goldman said. "I think
he's a good candidate, but it's not going to be an easy fight."
It's anyone's guess how the next 16 months leading up to the general
election will turn out, he said. The political landscape has been
transformed in just two weeks.
"Already, everything is turned on its head," Goldman said.
Welcomed with open arms
Word of Baker's candidacy met with optimism on the North Shore
yesterday.
Swampscott Selectman Jill Sullivan welcomed her fellow townsman into the
race.
"I'm thrilled," she said. "You always want the best and brightest minds
and people to get into public service."
Baker's experience in both the public and private sectors would be a
boon for his candidacy, she said.
"It's wonderful," Sullivan said of a Swampscott candidate. "It's a very
small town."
House Minority Leader Bradley Jones Jr., R-North Reading, joined the
chorus.
"I am excited to have such a strong Republican candidate running for
governor in a time where the commonwealth needs real leadership," he
said in a press release.
Jones said Baker's "real chief executive experience" will help him lead
the state out of its financial crisis.
Citizens for Limited Taxation's Barbara Anderson also put her
trust in Baker.
"I think if anybody can save Massachusetts, it's Charlie Baker," she
said.
Anderson met Baker in 1981, just after he graduated from Harvard and
became a spokesman for the Massachusetts High Technology Council, a
backer of the controversial Proposition 2½.
She said he has all the attributes to be a great governor.
"Charlie just had a natural talent about him," Anderson said.
She also said Baker has keen insight into the biggest issue of the day —
health care — and a wide range of experience.
"I personally was thinking of him as president of the United States, but
you have to start somewhere," Anderson said.
But any governor will face the challenges of an unwilling Legislature.
"Unless the voters do something about the Legislature, it doesn't matter
who the governor is," she said. "(Lawmakers) do as they darn well
please."
Material from The Associated Press was used in this story.
The Boston Globe
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Politicians ready to party like it's 1990
Crisis, scandals revive electoral buzz
By Matt Viser and Andrea Estes
Governor Deval Patrick is fond of a well-worn political phrase, often
telling those around him, “A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.’’
This week, other politicians and a notable business leader are acting on
his words. The crisis they see is the state’s fiscal collapse, and they
are wasting no time trying to turn it to their advantage.
Yesterday, it was Harvard Pilgrim chief executive Charles D. Baker, a
Republican, who leapt full-bore into the gubernatorial race. Earlier
this week, it was state Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill who said he planned
to leave the Democrat Party in a dramatic first step toward an
independent gubernatorial campaign. Earlier this year, it was
convenience store magnate Christy Mihos, who declared his candidacy as a
Republican.
More than 16 months before Election Day, the rush illustrates a striking
vulnerability for Patrick, who was elected overwhelmingly two years ago
but now faces a political season in which he will be branded by his
opponents as the governor who approved the first sales tax increase in
more than three decades.
“This next election cycle, the one this year and next year, may be
unlike any we’ve seen in a generation,’’ Cahill said yesterday. Then, in
the spirit of the season, he added, “And that could be good for me.’’
By any and every measure, this has been an extraordinary week in
Massachusetts politics. Nobody could remember the last time a statewide
officeholder shed his party affiliation, as Cahill did.
His move spurred an onslaught of interest in the job of state treasurer
that he currently holds, a field that could grow to a dozen people. And
then Baker’s announcement interrupted yet another quiet, damp summer’s
morning.
“I’m not ready to print the ballot,’’ said Secretary of State William F.
Galvin. “But the campaign has started.’’
The announcements were made during the most contested mayoral race in
Boston in more than 16 years, as other politicians across the region
quietly weigh their options in the eventual departure of US Senator
Edward M. Kennedy, who is battling a brain tumor. All of it creates the
kind of hyperpolitical atmosphere for which Massachusetts is well known,
but for which, in recent years, it has rarely seen.
For several longtime political observers, the current climate is unlike
anything they have seen since at least 1990, when incumbents were
bounced from office in the wake of tax increases. In Charlie Baker, they
see William Weld; in Deval Patrick, Michael Dukakis.
“It feels like 1990,’’ Weld said in an interview yesterday. “It feels
like a time when a horse coming out of the pack, either on the outside
or the rail, might have a shot.’’
“There’s an anti-incumbent feeling, and it’s pretty strong in
Massachusetts,’’ said Holly Robichaud, a Republican political
consultant.
Those analysts, though, may not have to go all the way back to 1990 to
find someone who emerged from outside the establishment anti-incumbent
feeling. Patrick came to office as a relative unknown who built a
grassroots movement in 2006 with promises to cut property taxes, put
more police officers on the streets, and invest more in early education.
Many of his campaign pledges, though, have been overtaken by a downturn
in the economy that has instead led to deep budget cuts, more than $1
billion in new taxes, and a new political opening for his challengers.
The outsider as the inside target creates an interesting dynamic.
“It’s almost like blood in the water,’’ said Paul Watanabe, a political
science professor at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. “There’s
some musical chairs going on; there’s no question about it. People don’t
know when those chairs are going to open up, but they want to make sure
they’re part of the dance.’’
The current atmosphere, largely created by the fiscal downturn, is
exacerbated by a series of scandals that have shaken public confidence
in state government and sent panicky politicians seeking cover through a
series of reform measures.
Three liberal Democrats are currently under indictment, two former state
senators and a former House speaker, and Republicans are ready to
pounce.
“I’m actually thinking that this could be a watershed year for
Republicans in Massachusetts,’’ said former lieutenant governor Kerry
Healey, who was the Republican nominee in 2006. “There’s no [better
impetus] for a grassroots revolt than corruption and taxation, and
that’s what we are witnessing in Massachusetts right now.’’
Patrick aides and Democrats say it is way too early to judge how next
year’s election will go, saying his approval ratings would rise with an
economic recovery. And at this stage during the last gubernatorial
election, they point out, Patrick was an unknown who registered 3
percent in opinion polls.
“Will he be as vulnerable a year from now as he appears to be now?’’
said Michael Goldman, a Democratic political consultant and Patrick
supporter. “If the economy remains horrific and the governor continues
to have to make vicious cuts and raise more income, then obviously his
numbers are not going to improve,
“Most Democrats believe things will be a lot better next year,’’ Goldman
said.
But the animated activity is sure to generate ample work of a certain
kind. “It’s going to give a lot of pundits a lot of opportunity to
prognosticate,’’ said Jane Swift, former acting governor.
“Maybe there’s hope for politics after all,’’ she added. “Well,
actually, I don’t know if I want to stick my neck out that far.’’
The Boston Herald
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Taxes take center stage in gov battle
Race raises specter of William F. Weld, Mike Dukakis
By Jessica Van Sack and Hillary Chabot
It’s back to the future, as GOP hopeful Charles Baker looks to morph
Gov. Deval Patrick into tax-and-spend liberal Mike Dukakis while casting
himself as the second coming of Republican superhero William F. Weld.
The winning race Baker strategists envision counts on voters seeing the
state the way they did in 1990 when Weld roared into the Corner Office
amid voter anger at Dukakis fiscal policies: Massachusetts as
Taxachusetts.
“Once you let the Legislature know you’re willing to raise taxes,
they’re going to do it,” said a top Baker adviser, previewing the GOP
heavyweight’s talking points. “Raising taxes as a first option was one
of (Patrick’s) biggest mistakes.”
Although voters won’t necessarily hear the name Michael Dukakis from
Baker, it will be a subliminal suggestion, advisers indicated.
“We’re going to talk about lessons learned from the past,” the Baker
strategist said. “We think we can turn the economy around, as was done
in the 1990s.”
Weld took office in 1991, at a time when the state’s economy was sunk
and unemployment was on the rise.
When asked whether he would run as a socially liberal Republican a la
Weld, Baker plainly answered, “Yeah.”
“The biggest thing you have to do to grow jobs is to live within your
means and reform state government,” Baker said. “I think it’s mostly
about jobs.”
Yet, while Weld emerged unscathed from the 1990 primary fight against
former Rep. Steven D. Pierce, whether Baker will be so lucky remains to
be seen. He faces former Turnpike Authority member Christy Mihos, who
has commandeered former Clinton adviser Dick Morris in his second crack
at the governorship.
Mihos could challenge Baker’s claim to responsible spending by charging
that as the state’s economic czar he didn’t do enough to foresee the
runaway finances of the Big Dig, strategists said.
Still, one former Dukakis aide indicated yesterday that summoning Weld’s
image may be a smart move. “To the degree that people still have an
overall positive image of (Weld), it doesn’t surprise me,” said
Democratic operative Michael Goldman. “He sees himself as having been
brought into state government by Bill Weld.”
Weld yesterday called Baker “the heart and soul of the Weld- Cellucci
administrations.”
“He just grew to take a larger and larger role, and he became completely
indispensable,” Weld said. “I can’t think of anybody in either party,
including myself, who would do a better job as governor in
Massachusetts.”
But a Patrick adviser said the Duke comparison won’t work, because,
unlike the Duke, Patrick has made “tough budget cuts” and still
implemented reforms.
“That may be what they try to spin, but the facts don’t support it,” the
adviser said. “Look at other states like Califoria, New York and
Pennsylvania struggling with huge budget gaps, and Massachusetts is in
much better shape.”
The Boston Globe
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Mass. revenues plummet again
Fiscal year ends with $180m gap;
Officials warily eye dwindling reserves
By Matt Viser
State revenues took yet another plunge last month, ending the financial
year $180 million below even the dourest projections and forcing leaders
to choose between draining the state’s reserve account and making
further cuts in a budget approved just last week.
June’s dismal returns, which top state lawmakers were briefed on this
week, are the latest sign that Massachusetts has yet to turn the corner
on the recession.
It offers a coda to a disastrous year, which saw revenue drop $3.2
billion below initial expectations and change so rapidly that revised
estimates never caught up with reality.
“It’s just getting worse,’’ said Representative Charles A. Murphy,
chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means. “We’re certainly not
done yet. We haven’t bottomed out, unfortunately.’’
Administration officials have yet to finalize the June revenue figures
and are still examining different scenarios for making up the shortfall.
But in a preliminary review this week with lawmakers, administration
officials reported that June revenue fell nearly $260 million below the
most recent projections, according to two State House sources briefed on
the meeting. They declined to be named because the session was private.
Because the state took in $78 million more than expected in May, the
end-of-the-year gap is about $180 million.
“June is the final exclamation point on this unbelievably bad year,’’
said Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers
Foundation, a business-funded government watchdog. “This is the worst
year-to-year tax drop . . . in more than 50 years. Maybe ever.’’
One likely solution for closing the gap is tapping state reserves. The
state currently has about $800 million left in its reserve account, but
$215 million is already budgeted for the current fiscal year, which
started July 1. If officials plug the additional revenue drop with
reserves, it would put the account at its lowest level since 1994. The
state began the fiscal year with about $2.1 billion in that account.
The continued deterioration also puts the state in a precarious
situation moving forward, and some are predicting it will require
emergency budget cuts just one week after Governor Deval Patrick signed
a $27 billion state budget for the fiscal year.
Economists and state budget observers warned several months ago that the
state is in a multiyear cycle that will strain budgets until at least
2014. The state reserve account has been a cushion, but it is at such a
low level that there is almost no room for error in the years ahead, a
bit like going on a daylong hike in the desert with only half a canteen
of water.
“The margin of error is really almost at zero now,’’ said Senator Steven
C. Panagiotakos, chairman of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means.
“Given that we really don’t have a lot left in the rainy day account,
the governor and the Legislature are probably going to have to be back
at [cutting] the budget at some point.’’
State officials made several rounds of cuts to the fiscal 2009 state
budget, but never caught up with falling revenues. Nearly every type of
tax the state collects - including income, sales, and corporate - fell
below expectations.
Patrick has largely plugged the gap with one-time revenue sources,
including federal stimulus money and state reserves. That approach means
that the state can get through the next year, but it will require deep
cuts if the economy does not recover quickly.
“It’s a terrible domino effect,’’ Widmer said. “This creates virtual
certainty that we’re going to have four years of budget cuts.’’
To help alleviate the revenue shortfall for this fiscal year, lawmakers
approved more than $1 billion in new taxes in a $27 billion budget that
Patrick signed last week. Patrick also vetoed nearly $150 million in
legislative spending proposals.
House and Senate lawmakers are weighing which of his vetoes to override,
but want to wait to get a better read on revenue losses before deciding
how to proceed. The revenue drop could raise questions about Patrick’s
request for $269 million in additional spending, which includes $70
million to restore healthcare coverage for 30,000 legal immigrants the
Legislature had cut.
“Any spending beyond what we’ve budgeted for is going to be very
difficult,’’ Panagiotakos said.
Administration officials are currently going through a budgeting process
to see if any agencies and departments did not spend all the money
budgeted last year. There has been money left over in years past, which
could help offset the revenue shortfall.
But that seems unlikely for the recently finished year, when departments
went through several rounds of midyear budget cuts.
“We still have challenges,’’ Patrick said in a brief interview
yesterday, when asked about the shortfall. “We’re not out of the woods
yet.’’
The Eagle-Tribune
Sunday, July 5, 2009
For public employees, economic reality means little
By Taylor Armerding
It's about time that we all go to work for the government.
"Work" is a somewhat fluid term in this case, since it will involve
fewer hours, more holidays, longer weekends, more vacation, more sick
time, more personal time, more funeral leave and, of course, fewer years
on the job than just about any career other than one in professional
sports.
Let's just call it "employed" by the government. It'll be tough, but I
know we can do it.
Because really, this dealing with life in the private sector is so, so
unfair.
When times get tough, our wages get frozen or cut, we're forced to take
unpaid furlough days, we pay more for fewer health benefits — and that's
if we're lucky enough not to get laid off. Meanwhile, the value of our
houses have dropped, and if we had a stock portfolio, there are
parentheses around all the bottom-line figures.
All of which means we have less money — in many cases a lot less money.
And since we have less, we have to spend less. Fewer clothes. Shorter
vacation or no vacation. No more eating out. No remodeling. No private
college for the kids. No new car, or even a better used one than the
clunker we're driving now. No iToys. Just the basics, if we can even
afford those.
How unfair is that? What right does the economy have to go into a
recession? What right do our employers have to refuse to pay us money
they don't have?
How much better to be in the gilded surroundings of government
employment — the only remaining place where economic reality is for
other people. During good times, things are really good because, well,
government employees should share the benefits of a robust economy.
During bad times, things are just a little less good because, well,
they're providing such critical services and "the children" will die if
they have to take a pay cut.
The new state budget, which took effect Wednesday, should tell you all
you need to know about where you should be "working."
People in the private sector are hurting — big time. And government's
answer to that pain? Inflict more. You have less? Tough. Now is the time
for you to pay more, so we won't have less.
Gov. Deval Patrick makes a big deal out of "reforms" — the elimination
of a few obscenities like MBTA workers qualifying for a retirement
pension after just 23 years; state workers getting credit for a full
year toward their pension if they work a single day in a year; treating
a rep or senator who is tossed out by the voters or just decides not to
run again as if he or she was laid off — to justify tax increases of
around $1 billion on sales, alcohol, satellite television, meals and
hotels.
Makes you want to go out to dinner, doesn't it?
He had the audacity to call the budget "austere" and "painful," even
though, after various legislative and executive machinations, it will
likely end up being as much or more than the budget that just expired.
This, at a time when household net worth across the country has dropped
20 percent since its peak in 2007. The Federal Reserve reported that the
wealth of American households was down $1.33 trillion during the first
quarter of 2009 compared to the same period a year ago. Massachusetts
has 111,100 fewer jobs than a year ago.
But Patrick and the Legislature never even tried to cut the pay of those
employed by the state and its related "authorities," to share in the
pain that has spread throughout the private sector — a move that could
have saved at least $1 billion that way. There isn't even a call for
wages to be frozen.
And this is not the end of it, of course. The gas tax isn't going up
today. Tolls aren't going up today. But they will.
The governor, putting on his parental face again to lecture his
recalcitrant children, said it was going to take more than another $1
billion a year out of our pockets to fix our transportation
infrastructure.
This is the guy, by the way, who told us that if the "temporary" income
surtax was rolled back to the 5 percent the Legislature had promised,
that property taxes would have to go up. "It's a shell game," he said.
So the income tax wasn't rolled back. And property taxes are going up.
This is also the guy who said if we voted to eliminate the income tax,
the sales tax would have to increase. So we obediently voted not to
eliminate the income tax. And the sales tax is now going up by 25
percent.
What was that about a shell game?
But, enough of all that. We have been the golden goose long enough.
Instead of providing the gold, we're going to join those who get it.
This could eventually be a problem, of course. As more than one
political observer has noted, socialism is fine until you run out of
other people's money. And where will it come from when all the other
people are employed by the government?
No problem. I'm going to follow the example of the president — I'm going
to let my offspring and their offspring worry about that. It will all be
for "the children" — the bill, I mean.
Taylor Armerding is associate editorial page editor of The
Eagle-Tribune.
The Boston Herald
Friday, July 10, 2009
Polls don’t toll for far left
By Michael Barone
The financial system collapsed. Housing prices cratered. Unemployment is
at a record high for the last quarter-century. The Democratic president
has a solidly positive job rating.
And yet we Americans have not suddenly become collectivists. The
economic distress of the 1930s led Americans to favor less reliance on
markets and more on government. The economic distress of the 1970s led
Americans to favor less reliance on government and more on markets. It
doesn’t seem unreasonable to expect, as many political liberals have
been predicting, that the economic distress of the late 2000s will
produce a shift in the 1930s direction. But it doesn’t seem to have
happened yet.
Or so the polling evidence tells us. Last month’s Washington Post-ABC
poll reported that Americans favor smaller government with fewer
services to larger government with more services by a 54 percent to 41
percent margin - a slight uptick since 2004. The percentage of
independents favoring small government rose to 61 percent from 52
percent in 2008. The June NBC-Wall Street Journal poll reported that,
even amid recession, 58 percent worry more about keeping the budget
deficit down vs. 35 percent worried more about boosting the economy. A
similar question in the June CBS-New York Times poll showed a 52 percent
to 41 percent split.
Other polls show a resistance to specific Democratic proposals. Pollster
Whit Ayres reports that 58 percent of voters agree that reforming health
care, while important, should be done without raising taxes or
increasing the deficit. Pollster Scott Rasmussen reports that 56 percent
of Americans are unwilling to pay more in taxes or utility rates to
generate cleaner energy and fight global warming.
It’s interesting that on these issues and many others independents are
responding more like Republicans than Democrats. That’s the opposite of
what we saw up through 2008, when independents were almost as critical
of the Bush administration and Republican policies as Democrats.
This apparent recoil against big government has not gone unnoticed.
Gallup just reported that 39 percent of Americans say their views on
politics have grown more conservative, while only 18 percent say they
have grown more liberal. Moderates agreed by a 33 percent to 18 percent
margin.
Voters continue to think highly of Barack Obama. But these numbers
suggest that they are responding more negatively to Democratic proposals
that have a chance at passage than they did to Democratic platform
planks that were, until last year, only political rhetoric. The $787
billion stimulus, the cap-and-trade bill’s utility-rate increases, the
health insurance package - all these seem to generate more apprehension
than enthusiasm.
It’s still possible for American attitudes to shift. But Americans seem
to be recoiling against big government when it threatens to become a
reality rather than a campaign promise.
Michael Barone is senior political analyst for The Washington
Examiner.
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