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and the
Citizens Economic Research Foundation
Post Office Box 1147 ●
Marblehead, Massachusetts 01945 ●
(508)
915-3665
“Every Tax is a Pay Cut ... A Tax Cut is a Pay Raise”
44 years as “The Voice of Massachusetts Taxpayers”
— and
their Institutional Memory — |
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CLT UPDATE
Tuesday, April 3, 2018
To turn a phrase, "Scandal and
dysfunction"
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Gov.
Charlie Baker is proposing the state borrow $1.4 billion to
build more storm-resistant infrastructure and upgrade its
roads and bridges. Such requests would have more
credibility, however, if accompanied by cost-cutting efforts
such as eliminating the requirement that a cop or two or
three or four be posted at every construction project in the
commonwealth. This practice — not the norm in most states —
has helped boost the cost of such work here in Massachusetts
to third highest in the nation (320 percent higher than
average according to one report)....
From Marblehead’s Chip Ford, executive director of
Citizens for Limited Taxation: “We have recognized
for decades that Massachusetts does not have a revenue
problem — it has a spending problem. When it can’t extract
more from taxpayers fast enough, the Beacon Hill cabal
borrows to spend more now, then burdens taxpayers to pay it
back (with interest) later.”
The Salem News
Friday, March 30, 2018
A tough week for Baker
By Nelson Benton, editor emeritus
After adopting an environmentally friendly
provision, the Senate on Thursday passed a roughly $1.8
billion housing bill that would recapitalize affordable
housing programs and extend tax credits....
"Our affordable housing shortage has placed
the Commonwealth's financial health at risk," Winthrop Sen.
Joseph Boncore, co-chairman of the Housing Committee, said
in a statement. He called the bill a "first step toward
ensuring Massachusetts develops enough affordable housing to
support both its workforce and its economic future." ...
The Senate extended the low-income housing
tax credit with an annual allocation of $25 million, which
is 25 percent higher than the amount included in the House
version.
"The high cost of housing across
Massachusetts strains family incomes and local businesses.
These investments are an important step to create more
affordable, livable communities, support a growing, healthy
economy and expand access to quality housing for everyone,"
said Senate Ways and Means Chairwoman Karen Spilka.
The bill includes $45 million for the
development of early education facilities and out-of-school
time programs; $65 million for housing that serves
individuals with mental illnesses or intellectual
disabilities; and $100 million to develop alternative forms
of rental and ownership housing, including homes for people
in recovery. The biggest single item in the bill is $600
million to invest in the state's substantial portfolio of
public housing.
The House version of the housing bond passed
150-1 on Jan. 24. A House-Senate conference committee could
be appointed to develop a consensus bill.
State House News Service
Thursday, March 29, 2018
Senate approves $1.8 Billion housing bond
In the past four months, the Massachusetts
Senate has seen its top leader step aside, his husband
indicted, a former colleague indicted, a sitting senator
charged with drunken driving, and an unusual number of
colleagues decide not to run for reelection.
And there could be more disruption to come.
The Senate ethics committee is still expected to issue a
report on the scandal involving the former Senate president.
Even in the State House, a place that is no
stranger to controversy, the chaos that’s consumed its upper
chamber may be unprecedented. The result, as senators lurch
from one bombshell to the next, is that the time for
official business is being sidelined by salacious
disclosures and internal politics.
“If it’s a time for rebirth,” she said, “we
need it now.”
The latest blockbuster crashed through the
Senate door Thursday, when a grand jury indicted Bryon
Hefner, the husband of former Senate president Stanley C.
Rosenberg, on multiple charges of sexual assault, criminal
lewdness, and distributing nude photographs without consent.
The accusations, first reported by the Globe
in November, ignited the upheaval that led to Rosenberg
stepping aside in early December.
And things have hardly settled down since
Rosenberg relinquished the presidency.
Just days later, former senator Brian A.
Joyce was indicted on charges he turned his public office
into a criminal enterprise, after authorities said he
collected about $1 million in bribes and kickbacks that he
laundered through his law firm.
Earlier this week, Senator Michael D. Brady,
a Brockton Democrat, announced he was entering alcohol
treatment after an arrest on drunken driving charges.
Meanwhile, the leadership of the Senate is
uncertain.
Senate Karen E. Spilka announced last week
that she had the votes to be the next president of the
Senate. But the declaration immediately created an awkward
situation with current Senate President Harriette L.
Chandler, who was installed in place of Rosenberg on an
acting basis before senators voted to commit to her
leadership for the duration of the session in the hopes of
steadying the body.
Chandler has said she hopes to finish this
term. But Spilka, the Senate’s chair of the Ways & Means
Committee, has said that’s open to discussion....
And then there is change in the Senate’s
physical space.
Its historic chamber has been sealed off and
the sounds of construction ring through the halls as it
undergoes a $20 million renovation project.
The plan is to reopen in January 2019, for
the next legislative session. But like its body, the chamber
remains a work in progress.
The Boston Globe
Saturday, March 31, 2018
Amid scandals, future of Mass. Senate leadership still
uncertain
A criminal trial that could lay out the
details of a former senator's alleged corrupt use of his
public office could extend for four to six weeks.
Federal prosecutors estimated the trial's
length late last week, saying they've compiled more than
400,000 pages of possible evidence against Brian Joyce.
A report from Magistrate Judge David
Hennessy after a hearing on Friday also revealed there "have
been no plea discussions" between the federal government and
Joyce, a Milton Democrat who has pleaded not guilty to a
range of charges.
An election year trial for Joyce would add
another dimension to a chaotic session for the state Senate,
where Sen. Stanley Rosenberg of Amherst stepped down from
the presidency in December amid an Ethics Committee
investigation and Sen. Michael Brady of Brockton is
currently facing drunken driving charges.
Several senators who were in office in
January 2017 have also resigned in recent months to take new
jobs, adding a turnover element to the turmoil.
Government attorneys and those representing
Joyce are still working towards setting a date to begin
Joyce's trial on 113 counts including racketeering,
extortion, mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and tax
evasion.
State House News Service
Monday, April 2, 2018
Former senator's corruption trial could run six weeks
Facing potential criminal repercussions for
allegedly driving drunk, Sen. Mike Brady could also
eventually face consequences in the legislative chamber he
joined three years ago.
Senators should discuss possible action,
according to Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, and Senate
President Harriette Chandler said this week a decision over
whether to take action in the Senate would follow
adjudication of Brady's case in the courts.
The 55-year-old Brockton Democrat told
police that he was on his way from a "work event" in Boston
when he was pulled over in the early morning hours on March
24 after swerving his Chevrolet Sonic down Main Street in
Weymouth, nearly entering a parking lot. Unsteady on his
feet, glassy-eyed and smelling of alcohol, Brady failed five
field sobriety tests and was arrested for operating under
the influence, according to the Weymouth Police.
State House News Service
Sunday, April 1, 2018
Chandler: Decisions about Brady will come after court case
The secret payroll for state cops at Logan
International Airport has been cracked open revealing eight
troopers took home $1 million or more since 2014, a stunning
haul one fiscal watchdog said left him feeling disgusted.
“I have a very emotional reaction to this,”
said Greg Sullivan, the state’s former inspector general. “A
monopoly at Troop F has ended up making millionaires out of
a few state troopers.”
The 140-member squad took home $32.5 million
in pay last year — with about $9.5 million going to
overtime, records show.
That OT sent eight staties — including one
lieutenant detective who pulled down $300,000-plus three
years in a row — into the upper echelon of public employee
pay where the new figures show they all earned $1
million-plus since 2014.
“Wow,” said Sullivan, now with the Pioneer
Institute. “We need the police at the airport, but taxpayers
should not have to pay million-dollar amounts. It’s also
reprehensible the pay was hidden from the public’s view.”
The Boston Herald
Saturday, March 31, 2018
Hidden payroll reveals 8 troopers earned $1M or more
Amid a prolonged economic recovery in
Massachusetts, the city of Lynn is turning to Beacon Hill
for relief from its fiscal crisis.
Legislation quietly whisked to Gov. Charlie
Baker's desk on Monday allows the city to borrow up to $14
million to balance its fiscal 2018 and 2019 budgets.
Sen. Brendan Crighton (D-Lynn) told the News
Service Monday he was not familiar with the bill's
specifics, but said the city faced a "significant deficit."
"This helps them get out of the financial
mess that they're in right now," Crighton said....
The city's bond counsel is prepared to issue
bonds once the bill is signed so that the city can meet
contractual and health care obligations, said Cahill, who
estimated a deficit of $6 million to $8 million in this
year's roughly $300 million city budget.
State House News Service
Tuesday, March 27, 2018
Borrowing bill approved to address Lynn's fiscal woes
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Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
Scandal and dysfunction today are ravaging
Beacon Hill. Each day it's a new exposé,
another revelation, further distraction.
Investigations, grand juries, police reports, and police
corruption itself fill the news and have for too long.
We have a state government comprised of either too many
grifters and criminals, or investigators and prosecutors
trying to catch up with and punish them. We taxpayers
pay for the entire three-ring circus.
Beyond the corruption circus are the usual
political aggravations and outrages on how our hard-earned
money is being squandered.
Last week we reported on the scandalous $100,000
bathroom for the MassDOT, and the governor's push to borrow
$1.4 billion to spend on his "Climate Resiliency Bond Bill."
Since then, last Thursday the Senate passed
a $1.8 billion housing bill that would "invest" $1.8 billion
in affordable housing programs, extend low-income housing
tax credits, and spend on energy efficiency and climate
adaptation improvements. The State House News Service
reports:
"The
bill includes $45 million for the development of
early education facilities and out-of-school time
programs; $65 million for housing that serves
individuals with mental illnesses or intellectual
disabilities; and $100 million to develop
alternative forms of rental and ownership housing,
including homes for people in recovery. The biggest
single item in the bill is $600 million to invest in
the state's substantial portfolio of public
housing."
Senate Ways and Means Chairwoman (and soon
to be new Senate President) Karen Spilka said: "The
high cost of housing across Massachusetts strains family
incomes and local businesses. These investments are an
important step to create more affordable, livable
communities, support a growing, healthy economy and expand
access to quality housing for everyone."
Does "everyone" mean me and thee? I
don't think we're included in "everyone," folks. It's
just a turn of the phrase, much like "invest" has become.
Politicians no longer "spend" our money.
These days they "invest" our tax dollars (their
"revenue") on those "unmet needs" that never are satisfied.
That there is never a discernible return on their
"investments" of our money goes unspoken. If a
portfolio manager "invested" your retirement savings like
that he'd be either in prison or the unemployment line.
Or maybe running for state legislator.
The City of Lynn has discovered a $6-$8
million hole in its $300 million budget, so last Monday the
Legislature "quietly whisked to Gov. Charlie Baker's desk" a
bill that allows the city to borrow up to $14 million.
The loan is necessary "so that the city can meet contractual
and health care obligations."
In other words, over time the city has
promised its government employee unions more than it can now
afford to pay, more than is already being extracted from its
taxpayers. This was inevitable: Lynn is but the
canary in the coal mine. Through our "Ticking
Time Bomb" project, for two decades CLT has warned that,
without recognition and reform, this day will arrive.
"This is by no means a bailout of any sort,"
Lynn Rep. Dan Cahill told a reporter. Watch
"non-bailouts" like this become the status quo as more
bloated public employee pensions and benefits come due.
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Chip Ford
Executive Director |
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State House News Service
Thursday, March 29, 2018
Senate approves $1.8 Billion housing bond
By Andy Metzger
After adopting an environmentally friendly
provision, the Senate on Thursday passed a
roughly $1.8 billion housing bill that would
recapitalize affordable housing programs and
extend tax credits.
Leaders in both parties have sounded the alarm
about the high and rising cost of housing in
Massachusetts. In 2017, the median single-family
home sale price ranged from $512,000 in
Middlesex County, $475,000 in Norfolk County and
$497,000 in Suffolk County, according to The
Warren Group.
"Our affordable housing shortage has placed the
Commonwealth's financial health at risk,"
Winthrop Sen. Joseph Boncore, co-chairman of the
Housing Committee, said in a statement. He
called the bill a "first step toward ensuring
Massachusetts develops enough affordable housing
to support both its workforce and its economic
future."
Lawmakers are separately considering proposals
to relax local restrictions that prevent more
housing construction. Housing advocates and
construction interests favor new rules to
encourage multifamily homes; local officials
have resisted changes that usurp their control
over real estate development.
Andover Sen. Barbara L'Italien proposed an
amendment to make it easier to build accessory
dwellings for elderly family members and people
with disabilities. A Democrat who is running for
Congress, L'Italien withdrew the proposal,
saying she knew it lacked the support needed to
be included in the bill.
The Senate adopted a proposal from Gloucester
Republican Sen. Bruce Tarr enabling state
officials to spend money included in the bill on
energy efficiency and climate adaptation
improvements.
The Senate passed the bill unanimously.
Gov. Charlie Baker has pushed for legislation (H
4075) to allow municipal governments to change
their zoning rules with a simple majority vote
rather than the existing two-thirds requirement.
The Housing Committee sent the governor's bill
to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
In addition to financing bond-funded programs
such as the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, the
legislation also extends the authorization for
tax-credits designed to spur housing
development.
The Senate extended the low-income housing tax
credit with an annual allocation of $25 million,
which is 25 percent higher than the amount
included in the House version.
"The high cost of housing across Massachusetts
strains family incomes and local businesses.
These investments are an important step to
create more affordable, livable communities,
support a growing, healthy economy and expand
access to quality housing for everyone," said
Senate Ways and Means Chairwoman Karen Spilka.
The bill includes $45 million for the
development of early education facilities and
out-of-school time programs; $65 million for
housing that serves individuals with mental
illnesses or intellectual disabilities; and $100
million to develop alternative forms of rental
and ownership housing, including homes for
people in recovery. The biggest single item in
the bill is $600 million to invest in the
state's substantial portfolio of public housing.
The House version of the housing bond passed
150-1 on Jan. 24. A House-Senate conference
committee could be appointed to develop a
consensus bill.
The Boston Globe
Saturday, March 31, 2018
Amid scandals, future of Mass. Senate leadership
still uncertain
By Matt Stout
In the past four months, the Massachusetts
Senate has seen its top leader step aside, his
husband indicted, a former colleague indicted, a
sitting senator charged with drunken driving,
and an unusual number of colleagues decide not
to run for reelection.
And there could be more disruption to come. The
Senate ethics committee is still expected to
issue a report on the scandal involving the
former Senate president.
Even in the State House, a place that is no
stranger to controversy, the chaos that’s
consumed its upper chamber may be unprecedented.
The result, as senators lurch from one bombshell
to the next, is that the time for official
business is being sidelined by salacious
disclosures and internal politics.
“It’s been a yoke around the neck. Sometimes it
feels like two steps up and one step back,”
Senator Anne M. Gobi said of the repeated
distractions that have surrounded the 40-member
body.
“If it’s a time for rebirth,” she said, “we need
it now.”
The latest blockbuster crashed through the
Senate door Thursday, when a grand jury indicted
Bryon Hefner, the husband of former Senate
president Stanley C. Rosenberg, on multiple
charges of sexual assault, criminal lewdness,
and distributing nude photographs without
consent.
The accusations, first reported by the Globe in
November, ignited the upheaval that led to
Rosenberg stepping aside in early December.
And things have hardly settled down since
Rosenberg relinquished the presidency.
Just days later, former senator Brian A. Joyce
was indicted on charges he turned his public
office into a criminal enterprise, after
authorities said he collected about $1 million
in bribes and kickbacks that he laundered
through his law firm.
Earlier this week, Senator Michael D. Brady, a
Brockton Democrat, announced he was entering
alcohol treatment after an arrest on drunken
driving charges.
Meanwhile, the leadership of the Senate is
uncertain.
Senate Karen E. Spilka announced last week that
she had the votes to be the next president of
the Senate. But the declaration immediately
created an awkward situation with current Senate
President Harriette L. Chandler, who was
installed in place of Rosenberg on an acting
basis before senators voted to commit to her
leadership for the duration of the session in
the hopes of steadying the body.
Chandler has said she hopes to finish this term.
But Spilka, the Senate’s chair of the Ways &
Means Committee, has said that’s open to
discussion.
The question remains, however, as to whether the
Senate would undertake a presidential handoff
during budget deliberations, when Spilka is
responsible for crafting the spending proposal
as the chair of the Ways and Means Committee.
And that uncertainty has left senators torn on
the transition’s timing — a frustrating prospect
for many who had hoped her selection would end
months of time-consuming rumination on the
Senate power structure.
“We know in public service and in public office
we are held to a higher standard. That has been
tested,” Spilka said Friday. “We need to make
sure that we step up to the plate, allow for
healing for these instances, and turn the page
to enter a new chapter in our history.
“This will be solved,” she added of the
transition, “and the budget will get done in a
timely fashion.”
Chandler, a Worcester Democrat, echoed Spilka,
pointing to the Senate’s successes.
House and Senate negotiators have agreed on a
criminal justice overhaul bill, although the
legislation has not passed the Legislature, nor
is it clear Governor Charlie Baker supports it.
On Thursday, the Senate passed a housing bond
bill.
“With our successes and challenges in mind,
Senator Spilka and I continue to speak to
develop the best transition plan possible,”
Chandler said.
But the upheaval has sowed doubts about the
liberal Senate’s footing in talks with the more
moderate House and Republican Baker.
“Any major legislation usually has an imprint
from the House and the Senate, and this
definitely affects negotiations,” said Richard
Tisei, a former minority leader in the Senate
who now works as a lobbyist. “The Senate has the
weaker hand right now because of everything that
is going on.”
Baker, too, voiced concern about the Legislature
completing its official business on time.
“There are a whole bunch of bills pending and
there are about 100 days where you can expect
the Legislature to be in session between now and
the time they break at the end of July,” he said
Friday. “There’s a lot that’s left to be done
here and time’s running out.”
All the while, lawmakers have tried in earnest
to return to work, often with ears perked for
the thud of another dropping shoe. Thursday it
was Hefner. Next could be the report on the
Senate ethics committee’s investigation into
whether Rosenberg broke any Senate rules.
The Globe has found no evidence that Rosenberg,
68, knew of any of Hefner’s alleged assaults.
But Baker said he assumes that information in
the indictment would be folded into the Senate’s
own probe.
“If that turns up information that implies or
suggests that [Rosenberg] was aware of or knew
about this stuff, then at that point, he should
resign,” Baker said. “People need to be held
accountable for their actions with respect to
this. If it turns up that other people in the
Senate were involved or participated or knew and
didn’t do anything, then that all needs to be
factored into the decision-making.”
Rosenberg faces a challenge in the Democratic
primary this fall. Chelsea Sunday Kline, a
Northampton Democrat who is running against him,
weighed in Thursday, saying, “I believe the
survivors,” and applauding them for coming
forward in the investigation of Hefner.
Against this backdrop has been a membership
thrown into flux. At least eight senators who
won reelection in 2016 will not be on the ballot
this November. Some have left for other jobs or
are running for another office. Others have
simply decided not to continue in the Senate.
And then there is change in the Senate’s
physical space.
Its historic chamber has been sealed off and the
sounds of construction ring through the halls as
it undergoes a $20 million renovation project.
The plan is to reopen in January 2019, for the
next legislative session. But like its body, the
chamber remains a work in progress.
State House News Service
Monday, April 2, 2018
Former senator's corruption trial could run six
weeks
By Colin A. Young
A criminal trial that could lay out the details
of a former senator's alleged corrupt use of his
public office could extend for four to six
weeks.
Federal prosecutors estimated the trial's length
late last week, saying they've compiled more
than 400,000 pages of possible evidence against
Brian Joyce.
A report from Magistrate Judge David Hennessy
after a hearing on Friday also revealed there
"have been no plea discussions" between the
federal government and Joyce, a Milton Democrat
who has pleaded not guilty to a range of
charges.
An election year trial for Joyce would add
another dimension to a chaotic session for the
state Senate, where Sen. Stanley Rosenberg of
Amherst stepped down from the presidency in
December amid an Ethics Committee investigation
and Sen. Michael Brady of Brockton is currently
facing drunken driving charges.
Several senators who were in office in January
2017 have also resigned in recent months to take
new jobs, adding a turnover element to the
turmoil.
Government attorneys and those representing
Joyce are still working towards setting a date
to begin Joyce's trial on 113 counts including
racketeering, extortion, mail fraud, wire fraud,
money laundering and tax evasion.
Hennessy set the next hearing in Joyce's case
for June 1.
During a hearing in Worcester on Friday,
attorneys for Joyce said the defense has not yet
begun reviewing the hundreds of thousands of
pages produced by the government's automatic
discovery process because their time has been
spent responding to a motion to disqualify one
of Joyce's attorneys from the case.
"Given the Government's pending motion to
disqualify counsel and that Defendant's review
of discovery has not begun, I will defer setting
a tentative trial date before Judge Gorton,"
Hennessy wrote in his report after Friday's
conference.
The defense and prosecution were instructed by
Hennessy on Friday to be prepared to discuss
proposed dates for a trial at the June 1
hearing.
Prosecutors said Joyce, who was first elected to
the Senate in 1998 and held high-ranking
leadership positions before he chose not to seek
re-election in 2016, secretly profited from his
elected position as a senator, accepting bribes
and kickbacks in exchange for his "official
action" in the Senate and putting pressure on
state and local officials.
Authorities say Joyce's alleged activities date
from 2010 to the present and that as much as $1
million was involved in Joyce's various schemes.
Joyce did not seek re-election in 2016.
A law firm hired by the Senate Ethics Committee
in December is looking into whether Rosenberg
violated any Senate rules in connection with
allegations that his husband, Bryon Hefner,
harassed and assaulted men with business pending
on Beacon Hill and meddled in Senate affairs.
A statewide grand jury on Thursday handed down
felony charges against Hefner in connection with
five alleged sexual assaults, criminal lewdness
and the distribution of nude photos without
consent. His arraignment is April 24 in Suffolk
Superior Court.
Gov. Charlie Baker is withholding judgment for
now on whether Rosenberg should step down,
calling information outlined in Hefner's
indictment "distressing" and expressing
appreciation for alleged abuse and harassment
victims who came forward to discuss Bryon
Hefner.
"With respect to Senator Rosenberg I believe
that anything associated with him directly needs
to be dealt with either through the
investigation that's being done by the Senate
itself, which has been kind of lost in this some
of this discussion, and by the work that's being
done by the DA and by the attorney general,"
Baker said in a scrum with reporters Friday in
South Boston. "If that turns up information that
implies or suggests that he was aware of and
knew about this stuff then at that point, yeah,
I think he should resign."
Senate President Harriette Chandler plans to
wait for Brady's criminal case to unfold before
deciding if the Senate needs to discipline
Brady.
"It's in the court system now, and we will see
what happens there and then we will make a
decision about if the Senate will take action,"
Chandler said.
—Michael P.
Norton contributed reporting.
State House News Service
Sunday, April 1, 2018
Chandler: Decisions about Brady will come after
court case
Andy Metzger
Facing potential criminal repercussions for
allegedly driving drunk, Sen. Mike Brady could
also eventually face consequences in the
legislative chamber he joined three years ago.
Senators should discuss possible action,
according to Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr,
and Senate President Harriette Chandler said
this week a decision over whether to take action
in the Senate would follow adjudication of
Brady's case in the courts.
The 55-year-old Brockton Democrat told police
that he was on his way from a "work event" in
Boston when he was pulled over in the early
morning hours on March 24 after swerving his
Chevrolet Sonic down Main Street in Weymouth,
nearly entering a parking lot. Unsteady on his
feet, glassy-eyed and smelling of alcohol, Brady
failed five field sobriety tests and was
arrested for operating under the influence,
according to the Weymouth Police.
"I'm concerned when any member of the motoring
public operates while under the influence of
alcohol or any other intoxicant, and certainly
I'm concerned when a member of the Senate does
that," Tarr, a Gloucester Republican, told the
News Service on Thursday.
A Worcester Democrat, Chandler said everyone in
the Senate is concerned about Brady and she
hopes he will rejoin the chamber.
"We're always concerned when a member has this
kind of an issue. We expect more from a senator
than that," Chandler told the News Service. "But
fortunately he understands the problem and he's
in rehab and he wants to take care of the
problem. So we're hopeful that he will do so and
that he would rejoin the body."
Brady advises the Senate as co-chairman of the
Legislature's Revenue Committee, which reviews
tax legislation, and vice-chairman of the
Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy
Committee.
The day after the news broke, Brady on Wednesday
announced that he would immediately enter
"professional treatment and counseling for
alcohol use" with plans to return next week. His
office provided no information about where Brady
is receiving treatment.
Brady missed votes on Thursday and the Senate is
planning to hold another formal session this
upcoming Wednesday to take up bills regulating
short-term rentals and establishing a student
loan bill of rights.
It's Brady's second time facing drunk-driving
charges.
Brady called Chandler on Sunday, before the news
broke, according to her office.
"He was trying to just tell me what had
happened, which is what is normally done during
these circumstances," Chandler said.
A law firm since December has been investigating
whether Sen. Stan Rosenberg violated any Senate
rules in connection with his husband Bryon
Hefner's alleged assaulting men with business on
Beacon Hill. Hefner was charged Thursday for
sexual assault, criminal lewdness and
distributing nude photos without consent.
Determining he had violated a House rule, the
House in 2014 expelled Carlos Henriquez after he
was convicted of assaulting a woman with whom he
had been romantically involved.
Tarr said he is unsure whether Brady may have
violated any rules of the Senate.
"Obviously a lot of us are concerned about it.
Whether or not there has been a transgression of
any rules of the Senate to me is still unclear,"
said Tarr, who hopes "appropriate action is
taken by law enforcement and by the individual
himself."
Asked whether the Senate should take any action,
Tarr said, "Well that's something that I think
we need to continue to discuss together."
Chandler said any action along those lines would
occur after the case is closed.
"It's in the court system now, and we will see
what happens there and then we will make a
decision about if the Senate will take action,"
Chandler said.
Brady's earlier 1999 alleged drunk driving
incident and Saturday's arrest both occurred in
Weymouth.
"The incident being reported is a very serious
situation as is any alleged driving violation
that involves operating under the influence of
alcohol," Weymouth Republican Sen. Patrick
O'Connor said in a statement. "I hope that
Senator Brady gets the necessary help and
assistance he needs. I trust that the court will
decide the appropriate responsibility and
recommend proper action. I'm thankful for the
due diligence of the Weymouth Police in all that
they do to keep our residents safe."
The Boston Herald
Saturday, March 31, 2018
Hidden payroll reveals 8 troopers earned $1M or
more
By Joe Dwinell
The secret payroll for state cops at Logan
International Airport has been cracked open
revealing eight troopers took home $1 million or
more since 2014, a stunning haul one fiscal
watchdog said left him feeling disgusted.
“I have a very emotional reaction to this,” said
Greg Sullivan, the state’s former inspector
general. “A monopoly at Troop F has ended up
making millionaires out of a few state
troopers.”
The 140-member squad took home $32.5 million in
pay last year — with about $9.5 million going to
overtime, records show.
That OT sent eight staties — including one
lieutenant detective who pulled down
$300,000-plus three years in a row — into the
upper echelon of public employee pay where the
new figures show they all earned $1 million-plus
since 2014.
“Wow,” said Sullivan, now with the Pioneer
Institute. “We need the police at the airport,
but taxpayers should not have to pay
million-dollar amounts. It’s also reprehensible
the pay was hidden from the public’s view.”
Gov. Charlie Baker agreed, saying state police
Col. Kerry Gilpin is addressing the latest
scandal.
“She’s working on a whole series of reforms that
I think are exactly what the doctor ordered,”
Baker said yesterday.
Comptroller Thomas G. Shack III announced
yesterday his staff had posted the missing Troop
F pay on the state’s Open Checkbook database to
correct an old accounting problem between
Massport and the state police, first reported by
The Boston Globe, that left the salaries hidden
for years.
He vowed that all state police pay will now be
front and center for all to see “on a permanent
basis” in a matter of days.
What the Troop F details show is an overtime
bonanza.
The new accounting goes from 2014 through last
month and shows two troopers earning
$300,000-plus last year and 52 more pulling down
more than $200,000.
That allowed for totals over the past four-plus
years of $1.3 million, $1.1 million and similar
tallies down to $1.01 million for eight top
earners.
Some of the Troop F officers also earned extra
OT dollars — up to $13,000 last year in one
instance — working shifts outside the airport,
records show.
The Massport pay, also provided to the Herald,
shows life at Logan can be lucrative, with 23
employees earning $200,000 or more last year.
Thomas P. Glynn, Massport’s chief executive, was
paid $287,298, records show.
Jennifer B. Mehigan, director of media relations
at Massport, defended the OT shifts, saying
safety comes first.
“Safety and security are Massport’s top
priority,” she said. “Two reasons which result
in significant overtime for Troop F — they have
been at an enhanced level of readiness since the
series of coordinated terror attacks on Paris in
2015 and the troop also has a number of
vacancies.”
But Sullivan argued some duties to move traffic
outside the airport can be done cheaply by
airport personnel, as he saw happening at the
Orlando, Fla., airport.
The Troop F payroll revelation comes as Attorney
General Maura Healey is investigating 21 current
and former state troopers for possible overtime
abuse on the Mass Pike. A week ago nine of those
troopers suddenly retired and nine others were
suspended without pay.
Those phantom shifts have also raised the
specter of state troopers possibly being forced
to relinquish control of the Seaport to Massport
officers or city cops.
—Dan Atkinson
and Jordan Frias contributed to this report.
State House News Service
Tuesday, March 27, 2018
Borrowing bill approved to address Lynn's fiscal
woes
By Michael P. Norton
Amid a prolonged economic recovery in
Massachusetts, the city of Lynn is turning to
Beacon Hill for relief from its fiscal crisis.
Legislation quietly whisked to Gov. Charlie
Baker's desk on Monday allows the city to borrow
up to $14 million to balance its fiscal 2018 and
2019 budgets.
Sen. Brendan Crighton (D-Lynn) told the News
Service Monday he was not familiar with the
bill's specifics, but said the city faced a
"significant deficit."
"This helps them get out of the financial mess
that they're in right now," Crighton said.
Under the bill (H 4325), the borrowed funds must
be paid back within 10 years, a provision that
essentially allows the city to amortize its
current budget difficulties.
"This is by no means a bailout of any sort,"
Lynn Rep. Dan Cahill told the News Service
Tuesday.
The city's bond counsel is prepared to issue
bonds once the bill is signed so that the city
can meet contractual and health care
obligations, said Cahill, who estimated a
deficit of $6 million to $8 million in this
year's roughly $300 million city budget.
An assessment conducted by Lynn Mayor Thomas
McGee after he took office in January found
"significant deficiencies" in the fiscal 2018
budget and future anticipated shortfalls, Cahill
said, and city officials are hoping tax revenues
will rise in connection with new growth.
"We have some significant developments on the
horizon," Cahill said.
While the bill generated no debate as it moved
through the Legislature this month, Cahill said
House and Senate leaders, the Department of
Revenue, and Gov. Charlie Baker had cooperated
behind the scenes on the legislation.
The bill's passage, Cahill said, will enable the
city to issue its fourth quarter tax bills.
The city had nearly 92,500 residents in 2015,
according to state data, and received $160
million in fiscal 2018 education aid and $23.2
million in general government aid. The total
assessed value of property in Lynn in fiscal
2017 was $6.9 billion. |
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NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this
material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes
only. For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
Citizens for Limited Taxation ▪
PO Box 1147 ▪ Marblehead, MA 01945
▪ 508-915-3665
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