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and the
Citizens Economic Research Foundation
Post Office Box 1147 ●
Marblehead, Massachusetts 01945 ●
(781) 990-1251
“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
Sunday, October 21, 2018
Next Guv:
Bad vs. Worse
|
Goodbye Marblehead, hello Kentucky.:
Farewell message from Citizens for Limited Taxation
executive director Chip Ford -- "I'm anxiously
counting down the days until I can escape from this
political septic tank. Thanks to the support, generosity,
and encouragement of many members I've been able to keep CLT
going through the election as I'd hoped to do. I put off my
move, but my decampment, the exodus to my personal sanctuary
state, is but a month away and closing fast. It's possible
that CLT will restart in January from my new and improved
location, should there be enough support. We shall see . . .
"Last week I sold my snowblower, and the
full dumpster was taken away. This week I sold my '99 Blazer
with its snowplow, and the POD container arrived. I'm
bringing along a shovel for emergencies, should the annual
snowfall in Kentucky exceed its average 8 inches. On
November 15th I'll be on my way, driving Barbara Anderson's
and my cat, Gilly, with me in her 2001 Honda CR-V, both of
which I inherited when she left us. Citizens for Limited
Taxation in exile is coming."
The Salem News
Friday, October 19, 2018
[Excerpt]
Weekly Column: Trump's popularity rises in the West
By Nelson Benton, Editor Emeritus
This week, Beacon Hill Roll Call continues
its three-part series looking at the questions on the
November 6 ballot. This week the focus is on Question 2.
Question 2 asks voters if they approve of a
proposed law that would create a citizens’ commission to
consider and recommend potential amendments to the U.S.
Constitution to establish that corporations do not have the
same constitutional rights as human beings and that campaign
contributions and expenditures may be regulated.
The proposed law is in response to the U.S.
Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. Federal
Election Commission. In that case, the court ruled that the
First Amendment prohibits the government from restricting
corporations, unions and individuals from donating unlimited
funds to Super Political Action Committees (PACs) that do
not donate directly to candidates or political parties....
"We have over 700 volunteers across the
state knocking doors, making phone calls, e-mailing and
texting,” said Ben Gubits, National Political Director of
Concord-based American Promise. “We've had big endorsements
from both Democrat and Republican leaders in the state and
across the country. The campaign is going strong and we're
confident that we will win on Election Day, but we're not
taking anything for granted because this doesn't end on
Election Day. Question 2 is part of a national effort of ‘We
the People’ to reclaim our republic from wealthy special
interests."
“Question 2 is a silly, feel-good liberal
primal scream, a Quixotic tilt at one of its most
threatening windmills, with no teeth and no real effect,”
said Chip Ford, Executive Director of Citizens for
Limited Taxation. “If adopted, it would create a
meaningless ‘advisory commission’ to propose an unlikely
amendment to the U.S. Constitution that might hopefully
overturn the Supreme Court's free speech decision in
Citizens United.”
Beacon Hill Roll Call
Week of October 15-19, 2018
Ballot Question 2
By Bob Katzen
More than three months after fiscal year
2018 ended and after some prodding by state financial
managers, Massachusetts lawmakers on Monday made quick work
of a long-awaited supplemental budget bill to close the
books on FY18 and to spend surplus state revenue.
The bills, which emerged from the House Ways
and Means Committee around 11 a.m. Monday morning and by
4:15 p.m. was on Gov. Charlie Baker's desk, includes $40
million for local roads and bridges, $10 million to aid
Merrimack Valley communities affected by the recent gas
disaster and deposits into the rainy day fund that will push
that account's balance past $2 billion.
The bill appropriates a total of $540.35
million and Sen. Sal DiDomenico, formerly vice chair of the
Ways and Means Committee, said Monday that $347 million of
that is deficiency spending to cover shortfalls in various
accounts....
The bill also spends down the state's
surplus from fiscal 2018, which ended on July 1.
Massachusetts collected an estimated $1.2 billion more in
tax revenue than it had expected last fiscal year, leaving
an estimated $200 million in funds that were not earmarked
for any particular purpose after about $1 billion was socked
away in the state "rainy day" fund or held aside to address
underfunded accounts.
"This supplemental budget seeks to strike a
careful balance between our immediate needs and our
long-term stabilization, all within the context of increased
revenues which may not be forthcoming in subsequent years,"
said Senate President Karen Spilka in a statement. Spilka
was in Portugal with a group of senators on Monday when the
bill passed....
Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr took to
the floor during what he called a "highly unusual" informal
session Monday to urge inclusion of funding for three
accounts that he said had been removed in the Ways and Means
rewrite -- regional school transportation, reimbursement of
charter school tuition paid by local school districts, and
compensation for a shortfall in last year's special
education circuit breaker reimbursement.
Tarr moved to send the "defi-supp" bill -- a
portmanteau of deficit and supplemental -- back to the Ways
and Means Committee. After the motion failed, the Gloucester
Republican did not object to the bill's initial approval or
passage. In an informal session, an objection by one member
can halt a bill's progress, but Tarr opted to "not arrest
the whole process," he told the News Service, saying he had
only sought "just a little more time."
Monday's action on the fiscal 2018 closeout
bill came at the first available opportunity after the
state's auditor, treasurer and comptroller on Friday raised
concerns about the stalled budget bill.
Comptroller Thomas Shack had been trying to
warn lawmakers that inaction on a bill to close the books on
fiscal year 2018 and spend surplus funds was putting his
ability to meet a financial reporting deadline prescribed by
the Legislature in serious doubt. It's the same issue he's
been raising with legislative leaders annually for four
years....
Gov. Baker now has 10 days to review the
supplemental budget before signing it or vetoing some or all
of it.
State House News Service
Monday, October 15, 2018
Lawmakers agree to budget bill spending FY18 surplus
With state tax collections currently
exceeding projections for the year through September by $323
million, the Baker administration told legislative leaders
that it would not adjust the annualized revenue estimate
used by officials to build this year's state budget.
Administration and Finance Secretary Michael
Heffernan wrote a letter Tuesday to Gov. Charlie Baker and
the House and Senate Ways and Means Committees informing
them that he did not plan to revise the fiscal year 2019 tax
estimate of $28.39 billion....
In a separate letter, Heffernan confirmed
that Massachusetts is on track for the income tax rate to
dip from 5.1 percent to 5.05 percent in January. The third
of five economic triggers was met when inflation-adjusted
baseline tax revenue growth for the three-month period
ending on September 30 equaled 7.3 percent.
Once it was determined that fiscal 2018
revenue growth of 5.49 percent exceeded the required 2.5
percent growth mark, revenue growth over last year for four
consecutive three-month periods must be positive to trigger
the income tax reduction. Revenue growth for the most recent
period of July, August and September was 7.3 percent.
State House News Service
Monday, October 15, 2018
Admin leaves revenue estimate for FY19 unchanged
PROMISE: Won’t raise taxes or fees
VERDICT: Promise broken
Perhaps the most resonant pledge Baker made on the 2014
campaign trail was that he would hold the line on taxes and
fees, a contrast he worked to build with Democrat Martha
Coakley.
“I’ve said repeatedly that I will not raise
taxes, the attorney general will,” he said that September.
“I think it’s important to send a message to
employers, small businesses, everybody in Massachusetts —
many of whom feel they’ve been nickel-and-dimed to death
over the course of the past few years — that we’re not going
to just raise taxes to figure out how to pay the bills,” he
said at one October television debate.
“I’m not going to raise fees,” he said at
another.
After he won, he affirmed his
no-new-taxes-no-new-fees pledge was an irrevocable promise.
But he tried to give himself some wiggle room, telling the
Globe that if the state offered a new service and attached a
fee to it, he didn’t think he would be breaking his
commitment.
He broke his fee pledge within months with a
$1 surcharge for admission and parking at the Douglas State
Forest to fund maintenance and public safety there. (The
administration’s explanation at the time: It was “at the
request of local officials” and part of a “bipartisan
budget.”) A year later Baker signed into law a
20-cent-per-ride “assessment” — a fee — on ride-hailing
companies like Uber and Lyft. (Explanation at the time: It
pays for a new service as the state began regulating
ride-sharing companies, and won’t be passed on to
customers.)
But the big one came in 2017: an assessment
on some employers to help cover the cost of the state’s
Medicaid program for the poor and disabled. It adds up to
$260 million this fiscal year. (Explanation: It’s a
temporary fairness fee for employers whose workers end up on
the Medicaid program.)
This year, Baker signed off on a new fee
imposing a $2 surcharge on car rental transactions to put up
to $10 million toward training for local police. (Baker’s
explanation: “The Legislature pursued this particular
path.”)
And the clearest abrogation of his tax
promise came this summer when he signed a grand bargain bill
between liberal activists, the business community, and the
Legislature to avoid divisive ballot fights. That law raises
the minimum wage, mandates a yearly sales tax holiday, ends
Sunday and holiday pay, and creates a nation-leading paid
family and medical leave program.
To pay for the leave program, the law
institutes an estimated $800 million payroll tax, split
between employers and employees, starting next year.
(Explanation: New service.)
Baker also promised to lead an efficient,
fiscally responsible government, and aides emphasized where
that pledge has been kept: from reducing the number of
employees under his authority (45,000 in June 2015 to 42,000
in July) to increasing the state’s rainy day fund by about
60 percent to reducing the budget’s reliance on unstable
revenue sources.
The Boston Globe
Sunday, October 14, 2018
Analysis: Did Charlie Baker keep his campaign promises?
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jay
Gonzalez seized Wednesday night on Gov. Charlie Baker's
wavering over whether or not he will vote for Republican
U.S. Senate candidate Geoff Diehl as Gonzalez attempts to
dislodge the incumbent Republican from the corner office.
Diehl, a state representative from Whitman
who is challenging U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, became a
centerpiece of a WGBH debate between the two gubernatorial
candidates as Gonzalez tried to paint Baker as loyal to the
Republican Party over the people of Massachusetts. Baker
said during the debate that he hadn't decided whether he
will vote for Diehl, but later told reporters that he
misspoke and will cast a ballot for Diehl on Nov. 6.
At the midpoint of the debate, moderator Jim
Braude asked Baker how he squares his opposition to
President Donald Trump with his support for Diehl, who
supports the president and helped organize his campaign in
Massachusetts. Baker reiterated that he had pledged to
support the whole GOP ticket and is supporting Diehl because
he is part of that ticket.
But Gonzalez jumped in and had his own
question for the governor. "Are you going to vote for Geoff
Diehl?" he asked.
Baker responded, "I'm going to vote for me
and I'm going to vote for Karyn Polito and I'm going to vote
for a series of other candidates as well." Pressed on
whether he will vote for Diehl, Baker said, "I haven't made
a decision."
Gonzalez pounced and questioned how Baker
could ask the people of Massachusetts to vote for Diehl
without knowing whether he was going to vote for him as
well.
"To me, this comes down to clear loyalty for
the Republican Party over supporting issues like pro-choice
and women's rights and LGBT issues," Gonzalez said.
After the debate ended, Baker told reporters
that he got caught up in the back-and-forth and had
misspoken.
"I said I was going to support the ticket,
I'm going to vote for the ticket," he said. He added, "In
the back and forth I simply misspoke but I'm going to vote
for the ticket and I think it's interesting that my opponent
spent so much time talking about the U.S. Senate race and so
little time talking about the race for governor, which is
the office he's actually seeking."
Gonzalez, during his post-debate time with
reporters, suggested that Baker's change of heart came after
huddling with political advisers and wasn't a genuine
opinion....
"We have to be honest with voters that we
need to invest in our transportation system to get it to
where it needs to be," Gonzalez said. He added, "I am saying
there is going to be a clear choice. I am going to ask the
wealthy to pay more in taxes so we can make these
investments that will make a difference to working families
across the state."
Braude pressed Gonzalez on whether his
revenue plan is realistic, given that part of it could
require the Legislature to adopt a constitutional amendment
and another part is not widely popular with lawmakers.
"It's a very specific plan to raise $3
billion each year by the end of my first term, which is $3
billion more than zero, which is his plan," he said.
At another point in the debate, Baker fired
back at Gonzalez's contention that his $3 billion revenue
plan will cover the costs of everything he has proposed on
the campaign trail.
"The notion that he has put enough plans on
the table to fund all the stuff he's promising and
committing to simply isn't true," Baker said. "That's not
really governing or leadership, that's politics and in
addition to that we have a plan." ...
The two former health insurance executives
also disagreed Wednesday on single-payer health care, with
Gonzalez labeling himself "a former health insurance CEO who
thinks we need to get rid of health insurance companies."
While Baker claimed Gonzalez's single-payer
plan would cost $30 billion, Gonzalez said his plan would
actually end up reducing overall health care spending, which
topped $61 billion last year in Massachusetts.
"Health care costs are crushing families and
government and businesses," he said. "The system is way too
complicated. We need to simplify it and we need to save
money and going to a single-payer system will save us
money."
Baker said single-payer is unrealistic and
pointed to Vermont as an example of a state where a
single-payer health system was determined to be too costly
and burdensome to actually implement. He said Gonzalez "has
zero evidence about everything he just said with respect to
single-payer."
State House News Service
Wednesday, October 17, 2018
Gonzalez rips Baker after Guv wavers on Diehl during debate
One of the state's most politically active
unions that opposed Gov. Charlie Baker four years ago has
decided to sit out the governor's race in both a tacit
acceptance of the Republican and a blow to the ability of
the Democratic nominee Jay Gonzalez to compete with outside
spending on behalf of the governor.
The Service Employees International Union,
which historically has backed Democrats for public office in
Massachusetts, has decided to remain neutral in the contest
for governor after meeting with both candidates last month.
The neutrality stance applies not just to
1199 United Healthcare Workers East, which represents 60,000
health care workers in the state, but also SEIU Local 509,
Local 888 and Local 32BJ. Combined, those local unions and
its parent organization gave $476,667 in 2014 to a super PAC
that spent money on ads in support Martha Coakley, the
Democrat running for governor against Baker.
"1199 has a mantra: We have permanent
interest in our permanent friends. It's not about party for
us, but the issues and how they stand up and represent our
interests," said Tim Foley, executive vice president of
1199SEIU and Coakley's former campaign manager.
SEIU's neutrality in the governor's race was
first reported by the Boston Globe in a story about the
union declining to take a position on Question 1, regarding
nurse staffing.
SEIU is not the first group typically
aligned with Democratic Party causes to choose the sidelines
over getting involved in a race in which Gov. Baker has
maintained a substantial lead in independent polling.
The Democratic Governors Association has so
far steered clear of Massachusetts despite record
fundraising this cycle, and Planned Parenthood League of
Massachusetts Advocacy Fund said in a statement of
neutrality in September that reproductive health access
would be protected "no matter who wins in November." ...
"What became clear to us is there are a lot
of issues that Gov. Baker has worked on directly with our
members, around the ACA, working very closely with us trying
to get home care workers to fifteen dollars an hour, first
in the country, and other issues that really show he
understands the membership of SEIU and the issues that we
care about," Foley said.
State House News Service
Wednesday, October 17, 2018
Big union that backed Coakley sitting out Baker-Gonzalez
race
How do you think Gov. Charlie Baker takes
his waffles?
The Republican governor was treated (or
tricked?) Friday morning to a stack of buttery waffles from
The Paramount on Charles Street, a tongue-in-cheek gift from
the Democratic Party as it tries to keep attention on
Baker's flip-flopping this week over whether he would vote
for U.S. Senate candidate Geoff Diehl. The GOP called it one
of the Democrats' "sad gimmicks." ...
Turns out, that GOP ticket that Baker is
supporting and voting for does not include every Republican
candidate running in Massachusetts. Instead, Baker supports
the Republicans running for statewide office -- himself and
Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, Diehl, attorney general candidate Jay
McMahon, treasurer candidate Keiko Orrall, auditor candidate
Helen Brady and secretary of state candidate Anthony Amore,
according to Baker's campaign.
The governor has also endorsed Republicans
Rick Green, Peter Tedeschi and Joe Schneider for Congress,
and is supporting all incumbent GOP state legislators. That
leaves Republicans Tracy Lovvorn and John Hugo, running
against U.S. Reps. James McGovern and Katherine Clark
respectively, with no love from the guv this election cycle,
along with apparently some Republican candidates trying to
break into the Legislature....
Back on Beacon Hill, leaders in the
Legislature must have gotten sick of hearing that pesky
smoke alarm chirping about the need to finally close the
books on the fiscal year that ended in June.
After Comptroller Tom Shack, Treasurer
Deborah Goldberg and Auditor Suzanne Bump aired their
frustration last Friday with the Legislature's inaction,
lawmakers on Monday swiftly moved a $540.35 million
supplemental budget to the governor's desk. The bill
includes relief aid for the Merrimack Valley, balances out
deficient accounts and spends down the state's surplus.
State House News Service
Friday, October 19, 2018
Weekly Roundup - "I'm going to vote for him"
The American Spectator
Thursday, October 18, 2018
California Watch
They’re Coming After the Prop. 13 ‘Loophole’
By Steven Greenhut
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Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
The American Spectator reported
that California's Proposition 13 ―
the inspiration and blueprint for CLT's Proposition 2½
― is under assault.
In 1978 California was the birthplace of
property tax revolts, led by anti-tax activist Howard
Jarvis. With his inspiration and personal advice
and assistance, in 1980 Citizens for Limited Taxation
picked up the baton and accomplished it here
Massachusetts as well. In California today The
Takers are assaulting Proposition 13, trying to take
it down. They want to "close a loophole" and begin
the deconstruction of decades of property tax relief.
In 1999 the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers
Association, the California taxpayers group that created
and established Proposition 13, presented CLT's
executive director, Barbara Anderson, with its "Lifetime
Taxfighter Award," along with a bronze bust of its
founder Howard Jarvis, in recognition of her
achievements. Barbara later wrote in some detail
about it in her Dec. 19, 2008 column, "Look
at the bright side: Property taxes still going up, but
could be worse." (You can see a photo of the
award bust there; click on it for an enlargement.
Howard's bust is coming along with me to Kentucky!)
Abused California taxpayers demanding
property tax relief in 1978 were ahead of likewise
abused Massachusetts taxpayers by a mere two years.
How far behind California's Takers can our own
homebred Takers be ―
and how soon before their frontal assault commences?
In the closing literally moments of the last late-night
legislative session we managed to
defeat their Neighborhood Tax (the so-called
"Community Benefit Districts" bill) at the end of July
― a threatened end-run
around our Proposition 2½. But
its advocates vowed to bring it back next year, and
"next year" is coming soon.
. .
. "In a separate letter, [Secretary of
Administration and Finance Michael] Heffernan
confirmed that Massachusetts is on track for the
income tax rate to dip from 5.1 percent to 5.05
percent in January. The third of five economic
triggers was met when inflation-adjusted
baseline tax revenue growth for the three-month
period ending on September 30 equaled 7.3
percent."
January will bring our rollback of the
"temporary" income tax hike of 1989 one tiny step
closer, edging the rate down from 5.1 percent to 5.05
percent, according to a State House News Service report.
It's taken us 30 years ―
three decades, almost my entire career as an activist
― of relentless battling
against the Legislature and two arduous petition drives
to bring it back down from 5.85% and reach this point.
If nothing else, legislators as a
whole have burned into our collective memory a hard and
bitter lesson on the value of their mendacious
"promises" and the perfidy of their "word"
― obviously both
worthless commodities wielded as mere tools of
convenience. It reminds me of the old joke:
"How can you tell if a politician is lying? His
lips are moving!"
A few members of "The Best Legislature
Money Can Buy" finally took time away from their ongoing
taxpayer-funded vacation, showed up in an informal
session long enough to quickly close out the last fiscal
year that ended on June 30, and spend the billion-plus
dollar surplus. There was not the one objection
vote required to prevent passage, so the final FY2018
spending bill has gone to the governor's desk for his
signature, veto, or amending. "Make No Waves"
Charlie can be expected to sign off on it without
controversy.
The race for governor is but a race of
bad against worse. When the all-powerful, monied
unions decide to take a pass with their support of one
candidate over the other you can't help but recognize,
"there's not a dime's worth of difference" between the
two. What a lot we taxpayers bear here in The
Peoples' Republic: Damned if we do and damned if
we don't. But get out and vote on November 6th.
There are other races down-ballot where you'll have
positive choices, and maybe even a chance of your vote
making a difference. Hope springs eternal, but
― most importantly
― win, lose, or draw, you
can't legitimately complain later if you don't at least
cast your vote when it matters.
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Chip Ford
Executive Director |
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Beacon Hill Roll Call
Week of October 15-19, 2018
Ballot Question 2
By Bob Katzen
BOSTON — THE HOUSE AND SENATE. There were no
roll calls in the House or Senate last week.
This week, Beacon Hill Roll Call continues its
three-part series looking at the questions on
the November 6 ballot. This week the focus is on
Question 2.
Question 2 asks voters if they approve of a
proposed law that would create a citizens’
commission to consider and recommend potential
amendments to the U.S. Constitution to establish
that corporations do not have the same
constitutional rights as human beings and that
campaign contributions and expenditures may be
regulated.
The proposed law is in response to the U.S.
Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United
v. Federal Election Commission. In that case,
the court ruled that the First Amendment
prohibits the government from restricting
corporations, unions and individuals from
donating unlimited funds to Super Political
Action Committees (PACs) that do not donate
directly to candidates or political parties.
The Super PACs are often run by a candidate's
former staffers or associates, who use the PAC
to fund negative ads against the candidate's
opponents. A candidate's own committee's
contributions are limited by federal law but
Super PACs, as a result of the court decision,
can legally accept unlimited donations.
The commission would investigate the entire
issue and then file a report regarding the
impact of political spending in Massachusetts;
any limitations on the state’s ability to
regulate corporations and other entities in
light of Supreme Court decisions that allow
corporations to assert certain constitutional
rights; recommendations for constitutional
amendments; an analysis of constitutional
amendments introduced to Congress; and
recommendations for advancing proposed
amendments to the Constitution.
"We have over 700 volunteers across the state
knocking doors, making phone calls, e-mailing
and texting,” said Ben Gubits, National
Political Director of Concord-based American
Promise. “We've had big endorsements from both
Democrat and Republican leaders in the state and
across the country. The campaign is going strong
and we're confident that we will win on Election
Day, but we're not taking anything for granted
because this doesn't end on Election Day.
Question 2 is part of a national effort of ‘We
the People’ to reclaim our republic from wealthy
special interests."
“Question 2 is a silly, feel-good liberal primal
scream, a Quixotic tilt at one of its most
threatening windmills, with no teeth and no real
effect,” said Chip Ford, Executive
Director of Citizens for Limited Taxation.
“If adopted, it would create a meaningless
‘advisory commission’ to propose an unlikely
amendment to the U.S. Constitution that might
hopefully overturn the Supreme Court's free
speech decision in Citizens United.”
“Wealthy donors have long had an outsized
influence in our democracy, but the Supreme
Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision has opened
the floodgates for mega-donations and corporate
spending in our elections,” said Janet Domenitz,
Executive Director of the Massachusetts Public
Interest Research Group (MASSPIRG). “Spending on
political races has skyrocketed. The 2016
election cycle was the most expensive in U.S.
history, with almost $6.5 billion spent. We must
overturn Citizens United with a constitutional
amendment that restores the right of the
American people to regulate campaign finance and
thereby curb big money in politics. Question 2
on the November ballot moves us in that
direction.
“The NAACP fought for the right of freedom of
speech and association during the civil rights
era at the Supreme Court,” said Paul Craney, a
spokesman for the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance
which opposes the creation of the commission.
“The Supreme Court upheld their right and their
work to protect our freedoms should be continued
to be protected today.”
Here are the official arguments, gathered by the
secretary of state, by each side of the
question.
IN FAVOR: Written by Jeff Clements of “People
Govern, Not Money.” https://voteyeson2ma.org.
“Behind our nation’s challenges is a crisis of
billionaires and special interests using money
to buy access and influence with politicians.
These special interests are well-represented,
while most Americans are not. The Supreme Court
says that laws limiting political spending
violate the First Amendment. Most Americans know
this is incorrect: Money is not speech, it is
power, and concentrated power requires checks
and balances. 75 percent of Americans, including
liberals and conservatives, support this
amendment to correct the court, with 19 states
and over 200 Massachusetts communities formally
calling for it. This measure creates a
non-partisan, unpaid Citizens Commission to be
the people’s advocate for this amendment, with
commissioners serving at no cost to taxpayers.”
AGAINST: Written by the Massachusetts Fiscal
Alliance. www.MassFiscalScorecard.org.
“The controversy surrounding the Citizens United
decision hinges on our cherished right to
Freedom of Speech. In the decision, the court
ruled to expand that freedom and apply it
equally to all entities and organizations,
rather than just the arbitrary list of winners
and losers selected by elected officials in
previous campaign finance laws. This is a good
thing. The First Amendment protection of our
freedom of speech is one of the pillars of our
democracy and should be preserved and expanded
at every possible opportunity. The less
government standing in the way of the exercise
of that right, the stronger it is. However, even
if you disagree with the Citizens United
decision, an amendment to the U.S. Constitution
is a dangerous and misguided way to go about
undoing it. Please vote no on this question.”
More information on Question 2 is available at
www.sec.state.ma.us/ele.
State House News Service
Monday, October 15, 2018
Lawmakers agree to budget bill spending FY18
surplus
By Colin A. Young
More than three months after fiscal year 2018
ended and after some prodding by state financial
managers, Massachusetts lawmakers on Monday made
quick work of a long-awaited supplemental budget
bill to close the books on FY18 and to spend
surplus state revenue.
The bills, which emerged from the House Ways and
Means Committee around 11 a.m. Monday morning
and by 4:15 p.m. was on Gov. Charlie Baker's
desk, includes $40 million for local roads and
bridges, $10 million to aid Merrimack Valley
communities affected by the recent gas disaster
and deposits into the rainy day fund that will
push that account's balance past $2 billion.
The bill appropriates a total of $540.35 million
and Sen. Sal DiDomenico, formerly vice chair of
the Ways and Means Committee, said Monday that
$347 million of that is deficiency spending to
cover shortfalls in various accounts.
Funding for deficient accounts includes $135
million for MassHealth fee for service payments,
$100.5 million to fund collective bargaining
agreements, $32 million for snow and ice
removal, $28.6 million for county sheriffs,
$10.1 million for the Massachusetts
Rehabilitation Commission employment assistance
program, and $5 million to support evacuees of
last year's hurricanes Irma and Maria, he said.
The bill also spends down the state's surplus
from fiscal 2018, which ended on July 1.
Massachusetts collected an estimated $1.2
billion more in tax revenue than it had expected
last fiscal year, leaving an estimated $200
million in funds that were not earmarked for any
particular purpose after about $1 billion was
socked away in the state "rainy day" fund or
held aside to address underfunded accounts.
"This supplemental budget seeks to strike a
careful balance between our immediate needs and
our long-term stabilization, all within the
context of increased revenues which may not be
forthcoming in subsequent years," said Senate
President Karen Spilka in a statement. Spilka
was in Portugal with a group of senators on
Monday when the bill passed.
The Legislature established a $10 million
reserve fund for Lawrence, Andover and North
Andover, the three towns rocked last month by
natural gas explosions and fires. The fund is
meant to cover the "costs of commonwealth
personnel and overtime expenses, immediate
living and medical costs, and costs incurred by"
the three municipalities, according to the bill.
Lawmakers are expecting that their $10 million
outlay will be reimbursed "by the party deemed
responsible for the explosions, whether obtained
through fine, penalty, settlement, voluntary
contribution or any other form of recovery
allowed under state or federal law." A press
release sent out Monday by the House and Senate
said Columbia Gas will reimburse the funds.
The Legislature also directs $7.5 million in
surplus funds to the Executive Office of
Education to establish "an infrastructure grant
program to assist public schools in enhancing
safety and security measures" by upgrading or
retrofitting school buildings. The program would
pay for, among other things, "classroom door
locks, security cameras or active shooter
detection systems," according to the
legislation.
In July, Baker filed a supplemental budget bill
that called for $20 million in matching grants
for security and communication upgrades in K-12
schools and at public colleges and universities.
Baker's proposal also included $40 million in
additional aid to school districts to hire
school counselors. The Legislature opted for a
$7.5 million grant program "to assist public
school districts in contracting with licensed
community-based mental and behavioral health
service providers for services in public
schools."
Lawmakers also direct some of the state's
surplus, $10 million, to a pilot program to be
run by non-profit, community-based organizations
to help prevent gun violence and other violent
crime. The supplemental budget envisions "a
neighborhood-based gun and violent crime
prevention pilot program" that will specifically
work with out-of-school youth and young adults
aged 17 to 24 in the cities and towns with the
highest rates of violent crime.
The program would pay for things like case
workers, mental health counselors, academic
supports and research-based practices as long as
the grant recipient provides data to show its
impact and the Department of Public Health can
"ensure that every grant recipient establishes
measurable outcomes."
The bill also makes a $10 million transfer to
the Community Preservation Trust Fund, which is
distributed to cities and towns that use the
Community Preservation Act to preserve open
space, build affordable housing, and renovate
historic buildings and parks, and calls for a
$10 million transfer to the Life Sciences
Investment Fund.
"This budget invests in key House priorities
including gun safety, infrastructure and
responding to emergency incidents, while helping
to fortify the state's future fiscal health,"
House Speaker Robert DeLeo said in a statement.
"These investments will make communities safer,
improve our roads and provide protections for
those most in need."
The Senate will get $2 million through the bill,
money which Spilka said would be used "for a
number of end-of-year expenses for the Senate,
primarily focused on technology upgrades and HR
improvements." Among the expenses, the Senate
president said, are technology and
infrastructure upgrades to the Senate broadcast
studio in connection with the ongoing Senate
Chamber renovation.
Spilka said the money will also be used to
"modernize [human resources] in line with the
frameworks of both the sexual harassment report
and the pay equity act."
Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr took to the
floor during what he called a "highly unusual"
informal session Monday to urge inclusion of
funding for three accounts that he said had been
removed in the Ways and Means rewrite --
regional school transportation, reimbursement of
charter school tuition paid by local school
districts, and compensation for a shortfall in
last year's special education circuit breaker
reimbursement.
Tarr moved to send the "defi-supp" bill -- a
portmanteau of deficit and supplemental -- back
to the Ways and Means Committee. After the
motion failed, the Gloucester Republican did not
object to the bill's initial approval or
passage. In an informal session, an objection by
one member can halt a bill's progress, but Tarr
opted to "not arrest the whole process," he told
the News Service, saying he had only sought
"just a little more time."
Monday's action on the fiscal 2018 closeout bill
came at the first available opportunity after
the state's auditor, treasurer and comptroller
on Friday raised concerns about the stalled
budget bill.
Comptroller Thomas Shack had been trying to warn
lawmakers that inaction on a bill to close the
books on fiscal year 2018 and spend surplus
funds was putting his ability to meet a
financial reporting deadline prescribed by the
Legislature in serious doubt. It's the same
issue he's been raising with legislative leaders
annually for four years.
Shack's office must close the books on the
fiscal year that ended June 30 and file the
annual Statutory Basis Financial Report by Oct.
31, and he said that having the Legislature pass
its final supplemental budget by Aug. 31 is an
industry best practice because it allows his
team enough time to properly prepare the
financial report, which needs to be
independently audited before its filing.
"This is the fourth fiscal year that I've
operated as the commonwealth's comptroller and
this is the fourth year under my comptrollership
that we will not meet the statutory deadline,"
he said Friday at a meeting of the Comptroller
Advisory Board. "I would reiterate that such
late activity is really perilous. It's a
well-known risk within the audit world that if
you do not meet your own statutory obligations
you may well subject yourself to really, really
significant scrutiny."
Gov. Baker now has 10 days to review the
supplemental budget before signing it or vetoing
some or all of it.
–Sam Doran
contributed to this report.
State House News Service
Monday, October 15, 2018
Admin leaves revenue estimate for FY19 unchanged
By Matt Murphy
With state tax collections currently exceeding
projections for the year through September by
$323 million, the Baker administration told
legislative leaders that it would not adjust the
annualized revenue estimate used by officials to
build this year's state budget.
Administration and Finance Secretary Michael
Heffernan wrote a letter Tuesday to Gov. Charlie
Baker and the House and Senate Ways and Means
Committees informing them that he did not plan
to revise the fiscal year 2019 tax estimate of
$28.39 billion.
"We will continue to monitor developments in
revenue policy, economic trends and agency
collections to determine the continued
appropriateness of this estimate," Heffernan
said.
By law, the administration is required by Oct.
15 to prepare estimates of budgeted revenue for
the current and upcoming fiscal years. In
keeping with past practice, Heffernan said he
was not providing a fiscal year 2020 revenue
estimate at this time.
The administration and House and Senate leaders
typically team up to hold hearings in December
to forecast the next year's revenue, and
Heffernan wrote that the fiscal 2020 forecast
would "benefit from a few more months of tax
collection data and testimony regarding updated
economic forecasts at the FY20 consensus revenue
hearing this winter."
In a separate letter, Heffernan confirmed that
Massachusetts is on track for the income tax
rate to dip from 5.1 percent to 5.05 percent in
January. The third of five economic triggers was
met when inflation-adjusted baseline tax revenue
growth for the three-month period ending on
September 30 equaled 7.3 percent.
Once it was determined that fiscal 2018 revenue
growth of 5.49 percent exceeded the required 2.5
percent growth mark, revenue growth over last
year for four consecutive three-month periods
must be positive to trigger the income tax
reduction. Revenue growth for the most recent
period of July, August and September was 7.3
percent.
The Boston Globe
Sunday, October 14, 2018
Analysis
Did Charlie Baker keep his campaign promises?
By Joshua Miller and Matt Stout
Four years ago, he promised not to raise taxes.
He pledged to reform the troubled Department of
Children and Families. He said he’d fight the
opioid crisis, expand a key tax credit for the
working poor, spend 1 percent of the state
budget on the environment, improve efficiency at
the Registry of Motor Vehicles, and do much,
much more if voters sent him to the corner
office.
Now, running for reelection, Republican Governor
Charlie Baker faces the most basic political
question: Did he keep the promises he made
before he took office?
The Globe reviewed Baker’s 2014 campaign
proposals, pledges from debates, hundreds of
news releases, and media interviews; consulted
policy experts; and, ultimately, found a mixed
bag.
Baker, 61, has notched clear victories, with
some still works in progress. He has also fallen
far short on other promises as he prepares to
face Democratic nominee Jay Gonzalez on Nov. 6.
And while some major policy issues Baker has
grappled with in office were not a focus of his
campaign four years ago — fixing the MBTA, for
one — he did make pledges on issues that have
become key parts of his record.
PROMISE: Won’t raise taxes or fees
VERDICT: Promise broken
Perhaps the most resonant pledge Baker made on
the 2014 campaign trail was that he would hold
the line on taxes and fees, a contrast he worked
to build with Democrat Martha Coakley.
“I’ve said repeatedly that I will not raise
taxes, the attorney general will,” he said that
September.
“I think it’s important to send a message to
employers, small businesses, everybody in
Massachusetts — many of whom feel they’ve been
nickel-and-dimed to death over the course of the
past few years — that we’re not going to just
raise taxes to figure out how to pay the bills,”
he said at one October television debate.
“I’m not going to raise fees,” he said at
another.
After he won, he affirmed his
no-new-taxes-no-new-fees pledge was an
irrevocable promise. But he tried to give
himself some wiggle room, telling the Globe that
if the state offered a new service and attached
a fee to it, he didn’t think he would be
breaking his commitment.
He broke his fee pledge within months with a $1
surcharge for admission and parking at the
Douglas State Forest to fund maintenance and
public safety there. (The administration’s
explanation at the time: It was “at the request
of local officials” and part of a “bipartisan
budget.”) A year later Baker signed into law a
20-cent-per-ride “assessment” — a fee — on
ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft.
(Explanation at the time: It pays for a new
service as the state began regulating
ride-sharing companies, and won’t be passed on
to customers.)
But the big one came in 2017: an assessment on
some employers to help cover the cost of the
state’s Medicaid program for the poor and
disabled. It adds up to $260 million this fiscal
year. (Explanation: It’s a temporary fairness
fee for employers whose workers end up on the
Medicaid program.)
This year, Baker signed off on a new fee
imposing a $2 surcharge on car rental
transactions to put up to $10 million toward
training for local police. (Baker’s explanation:
“The Legislature pursued this particular path.”)
And the clearest abrogation of his tax promise
came this summer when he signed a grand bargain
bill between liberal activists, the business
community, and the Legislature to avoid divisive
ballot fights. That law raises the minimum wage,
mandates a yearly sales tax holiday, ends Sunday
and holiday pay, and creates a nation-leading
paid family and medical leave program.
To pay for the leave program, the law institutes
an estimated $800 million payroll tax, split
between employers and employees, starting next
year. (Explanation: New service.)
Baker also promised to lead an efficient,
fiscally responsible government, and aides
emphasized where that pledge has been kept: from
reducing the number of employees under his
authority (45,000 in June 2015 to 42,000 in
July) to increasing the state’s rainy day fund
by about 60 percent to reducing the budget’s
reliance on unstable revenue sources.
PROMISE: He will double the state’s Earned
Income Tax Credit, which helps poor working
people
VERDICT: Promise kept
On the campaign trail it was a key part of
Baker’s economic agenda. “Doubling the state’s
EITC to 30 percent of the federal program would
put even more money in the pockets of single
moms and working families and give them greater
financial stability,” a campaign news release
declared in June 2014.
Baker pointed to research showing the credit’s
beneficial impact and, after he won, found
common ground with Democratic legislators on
expanding it.
The governor signed an increase in the state
credit in 2015, and boosted it again, to 30
percent of the federal one, when he put his John
Hancock on the budget this year. It’s poised to
help 450,000 filers.
PROMISE: Increase total local aid, including
education, to municipalities at the same rate
revenues grow
VERDICT: Mixed
Baker vowed in a February 2014 “community
contract” plan to never cut aid to cities and
towns, and to hike it — “including education
funding and unrestricted aid” — at the same rate
as state revenue growth.
The pledge hasn’t totally lived up to
expectations. Yes, aid has increased under
Baker, and unrestricted aid — money towns and
cities could put toward any number of priorities
— has grown at the same rate as revenue.
But when combined with local education funding,
the annual increase in total aid has topped 3
percent only once — when it grew by 3.2 percent
this fiscal year from last — lagging behind the
projected revenue increases upon which each of
the last four budgets were built.
Baker aides note that actual tax revenue has
differed from what bean counters anticipated,
and in some years, total aid ended up growing
faster than revenue, which slowed in fiscal
years 2016 and 2017. “As a former local
official, Governor Baker made increasing support
for cities and towns across Massachusetts a
priority since day one,” said spokeswoman Sarah
Finlaw.
Municipal leaders feel Baker has followed
through, giving towns the yearly budget
stability they crave. Geoff Beckwith, of the
Massachusetts Municipal Association, said Baker
first made the pledge to the organization at its
January 2014 annual meeting — and specifically
tied it to unrestricted aid.
“We think the budgets filed by the governor have
met those commitments,” he said.
PROMISE: Reform DCF following a string of
high-profile tragedies
VERDICT: Improvement, but a work in progress
As Baker campaigned, the Department of Children
and Families was in the throes of one of its
most difficult periods. It was grappling with
the death of Jeremiah Oliver, a
state-commissioned report criticized it for
relying on outdated policies, and a series of
other tragic cases prompted many — Baker
included — to call for its then-commissioner to
be fired.
It ultimately left Baker, the candidate,
promising to do what many governors have pledged
before: to change the agency.
So far, he can cite progress. In the last four
years, the agency’s state-funded budget has
grown by $180 million, helping to hire hundreds
of new social workers and reduce caseloads.
Those dropped from an average of 22 per worker
in June 2016 to 19 per worker in October 2017.
Baker, who once said the agency should take a
“region by region” approach, also reopened the
department’s shuttered central regional office
in 2016, and he’s weaved in several new policies
since 2015. Baker aides also note he’s doubled
the number of substance abuse specialists — from
five to 10 — and hired a full-time medical
director.
But advocates say that what fruit all this bears
may not be visible for years, and the ultimate
goal of creating better outcomes for children is
still to be determined.
“In many aspects, he has kept his promises,”
said Peter MacKinnon, president of SEIU 509,
which represents social workers. In 2014, the
union endorsed Coakley, but has since closely
worked with Baker, who gave the union
“significant input.” Now, MacKinnon said, Baker
needs to put a greater focus on training and
implementing policy, which has been “uneven at
best.”
“The system didn’t become broken overnight,”
MacKinnon said. “It’s not going to be fixed
overnight.”
PROMISE: End the practice of sheltering homeless
families in motels at taxpayer expense by the
end of his first term
VERDICT: On track
Massachusetts has long been the only
right-to-shelter state. When poor families can
show they are homeless for an eligible reason
like domestic violence or no-fault eviction, the
state is mandated to provide housing.
When state-contracted shelters are full,
families are placed in motels, a type of lodging
that experts say is often inadequate, separating
kids from a clean place for them to play, easy
access to public transportation, and kitchen
equipment.
On the campaign trail, Baker said he would “work
to eliminate” the use of motels for homeless
families by the end of his first year. He put an
even finer point on his promise on Christmas Eve
2014, a night when 1,580 families were in
taxpayer-funded motels: “We’ll get that number
down to zero before the end of our four years,”
the governor-elect said.
Early in his tenure, Baker proposed narrowing
eligibility for emergency housing. Advocates
warned that could leave Massachusetts’ most
vulnerable kids on the streets and the
Legislature rebuffed the effort.
The administration has steadily reduced the
number of families in motels, from 1,500 when
Baker took office to 38 Friday night.
While some advocates laud that there are fewer
families in motels, many say a successful
homeless policy is doing what is best for each
individual family. That is, Baker keeping the
spirit of his promise may mean never literally
fulfilling it.
“There’s been incredible progress in reducing
the reliance on motels — and also in
understanding that some motel use provides
flexibility in accommodating people with
disabilities and keeping people closer to their
home communities until a housing, shelter, or
other alternative is available,” said Libby
Hayes, who leads Homes for Families.
PROMISE: Improve efficiency at the
long-beleaguered Registry of Motor Vehicles
VERDICT: Promise mostly kept
On the eve of the 2014 election, Baker told
reporters in what was essentially his closing
pitch that the Registry of Motor Vehicles is
“going to be a very different place” if he was
elected, holding it up as an example of his
pitch to make government more efficient.
And RMV wait times — which aides say were “out
of control” before he took office — dropped
sharply under a new queuing system. The results:
In November 2014, 59 percent of RMV customers
were served in under 30 minutes, and by
mid-2017, it was up to 80 percent.
But the progress hit a major snag this spring
when the state implemented a new driver’s
license system known as Real ID — a change
Baker, as a candidate, vowed to implement while
promising that they “only go to legal
residents.” (The new type of ID complies with
stricter federal requirements.)
In the immediate aftermath, some wait times
stretched to as long as five hours, and it had a
major impact systemwide. By the end of the
fiscal year, state data showed that 8 percent of
RMV customers had waited more than an hour —
double the share of the previous year — and 72
percent waited 30 minutes or less.
Baker aides argue the agency has already started
to rebound, reaffirming his pledge. In August,
for example, 79 percent of customers waited a
half-hour or less. But the shifts underscore the
challenge of always keeping the lines moving.
State House News Service
Wednesday, October 17, 2018
Gonzalez rips Baker after Guv wavers on Diehl
during debate
By Colin A. Young
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jay Gonzalez
seized Wednesday night on Gov. Charlie Baker's
wavering over whether or not he will vote for
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Geoff Diehl as
Gonzalez attempts to dislodge the incumbent
Republican from the corner office.
Diehl, a state representative from Whitman who
is challenging U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren,
became a centerpiece of a WGBH debate between
the two gubernatorial candidates as Gonzalez
tried to paint Baker as loyal to the Republican
Party over the people of Massachusetts. Baker
said during the debate that he hadn't decided
whether he will vote for Diehl, but later told
reporters that he misspoke and will cast a
ballot for Diehl on Nov. 6.
At the midpoint of the debate, moderator Jim
Braude asked Baker how he squares his opposition
to President Donald Trump with his support for
Diehl, who supports the president and helped
organize his campaign in Massachusetts. Baker
reiterated that he had pledged to support the
whole GOP ticket and is supporting Diehl because
he is part of that ticket.
But Gonzalez jumped in and had his own question
for the governor. "Are you going to vote for
Geoff Diehl?" he asked.
Baker responded, "I'm going to vote for me and
I'm going to vote for Karyn Polito and I'm going
to vote for a series of other candidates as
well." Pressed on whether he will vote for
Diehl, Baker said, "I haven't made a decision."
Gonzalez pounced and questioned how Baker could
ask the people of Massachusetts to vote for
Diehl without knowing whether he was going to
vote for him as well.
"To me, this comes down to clear loyalty for the
Republican Party over supporting issues like
pro-choice and women's rights and LGBT issues,"
Gonzalez said.
After the debate ended, Baker told reporters
that he got caught up in the back-and-forth and
had misspoken.
"I said I was going to support the ticket, I'm
going to vote for the ticket," he said. He
added, "In the back and forth I simply misspoke
but I'm going to vote for the ticket and I think
it's interesting that my opponent spent so much
time talking about the U.S. Senate race and so
little time talking about the race for governor,
which is the office he's actually seeking."
Gonzalez, during his post-debate time with
reporters, suggested that Baker's change of
heart came after huddling with political
advisers and wasn't a genuine opinion.
"He can't have it both ways. He can't say he is
for a woman's right to choose, for LGBTQ rights
and then ask the people of Massachusetts to
support Geoff Diehl and then waffle on whether
or not he's going to support Geoff Diehl," the
Democratic challenger said. "Where does he
stand? For me, these are not issues that I base
my decisions on and my positions on based on
political calculations."
The two clashed Wednesday on issues other than
Geoff Diehl, including transportation, scandals
at the Massachusetts State Police, and
single-payer health care. And as in their first
contest, Gonzalez and Baker on Wednesday sparred
over which candidate has a vision to lead
Massachusetts. Gonzalez knocked Baker for
delivering "status quo stuff," while Baker
accused Gonzalez of offering voters empty and
expensive promises.
On transportation, the candidates rehashed
issues of investment in public transportation
and whether Baker's efforts over his four years
in office have been sufficient. Gonzalez touted
his $3 billion revenue plan, which relies on a
tax on university endowments and a tax proposal
similar to the millionaire's tax proposal the
Supreme Judicial Court kept off the November
ballot, as the key to a better transportation
network.
"We have to be honest with voters that we need
to invest in our transportation system to get it
to where it needs to be," Gonzalez said. He
added, "I am saying there is going to be a clear
choice. I am going to ask the wealthy to pay
more in taxes so we can make these investments
that will make a difference to working families
across the state."
Braude pressed Gonzalez on whether his revenue
plan is realistic, given that part of it could
require the Legislature to adopt a
constitutional amendment and another part is not
widely popular with lawmakers.
"It's a very specific plan to raise $3 billion
each year by the end of my first term, which is
$3 billion more than zero, which is his plan,"
he said.
At another point in the debate, Baker fired back
at Gonzalez's contention that his $3 billion
revenue plan will cover the costs of everything
he has proposed on the campaign trail.
"The notion that he has put enough plans on the
table to fund all the stuff he's promising and
committing to simply isn't true," Baker said.
"That's not really governing or leadership,
that's politics and in addition to that we have
a plan."
Gonzalez and Baker tangled over the
drip-drip-drip of scandal at the Massachusetts
State Police, including recent reports that the
agency moved to destroy reams of records after
its overtime and payroll practices fell under
scrutiny earlier this year. Baker called the
attempt "a mistake" while Gonzalez categorized
it as "an attempted coverup."
"People who are indicted, people who pled
guilty, criminal activity during the governor's
tenure," Gonzalez said. He asked Baker, "When
are you going to take charge? And you haven't
fired a single person at the State Police. When
are you going to fire someone?"
Baker put up a defense of State Police Colonel
Kerry Gilpin, whom Baker tapped to lead the
agency amid a different scandal at the State
Police last year, saying that she was the one
who collected data on the 46 troopers accused of
violating overtime and personnel practices, and
turned the data over to the U.S. attorney and
attorney general.
"She's the one, with her team, who followed this
string, developed the cases and submitted them
to the appropriate authorities for prosecution,"
Baker said. "And she's the one who blew up Troop
E, which is where the vast majority of the
problems were."
The two former health insurance executives also
disagreed Wednesday on single-payer health care,
with Gonzalez labeling himself "a former health
insurance CEO who thinks we need to get rid of
health insurance companies."
While Baker claimed Gonzalez's single-payer plan
would cost $30 billion, Gonzalez said his plan
would actually end up reducing overall health
care spending, which topped $61 billion last
year in Massachusetts.
"Health care costs are crushing families and
government and businesses," he said. "The system
is way too complicated. We need to simplify it
and we need to save money and going to a
single-payer system will save us money."
Baker said single-payer is unrealistic and
pointed to Vermont as an example of a state
where a single-payer health system was
determined to be too costly and burdensome to
actually implement. He said Gonzalez "has zero
evidence about everything he just said with
respect to single-payer."
Wednesday's debate aired live on 89.7 FM, WGBH
television, WGBY public television in Western
Massachusetts, C-SPAN, and was streamed on
wgbhnews.org and on WGBH's app. Unlike the first
gubernatorial debate, Wednesday's joust was not
airing in direct competition with a Red Sox
playoff game.
With less than three weeks to go until Election
Day, many voters across Massachusetts are just
tuning into the race for governor. Polls have
shown Gonzalez is not well known among voters,
even Democrats, while Baker frequently ranks
among the most popular governors in the country
and has widespread name recognition in
Massachusetts.
A WBUR/MassINC poll released in late September
found that 45 percent of voters have never heard
of Gonzalez and 37 percent of the Democrats
polled claimed they hadn't heard of their
party's nominee either. Overall, the poll said
that Baker held a 66 percent to 22 percent edge
in his race against Gonzalez.
The Democrat is also getting badly outraised by
the incumbent. Gonzalez has raised $937,688 for
his campaign and had $201,610 on hand in his
account at the end of September. The Democratic
ticket has qualified for $542,284 in pubic
financing and could receive up to $173,258 in
additional public matching funds based on
fundraising.
Baker had $4.47 million on hand as of Monday and
his running mate Karyn Polito had another $2.84
million in her campaign account. The Republican
Governors Association has also pumped $6.625
million into Massachusetts to support Baker
through the Commonwealth Future PAC.
The Republican incumbent Baker is running for
governor for a third time, seeking a second
four-year term in office. Democrat Gonzalez is
running for statewide office for the first time
and is hoping voters will agree with him that he
could do better than Baker.
Both candidates will meet for a third and final
debate just days before voters go to the polls.
The two will square off at 7 p.m. on Nov. 1 in a
debate hosted by a consortium of Bay State media
outlets. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 6.
State House News Service
Wednesday, October 17, 2018
Big union that backed Coakley sitting out
Baker-Gonzalez race
By Matt Murphy
One of the state's most politically active
unions that opposed Gov. Charlie Baker four
years ago has decided to sit out the governor's
race in both a tacit acceptance of the
Republican and a blow to the ability of the
Democratic nominee Jay Gonzalez to compete with
outside spending on behalf of the governor.
The Service Employees International Union, which
historically has backed Democrats for public
office in Massachusetts, has decided to remain
neutral in the contest for governor after
meeting with both candidates last month.
The neutrality stance applies not just to 1199
United Healthcare Workers East, which represents
60,000 health care workers in the state, but
also SEIU Local 509, Local 888 and Local 32BJ.
Combined, those local unions and its parent
organization gave $476,667 in 2014 to a super
PAC that spent money on ads in support Martha
Coakley, the Democrat running for governor
against Baker.
"1199 has a mantra: We have permanent interest
in our permanent friends. It's not about party
for us, but the issues and how they stand up and
represent our interests," said Tim Foley,
executive vice president of 1199SEIU and
Coakley's former campaign manager.
SEIU's neutrality in the governor's race was
first reported by the Boston Globe in a story
about the union declining to take a position on
Question 1, regarding nurse staffing.
SEIU is not the first group typically aligned
with Democratic Party causes to choose the
sidelines over getting involved in a race in
which Gov. Baker has maintained a substantial
lead in independent polling.
The Democratic Governors Association has so far
steered clear of Massachusetts despite record
fundraising this cycle, and Planned Parenthood
League of Massachusetts Advocacy Fund said in a
statement of neutrality in September that
reproductive health access would be protected
"no matter who wins in November."
Both Baker and Gonzalez attended a forum on a
Saturday in late September where more than 300
SEIU members showed up to hear from the
candidates. The two men made their pitches, and
union members ranked their answers. Baker,
according to a senior union official, was the
first Republican to ever go before the union's
membership at a forum seeking their endorsement.
"What became clear to us is there are a lot of
issues that Gov. Baker has worked on directly
with our members, around the ACA, working very
closely with us trying to get home care workers
to fifteen dollars an hour, first in the
country, and other issues that really show he
understands the membership of SEIU and the
issues that we care about," Foley said.
Foley said Gonzalez did "an equally strong job"
in his interview.
"It's not an easy decision. Clearly, we like to
get involved in elections, but we thought right
now this made the most sense," he said.
Foley also brushed aside the awkward optics that
four years after running a campaign against
Baker he is now leading a union that won't get
involved to help a Democrat defeat the governor.
"After elections are over, I feel like it's
really important to put those issues aside that
develop during campaigns. They're always tough
and rough, but put those issues aside to try to
move things forward," Foley said.
Baker and Gonzalez were preparing Wednesday to
meet on Wednesday night in their second of three
televised debates on WGBH-TV.
Gonzalez was also in the midst of a last minute
fundraising push to maximize his campaign's
access to public campaign financing dollars that
will allow him to go on television in the final
weeks of the campaign and communicate a message
to viewers to counteract the steady stream of
Baker and GOP super PAC ads that have been up
for weeks.
Campaign finance director Emma Crowley, in a
fundraising email to Gonzalez supporters just a
few hours before the debate, said the Democrat's
campaign was trying to decide how much it could
afford to spend on a television ad.
"Help us get on the airwaves and get our message
out to as many people as possible," Crowley
wrote.
The Republican Governors Association has spent
more than $6.6 million on television ads to
supplement the spending of Baker and Lt. Gov.
Karyn Polito's own campaign.
State House News Service
Friday, October 19, 2018
Weekly Roundup - "I'm going to vote for him"
By Colin A. Young
How do you think Gov. Charlie Baker takes his
waffles?
The Republican governor was treated (or
tricked?) Friday morning to a stack of buttery
waffles from The Paramount on Charles Street, a
tongue-in-cheek gift from the Democratic Party
as it tries to keep attention on Baker's
flip-flopping this week over whether he would
vote for U.S. Senate candidate Geoff Diehl. The
GOP called it one of the Democrats' "sad
gimmicks."
Baker's campaign said Friday the governor did
not actually eat the waffles -- perhaps the
incumbent was still full from eating his own
words after a Wednesday night debate with
Democrat Jay Gonzalez.
After hesitating to answer a direct question
from Gonzalez about whether he will vote for
Diehl, the Trump-loving state representative who
Baker endorsed as part of the GOP ticket, Baker
said during the debate that he hadn't yet made
up his mind.
"I don't know what I'm going to do yet with
respect to that one," Baker said during the
debate about voting for Diehl. "I'll make my
decision eventually. I'll make sure people
know."
Eventually turned out to be about 40 minutes
later, when Baker met with reporters and claimed
that he had "simply misspoke" the multiple times
during the debate when he said he wasn't sure of
how he'd vote in the Senate race.
"I'm going to vote for him," Baker said,
reiterating that he had pledged to support the
GOP ticket and will vote for the GOP ticket.
Turns out, that GOP ticket that Baker is
supporting and voting for does not include every
Republican candidate running in Massachusetts.
Instead, Baker supports the Republicans running
for statewide office -- himself and Lt. Gov.
Karyn Polito, Diehl, attorney general candidate
Jay McMahon, treasurer candidate Keiko Orrall,
auditor candidate Helen Brady and secretary of
state candidate Anthony Amore, according to
Baker's campaign.
The governor has also endorsed Republicans Rick
Green, Peter Tedeschi and Joe Schneider for
Congress, and is supporting all incumbent GOP
state legislators. That leaves Republicans Tracy
Lovvorn and John Hugo, running against U.S.
Reps. James McGovern and Katherine Clark
respectively, with no love from the guv this
election cycle, along with apparently some
Republican candidates trying to break into the
Legislature.
Baker's tepid re-endorsement of Diehl came as
the Whitman Republican was preparing to face off
against Sen. Elizabeth Warren in their first
debate of the campaign Friday night. Diehl has
been calling for Warren to drop out of the race
and basically cede the Senate seat to him as he
hammers the senator for her increasingly obvious
interest in running for president in two years.
In the days leading up to Friday night's debate,
Warren seemed more focused on that contest,
which the one-term senator and darling of the
left has said she will take a hard look at
jumping into.
The state's senior senator started the week off
by releasing an analysis of her DNA, which she
said proves her claims of Native American
heritage. It was an unusual move from a senator
who is up for re-election in three weeks against
an opponent who has not made a campaign issue
out of her heritage.
The announcement was never about Diehl, though.
Warren made clear that President Donald Trump
was her intended target and on Monday launched a
counterassault against him. Was it a soft launch
of a "Warren for President 2020" campaign? David
Axelrod, the man who helped put Barack Obama in
the White House, sure thought so.
"It says: 1)@SenWarren is 100% running. 2)She
thinks this Pocahontas crap is a potential
problem. 3)She wants to dispose of it now, lest
she be Birtherized," Axelrod, who is now a
commentator on CNN, tweeted Monday.
Back on Beacon Hill, leaders in the Legislature
must have gotten sick of hearing that pesky
smoke alarm chirping about the need to finally
close the books on the fiscal year that ended in
June.
After Comptroller Tom Shack, Treasurer Deborah
Goldberg and Auditor Suzanne Bump aired their
frustration last Friday with the Legislature's
inaction, lawmakers on Monday swiftly moved a
$540.35 million supplemental budget to the
governor's desk. The bill includes relief aid
for the Merrimack Valley, balances out deficient
accounts and spends down the state's surplus.
House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Gov. Baker gave a
preview of coming attractions on Beacon Hill,
surprising very few by telling the Health Policy
Commission this week that they plan on taking
yet another run at overhauling the state's
health care laws.
Even though "a tremendous amount of time,
effort, energy, conversation, discussion, and
reams and reams and reams of trees that were
sacrificed" trying to get health care reform
done this past summer, according to Baker, the
House speaker said he expects the House won't
just pick up where it left off the last
go-round.
"Since we were not successful, I think it is
incumbent upon us to also take a fresh look at
some of the things maybe we should have last
time or just to improve what we already have,"
he said Tuesday.
Before the attention can turn to legislation in
the new session, all 200 seats in the
Legislature are up for grabs in the Nov. 6
election. Secretary of State William Galvin, the
state's chief elections officer, said this week
that voter registrations and absentee voting
activity point to a "strong and healthy turnout"
next month.
Voters don't have to wait until Nov. 6 to cast
their ballots. For the second time,
Massachusetts voters will have an opportunity to
vote early. Cities and towns can begin early
voting on Monday and Galvin said he hopes to see
early voting turnout similar to 2016, when more
than one million people voted early, about a
third of the total turnout.
The most exciting story of the week broke late
Thursday night, when the Boston Red Sox finished
a sweep of the three championship series games
in Houston to win the American League pennant
and advance to the World Series. The Sox, under
the direction of rookie manager Alex Cora, have
now eliminated from the playoffs two teams --
the New York Yankees and Houston Astros -- that
won at least 100 games this season and have not
lost on the road in the postseason.
The local nine will face the National League
champions, either the Milwaukee Brewers or Los
Angeles Dodgers, beginning Tuesday night at
Fenway Park. The 2018 Fall Classic will be the
Red Sox's fourth of this century and 12th in
franchise history. The Sox were last in the
World Series in 2013, when they defeated the St.
Louis Cardinals. |
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