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Post Office Box 1147 ●
Marblehead, Massachusetts 01945 ●
(781) 639-9709
“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
Thursday, December 6, 2018
"Those
who fail to learn from history . . ."
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Massachusetts drivers rarely see civilian
flagmen to direct traffic at road construction projects
because state law ensures that they’re not much cheaper than
hiring cops, a new Pioneer Institute report says.
A civilian flagman costs $43.44 an hour, far
above the national average of $28.89, according to the
Pioneer policy brief released Monday. That’s not much less
than state and local police officers get, and town and city
officials aware that police officers use details to
supplement their incomes usually hire police for road
projects rather than flagmen.
Why do flagmen command such a high wage?
The state’s prevailing wage law ensures that
unions won’t get underbid on public works projects by
setting a wage floor for workers. Prevailing-wage laws are
common in pro-union states like Massachusetts.
But the way Massachusetts calculates the
prevailing wage drives costs up even more than in most
prevailing-wage states, according to the Pioneer report.
That’s because while most states use market labor rates to
help calculate the prevailing wage for various jobs,
Massachusetts is one of only five states that only use
existing collective bargaining agreements between unions and
government. That means that the union contract sets the
standard, without being tugged downward by other market
forces.
“The intent of prevailing wage laws is to
prevent companies engaged in public construction from paying
construction workers less than the market wage for similar
work performed in the area. This a worthy goal,” the Pioneer
report states. “But in Massachusetts, the intent and effect
of the prevailing wage law is to require state and municipal
taxpayers to pay the highest wage rather than the prevailing
wage. The net effect is to artificially and substantially
inflate the cost of public construction projects, including
transportation projects.”
For years Massachusetts was the only state
in the country that required police details on every road
construction project, even on dead-end streets with little
traffic....
Below is a breakdown of hourly pay for
civilian flagmen on federally funded projects in the six New
England states, from the Pioneer study. Five of the six are
prevailing-wage law states – only New Hampshire isn’t – but
economic conditions and how the prevailing wages are
calculated account for the disparity.
Rhode Island
$44.50
Massachusetts $43.44
Connecticut $35.84
New Hampshire $15.54
Vermont
$12.63
Maine
$9.93
The New Boston Post
Monday, November 26, 2018
Why You Don’t See Flagmen in Massachusetts
A government watchdog group said the state’s
flagger reform effort is coming up short on savings because
of rules that keep wages for non-police traffic direction
tied to the rates earned by cops.
The Pioneer Institute released a report
today saying the Department of Transportation’s savings have
“not been significant” — $23 million over three years —
after the law passed allowing for non-cops to wave cars by
at construction sites....
Massachusetts was the last state in the
country to allow for civilians to work as flaggers on
construction sites. The law, passed under former Gov. Deval
Patrick over the protests of police unions, has not led to
widespread use of civilian flaggers.
That’s at least in part because, the study’s
authors claim, the state prevailing-wage law ties
civilian-flagger wages to what cops would be getting for the
same job — an average of $43.44 an hour for the civilian
flaggers, well over the $28.99 nationwide average.
“Gov. Patrick’s reforms were effectively
negated in practical application,” the report states.
The Boston Herald
Monday, November 26, 2018
Report: Civilians not widely used as flaggers because wages
tied to cops’ rates
After leading the Massachusetts Republican
Party for six years, Kirsten Hughes is stepping away as
chairwoman and party insiders are looking at least at a trio
of possible contenders for the post.
Hughes, a Quincy city councilor who took
over as party chairwoman in 2013, emailed members of the
Republican State Committee on Nov. 16 to let them know that
she would not be seeking a fourth term in January....
After getting wiped out in every statewide
race except governor this cycle and losing three seats in
the Legislature, the party, with Gov. Charlie Baker at its
head, will be looking for someone new to take the reins of
its fundraising and candidate recruitment efforts.
Rep. Geoff Diehl, who will be leaving the
Legislature in January after losing his long-shot bid to
topple U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren in November, has already
expressed his potential interest in the position should
Hughes step down.
"I am reviewing all my options," Diehl told
the News Service in an email on Wednesday. "I'm pleased to
see that so many people are willing to support me."
Diehl, however, could be joined by his
fellow lawmaker Rep. Peter Durant of Spencer.
State House News Service
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
As party chair, Rep. Durant says he'd build "great
candidates" for GOP
Mass GOP Chairwoman Kirsten Hughes has
decided not to seek a fourth term, and internal politics
could determine her successor now that Gov. Charlie Baker,
with a lack of ardor for certain Republicans on the campaign
trail, has ruffled feathers.
“There is a lot of resentment that’s
festering under the surface about the governor’s conduct in
the last election cycle,” political consultant Chip Jones
said.
Jones noted that while Baker won about 67
percent of the vote, the party experienced a setback in
losing three legislative seats, and pointed to his
reluctance to voice his support for state Rep. Geoff Diehl
in the U.S. Senate race as a breach in party loyalty....
“When you win by that majority and yet you
have negative coattails, that’s going to be a hard thing to
swallow … There’s going to be a blame game that goes on in
people’s minds and people’s voting decisions on who the next
chair is.”
The Boston Herald
Thursday, November 29, 2018
Mass GOP chair departs amid Republican turmoil
Democrats will retain their supermajority
control of both branches in 2019, with six Republicans in
the 40-member Senate and 32 in the 160-seat House.
State House News Service
Thursday, November 29, 2018
Crop of freshwomen lawmakers committed to roll calls
State tax collections five months into
fiscal 2019 are running nearly half a billion dollars over
benchmarks, fueled by $1.86 billion in November receipts.
Tax revenues eclipsed the November benchmark
by $61 million, and have exceeded the fiscal year-to-date
benchmark by $423 million, Revenue Commissioner Christopher
Harding announced late Tuesday, on the eve of the state's
annual revenue estimation hearing at the State House.
"November was a solid month for revenues,
which were above benchmark in all major tax categories,"
Harding said in a statement....
November collections rose $122 million, or 7
percent higher than collections in November 2017.
For the fiscal year-to-date through
November, tax revenue collections are up 8.4 above the same
five-month period in fiscal 2018.
State House News Service
Tuesday, December 4, 2018
November surge pushes tax receipts $423 Mil over benchmark
Despite a strong economy, last year's $1
billion budget surplus and revenue collections that are
outperforming expectations so far this year, the potential
for an economic slowdown and future recession loomed as the
budget-writing process for next fiscal year kicked off on
Wednesday.
At an annual Ways and Means Committee
hearing, economic experts offered their financial forecasts
for the year ahead, estimating state revenue collections
will grow somewhere between 2 percent and 3.4 percent in
fiscal 2020. Legislative and administration budget writers
will use the predictions to develop a consensus estimate of
how much money will be available to spend on state programs
and services.
House Ways and Means Chairman Jeffrey
Sanchez, who lost his reelection bid this year and will
after December turn over his budget work to a successor
chosen by Speaker Robert DeLeo, characterized the testimony
as "very sobering." ...
Many lawmakers had hoped a proposed surtax
on incomes over $1 million would give them more revenue to
work with, but that effort was scuttled when the Supreme
Judicial Court ruled the ballot question proposing the tax
was unconstitutionally drafted.
Unlike the previous two years in which slow
growth forced budget negotiators to mark down available
revenues during their talks, the conference committee that
crafted this year's budget upgraded their projections to add
spending beyond levels the House and Senate had approved....
Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation President
Eileen McAnneny, whose prepared testimony was titled "Are
the Good Times Already Over?", urged budget-writers to be
cautious of "pre-recession warning signs" in labor markets,
home sales, the auto industry, business investments and oil
prices.
"The MTF suggests a cautious approach to
this year's budget," she said. "While the time and severity
of the next economic downturn is unknowable, by historic
markers, we are on borrowed time. The state's experience
with past recessions clearly demonstrates how quickly and
harshly fortunes can turn."
McAnneny said preparing for the next
recession, through steps including limiting spending growth
and increasing the state's stabilization fund balance, "is
the only prudent policy."
State House News Service
Wednesday, December 5, 2018
Economists warn state budget writers of slowdown on the
horizon
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Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
In our CLT Update of September 28, 2017
("Still
not taxed enough?") I noted:
"According to a comprehensive report issued last
September by the Reason Foundation ("22nd
Annual Highway Report"), this state spends
320 percent more than the national average
for every mile of state road infrastructure built or
maintained. That puts this state at the 48th most
expensive — spending more per state-controlled mile
than only Florida and New Jersey."
A month later Chip Faulkner testified
before the Joint Committee on Transportation against a
bill to impose new tolls on major highways in and around
greater-Boston.
He reported:
"The second
part of my testimony was to demonstrate how wasteful
Massachusetts spending is for running its highway
system. I relied on a September 2016 policy study
from the Reason Foundation, entitled '22nd Annual
Highway Report – The Performance of State Highway
Systems.'
"For example,
maintenance costs per state-controlled mile in
Massachusetts totaled $78,313 while the national
average was $25,996. Administrative expenses costs
per mile was $74,924 in Massachusetts while only
$10,051 nationally.
"I asked, 'Why
doesn’t the committee look into these exorbitant
costs and unconscionable waste and come up with cost
savings? Then they wouldn’t have to sock the
commuters with this plan for expanded and additional
tolls.'
"Needless to
say, when it came time for questions from the
committee, silence was golden."
The legislators were silent, but
Citizens for Limited Taxation wasn't, and now
the Pioneer Institute has provided one of the
reasons why Massachusetts taxpayers pay so much more for
their roads and bridges than other nearby states' taxpayers:
its prevailing wage law. Even among the six New
England states only Rhode Island spends more on those
who stand around watching holes being dug, though only
by just over a buck an hour: $44.50 an hour compared to
our $43.44 an hour, followed by Connecticut's $35.84.
The other three New England states
somehow manage to pay vastly less to those who watch
holes being dug: New Hampshire
― the only non-prevailing
wage state ― ($15.54/hour),
Vermont ($12.63/hour)), and Maine ($9.93/hour).
Does anyone really wonder why Massachusetts
taxpayers bear the third-highest cost in the nation to
"maintain" our roads and bridges in such exemplary
condition?
After losing three seats from its paltry
minority presence in the Legislature, and being defeated
for every statewide and congressional office except the
governorship (which hardly qualifies as a win), state
GOP chairwoman Kirsten Hughes is abandoning the sinking
ship. The scramble aboard the lifeboat to replace
her would be laughable if the consequences weren't so
dire and growing darker for center-right citizens and
taxpayers.
Alleged Republican Gov. Charlie Baker
aggressively wrested control of the party apparatus in a
hostile takeover early in his first term, to make it
more in his image, and this is what he has to show for
that hubris. The day after the election the State
House News Service reported "By emphasizing his
bipartisan leanings, Baker coasted to a second term, but
there were no coattails to be found for his fellow
Republicans." Instead, it's given the Bay State
even greater Democrat control that's pushed that party
even further left. To use his favorite word, I
wonder if Charlie is "disappointed" over this too, or
not so much.
Tax revenue is still pouring in hand
over fist, still exceeding all expectations. Five
months into this fiscal year already the state has raked
in almost half a billion dollars more than it had at this
time a year ago ― and
you'll recall that last fiscal year the state surpassed
revenue expectations by $1.2 billion, which the
Legislature had to find a way to spend over its
ongoing-since-August vacation.
So accustomed to spending every cent
that comes in and more, the Legislature will find it
difficult if not impossible to restrain that urge ―
despite the early warnings of an economic slowdown and a
predicted collapse of windfall revenue. We know
how this situation turns out from past experience.
Profligate spending will continue full speed ahead as
the Democrats whistle past the graveyard ―
until the economic crash arrives creating the next
"fiscal crisis," solvable only by another "temporary"
tax increase that never goes away.
"Many lawmakers had hoped a proposed surtax on incomes
over $1 million would give them more revenue to work
with," the State House News Service reported. To
the Democrat-controlled Legislature, that is the
problem ― not the
over-spending in a state budget that has grown by over a
billion of our dollars every year. To keep that
"investment" (growth) going in perpetuity will require
more "revenue" (taxes), especially if the esteemed
economists' predictions are correct.
We'll soon find out if anyone has
learned the bitter lesson of over-spending through good
times and bad, or if too many have failed to learn from
history.
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Chip Ford
Executive Director |
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The New Boston Post
Monday, November 26, 2018
Why You Don’t See Flagmen in Massachusetts
By Matt McDonald
Massachusetts drivers rarely see civilian
flagmen to direct traffic at road construction
projects because state law ensures that they’re
not much cheaper than hiring cops, a new Pioneer
Institute report says.
A civilian flagman costs $43.44 an hour, far
above the national average of $28.89, according
to the Pioneer policy brief released Monday.
That’s not much less than state and local police
officers get, and town and city officials aware
that police officers use details to supplement
their incomes usually hire police for road
projects rather than flagmen.
Why do flagmen command such a high wage?
The state’s prevailing wage law ensures that
unions won’t get underbid on public works
projects by setting a wage floor for workers.
Prevailing-wage laws are common in pro-union
states like Massachusetts.
But the way Massachusetts calculates the
prevailing wage drives costs up even more than
in most prevailing-wage states, according to the
Pioneer report. That’s because while most states
use market labor rates to help calculate the
prevailing wage for various jobs, Massachusetts
is one of only five states that only use
existing collective bargaining agreements
between unions and government. That means that
the union contract sets the standard, without
being tugged downward by other market forces.
“The intent of prevailing wage laws is to
prevent companies engaged in public construction
from paying construction workers less than the
market wage for similar work performed in the
area. This a worthy goal,” the Pioneer report
states. “But in Massachusetts, the intent and
effect of the prevailing wage law is to require
state and municipal taxpayers to pay the highest
wage rather than the prevailing wage. The net
effect is to artificially and substantially
inflate the cost of public construction
projects, including transportation projects.”
For years Massachusetts was the only state in
the country that required police details on
every road construction project, even on
dead-end streets with little traffic. In 2008
then-Governor Deval Patrick signed a bill that
allowed for civilian flagmen to be used on
low-speed roads and low-traffic high-speed
roads.
Yet the 2008 law led to little cost savings.
“The 2008 flagger reform was expected to save
considerable money, but because the prevailing
wage law effectively requires civilian flaggers
to be paid about the same as police details, and
because cities and towns were not mandated to
hire civilian flaggers at low-speed sites, the
reform was weakened to the point of becoming [a]
historical footnote,” states the policy brief by
Gregory Sullivan and Michael Chieppo, titled
“Whatever Happened To Flagger Reform?.”
Sullivan, a former state inspector general, is
the research director of Pioneer Institute, a
conservative Boston think tank. Chieppo worked
as a research assistant at Pioneer this past
summer.
While limiting police details to lower the costs
of road projects was a hot topic 10 years ago,
there don’t appear to be attempts on Beacon Hill
to change current state policy.
Governor Charlie Baker has focused on trying to
increase safety in roadwork areas, not on
limiting the costs of promoting safety.
“Governor Baker believes that on any roadway
construction project, the focus should be on
maintaining the safety of both workers and
drivers, and has previously filed legislation to
allow MassDOT to set speed limits in work sites
and double fines for speeding in these areas.
The administration supports the use of a
combination of police details and civilian
flaggers on projects as directed by law, and
would carefully review any legislative proposals
that reach the Governor’s desk,” said Sarah
Finlaw, deputy communications director in the
governor’s press office, in an email message to
New Boston Post.
MassDOT is an abbreviation for the Massachusetts
Department of Transportation.
Using civilian flagmen on road projects is a hot
potato in Massachusetts because many police
officers rely on details for a significant
portion of their take-home pay.
Twenty-five members of the Massachusetts State
Police earned more than $250,000 in gross pay
during calendar year 2017. For many of them,
special details were a significant portion of
their income.
Eighteen members of the Boston Police Department
made more than $100,000 in detail pay during
calendar year 2017. Among those, the lowest
earned a gross total pay that year of
$213,889.74; the highest earner among the 18
earned a gross total pay of $366,232.65.
The 13 highest-paid Boston police officers in
2017 were not among the top brass of the
department, but rather captains, lieutenants,
sergeants, and detectives, who earn both
overtime and detail pay on top of their base
salaries. Seven of those 13 earned more in
details than in overtime. Total gross pay for
those 13 officers ranged from about $296,000 to
about $366,000.
Spokesman for the unions that represent
Massachusetts State Police and Boston police
could not immediately be reached for comment
Monday afternoon.
Below is a breakdown of hourly pay for civilian
flagmen on federally funded projects in the six
New England states, from the Pioneer study. Five
of the six are prevailing-wage law states – only
New Hampshire isn’t – but economic conditions
and how the prevailing wages are calculated
account for the disparity.
Rhode Island
$44.50
Massachusetts $43.44
Connecticut
$35.84
New Hampshire $15.54
Vermont
$12.63
Maine
$9.93
The Boston Herald
Monday, November 26, 2018
Report: Civilians not widely used as flaggers
because wages tied to cops’ rates
By Sean Philip Cotter
A government watchdog group said the state’s
flagger reform effort is coming up short on
savings because of rules that keep wages for
non-police traffic direction tied to the rates
earned by cops.
The Pioneer Institute released a report today
saying the Department of Transportation’s
savings have “not been significant” — $23
million over three years — after the law passed
allowing for non-cops to wave cars by at
construction sites.
“Rates for civilian flaggers are effectively set
by the rate paid to police performing flagger
duties,” said Pioneer research director Greg
Sullivan, a former state inspector general, who
wrote the report with research assistant Michael
Chieppo.
Massachusetts was the last state in the country
to allow for civilians to work as flaggers on
construction sites. The law, passed under former
Gov. Deval Patrick over the protests of police
unions, has not led to widespread use of
civilian flaggers.
That’s at least in part because, the study’s
authors claim, the state prevailing-wage law
ties civilian-flagger wages to what cops would
be getting for the same job — an average of
$43.44 an hour for the civilian flaggers, well
over the $28.99 nationwide average.
“Gov. Patrick’s reforms were effectively negated
in practical application,” the report states.
Flagging work less commonly falls to cops in
other states, where civilian flaggers are the
norm for many projects. The report says only
four other states have prevailing-wage laws in
this regard as strong as Massachusetts,
mandating that the state has to pay at least the
going rate negotiated by organized labor for the
same job.
The savings the state has seen come from the
fact civilian flaggers are only paid for hours
worked, whereas police flaggers are paid in
four-hour blocks, so they are on the clock often
for more hours than they actually work, says
Pioneer, a small-government research
organization.
The report calls on the state Executive Office
of Labor and Workforce Development to determine
a prevailing wage for flaggers — one that’s not
directly tied to the one negotiated by the cops.
“The state and municipalities would have a far
greater incentive to use civilian flaggers,” the
report states.
Gov. Charlie Baker’s office left the possibility
of proposing a rule change up to the
Legislature.
“The administration supports the use of a
combination of police details and civilian
flaggers on projects as directed by law, and
would carefully review any legislative proposals
that reach the governor’s desk,” Baker
spokeswoman Sarah Finlaw told the Herald.
Neither the State Police Association nor the
Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association could be
reached for comment.
Previous to 2008, all roadwork in Massachusetts
had to have police officers on scene for traffic
control. After the law change, projects on many
less-traveled roads could use the civilians
instead.
About 4.4 percent of MassDOT’s roads budget went
to flaggers in the five years before the law.
That portion dropped to about 3.4 percent after
the change.
State House News Service
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
As party chair, Rep. Durant says he'd build
"great candidates" for GOP
By Matt Murphy
After leading the Massachusetts Republican Party
for six years, Kirsten Hughes is stepping away
as chairwoman and party insiders are looking at
least at a trio of possible contenders for the
post.
Hughes, a Quincy city councilor who took over as
party chairwoman in 2013, emailed members of the
Republican State Committee on Nov. 16 to let
them know that she would not be seeking a fourth
term in January.
"While it has been my honor and privilege to
serve our party, I have decided the time is
right for me to pass the torch to a new leader,"
she wrote.
After getting wiped out in every statewide race
except governor this cycle and losing three
seats in the Legislature, the party, with Gov.
Charlie Baker at its head, will be looking for
someone new to take the reins of its fundraising
and candidate recruitment efforts.
Rep. Geoff Diehl, who will be leaving the
Legislature in January after losing his
long-shot bid to topple U.S. Sen. Elizabeth
Warren in November, has already expressed his
potential interest in the position should Hughes
step down.
"I am reviewing all my options," Diehl told the
News Service in an email on Wednesday. "I'm
pleased to see that so many people are willing
to support me."
Diehl, however, could be joined by his fellow
lawmaker Rep. Peter Durant of Spencer.
Durant sent an email to state committee members
the same day that Hughes announced she wouldn't
seek another term.
"As we approach a new year and new campaigns, we
can chose (sic) to accept that as Republicans
this is the best we can do, or we can try and do
things differently. I think it's time to do
things differently and I believe you do too. We
need to prepare for 2020 and it's time to stop
making excuses," Durant wrote.
Durant highlighted his own hard-fought, first
victory in 2010 over former Democrat Rep.
Geraldo Alicea, and his work to help elect his
former chief of staff and now Rep. Joseph
McKenna, as well as Reps. Donald Berthiaume and
Kate Campanale. He also called attention to his
work in 2012 to build an election database
application that uses a proprietary algorithm to
"look at voters in a new way." He said he built
it because he was unhappy with what was being
offered to candidates by the party and private
vendors, and said it's now used by more than 40
candidates and sitting lawmakers.
"I know what it takes to build great candidates
and put them in a position to win," Durant
wrote. "I believe that I am the only candidate
in this race that can accomplish the task of
bringing this party together to work in concert
to accomplish legislative victories."
MassGOP Treasurer Brent Andersen is also looking
to move up the party ranks, and will seek the
chairmanship, he confirmed. Andersen has been
the party treasurer since 2003, and a member of
the state committee since 2000.
"Yes, I'm running," Andersen told the News
Service on Wednesday during a brief
conversation. In a follow up email, Andersen
said, "I am extremely encouraged by the support
that I am receiving from my fellow State
Committee Members, Republican Elected Officials,
and activists. I'm looking forward to the
campaign ahead and to discuss my plan to unite
Republicans under Ronald Reagan's big tent."
Hughes was travelling and a spokeswoman said she
would be unavailable for an interview on
Wednesday, but spokeswoman Naysa Woomer
confirmed Hughes's decision to step down in
January.
Hughes took over as party chairwoman in January
2013 with the support of Scott Brown, who had
just lost his re-election bid to Warren.
She had been the senator's deputy finance
director, and eked out a win over Pepperell
Republican Rick Green, the founder of the
Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance who ran
unsuccessfully this cycle for Congress in the
Third District against Congresswoman-elect Lori
Trahan.
In the ensuing years, Hughes was in the chair
for two gubernatorial victories by Baker and Lt.
Gov. Karyn Polito and as the party fought to
maintain its gains in the Legislature from 2010
and get footholds in races for other
constitutional offices.
"During the next two years, we will build on our
recent successes: growing the grassroots,
investing in our data-driven field operation,
and electing Republicans up and down the ticket.
As we enter a new era of unified GOP leadership,
I'm excited about the MassGOP's ability to
advance our shared priorities," Hughes said
following her re-election in 2017.
Democrats held large super-majorities in the
Legislture when Hughes arrived and, despite some
GOP wins over the years, they are still a
distinct minority on Beacon Hill.
In her email this month, Hughes expressed pride
in the two victories of Baker and Polito, and
said the MassGOP had added 17 new Republican
legislators on Beacon Hill, including six that
were slotted into seats previously held by
Democrats. She also touted the expansion of the
MassVictory program, which helped deploy new
technology and field staff to knock on doors and
make phone calls for candidates, and the more
than $3.5 million the party has spent to support
GOP tickets since 2013.
"Those successes have been made possible thanks
to a stronger, more enduring campaign
infrastructure, which has made a meaningful
difference for Republican candidates at all
levels of government," Hughes wrote.
"Time for a shuffling up"
Marty Lamb, who won his seat on the state
committee despite Baker's backing an opponent
two years ago, said he will support Diehl if the
Whitman Republican runs. Lamb and Diehl have
worked together before on a ballot campaign to
repeal a law indexing the gas tax to inflation,
and Lamb ran a political action committee that
supported Diehl's campaign for U.S. Senate.
"I wish Kirsten all the luck in future
endeavors. She's put a lot of work in, but I do
think it's time for a shuffling up and
realignment," he said.
Lamb said there are two "mindsets" within the
state committee on how best to build the party
-- from the top down, or the bottom up. Lamb
prefers the latter approach.
"New blood is always good," he said.
While the election is not until January, the
State Committee does have a meeting planned for
Dec. 12 where the chairmanship race figures to
be on center stage, and the final slate of
candidates could become clearer.
Alan Waters, a Mashpee Republican who opened a
committee to run for U.S. Senate this year, but
didn't, is urging the committee to make him a
salaried co-chair or vice-chair, positions that
don't currently exist.
"Candidates run for office, then stop
campaigning after the election. I want to run
the Mass GOP race 12 months a year all over the
state, from 'hood to highland, special projects,
traditional projects, grassroots initiatives,
free enterprise celebration with small business.
Sales, marketing, cheerleader. I am an outsider,
conservative by nature, moderate by intent. The
Republican Party looks good on paper, we need to
look better in the field," Waters wrote in an
email of his own.
Waters described himself as "a black man with a
plan to help save America from the Progressives,
and with a smile."
The wild card in the contest to succeed Hughes
is Baker and how directly he chooses to get
involved in vote wrangling.
Baker, during his four years in office, has
resisted fully immersing himself in party
politics after stacking the 80-member state
committee with loyalists in early 2016. While he
has campaigned and helped raise money for some
GOP legislators and candidates seeking open
House and Senate seats, he has been less
involved in trying to knock off incumbent
Democrats.
One person close to Baker said the governor does
not yet have a preferred candidate in the race
to succeed Hughes. "We'll wait and see," the
advisor said.
The Boston Herald
Thursday, November 29, 2018
Mass GOP chair departs amid Republican turmoil
By Mary Markos
Mass GOP Chairwoman Kirsten Hughes has decided
not to seek a fourth term, and internal politics
could determine her successor now that Gov.
Charlie Baker, with a lack of ardor for certain
Republicans on the campaign trail, has ruffled
feathers.
“There is a lot of resentment that’s festering
under the surface about the governor’s conduct
in the last election cycle,” political
consultant Chip Jones said.
Jones noted that while Baker won about 67
percent of the vote, the party experienced a
setback in losing three legislative seats, and
pointed to his reluctance to voice his support
for state Rep. Geoff Diehl in the U.S. Senate
race as a breach in party loyalty.
“Politics makes strange bedfellows. That’s a
cliche because it’s true,” Jones said.
“When you win by that majority and yet you have
negative coattails, that’s going to be a hard
thing to swallow … There’s going to be a blame
game that goes on in people’s minds and people’s
voting decisions on who the next chair is.”
Diehl has already expressed interest in the
position as chairman, but hasn’t given a
definitive answer.
“I just want to make sure if I do decide to do
this that I’ve got the support of everybody,
including my family. That’s always important to
me,” Diehl told the Herald. “I don’t have a
timeline yet but I certainly will be making the
decision soon.”
Mass. GOP Treasurer Brent Andersen gave a
resounding, “Yes, I am running.”
A party insider said Rep. Peter Durant of
Spencer is also running, according to State
House News, but the lawmaker didn’t respond to
requests for comment.
Jim Conroy, Baker’s political adviser, said,
“The governor endorsed Geoff on countless
events, for legislative candidates and for the
state party itself. He’s happy to be able to
have given that support.”
In an email to the Massachusetts Republican
State Committee, Hughes wrote, “At six years, my
tenure in Massachusetts makes me one of the
longest-serving state GOP chairs in the nation …
While it has been my honor and privilege to
serve our party, I have decided the time is
right for me to pass the torch to a new leader.”
State House News Service
Thursday, November 29, 2018
Crop of freshwomen lawmakers committed to roll
calls
By Katie Lannan
Fifteen female Democrats running for seats on
Beacon Hill took a "#TransparencyPledge" on
social media in August, committing to join, if
elected, what are typically Republican-led
efforts to put lawmakers' votes on record.
Now, with this year's election cycle complete,
four of those candidates are set to join the
Legislature in January.
Senator-elect Becca Rausch of Needham and
Representatives-elect Tami Gouveia of Acton,
Maria Robinson of Framingham and Lindsay
Sabadosa of Northampton were among the group
that agreed to "stand for roll calls and to
advocate for greater transparency and
accountability within the Massachusetts
Legislature."
Roll call votes, where each lawmaker's position
is recorded, are not required for most bills to
pass. When not recorded votes happen when they
are requested by one representative or senator,
and a sufficient number of others stand up with
them in support.
House rules require 10 percent of the members to
support a roll call. Senate rules require the
support of one-fifth of the body, or a number
equal to members of the minority party.
House and Senate Democrats often request roll
calls on popular legislation that passes
overwhelmingly. The minority Republican caucuses
often seek to put their colleagues on the record
on spending matters and controversial issues,
and those attempts sometimes fall short because
legislators prefer to be recorded on voice
votes.
Recorded votes can turn into campaign issues for
lawmakers seeking reelection and facing
opponents eager to contrast themselves with
incumbents.
Democrats will retain their supermajority
control of both branches in 2019, with six
Republicans in the 40-member Senate and 32 in
the 160-seat House.
State House News Service
Tuesday, December 4, 2018
November surge pushes tax receipts $423 Mil over
benchmark
By Michael P. Norton
State tax collections five months into fiscal
2019 are running nearly half a billion dollars
over benchmarks, fueled by $1.86 billion in
November receipts.
Tax revenues eclipsed the November benchmark by
$61 million, and have exceeded the fiscal
year-to-date benchmark by $423 million, Revenue
Commissioner Christopher Harding announced late
Tuesday, on the eve of the state's annual
revenue estimation hearing at the State House.
"November was a solid month for revenues, which
were above benchmark in all major tax
categories," Harding said in a statement. "The
main drivers were an increase in consumer
spending on taxable goods, and continued
strength in corporate payments. Both for the
month and on a fiscal year-to-date basis, we
continue to see growth in revenues, based on
solid economic fundamentals in the state."
November collections rose $122 million, or 7
percent higher than collections in November
2017.
For the fiscal year-to-date through November,
tax revenue collections are up 8.4 above the
same five-month period in fiscal 2018.
State House News Service
Wednesday, December 5, 2018
Economists warn state budget writers of slowdown
on the horizon
By Katie Lannan
Despite a strong economy, last year's $1 billion
budget surplus and revenue collections that are
outperforming expectations so far this year, the
potential for an economic slowdown and future
recession loomed as the budget-writing process
for next fiscal year kicked off on Wednesday.
At an annual Ways and Means Committee hearing,
economic experts offered their financial
forecasts for the year ahead, estimating state
revenue collections will grow somewhere between
2 percent and 3.4 percent in fiscal 2020.
Legislative and administration budget writers
will use the predictions to develop a consensus
estimate of how much money will be available to
spend on state programs and services.
House Ways and Means Chairman Jeffrey Sanchez,
who lost his reelection bid this year and will
after December turn over his budget work to a
successor chosen by Speaker Robert DeLeo,
characterized the testimony as "very sobering."
"At the end of the day, there's a lot of good
that's happened in this past couple years and
it's been fortunate, but it's fragile," Sanchez,
who was named Ways and Means chair in July 2017,
told the News Service. "And in this upcoming
session, the Legislature, the administration and
everybody are going to have a lot of hard work
to do, especially with the demands of everything
that we did in this past session. Everybody's
coming back, and the requests are going to be
dramatic. We can feel it in the tail end of the
session right now."
The fiscal 2020 budget will be among the first
major pieces of legislation developed in a new
term where lawmakers will have to grapple with
the unfinished business of this session,
including efforts to shore up financially
strapped community hospitals and to increase
equity in education by boosting school funding.
Many lawmakers had hoped a proposed surtax on
incomes over $1 million would give them more
revenue to work with, but that effort was
scuttled when the Supreme Judicial Court ruled
the ballot question proposing the tax was
unconstitutionally drafted.
Unlike the previous two years in which slow
growth forced budget negotiators to mark down
available revenues during their talks, the
conference committee that crafted this year's
budget upgraded their projections to add
spending beyond levels the House and Senate had
approved.
"The past several budget cycles have taught us
that we must be prepared for everything," said
Sen. Joan Lovely, who co-chaired Wednesday's
hearing from the Senate side. Lovely is the
vice-chair of the Senate Ways and Means
Committee, for which a new chair will also have
to be chosen in the new year.
Revenue Commissioner Christopher Harding told
the committee that the 8.5 percent growth last
year from fiscal 2017 to fiscal 2018 was
"exceptionally strong" and had been exceeded
only three times in the preceding 30 years. He
said that revenue growth was driven by a strong
stock market performance, passage of the federal
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017, and an overall
strong economy in Massachusetts.
The growth in 2018 and the above-benchmark
revenue collections so far this year "reflect
one-time events such as tax reform that are
exactly that -- one-time events -- and will not
be repeated in the future," Harding said.
Harding predicted an actual growth of 2 percent
to 2.2 percent in fiscal 2020, with revenue
collections ranging from $29.217 billion to
$29.384 billion.
Other revenue projections were:
•
From the Massachusetts Taxpayers
Foundation, 3.6 percent growth in fiscal 2019 to
$28.79 billion, followed by 2.4 percent growth
to $29.47 billion in fiscal 2020.
•
From the Beacon Hill Institute, 6.6 percent
growth to $29.6 billion in fiscal 2019, with 2.4
percent growth to $30.3 billion in fiscal 2020.
•
From Northeastern University professor Alan
Clayton-Matthews, revenue collections of $29.57
billion in fiscal 2019 and $30.58 billion in
fiscal 2020, for growth of 3.4 percent from 2019
to 2020
Harding told the committee the national
economy is in the second-longest period of
growth in its history, but said all expansions
must end, and the question is "when the decline
will start and how hard the fall will be."
"Based on the analysis and inputs from our
sources, we are not projecting a recession to
begin during FY20," Harding said. "We are
however being realistic in our expectations for
growth, and we will be monitoring both revenues
and the economic environment carefully."
Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation President
Eileen McAnneny, whose prepared testimony was
titled "Are the Good Times Already Over?", urged
budget-writers to be cautious of "pre-recession
warning signs" in labor markets, home sales, the
auto industry, business investments and oil
prices.
"The MTF suggests a cautious approach to this
year's budget," she said. "While the time and
severity of the next economic downturn is
unknowable, by historic markers, we are on
borrowed time. The state's experience with past
recessions clearly demonstrates how quickly and
harshly fortunes can turn."
McAnneny said preparing for the next recession,
through steps including limiting spending growth
and increasing the state's stabilization fund
balance, "is the only prudent policy."
After a deposit from last year's budget surplus,
the stabilization fund balance is now over $2
billion. Administration and Finance Secretary
Michael Heffernan said it is the highest balance
in a decade.
Under questioning by Sen. Vinny deMacedo, the
ranking minority member on Senate Ways and
Means, Treasurer Deborah Goldberg said she
thinks the state needs to "keep on marching up,"
recommending a minimum balance of $4 billion in
the so-called rainy day fund.
"It's generally a percentage of your total
budget so when we're around forty [billion], we
want to be at four [billion], and I would just
recommend that we keep putting money into the
rainy day fund and not veer from that," she
said. "In particular, now that we have begun to
advance towards that, to back off from it would
then again get the rating agencies concerned."
―Colin A. Young
contributed reporting
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