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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”
45 years as “The Voice of Massachusetts Taxpayers”
— and
their Institutional Memory — |
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CLT UPDATE
Sunday, September 22, 2019
They're
baack — "No man's life, liberty, or
property are safe"!
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The House will convene in a formal session
for the first time since July 31 on Wednesday, kicking off a
roughly two-month stretch that stands as the only remaining
time for full lawmaking business this year.
Members are expected to vote on whether to
override Gov. Charlie Baker's veto of a bill (H 3854) that
would allow public-sector unions to seek reimbursement from
non-members for certain services and representation, a
response to the U.S. Supreme Court's Janus vs. AFSCME ruling
last year....
Democratic leaders in the House also plan
Wednesday to . . . vote on Baker's fiscal year 2020 budget
amendments and vetoes, and to potentially consider a range
of official state designations.
With the future of high-profile topics such
as education funding reform and transportation revenue still
unclear, the Legislature has until Nov. 20 to conduct the
bulk of its business because, under the joint legislative
rules, no formal sessions can be held after the third
Wednesday in the first year of every two-year lawmaking
session.
State House News Service
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
After 50-day break, House returns to formal business
The Democratic leaders of the state House
and Senate are waiting to form opinions on a tax relief
proposal that Gov. Charlie Baker offered earlier this month,
they said Monday.
A spending bill the Republican governor
filed on Sept. 6 contained language that would double the
income tax exemption for dependents from $1,000 to $2,000.
The tax break would affect taxpayers who have children or
care for dependent relatives who are elderly or have a
disability, and is worth about $50 per dependent, according
to the administration, which sees the measure as a way to
share the state's surplus with taxpayers....
[Senate President Karen] Spilka said only
that the Senate will review Baker's proposal after the House
acts on the spending bill.
"We're taking a look at that, clearly," she
said. "We will look at how it impacts the finances and other
things." ...
Baker's plan would fund two years of
deductions at the higher rate through a deposit of $175
million in surplus revenues into a tax reduction fund,
without affecting this year's budget or the fiscal 2021
budget. After that, the tax relief would then be
incorporated into annual budget assumptions.
The House has indicated plans for a
transportation revenue debate in the fall, though a specific
revenue plan has not yet emerged. The Democrat-controlled
Legislature this session also advanced a proposed $2 billion
surtax on household incomes over $1 million.
Asked if he thought the state should be
pursuing tax relief while also considering additional taxes,
[House Speaker Robert] DeLeo said, "That will be something
I'll be commenting on later once I have a chance to talk to
the chairman about it."
State House News Service
Monday, September 16, 2019
Tax relief plan fails to excite legislative leaders
Gov. Charlie Baker's veto of a union-backed
collective bargaining dues bill was easily overturned
Wednesday in the House, as all but one Republican lawmaker
deserted the governor and joined Democrats in backing the
so-called Janus bill.
The override did not trigger any debate in
the House and could be completed when the Senate meets on
Thursday afternoon....
Rep. Shawn Dooley of Norfolk was the only
Republican House member to vote to sustain Baker's veto,
which the governor said stemmed from employee privacy
concerns raised by the bill (H 3854).
State House News Service
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
House overrides Baker's veto of Janus Bill 154-1
The Senate completed an override Thursday of
Gov. Charlie Baker's veto of legislation allowing
public-sector unions to seek reimbursement from non-members
for some services, drawing only two dissenting votes to push
the bill through a day after the House also voted to
override....
BY A ROLL CALL VOTE OF 39-1, SENATE
OVERRIDES VETO. Sen. Fattman voted to sustain Gov. Baker's
veto.
State House News Service
Thursday, September 19, 2019
Senate Session - Thursday, Sept. 19, 2019
More than a year out from the 2020
legislative elections, the state Republican Party under its
new chairman Jim Lyons is launching a candidate training
program in hopes of making inroads on Beacon Hill where the
MassGOP controls just 38 of 200 seats.
The party later this month will begin
enrolling interested candidates in the "Minuteman Program,"
giving them access to donors and helping to sharpen their
fundraising, media and field operations.
"We are sharpening our focus on our ultimate
goal, which is to elect more Republicans to serve on Beacon
Hill," said Lyons, the party chairman who served in the
Legislature for eight years until he was defeated by a
Democrat in 2018. "Potential GOP candidates will benefit
from our advice, assistance, and consistent approach."
State House News Service
Monday, September 16, 2019
Eyeing blue seats, GOP launching candidate training program
Gov. Charlie Baker is defending how plum
judicial jobs are filled in the state’s court system after
three clerk-magistrate candidates with ties to Lt. Gov.
Karyn Polito each landed a lifetime appointment to the
$152,000-plus-a-year posts.
“It’s so blatant,” Governor’s Councilor
Marilyn Devaney told the Herald of the clerk slots that went
to Polito’s college roommate, her son’s youth football coach
and a governor’s councilor. The lieutenant governor chairs
the Governor’s Council — the board that approves those
positions.
“I see good people thrown off of boards by
this administration because of their friends. If this
council voted no, that’s how you stop it, but this council
has not voted down a member of a commission, a board, a
judge, a clerk-magistrate in the entire Baker
administration,” Devaney added....
Baker defended the process Monday, arguing
that candidates have to submit a “blind application,” with
the Judicial Nominating Commission, composed of 21 people he
appoints to screen candidates, and requires sign-off from
the Joint Bar Committee and the vote of the Governor’s
Council....
“Where is the blind process? I guess it’s
blind for the public, and that bothers me,” Devaney
countered. “That’s not what I signed up for when I ran for
this office.”
The Boston Herald
Monday, September 16, 2019
Gov. Charlie Baker defends Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito’s judicial
jobs pipeline
Patronage? Favoritism?
How dare you suggest such a thing.
This is Gov. Charlie Baker we’re talking
about. He’s a choirboy, and wouldn’t stoop to such nasty
sounding practices.
Baker has a way of denying reality even when
presented with abundant evidence of patronage in his
administration, especially in the high-paying court branch.
The Baker administration has been treating
the clerk-magistrate and judgeship positions as their own
personal fiefdom, nominating candidates with close ties to
the GOP and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito.
But Baker would have none of that. He starts
out by lecturing us as to how that could never happen....
Patronage is a dirty word for Baker, who
repeatedly denies reality — especially now with the
clerk-magistrate jobs filled with Polito connections.
“We’ve appointed hundreds of judges,
clerk-magistrates, parole board members since we took
office, and all of them have received either ‘qualified’ or
‘well-qualified’ positions from the Joint Bar and the
Judicial Nominating Committee has done a terrific job
managing that process,” he said.
Terrific.
The Boston Herald
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
Patronage a dirty word for Gov. Charlie Baker, except when
it isn’t
By Joe Battenfeld
The rift between the Republican governor and
the state Republican party was on full display Thursday when
Gov. Charlie Baker denounced the Republican State
Committee's adoption this week of a resolution condemning
two Muslim women who serve in Congress.
On Tuesday night, the Massachusetts
Republican State Committee voted "overwhelming" to support a
resolution to officially criticize Democratic U.S. Reps.
Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and to
declare that the Massachusetts Republican Party supports the
state of Israel, the party said. A party spokesman said the
resolution was approved by a voice vote.
The resolution, which was put forward by
committee members Tom Mountain and Marty Lamb, takes issue
with the congresswomen allegedly having "aligned themselves
with the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah, Islamic
Jihad, and Hamas" and for leading "the charge in Congress to
end US aid to our prime ally Israel, while openly advocating
for the destruction of that nation," along with five other
points of contention.
Baker has had a strained relationship with
the state Republican Party since Jim Lyons took over in
January as party chair and said on WGBH's "Boston Public
Radio" that the committee's resolution "does exactly the
wrong thing with respect to what we should be trying to do
with public dialogue generally." ...
Co-host Jim Braude asked Baker whether
President Donald Trump, whom Baker did not support in 2016
and often disagrees with, has elevated that to an art form.
"Yeah, sure," Baker said.
State House News Service
Thursday, September 19, 2019
Baker: Resolution condemning congresswomen "The wrong thing"
Gov. Charlie Baker had a lot of nice things
to say Thursday about two of the Democrats who will be
campaigning for a U.S. Senate seat next year but not a peep
about the possibility of a Republican candidate.
Baker, a Republican, was asked on WGBH's
"Boston Public Radio" about the Democratic primary that will
pit U.S. Sen. Ed Markey against U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy III
- and two other candidates - and did not find a bad word to
say about either....
Though the question put to him was
specifically about the Democratic primary, Baker made no
mention Thursday of possible Republican candidates for U.S.
Senate. The last Republican senator from Massachusetts was
Scott Brown.
Baker did not answer when co-host Jim Braude
asked which Democrat he would vote for if he was allowed to
vote in the Democratic primary next year.
State House News Service
Thursday, September 19, 2019
Baker sizes up Senate contest, no mention of GOP candidate
The Trump administration revoked
California's authority to set its own vehicle emissions
standards, and Massachusetts' standards are tied to the
California standards.
The Baker administration told the News
Service on Wednesday that it opposed the president's
decision and said it means weaker vehicle emissions
standards for Massachusetts.
On Friday, Attorney General Maura Healey
joined nearly two dozen state attorneys general and the
cities of Los Angeles and New York in suing in the federal
court of the District of Columbia to overturn the new
federal regulation, calling it an "illegal assault on
states' rights and clean air."
State House News Service
Friday, September 20, 2019
Advances - Week of Sept. 22, 2019 [Excerpt]
Massachusetts would invest a new $1.5
billion in its public education system over the next seven
years under a long-awaited consensus school finance reform
bill that House and Senate leaders rolled out Thursday and
expect to hit the Senate floor in two weeks.
Rep. Alice Pesich and Sen. Jason Lewis, the
co-chairs of the Education Committee that has been working
for months to develop the legislation, said a focus of the
bill is providing resources to low-income students....
All students in the state will see some
benefit from the bill, Peisch said, though the school
funding formula has always been intended to give more state
aid to districts with greater need.
The bill uses Group Insurance Commission
data to estimate districts' employee and retiree health care
costs; increases special education enrollment and cost
assumptions; increases funding for English language learners
and differentiates that money by grade level, with more for
older students; and provides additional money based on the
percentage of low-income students in a district. It also
returns to an older definition of low-income students that
was used in past years: 185 percent of the federal poverty
level.
On Nov. 2, 2015, a state commission reported
that the current starting point in the school funding
formula, known as the foundation budget, underestimates the
cost of education by an annual $1 billion by inadequately
accounting for expenses associated with low-income students,
English learners, special education and employee health
benefits....
School districts would be required, under
the bill, to set targets for closing persistent achievement
gaps and make plans publicly available on how they will
spend the money targeted for English learners and low-income
students, Lewis said.
The bill will go first to the Senate, and
Lewis said a vote is tentatively planned to take place in
two weeks after vetting by the Senate Ways and Means
Committee.
State House News Service
Thursday, September 19, 2019
Lawmakers unveil $1.5 Billion, seven-year education bill
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Chip Ford's CLT
Commentary
They're baack!
The "fulltime" legislators have finally returned from
their 50-day vacation for two months of work, before
taking another beginning on November 20 through January.
For the next two months, again "no
man's life, liberty, or property are safe."
Fresh and
rested up, the Legislature apparently has little
interest in Gov. Baker's tax relief idea, even as
"progressive" as it is, applying only to a small
increase of the exemption for dependents.
Apparently what state Sen. Jehlen (D-Somerville) said
about the estate tax reform applies to any tax relief
whatsoever and despite the two billion dollar surplus
last year (over-taxation) and a growing surplus above
that already this fiscal year. Sen. Jehlen's
response then was:
"We
can't afford to lose the $350 million to $450
million a year the estate tax brings in. We need to
repair and improve our transportation, to give all
our children an adequate education, and to pay
enough to attract and keep child care and elder care
workers into important and fast-growing jobs."
Baker's tax
relief proposal would "cost" the state "$175
million in surplus revenues . . . to support two years
of deductions." No interest from the Legislature.
It's their money now to return or withhold and squander
— and they never give back
without a fight.
Expect the same response to any hint of
relief for taxpayers — and
expect them to come hunting down taxpayers for more,
more, ever more.
In my
commentary for the CLT Update of January 19
("Kleptocracy thrives in The People's Republic")
I wrote — and stand by
it even more today:
I admit to being pleasantly
shocked by news that the state Republican Party
elected former-State Rep. Jim Lyons
(R-Andover) as its new chairman. I never thought
anything like that was even remotely possible in
Massachusetts ― but when you've got not a thing to
lose anymore it's time to try something, anything
new. A tireless, committed conservative, Jim Lyons
will shake things up among the state's complacent
Republican minority. The MassGOP has had a long run
of trying to out-Democrat Bay State Democrats for
decades.
President Harry S. Truman,
speaking to the National Convention of the Americans
for Democratic Action in 1952, noted: "If it's a
choice between a genuine Republican, and a
Republican in Democratic clothing, the people will
choose the genuine article, every time."
The obverse is just as true, as
Republicans have, or should have learned over
those decades.
Is it conceivable that
Massachusetts is so liberal Democrat entrenched
because there has not been another option in
memory, a different vision, a real contrast for so
long? If you've had enough of higher and higher
taxes and cradle-to-grave control where do you turn
― besides paying Charlie's new
hostage release ransom and running for your
life?
Maybe we'll
find out with Jim Lyons at the helm of "the loyal
opposition." Massachusetts Republicans have nothing
to lose and everything to gain.
The same can be
said for taxpayers.
Voters —
and especially taxpayers —
deserve a two-party system, an opponent on the ballot in
every election challenging entrenched progressive
incumbents. Real Republicans even deserve
primary challengers to the many so-called
"Republicans" who truly are so In Name Only.
Why these frauds even run at a
disadvantage as alleged Republicans continues to
baffle me, when they are so aligned with the domineering
Democrat majority. The majority within the
feckless legislative minority generally go along and
vote with the Democrats anyway. Why don't they
drop the façade and run honestly as Democrats, thus
avoiding any challenge for their seat?
Even when progressive-republican
Governor Charlie Baker does something right by chance or
accident, count on the alleged Republicans in the
Legislature to "Resist."
During the Senate debate before the vote
to override Gov. Baker's veto of the Legislature's
attempt to bypass the
U.S. Supreme Court's Janus decision, Senate
Republican Minority Leader Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester)
said:
"For
many of us, we feel that it's unfortunate that, with
all the work that we've done with regard to this
matter, we are missing an opportunity to once again
have the Senate stand for the protection of personal
information and personal privacy. I think if we were
to extend the process forward, we might have had a
better result in that regard, but I appreciate the
work done."
Nonetheless, Sen. Tarr voted in lockstep
with every Democrat and all but one Republican (Ryan
Fattman, R-Sutton) and overrode the Governor's veto.
The day before in the House, only Rep. Shawn Dooley
(R-Norfolk) dared vote against the override. (I
worked with Rep. Dooley a couple of weeks ago on his
estate tax reform bill, you may recall.)
Apparently only two reliable
Republicans still stand in the Legislature.
I hope true Republicans, conservatives
like MassGOP chairman and former-state Rep. Jim Lyons,
can find more like-minded candidates like Lyons, Rep.
Dooley, and Sen. Fattman to fill the gaping void, to
resist the resisters. It will be critical if even
a modicum of sanity is to be restored to the Bay State.
It's the only hope taxpayers of Massachusetts have for
keeping their heads above water in the future without a
relentless fulltime battle.
The State House News Service reported on
the new education funding bill just released this week:
Massachusetts would invest a new $1.5 billion in its
public education system over the next seven years under
a long-awaited consensus school finance reform bill that
House and Senate leaders rolled out Thursday and expect
to hit the Senate floor in two weeks.
All students in
the state will see some benefit from the bill . . .
though the school funding formula has always been
intended to give more state aid to districts with
greater need.
The bill . . .
increases special education enrollment and cost
assumptions; increases funding for English language
learners and differentiates that money by grade
level, with more for older students; and provides
additional money based on the percentage of
low-income students in a district. It also returns
to an older definition of low-income students that
was used in past years: 185 percent of the federal
poverty level.
For years the
Legislature has been wrestling with this redistribution
of taxpayer money — "from
each according to his ability, to each according to his
needs."
It has come up
with yet another billion-dollar-plus spending
plan to add to all the other billion-dollar-plus
spending plans being promoted this year.
The
Legislature's
billion-here-billion-there
schemes over just
the past few months have reached the point of
talking about real money.
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Chip Ford
Executive Director |
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State House News
Service
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
After 50-day break, House returns to formal
business
By Chris Lisinski
The House will convene in a formal session for
the first time since July 31 on Wednesday,
kicking off a roughly two-month stretch that
stands as the only remaining time for full
lawmaking business this year.
Members are expected to vote on whether to
override Gov. Charlie Baker's veto of a bill (H
3854) that would allow public-sector unions to
seek reimbursement from non-members for certain
services and representation, a response to the
U.S. Supreme Court's Janus vs. AFSCME ruling
last year.
The bill originally passed in the House 155-1
and in the Senate 38-1 before Baker sent it back
with proposed privacy amendments. Lawmakers
declined to add those, though, and the governor
then vetoed the legislation in August.
Democratic leaders in the House also plan
Wednesday to bring forward legislation (H 2940)
that would create a women's rights history
trail, to vote on Baker's fiscal year 2020
budget amendments and vetoes, and to potentially
consider a range of official state designations.
With the future of high-profile topics such as
education funding reform and transportation
revenue still unclear, the Legislature has until
Nov. 20 to conduct the bulk of its business
because, under the joint legislative rules, no
formal sessions can be held after the third
Wednesday in the first year of every two-year
lawmaking session.
State House News
Service
Monday, September 16, 2019
Tax relief plan fails to excite legislative
leaders
By Katie Lannan
The Democratic leaders of the state House and
Senate are waiting to form opinions on a tax
relief proposal that Gov. Charlie Baker offered
earlier this month, they said Monday.
A spending bill the Republican governor filed on
Sept. 6 contained language that would double the
income tax exemption for dependents from $1,000
to $2,000. The tax break would affect taxpayers
who have children or care for dependent
relatives who are elderly or have a disability,
and is worth about $50 per dependent, according
to the administration, which sees the measure as
a way to share the state's surplus with
taxpayers.
The bill (H 4067) is now before the House Ways
and Means Committee, chaired by Rep. Aaron
Michlewitz.
House Speaker Robert DeLeo said Monday he's
spoken to Michlewitz about the $648 million
supplemental budget, which DeLeo described as
"quite extensive on a number of things."
"As of this time, I'd have to say that I'll be
talking to the chair and will have an opinion
later on," DeLeo said when asked about the
proposed tax relief after meeting privately with
Baker and Senate President Karen Spilka.
Spilka said only that the Senate will review
Baker's proposal after the House acts on the
spending bill.
"We're taking a look at that, clearly," she
said. "We will look at how it impacts the
finances and other things."
Baker's plan would fund two years of deductions
at the higher rate through a deposit of $175
million in surplus revenues into a tax reduction
fund, without affecting this year's budget or
the fiscal 2021 budget. After that, the tax
relief would then be incorporated into annual
budget assumptions.
The House has indicated plans for a
transportation revenue debate in the fall,
though a specific revenue plan has not yet
emerged. The Democrat-controlled Legislature
this session also advanced a proposed $2 billion
surtax on household incomes over $1 million.
Asked if he thought the state should be pursuing
tax relief while also considering additional
taxes, DeLeo said, "That will be something I'll
be commenting on later once I have a chance to
talk to the chairman about it."
State House News
Service
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
House overrides Baker's veto of Janus Bill 154-1
By Michael P. Norton
Gov. Charlie Baker's veto of a union-backed
collective bargaining dues bill was easily
overturned Wednesday in the House, as all but
one Republican lawmaker deserted the governor
and joined Democrats in backing the so-called
Janus bill.
The override did not trigger any debate in the
House and could be completed when the Senate
meets on Thursday afternoon.
Labor Committee Co-chairman Rep. Paul Brodeur of
Melrose said the bill's passage would bring an
end to "free riders" who he said are able to
access union services in grievance situations
without being a member or paying dues to cover
services. The bill establishes fair processes
for communications between unions and people
that unions represent, he said.
Rep. Shawn Dooley of Norfolk was the only
Republican House member to vote to sustain
Baker's veto, which the governor said stemmed
from employee privacy concerns raised by the
bill (H 3854).
Brodeur noted the governor's privacy concerns
had been rejected. "The fact of the matter is
this bill in terms of access to employee
information simply modifies and updates what is
modern practice," he said. "So we no longer say
you can have a landline because modern employees
and unions don't use landlines. Similarly access
to email is the equivalent of having someone's
home address."
State House News
Service
Thursday, September 19, 2019
Senate Session - Thursday, Sept. 19, 2019
By Chris Lisinski
The Senate completed an override Thursday of
Gov. Charlie Baker's veto of legislation
allowing public-sector unions to seek
reimbursement from non-members for some
services, drawing only two dissenting votes to
push the bill through a day after the House also
voted to override.
In its first formal session since July 31, the
Senate also unanimously approved a bill that
would ban certain flame-retardant chemicals
flagged as potentially toxic. Both branches gave
final approval to the bill on the last day of
the previous session in January, but Baker
pocket-vetoed it because he did not have time to
return it with amendments....
JANUS BILL - VETO OVERRIDE: Question came on
whether to override or sustain Gov. Baker's veto
(H 4031) of H 3854 relative to collective
bargaining dues.
Sen. Tarr said . . . For many of us, we feel
that it's unfortunate that, with all the work
that we've done with regard to this matter, we
are missing an opportunity to once again have
the Senate stand for the protection of personal
information and personal privacy. I think if we
were to extend the process forward, we might
have had a better result in that regard, but I
appreciate the work done.
BY A ROLL CALL VOTE OF 39-1, SENATE OVERRIDES
VETO. Sen. Fattman, voted to sustain Gov.
Baker's veto.
State House News
Service
Monday, September 16, 2019
Eyeing blue seats, GOP launching candidate
training program
By Matt Murphy
More than a year out from the 2020 legislative
elections, the state Republican Party under its
new chairman Jim Lyons is launching a candidate
training program in hopes of making inroads on
Beacon Hill where the MassGOP controls just 38
of 200 seats.
The party later this month will begin enrolling
interested candidates in the "Minuteman
Program," giving them access to donors and
helping to sharpen their fundraising, media and
field operations.
"We are sharpening our focus on our ultimate
goal, which is to elect more Republicans to
serve on Beacon Hill," said Lyons, the party
chairman who served in the Legislature for eight
years until he was defeated by a Democrat in
2018. "Potential GOP candidates will benefit
from our advice, assistance, and consistent
approach."
The party will help participants set benchmarks
and track progress toward goals. The MassGOP
recently identified 25 House districts where it
thinks it has a good chance of either holding on
to seats in 2020, or taking them from Democrats.
Democrats targeted by the party in
conservative-leaning districts include Reps.
Colleen Garry of Dracut, John Velis of
Westfield, Kathleen LaNatra of Kingston, David
Robertson of Tewksbury, Jonathan Zlotnik of
Gardner, Linda Dean Campbell of Methuen, Josh
Cutler of Duxbury, Patricia Haddad of Somerset
and Theodore Speliotis of Danvers.
The Boston
Herald
Monday, September 16, 2019
Gov. Charlie Baker defends Lt. Gov. Karyn
Polito’s judicial jobs pipeline
By Mary Markos
Gov. Charlie Baker is defending how plum
judicial jobs are filled in the state’s court
system after three clerk-magistrate candidates
with ties to Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito each landed a
lifetime appointment to the $152,000-plus-a-year
posts.
“It’s so blatant,” Governor’s Councilor Marilyn
Devaney told the Herald of the clerk slots that
went to Polito’s college roommate, her son’s
youth football coach and a governor’s councilor.
The lieutenant governor chairs the Governor’s
Council — the board that approves those
positions.
“I see good people thrown off of boards by this
administration because of their friends. If this
council voted no, that’s how you stop it, but
this council has not voted down a member of a
commission, a board, a judge, a clerk-magistrate
in the entire Baker administration,” Devaney
added.
Shrewsbury police Detective Lt. Joseph McCarthy,
who coached Polito’s son in youth football in
their hometown, won the Westboro District Court
clerk-magistrate job. Sharon Shelfer Casey, the
lieutenant governor’s college friend and former
executive director of the Judicial Nominating
Commission, landed the top clerk’s post at
Cambridge District Court.
Governor’s Councilor Jen Caissie was appointed
to the clerk-magistrate’s seat in Dudley
District Court. There are currently nine
clerk-magistrate positions still open, according
to the governor’s office.
The Baker administration also came under fire
this month for the timing of Taunton Mayor
Thomas Hoye’s appointment to Bristol County
register of probate and Republican state Rep.
Shaunna O’Connell’s quick candidacy to replace
him.
Baker defended the process Monday, arguing that
candidates have to submit a “blind application,”
with the Judicial Nominating Commission,
composed of 21 people he appoints to screen
candidates, and requires sign-off from the Joint
Bar Committee and the vote of the Governor’s
Council.
“There are many checks and balances,” Baker
said. “I think the process we have is a good
one.”
“We’ve appointed hundreds of judges,
clerk-magistrates, parole board members since we
took office, and all of them have received
either ‘qualified’ or ‘well-qualified’ positions
from the Joint Bar, and the Judicial Nominating
Committee has done a terrific job managing that
process,” Baker added.
“Where is the blind process? I guess it’s blind
for the public, and that bothers me,” Devaney
countered. “That’s not what I signed up for when
I ran for this office.”
The Boston
Herald
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
Patronage a dirty word for Gov. Charlie Baker,
except when it isn’t
By Joe Battenfeld
Patronage? Favoritism?
How dare you suggest such a thing.
This is Gov. Charlie Baker we’re talking about.
He’s a choirboy, and wouldn’t stoop to such
nasty sounding practices.
Baker has a way of denying reality even when
presented with abundant evidence of patronage in
his administration, especially in the
high-paying court branch.
The Baker administration has been treating the
clerk-magistrate and judgeship positions as
their own personal fiefdom, nominating
candidates with close ties to the GOP and Lt.
Gov. Karyn Polito.
But Baker would have none of that. He starts out
by lecturing us as to how that could never
happen.
“First of all, the way this process works is you
go through a blind application process to the
Judicial Nominating Committee and no one’s name
is on it, and if you can’t get through the blind
application process, you don’t go anywhere,”
Baker said when questioned about recent
appointments. “In addition to that, the JNC does
a tremendous amount of legwork around due
diligence and qualifications and the Joint Bar
(Committee) ultimately has to sign off on your
qualifications as well. There are many check and
balances, and the governor’s council eventually
has to vote on the candidates. I think the
process we have is a good one.”
Just to review:
There’s Jen Caissie, a close pal of Polito who
is the only Republican on the Governor’s
Council, the body that gives the thumbs-up or
down to judge and clerk-magistrate candidates.
Caissie was nominated by Baker and Polito to be
the $152,000-a-year clerk-magistrate of Dudley
District Court, months after her husband’s
drunken-driving arrest.
Considering that Caissie’s colleagues will
decide her clerk-magistrate nomination, there’s
a pretty good chance she’ll be approved.
Then there’s Shrewsbury police Lt. Joseph
McCarthy Jr., named as clerk-magistrate of
Westboro District Court. McCarthy was youth
football coach of Polito’s son in their hometown
of Shrewsbury.
No doubt McCarthy was best qualified for the
high-paying post. Had nothing to do with his
football coaching skills.
And of course who can forget Sharon Shelfer
Casey, a longtime friend of Polito’s dating back
to law school. Casey recently was fast-tracked
for the plum post of clerk-magistrate of
Cambridge District Court despite having no
experience in the district court.
It’s been quite a few months for Polito’s
friends.
But none of this obvious political patronage has
any effect on Baker, who would ask us to play
dumb and pretend none of those connections
mattered.
Same goes for the state Office of Environmental
Affairs, where Baker filled the agency with
assorted GOP hacks with no apparent
qualifications for the jobs.
Patronage is a dirty word for Baker, who
repeatedly denies reality — especially now with
the clerk-magistrate jobs filled with Polito
connections.
“We’ve appointed hundreds of judges,
clerk-magistrates, parole board members since we
took office, and all of them have received
either ‘qualified’ or ‘well-qualified’ positions
from the Joint Bar and the Judicial Nominating
Committee has done a terrific job managing that
process,” he said.
Terrific.
State House News
Service
Thursday, September 19, 2019
Baker: Resolution condemning congresswomen "The
wrong thing"
By Colin A. Young
The rift between the Republican governor and the
state Republican party was on full display
Thursday when Gov. Charlie Baker denounced the
Republican State Committee's adoption this week
of a resolution condemning two Muslim women who
serve in Congress.
On Tuesday night, the Massachusetts Republican
State Committee voted "overwhelming" to support
a resolution to officially criticize Democratic
U.S. Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida
Tlaib of Michigan and to declare that the
Massachusetts Republican Party supports the
state of Israel, the party said. A party
spokesman said the resolution was approved by a
voice vote.
The resolution, which was put forward by
committee members Tom Mountain and Marty Lamb,
takes issue with the congresswomen allegedly
having "aligned themselves with the terrorist
Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad,
and Hamas" and for leading "the charge in
Congress to end US aid to our prime ally Israel,
while openly advocating for the destruction of
that nation," along with five other points of
contention.
Baker has had a strained relationship with the
state Republican Party since Jim Lyons took over
in January as party chair and said on WGBH's
"Boston Public Radio" that the committee's
resolution "does exactly the wrong thing with
respect to what we should be trying to do with
public dialogue generally."
"First of all, I've tried pretty hard as a
public official to stay out of what I would
describe as the name-calling business. I don't
really think it accomplishes very much and I
think it degrades public discourse," Baker said.
"In this particular case, while I probably don't
agree a lot with either of those congresswomen,
they were duly elected by the people of their
districts and that's who they're accountable
to."
The governor added that, based on something he
had read, "a bunch of the allegations in the
thing that the party put out were not accurate
or turned out not to be accurate, so I don't
think they should have done it."
The MassGOP declined to comment on Baker's
comments.
After telling a story about the speech the imam
from the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural
Center gave at a vigil for the victims of the
mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in
Pennsylvania last year, the governor said that
it has become too common in public life for
people to "stop treating other people as human
beings and start to treat them as caricatures."
Co-host Jim Braude asked Baker whether President
Donald Trump, whom Baker did not support in 2016
and often disagrees with, has elevated that to
an art form.
"Yeah, sure," Baker said.
Both congresswomen condemned by the Republican
State Committee this week have also been on the
receiving end of Trump's tweets. In July, the
president used Twitter to respond to four
outspoken women of color in Congress -- Ilhan,
Omar, and Reps. Ayanna Pressley and Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez -- who have been frequent critics
of him and his administration, writing that they
"originally came from countries whose
governments are a complete and total
catastrophe..."
The president went on to tweet that they should
"go back and help fix the totally broken and
crime infested places from which they came."
Trump later suggested that the congresswomen
"hate" America and Israel.
Baker in July denounced the president's Twitter
attacks.
"The tweets were shameful and racist and there's
no place for them in public discourse," he said.
State House News
Service
Thursday, September 19, 2019
Baker sizes up Senate contest, no mention of GOP
candidate
By Colin A. Young
Gov. Charlie Baker had a lot of nice things to
say Thursday about two of the Democrats who will
be campaigning for a U.S. Senate seat next year
but not a peep about the possibility of a
Republican candidate.
Baker, a Republican, was asked on WGBH's "Boston
Public Radio" about the Democratic primary that
will pit U.S. Sen. Ed Markey against U.S. Rep.
Joseph Kennedy III - and two other candidates -
and did not find a bad word to say about either.
"Obviously I know them both and I've talked to
both of them about a lot of things and they have
both been helpful to our administration and
therefore, in my view, to the commonwealth on a
variety of matters," Baker said. He added,
"Obviously this is a personal decision for Joe
and I hope the congressman and the senator end
up running what I would describe as an
issues-based campaign. But my interactions with
both of them have been very positive."
The governor praised Kennedy and Markey for
their work on wind power issues and highlighted
the legislation Markey filed in the wake of the
Merrimack Valley gas crisis as positives.
Though the question put to him was specifically
about the Democratic primary, Baker made no
mention Thursday of possible Republican
candidates for U.S. Senate. The last Republican
senator from Massachusetts was Scott Brown.
Baker did not answer when co-host Jim Braude
asked which Democrat he would vote for if he was
allowed to vote in the Democratic primary next
year. "You know well that I do not...yeah," he
said as Braude changed the subject.
State House News
Service
Thursday, September 19, 2019
Lawmakers unveil $1.5 Billion, seven-year
education bill
By Katie Lannan
Massachusetts would invest a new $1.5 billion in
its public education system over the next seven
years under a long-awaited consensus school
finance reform bill that House and Senate
leaders rolled out Thursday and expect to hit
the Senate floor in two weeks.
Rep. Alice Pesich and Sen. Jason Lewis, the
co-chairs of the Education Committee that has
been working for months to develop the
legislation, said a focus of the bill is
providing resources to low-income students.
"I think it's fair to say that if this bill
passes into law, we will have the strongest and
most progressive education funding system in
terms of how we reflect the needs of low-income
students," Lewis, a Winchester Democrat, said.
"However, we realize that even with all those
changes in the increased Chapter 70 aid that
districts will receive, that there's more that
we can and must do to support the needs of all
school districts and all students across the
state, whether they are in rural districts,
suburban districts, Gateway Cities or others."
The bill, dubbed the Student Opportunity Act and
unanimously endorsed by the Education Committee
Thursday, would increase Chapter 70 aid to local
schools by $1.4 billion, and House Speaker
Robert DeLeo said it does not involve plans for
additional taxes.
All students in the state will see some benefit
from the bill, Peisch said, though the school
funding formula has always been intended to give
more state aid to districts with greater need.
The bill uses Group Insurance Commission data to
estimate districts' employee and retiree health
care costs; increases special education
enrollment and cost assumptions; increases
funding for English language learners and
differentiates that money by grade level, with
more for older students; and provides additional
money based on the percentage of low-income
students in a district. It also returns to an
older definition of low-income students that was
used in past years: 185 percent of the federal
poverty level.
On Nov. 2, 2015, a state commission reported
that the current starting point in the school
funding formula, known as the foundation budget,
underestimates the cost of education by an
annual $1 billion by inadequately accounting for
expenses associated with low-income students,
English learners, special education and employee
health benefits.
This is not the first time since the report’s
release -- more than 1,400 days ago -- that
lawmakers have attempted to overhaul the
formula. In each of the last two legislative
sessions, House and Senate Democrats have been
unable to agree on an approach to school finance
reform.
Over that time, Gov. Charlie Baker and lawmakers
have increased the amount of Chapter 70 school
aid in the annual state budget, at times
describing the boosts as down-payments on future
reforms.
Last year, after both branches had passed
different bills, negotiations to reconcile them
collapsed when the two sides were still too far
apart in the final minutes of formal sessions.
Pressure has been mounting since then for
lawmakers to act, with regular rallies and
demonstrations at the State House, one lawsuit
filed and another potential one floated, and
Baker, municipal officials, teachers unions,
business groups, New England Patriots players
and others declaring their preferred approach.
"I think this session, with the strong support
of our leadership and all of the committee
members, we have finally come to a consensus on
a bill that as the Senate president and the
speaker indicated, will fully implement all of
the recommendations of the Foundation Budget
Review Commission," Peisch, a Wellesley
Democrat, told reporters at a briefing with
Lewis, DeLeo and Senate President Karen Spilka.
Since a March hearing on the bill, Peisch said
she and Lewis participated in "many trips, many
meetings to ensure that we had all the
information that we needed in order to craft
what we hope is a bill that really addresses all
of the problems that we were intending to."
In addition to its funding changes, the bill
establishes a commission to investigate the
challenges facing rural schools and tasks state
officials with analyzing the ways local
contributions are determined in the Chapter 70
formula.
It creates a "21st Century Education Trust Fund"
to support schools and districts pursuing
innovative approaches to learning, increases the
Massachusetts School Building Authority's annual
spending cap to allow more school construction
projects into the pipeline, sets up a three-year
timeline to fully fund charter school tuition
reimbursements, and expands a special education
reimbursement program known as the circuit
breaker to include transportation costs.
School districts would be required, under the
bill, to set targets for closing persistent
achievement gaps and make plans publicly
available on how they will spend the money
targeted for English learners and low-income
students, Lewis said.
The bill will go first to the Senate, and Lewis
said a vote is tentatively planned to take place
in two weeks after vetting by the Senate Ways
and Means Committee.
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